The cake doesn’t really soak up the sauce… it is more like the sauce swathes the cake in a rich, sticky blanket of yumminess. Between the hot sauce, the crunchy pecans, and the velvety cake you have a major  convention of flavor and texture going on in your mouth.

If you cook it a little less (like I will next time) you will also have the gooey middles of the cakes. I am not sure that you can find something a whole lot better for the time and effort it takes to make these (hardly any). You can start them just before you serve the main course and have them on the table by the time the bread is gone. Seriously. This one’s a keeper.

Make these in muffin cups that have been sprayed with baking spray or individual custard cups.

Chocolate Cakes with Praline Sauce

• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa
• pinch of kosher salt
• 12 oz chocolate, chopped. Mix bittersweet, dark, semisweet, or milk in any combination.
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, melt one and allow to become golden brown
• 4 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Melt the chocolate and the one stick of butter together, whisking often
3. Remove from heat and add the browned butter
4. Sift the dry ingredients together three times
5. Beat the eggs and yolks until light
6. Beat in the sugar
7. Carefully whisk in the chocolate and butter combination
8. Divide between 8-10 muffin cups
9. Bake for 12 minutes (gooey) or 15 minutes (moist and rich)
10. Cool for no more than 2-3 minutes and unmold onto dessert plates

Praline Sauce

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 tbs heavy cream
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup pecans, toasted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Melt the butter, salt, and brown sugar together until no longer grainy, stirring often.
2. Add the cream and stir well
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla
4. Sprinkle pecans over the cakes and pour the warm syrup over all

Makes 8-10 servings

images: marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I like sticky brownies not cakey ones. They have to be intensely chocolate. They have to cause your tastebuds to jumping around and screaming for milk or coffee. They absolutely have to be worth eating. Seriously!

The trick to really intense chocolate brownies is the darkest cocoa powder you can find. Cocoa gives a much richer flavor than melting chocolate and adding it, however in these you are going to use both. Yep. And then… ready? You are going to add toasted pecans (remember that the toasting intensifies the flavor…)  AND chocolate chips…AND white chocolate chips.

In a sugar coma yet?

These are fantastic. I think they will keep for several days… I say think because honestly they have never lasted more than an hour or two here. You can’t use the toothpick method to test these and see if they are done. In order to maintain the complete awesomeness that they are these brownies will always test raw.  Just follow the cooking time, and then cool them in the fridge long enough for them to set.  You can top them with ganache if you like extra chocolate.

Toasted Pecan Brownies

• 3/4 c unsalted butter-melted and allowed to brown
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 c cocoa (the darkest you can find…do not substitute baking chocolate)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chopped and melted in 2 tbs heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c chopped pecans, toasted in a 375F oven for 5 minutes. Watch carefully!
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Cream sugar, melted butter, and chocolate until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. beat well. add flavorings.
2. Stir in dry ingredients, nuts, white chocolate chips, and chocolate chips
3. Spread into a greased 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. Leave slightly under done.
4. Allow to cool long enough for the center to set.

Makes 12 or so depending on how big you cut them.

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Again, I used an oreo crust. I think that if you are making a chocolate crust this is absolutely the best way to go! There was a layer of caramel and chocolate and nuts on the bottom and then a deep vanilla cheesecake, topped with caramel, chocolate, and pecans.

Was it good? Oh yeah it was.  This is such an easy base for cheesecake. If you have read very many of my cheesecake recipes you will soon figure out that they are all the same foundation….. shhhh…don’t tell.

Always use a bain marie for the baking. It allows the cheese filling to bake slowly and evenly and you will end up with a much creamier product. Also, keep everything at room temperature, for the same reason.

Turtle Cheesecake

• 1 package oreos, crushed
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 bag caramels, unwrapped and chopped
• 12 oz milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 lb pecans, chopped
• 32 ounces cream cheese
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 tbs strong bourbon vanilla
• 16 ounces sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 375F
2. Mix oreos and butter and press into a 9 inch springform
3. Wrap the bottom and sides of  the  springform with aluminum foil to seal out water
4. Beat the cream cheese on low speed until blended
5. Add sugar and continue to beat on low
6. Add the eggs one at a time
7. Remove from mixer and fold in sour cream and the vanilla
8. Add half the chopped caramels, half the chocolate chips, and half the pecans to the pan over the crust
9. Pour the filling over it carefully
10. Bake for 45 minutes
11. Leave oven door closed and turn off heat. Allow to stand for one hour
12. Remove from oven and bain marie and allow to come to room temperature
13. Chill for 8 hours
14. Remove cake from fridge
15. Melt the remaining caramels,  reserving a few for garnish, cover the top of the cake in caramel
16. Sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips, reserved caramel pieces and pecans, and gently press into the melted caramel
17. Bring 1/4 cup cream to a simmer. Whisk in remaining chocolate chips until smooth.
18. Drizzle over the top of the cake
19. Chill until ready to serve

about 12-16 servings

images : marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

See?

This is one of those “Dear Lord what am I cooking tonight?” dishes. The refrigerator was skimpy and so was the pantry. I used to have a regular day for everything…Grocery shop on Monday,clean on Tuesday and Wednesday, day off on Thursday, paperwork and scheduling on Friday…

Please note the words “used to”. Now I get so busy I forget to shop and then we have the unique meals that would totally ruin any reputation as a foodie I have. I have not yet lowered myself to the point of making peanut butter ravioli with jelly sauce..but I am not saying it couldn’t happen…

This was made of a few scraps of Fontina, some left over pecans, a whisp of celery and a couple of spinach leaves that would have had to go to the chickens by the next day..

Yumm…sounds appetizing doesn’t it? Just remember; it isn’t you you start…it’s how you finish!

This makes a great luncheon dish, side dish, or vegetarian main course. There is lots of flavors and textures happening on the plate. If I make it again I am going to try adding some unpeeled, chopped apples just lightly sauteed. I wish I would have thought of it this time.

A friend of mine saw Maple Pepper on a trip to New Hampshire. She sent me a jar of it and…wowza! That stuff is potent. If you don’t have access to the maple pepper, add a tablespoon of maple syrup to the vegetables at the end of saute time, and add a finely chopped chipotle pepper in adobo as well.

Need a menu? Try this with:

Autumn Dinner

Autumn Pasta with Fontina and Pecans

Honey Glazed Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

Baguette or  Rosemary Cracked Pepper Bread

Apple Bundt Cake

This is my entry for Presto Pasta Night. PPN is the brain-child of Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and Abby of Eat th Right Stuff is the hostess for this week.

Autumn Pasta with Fontina and Pecans

• 1 lb  whole wheat penne, cooked a la dente
• 1/2 to 1 cup pecans, chopped and  toasted*
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach cut on a chiffonade**
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup mushrooms of choice, sliced ( a mixture of several is nice here)
• 4 oz fontina, grated
• 1/2 tsp maple pepper
• salt to taste
• olive oil and butter combo for saute pan (about 2 tbs each)

*To toast pecans toss them in a heavy pan and stir over medium high heat watching that they don’t burn.

**To cut chiffonade: layer several spinach leaves on top of each other. Roll up tightly and then cut horizontally very thinly. You will end up with thin strips of spinach.

1. Saute onion, garlic, and celery in pan until just soft
2. Add mushrooms and saute until done
3. Add maple pepper and stir well
4. Put penne in a large serving bowl, spoon ingredients over the top
5. Add pecans, fontina, and spinach
6. Toss lightly and serve immediately with extra fontina

serves 4-6 (8-10 appetizer or side dish servings)

image:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I think it is a fun thing to make because it is so completely unnecessary. Cookies, cakes, breads, dessert, and the like are all fillers. You can say, “Yeah, I made these brownies to help fill the kids up”. With candy? Not a chance. Everyone knows you made it because you have a sweet tooth.

This buttermilk candy is really hard to describe. Something like praline, something like fudge, something like penuche…and totally like none of them. You need to beat it until it loses its gloss, just like fudge. The texture is buttery and melting though- it melts cleanly in your mouth with a lingering taste of sweet and nutty. I want to try to make it again and layer it over chocolate fudge.

I make mine a little different than most. I use local, raw honey rather than corn syrup. I like the flavor that honey gives it and I just don’t like corn syrup – even organic corn syrup is very concentrated. You can replace the honey with corn syrup if you like.

This is a great addition to a candy plate at Christmas. Many older folks will look at you with amazement and then pure delight as they taste this flavor from thier childhoods. The younger ones will just be chewing and drooling so you might want to have a mop handy.

My recipe is adapted from the one in an old Farm Journal Candy Cookbook.

Easy, Old Fashioned Buttermilk Candy

• 1 cup full fat buttermilk
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tbs honey
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut in pieces
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
• Coarse salt or fleur de sel for sprinkling if desired

1. Combine buttermilk and baking soda and let stand 20 minutes.
2. Add sugar and honey and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar is disolved.
3. When mixture boils add the butter.
4. Cook, stirring occasionally to the soft ball stage, 238F
5. It should be a golden brown color.
6. Remove from heat and cool to 110F.
7. Beat until the mixture loses its gloss and thickens.
8. Stir in pecans and turn into a greased 8 inch square pan.
9. Sprinkle with coarse salt or fleur de sel if desired.
10. Cool completely and cut into squares.

About 1 1/2 lbs

Post from: Baking Delights

The frosting is very thick and has a creamy fudge-like consistency. It is best just to spoon a dollop on the top rather than trying to spread it. You wouldn’t believe how amazing the house smells while these are baking.

Oh, as with all things banana, the more ripe the banana the more flavor you will get from this. The cake itself is not intensely sweet but it is a good backdrop to the penuche. The cake is moist and a little sticky, with flavors of sweet banana and rum. The penuche is intensely sweet with a rich flavor and texture. The whole package is about as addictive as a cupcake can get – at least they didn’t last long here.

Of the cupcakes I have made  I think these and the Red Velvet and Cheesecake Marble are my two favorites.

Browned Butter Banana Rum Cupcakes

Makes 16

• 2 cups of flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp rum flavoring or substitute  1/4 cup of the milk with 1/4 cup of rum
• 1 cup milk
• 2 ripe bananas mashed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325, place cupcake liners in muffin tins
2. Mix dry ingredients and set aside
3. Heat butter on the stove until it melts, stirring constantly. Continue to stir and cook until it becomes a dark golden brown. Strain and cool
4. Mix eggs and sugar until well blended
5. Add browned butter and beat until smooth
6. Add vanilla and rum flavoring
7. Beat in the banana
8. Add the flour in three parts, alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour
9. Spoon into muffin tins and bake until done, about 20 minutes
10. Cool and frost with Browned Butter Penuche Frosting

Browned Butter Penuche Frosting

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• About 1/4 cup buttermilk, heated
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 1 cup coconut

1. Melt butter in pan until it becomes a golden brown
2. Add brown sugar and stir until sugar melts and mixture comes to a boil
3. Remove from heat
4. Stir in hot buttermilk until smooth
5. Let cool
6. Beat in confectioners sugar and vanilla until smooth
7. Stir in coconut and pecans, use a little more buttermilk or confectioners to get the right consistency
8. Add a spoonful to the top of each cupcake and press in a pecan half. Sprinkle with coconut

Post from: Baking Delights

This is my entry for this weeks Presto Pasta night hosted by Haalo of  Cook Almost Anything.

One of my favorite things to experiment with is pesto.  It is just so darn good!  I like to grow different kinds of basil because each one adds a different complexity to the pesto.

Then I started experimenting with different herbs as the basic ingredients.  I found that one of my favorite spins on fresh pesto is to make it with cilantro and pecans.

Welcome to Texas.

To me the combination is fresh, rich, and delicious.  It gives it a nice twist.

Here is the recipe for the cilantro pesto.  Go ahead and make it first, that way the ingredients will mellow while you are making the rest of it.

Rotini Pasta with Mascarpone and Cilantro Pesto

• 1 pound rotini pasta or other shapes that will hold the sauce, cooked a la dente
• 8 oz mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup cream
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 cup pesto or more to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• a few chopped cilantro leaves

1. Drain the pasta.
2. Heat the mascarpone and the cream together until very well blended and creamy.
3. Adjust seasonings.
4. Stir the pasta into the cream mixture.  Blend well so that the pasta is well coated.
5. Stir in the pesto and parmesan and toss the hot pasta so that the pesto is evenly mixed in.
6. Place on the serving platter and sprinkle with pecans, cilantro and a little more parmesan.

That’s it.  Another really simple recipe from me.  I must be getting lazy.

No worries there.  Daring Bakers is coming up. :/

images:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I am loving the after Christmas clearances at the grocery stores.  I don’t know how it is where you are but apparently people around here did not bake, cook, or buy as much as usual because there are a ton of things clearanced.

I scored fresh cranberries for 50 cents a bag at the store the other day.  Cranberries are quite the popular item here so I bought enough to make cranberry whatever at least a couple of times a month from now until November.  Cranberries freeze really well, if you didn’t know that.  Just toss the bags in the freezer.

Anyway, I normally make cranberry bread during the holiday season, but I also had a mushy banana so I made cranberry banana bread.  I liked it a lot because the mellow sweetness of the banana tempers the sharp tartness of the cranberries.  Nice.

Look, if you are going to the trouble to make cranberry bread don;t be cheap with the cranberries or nuts if you add them).  Add enough to make it look like there are more than three in the recipe!  I have seen cranberry bread that looks like it is literally “cranBERRY” bread…I always want to suggest that the person try using more than one finely chopped berry the next time.

The best way to chop the cranberries for cranberry bread is by hand.  The food processor grinds them too much in my opinion.  Cranberries are best when they are chopped in fourths or eights. More or less I mean, I don’t take hours with it.

Cranberry Banana Bread

• 1/4 c unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup cranberries coarsely chopped
• 1 cup pecans chopped, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease and flour a loaf pan
3. Cream butter and sugar
4. Beat in egg
5. Combine dry ingredients
6. Sprinkle about two tablespoons of the dry ingredients over the cranberries and toss
7. Combine orange rind, banana, and milk
8. Add dry ingredients to sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture
9. Fold in cranberries and pecans
10. Bake for about one to one and a fourth hours
11. Cool

Image:Marye Audet (c)2009, all rights reserved

Post from: Baking Delights

Image: “Mostly Martha”

O.k..catchy title, huh? I was relaxing this evening after a long day at the VA with Marc…(o.k..it wasn’t so bad, he had alot of long tests and stuff and I read almost a whole book for FUN…) and I was relaxing and surfing..and I came across this article from Men’s Health. No, I don;t usually read Men’s Health but I was intrigued. The premise was that a man could seduce a woman with a fancy meal. I believe that baby spinach salad with goat cheese and toasted pistachios was mentioned.

Maybe I am too old…Maybe I have been married too long…the idea of a guy presenting me with that salad would not seduce me…it would make me crack up. The scene in Mostly Martha where the sous chef is feeding her soup and she is blindfolded trying to guess ingredients….and then he licks the spoon and kisses her? Hot. Baby spinach salad with pistachios? Not.

Doing the dishes is hot. Putting the toilet seat down is hot. Trust me on this.

Chocolate is always hot. Always. Not like a Hershey bar though…Godiva is good…

Believe it or not the recipe that follows is so simple that novice cooks can easily make it but it looks complicated. I would have had a picture of it….IF I had remembered to take it before everyone devoured it.

Guys..this dessert is hot. It is European. It is pastry. It is filled with chocolate. It doesn’t leave green strings between your teeth…..

A pithivier is a french pastry created in Pithiviers, France. It is commonly made from puff pastry and an almond filling, often with chocolate grated over the filling. I made it a bit different and was really happy with the results. Not traditional, but awesome good. If you don’t like pecans then please, by all means use almonds. Homemade puff pastry is better but frozen works just fine.

The pecans and brown sugar give it a praline taste. There is no way around this…it is impressive, easy and really, really good.

Pithivier

1 box frozen puff pastry sheets (2 sheets to a box), thawed as directed.

1/2 c brown sugar

1/3 c unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 Tbs flour

3/4 c finely chopped pecans

3 ozs chopped bittersweet chocolate

Roll first puff pastry sheet out and cut into a 9″ circle. Do not roll it too thin. And once it is rolled you can’t mash it up and start over.

Beat sugar, flour, and butter in mixer until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Stir in nuts.

Spread mixture on pastry circle, sprinkle with chocolate and chill ( the pastry, not you) for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile roll the other puff pastry sheet out and cut into a slightly larger circle. Make vent holes with a knife in a decorative manner.

Beat one egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush it around the edges of the first pastry. Lay the second pastry over top and press edges to seal. Crimp edges by rolling upwards and pinching to seal even more. Brush top with egg/water mixture. Bake at 400F for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven. Let cool a few minutes.

Make glaze.

Bring 1/4 c cream to a boil. Remove from heat and melt 1/2 c chopped bittersweet chocolate in the cream, stirring until smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the top of the pithivier. The easiest way to do this is to dip a fork in the chocolate and move it back and forth over the surface letting the chocolate drizzle until you like how it looks.

About 8 servings.

Post from: Baking Delights

There is no real trick to making them. You want the dough to be softer, and I don’t punch it down after the first rising. I just roll it out gently..it seems to make for bigger, fluffier rolls. Also using milk rather than water and adding egg will make for a richer roll. Adding a teaspoon of vanilla or maple will add flavor as well, although it isn’t called for in the recipe.

Cinnamon Rolls

Makes about 18 big rolls

3 /4 c warm milk

1/2 c melted butter

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp salt

2 pkgs active dry yeast

1/2 c warm water

4 1/4- 5 cups of flour

2 eggs, room temp

sprinkle yeast onto warm water with a tsp of sugar added to it. Stir to dissolve. Let set a few minutes until bubbly. Add milk, butter, salt,and eggs. Beat well. Now begin adding flour until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Knead for about 5 minutes, oil , and let rise until double, about an hour.

Meanwhile make filling:

1 c brown sugar

2 Tbs cinnamon

1/4 c melted butter

Mix sugar and cinnamon..taste and adjust flavor with more or less cinnamon. Brush dough with melted butter and then spread with sugar mixture. Roll like a jelly roll, pinching edges to seal. cut in thick slices and place cut side down in 13x 9″ pans that have been well buttered. Let rise for about 30 to 40 minutes. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare icing.

Mix 1/4 c melted butter, 1 tsp vanilla and a pinch of salt with enough confectioner’s sugar to make a thick icing. Spread on warm rolls and top with chopped pecans if desired.

Post from: Baking Delights