Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.....



Honestly, there isn't much to say about these.... the pictures pretty much say it all.



Can't you almost taste them?



It's like a powdered donut (one of my personal favorites) and a chocolate bar rolled into one.



And if you think you've had chocolate crinkle cookies before.... you might want to give these a shot anyway. They have mini chocolate chips inside. Genius I tell ya, genius. Oh, and some serious chocolate overload to boot....but a little chocolate overload never hurt anyone. In fact, sometimes it's for the best.



Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
adapted from Williams Sonoma Baking Essentials

4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup (2 oz) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mini semisweet chips
1/2 cup (to 1 cup) confectioners sugar

Place the semisweet chips and butter into a double broiler and gently heat and stir until melted. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, mix the flour cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Mix together with a fork until well combined.

In a stand mixer, combine the eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until the mixture both lightens in color and thickens (about 3 minutes or so). Add the melted chocolate mixture to the blender and mix until just combined. Add the dry ingredients in 2 to 3 batches and mix until just combined. Finally, add the mini chocolate chips and mix until they are distributed throughout.

Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or so, until the dough is firm enough to roll into little balls.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Roll cooled dough into 1 tablespoon-sized balls. I always use my trusty little mini ice cream scoop for cookies....that way they all come out uniform and my obsessive compulsive side can rest easy. Once the dough is rolled into a ball, drop it in to the confectioners sugar and roll it around to coat it. Then place it on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake for 13 to 17 minutes until the tops are cracked and feel firm when touched. Cool and then eat.

Apple Cake...Williams-Sonoma Style...

Aaaaahhhhhh fall.....

The weather has taken a huge turn for the better, the kids are back in school, and guess what? The apples are back!!! Oh, how I love the apples.



Everyone, meet Apple Cake. Apple Cake, this is everyone.



This was a perfect fall treat. Delicious with tea, but then again, I eat all desserts with tea.



A little apple, a little walnuts, and everyone can use a little cream cheese frosting every once in a while, right? This was very reminiscent of spice cake with little pieces of sweet apple mixed in there. It was delicious. A definite keeper.



I have another apple cake recipe up my sleeve...so stay tuned for Apple Cake Round 2!!!

Apple Cake
adapted from Williams-Sonoma Baking Essentials

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups peeled and diced apples (I used Granny Smith, about 1 and 1/2 apples did the trick. I diced my apples pretty small, which required fairly thin slices.)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

for frosting:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 pound confectioners sugar
(next time I make this icing, I will probably use half of all 3 ingredients. I always have extra, and there is always way too much icing on the cake, if you ask me.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x13x2 inch cake pan.

This is the point when I usually make my buttermilk. I measure out almost the amount of buttermilk that the recipe calls for in whole milk, and then top it off with a little white vinegar. By the time you are ready to add the buttermilk to the recipe, it will be ready to go. I believe the rule of thumb is 1 cup of milk to a tablespoon or so of vinegar.

Measure flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves into a bowl. Mix with a fork until well combined.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time and mix until just combined. Once you've finished adding the eggs it's time to add the dry ingredients. Add the flour/spice mixture in 3 batches, starting with the flour and alternating with the buttermilk. ***Be very careful not to overmix.*** When you add the third and final round of flour, throw the apples and walnuts in there too, and remove the batter from the mixer. At this point, I mixed the apples, walnuts and remaining batter til combined by hand. Warning: If you overmix the batter, you will perhaps get a heavier and not so light cake.

Once batter, apples and walnuts are all evenly combined, spread batter in cake pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let cool for 20 minutes and then ice with frosting and eat!

Brown Butter Blondies

Sheer bliss.


That's all I have to say.



I don't know why I ever even bothered with all those other brownie recipes.  And brownies from a box?  Bite your tongue.



These were so, so, very good that I almost passed out on the floor in sheer bliss when I tasted them..... but then I pulled myself together and ate two.  Immediately.  And I wasn't sorry.  Not one bit.

Brown Butter Blondies
Recipe from Williams-Sonoma 'Essentials of Baking'

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup clarified unsalted butter (see Notes)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
confectioners sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Butter an 8 inch by 8 inch baking dish or pan.  Line dish with parchment paper for easy removal and cooling, once blondies are done baking.

Add flour, baking powder and salt to a large bowl.  Mix to combine.

In a small saute or frying pan, over low heat, heat the clarified butter until light brown and fragrant, about 6 minutes.  Remove pan from the heat, pour butter into a bowl, and let cool.

In a second bowl, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar and butter when cooled.  Stir to combine with a wooden spoon.  Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice and stir until smooth.  Add dry ingredients in 2 batches and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish or pan.  Bake for about 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out either clean or with crumbs...not batter.  If using parchment paper, gently lift blondies out of baking dish or pan and let cool on a wire rack.

If desired, dust with confectioners sugar after blondies have cooled.  Then cut them and eat them right away for heavens sake!!!

Notes:
To make clarified butter:  Slowly melt at least 1 cup (or 2 sticks) of unsalted butter in a small pan over low heat until it is foamy on the surface.  Tranfer butter to a bowl to cool.  Once butter has cooled, using a spoon, carefully scoop foam off of the surface of the melted butter.  Once foam is removed pour butter back into pan, being careful to leave solid particles that have settled to the bottom, in the bowl.  Heat now clarified butter in a small pan over low heat until light brown and fragrant.  Immediately remove from heat.  If this whole 'clarification' process is not necessary, please, someone let me know..... cause I am not sure. 

2 sticks of butter made just a little over 2/3 cup of clarified butter for me.  Perfect.