Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies

This is my favourite cookie recipe. I change up the filling all the time, but the bare bones remain essentially unchanged.
The original inspiration for this recipe comes from Anna Olson's Sugar. I first posted the original version of this recipe in 2005 - link here.
As you can see, it has changed a little since then.

 Just a note: there is so much good stuff in these cookies, they will *just* hold together as you scoop. Don't worry, once they are baked, they are fine. And, yes, I really do use 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

Chocolate Chip Cranberry Walnut Cookies
Servings 24
 3/4 cup unsalted butter -- softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 F (175C).
2.Cream together butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.
3.Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
4.Stir in chocolate chunks, walnuts and dried cranberries.
5. Scoop tablespoons of batter for each cookie(I actually use a portion scoop)onto a baking sheet, lightly press down and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. These really don't spread very much.
6.Let cool slightly and enjoy.

Ridiculous Chocolate Tart

My husband has an insane sweet tooth and is always pestering me to make him dessert.I finally relented last week - I figured we needed some chocolate solace after losing Aggie. I turned o one of the few cookbooks I have cooked more than 50% of the recipes. The cookbook is called Fresh and I was given it as a gift years ago by my old bosses. It was my cookbook before I went to culinary school and tackled many of the (simple) recipes in it while exploring new flavours and cooking techniques.







 This chocolate tart is so easy it almost feels illegal, but it is important to use really good chocolate for this - as the main ingredient, it will be all that you taste. As I was writing this, I Googled to see if the recipe is posted anywhere. It is.... on my blog. How embarrassing.... Oh well, five years later, it is still damn good.
 PS. Miss you Trevor!

Berry Chocolate Tart


4 teaspoons jam
1 prebaked chocolate tart case -- recipe follows
160 grams unsalted butter
200 grams dark chocolate
3 egg yolks
2 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier


Preheat the oven to 350F. Spoon the jam into the base of the tart case and put it in the oven for 2 minutes. Remove the tart case and brush the jam over the base until it is glazed all over.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan over low heat. Beat the yolks, eggs and sugar until they are light and fluffy. Pour the melted chocolate and Grand Marnier into the eggs and continue to beat for a minute.

Pour the chocolate filling into the tart case and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Allow to sit for at least two hours before serving.







Chocolate Tart Case


160 grams unsalted butter
185 grams all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Put all ingredients in a food processor and whiz to form a paste.If the pastry doesn't ball add a dash of cold water (i used an eighth of a cup.). Cover in plastic wrap and chill for half an hour.

Roll the pastry out as thin as possible and use it to line a ten inch tart shell. Chill until ready to use.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Cover the pastry with parchment paper weighted down with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the paper and weights and bake for a further 5 minutes or until the base is dry.
recipe from Fresh, by Michele Cranston

Chocolate Cake Insanity

Yes, that is a picture of FIVE chocolate cakes - I had a request from a friend to make them, so I went for it. What a nut. I baked for five hours last night. And frosted for two today. The recipe is excellent - specially requested - it is the Silver Palate Cookbook 25th Anniversary Edition 's Chocolate Decadence Cake. The frosting is my own chocolate sour cream frosting.
Chocolate Decadence Cake

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

5 oz unsweetened chocolate
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
Confectioners sugar

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler. Transfer to a mixing bowl and start whisking. Add sour cream. It will look seized - DO NOT panic. Start adding confectioners sugar a cup at a time until desired texture is reached. Cover cake while as soon as frosting is made - it sets up.

Side note - my kitchen looks like a chocolate bomb exploded.....

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World

Need to drown your sorrows? May I suggest cupcakes. I think they pretty much cure anything! Particularly these ones.
My sister is getting married next month and mentioned that she wanted a vegan option on her cupcake tower, so I picked up Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes That Rule from Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks to give to her. Only now I can't give it away. Thank you Allison for the suggestion.

Buy this book, even if you aren't vegan.

For the sake of research, I decided to try a couple recipes: Banana Split Cupcakes, Golden Vanilla Cupcakes, Vanilla buttercream and Peanut Frosting
Of course there were adaptations made. I filled the golden Vanilla Cupcakes with morello cherry preserves before topping with the fluffy vanilla buttercream.
The recipe for these can be found here.

The Banana Split Cupcakes are my favourite though.

Banana Cupcakes
adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World

Ingredients

1 cup very ripe banana
1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2/3 cup soy milk
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract



Preheat oven to 350.
Get cupcake pans ready with liners.


Blend the mashed banana for a few seconds in a food processor to get rid of any lumps. Add the remaining wet ingredients and blend until totally smooth

Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar.

Fold the wet ingredients into to the dry ingredients and mix to combine; don’t over mix.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 20-22 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup margerine
4 tbsp vegan shortening (I used Earth Balance)
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 tablespoons ricemilk, soy milk etc

With an electric mixer, cream together margerine and shortening. Beat in Vanilla and peanut butter, then beat in sifted confectioners sugar. Thin if needed with rice milk.

Cooking for Priests

 

I was called back to do a couple of shifts for the priests and I was hunting for the perfect dessert. Some over ripe bananas on the counter were the jumping off point. They prefer food that is homey and simple, so I actually pulled this recipe from a book that I have had for a few years now: Kitchen Sense. A good basic cookbook that would be favourably compared to the Joy of Cooking. Recommended for those classic family pleasing recipes. I loved how the caramel Cream Cheese frosting was not too sweet. And the priests loved it as well. One asked me were I bought it.....
I have paraphrased the recipes as Davis' writing style is extremely detailed.
Here is the amazon link just in case.

Kitchen Sense

Banana Cake
Kitchen Sense, Mitchell Davis

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan, at room temp
3/4 cup buttermilk ( I used the vinegar/milk sub)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups ap flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ( I also added 1/2 teaspoon maple extract)
3 very large ripe bananas (about 1 1/4 cups

Preheat your oven to 350F Butter and flour one 9x13 0r 2 9 inch cake pans.
In a small bowl, combine baking soda and buttermilk. In another bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar to form a smooth paste. Add eggs, one at a time, beating as you go. Stir in vanilla or whatever other extract you chose.
Stir in half of the bananas, half of the milk and half the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Repeat. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for about 30 mins (mine took longer, but I think it was because of the sucky ovens at the priests) until the cake has risen, browned, pulled away from the edges and springs back from the touch. Let cool for 20 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto rack, allowing to cool completely.

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 2.5 cups

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups cream cheese at room temp
6 taplespoons unsalted butter at room temp

In a saucepan, combine sugar with 1/4 cup cold water. Set over medium high heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil and cook until the bubbles get slower, the syrup thickens, and the sugars start to darken. Swirl the pan to ensure that the caramelization is even. Keep swirling until the sugar has reached a dark mahogany colour. Remove from heat and immediately (CAREFULLY) add the heavy cream to stop the cooking. The caramel will bubble and froth, but keep swirling and stirring and it will settle to a rich thick sauce.Stir in salt and allow to cool to room temp (this will take about and hour).
In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together the cream cheese and butter, scraping down the sides, until smooth and light. Beat in cooled caramel. Icing can be used as is or chilled to stiffen somewhat before putting on the cake.