Sourdough Chocolate Cake

Why no, it's not supposed to be half frosting. Why do you ask?

As the relatively unappealing image above may demonstrate, this recipe is certainly not one of my resounding successes. That said, it wasn't an appalling failure either; consider it something of a happy medium--a bold recipe that is bravely willing to straddle the line between "meh" and "pants-wettingly-awesome".

Comparing my image above with that displayed on the main recipe's page (source) raises a couple of questions:

1) What went wrong?

... Upon reflection, that's the only question I have. And truth be told, I think I have an answer; unfortunately, there's rather little I can do about it. But far be it from me to deny my readers the experience of reading my prose simply because I couldn't handle a few simple steps. Onward!

Sourdough Chocolate Cake
(Approrpiated from King Arthur Flour's blog)

Ingredients
Cake
1c Active sourdough starter
1c Milk
2c Flour
1.5c Sugar
1c Vegetable oil
2tsp Vanilla
1tsp Salt
1.5tsp Baking soda
3/4c Cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 Eggs

Icing*
6c Powdered sugar
1/2c Butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2c Plain yogurt
1/2c Peanut butter
1tbsp Hot water

Garnish
1/3c Chocolate chips
1tbsp Milk
1tbsp Corn syrup

* You'll notice that I changed the type of icing used from coffee (original) to peanut butter (mine). This is not entirely due to flavor preferences; I also couldn't find any espresso powder at the store, so came up with an alternative on the fly.

Preheat oven to 350F

Procedure
In order to prepare properly, I activated my starter the previous evening (in accordance with standard sourdough preparation: remove from fridge, add 1/2c warm water and 1c flour, let sit for a while) and then added the milk and flour the following morning. I then proceeded to let it sit on the counter until I was ready to deal with it. Contrary to the main page's instructions, mine didn't appear to rise over the course of the day, but such things are really hard to measure anyway.

While the dough is resting/rising(ish), beat the sugar, oil, vanilla, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl until well-blended. Add the eggs individually, allowing each to fully incorporate before adding the next.

Once the mixture is ... mixed, and the dough has risen (ish), add the chocolate mixture to the dough and stir to incorporate. This will require a great deal of patience, as a relatively thick dough doesn't like dissolving into a liquid (more on this later). Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for about 40 minutes.

As the cake cools, you may prep the icing. Add the butter, peanut butter, water, and yogurt to a small saucepan and melt over medium heat, stirring frequently. (Note that if you stop stirring for too long, the peanut butter will probably scorch on the bottom of the pan.) After the mixture starts to boil, pour it over the powdered sugar and stir until thoroughly blended. Pour the resulting goo over the cooling cake.

The final garnish is optional, but helps add a bit of character to the cake's appearance. Simply melt the chocolate chips, corn syrup, and milk in a small bowl (the microwave works well for this, just go slowly) and then drizzle it over the top of the frosting.

Yeah, I'm horrible at the garnish part.

Lessons Learned
As I noted above, I encountered some trouble with the process of mixing the dough with the chocolate batter--notably, that they don't want to mix. They hate mixing. The sourdough has no trouble breaking up into smaller chunks and vanishing into a puddle of brown, but they're still there, waiting, like little chewy time bombs planning to wreak havoc on the texture of this cake. And that's precisely what happened to me: since you typically don't want to overmix gluteny goods, I erred on the side of caution and left some small fragments of dough scattered throughout my batter. These fragments, upon encountering the warm oven environment, transform into indigestible lumps of textural devastation in an otherwise mediocre cake. The best comparison I can come up with is akin to baked wafers (another disaster I've encountered first-hand, mind you): they're chewy and don't break down in the mouth, leaving you dissatisfied and curious as to what's going wrong.

The only other major problem I had was due entirely to my own modifications: as stated, I couldn't get espresso powder at the store, and settled on peanut butter as a substitution. However, I failed to take into consideration the fact that coffee (bitter) and a ton of sugar (sweet) mixes with yogurt (sour) to make something relatively balanced in the original recipe. My own version, peanut butter (sweet), sugar (sweet), and yogurt (sour), however, is extremely sweet (unsurprisingly), and completely overwhelms the cake itself. If I were to try the same substitution again, I would make a cream cheese based frosting rather than the powdered sugar type, as that would rebalance the flavors and allow the cake to shine through.

A final note: the cake's texture wasn't exactly cake-like (sourdough clumps aside); it was closer to a brownie. I suspect that in part this is because my sourdough yeast may not be active enough to provide the rise I need, but some further experimentation is needed to reach any real conclusion there. All in all, this was an interesting recipe, but not one I plan to attempt again; I'm content to make my cakes with chemical leaveners and leave the yeast to the goods they do best.

Burning Rings of Fire

Ahh, doughnuts... I realize that I wax hyperbolic about any number of treats in this forum (corn, cheesecake... oh, and pie, I suppose. Almighty king of cuisine that it is, after all.), but despite the fact that I have rather strong fondness for doughnuts as well, I've resisted attempting them for some time now. This is due to the very simple fact that making them from scratch scares me. There are few enough dishes that I'm unwilling to take on, and even fewer that I adore eating and still avoid, but doughnuts have resided at the top of that list since the idea first managed to lodge itself ever-so-gently in the back of my mind.

I have several reasons (or excuses, perhaps) for this irrational fear; after all, making home-fried doughnuts involves what would be considered a rather large amount of oil that burns like the fire of a thousand suns the moment it splatters onto my hand (as is, of course, inevitable when I do any amount of frying). Furthermore, I have trouble believing that I can surpass the culinary genius that I can experience firsthand in any donut shop for the meager price of ~$7 per dozen with any variety of sprinkles and glazes (not to mention fillings!). But perhaps first and foremost on my list of hangups with these doughy halos relates to the mass genocide of gassy little creatures that make all that is doughnut possible: yeast.

I've never worked with yeast in the past. It's one of those peculiar things that I read about, I understand (to some extent), and even have ready in my pantry--I simply never take that next step to start working with it. I suppose this is due in part to the fact that having never worked with these little bastards before, I really don't have a solid understanding of how to tell when things have gone wrong. With a steak, I can smell and see charring and know that I should reduce the heat. With brownies, I can see an overly-smooth batter and know that I'm going to be eating chocolate bread for a week. With chicken, I can just tell myself I'm going screw it up anyway so there's no sense worrying about it (at which point I make a quick trip to my local sandwich shop, hanging my head in shame. "Hi Shawn!" they'll say, "cooking chicken again, eh?" "Yeah..., just give me the usual.")

With yeast-dependent recipes, on the other hand, I know absolutely nothing, except that my recipe will never end up like the pictures I see online when I follow recipes stolen from others (hi Joy! I did try to warn you I'd be appropriating this one too!). And while I went into this experiment knowing that this was inevitable, I felt that it was time to conquer the fear. Glaring at my tiny packet of instant yeast, I ripped it open in one swipe, determined that I would be ruled by my emotions no longer.

... Naturally, my first opening attempt was a little overly-vigorous and I emerged coated in a fine layer of my would-be enemy. Grabbing a second packet and resolving to be on the lookout for more such trickery in the future, I set to work.

Yeast-Risen Doughnuts
(as "adapted" from Joy the Baker)

Ingredients
1 Package of instant-rise yeast
3 1/4c Flour
1c Milk
1/4c Room-temperature butter
3 Egg yolks
4tbsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1/2tsp Cinnamon
1/2tsp Nutmeg*
1/2tsp Ginger*
1qt Vegetable oil

*I took some creative liberties with the flavorings, but as you'll see later, it really didn't make a difference.

Procedure
1) In a mixer bowl, mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, until well blended. Note that since I'm using instant-rise yeast, it will theoretically work without giving it a soak in warm water. Subsequent experiments have shown me that while this is true, the rise is much faster if you give it a bath anyway. Tempermental bastards, no?

2) Once the ingredients are homogenized, add the milk, butter, and egg yolks and mix with a dough hook attachment until the mess comes together. Continue mixing at medium speed for ~5 minutes.

3) At this point, you are left with a highly attractive looking lump of dough:

Look at 'em... you know they're up to something...

4) Sprinkle the surface somewhat liberally with flour and cover the bowl with a towel. Set it in a reasonably warm place to start rising (I found that the top of the fridge worked perfectly) and leave it there for about 2-3 hours, or until it has approximately doubled in volume.

5) Sprinkle a countertop with a dusting of flour and turn your engorged yeast lump out onto it. Gently spread it with your hands into a rough circle.

6) Use a rolling pin to roll the circle into a larger circle until it is between 1/4 and 1/2 of an inch thick.

7) Using a pastry ring (or biscuit cutter, or ... um... a tin can or something), cut out doughnut-sized rounds. Use a smaller ring to cut out the holes.

I'm not sure how one would cut holes when using a can, but I trust you can figure something out.

8) Re-roll the dough as desired to get more doughnuts. It's worth noting that the second and third rollings will not be as light as the first batch unless the dough is given more time to rest. Since I'm impatient, I just cut them all at once and said to hell with it.

9) Set the freshly cut doughnuts (and holes!) on a lightly floured baking sheet to rest for about 30 minutes. Coincidentally, this gives you just enough time to start heating your oil in a large heavy pot or skillet. Be sure it reaches at least 350F (or ripples lightly when left standing still) before attempting to start frying.

10) After the oil has come to temperature, carefully drop the doughnuts into the oil, one at a time. Do not attempt to fry more than 3 at once or the oil temperature could drop lower than we want and create soggy doughnuts.

They start browning rather quickly. Be sure to watch them carefully.

11) After about 2-3 minutes, flip the doughnuts with a slotted spoon (or, even better, chopsticks!) and allow to fry on the other side for another 2 minutes.

It's rather easy to tell when they're done... they should really be doughnut-colored.

12) Remove the doughnuts using the same spoon or chopsticks and place them on a wire rack to drain and cool. Repeat steps 10 and 11 with the remaining doughnuts and holes.

13) Glaze with whatever you desire; I'd make recommendations, but I wasn't entirely pleased with how my glaze turned out. I'd recommend finding a recipe that sounds intriguing for that aspect and steal it from there instead. (I used the one from Joy, as borrowed from Alton Brown; it was tasty, but came out very runny and never really firmed up as much as I'd have liked.)

You can see right through the chocolate coating in this version.

This is after I refrigerated the glaze for ~20 minutes and re-dipped the doughnuts. Much better, but still too soft to the touch.

Lessons Learned
Emerging from my epic battle only slightly scathed (damn that oil!), I discovered that the fear had vanished in the surge of triumph. I had destroyed my enemy in classic fashion, allowing no survivors and only slight casualties as a consequence. Still, the yeast had the last laugh; my doughnuts tasted exactly like a loaf of bread, and only the glaze had any chance of changing this. Heavy doses of chocolate and peanut butter calmed the yeast's overpowering taste, but I could hear the bastards laughing all the way down. Next time, I'm making chemically-leavened doughnuts, and to hell with these damn microorganisms. I'll save them for breads and pizza.

Fahrenheit -451

I have a confession to make, my dear readers: I actually made this recipe before the Hostess fiasco detailed below. In my vanity, I chose to post the pocket pie disaster before this one so that I could swiftly cover up my failure with a subsequent success. I'd be ashamed, but somehow, I think I'm OK with it. That said, this recipe is not a complete success, so consider this my way of easing you back into my usual batches of perfection incarnate. I like to try and make things easy on all involved.

As many folks know, with the purchase of a KitchenAid stand mixer comes the opportunity to purchase a myriad of different devices to attach to said mixer in order to perform a variety of different tasks. When the mixer is upgraded with said attachment, one can grind meat, make pasta, juice veggies, and (presumably) produce quality food products by day and fight the forces of evil by night under the psuedonym "Voltron". (Note that I haven't attempted that last one yet, but it is indeed advertised in the KitchenAid attachment catalog. Go ahead! Check for yourself.)

This overly-verbose intro is my long-winded way of saying that, despite my resistance to spend additional money on products to continue cluttering up my kitchen, I decided to succumb to temptation and buy the KitchenAid ice-cream maker add-on kit (and for approximately the same price I paid for the mixer itself, I might add). As of late, The Kitchn has been running an ice cream making contest, asking readers to submit their best recipes, and after a week or two, I could no longer resist. At this point, I needed a maker, and rather than pay for an additional appliance, I figured getting the expansion for the mixer was a savvier (and more space-conservative) purchase.

Naturally, I was eager to get my device up and running, so after waiting the appropriate 24 hours to freeze the bowl, I readied up my first trial recipe, selected mostly because I'm well-known for having a penchant for all things peanut butter and chocolate oriented.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream
(as adapted from Joy the Baker, although hers looks significantly prettier than mine)

Ingredients
2c 1% Milk
1c heavy cream
1c sugar
1/3c natural cocoa powder
1/4tsp salt
3tbsp Corn starch
1/2c semisweet chocolate chips
1/4c bittersweet baking chocolate chunks
1/2c organic smooth peanut butter

As you can see, I took some creative liberties with the recipe, none of which had any adverse affect on the end result, in my opinion. I still recommend reading Joy's entry, as she does a much better job of it than I do.

Procedure
1) Place a sauce pan on medium heat and add 1.5c of the milk and half of the cream. Allow the liquid to warm up (although do not bring it to a boil).

2) Add the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt, and whisk to combine.

The mixture will take some time to get incorporated.

3) Whisk steadily until the powder dissolves completely (although some chunks are always going to remain).


4) In a separate bowl, mix the remaining milk and the corn starch until it is smooth. Note that you can't let this sit for very long or else it'll solidify, requiring further mixing.

5) When the heated mixture begins to steam, add the corn starch mixture and bring to a low boil. Whisk steadily until the solution reaches a pudding-like consistency.

Note: Do *not* eat the pudding. It'll be much better as ice cream anyway.

6) Turn off the heat and mix in the remaining cream, chocolate chips, and baking chocolate. Stir until the chunks melt and are incorporated into the mixture. Pour the mix into a bowl and chill, covered, for at least 4 hours.

The chilling process allows for a creamier ice cream.

7) Once the mixture is well-chilled, assemble your ice cream maker and follow its instructions. Note that it's important to have the churner moving before adding the ice cream base, or else it may not incorporate properly.

...Yeah, so it was harder to pour in than I had anticipated. Look at how little clearance I have between the bowl and the beater!

8) After the mixture has thickened (generally about 30 minutes), disassemble the device and move the ice cream into a freezer-safe container.

9) Use a spatula to fold in the peanut butter. Do not overmix, as you want a nice streak of peanut butter running through it, not total incorporation.

10) Place your ice cream in the freezer and allow to freeze (or "cure") overnight. Yes, it takes that long (depending on your freezer--mine sucks); I only gave it 4 hours and it was still "pudding-y". Delicious, but not ice cream.

An example of improperly-cured ice cream. Yes, it was great, but it wasn't very well frozen, and was basically like eating frozen pudding.

Lessons Learned:
Contrary to Joy's instructions, I feel that adding the peanut butter during the churning process (even at the end) caused too much incorporation of my peanut butter. While this recipe tasted fantastic, as you can see from the images above, pouring something that's pudding-like in consistency into a very small opening can be difficult. As such, I don't know that corn starch-based ice cream recipes are my favorites; next time, I'll try a custard-based chocolate recipe and simply fold in peanut butter at the end. Still, this made for a very delicious semi-failure; one can only hope all my mistakes taste this good.

Mutiny on the HMS Hostess

Who would've thought such a simple device could cause such trouble?

As my few readers have no doubt noticed, thus far I have posted recipes that have been considered more or less successful. Even in the instances where the finished product was not something I was looking for, the experience was informative and it ultimately brings me a greater understanding of the product I *do* want. Well, lest you all think that my kitchen is a wonderland of magical materials that render ever attempt perfect, I present what is quite possibly the greatest culinary disaster my kitchen has ever seen: pocket pies.

As a child, I grew up gorging myself on Hostess products, just as my father had before me and so on through generations. The passing down of the Hostess craving was something of a time-honored tradition in our family, and I often found I could make a meal out of nothing more than 2-3 of their handheld fruit pies. (Yes, one would be enough, but one wants a little variety in a meal!) Naturally, as my metabolism has slowed and my fat reserves grown, I have thankfully steered myself out of the fast lane towards diabetes and back towards more conservative eating habits (my lingering bulk notwithstanding). However, when I discovered an episode of Good Eats dedicated solely to reproducing these little delicacies from my youth, there was little doubt in my mind that I would have to at least attempt the recipe and simply hope that I could bring the things into work and thereby spread the guilt joy amongst my coworkers instead.

Be not ye fooled; the photo at the top of this post, if you haven't guessed already, is most certainly not the end result of this experiment. Indeed, this recipe has convinced me that as gods were those who created the Hostess fruit pie, for it is certainly beyond my mortal abilities to recreate my beloved confection. Perhaps this is for the best, as my experience with this recipe has not only convinced me to halt any pie pastry-related endeavors in my near future, but it may have also soured me to the Hostess products I had once adored. Read on, my faithful viewers, and behold the horrific tale that unfolds.

Chocolate-filled Pocket Pies
Recipes adapted from various sources, as listed in each section below.

Pastry Dough:
Recipe appropriated from Laylita's Recipes
3c flour
1/2c sugar
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
8 tbsp butter
8 tbsp shortening
2-4 tbsp cold water

1) Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl with a fork or whisk until well mixed.

2) Add the butter, eggs, and water and mix until a dough forms.

Funny note: From the looks of things (and upon reflection), I don't think I added the damned eggs!

3) Form the dough into a large mound and flatten out somewhat. Refrigerate the lump for around 30 minutes.

This is what it looked like *before* entering the fridge... However, I let it sit overnight out of laziness.

... yes, there's more to Laylita's recipe, and no, I didn't get there. Due to a combination of complications (including the lack of eggs I mentioned above... damn it), the dough came out of the fridge a powdery mess that refused to coalesce back into the lump shown above. Now, after much reflection, I came up with several reasons for this:

a) Too much sugar in the dough: adding too much sugar can cause the sugar to lay claim to water intended for the flour, thus leaving the flour to be a powdery mess.
b) Too much time in the fridge: combined with the excessive sugar, the extra time simply allowed the sugar to mug the flour particles for their water for an extended period.
c) Lack of eggs: Obviously, the eggs would help as both a binder and a liquifier. With this revelation in hand, the dough recipe might actually be worth trying again sometime. Sometime later.

Regardless of the reasons behind it, I threw out the dough, as I was tired of fighting with it. I decided to roll back to the original recipe's dough instead. But in the meantime, I decided to create the chocolate goo that I was going to fill my pastries with. After all, it's chocolate filling--I couldn't possibly screw it up!

Chocolate Filling:
Recipe appropriated from Good Eats
2.5c sugar
1/4c + 1tbsp cocoa powder
1/4tsp salt
10oz butter

1) Dump the sugar, powder, and salt into a zip-top bag and shake vigorously.

At this point, my shaking was most vigorous, as I was already in a mood.

2) Add the butter to the bag and squish the crap out of it.

Squishing is also a good activity when frustrated.

While this recipe looks fairly innocent, it actually ends up being a huge pain simply because it takes a hell of a lot of squishing to get a uniform distribution between that much butter and that much not-butter! Nonetheless, this was obviously the more pleasant portion of my experiment. Since I did my squishing immediately after placing my pastry dough in the fridge, I refrigerated it until I was ready to pipe it out. Note that if refrigerated, this stuff needs to sit out to return to room temperature before it's easy to pipe out of the bag. So, now that that's taken care of, we can move onto the final portion of this god-forsaken recipe--my second batch (grr...) of dough.

Pastry Dough (Second Incarnation):
Recipe appropriated from Good Eats
2c flour
2tsp baking powder
3/4tsp salt
6tbsp shortening
3/4c milk
1 egg mixed with 1tsp of water (for sealing)

Preheat oven to 350F

I should note that while preparing this dough, I was already irritated with my previous experience, and as such, was not necessarily planning on publishing the recipe. Thus, I didn't take any pictures until the end. I'll have to try to fill in the blanks with my masterful wordsmithing instead.

1) Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl with a fork or whisk. The recipe calls for a food processor, but I really don't see the need at this point, and I don't own one anyway.

2) Knead the shortening into the mixture with your hands until it is crumbly, much like when making a pie dough.

I think the thought "pie dough" is what screwed me up with the first recipe; I never add eggs to pie dough, so I didn't think about it when I blindly omittted them.

3) Add the milk and mix it in with a spatula until the dough comes together. Note that since this isn't actually going to be a pie crust, you don't need to worry about overmixing the dough as excess gluten will not hurt the end texture here.

4) Lightly flour the countertop and your hands and slam the dough onto it. Flour the top of the dough as well.

5) Roll out the dough until it is about 1/3 of an inch thick. I strongly suspect I rolled mine out too thin--yet another bad omen.

6) Cut out rounds of the dough with a biscuit cutter (or other ring approximately 2 inches in diameter). Re-roll the dough as many times as necessary after cutting rounds out of it.

7) Roll each round out slightly to make it ovular in shape and pipe out a small blob of the chocolate filling into each one. Note that this step can (and probably should) be performed one round at a time, rather than all of them at once.

8) Brush the egg mixture across one side of the oval using the tip of a finger or pastry brush.

9) Fold the dough over and try to press out any excess air.

10) Use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges of the pastry and to pierce some ventilation holes in the top of the pie.

11) Repeat steps 7-10 for all the pastry rounds. Place the finished pastries on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Seems relatively straightforward, if a little long in the steps, right? Well, here we are:

Stupid pies.

As you can see, I took the liberty of placing the damned things on a wire rack, as I figured that would provide better ventilation around all sides of the pie. Even though it would *probably* leave wire rack indentations on the pies themselves, I could live with that. Right? Ha! I bet these things exploded after the first minute, and spent the rest of the baking time laughing at me for my audacity.

Lessons learned:
That I probably won't be trying this again for the time being? I can't say never, as I'll give them another shot at some point, but certainly not for now. Perhaps the best lesson to take out of this is that $1 for a Hostess pie suddenly seems a lot more reasonable.

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (Experiment)

At the risk of making this appear a dessert-oriented blog, I am adding yet another incarnation of cookies to my archives. That said, I have a valid excuse this time! ... Well, an excuse. Besides, who needs to rationalize the production of cookies?

The inspiration for this experiment (the purpose of which will be explained shortly) stemmed from two major sources: The Kitchn, a delightful blog that I frequent daily, posted an article written about a column in the New York Times that claimed to have the secret to the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Now, aside from providing me a number of links to rattle off in a rapid-fire sequence to confuzzle my sparse readers, these sources pushed me to settle for my own satisfaction just what makes a great chocolate chip cookie. To summarize the experiment, the article in the Times claimed that the secret to making these cookies traverse the distance that separates "good" cookies from "better-than-sex" cookies (quotes added for dramatic effect) is the extra 24 hours of time spent chilling the dough after all the ingredients have been mixed. Upon reading this (and the subsequent rationale, which does indeed attempt to make decent sense), my patented bullshit alarm went off and demanded that I verify this claim for my own satisfaction.

For those too lazy to read the linked articles above, the recipe is rather complicated (at least as far as cookies go) and includes a variety of ingredients taht do not make common appearances in my kitchen (such as both bread and cake flours). Consequently, I made some substitutions. Now to those who have alarm bells going off after that remark, allow me to explain. The original recipe calls for a hefty helping of cake flour with an additional dose of bread flour to balance it out. Since the article doesn't explain the basis for this ratio, I'll fill in my own understanding: cake flour has less protein than other flours (e.g., bread, All-Purpose, etc.) and therefore contains less gluten, which will make for a lighter and "less-chewy" dough. Bread flour, conversely, generally contains what leading food experts refer to as a "crapload" of protein (and gluten), and thus produces the opposite effect. It can thus be assumed that the ratio of cake to bread flour called for in the recipe is carefully calculated to produce the desired texture and consistency in this cookie. However, I'm of the opinion that since the recipe is using both, substituting the All-Purpose ("AP", henceforth) flour that I currently have two 10-pound bags of in my kitchen will still produce a nice medium between the two flours. The difference in protein content should be rather negligible, and if nothing else, it's small enough that I don't want to go out and buy two bags of flour for a single experiment when I have tons of AP stuff at home. That said, those of you who feel this is an inappropriate substitution for this particular recipe can go run your own experiment and prove me wrong. My experiment (not to mention my money), my rules!

But back to the experiment itself. To explain my BS alarm mentioned previously, I don't disagree that resting the dough would produce a difference in the cookies. What I take umbrage at is the fact that if I want to make cookies, I'm not going to put things together and then wait until the following day to get my fix (a sentiment that seems to be reflected in the comments to The Kitchn's post), and I truly doubt that allowing "the flour to take time to absorb the liquid in the dough" (as is explained in the Times' article) will make any noticeable difference in texture, let alone flavor. But of course, that is the entire rationale behind this test. ... Which reminds me that I still haven't explained my experiment. I propose to make two batches of these heart-attacks-in-waiting: one batch will be made exactly as directed by the recipe (aside from the substitution described in the previous paragraph) while the other batch will simply use the same ingredients as the original recipe, thus eliminating the wait period and allowing me to get my cookie on quicker. Two doughs enter, 40-odd cookies leave, and whoever I can persuade to help me gets to be the judge.

"The perfect chocolate chip cookies"
Ingredients:
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips
Sea salt (for topping)

Procedure:
Since I'm making the same recipe twice, I'm not going to write out two different procedure sections with separate photos for each. Just trust me that the process looked the same both times.

Preheat oven to 350F.

1) Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and coarse salt in a bowl until well mixed and set aside. It should be noted that this process doesn't only mix the ingredients--it also aerates the dry ingredients, allowing for more "fluffage" of the mix. This results in a lighter cookie texture.

Yes, I used a fork instead of sifting. I hate sifting. I don't own a sifter. Fork it.

2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy.


3) Add the eggs, one at a time, allowing the first to fully incorporate before adding the second. Top off with the vanilla. The mixture will become creamier, in a sense.


4) Slowly incorporate the dry mix into the bowl, either by using a mixer on its lowest setting or by adding a little at a time and mixing by hand. It's important to do this slowly so that the dough doesn't develop too much gluten and become overly chewy.


5) Finally, add the chocolate chips and try to distribute them evenly throughout the dough. At this point, the dough will be frustrating and difficult to work with (by my standards, at least), and you'll probably be glad to set it aside to rest.


6) Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Note: From my experience, I'd recommend flattening the dough into a square before refrigeration. This way, upon removal from the fridge, you can easily slice it into individual cookies. Chilling it in a ball (as I show below) results in a hard block that must be attacked repeatedly in order to break it into chunks.

The labels, I trust, explain themselves.

7) After the dough has chilled, remove from the wrap and divide into balls about the size of an ice-cream scoop (with the chilled dough, the ice cream scoop itself doesn't work, as it's hard as a rock. The unchilled dough, however, scoops perfectly).

Note my highly sexy silicone baking mat. Ugly appearance, fantastic functionality.

8) Place 6 cookies on a greased baking sheet and sprinkle them with a little sea salt on top. Bake at 350F for 19-20 minutes. Note that the cookies will expand, so leave enough room for this. Remove them when they are slightly golden on top and just browning at the edges.


9) Allow them to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then move the cookies to a cooling rack to finish firming up. Place in the transport vehicle of your choice (mine shown below, violating company trademarks in the process) and consume as necessary. Makes somewhere around 20-25 cookies, depending on how exact you are.

Tell me that without the labels, you could tell which was which. I dare you.

Results:
As I mentioned before, I didn't expect any noteworthy differences in the flavor of the cookies, but did expect some differences in appearance. Since the refrigerated dough's butter had a chance to re-solidify after mixing, I expected the chilled cookies to be puffier, as they would have less time to spread in the oven. Much to my surprise, both batches came out looking virtually identical. Furthermore, they tasted the same! Texture, flavor, appearance, all identical! It would appear that my BS detector had indeed properly identified yet another pointless waste of time in the culinary world, but of course, I couldn't let myself be the only test subject. After soliciting opinions from roommate and coworkers alike, I received the following opinions:

• Can't tell the difference
• Unchilled is "buttery-er"
• Chilled is "saltier"
• You're lying; these are the same cookies
• Is this a social experiment to see who will attempt to find differences that aren't there?
• Are you sure you're not lying?
• You're a liar!

... So aside from continuing to develop my reputation as someone who cannot be trusted, it would appear that the overwhelming opinion sides with me, in this case. Now I realize that since I modified the recipe to a small extent, the whole process might be considered invalid. That said, it's valid enough for my tastes, as I simply wanted to find out if being lazy with my cookie process was really hurting my cookie flavor. Other blogs have done a much more in-depth analysis (from what I've seen, at least), but I figured this would be a fun way to prove my baking instincts correct as well as to fatten the wallets of my coworkers' doctors. As I'm currently working my way through my fifth cookie today, I can safely say that I can literally feel my arteries hardening up as I type.

Cakey Brownies (Final Revision)

Author's Note: Due to a hard drive crash, this entry has been delayed, and as such, is no longer as "recent" as the text may indicate. Thankfully, the data has risen from its ashes completely intact, and thus the masterful creation is preserved. You may all rejoice.

After realizing it'd been a while since I had revisited my cakey brownies, I determined recently that it was time to finish the job. This version represents the completion of my master plan in that it incorporates the final ingredient (as borrowed from Paula Deen's brownie recipe--hers uses a box mix though) and turned out so fantastic that the next time I make them, I'll have to make at least a double batch in order to ensure that my coworkers don't inhale them all before lunch.

Ingredients:
1/2tsp baking powder
3/4c natural cocoa powder
2/3c butter, melted
1/2c cold milk
2c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3c all-purpose flour
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp salt
2 large milk chocolate candy bars

Note that this is basically the same recipe that I used in my last draft, with the small addition of candy bars on the end. Due to feedback from a couple friends (thanks Shari, Sharon!), I determined that the last recipe was close enough to what I wanted that the textural differences could probably be alleviated by simply mixing less. My last recipe mixed for several minutes after all ingredients were incorporated for no evident reason (this idea was taken from Good Eats; I don't feel it adds much to this recipe though), so I eliminated that and stopped the mixer whenever I could between ingredients.

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350F and mix the eggs on low speed for a minute or two--just until the yolks and whites mingle. Slowly add the milk and vanilla and continue mixing until incorporated. Gradually add the dry ingredients, slowly enough that the batter never becomes a huge clump of powder clustered over a messy ball (hard to explain, but easy enough to see during the process). Note that a few clumps of dry ingredients are allowed in the batter; better that then over-aerating the batter by overmixing. Once the dry ingredients are mixed in, gradually add the melted butter in a slow trickle and mix until it is completely incorporated.

Pour about half the batter into a 9x9 pan (just enough to coat the bottom when spread with a spatula) and place the candy bars side-by-side on top of the batter. They should effectively cover most of the surface at this point:

Cover the candy with the remaining batter and smooth out until the bars are completely covered and the top of the batter is smooth.


Bake for about 40-45 minutes. Note that due to the candy bars, the standard toothpick test won't work here, so you'll have to eyeball or tap the top of the brownies to determine their doneness; mine came out slightly crisper on top than I might've liked, but not significantly enough that I cared much. If yours come out too crunchy, consider increasing the temperature and decreasing the time to 375F and 35-40 minutes, respectively (for the next batch, of course!).

Note that the final product comes out with a moist and almost-gooey brownie texture (especially in the middle brownies) with a molten chocolate-filled center. Be warned that you MUST let these things cool for longer than normal brownies (I'd recommend at least 30-40 minutes) before consumption, as that molten chocolate center, while delicious, is roughly the same temperature as the surface of the sun, and getting any on your tongue will result in your being unable to taste anything (including your brownies) for the next week or two.

Nanaimo Bars

Given that I apparently haven't experimented with any new creations lately, last weekend I had the urge to try something new. Something different. Something... Canadian. Yes, the same place that brought us the NHL and Celine Dion somehow managed to find the time between creating additional plagues on humanity to produce a dessert so wonderful it may almost make their previous crimes worth enduring. The slice of paradise pictured at the top of this post is by far one of the best baking experiments I have picked up, and while complicated and rather time-consuming, provides rewards that will have your palate begging--nay, demanding--that you deliver more.

Fine, so I'm indulging in a bit of hyperbole. I don't really hate Canadia (yes, I know how to spell it. But this is more fun!) and Celine Dion is not a plague so much as a punishment for some crime we can't recall. That said, I maintain that the Nanaimo bar is just as delicious as I described, although this statement is based partly on the potential I taste in the recipe. I don't consider this the best version that can be produced (indeed, next time we're going with peanut butter flavor!), but the very fact that it is so easy to tailor to a specific taste has planted this recipe firmly in my pile of "things I'll make more than once a year".

It is definitely worth noting that my idea (and the recipe for it) did not spawn from nothing; my inspiration was drawn largely from here and here. I used two references in order to determine the substitutions I could make in order to compensate for not caring enough to go out and find "European style cultured unsalted butter". While I'm sure the stuff is fantastic, I suspect I'll survive with just my run-of-the-mill Costco butter. However, from these two sources, I created my hybridized version thereof. Future attempts will include additional modifications. A lot of ingredients? Yes! Yes it is! For sanity's sake, I'd recommend breaking this recipe in three distinct segments. Thankfully, it does this for you anyway!

Nanaimo Bar Recipe (consists of three layers)
Preheat oven to 350F (only used for first layer)

Bottom:
1/2c Unsalted butter (melted)
1/3c Sugar*
1/3c Unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Large egg
1.5c Cinnamon-sugar graham crackers*
1/2c Pecans (crushed)
1c Coconut (shredded)
1tsp Vanilla extract

*More observant readers will notice that I reduced the sugar from 1/2c. This is because I couldn't find your regular everyday graham crackers, and had to use the pre-sugar/cinnamoned variety. It should also be noted that my coworkers detected the note of cinnamon and deemed it a "very nice addition", however accidental it may have been.

Middle:
1/2c Unsalted butter
2tbsp + 2tsp Heavy whipping cream
2tbsp Vanilla pudding mix
2c Powdered sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract

Top:**
6 Squares bittersweet baker's chocolate
1.5tbsp Corn syrup
3oz Heavy whipping cream
1/2tsp Vanilla extract

**No, I didn't use the topping recipe from either source listed above. Instead, I took the advice of some of the recipe commenters and used a Ganache recipe from Good Eats as the topping. True to the reader's remarks, this made for a topping that wasn't so stiff that it shattered when consuming it and was overall what I felt to be a good substitution.

For the crusty base:
1) Mix the butter, sugar, and cocoa in a large bowl until well combined. Use a bowl that seems far larger than necessary; you'll want the extra room.
2) Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix. Set the bowl aside.
3) In a gallon zip-top bag, crush the graham crackers and nuts (I did this by hand for fun, but those of you with food processors can use those, if you call that living).
4) Add the coconut to the bag and mix thoroughly (read: Zip up and shake!)


5) Add the contents of the bag to the bowl and mix with a spatula until combined.
6) Press the mixture into a well-greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350F for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

As seen above, my "well-greased" pan is actually lined with parchment. This made final dessert extraction significantly easier, and I highly recommend the practice.

For the custard center:
1) Cream the butter, pudding, and sugar until well-mixed and fluffy.
2) Add the cream and vanilla and continue mixing until it reaches the consistency of frosting.
3) Spread the mixture on top of the cooled bottom layer and refrigerate for at least an hour to let it set.

I had intended to take photos of the creaming process for examples, but forgot up until I started refrigerating it. But you know what frosting's texture is like, right?

For the ganache topping:
1) Simmer the syrup and cream in a medium saucepan.
2) While waiting for the mixture to reach a simmer, use a serrated knife to break up the chocolate chunks into more manageable pieces.
3) Once a simmer is reached, add the chocolate and remove from heat.
4) Stir until the chocolate is well melted and the mixture is smooth.
5) Add the vanilla and stir to combine.
6) Spread the ganache on top of the dessert.
7) Refrigerate for another hour to allow the chocolate to firm up. Note that while this step isn't necessarily required, omitting it will make for a very gooey top when cutting the bars.

Again, I forgot to take more pictures. Still, it's a simple process. Note how nicely the block came out of my pan. Thank you, parchment!

Future modifications:
As I said, this dessert turned out great and I'm hesitant to tweak with it much. ...Ok, I'm lying; it *was* great, but the "custard" center wasn't quite what I had hoped for (seeing as how it wasn't a custard at all). For my next attempt, I'll mix some peanut butter into this layer and increase the volume a bit so it makes a thicker and denser filling. The other problem was that the bottom layer turned out to be half the dessert! While it was tasty, I wanted more cream and chocolate top and less graham cracker. Consequently, I'll attempt to make more ganache and custard and reduce the amount of crust in my next try. Still, I heartily recommend trying this actual recipe out first before making your own tweaks. Seeing the final product gave me a much better idea of what I wanted to be different. Plus, more dessert is always a good idea!

Cakey Brownies (revisited)

As I mentioned in my previous brownie attempt, while the last batch turned out OK, it wasn't what I was looking for. After some further research (read: more watching TV), I reworked my procedure and modified the recipe slightly, with a significantly improved result. It's worth noting that I remain steadfastly loyal to my base recipe simply because a large part of this experiment is for me to determine exactly which ingredients have which effects. By keeping as many variables as I can static between attempts, I'm gaining great insight into the "why" of my results, which has thus far proved invaluable, even with only two attempts.

Random ramblings aside, my intent with this recipe was to fix the flavor (less sweet, more chocolate), reduce cakiness a bit, and improve moisture (last batch was rather dry, plus crunchy topping). I feel that I accomplished each goal, and while the recipe is still not quite there yet, it's definitely improving with practice.

Software:
1/2tsp baking powder
3/4c natural cocoa powder
2/3c butter, melted (modified from softened)
1/2c cold milk (modified from hot water)
2c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3c all-purpose flour
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp salt

Hardware:
Still used stand mixer with paddle attachment
Mixed dry in separate bowl first

Mix the eggs for a few moments on medium speed in the mixer. Once they are blended together and the mixture is somewhat lightened, add the milk on low speed. After a few moments, slowly add the dry mixed ingredients, still on low (I stayed on low for the remainder of this recipe, learning from my previous results). Once the dry ingredients have mostly mixed in, slowly add the melted butter and let it mix for about 5 minutes. The final batter should look like this semi-blurry image (stupid mixer):

You may notice that it still seems a bit fluffy. This is fine, as the recipe will probably be adjusted in the next draft to compensate for this.

Pour and spread the batter evenly into a 9x9 metal pan (I prefer metal for brownies, but glass or ceramic will also work in a pinch). As shown below, after the batter has been spread in the pan, it looks a bit less fluffy.

Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a slight brownish tinge at the bottom.

These brownies sliced a lot better than the last batch since the top wasn't nearly as crunchy.

Lessons learned:
Lower speed definitely helped, and I think mixing the ingredients in a different order made a significant difference. These brownies were almost right, but still slightly too fluffy; it comes across more as "devil's food" cake than cakey brownies (a fine distinction, but I feel that there is one). Potential changes? I suspect next time I'll revert back to using baking soda, and I may add another egg. Moisture was perfect for this version, so I probably won't change much.

Cakey Brownies

This recipe (hoisted and modified for my own designs from Shari's blog) represents an experiment--a building block in the foundation of my baking experience. With the recent acquisition of my KitchenAid mixer, I have developed a fascination with the chemistry behind all things baked. That said, my experiments generally end with somewhat underwhelming results, but I suppose that's the idea in the first place.

In this case, I wanted brownies that were significantly cakier than the fudgey ones produced by the aforementioned recipe. Not that I have any problem with fudgey brownies--far from it; I love Shari's recipe and as such, decided to use it as the base for my modifications. My ultimate purpose in this endeavor was to achieve at least one of two ends: 1) Determine how the amount of each ingredient affects the overall result and 2) Get me my cakey brownies. I have gained some insight into the first, but future posts will have to take care of the second.

Software:
1/2tsp Baking powder (modified from soda, to aid poofiness)
1/3c Natural cocoa powder (not dutch cocoa! Results in overly-sweet brownies, in my opinion. Also, this ingredient was short-changed due to my running out of it and having to improvise)
2 cubes semisweet baker's chocolate, melted (semisweet is too sweet, in retrospect)
2/3c butter, softened
1/2c hot water
2c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3c all-purpose flour
1tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp salt

Hardware:
Medium mixing bowl, for dry ingredients
KitchenAid mixer, with paddle attachment
Spatula for bowl scraping
Fork for mixing dry stuff

Preheat:
325F (future recipes will modify this to 350F)

As Shari's recipe provides a dense block of chocolatey goodness, I decided (in retrospect, unadvisedly) to add puffiness in as many different aspects as I could to see how things turned out. As such, I started out by creaming the butter and sugar together on medium speed. While this was going on, I mixed all the dry ingredients in the bowl with the fork (and, of course, I discovered I was short on chocolate and had to melt up some baker's cubes instead). Once the creaming was well underway, I added the eggs, making sure the first one was completely mixed in before adding the second. Once both eggs were integrated, I reduced the speed of the mixer to the lowest setting and added the water and vanilla. I gradually brought the speed back up to medium once the stuff wasn't threatening to slosh out of the bowl.

At this point, I had to add my melted chocolate to be blended into the goo, which was followed quickly by the dry ingredients. I tend to mix the dry stuff in slowly (and at low speed, mind you) due to a combination of wanting it to get mixed properly and having a bowl that doesn't pour well into the mixer bowl. After the dry was mixed in, I brought the speed back up to medium for a bit (probably the key bad idea in this experiment, as seen below) until I was satisfied. At this point, I took a picture:

Note that the thing appears to resemble whipped chocolate frosting as opposed to brownie batter--a result of very much overmixing, I have to guess. Regardless, I dumped it into the pan to see what the end result would be. I baked it at 325F for approximately 40 minutes before checking on it and determining that the center was still just about raw. All in all, I baked it for 70 minutes before a toothpick would come out clean, The final result:

As my thumb indentation at the bottom shows, the top is extremely dry and crusty, due to the long time at a somewhat low temperature. While this is not bad (actually, my coworkers complimented the contrasting textures of the crunch and the soft interior), it wasn't what I was going for. That said, the project taught me much about brownies themselves, and I look forward to building upon the experience.

Lessons learned:
One of my more educational projects thus far, I must admit.

1. The "brownies" came out dry and crispy, so I'll increase the temperature in future experiments.
2. The end product was too sweet, without enough chocolate flavor. I attribute this to an abundance of sugar, partially due to the semisweet baker's chocolate. I suspect a recipe with pure natural cocoa powder will have a better balance of flavors.
3. Too much like cake--although this was expected, I now have my ideas as to why this is so. For my next attempt, I plan to still use the mixer and baking powder, but I will keep the mixer at its lowest speed and add the ingredients in a different order.

Note: After discussion with Shari and some further research, Dutch process cocoa is not actually sweeter than natural cocoa, but it *does* have lower acidity and less "chocolate" flavor to it. Thus, while my original rationale for using natural powder was flawed, I still feel that it is the best choice for brownies, as I want a very strong chocolate flavor out of it.