7 minute cookies – boozed or caffeinated

by on March 8, 2013

7 min cookie-142

Home is where the heart is. We all heard this phrase before. But I never thought about it’s meaning or the truth behind this. Until I moved again and again and again and again. I am in my fifth home, fourth state in four years and start to wonder where is my home and where is my love for it?

This must have simmered in me for some time and bubbled up last week while shopping for groceries. Life can be strange. Sometimes lightning hits you between milk and fresh bread. I was about to pay as the lady behind the checkout counter asked me about my key chain. It is green and you can read “Heimat” in big letters on it. I told it means home and my sister gave it to me before I left Germany and moved to the US four years ago. I still know exactly what she said: “This is to remember you where your home is”.  I heart the cashier saying something like awe and that is cute… But I was suddenly somewhere else with my mind. I turned my head that she wouldn’t see my teary eyes. I still don’t know what hit me, is it all the moving? Changing locations? Living so fare away from my family and friends? Or starting from scratch – again? I suddenly felt small and all alone. And I don’t know even why, I love it here, Atlanta had been very good to me so far. First I find myself silly and overreacting. But I realized you can’t move home like a box, it is not by default the place where you put your sox in a drawer. Home might be there your heart is but it is a feeling that has to develop. For now my home is as always at my parent’s house in Germany and here and now is the home to be – in process.

7 min cookies-1735

Baking is my cure for many things, it relieves stress and grey clouds. I started baking as soon as I was able to use the kitchen. I wrote down this recipe during our family vacation in Florida last year, our rental house had a small but well picked selection of cookbooks and I scribbled this recipe on a small piece of paper. I forgot to note the source, sorry for that, but you can find the recipe all over the internet, I guess it’s not a secret recipe, more a common one. I used milk chocolate my sister brought me from Switzerland and the rest was also good quality organic chocolate. I believe it’s important to use the good stuff if you use so much of it. The smell and look of the melted mess is insane, like shiny dark brown lava. I wish I could tell you how many cookies you will get, but they went so fast. I wrapped some and gave it to the handymen, it was one of these days they continually came in one after another and leering at my cooling rack. I had no choice than sharing. But I have to admit I ate more cookie dough than good for me and couldn’t stop.

7 min cookies Collage

7 minute chocolate cookies

ingredients

  • 400 g / 14 oz./ 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 55 g / ¼ cup unsalted butter
  • 340 g / 12 oz. chocolate (2/3 semisweet, 1/3 milk chocolate)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 125 g / 1 cup all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. fine sea salt
  • 130 g / 4.6 oz. chopped walnuts
  • 2.5 Tbsp. instant espresso powder or 5 Tbsp. bourbon

instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium saucepan (choose one that is big enough for vigorous stirring) over low heat, mix and melt sweetened condensed milk, butter, chocolate, vanilla extract. Stir well to prevent the chocolate from sticking to the bottom and burning and reduce heat if necessary. Remove saucepan from heat and add flour, salt, nuts and espresso powder or bourbon. Stir well.
  3. Drop with teaspoon or small ice scoop on lined baking sheets, leave space in between they spread out big times and bake for seven minutes.
  4. Still hot the cookies will be fragile and look undercooked, slide parchment paper with the cookies of the baking sheet and let cool before transferring to your mouth or cookie jar.
  5. They taste best the day made but still fudgy and yummy for at least three more days.

some notes

Good quality chocolate is the key. If you prefer a sweeter cookie or you bake for kids, you might want to use more milk chocolate and skip espresso and bourbon (you might know that).

You can also use just semisweet chocolate, I love for a mix of 45%, 60% and 85% (cocoa solids).

variations

Dived dough in half and flavor one half with espresso (for breakfast) and the other half with bourbon (for happy hour). :)

You can use any nuts you like, toasted hazelnuts are great and the cookies turn out more chewy. Almonds are mmmmh. Pecans and bourbon are a dream team.

Cooking time: 7 minutes (hence the name)

7 min cookie-140

{ 7 comments }

flourless chocolate cake with cranberries

by on November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving guys, I hope you all had a great day. My day started with morning coffee in my bed, the sun was shining and I had this comforting certainty for once not to hurry through the day. I had this chocolate cake with cranberry for breakfast and some delicious turkey later. And in between I just wasted the day, read some magazines, listened to music, went for a walk, drank more coffee and talked with Mr. F about meaningless but important things.

As it was just the two of us for Thanksgiving this year, but I still liked the idea of keeping it  ‘traditional’, I skipped the whole bird but couldn’t resist and went for a German recipe for turkey legs. As there is no way of taking a sexy picture of a turkey leg under time pressure, the problem was, I would get in big trouble, if I would make Mr. F stop eating because I need to take some pictures. I hope you understand… so let me know if you are interested in the recipe and I’ll post it in the comments or write you an email.

This being said, let’s talk about cake. Yes you are right I did it again: cranberry. We just had cranberry and apple tart with coconut streusel last time but the thing is, I went a little nuts with this berries and bought a 3 lb. bag which is sitting in my refrigerator. So we had a lot of cranberries in every kind of manner around here. Last weekend I made a cranberry bread with chocolate pieces, though I liked it very much, my guts said: more chocolate. I went back and forth with a brownie recipe and finally decided to go really chocolatey. This flourless chocolate cake is very rich, dense and a little crumbly. I chopped the cranberries in a food processor for just a few seconds, but you can chop them by hand of cause, if you like. They bring an interesting tartness to the cake, which goes so well with the sweet richness. Is it just me or do this cranberry pieces on top look like bacon bites? Well it’s not bacon, sorry for those I have to disappoint right now. Though I already had bacon covered with chocolate, a bacon chocolate cake seams to me kind of gross. Don’t ya think?

flourless chocolate cake with cranberries

ingredients

  • 130 g / 9 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 200 g / 7 oz. semisweet chocolate*, cut in pieces
  • 4 egg whites
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 130 g / 2/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 140 g / 5 oz. ground hazelnuts
  • 2 Tbsp. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 150 g / 1 ½ cups fresh cranberries, chopped

for the glaze:

  • 80 g / 2.8 oz. semisweet chocolate
  • 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 40 g / 1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries

instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and grease your 24 cm / 9 inch springform pan.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler or microwave oven and let cool.
  3. Beat egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add melted chocolate with butter and mix shortly.
  4. Add hazelnuts, cocoa powder, salt and cranberries and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
  5. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into batter.
  6. Transfer batter into springform pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cake will still be soft in the middle and firm than cold.
  7. For the glaze: melt remaining chocolate with tablespoon butter and spread evenly over cake and sprinkle with chopped dried cranberries.

some notes

*I used a mix of different kinds of chocolate, you should use at least one with 45% cocoa but not more than 60% cocoa content.

Number of servings (yield): 12

{ 6 comments }

chocolate stout cake – Happy Birthday to me!

by on August 30, 2012

After waiting with great anticipation since months, my birthday is coming up this week and my greatest gift is already on the way. My family is coming from Germany, and right now they are sitting in a plane above the clouds since some very long hours, watching movies and eating almost certainly bad airplane food. But I am going to make it all up to them when they are finally here in Memphis. This is not just going to be a great vacation for us all, it is my birthday (as mentioned before)! And for the first time after three years without them, we are celebrating all together again. So now you know why I am so excited.

Some weeks ago I bought a chocolate stout with already having this recipe on my mind and waited for a special occasion to accomplish this mission. Though I tried a chocolate stout cake from a local bakery before and loved it, I actually never made a cake with beer on my own. I made a lot other stuff with beer (I shouldn’t mention that…) but never a cake. The result was amazing and surprising, the combination of stout, chocolate and good butter is brilliant. The cake is rich and not overly sweet, looks like I slaved in my kitchen for long hours but it’s not rocket science at all. And you can go wild with the chocolate frosting and spread it roughly over the cake and done!

 

chocolate stout cake

 

 Adapted from the bitten word, smitten kitchen and bon appétit.

I used Boatswain Chocolate Stout from Trader Joe for this recipe.

As I don’t call a cake pan my own and neither two or three cake pans for a layer cake, I used my 24 cm / 9 .5 inch springform pan and sliced the cake in half which worked great. I don’t recommend to use a smaller pan, the batter might bubble over. A bigger pan will work great but don’t forget to adjust the baking time.

You might think, this is a lot of sugar, of cause you are right. The stout and the unsweetened cacao powder are very bitter and I would rather add more sugar than less.

 ingredients:

355 ml / 1 1/2 cups stout (see notes at bottom of this recipe)

340 g / 1 1/2 cups / 3 sticks unsalted butter

95 g / 1 1/8 cups unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted

500 g /   2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

375 g / 3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 Tbsp baking soda

1 1/8 tsp salt

3 eggs

230 g / 1 cup sour cream

120 ml / 1/2 cups heavy cream

250 g / 8.8 oz.  semisweet chocolate 45 %

100 g / 3.5 oz.  dark chocolate 60 %

150 g / 1/2 cup plum jam

 instructions:

Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease your springform pan size 24 cm / 9.5 inch.

In a medium saucepan bring stout and butter to simmer until butter is melted. Add cacao powder and stir until all lumps are gone, let cool.

In a bowl measure flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and stir.

In your big mixing bowl add eggs and sour cream and mix well (stand mixer with paddle attachment). Add stout mixture and mix briefly. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined, use a rubber spatula to clean the wall of the bowl. Scrape the batter into the springform pan and smooth the top.

Bake 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from springform pan and let cool completely before you cut in half. Add plum jam to a small bowl and warm it in your microwave oven or use a pot and a stove. Spread plum jam over the bottom layer, place the top layer on the jam.

Make chocolate frosting: Roughly break or cut the chocolate into chunks. In a small saucepan over medium heat add heavy cream and bring to simmer.  Remove from heat and add chocolate and stir until completely melted. Spread over the cake evenly. This cake stays fresh for a couple of days and tastes even better the next day.

NOTE:

bon appétit gives following tip for the stout:

If you can find it, use a chocolate stout (Brooklyn Brewery and Oregon’s Rogue Brewery make it) in the cake batter. The chocolaty flavors in the beer come from dark-roasting the malts. Some brewers even add a little chocolate to the beer as well. If you can’t find chocolate stout, use another stout, such as Guinness. Sierra Nevada Porter and Samuel Adams Honey Porter would also work well in this recipe.

{ 10 comments }

rhubarb chocolate cake

by on May 23, 2012

 

Maybe it’s just me but if I think about rhubarb I also got strawberries on my mind, they just belong together. And here I come up with a rhubarb and chocolate combination and I have to admit it’s sounds weird. But it works great, actually it’s like opposites attract, two ingredients that couldn’t be more different.

Some years ago Mr. F and I enjoyed a vacation in Denmark, it was (early) preseason  and I expected windy walks along the beach and hot tea in front of the fireplace. Against all odds we got gorgeous weather and we explored the beautiful area around our vacation home but also did some day trips to Copenhagen. We had to pass the impressive Great Belt Bridge to go there and I still remember that our camera battery died at the moment we reached the bridge (it wasn’t my fault this time). We found a little bakery near by the Rosenborg Castle, it was Mr. F birthday and we were looking for a cake to celebrate. Although he is more the butter cream birthday cake type, he choose a rhubarb cake. This guy is always good for a surprise, that’s why I keep him around… After a long day of sightseeing and all the way back over the long bridge, we made some coffee and cut the cake. At this point I discovered the chocolate in it and my first thought was: what the heck, who does that? But after I tried some, I was hooked and now I even belief chocolate is a better companion for rhubarb than strawberry.

I wanted a firm cake that holds all the rhubarb and chocolate well and can be taken to picnics, bake sales and office parties without tasting dry or falling apart. My first idea is sometimes the best and I decided I need a pound cake batter. To reduce the butter amount, I swopped half of it with non fat yoghurt and it worked great. The cake holds it’s shape perfectly and is easy to cut, at the same time moist and tender.

rhubarb chocolate cake

ingredients:

110 g / 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

220 g / 1 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

2 large eggs

220 g / 7.8 oz. unbleached all purpose flour (about 1 1/3 cups)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

230 g / 1 cup  Greek yoghurt (fat free)

1 tsp vanilla extract

140 g / 5 oz. semisweet chocolate morsels

450 g / 16 oz. rhubarb

powdered sugar for dusting

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 180 C / 360 F and grease your springform pan (24 cm / 9.5 inch)

Trim the rhubarb and slice as thick as a finger (about 1.5 cm / 0.6 inch), set aside. In a medium bowl measure flour, baking powder and salt, stir well and set aside.

With your electric mixer cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after adding each.

Add following and beat well between each addition and if necessary scape down the batter from the bowl sides: half of flour mix, yoghurt and vanilla extract, rest of flour mix.

Add chocolate and rhubarb pieces and fold in. Pour into springform pan and bake for about 1 hour. Check after 45 minutes and cover with a sheet of aluminium foil to prevent from getting too dark.

Let cool and dust with powdered sugar if you like.

 

{ 13 comments }

chocolate hazelnut cake

by on February 24, 2012

So many things are happening in and about my small world. If you look up and left and right you might discover the new look of this side. It’s not just a new design, I moved the whole thing from iweb to wordpress. I haven’t finished yet, many things still need to be updated. But I did it almost on my own and can’t stop backslapping myself, this is not just webdesign, I am talking about a miracle. As I am mentioned before, if you would open the door in my brain which says ‘computer, IT, etc.’ on the name plate, this place is dark and tiny and you find two bored brain cells fighting each other.  Against all odds and a lot of copy, paste, update, insert and uploads later, I am getting there. So excited! Please leave a comment if you like (woohoo the comment section is working again) I would like to hear from you.

This weeks birthday girl is Lily. Congratulations. She is trying hard to dress appropriate for her age. We celebrated her birthday with chocolate cake and she didn’t get a crumb. It’s a dog’s life!

Chocolate cake has always been the number one on my list of favorite cakes, it’s the best for every occasion, no doubt about that. I can make up a lot of reasons for a celebration chocolate cake, although I don’t think anyone should need one. This cake has many faces: a little gooey like a brownie but not dense, not very sweet… find it out yourself. The flavors of the roasted hazelnuts, three kinds of chocolate and coffee are coming together very well, they complete each other. The instant coffee is more a seasoning and not overwhelming, add more if you like.

chocolate hazelnut cake with ganache

This cakes keeps moist and well for several days.

200 g / 1 stick + 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

60 g / 2.1 oz. 85 % chocolate

60 g / 2.1 oz. 70 % chocolate

110 g / 3.88 oz. milk chocolate

6 large eggs separated

200 g / 1 cup sugar

200 g / 7.06 oz  hazelnuts, roasted and finely ground

2.5 tablespoons natural cocoa powder (unsweetened)

2 tablespoons corn starch (or potato starch)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso dissolved in 1 teaspoon water

 

Preheat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and grease a 26 cm / 9 inch spring form.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in your microwave oven, add the butter and stir. The warm chocolate will melt the butter and cool a little bit at the same time, set aside.

Beat the egg yolks and the sugar until pale, takes about 3-5 minutes.

Add the cooled chocolate/butter and mix. Then add the ground hazelnuts, cocoa powder, starch, salt, coffee and mix again.

Beat the egg whites until you got stiff and firm peaks.

Add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to your batter and fold in with a spoon or rubber spatula, continue adding a 1/3 of the egg whites at a time.

Pour into the springform pan and bake for about 35 minutes, don’t over bake.

Remove the sides of the springform pan and let cool completely before you apply the ganache.

 

For the ganache:

This is the minimum amount of ganache, just enough to spread evenly all over the cake. Double if you like a thicker layer.

50 g / 1.79 oz. dark chocolate ( I used 70 %)

50 g / 1/4 cup heavy cream

In a small saucepan over low heat, bring the heavy cream to simmer, add the chocolate. Stir well until smooth and let cool to room temperature before spreading over the cake.

 

 

 

 

{ 5 comments }

Don't miss out and subscribe to new recipes by email.

Follow on Bloglovin

RECENT COMMENTS

  • User AvatarEva { Hello my dear! Thanks a bunch. } – May 14, 7:54 AM
  • User AvatarInês Oliveira { Hi! I stumbled with your blog across twitter and I this post immediately caught my eye :) Great idea, telling people about food in our... } – May 14, 5:17 AM
  • User AvatarEva { Sandy, I might have some extra bag space available. Email me if I can bring something for you. } – May 10, 9:05 AM
  • User AvatarEva { Den Wink hab ich verstanden... :) Well, I'll do my very best. } – May 10, 9:01 AM
  • User AvatarEva { Stimmt die Buttermilch und auch Huettenkaese ist nicht so lecker wie in Europa! Rolo gibts hier. ;) Leberwurst auch, ist aber kein Vergleich... } – May 10, 9:00 AM

Top Posts & Pages

CATEGORIES

Archives