Brownies

This brownies recipe came from my grandma and my mom has been making them for as long as I can remember.  They are simple to prepare and can be completed within 45 minutes (including baking time).  We’ve always eaten them fresh out of the oven with ice cream, but they also taste great the next day with a glass of milk.  

This recipe can be slightly modified depending on whether you like fudgy or cake-like brownies.  If you like fudgier brownies, use butter, but if you like brownies with more of a cake-like texture, use vegetable shortening. 

Cranberry-Orange Scones

After some much needed encouragement from my friend, RAWkash (check out his blog, Phot(o)graphy for the Masses), I finally sat down and typed up some recipes from my recent baking classes.  The first of these recipes are for Basic Cream Scones, which I modified to create Cranberry-Orange Scones.  These scones are so simple to make, you can throw them together and have a finished product in 30 minutes.  The light, citrus flavor of the scone comes from the zest of an orange and compliments the flavor of the cranberries.  The glaze is optional, but it helps keep the scones moist after they have cooled and adds an extra burst of orange flavor.  I prefer eating scones when they are warm and fresh from the oven, and these scones reheat well.   

Strawberry Cream Roll

This Strawberry Cream Roll is a light vanilla sponge cake rolled up with fresh strawberries and sweetened whipped cream.  It makes a wonderful summer dessert – the cake is light and the strawberries and whipped cream make a refreshing filling.  

If strawberries are not in season, you can also make my Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves or use a good quality store bought strawberry jam and layer this on top of the whipped cream before rolling up the cake. 

Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes

Blueberries and Earl Grey tea may sound like a strange combination, but when you try these cupcakes, you’ll be amazed by how well these flavors mesh.  The light citrusy flavor of the Earl Grey tea complements the fresh blueberry flavor of the preserves, and the cake itself is light and fluffy.  The blueberry preserves keeps the cake from drying out and the additional flavor transforms ordinary cupcakes into something special. 

Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream looks beautiful speckled with earl grey tea and has a light, slightly citrusy flavor.  In the above picture, I’ve paired this buttercream with Buttermilk Yellow Cake and Blueberry Preserves in my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes.
 

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 sticks butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
• About ½ to 1 teaspoon loose leaf earl grey tea (amount should be adjusted to taste; some brands of earl grey tea have stronger flavor than others)

In a spice grinder or food processor (I use the Cuisinart 14-Cup Food Processor), grind or process the earl grey tea leaves until they become a fine powder.  I used a fine mesh sieve to make sure the tea leaves were fine enough so that when mixed into the buttercream, it will not lose its smooth, silky texture.  Set aside.  

Whisk together egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl over simmering water until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are warm.  Using a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until meringue is a glossy white and can hold stiff peaks, about 3-5 minutes.  Add the Earl Grey tea powder and beat until evenly distributed.  

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter all at once.  Slowly increase the speed to high and beat until mixture is homogeneous, about 2 minutes. 

Mother's Day 2012

This year for Mother’s Day, I had to do something special.  Since we were hosting a small party of about 20 people, I wanted to create some light or miniature desserts so that everyone could try more than one item.  

Pictured above are Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.  I dipped the strawberries in chocolate and once the chocolate hardened, I drizzled white chocolate on top.  They are incredibly quick and easy to do (it only takes about half an hour to an hour to cover 30+ strawberries), but one of the most important steps is to make sure the strawberries are washed and dried completely.  If the strawberries are wet, the moisture will cause the chocolate to freeze up and you’ll end up wasting your whole bowl of melted chocolate.   

I also wanted to create something with fresh fruit and custard for a light, refreshing dessert.  One of my favorite things about baking is how creative you can be.  Once you master the basics, you can always create new combinations.  For the dessert pictured above, I used mini silicone baking cups and brushed them with melted chocolate to make bittersweet chocolate cups.  Then I filled the cups with rich, vanilla bean custard and topped them with fresh blueberries and strawberries and a couple dollops of fresh whipped cream. 

Another dessert that I made was a Strawberry Cream Roll, which is a vanilla sponge cake rolled with fresh strawberries and vanilla bean whipped cream.  This dessert is perfect since the cake, strawberries, and whipped cream are all incredibly light.  

Besides the items pictured, I also made Lemon Bars and some Mini Fleur de Sel Cupcakes (Dark Chocolate Cake, filled with Fleur de Sel Caramel, and topped with Fleur de Sel Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream). 

Blueberry Sauce or Preserves

This blueberry sauce or preserves is made by cooking the blueberries until they break down and their natural juices are released.  This recipe should be made with fresh, sweet blueberries, since it does not have much sugar added and the flavor of the fresh blueberries really shines through.

If you add Wondra (a type of flour for mixing into sauces and gravy) as the blueberries are cooking, they will thicken up like a jam, which is perfect as a spread on toast or for filling cupcakes, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes, or you can leave it without flour to make a blueberry sauce which is perfect served over vanilla ice cream or as syrup for pancakes, waffles, or French toast.  I make this sauce or preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to preserve them using glass jars.  

Buttermilk Yellow Cupcakes

These buttermilk yellow cupcakes are the perfect base for a variety of frostings and fillings.  Vanilla bean seeds or zest from a lemon or orange can be added to the butter-sugar mixture to give these cupcakes an additional hint of flavor.  These cupcakes are amazing with complex flavor variations, such as my Blueberry Earl Grey Cupcakes: Buttermilk Yellow Cupcakes filled with Blueberry Preserves and topped with Earl Grey Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Bouchon Bakery's Macarons

If you haven’t been to Bouchon Bakery before, you must stop by next time you’re nearby.  They have 5 locations in the United States: two in California (Yountville and Beverly Hills), two in New York City, and one in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Although Bouchon Bakery is known for their breads, pastries, and confections they also have a full espresso bar as well as a café menu with sandwiches, salads, and quiche to make lunch on-the-go easy. 

One of my favorite confections from Bouchon Bakery is their macarons.  Macarons are soft, chewy meringue cookies made with ground almonds and sandwiched together with rich, velvety Swiss meringue buttercream.  The last time I visited, I bought one of each of their espresso, raspberry, and vanilla macarons as well as their seasonal flavor, which at the time was a malted chocolate macaron. 

I also tried their version of the San Francisco born classic: the ho-ho.  This Bouchon version of the ho-ho was composed of a chocolate cake rolled with Chantilly cream and covered in a rich chocolate shell.  Their ho-ho was delicious, but it’s a dessert that you definitely want with some milk. 

Pineapple Sorbet

Now that the weather is getting warmer, nothing is more refreshing than ice creams and sorbets, especially fresh pineapple sorbet.  This pineapple sorbet is light, fruity and somehow incredibly smooth and creamy, yet it is made of only three ingredients.  Since pineapple is the main ingredient, you must use a fresh, whole pineapple, and cut it yourself (no canned pineapple!), but it is well worth the extra effort.  

Ingredients:

• 1 small pineapple, cut into chunks (about 3 cups)
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup hot water

Instructions:

Dissolve the sugar in the hot water.  Puree the pineapple chunks and simple syrup (sugar-water mixture) in a blender.

Cover and refrigerate the pineapple puree until it is cold, at least 1½ hours (you can skip this step if the pineapple or pineapple chunks were previously stored in the refrigerator).  

Freeze the puree in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 

Pumpkin Muffins

The creamy, sweet cream cheese center contrasts nicely with the spices in these moist pumpkin muffins.  When eaten warm, the cream cheese center is soft and gooey as shown in the picture, but once the muffins have cooled completely, the center has more of a set, cheesecake-like consistency. 

These pumpkin muffins are the perfect on-the-go breakfast or snack.  The pumpkin in the batter keeps the muffin moist and the cream cheese center is the perfect addition.  This recipe is quick and easy to make, and the muffins can be prepared and baked within an hour.  

Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is incredibly easy to prepare and makes an elegant dessert.  It’s the perfect dessert on warm days and tastes great served with fresh berries, such as strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  The custard takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and is baked in a hot water bath.  It can be made up to a few days ahead and the sugar topping should be torched just before serving.   

Lemon Bars

The gooey, sweet, lemon filling pairs nicely with the buttery, crumbly crust in these lemon bars.  The crust is so buttery and tender that these lemon bars should be eaten with a fork since the crust can crumble under pressure.  This recipe is simple to master and the lemon bars can be made in about an hour or less.  This lemon bar recipe was one of my favorite recipes growing up and I actually prefer this over the more time consuming Lemon Meringue Tarts. 

Pâte Sucrée

This Pâte Sucrée recipe produces a crispy, buttery, sweet cookie-like crust.  This crust is perfect for pies and tarts with runny and creamy fillings, such as my Chocolate Pudding Pie, Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart, or Blueberry Crumb Tart, as shown below. 

This recipe produces enough crust for 3 – 9-inch pies or tarts.  You can halve this recipe and still have enough crust for a rectangular tart pan or 3 individual-sized tart pans.  

Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes

These bite-sized Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes are refreshing and light; perfect for dessert on a warm day.  When you bite into the mini cupcake, you immediately taste sweet strawberries from the preserves; then the subtle citrus flavor of lemon shines through from the cupcake. 

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a beautiful pink color and is perfect with a variety of cupcake flavors.  In the above picture, I’ve paired this buttercream with Mini Lemon Cupcakes in my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes.  

Mini Lemon Cupcakes

These mini lemon cupcakes are one of my favorite cupcake recipes.  The lemon flavor is refreshing, but not overpowering, and the cake is light and moist.  These cupcakes are perfect filled with Lemon Curd and topped with Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream in my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, or filled with Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves and topped with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream in my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes. 

Vanilla Bean Strawberry Preserves

These strawberry preserves are made by cooking the strawberries until the fruit’s natural pectin thickens the mixture.  I make these preserves in small enough batches so that it gets eaten before I have to can them using glass jars.  This is perfect accompaniment to your breakfast toast, bagel, or English muffin, or you can use these preserves in my Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream or to fill cupcakes, such as my Mini Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups strawberries, stems removed and cut into quarters
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• ½ vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine the strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds into a medium sized saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the strawberries start releasing their juice. 

Bring to a boil (mixture will become frothy and double, or even triple, in volume) and boil for 10-12 minutes.  The strawberries will start to break down and become somewhat translucent and the syrup should be slightly thick. 

Let mixture cool to room temperature uncovered (about 30 minutes to an hour).  The mixture will thicken up even more as it cools.  Store the preserves in an airtight container in your refrigerator. 

Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

This Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake is my favorite coffee cake recipe.  The flavor of blueberries is enhanced by the subtle flavor of cream cheese and finished with cinnamon sugar.  This cake is light and stays moist due to the cream cheese.  

There are certain sweets that I prefer to eat right out of the oven (when they’re still warm), such as apple pie, brownies, and cookies, but this cake is one of the few sweets that I actually enjoy more at room temperature (when the subtle flavor of the cream cheese shines through more).  This is the perfect cake to make on a Sunday and take as a snack to work on Monday.  

Dessert at Hawks Restaurant: The Hawks Bar

If you’re ever in Northern California, try Hawks Restaurant in Granite Bay.  Hawks is an upscale restaurant that has menus that vary with the season.  I recommend that you make a reservation though, as they can get booked completely.  When I ate there for lunch over the winter, I had their rich, creamy puree of wild mushroom soup with sherry gastrique and fried shallots.  For the main course, I shared their buttermilk fried chicken, which was nice and crispy without being greasy, along with house-made macaroni and cheese.  Both courses were delicious! 

At Hawks Restaurant, their dessert menu changes seasonally as well.  However, one constant dessert is this Hawks Bar.    The Hawks bar starts with a rich chocolate brownie base.  Next is a chewy caramel layer and above that is a crisp caramelized rice crispy layer.  Pastry cream is piped on top and resting gently on the pastry cream is a thin layer of dark chocolate.  Served alongside the Hawks bar is house-made Valrhona cocoa nib gelato.  This was probably one of the best desserts I’ve ever had!  And don’t forget to accompany this with their café au lait!

Dessert at Bardessono: S'mores

If you’re ever in the Napa Valley, try Lucy Restaurant & Bar at Bardessono, a luxury hotel and spa in Yountville, California.  While I was there, I tried their dessert, which was a twist on the classic S'mores.  The S’mores plate presentation is simple, yet elegant.  Rich chocolate sauce is drizzled across the plate.  The base of the S’mores is a rich chocolate torte (tasting almost like a flourless chocolate cake) topped with marshmallow gelato that was gently torched before serving.  Resting against the toasted marshmallow gelato is a house-made graham cracker (and probably one of the best graham crackers I’ve ever had).  To the left is Lucy Restaurant’s peanut butter powder.  The peanut butter powder melted in your mouth, leaving the soft taste of peanuts.  This dessert was perfect paired with their café latte. 

Boston Cream Cupcakes

In my twist of the classic Boston Cream Pie, I filled light Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes with creamy Vanilla Bean Custard and piped Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream on top. 

Ingredients:

• 24 Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes, cooled
• 1 recipe Vanilla Bean Custard, refrigerated until set
• 1 recipe Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Take a small paring knife and core the each cupcake, leaving ¼ inch of cake on the bottom and about ½ an inch of cake on the sides. 

Fill the center of each cupcake with vanilla custard.  I found that using a small spoon and simply spooning in the custard works perfectly. 

Using a spatula, add the chocolate swiss meringue buttercream to a piping bag set with a large star tip.  Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes, starting at the edge and moving in a smooth, circular motion as you bring the tip above the center of each cupcake. 

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream is the perfect topping for almost any cake or cupcake.  It has the distinct flavor of chocolate without giving up the light, creamy texture of a Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream. 

Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcakes

This Two Egg Yellow Chiffon Cupcake recipe is your basic yellow chiffon cake.  In a chiffon cake, egg whites are beaten stiff, then folded into the cake batter to achieve a light, fluffy cake.  This is a very versatile cake and can be paired with a variety of fillings and frostings. 

One of my personal favorite combinations is this Two-Egg Yellow Chiffon Cake filled with Vanilla Bean Custard and frosted with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream, as shown in my Boston Cream Cupcakes. 

Vanilla Bean Custard

This creamy, vanilla bean custard makes a nice filling in layer cakes or my Boston Cream Cupcakes. 

The custard is simple to make and thickens up nicely to support the weight of a cake layer.  It can also be eaten by itself or piped into chocolate cups for individual desserts.  

Vanilla Bean Infused Simple Syrup

Having vanilla infused simple syrup handy is a nice way to sweeten your everyday drinks, such as tea and iced coffee.  This recipe is very easy to make and can be stored in an airtight container up to a couple weeks.  

Ingredients:

• 1 vanilla bean pod, split and scraped
• 1 cup water
• 1½ cups sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Bring the water, sugar, and vanilla bean seeds to a boil in a saucepan.  Let boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add vanilla extract.  Let syrup cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container.

Vanilla Beans: How to Split and Scrape

Using fresh vanilla beans can drastically improve the flavor of your dessert, especially in creamy desserts such as crème brûlée and my vanilla bean custard.  When a recipe calls for a vanilla bean, it usually utilizes only the vanilla bean seeds, so you will have to split the vanilla bean pod and scrape the middle to get the seeds out.  You can purchase vanilla beans from online retailers, cooking stores (such as Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, and Dean & Deluca) or well stocked grocery stores.  

The Process:

1. Split the Bean: Take a sharp paring knife and poke a hole through the vanilla bean so the bean lies flat when you hold the knife horizontally (see picture above).  Hold the vanilla bean in place on the side facing the dull part of your knife.   Using short, sawing motions pull the paring knife across the entire vanilla bean so that it splits into two even halves.  
2. Scrape the seeds: Hold the dull side of your paring knife firmly against the middle of the vanilla bean half and scrape across the entire bean.  If your vanilla bean half folds over at the edges, you may need to repeat this motion with the dull side of the tip of the paring knife to get the seeds underneath each fold.  Repeat with the other half.  

Note: 
Using fresh vanilla bean pods makes the splitting and scraping process much easier.  Your vanilla bean pod should be pliable and slightly sticky.  When the vanilla bean is old and dry, it will crack when you try to split it and the vanilla bean seeds will get all over the place.  When the vanilla bean is fresh, the pod is flexible and fairly easy to split and the seeds are moist enough to stick together when scraped.

Suggestion:
Vanilla Sugar - Since most recipes do not utilize the vanilla bean pod after the seeds have been scraped, I like to add the pods to an airtight container of granulated sugar.  The longer the sugar and vanilla bean pods sit together, the more the sugar gains the aroma and flavor of vanilla.  You can then use this vanilla sugar in dessert recipes or to sweeten drinks.  

Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart

The billowy, sweet Vanilla Bean Meringue offsets the rich, tartness of the lemon custard in this Meyer lemon meringue tart.

I adapted this recipe from Bouchon's Tarte au Citron.   Instead of using Bouchon’s Pine Nut Crust, I made the tart shell with a Pâte Sucrée and shaped it to fit a rectangular tart pan.  The Meyer lemon filling is made using the sabayon method, where the egg mixture is whisked and slowly heated over simmering water until it has thickened and increased in volume.  I piped meringue on top and used a torch to get the nice brown color. 

Vanilla Bean Meringue

If you have some extra egg whites lying around, a good way to use them is in this vanilla bean meringue.  Light, fluffy, sweet meringue makes a nice contrast to rich or tart fillings in pies and tarts, such as the filling in my Meyer Lemon Meringue Tart. 

Pie Crusts: How to Choose

When making a pie or tart, you have to consider what kind of crust will best complement the filling.  Are you making a fruit pie, such as an apple pie or pear pie?  Or are you making a custard-filled pie, such as a banana cream pie or chocolate pudding pie?  Or even something savory such as a chicken pot pie or quiche?

The three most common French pastry crusts are pâte brisée, Pâte Sucrée, and pâte sablée.  The two crusts I normally use are pâte brisée and pâte sucrée.  Pâte brisée, the old French term for broken paste, is a rich, flaky pastry dough.  Pâte brisée is the most versatile of the crusts and can be used in sweet or savory recipes.  I typically use pâte brisée for apple pies, pear pies, and quiches.  Pâte Sucrée, the old French term for sugar paste, is a sweet, vanilla sugar cookie-like crust.  I like to use pâte sucrée when I make tarts and custard filled pies.  Pâte sablée is a sweet almond shortbread crust and complements pear tarts as well as fruit tarts filled with pastry cream.