Three awesome holiday desserts

Yesterday was the perfect Saturday.  It was snowing, I had a fire going, and I baked all day.  I was making bite-sized desserts for a party, all recipes I have never tried before.  Some how they all turned out great.  I did a nut, a sour fruit, and the most deadly of chocolate.  I cut the bar and brownies into 2 inch squares and arranged everything on a big silver platter.  There was a little something for every palate.

Pecan Tassies
Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

(Dough)

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) cream cheese
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt

(Filling)

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the dough: Process pecans in a food processor until finely ground (you should have about 1/3 cup); set aside. Put cream cheese and butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until well blended. Add flour, ground pecans, and salt; mix just until dough comes together.

Roll dough into sixteen 1-inch balls, and press into bottoms and up sides of cups of mini-muffin tins.  You may need to use some flour on your hands to stop it from sticking to you.  Keep tart shells in the fridge while making the filling.

Make the filling: Whisk the egg, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt in a small bowl. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons filling into each muffin cup.

Bake pecan tassies until crust begins to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely in tins on wire rack. Unmold. Pecan tassies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers up to 3 days.

Lemon Bars

Recipe courtesy of Recipe Connoisseur

Ingredients:

(Crust)

• ½ pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ⅛ tsp. salt

(Filling)

• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 2½ tablespoons grated lemon zest, packed
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and with mixer on low, add to sugar mixture until just combined. Gather dough into a ball and press into a 9 X 13 inch pan, pressing the edges up the sides about a ½ inch. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes.
Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, until edges start to brown. Let cool while making filling.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling is set. Cool to room temperature before slicing.

Flourless Dark Chocolate Brownies with Queen Mother Icing

Recipe courtesy of Yammie's Gluten Freedom

Ingredients:  

(Brownies)

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup special dark cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

(Queen Mother Ganache)

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tsp instant coffee
• 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 2/3 cups)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Combine the sugars and oil and beat until well combined. Add in the eggs and whisk together. Mix the vanilla and instant coffee together until the coffee powder is dissolved and add to the egg/sugar/oil mixture. Beat for about two minutes. Stir together the cocoa and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter and blend until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake about 20 minutes.

While the brownies are cooling, make the queen mother ganache.  Heat the cream in a sauce pan over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge.  Whisk in instant coffee until dissolved, then add in chocolate and whisk about 30 seconds.  Now remove from the heat and continue to whisk until ganache is completely smooth.  Pour ganache over brownies and put in the freezer for about a half hour.  You want them to be chilled and set enough to cut without the knife catching in the chocolate.  The brownies are really moist and crumbly, and the ganache becomes like fudge so it wants to stick on the knife.  While you are cutting, keep wiping off the knife of excess chocolate to get a clean cut.  

Maida Heatter brownies with cherries

Whole Foods was selling cherries yesterday for $1.99 per pound.  So I had to buy two pounds just because it was such a good deal- like how I can't not buy butter when it's on sale even though my freezer if full of butter.  Now how did I think to put the cherries in brownies you might ask?  Well the other day I made the Baked brownies from the Baked Cookbook, and they turned out ok but nowhere near as great as Oprah would have you believe.  I think I over-mixed them a little which added too much air to the batter and resulted in a cakey rather than dense brownie.  I was discussing this problem with my mom and she suggested trying a Maida Heatter Recipe from her Book of Great Chocolate Desserts.  She has one brownie that is so dense it has to sit in the fridge before you can even cut it because the center is so wet right after baking.  All I did was add a couple of handfuls of pitted and quartered cherries.

Maida Heatter's Palm Beach Brownies with Cherries
Adapted from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts

Ingredients:

• 4 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate
• 1 stick butter
• 2 eggs plus 1 yolk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 tbsp instant coffee
• 1 1/2 plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 plus 1/3 cup ap flour
• 1 cup pitted and quartered cherries

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 and line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.  In a small saucepan over medium-low heat melt the butter.  Turn off the heat and add the unsweetened chocolate and mix until combined, set aside to cool.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs, vanilla, salt, instant coffee, and sugar.  Add the chocolate mixture to the bowl and fold in just til combined.  Now add the flour and mix until nearly combined, then add the cherries and combine until flour is almost completely mixed in.  It is important not to over-mix at this point so that you get a dense brownie rather than a fluffy cakey one.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Don't bother testing the brownies with a toothpick because they will be crusty on top and gooey in the middle.  Take them out of the oven at 35 minutes and let them cool on the counter, then put them in the fridge to set up.  Maida recommends leaving them in the fridge overnight to set but I only waited a few hours before trying them.  Sooooo much better than Oprah's!!  **UPDATE**  They are even better after they sit in the fridge overnight!

*Note:  I halved the original recipe here and baked it in a 9x9 pan because I wanted to make a small batch, the original recipe calls for a 9x13 pan.  

Baked brownies

Yes obviously they are baked. But this recipe comes from the Baked Cookbook and apparently Oprah thinks that these are the best brownies in the entire world. They're pretty good, but I still prefer the Denver Brownie.

I halved the original recipe and baked it in a 9x9 pan.

Baked Brownies
Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

• 1/2 plus 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• 5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (a little less than 1 cup)
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:


Preheat oven to 350 and put parchment paper in a 9x9 pan, then spray paper with Pam.
Melt butter in a saucepan and remove from heat, add chocolate chips and coffee and stir until completely combined.
Add sugars and stir to combine.
Add egg yolks and stir gently, then add whole eggs and vanilla and stir gently to combine. If you over-beat the batter here you will have a light cakey brownie and the goal is to get a dense heavy one instead.
Pour chocolate mixture into dry ingredients and fold gently.
Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes.
The brownies are done when a knife comes out almost completely clean from the center.

Denver Brownies

For Father's Day dinner with the fam: David Leibovits's absolutely best brownie recipe with cream cheese icing and then chocolate ganache on top. My mom used to make these brownies at the bakery and she called them Denver Brownies. The flavor combo is pretty distinct and completely amazing.

My Dad likes just a little bit of chocolate for dessert so this was the perfect father's day treat for him. I got the brownie recipe from Thyme For Cooking.

I changed the recipe a little by using all yolks instead of whole eggs and I left my walnuts raw instead of toasting them.

Brownie Ingredients:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare an 8x8 baking pan with tin foil and cooking spray.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the chocolate, stir until melted and then remove from the heat, don't burn the chocolate.
Add the sugar and vanilla and stir them in.
Add the egg and stir for 30 secs.
Add the flour and stir like crazy for one minute until batter gets smooth and shiny.
Add walnuts and stir to combine.
Pour into pan and flatten down with spatula.
Bake for about 30 minutes, a few crumbs will still stick to a knife inserted in the center. It will set at it cools.
Once the brownies have cooled completely you can spread a layer of Cream Cheese Icing and then a layer of Chocolate Ganache on top.

Cream Cheese Icing Recipe

Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Simple Brownie with Cookie Crust

So what do you do when you mess up a cookie recipe and it gets a little burnt and spreads into one huge flat cookie? Then when you try to pull it of the parchment paper, because you couldn't find the foil, it falls apart and sticks every where! I'll tell you what you do- crumble the burnt cookie and sprinkle it on the bottom of a 9x13 pan and then google the simplest oil and cocoa brownie recipe and make brownies with a cookie crust.

Essentially you can do this with any cookie, not just a messed up one. I used a honey oatmeal chocolate cookie from White On Rice Couple. I added some heath bar chips to that cookie. My brownie recipe is literally the easiest thing ever. I got that from squidoo. I added extra salt to the crumbled cookies to get a salty/chocolatey contrast going on.

Brownie Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
4 Large eggs

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
2/3 cup Coco Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
Crumble about an inch of cookies on the bottom of the pan.
Shake a bit of salt on top of the cookie if you want to do the salty/sweet thing.
Set the pan aside and make the brownie mix.
Mix the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla till they are well blended.
Mix all the dry ingredients together separately.
Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.
Pour into prepared pan and make sure the brownie is completely covering the cookie, you may have to spread with spatula.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Brownies

Holy fudgey brownie Martha Stewart!!

There are a lot of different kinds of brownies out there. There are really moist oil brownies, buttery flakey brownies, there are dryer cakier brownies, there are low-fat applesauce brownies, hell there are Katherine Hepburn brownies!!! Well these brownies are totally dense, totally dark, totally ridiculous. Redic!!

I wanted to make them because of the whole wheat flour thing but I got to my mom's house to bake and realized I had no chocolate chips! But I did have plenty of unsweetened bakers chocolate, so I started thinking... What if I substituted bakers chocolate and sugar for semisweet chocolate chips? Well I did it and it was awesome!!

Original recipe can be found at Martha's Website. I made a few changes, and I think it paid off. Besides the chocolate switch, I used half special dark cocoa powder and half regular cocoa powder, totaling 1/3 cup. I also left out the chocolate chips that Martha puts in at the end- you really don't need them.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used half regular cocoa powder and half special dark cocoa powder)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
8 ounces unsweetened bakers chocolate plus 10 tbsp white sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish; line with parchment, then spray the parchment too, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

In a double boiler melt the 8 oz bakers chocolate and add the 10 tbsp white sugar and stir until combined and melted together- it's ok if the sugar is still sandy and unmelted in there- mine was.

In a large bowl, stir together brown sugar, applesauce, and egg.

Add butter to melted chocolate and stir until melted over the double boiler.

Stir chocolate mixture into applesauce mixture.

Stir in flour mixture.

Pour into pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 40 minutes.

Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Use parchment to lift cake from pan and cut into 16 squares.

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

Lauren's Brownie Cookies

My best friend Lauren loves brownie cookies, so one night a few weeks ago for The Bachelor Tells All I made these cookies for her.

Makes about 18 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups (233g) dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids or more, chopped
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 cup (134g) sugar – I used vanilla infused sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (35g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (175g) dark chocolate chunks or chips

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Melt the 1 1/3 cups chocolate with the butter in a small saucepan over low heat – stir constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Mix eggs, vanilla and sugar in a medium bowl. Combine thoroughly. Set aside.
Sift flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
Add melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and slowly add your dry ingredients. When stirred, add the cup of chocolate chunks/chips and stir.

Scoop 1 ½ tablespoons of dough onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside (dough loses its sheen). Leave to cool completely on sheets.

Photo Credit: Technicolor Kitchen

Pumpkin Brownies

Thank you Martha Stewart for emailing me recipes on a daily basis. This is one that we just had to try, and it was goooooood!! Subtle, yet pumpkiny. Here is the link to her page, but I copied it below too.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts or other nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter lining.
Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.
Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don't set.
With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with nuts.
Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

Photo Credit: Martha Stewart

Denver Brownies

Maida Heatter is a name that you need to know if you like baking. She knows how to work with chocolate- let me tell you. This is another childhood fave from my mom's bakery. It's a little time consuming because there are 3 different layers, but it's a nice alternative to a cake and you can cut them bite-sized to take to a party. It's Maida's recipe but I will credit Cooking By The Book for typing it up.

Yield: 64 tiny brownies or 16 honest ones

Ingredients for the Brownies:

¾ cup shifted all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons water or black coffee
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces at room temperature
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
6 ounces (generous 1 ½ cups) walnuts or pecans cut into medium-size pieces
2 tablespoons bourbon, brandy or rum

Preparation of the Brownies:

Adjust a rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9-inch square cake pan as follows: turn the pan over and cover it with a 12-inch square of aluminum foil, shiny side down. Fold down the sides and the corner of the foil to shape it, remove the foil, the pan right side up, place the foil in the pan, and carefully press it into place. To butter the foil, put a piece of butter in the pan and place it in the oven to melt. Then brush it over the foil. Set the pan aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Place the honey, water or coffee, butter, and chocolate in a 2- to 3-quart sauce pan over moderate heat. Stir until the chocolate and butter are melted. Remove from the heat. With a wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and whisk vigorously with a wire whisk until smooth. Stir in the nuts.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Make sure to get the corners fully filled with batter.

Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle just barely comes out clean. Do not overbake.

Remove from the oven and brush the bourbon, brandy or rum over the hot cake.

Cool to tepid in the pan.

Cover the pan with a rack, turn over the pan and the rack, remove the pan and the foil, cover with another rack, and turn over again, leaving the cake right side up. Let stand to cool completely and then transfer to a small board.

Ingredients for the White Icing:

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Preparation of the White Icing:

In the small bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and then gradually add the sugar, beating well until soft and fluffy.

Spread the white icing over the top of the cake. With a long narrow metal spatula, smooth top.

Refrigerate.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Icing [Ganache]:

6 ounces semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening (Crisco)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preparation for the Chocolate Icing [Ganache]:

Place the chocolate, shortening, and butter in the top of a small double boiler over hot water on moderate heat. Cover until partially melted. Then uncover and stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat.

Pour in a thick ribbon all over the white icing, working quickly before the chilled white icing sets the chocolate. With a long narrow metal spatula, smooth the top.

Refrigerate.

To cut, the chocolate might be so firm that it cracks while you cut it. Either let it stand at room temperature briefly or score the cutting lines gently and carefully with a long serrated knife, and then cut through with a long, thin, knife cutting straight down, not back and forth. First trim the edges slightly, then cut the cake into eight 1-inch strips. With a small, sharp paring knife, cut each strip into 1-inch squares.

Place the brownies inn a single layer in a shallow covered box, or place them on a tray. Be sure the chocolate is firm and cover with plastic wrap.

These cookies are fragile and cannot be shipped or mailed.

Peanut Butter Crumble Topped Brownies

I made these the other day for my Bachelor-finale girls night. The original recipe can be found here at A Cook's Quest.

Basically you make the brownies and pour into the pan and then you make the peanut butter crumble and sprinkle on top, then you bake for 25 minutes to start and then just add 5 minutes and keep testing by touching the top to see if it springs back and then inserting your knife until it comes out clean, don't over-bake, it's better to have them underdone than over.

Here is the brownie recipe- however you need to cut this recipe in half in order to use a 9x9 pan, if you want to make the 9x13 size recipe you need to double the peanut butter topping portion of the recipe:

*Makes one 9X13-inch pan or CUT THE RECIPE IN HALF and bake in a 9X9 pan

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, stirring well to combine. Whisk in the vanilla and then the eggs. Blend well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan, set aside and make the peanut butter topping.

Peanut butter topping:

Combine the following ingrediets until crumbly:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1/8 tsp. salt until blended and crumbly.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the brownie and bake at 350 for about 25 mins to start, then test it and give it another 5 mins until done. Wait until they are cool to remove from pan, then cut into little squares and enjoy with your friends while watching trash like The Bachelor.

Photo Credit: A Cook's Quest