Peppermint Brownie Cake

Carol made this cake as one of her Christmas desserts and it received rave reviews! After she made the dessert with York Peppermint Patties she saw a suggestion to use Junior Mints, which would have alleviated the need to cut up the patties. The glaze has a beautiful sheen to it.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Dinner 2010

A partial gathering of the Gourmet Gals was held at Hugo's to celebrate Christmas. The restaurant was beautifully decorated with poinsettias everywhere, including a 20-foot tree made out of the red plants and white lights. The picture below does not do it justice (the lighting was very low).

Three of us started with margaritas that were "shaken" at the table and served with much pizazz. Then everyone had a salad, either the house salad or the mango and avocado salad.

• Ensalada de la Casa: watercress, endive, arugula, mache, beet, xoconostle, mint, cilantro, orange and lime zest, shaved fennel, chayote,pomegranate seeds and toasted almonds.
• Ensalada de Aguacate y Mango: avocado and mango salad with blue cheese and pumpkin seeds.

Entrees ordered included:

• Evening Special: pan fried red snapper with lump crab meat, a squash tamale, blue potato mash, Swiss chard and two mussels.
• Sopa de Albondiguitas: rich, spicy broth with vegetables and small beef and pork meatballs.
• Cabrito: roasted goat meat pulled from the bone, served with nopales asados, guacamole and salsa de habanero

Though thoroughly full with the amazing dishes above, as Gourmet Gals, we pressed on to dessert, choosing four different ones and then sampling all.

• A chocolate pyramid that had a shell full of chocolate mousse and a side of ice cream.
• Crepes with caramel and a side of ice cream.
• Bread pudding with a side of ice cream.
• Chocolate cake with coffee ice cream.

All were divine and well worth the calories!

Merry Christmas!

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

As I am always buying bananas and not always eating them quickly, I am forever in search of recipes that call for bananas. I clipped this Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting recipe out of Bon Appetit magazine and made it this weekend. The banana cake was delicious and very moist. The frosting was easy to make and light and fluffy with a light peanut butter taste. Together I do not like the combination. I think the banana cake is more like banana bread and should be served alone, with the addition of nuts. The frosting would be delicious on chocolate cupcakes. My coworkers enjoyed the treats and none went to waste!

Collard Greens...

My mom gave me some fresh collard greens she received from a friend's garden. She told me she made some and they were bitter. I stuck the greens in my refrigerator and thought maybe I would not take up the challenge of making collard greens taste good.

Friday night I ate at a fancy comfort food restaurant (South Street Dining on Kuykendahl) and I asked for spinach rather than carrots. The waitress said they may be out of spinach and if so, how about some collard greens? She then said "they are good.. a little bitter". REALLY?! A CHEF cannot make greens not be bitter?! How was I going to?

So Sunday I was bored and decided to tackle the greens. I went to one of my favorite recipe sites, http://www.allrecipes.com/, and found a recipe for Southern as You Can Get Collard Greens and decided it looked so easy how can I not try it? I did not have ham hocks, so I used a couple of slices of bacon. I also added, as recommended by reviewers, some honey, red pepper flakes, garlic salt, onion bits and for the heck of it, a couple sprigs of fresh thyme.

WOW! These were delicious! Not bitter at all! I wished I had some ham with them and cornbread. Next time I will create a meal around these greens.

Carrot Cake!

Lately I decided that I prefer to buy things in their "whole" state, and then cut it how I want it. I started doing this with cheese and found it melts better and tastes fresher than the shredded packs. I also think this is less expensive. Similarly, I have decided that baby carrots are not really baby carrots but cut carrots. I now prefer to buy carrots in their natural state and then slice or dice or make match sticks.

After using a couple of carrots in a salad I wanted to use up the left overs and decided to make a carrot cake. This recipe for carrot pineapple cake was highly rated and I gave it a try. It was very good and very moist. The addition of pineapple takes away a bit of the shine from the carrots so next time I will try a more purist recipe. I did add 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg as suggested by a reviewer.

This was a very nice cake with lots of healthy ingredients (carrots, pineapple, un-sweetened coconut and walnuts).

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Carol's son in law, Slava, made these for Thanksgiving in Korea. Jen said the group thought they were really good!

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:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter lining.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with nuts.

6. Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

One-Bowl Mascarpone Brownies

I came across this recipe on the kitchn blog while looking for something delicious to do with my leftover mascarpone cheese. By the way, am I the only one who has been pronouncing it "marscapone"? Imagine my surprise when Google informed me that I have been so very wrong. I'm just as bad as the folks who pronounce chipotle as "chipolte." Oh well.

Try not to focus on the copious amount of butter in this recipe. Also, I don't want to hear from any of you that you tried the recipe but cut down on the amount of butter or added some low-fat butter substitute. Brownies just should not be adulterated (unless you are adding a bit of instant espresso, like I did).

The texture of these is more like a very dense cake than a brownie. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I cut them into small squares because the chocolate is intense ... almost like eating a truffle.

Enjoy!

Mascarpone Brownies

Brownies
1 cup unsalted butter
3 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder (sifted)
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
3 large eggs, at room-temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Ganache
6 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 tablespoons whipping cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325F and grease or parchment paper a 8x8 pan. Set aside.

In glass mixing bowl melt butter in microwave on full power. Stir in chocolate and mix until combined (a few additional seconds in the microwave may be needed).

Add sugar to chocolate/butter mixture until combined. Heat for an additional 30 seconds on high, remove and stir until it looks shiny. It will still look a bit grainy.

Add marscapone, vanilla, eggs and mixing until smooth.

Sift flour, salt and cocoa into mixture with a sieve and stir just until combined, making sure to scrape all sides of the bowl. (Mixture will be rather light in texture, instead of dense and heavy like many brownie batters)

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top to ensure even baking. Bake for 40-50 minutes until tester comes out clean. Leave in pan and set on wire rack to cool.

While brownies are cooling, make your ganache to pour over the top (which you will want to do while your brownies are still warm). To do so, simply heat butter and cream on medium power (taking care not to boil) in the microwave and add chocolate. Stir until all lumps disappear. Immediately pour over brownies. Let cool completely, or chill in the fridge. Once chilled a knife will cut through them cleanly. Make sure to clean your blade for each cut for a more polished look.