tuesdays with dorie

chocolate chocolate chunk muffins

07/05/2011 By bridget

How is a muffin different from a cupcake? Let me count the ways.

1) Frosting: A cupcake without frosting is just wrong. Muffins, while sometimes glazed, are never served with a tall swirl of sugary icing. But cupcakes with a coating of soft glaze are beautiful as well.

2) Add-ins: Many muffins have some textural contrast, whether it’s chunks of fruit or bran or poppy seeds. Most cupcakes are smooth-textured; fruit is pureed, chocolate is melted. But what about pumpkin muffins? Or carrot cake?

3) Mixing method and texture: The classic cake mixing method starts with sugar beaten into softened butter, which is smoothed with egg, then thickened with flour and leaveners. It results in an even-textured, fluffy cake. Muffins, by contrast, are usually made by whisking together the dry ingredients, separately whisking together the wet ingredients, and then folding the two together. The resultant texture is coarse with large air pockets. But not all cakes are mixed with the cake method, and not all muffins are mixed with the muffin method.

4) Course: Cupcakes are dessert. Muffins are breakfast.

So while, by this set of guidelines, these chocolate chocolate chunk muffins do seem to be muffins, they could certainly pass for dessert. Or, if you can’t get enough of their sweet, tender, moist crumb and rich bites of solid chocolate, enjoy them for both breakfast and dessert. I know I did.

One year ago: Tarte Noire
Two years ago: Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies
Three years ago: Blueberry Pie

Printer Friendly Recipe
Chocolate-Chocolate Chunk Muffins (from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours, for Tuesdays with Dorie)

Makes 12 muffins

Two ounces of chocolate chunks mixed into the dough is a restrained amount that reflects the breakfast intentions of these muffins. For more richness, feel free to increase that up to as much as 6 ounces. I mixed in some white chocolate as well.

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups (9.6 ounces) all-purpose flour
⅔ cup (4.67 ounces) sugar
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 large egg
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Melt the butter and half the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water; or do this in a microwave. Remove from the heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and the melted butter and chocolate over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough — a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the remaining chopped chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, cake, chocolate, dessert, quick bread, tuesdays with dorie

sour cream chocolate cake cookies

06/28/2011 By bridget

Chocolate cake without frosting is just sad; likewise, chocolate cake cookies without frosting are clearly missing something important. Cream cheese frosting is important. Sprinkles are important.

The cookies were soft and tender, as cake should be. Despite a full container of sour cream, they weren’t overly rich, and their chocolate flavor was more than subtle, less than overpowering. (I like overpowering.) They might seem plain and homely on their own, but that’s nothing that a dollop of frosting can’t fix.

Spike chose these for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the full recipe posted. I chilled the dough for about an hour before baking to reduce spreading. I also left out the raisins and spices so that the cookies would mimic a classic chocolate cake.

Two years ago: Perfect Party Cake (compared to 2 other white cake recipes)
Three years ago: Apple Cheddar Scones

Filed Under: cake, chocolate, cookies, dessert, tuesdays with dorie

date nut loaf

06/21/2011 By bridget

When I was a kid, I didn’t have many independent food preferences; I just absorbed my family’s dislikes as my own. My mom didn’t like coconut, so I didn’t like coconut – never mind that I can’t remember ever trying it. I remember one particularly foolish phase in which my brother didn’t like tomatoes, so I didn’t like tomatoes. Tomatoes! One of the best foods ever!

It seems I’ve developed my own opinions, because my older sister and brother both love dates. They think they’re like candy. I think they’re sickly sweet unless stuffed with tangy goat cheese and wrapped in salty bacon.

Maybe sweet candy-like dried fruit chopped up into cake would be good? After all, aren’t chocolate chips just chopped up candy? Dates, however, are not chocolate chips. Chocolate chips are delicious pockets of rich bitter and sweetness. Dates are tooth-achingly sweet, even in cake. On the other hand, at least there was cake to eat. Never in my life have I – or anyone in my family – disliked cake.

Mary chose this “loaf” (pound cake? quick bread?) for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I increased the salt slightly and substituted almonds for some of the walnuts.

One year ago: Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake
Two years ago: Coconut Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise
Three years ago: Mixed Berry Cobbler

Filed Under: cake, dessert, fruit, tuesdays with dorie

chocolate hazelnut biscotti

06/14/2011 By bridget

I went through a phase a couple years ago, when I was unemployed and had plenty of free time to bake, where I made a lot of biscotti for Dave. He doesn’t usually like to bring treats to work to share with coworkers, but he got in the habit of bringing a couple extra biscotti every day to give to his boss.

His boss was impressed with the almond biscotti. Then a week later, I made the same recipe, substituting hazelnuts and dried cherries for the almonds. But I was experimenting with different methods for the second bake, and they didn’t get as crunchy.

Dave’s boss said: “Too much egg, I think. Last week’s was better, almost perfect; this week’s needs work.”

Huh? Too much egg? He might be an expert in contaminant migration, but he doesn’t know squat about biscotti.

I made these shortly after the batch with “too much egg.” Mindful of recent complaints about biscotti that was too soft in the middle, I erred on the crunchy side and left the biscotti in the oven, with the heat turned off and the door propped open, for half an hour after the recommended baking time.

There were no complaints this time, although I did think they were a little crumbly and difficult to roll into logs (maybe they needed more egg?). Not only were the biscotti hard enough to dip into coffee, but the rich chocolate flavors were brought out by the dark espresso overtones. Jacque chose this recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has it posted.

One year ago: Dressy Chocolate Cake
Two years ago: Honey Peach Ice Cream
Three years ago: Cappuccino Cream Puff Rings

Filed Under: breakfast, chocolate, cookies, dessert, italian, tuesdays with dorie

brown sugar blueberry plain cake

06/07/2011 By bridget

Dave and I have fun during the winter teasing his family in Ohio about how while they’re bundling up and shoveling snow, we’re sitting outside drinking margaritas. They curse us, and then I try to temper this obnoxiousness by claiming that we’ll pay the price in the summer.

But I’m not sure we will. We have a good system for dealing with the heat. It involves a kiddie pool full of water to dip our feet in, frequent breaks to come inside and cool off (the perfect time to prep dinner), and, of course, margaritas.

I suspect that summer in the desert will be particularly awesome, and not just because of the heat that we love. There are also tomatoes, corn on the cob, and blueberries so cheap the stores are almost giving them away. Mostly I’ve been eating them straight, as the best snack you could ever ask for, but I’m never against adding my favorite fruits into dessert either. But as soon as the cake is baked, I’m heading back outside with my margarita.

Cindy chose this cake for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I doubled the salt and used a 9×9-inch pan instead of 7×11-inch. I originally had some ideas of things I might tweak for next time, but to be honest, as good as this cake was, I’ve had other blueberry cakes that I like more.

One year ago: Raisin Swirl Bread
Two years ago: Parisian Strawberry Tartlets
Three years ago: La Palette’s Strawberry Tart

Filed Under: cake, dessert, fruit, summer, tuesdays with dorie

caramel pots de creme

05/31/2011 By bridget

Despite a few bumps in the road, caramel and I have always been on good terms. I’ve had a good, safe method that I’m comfortable with: add sugar and water to a pot, be careful not to get any crystals on the sides of the pot, stir in some corn syrup for safety, bring to a simmer, be careful to brush down any crystals on the sides of the pot, watch carefully while it darkens, be careful to swirl the pan instead of stir with anything that might have sugar crystals on it. It worked…as long as I was careful.

I knew there was this no-water method, in which sugar is melted directly, instead of dissolved in water first. But it seemed so much safer to add water and dissolve the sugar first, despite all the being careful that that method entailed. I assumed I’d try the other method eventually, but, for years, I was nervous.

I finally took the plunge this weekend, and, friends? Dive right in, because the water is just fine.

Directly melting the sugar is so much easier! Why does anyone bother with that troublesome water method? It takes twice as long, and there’s all this being careful to be careful about. Just put the sugar in a pot, turn the heat on, stir when it starts to melt and keep stirring as it darkens, which takes just a few minutes. And then if you want a real treat, mix in some heavy cream and eggs for a smooth, creamy, thick custard that has a hint of burnt sugar – a hint you hardly had to work for.

Peggy chose this recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I added a hefty pinch of salt to balance all that sugar.

One year ago: White Chocolate Brownies
Two years ago: Cappuccino Muffins
Three years ago: French Chocolate Brownies

Filed Under: custard, dessert, french, gluten free, tuesdays with dorie

oatmeal nutmeg scones

05/24/2011 By bridget

For most of my life, I didn’t think much of nutmeg. It was just one member of the pumpkin pie consortium, of which only cinnamon could stand on its own, as far as I knew. The rest were generically fall-flavored. It wasn’t until I met Dave, professed nutmeg lover, that I started considering nutmeg as its own entity.

Now I think of nutmeg as warm, cozy, complex. (Or maybe the association I have between nutmeg and Dave has caused me to describe my husband instead of the seasoning?) Its spice adds richness to any dish, sweet or savory, and has become one of my favorite flavors.

Oatmeal reminds me of Dave too, as it was his staple breakfast – no sugar, no salt – when he lived alone. (It was bland, mushy, gross, but these aren’t words I associate with my husband.) I may not need complex, cozy scents to make me warm out here the desert, but I certainly won’t turn down a nutmeg oatmeal scone. You can bet Dave wouldn’t either.

Patricia chose these for Tuesdays for Dorie, and she will have the recipe posted. I didn’t make any changes.

One year ago: Strawberry Chocolate Ice Cream Pie
Two years ago: Chipster-Topped Brownies
Three years ago: Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, fall, quick bread, tuesdays with dorie, whole grains, winter/holidays

maple cornmeal biscuits

05/17/2011 By bridget

These are not Italian in any way. Dave and I booked a trip to Italy last week and thought we’d have an Italy day on Saturday, where we’d have espresso, eat Italian food, drink Italian wine, and plan out our adventure. Little of that happened. We ate maple cornmeal biscuits because I needed to make them for Tuesdays with Dorie. At least we had them alongside frittata with swiss chard. We never got to the espresso, and it wasn’t until Sunday that we sat down to map out our vacation plans. The grilled lamb and asparagus we had for dinner could have been any cuisine, although the Barbera that accompanied dinner was wonderful.

I’m always jumping ahead to the wine. Let’s talk more about breakfast. Even though maple cornmeal biscuits are not Italian and we had them on (what was supposed to be) Italy day, they were very delicious – sweet and gritty. I suspect we’ll have many more Italy planning days between now and when we leave in September, and I just might start them all out with maple cornmeal biscuits, Italian or not.

Lindsay has the full recipe posted. I made no changes.

One year ago: Cherry-Cherry Bread Pudding
Two years ago: Fresh Mango Bread
Three years ago: Traditional Madeleines

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, fall, quick bread, tuesdays with dorie, whole grains

chocolate chip bundt cake

05/10/2011 By bridget

Dave opens doors for me and buys me little surprises, but Sunday he really went all out when he offered to clean up the kitchen while I baked a cake. Then he indulged me when I brought the baked cake to him and exclaimed, “Smell this! Just like a chocolate chip cookie, right?!” over and over. And then, even though his favorite desserts are fruity and custardy and pretty much the opposite of chocolate chip bundt cake, the next day, we had this conversation over gmail chat:

David: i’m eating chocolate chip cake
me: it’s good, isn’t it?!
David: it’s good!
me: tell me some more about how awesome my cake is.
David: very moist
and delicious
me: thank you
just chocolately enough, right?
David: and the outside was powdery
me: it has a bit smaller ratio of chocolate to dough than choc chip cookies, but the few bites i’ve had have seemed good
David: and perfect balance of chocolateness
me: you’re so sweet.

Dave might have preferred Dorie Greenspan’s original fruit and nut version, posted on Peggy’s site, but the dough is so similar to chocolate chip cookie dough that I couldn’t resist adding 8 ounces of chocolate instead. I’m fairly certain I made the right choice. (I also increased the salt to 1 teaspoon.)

One year ago: Quick Classic Berry Tart
Two years ago: Tartest Lemon Tart
Three years ago: Florida Pie

Filed Under: cake, chocolate, dessert, tuesdays with dorie

marbled loaf cake

05/02/2011 By bridget

Although I’ve been running regularly since high school, I’m starting to realize that I’m not particularly good at it. I don’t mean that I’m falling over or anything; I’m not that bad! I’m just kind of slow. And I know if I try hard enough, I’ll get faster. But I think I’m slow for how much I run and long I’ve been doing it.

I’m trying to come to terms with this. After all, I’m still running. And I ran my longest distance this weekend, and I’m proud of that. And I don’t much care that running 6.2 miles only burns 400-500 calories; I deserved cake. At least 400-500 calories worth, if not more.

Or cake batter, at least, and you know that’s what I really wanted anyway. As cake batter goes, this pretty much hit the spot. Plus it was fun to get so much variety – first vanilla before I divided the batter and added flavorings, then chocolate, then coffee. Then I mixed a bit of coffee and chocolate together. I think it’s safe to say that I crossed that 500 calorie mark, and in a lot less time than it took me to burn it off.

I’m glad I filled up on batter, because the few nibbles I had of the cake were on the dry side. It’s possible I overbaked it, or maybe my substitution of almond milk + half-and-half for the whole milk I was out of wasn’t quite right. I’ll be interested to see what everyone else thought of this cake, and I’ll start with Carol, who chose it for Tuesdays with Dorie and has the recipe posted.

One year ago: Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
Two years ago: Tiramisu Cake
Three years ago: Peanut Butter Torte