special delivery

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, my hubby and I took a day trip up the coast to see my daughter at college. One reason for the visit was to bring some encouragement. The other reason, at my daughter’s specific request, was to bring chocolate, in the form of these outrageously dense, gooey, sinfully delicious brownies.

Now the actual label for these illustrious brownies by Rick Katz is “Best-Ever Brownies”. Now this might sound a little prideful. There are many tasty brownie recipes out there, but I must say, these are pretty darn awesome. For me, it is all about the chocolate. In this recipe, the brand of chocolate is not specified…but my chocolate of choice in baking is Valrona.
Now those who are passionate about brownies argue in defense of their favorite type, cakey or fudgey. If you’re a cakey fan, go on to another recipe. These are the epitome of soft, dark, baked-just-until-barely-set brownies. Their creamy texture makes them seem wildly luxurious and very much a treat to be meted out in small servings.
The mixing method is a bit unorthodox for a brownie. Half of an egg-sugar mixture is stirred into the melted chocolate and butter, while the other half is whipped until it thickens and doubles in volume. The lightened eggs are folded into the chocolate with a delicate touch, as are the dry ingredients…tricks that enhance the brownies’ lovely texture.

Enjoy!
Shannon


Best-Ever Brownies
by Rick Katz

1 ¼ cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°.
Sift the flour and salt together and set aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate together in the top of a double boiler over, not touching, simmering water. Add 1 cup of the sugar to the mixture and stir for half a minute, then remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.
Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into the bowl of a mixer with the whisk attachment and beat until just combined. Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don’t set from the heat.
Whip the remaining sugar and eggs until they are thick, pale and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Using the rubber spatula, delicately fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate mixture. When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Baking the brownies
Pour and scrape the batter into an unbuttered 9 inch square pan. Bake the brownies for 25 to 28 minutes, during which time they will rise a little and the top will turn dark and dry. Cut into the center at about the 23-minute mark to see how the brownies are progressing: They’ll be perfect if they’re just barely set and still pretty gooey. They’re still awfully good on the other side of set, so don’t worry if you miss the moment on your first try. Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack. Cut into 1 ½ by 3-inch bars to serve.

Storing
The brownies will keep, covered, for 2 to 3 days at room temperature and can be frozen for up to a month. Thaw still wrapped, at room temperature. These never freeze solid, so you might want to think about using them as a mix-in for ice cream.

makes 18 brownies

keeping up

I must say that participating in the NaBloWriMo this month has brought to the surface a few areas in my life where I am falling a little behind. If we were to list out all of the things that fall into the category of “keeping up” what would they be? Mine would probably be paying bills, laundry, and blogging, just to name a few. I’m sure I am not alone in this. We are probably all too some degree trying to keep up. Many of these require some basic organization (easier said than done I find).

There is also another element of “keeping up” that I didn’t realize I was “falling behind” in, which is proper or current word usage. Thank goodness for my college age daughter and friends (whom I adore) to fill me in on this little matter. Yes, apparently this 40 something lady uses some goofy words. It happened yesterday, as my hubby and I took a day trip up to see her in Santa Barbara (homemade brownies in tow no less). When one of these “words” came out my daughter and friends would begin laughing. Now, I do try to take things lightly and like to joke around, but this wasn’t a joke. It was my choice of words that seemed to give them a giggle. They told me it “was cute”, but honestly now I’m paranoid. Perhaps instead of purchasing another cookbook I should look into buying a thesaurus, this might be a good idea.

So today to give myself a little encouragement, that yes in fact I can actually keep up in other areas. I decided to give the dog a bath, vacuum and dust in record time. I pulled out of the freezer some pumpkin puree that I had made a while back for a quick dinner of some simple roasted chicken and pumpkin risotto. So you see, a little planning ahead on roasting those pie pumpkins made a quick and easy dinner option.



My gracious… if this doesn’t sound like keeping up I don’t know what does.


Enjoy!
Shannon


Pumpkin Puree
4 small pie pumpkins

Cut the pumpkins in half carefully with a heavy sharp knife.  Scoop out the seeds and pulp (reserve seeds for another use).
Place pumpkin halves face down on a jelly roll pan and cover with foil.  Stick in a preheated 375°F oven and roast for about an hour until tender.  Place the pan on a rack until cool enough to handle.  Then scoop out the flesh and put in a food processor.  Puree until smooth.  Place in airtight containers or freezer bags.  The puree should be fine in the freezer for up to a year.

makes about 6 cups

shared experiment

We have been taught since we were knee-high that it is “good to share”. There is a joy to receive but as we’ve learned it is a joy to give as well. And I am so thankful for friends that are willing to be “guinea pigs” so to speak and share with me all of these cooking endeavors I am exploring.

The credit for today’s experiment goes to Nigel Slater, in whose cookbook Kitchen Diaries I found this particular recipe for Passion Fruit Roulade. It is a pretty straight forward recipe, the only ingredient that might be a challenge to find is the passion fruit. But in Southern California right now I can find them at my farmer’s market, but probably only for a couple more weeks. In the recipe Nigel calls for lemon or orange curd which you can buy already prepared, which is completely fine. But I have a recipe I am particularly fond of for lemon curd, so I made mine from scratch. I tweaked the recipe slightly to make it a lemon-orange curd to take it a little sweeter, since the passion fruit is on the tart side. I think the combination is a winner.

Enjoy!
Shannon

Passion Fruit Roulade

the cake:

6 large eggs

½ cup superfine sugar
2 lemons
2 heaped tablespoons all purpose flour
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
For the filling:
1 cup lemon or orange curd (for homemade version see below)
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
8-12 passion fruits, ripe and wrinkled
Superfine sugar to finish

You will need a jelly roll pan measuring approximately 14x12, with shallow sides. It doesn’t matter if it is just a few inches out either way.
Set the oven to 400°F. Line the pan with a piece of parchment, making sure it comes up the sides.
Separate the eggs, putting the yolks into a food mixer and the whites into a bowl large enough in which to beat them. Add the sugar to the yolks and whisk until thick, pale and creamy.

Grate the zest from both the lemons, taking care not to include the bitter white pith underneath, and squeeze the juice of one of them. Beat the egg whites until they are thick and capable of standing in a soft peak, and then fold the juice and zest into the egg yolk and sugar mixture, followed by the sifted flour and then the egg whites. Add the egg whites slowly, firmly but gently, so the air is not knocked out of them as you mix them in. It is crucial not to over-mix. Scoop the mixture into the lined pan, smoothing it gently out to the edges.

Bake for about ten minutes, until the top is very lightly colored and it feels softly set. Let is cool for a few minutes.

Put a piece of wax paper on a work surface, cover lightly with superfine sugar, and then turn the roulade out on to it. The cake should be crust side down. I find this easiest to do if you are fairly forthright about it, just tipping the roulade out of its pan in one swift movement. Carefully peel away the paper and cover the roulade with a clean moist dish towel. It will be fine like this for an hour or two (I have even left them like this overnight and they have come to no harm).

When you are ready to roll the cake, remove the towel and spread the lemon or orange curd over the surface, then whip the cream until it will stand in soft peaks and spread it over the curd. Cut eight of the passion fruits in half and spread the juice and seeds over the cream. Now take one short end of the wax paper and use it to help you roll up the roulade. It the surface cracks, no worries just dust with confectioners’ sugar and cut into thick slices, use the remaining passion fruit juice and seeds squeezed over each slice.

Enough for 10



Lemon-Orange Curd
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup orange juice
Grated zest of 1 orange
½ stick unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 pieces

Choose a saucepan that will hold the bowl from your mixer (or a heatproof mixing bowl) in a double-boiler arrangement. Fill the pan with 2 to 3 inches of water and bring to a simmer.

Put the eggs and sugar in the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip at high speed until very light and fluffy. (or put in the mixing bowl and use a hand-held mixer.) Still whisking, add the lemon and orange juice and grated zest. Set the bowl in the saucepan, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water, and cook the mixture, whisking constantly by hand, until it is smooth, thick and custard like. Be patient; this can take a while. Transfer the bowl to the counter and whisk in the butter piece by piece. Press plastic wrap against the top, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled and set. The curd can be made up to a week in advance and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Once the curd is set, it should not be stirred again.