Molten Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the molds
  • 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped  
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 Tbsp.  flour, plus more for dusting the molds

Preparation

1.     Put the butter and chocolate in a medium bowl or Pyrex cups and melt it in the microwave 1 ½ -2 minutes. Stir well to combine and until melted.

 

2.     Crack 3 eggs into a bowl, and add 3 more yolks (discard the extra whites). Add the sugar, and beat or whisk until light and thick, about 1 minute. Add egg mixture and flour to the melted chocolate; beat until combined.

 

 

3.     Butter 6x6-ounce molds or ramekins (make sure not to miss any spots, or the cakes will stick). Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate them for up to 24 hours; just bring them back to room temperature before baking.)

 

4.     When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 425°F. Put the molds on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the cakes have puffed up a bit, the tops are barely set and the cakes still jiggle slightly when shaken, 8 to10 minutes (better under baked than over baked). Let sit for 2-3 minutes.

 

5.     Put a plate on top of the ramekin and (with a potholder to protect your hand) carefully invert the cake onto the plate. Let it sit for 10 seconds, then lift up the ramekin. Serve immediately, with ice cream, sorbet or whipped cream.

 

YIELD 6 servings

  • Originally published with Operation: Mother’s Day NYTIMES
  • By MARK BITTMAN, May 5, 2013
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Tender Biscuits with Peppercorn & Parmesan

 

 

 

Buttermilk Biscuits

12x 2-inch biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour+ more for rolling

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick sweet butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup buttermilk

Procedure

Pre-heat oven 400 ° F

1. In the bowl of a food processor combine 2 cups flour, baking powder and soda and salt. Process 30 seconds to blend and aerate. Add butter (and desired ingredients) and process until flour resembles a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and pulse until dough forms DO NOT OVER MIX.

 2. Turn sticky dough onto a well-floured board and knead lightly. Pat dough into a square and roll out dough to ½ inch thickness. Fold dough in half and re-roll lightly to 3/4 inch. Cut dough with well-floured biscuit cutter.  Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake biscuits for 8-10 minutes or until golden.

Variations

Cheddar & Chive: Add 1 cup shredded cheddar and 1/4 cup chopped chives with butter in step # 1

Sage & Stilton: Add 2 Tbsp. of chopped fresh sage (2 tsp. ground dry sage) and 3 oz. crumbled Stilton (or other blue veined cheese) with butter in step # 1.

Pepper Parmesan: Add 1/2 Tbsp. of cracked peppercorns and 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan to step # 1.

Short Cakes Biscuits: Add 2-3 Tbsp. of sugar to step #1 and proceed as directed above.

 

 

 

 

Summer desserts

 

Double Chocolate Brownies
10-12 Servings

Ingredients
8 ozs. Quality bitter or dark sweet chocolate
3 ozs. Unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sweet butter (2 sticks)
2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 ½ cups chopped toasted pecans or walnuts
Procedure
Pre-heat oven 350 degrees F.

In a double boiler or microwave melt dark and unsweetened chocolate and butter. Stir to create a smooth mixture and cool slightly. (Microwave full power for 1 minute and then in 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval).

Combine sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add chocolate mixture and mix well. Add flour and salt and mix to just combine. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9x13x2-inch pan lined with buttered parchment and bake for 30-35 minutes or until knife comes clean.

Cool brownies 15 minutes in pan before turning onto a board to cut. Cool brownies completely before cutting into squares or triangles.

Hot Fudge Sauce
1 1/2 cups

Ingredients
8 ozs. Dark sweet or semi-sweet chocolate
1/2-cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla
Water as needed

Procedure

1. In a heavy saucepan combine; broken chocolate and cream, simmer on low until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla serve warm over ice cream with brownies. Add water if needed. Sauce will last 2-3    weeks refrigerated.

COCONUT KEY LIME PIE
Yield: Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
For crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup toasted coconut
¼ cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling
2x (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh or bottled Key lime juice

For topping
3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
½ cup toasted coconut
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make crust: Stir together graham cracker crumbs, coconut, mixed sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch spring form pan. Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.
Make filling and bake pie: Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly). Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.
Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream and sprinkle with coconut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buttermilk Short Cake Biscuits
6x 4-inch biscuits

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour+ more for rolling
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick cold sweet butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup buttermilk

Procedure
Pre-heat oven 400  F.

1. In the bowl of a food processor combine 2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder and soda and salt. Process 30 seconds to blend and aerate. Add butter (and desired ingredients) and process until flour resembles a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and pulse until dough forms DO NOT OVER MIX.

2. Turn sticky dough onto a well-floured board and knead lightly. Pat dough into a square and roll out dough to ½ inch thickness. Fold dough in half and re-roll lightly to 3/4 inch. Cut dough with well-floured biscuit cutter.  Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake biscuits for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

Berry Shortcakes
3 cups mixed berries
3 Tbsp. warmed berry jam
2 cups heavy cream
1 10-11 oz. jar lemon curd

Combine berries w/ jam. Whip cream to form light peaks fold in lemon curd and serve over berries and biscuits. 

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Asparagus are here......

Meyer Lemon-Asparagus Galette

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients
1 sheet 12x12 inches puff pastry
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 lb. thin asparagus spears, trimmed 35-40 spears*
1 ½ Tbsp. olive oil
½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Juice and grated zest of 1 Meyer lemon**

Directions
Preheat oven to 400ºF. 

1.    Roll pastry to even and place on cookie sheet; with a knife score around the edges ½ inch in to make a border. Prick inside border with tines of fork.

2.    Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the cheese inside border of pastry. Toss asparagus with oil, cracked pepper, salt, lemon juice & lemon zest, then arrange the on top of the cheese (these can be stacked a bit for height). 

3.    Bake 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Serve warm sprinkled with remaining cheese. 

* If only thick asparagus spears are available slice in half length-wise
**When out of season use a regular lemon 

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Chocolate Souffle Cakes

 


Soufflé Chocolate Cake

 

Ingredients
6 oz. unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the molds
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped  
6 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp.  All-purpose flour
Preparation
Put the butter and chocolate in a medium bowl or Pyrex cups and melt it in the microwave 1 ½ -2 minutes. Stir well to combine and until melted. 

Crack 3 eggs into a bowl, and add 3 more yolks (discard the extra whites). Add the sugar, and beat or whisk until light and thick, about 1 minute.  Add egg mixture and flour to the melted chocolate; beat until combined. 

With nonstick cooking spray, spray  6x 6-ounce molds or ramekins (make sure not to miss any spots, or the cakes will stick). Divide the batter among the molds. (At this point you can refrigerate them for up to 24 hours; just bring them back to room temperature before baking.) 

When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 425°F. Put the molds on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the cakes have puffed up a bit, the tops are barely set and the cakes still jiggle slightly when shaken, 7 to 9 minutes (better under baked than over baked). Let sit for 1 minute. 

Put a plate on top of the ramekin and (with a potholder to protect your hand) carefully invert the cake onto the plate. Let it sit for 10 seconds, then lift up the ramekin. Serve immediately, with ice cream, sorbet or whipped cream.

YIELD 6 servings
Originally published with Operation: Mother’s Day NYTIMES
By MARK BITTMAN Jacques Torres