Bacon & Beer Chocolate Truffles

Inspired by last weeks Oreos and wanting to play with beer and chocolate again, I decided to add one more ingredient to the party: Bacon. As a good Jewish girl, I don’t have all that much experience working with bacon, so thanks to my roommate I learned a few things, like don’t crowd the pan. Keep the heat low so it can cook evenly and have some patience. Otherwise, this recipe is quite easy. And it’s even more fun working with beer, chocolate and bacon when the football game is on in the background. Not that I know too much about it, but The Giants won. And there’s going to be a lot of hoopla over a NYC team playing in the Superbowl. These treats might be a fun one to bring to the party!

Ingredients

• 9 Ounces of Dark Chocolate
• 1/2 Cup of heavy Cream
• 3 Tablespoons of Dark Beer (I used Brooklyn Brewery Dark Chocolate Stout)
• 1/2 pound of bacon, crisp and smashed to bits 
• 1/2 cup of Unsweetened Dutch Cocoa Powder

 Instructions

1. Cook the bacon in large frying pan until its quite crispy. Drain, place in a plastic bag and smash to bits
2. Place cream and chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water
3. Stir until incorporated and remove from heat
4. Stir in beer until fully incorporated
5. Stir in Bacon until fully incorporated
6. Pour into a ceramic or glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap to protect from moisture and let it set for 3 hours
7. Pour cocoa powder in to a bowl
8. Use your hands to roll the chocolate into small truffle sized balls
9. Cover with cocoa powder, tap off excess and transfer into another bowl for serving

photos and styling by Amy Wilkinson

Homemade Oreos with Chocolate Beer Ganache

Searching for what I was going to make for a potluck I wanted to do something traditional with a twist. So, I added beer ganache to Oreos. How did I come up with that idea? Well, I have a cute neighbor and I wanted an excuse to text him and see if he had any beer. I ended up chickening out and my roommate (and food Stylist - Amy Wilkinson) grabbed some Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout from our neighborhood deli while walking Rue. (photo of the glorious dog below!). 

Starting on Thursday, January 26, find additional potluck dishes from fellow Gojee contributors. Simply go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave. You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter. 

Homemade Oreos (as found on Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

For the cream filling:

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Beer Ganache

• 9 oz. dark chocolate, 65% cacao
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons of beer

Instructions

Make the Chocolate Wafer:

1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
2. In stand mixer mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While on a low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. The dough stayed crumbly for me but when I rolled it into balls it came together.
3. Round small circles of dough and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately with some good space (they expand a lot.) With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 8 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream:

1. Place butter and vegetable oil in a mixing bowl
2. At low speed, beat in the sugar and vanilla. 
3. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To make the ganache,

1. Place chocolate and cream in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
2. Let the chocolate and cream heat up for 3 minutes and then begin to stir. 
3. Whisk until fully incorporated.
4. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  
5. Stir in beer and incorporate fully (I like working with the ganache while its still liquid, but you can also cover, chill and make truffles)

To assemble the cookies:

1. Pair the cookies into similar sizes
2. On one of the cookies dab chocolate ganache in center of cookie.
3. Grab a small bit of the cream and roll into a ball.
4. Place the cream on the other wafer and spread out to the edge of the wafer
5. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. 
6. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with ganache and cream. 

Photos and Food Styling by: Amy Wilkinson

My first attempt at French Macaron!

Well, courtesy of photoshop these look okay but I made three trays of macarons and only about 10 came out. :-( These were much harder than I anticipated. The flavor was a vanilla cookie with a plum/rose butter cream. I didn’t do so good. I’ll try again next weekend and post the recipe if it comes out.

Things I learned:

1. Always put the cookie sheet in another cookie sheet. It keeps the cookie from getting to hot and cracking.

2. Let the cookie batter sit for a bit to dry out before putting in the oven. That really made a difference for the successful cookies.

3. Breathe. They are only cookies. (I kept repeating that OVER and OVER again)

Wish me luck on the next round!

Blueberry Cinnaman Streusal Muffin

It’s been a while since I posted and that’s mainly because I moved, changed jobs and didn’t have my kitchen unpacked until last weekend. It was my first full day at the office yesterday so I decided to bring in some muffins!

Ingredients

Muffin:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberrie

Streusel:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees f
2. Place lined muffin cups in a 12 muffin pan
3. In a medium bowl Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and continue to mix well.
   
4. Combine flour, baking powder and salt;
   
5. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in small batches while alternating with the milk.  
   
6. Stir in vanilla.
   
7. Gently Fold in blueberries.
   
8. Fill muffin cups about 2/3rds full.
   
9. In a small bowl, combine the first of the streusal ingredients: sugar, flour and cinnamon;
   
10. Cut in butter until crumbly.
    
11. Sprinkle over muffins.
    
12. Put the muffins in the center rack and bake for 25-30 minutes or until browned. (I had extra batter so I greased a Madeleine pan and spooned one tsp in each mold. They came out great, like muffin cookies and were a big hit!)
    

Lemon Madeline

I’ve been piping Madeline at Craft but I hadn’t yet made the batter and I’ve been dying to try. Over the 4th of July weekend I kept wanting to try but I didn’t have the ingredients or the tools. So Wednesday night I decided I wanted to do a google plus hang out in my kitchen and make David Lebovitz Lemon Madeline. I just made some slight changes.I also decided not to make the glaze he suggests because its really hot and humid in NYC and I didn’t think it would travel well.

Lemon Medeline

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 130g granulated sugar
• rounded 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 175g flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
• zest of one small lemon
• 120g unsalted butter

Instructions

1. Place the Madeline Mold in the Fridge
2. Brown the butter by placing it over medium/high heat and stirring just till it changes color. It will take about 12 minutes and as soon as it becomes a warm amber color take it off the heat
3. Strain the butter into a glass bowl and let it cool.
4. In the bowl whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt for 5 minutes until frothy and thickened.
5. Spoon the flour and baking powder into a sifter or mesh strainer and use a spatula to slowly fold in the flour as you sift it over the batter. 
6. Add the lemon zest to the cooled butter, then dribble the butter into the batter, slowly folding until just incorporated
7. Using a rubber Spatula scoop the batter into a medium pastry bag (I did two small bags) and seal the back end of the bag. (A Tip I learned at Craft: Place the bag over a bain (or large deep cup) when pouring in batter and it will be easier to fill the bag without making a mess!)
8. place the batter in the fridge for an hour or up to 12 hours.
9. Baking the madeleines, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
10. Pipe batter (directly perpandicular to the pan) placing the tip in the center of each indentation and putting in batter till its about 3/4 full.
11. Lightly but firmly tap the tray on the counter to release any air bubbles
12. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the cakes just feel set.

These are best eaten day off, but they made it to two offices the next day and were enjoyed greatly. Though a lot of people didn’t know what Madeline were. I mean, Proust. I guess in America to have the same Proust reaction I’d have to bring around funnel cakes or something of that sort.

White Chocolate Cherry Tart

I made this on the fly at Chez Bushwick after finding some fresh cherries and having left over white chocolate, which I had used for some ice cream. It was really yummy, though I think it needs some salt and the filling measurements I did would work for two tarts.

Ingredients

Crust

• 250 Grahams AP Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 135 grahams very cold butter, cut into small piece
• 1 large egg mixed with 1 teaspoon of cold water

Filling

• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 6 ounces white chocolate
• 1 cup + 3 tabelspoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups of cherries, pitted and sliced in half.

Instructions Crust

1. Sift flour, sugar, and salt onto work surface
2. Add the cubbed butter to the flour mixture and cut into flour with fork (or pastry scraper) until the butter is the size of little peas.
3. Form a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water-egg mixture. Working until just incorporated and the dough holds together. (You may need to add more ice water). Working any piece into the dough with your palm.
4. Gather the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic
5. Refrigerate the dough an hour or up to 24 hours
6. Flour a work surface, roll out the dough to a 10 inch circle that’s about 1/8 inch thick
7. Lightly wrap over rolling pin and place in pie dish
8. press into dish and cut excess dough
9. Place a piece of parchment paper over the top and add pie weights
10. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, remove pie weights and let cool

Filling

1. Mix half and half, cream and sugar over medium heat until just simmering
2. Temper Egg Yolks, by adding some of warm milk to eggs, mixing and then adding the egg/milk mixture back into the sauce pan. 
3. Chop white chocolate and place in a medium bowl
4. Warm up milk/egg mixture again till just simmering, and pour over white chocolate
5. Add in flour, mix until incorporated
6. Place cherries in crust
7. Pour mixture over cherries, add additional cherries on top if needed.
8. Bake for about 40 minutes or until set at 350 degrees
   

Gojee.com Launches !!

You must be wondering, what exactly is Gojee? Well it asks you what you’re in the mood for and recommends recipes based on your cravings from contributors, which including Food52.com, Tartlette and many others from around the web (including ME! Yay). It’s such an honor to be a contributor amongst such amazing bloggers. All of them inspire, humble and motivate me to keep baking, blogging, styling and photographing. I can only hope to be as good as them as time goes on. 

When you go to the site, you’ll first see this:

Beautiful, right? And then if you type in a craving… You’ll get something like this:

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. 

Cherry Blondies for a date that never was…

This guy Adam asked me on a date. I said yes. I usually say yes when that happens. He didn’t believe that I really bake as much as I said I do, so I decided to bring a treat on our date. I decided to make these in a muffin tray because I wanted to be able to throw a couple in a Tupperware in my bag. It also needed to stay in one piece through a day of consulting around NYC.  I decided to play with this recipe because I knew my brother would love them. I reduced the white chocolate to make them less rich and my brother diggs cherries. 

Well, Adam decided to make plans, confirm plans and then never respond to me with the details of the plans. So by 5 PM the day of the ‘7PM’ date, I decided to eat the blondies. It was the right choice.

Cherry Blondies

Ingredients

• 150g Good Quality White Chocolate
• 75g Butter
• 125g  Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 150g Plain Flour
• 150g Fresh Cherries
  

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350oF.
2. Grease a muffin tray
3. Pit and chop the cherries in half.
4. Break up 75g of white chocolate and melt  over a bowl of simmering water 
5. Cream together the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs one at a time and make sure they are completely combined after each 
7. Mix in the vanilla.
8. Add the melted chocolate and stir through.
9. Sift the flour over and fold into the chocolate mixture.
10. Roughly chop the remaining chocolate
11. Add the chopped chocolate and cherries and fold through the blondie mixture.
12. Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full and then gently tap the tray on the counter to flatten and smooth.  
13. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the oven or until toothpick comes out clean

OliveOil Shortcake Cupcake Stuffed with Strawberry Caramel Topped with Salted Caramel Buttercream

It was my friend Ruti’s birthday and she doesn’t like things too sweet so I came up with this strange olive oil shortcake with salted caramel… I was a bit worried but everyone seemed to love them. Some people even ate two!

Olive Oil Shortcake

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup milk (low fat or regular)

Filling

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup of diced strawberries
• 2.5 teaspoons of salt (add more to taste)

Icing

• 2 Tablespoons of caramel (from filling)
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1 stick salted butter
  
• 1 stick unsalted butter
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Olive Oil Shortcake

• Grease 12 count muffin pan
• Preheat oven to 350
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until smooth.
• Blend in melted butter and olive oil.
• Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the milk.
• Stir in the remaining flour mixture, stirring only until no streaks of dry ingredients remain and batter is just combined.
• Pour into prepared muffin pan.
• Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clear or with just a few moist crumbs attached.
• Set aside and let cool

Salted Caramel Filling

• Prepare all your ingredients, and be ready to move fast as caramel is a quick process.
• Add sugar with a 1/2 cup of water into a large heavy bottom sauce pan. Stir
• When comes to a boil stop stirring and let boil until all water evaporates and the sugar turns a dark amber color
• Add in butter, and stir.
• Once melted remove from heat, count to 5 and add in cream and salt. Whisk till incorporated
• Pour 3/4 of the liquid into a glass mason jar
• Add strawberries to remaining 1/4 of caramel and stir over medium head for about 15 minutes or once the compote has a nice flavor.
• Remove from heat and cool
• Cut a small round piece out of the tops of each cooled cupcake
  
• Pour in 1 teaspoon of caramel. 
  
• Replace the cake piece and set cupcakes aside.

Frosting

• In a large bowl cream the butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy.
• Add powdered sugar and beat at a reduced speed
• Mix until thoroughly combined.
• Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel. 
  
• Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes).  Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration.  
• Top caramel-filled cupcakes with frosting. Add a slice of strawberry if so desired!