Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We spent Christmas with family, friends, and our new puppy. She's become a fast member of the family and received many treats for Christmas. We hosted a Christmas Eve Open House on Saturday, lighting both fireplaces and serving many wonderful appetizers, soups, and desserts. One of the desserts was this cake. I slightly adapted it to use up the rest of my white chocolate chips and buttermilk. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Buttermilk Cake
adapted from browneyedbaker.com
Oven 375

Butter Crumb topping:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup cold butter, cut into chunks
1 tsp vanilla extract
Batter:
1¼ cup plain flour
¼ cup cake flour
1 stick butter
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¾ cup white chocolate chips
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup buttermilk
1½ eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup white chocolate chips, for sprinkling on top of the cake
Powdered sugar, for sifting on top of the cake

 Lightly grease a 9×4 inch loaf pan, and line the inside of the pan with parchment paper or foil, and then great it as well.
Thoroughly mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Drop in chunks of butter, using a table knife, cut the butter into the flour until it reduces to the size of large pearls. Sprinkle vanilla extract over, working with fingertips, knead the mixture together until moist, clumpy lumps are formed.
Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and baking soda. Then toss the white chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of the sifted mixture in a small bowl.









Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer for about 3 minutes.













Add in the sugar in 3 additions, beating for 1 minute after each portion is added. Add in egg and beat for 45 seconds.Mix in the vanilla extract.  Alternately add in the sifted mixture in 3 additions with the buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the sifted mixture. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure even mixing.
Stir in white chocolate chips.












Spoon the batter into the baking pan, and spread evenly, smooth the top with rubber spatula.
Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly on the cake batter, make sure that the whole surface is covered.
Bake the cake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake turns out clean. The baked cake should pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.





Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the white chocolate chips evenly on top of the baked cake immediately.
Let the cake cool completely. Use the parchment or foil to lift the cake out of the pan, then sift some powered sugar on top of the cake. Serve.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Puppy Love


Welcome Miss Bailey, our new yellow lab puppy! She is a rescue dog, who traveled all the way from Texas to be a part of our family. At just three months old she has a lot of training and growing to do, but we all agreed that she was the prettiest one there. So far we have learned that she likes Straight No Chaser music, chasing cats, cuddling, and smelling everything. My husband has waited for this puppy for many years, it was like Christmas morning yesterday. Bailey was just as excited to meet him!








The dessert this week stems from a desire to purchase these at Starbucks every time I go there. They look so good. I've never actually purchased one, since I challenged myself to make them first.

Gingerbread Biscotti with White Chocolate
Oven 350

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
2 eggs
1/3 cup molasses
3  cups all purpose four
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt





In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar, applesauce, eggs and molasses.In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture.
















Divide the dough into 2 loaves, each loaf being about 4 inches wide and 9 inches long. Bake on a parchment lined or nonstick sprayed baking sheet for 35 minutes, until the loaves are firm.

Remove the loaves from the oven and allow them too cool for about 10 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.Slice each loaf diagonally into 1 inch thick slices (take the loaves off the baking sheet and slice them on a cutting board). Put the slices back onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, then flip the pieces and bake for another 15 minutes.




Allow to cool completely before you dip in the white chocolate. Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a bowl in the microwave. Dip the end of each biscotti into the melted chocolate or drizzle with chocolate for a different look. Cool on a piece of parchment paper.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Rumour Has It

Yes, it's true...we do not have our Christmas tree yet! In my defense, we had every intention of getting it yesterday, but we went on a new tire adventure instead. My tire ran over a screw and needed to be replaced. Why not just get a patch? Easy enough, if your tire didn't already have a patch a few inches away! So our goal today is to get our Christmas tree and finally decorate the house. We do have candles in the window so we're not entirely Grinch.
We had my in-laws annual open house this weekend. I brought a variety of baked goods. I had a request to make sure that I put this one on the blog.

Dulce de Leche Bars
from Ladies Home Journal (lhj.com)
Oven 350
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 14 ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
Pinch salt
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing paper to extend on two sides.In a mixer bowl, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in extract, then flour and salt until combined well.








Press along bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake until just golden brown around edges, 12 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool completely










Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, milk and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer, stirring constantly, until thickened and a deep caramel color, about 15 minutes. Pour over crust and spread evenly; refrigerate until completely cool, about 1 hour.

Melt semisweet chocolate; let cool slightly. Using a spatula, evenly spread over filling. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Using a knife, score chocolate layer into squares.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Birthday Cake

We were able to have our first fire in the fireplace in our new house. I absolutely love it! I've always wanted a fireplace, but unfortunately never had one in any place I've lived. We're learning all about buying seasoned wood, fire starters, saving newspaper, and taking care of the fire.
We also started putting up Christmas decorations. My husband displayed his collection of Hess trucks. His grandfather gave him one every Christmas from the age of 4 to the age of 23. We have shelves in the family room that can hold all of them. I displayed my father's collection of nutcrackers in the formal living room. As children we would give him a different nutcracker every Christmas. They look very nice guarding the fireplace in that room.
We took a trip to NYC yesterday. We took a tour of Citi Field, where the Mets play. We got to walk on the field, see the players lounge, and see David Wright's locker. We also saw the decorated windows at the department store, my favorite were the ones at Bergdorf Goodman. It was very busy, since it was the first weekend that the tree was lit. For dinner, we ate at a restaurant called Blue Smoke. We would highly recommend this restaurant, great food, atmosphere, and drinks.

This was a cake for my father's birthday today.

Birthday Cake
Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Frosting
from williams-sonoma.com
Oven 350

Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk

Frosting:
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room
temperature
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room
temperature
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream


Grease 2 round cake pans with butter.
Make 2 circles on a piece of parchment paper by tracing the bottom of the cake pan. Cut out the circles and press 1 circle into the bottom of each pan. Grease the paper with more butter.
Sprinkle some flour in each pan, and shake and tilt the pans to coat the bottom and sides evenly. Turn the pans upside down and tap out the extra flour.

Mix the dry ingredients
To make the cake, put the flour, baking powder and salt into a sifter and sift into a bowl.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar and vanilla on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one is added.






Turn off the mixer, add about one-third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Pour in 2/3 cup of the milk and beat just until blended.
















Repeat, adding about one-third of the flour, the remaining 2/3 cup milk and then the rest of the flour, beating after each addition just until blended.









Fill the pans
Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with the rubber spatula. Pour half of the batter into one prepared pan and the other half into the second pan. Using the rubber spatula, spread the batter evenly and smooth the top.








Bake and cool the cake
Put the pans in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the pans from the oven and set them on wire cooling racks to cool for 20 minutes.

Turn each pan upside down onto the rack and lift off the pan. Peel off the parchment and let the cakes cool completely.



Melt the chocolate
To make the frosting, melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water in a saucepan, stirring often with a wooden spoon until smooth, about 4 minutes. Turn off the heat. Using oven mitts, remove the bowl and set aside to let the chocolate cool slightly.











Combine the frosting ingredients
In a bowl, using the electric mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium-low speed until the mixture is smooth and no lumps remain. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bowl with the rubber spatula. Add the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt, and beat on low speed until smooth and fluffy.




Add the chocolate and cream and beat on low until well blended. Frost and decorate the cake as desired (see tip at right). Serves 12.