Spring Sprang Sprung, Throwbacks, Poems

It’s almost time for endless flowers and insects. Today is such a good day! Just think about it!

L

Psalm 103

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
¹⁷ But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
¹⁸ to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

Pipe Dream #195: To Make Lemonade? – Rocky Road Brownies

 

 

When life hands you lemons, make rocky road bars. Because life is a rocky road, not an afternoon lemonade stand.

A short list of other coping mechanisms:

• Pray
• Make a thankful list
• Make these

First off, chocolate, in the form of brownies. Second off, marshmallows and white chocolate. Third off, pecans. Best life. If you’re looking to pair these with red wine or lemonade, don’t. These are best off with milk.

 

 

One note and an opinion: I would cover the top of the pan with foil for a little while–the Ghiradelli chips I used got a little burnt. I’ve decided that I hate Ghiradelli white chocolate chips. Strong phrase, I know. But they don’t taste like the Ghiradelli bars, and they don’t temper the same way either. They SCORCH. And it is annoying. I would use the Nestle kind next time. Or break up a bar of Ghiradelli, if you are feeling fancy.

Gone in two seconds,

L

Rocky Road Brownies

Adapted from Eating Well

1 cup less 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably natural 
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 regular-size marshmallows
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch-square baking pan with parchment paper or foil coated with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan until it bubbles. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa, then the sugar. Add egg, egg whites and vanilla. Stir briskly until smooth and glossy. Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Then stir briskly for about 50 strokes. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. The batter will be very shallow in the pan. Refrigerate the covered batter for 2-12 hours to bring out the flavor of the cocoa. Thirty minutes before you bake the brownies, preheat oven to 350°F and take the brownies out of the fridge.

Quarter the marshmallows with a pair of kitchen shears or a knife. Distribute the pieces over the batter, pressing them in, then sprinkle the nuts and chocolate chips around the marshmallows. You may want to cover the pan with foil for half the baking time so your nuts and chips don’t burn.

Bake the brownies until the marshmallows are golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with a bit of batter clinging to it. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan on a wire rack for about 2 hours, then cut into bars.

Favorite Shots: Baby Face

This is a baby face. Omword the lashes and the cheeks. Do you like baby faces?

GoodNIGHT,

L

Pipe Dream #194: To Be Easily Amused – Chocolate Cake + Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

In -depth layer cakes are for Saturdays. A girl’s gotta commit to something. Unless it is a no-commitment weekend. My dear friend suggested this recipe to me, and I couldn’t resist.  SALTED CARAMEL CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. Say that again.

Plus, I’ve been meaning to try Ina’s chocolate cake recipe for two years. It’s an internet standard, straight up chocolate cake. About this cake: it comes together in a cinch, and it’s really tasty. A little less dense than the super moist chocolate cake I’ve raved about before, but a little more flavorful than this one-bowl chocolate cake. Try it, you’ll like it.

I will say. I did try and make my own caramel for the salted caramel frosting (which is why this recipe counts as “in-depth.”)

It wasn’t ultra-successful. The original recipe wasn’t super clear about the cooking time, which I realized, but I was just too lazy to look up a more detailed recipe. I decided to try and feel my way through it, but given my track record with caramel, this was an unwise decision. Will I never learn?

The caramel lacked flavor; I didn’t cook until it reached a “deep caramel color.” In my defense, look at the above picture. Would you call that a “deep caramel color?” What is a “deep caramel color?” I’m making caramel. I knew I was sunk after the heavy cream I added didn’t foam up either, instead pooling like so many tributaries. But the end result, even though not as toasty as I would have liked, was still yummy. I mean, if you poured it all over my ice cream and/or quesadillas, I would still eat it.

P.S. When is the last time you had a quesadilla? Seriously, it has probably been, like, 11 years.

The caramel frosting is also the reason I didn’t spend too much time dressing this cake up, except for the retro almond crusting. By the time I was finished slogging through the emotional highs and lows of failing caramel once again, I was in no mood to toast almonds and meticulously smooth out every crack and crevice like a plastic surgeon. Plastic surgery and cake should never go together. They are like the two positive ends of a cow stomach magnet. That is, they are not attracted to one another.

(What, you didn’t play with cow stomach magnets as a kid? You are so strange. I am easily amused, apparently.)

Hoo-ee this has been a post for the analogies. Sorry.

I was also clearly not in the mood to wait until the cake was cool/the frosting firmed up before slicing into this baby. No regrets on this point.

Impatient always,

L

Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Ina Garten

1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 cup hot, strong coffee
1 1/3 cups  flour
2/3 cup good cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 8″ cake pans with parchment. Grease the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir until just combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula a few times to make sure that everything is well-incorporated.

Divide the batter into the two pans and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Salted Caramel
Adapted from life on blackberry farm

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon kosher

Combine the sugar, water, and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil, swirling (not stirring!) the mixture until the caramel turns amber-colored. Note: I’m not sure how long this should take (maybe 5 minutes?). I didn’t do mine long enough, and the caramel flavor wasn’t strong, but at least I didn’t make crunchy candy caramel.

Remove from the heat and let stand for 30 seconds. Pour the heavy cream into the mixture. Stir the mixture, then add the butter, lemon juice, and salt. Stir until combined.

Pour 1/2 cup of the caramel into a measuring cup cup and allow to cool until just warm, maybe 20 minutes.

Salted Caramel Frosting
Adapted from life on blackberry farm

1 stick butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 cup salted caramel

Beat the butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine, then add 1/2 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine. Add additional powdered sugar until the frosting is the correct consistency. If you find that the frosting is still too soft, you can set it up in the fridge for a few minutes.

To assemble to the cake, frost as desired and decorate with about 2 ounces of sliced almonds, toasted if you want.

Favorite Shot: Go For It

Baking at 11 pm makes for flipped masterpieces. I wasn’t even too sad. Here’s the cake I adapted, in case you want to make a birthday cake, smash it and then eat it for breakfast. Dig in.

L

Fancy Science Dinner Party + Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream

There is a difference between being invited to dinner and being “invited” to make dinner. It’s kind of significant, because it’s one thing for someone to flatter you by saying say, “Let me provide dinner for you” and another thing entirely for someone to flatter you and then say “Please provide dinner for me.”

I have experienced both, and I have appreciated both, but somehow I like the former scenario a little better. (Where my ladies at?)  And I would like to tell you about my most recent “invited to dinner” experience because I think you would appreciate it. I appreciated it. The only thing I even contributed were the chocolate pecan florentines I showed you earlier.

This dinner was neat because a bunch of people from my church got together for an evening, and we all made dinner together. As a group. That element is really important. It made doing the dishes fun. I mean, there was a real chef involved, and he kind of knew exactly what he was doing, but he let the rest of us novices help.

On the menu:

Citrusy Slaw Scallops (Hello.)

Sea Salt Coffee Caramels

Pop Rock Nutella Hazelnut Truffles (Read that again. As you can imagine, this was a total party-in-your-mouth moment.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Strawberry Truffles (Rich.)

Bacon and Nutella Fluff (It gets real.)

Raspberry Sorbet

Jameson-Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream with Chocolate Pecan Florentines (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Dinner was science! Science was dinner! And dinner was delicious. And the toasted marshmallow ice cream? Well, let’s just say, I couldn’t have been more delighted. I just kept talking and talking about it, and scraping unsalvaged bits of melted marshmallow off wax paper. I couldn’t help it.

Hopefully this gives you some dinner party inspiration for summer! It’s time to bust out the grill! Try a sparkly new cocktail! Kick back with your friends! I am using too many exclamation points, but I just can’t help it. There was toasted marshmallow ice cream.

Fondly,

L

Pipe Dream #193: To Be Invited, Not Invited – Gluten Free Chocolate Pecan Florentines

I have a delicious treat in the form of a delightful dinner party to share with you this week, wherein I will wax on about being invited as opposed to being “invited” (apologies in advance). But before I do, I would like to share my only contribution to said dinner party, as the other items on the menu will clearly outshine my miniscule offering.

I do not feel bad about my miniscule offerings at all. Trust me, you will understand when you know. This dinner party. Heavens.

Spoiler alert: Don’t read this next unless you want to know what I ate for dinner the other week, which I will also tell you later this week. What’s that? You don’t care what I ate for dinner the other week? You should care. Because I ate

HOMEMADE TOASTED MARSHMALLOW ICE CREAM.

Let that sink in.

Ok. I know.

And what is the only worthwhile accompaniment to toasted marshmallow besides everything? That’s correct, Senator. Chocolate.

I wanted to make something gluten-free, because there were some GF attendees, and these florentines were the perfect recipe. Elegant, interesting, and made with gluten-free flour.

Traditional Italian florentines are made with almonds and are sandwiched together with tempered dark chocolate. The cookie batter flattens out significantly and bubbles up, creating a crunchy, buttery shell. This recipe substituted the almonds for pecans (which weren’t overpowering by any means, so if you don’t like pecans, no big), and instead of making cookie sandwiches, I opted to shape them into little serving bowls for the ice cream, kind of the same way you might shape brandy snaps.

This was Attempt #1 at shaping the florentines. I let the cookies cool for a couple minutes on the baking sheets and then wrapped them around the metal handle of my whisk, pinching the ends to seal. They just slide right off like magic! I might have left them on a bit longer, though. As you can see, they are a little deformed.

Attempt #2 was more successful. I flipped little mise en place bowls, and draped individual cookies over them, pressing down the sides to create little cups for the ice cream.Next time, I would drape the cookies over on their other side, so the pretty, bubbly side to the cookies would be more visible when they are flipped upright.

This is an easy way to add some class to your next ice cream sundae party. You should have one of those. It would be impossible to fail, and it’s practically summer right now.

Don’t mind me,

L

Gluten-Free Chocolate Pecan Florentines

Adapted from gluten freek

1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (I used Bob’s)

2 handfuls pecans, finely ground in a food processor (or 3/4 cup pecan flour)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/3 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) butter

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons milk

chocolate chips, if desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment.

Combine the flour, pecans and cocoa in a small bowl, mixing well to get as many clumps out as possible. I found that my pecans were a little sticky.

Combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup and milk in a small saucepan. Stir occasionally over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour mix well so all the clumps are incorporated and the mixture is smooth.

Drop by the teaspoonful onto the baking sheets leaving two to three inches between each cookie to allow for spreading. Bake for 10 minutes. While the cookies are baking, set out little mise en place dishes or other little bowls upside down.

Remove the sheets from the oven and let the cookies cool for a couple minutes. When the cookies are cool enough that you can lift them without them stretching, drape each cookie over the little dishes you have set out and press down the edges, creating little bowls out of the cookies. Alternately, you can wrap each cookie around the end of a wire whisk, sliding them off to make a cannoli-like shell.

Let the cookies cool, then store in an airtight container between layers of parchment.