TWD: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

Being born and raised in Nashville I get the best of all worlds... It makes me a southern girl... but I also feel like I can shun the stigma some people place on the South because...
1. TN was the last state to secede from the Union in the Civil War
2. My ancestors are all from East TN, and during the civil war they were like... "what??? you say there's some sort of war going on??? hmph. we don't know nothing about no war."
3. (My most favorite!) Nashville was dubbed the "Athens of the South" forever ago, because we have so many higher institutions of education (and we were the first Southern City to institute public schools) as well as having lots of arts and culture.

Boo-ya! Look at us Nashvillians, all refined and stuff.

Anyway... being a southern girl means I was raised knowing 3 things:
1. Dinner is the mid-day meal and supper is the evening meal.
2. Everything's better with a little pork fat thrown in.
3. Cornbread is always, always, always devoid of sugar. ALWAYS. You hear me, Dorie... ALWAYS.

I've talked on this blog before about how my mom makes the best cornbread. Bar none, hands down the BEST cornbread. Like biscuits, there are a million different ways to make cornbread and while my mom's recipe might not be your favorite... there is room in the culinary spectrum for all different types. Yes, including what my family calls "yankee cornbread..." aka... cornbread with sugar in it. Instead of raging against the sugar in cornbread, I've decided to be okay with it and just never let sugar touch any cornbread of mine. This, is what I call personal progress, folks.

My mom's cornbread recipe is made with white cornmeal and has nothing fancy in it. No corn, peppers, chili powder... nothing like that. So, when Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake (check out her blog, it's excellent) chose Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. I was excited to step outside the "comfort box" for cornbread and whip these up.

I invited my family over for dinner this weekend to celebrate my parents 41st wedding anniversary and made these. I'm sad to say... that these were not the hit of the dinner. In fact, I didn't really like them at all. I omitted the sugar and the corn kernels from the recipe, but aside from that... made as instructed. Mine came out dry and pretty flavorless... even with the jalapenos and chili powder. Go figure.

Better luck next time... different strokes for different folks, as they say.

If you like fancy cornbread with bits in it and sugar, check out Rebecca's blog for the recipe.

Crunchy Milk Chocolate- Peanut Butter Layer Cake

You know what really irks me? When a recipe is poorly written.

Sure, I sit down with a recipe and read through it at least once (sometimes multiple times) before I actually end up making it, but you trust that a recipe is going to be written in the most practical and helpful manner possible.

Maybe Dorie Greenspan has spoiled me (her recipes are almost always clearly explained and written in the most logical and efficient order), but I find myself in the middle of a recipe saying to myself... ugh! Why didn't you tell me to do that earlier???

This was one of those recipes. As far as the final product goes? Milk Chocolate? Peanut Butter? Rice Krispies? What's not to love? This cake is delicious and if made in an efficient way, wouldn't take you TOO long.

I have had this recipe printed out from Food & Wine for a long time now, but there were so many parts involved... I just kept putting it aside for a "special occasion." Finally, I decided that my family's Christmas Dinner was special enough and finally tackled this cake.

It's a chocolate cake with a layer in the center made of peanut butter, egg whites and rice krispies that give the cake an interesting chewy crunch. If you're looking for something yummy, unprententious, and different... this is the cake for you.

If you want to follow the recipe as I did, check it out: Nancy Olson's Crunchy Milk Chocolate- Peanut Butter Layer Cake, but for my own sanity, I've written it the way I'll prepare it in the future.
Crunchy Milk Chocolate- Peanut Butter Layer Cake
adapted from Nancy Olson and Food & Wine
Serves 16

I halved the recipe (as I only needed it to feed 6 people) and made the cake in a 9 inch round cake pan. I then split that layer in half to make a round layer cake. But, I've written the full recipe below.

I also subbed pecans for almonds and omitted the peanuts in the filling (just because of what I had on hand). I'm also including the ingredients and directions for the guinness syrup that I soaked the layers in before assembling to make sure the cake was super moist.

I'm sure that if you're a dark chocolate lover, that this cake would be just as delicious with dark chocolate instead of milk. Incidently, I did use dark cocoa for the cake.

Ingredients
CAKE
2 cups plus 2 tbsps sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp boiling water

FILLING
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup confectioners's sugar
2 large egg whites
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup salted roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3 oz milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup rice krispies

SYRUP
1/2 cup Guinness (or you can use coffee or even water)
1/2 cup Sugar

GANACHE
1 1/4 pounds milk chocolate, chopped
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsps heavy cream, warmed

Directions

1. Make the Filling: Preheat the oven to 325.Trace a 9x13 inch rectangle onto a sheet of parchment paper and lay it on a large baking sheet. In a food processor, pulse the almonds with the confectioners' sugar until they're finely ground (or beat the hell out of them with a rolling pin in a ziploc bag if you dont have a food processor). In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks form. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the whites are stiff and glossy, about 2 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the almond mixture. Spread the meringue on the parchment to fill the rectangle. (see pic at end of post for what mine looked like at this stage). Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top. Bake for 20 minutes, until lightly browned, let cool. (Once out of oven, preheat oven to 350 for cake layer).

2. Make the Cake: Put the water on to boil. Butter and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk in boiling water. Pour the batter (it will be thin) into the prepared pan (hopefully your meringue layer is done now...)Crank up the oven temperature to 350 and bake for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

3. Continue with the Filling: In a medium bowl set in a saucepan of simmering water, heat the peanut butter with the butter and milk chocolate, stirring constantly, until smooth and melted. Remove from the heat and fold in the rice krispies. Spread the mixture all over the cooled meringue rectangle and put into the freezer to let cool completely.

4. Start the Guinness Syrup: On the stove add the guinness and the sugar and bring to a simmer till it thickens to a syrup consistency.

5. Make the Ganache: In a medium bowl set in a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate. Whisk in the warmed cream until smooth. Remove from heat and refrigerate for 1 hour, whisking occasionally until thick enough to spread.

6. Once Cake is cooled: Invert the cake onto a work surface and working carefully, slice the cake horizontally.

7. Assemble the cake: Place the bottom cake layer cut side up on a large board. Brush that layer with half of the Guinness Syrup. Then spread one-third of the ganache over the cake. Invert the filling onto the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Spread one half of the remaining ganache over the filling. Next brush the other cut side of the cake with the rest of the guinness syrup (you might not use all of it, just make sure the cake is moistened). Top the filling with the remaining cake, cut side down. Refrigerate till firm, at least one hour. Using a serrated knife, trim the edges. Spread the remaining ganache over the the top and sides of the cake and refrigerate to set. Cut and Serve.

MAKE AHEAD: This cake can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Meringue filling before being baked.

TWD: French Pear Tart

French Vanilla, French Fries, French Kiss. The French have to be the world's best marketers. All the good things in life?? Ehhh... let's put the word French in front of it and call it ours. Brilliant.

I've yet to go to France, but it is near the top of my list... Despite it's reputation for being snobby or snooty, I've always had a fascination with it. I mean... the food, the wine, the countryside... it just all seems so simple and delicious.

I'm thrilled to say that this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by the author herself, Dorie Greenspan. She chose the French Pear Tart. Had I ever had a French Pear Tart before? No, of course not. But pears and almond cream sounded awesome to me and I was excited to whip this up.

In the interest of my waistline, I opted to halve this recipe and used the adorable little creme brulee ramekins that came as apart of an awesome creme brulee set that my brother got me for christmas! I got 3 cute little tarts out of half of the recipe.

The recipe came together easily, even without a food processor. The almond cream puffed up around the pears to where you could barely even see the pears. The aroma was amazing and the outcome was delicious, too. Although, I strayed from Dorie's recipe and added almond extract instead of vanilla and I think that was a mistake. The filling was actually a little sweet for my taste (which is saying a lot, because I love all things super sweet) and I think the almond extract boosted that. The thing I loved most about this pear tart was the texture. It's slightly crispy (in a dainty way) and it's got a slight chew to it that you don't normally get in fruit tarts and I really enjoyed that. I'd like to try this recipe with a tart-er fruit or possibly with less sugar and vanilla instead of almond extract.

Overall, another awesome recipe from Dorie and the French. Thanks for choosing this recipe, Dorie and thanks for writing such a kick ass cookbook!

Chocolate Gravy

Growing up in my family... the weekend meant one thing: A BIG BREAKFAST. Every Saturday and Sunday morning... my mom fixed the works for breakfast. Biscuits and gravy (both from scratch, of course), eggs, sausage, and bacon. And since I was a snot-nosed kid, I usually poured myself a bowl of cornflakes for my breakfast. I had no idea what I was missing.

Sometimes, though... when we had company or if my mom was craving it (and always during the week when us kids were out for snow) my mom would make chocolate gravy.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking what everyone I've ever told about Chocolate Gravy thinks.... chocolate? in gravy? Ewwww... gross.

But, it's not that. It's essentially chocolate syrup/ganache that is thinned out a bit with some milk to be close to the consistency of a gravy. Hence the name Chocolate Gravy.

Chocolate gravy poured over a hot biscuit is like nothing you've ever had before, I assure you. It's heaven. The gravy soaks into the biscuit and I think it actually brings out the flavor of the biscuit more. And when the biscuits have a nice crispy edge to them, you get a wonderful chocolatey crunch.

Now, chocolate gravy is reserved for Christmas morning, when the family tradition of a big breakfast is brought back to life. This year, I attempted to learn how to make it... but like any recipe of my mom's, it's always... "a little of this... a lot of that..." no exact measurements (which is also why the chocolate gravy is never the same twice). But, I did learn a little more about it... My maternal grandma used to make the chocolate gravy without vanilla or butter. I guess the tendency was to put the butter on your biscuit and then pour the gravy over it. My mom has always put butter and vanilla in her chocolate gravy and I think that's probably the best way to do it...

Mom's Chocolate Gravy

Again, these are not exact measurements, but they're fairly close. In the past, we've thrown some chocolate chips in to melt into the gravy to make it thicker and extra rich... but that almost tastes too gourmet (not enough like I remembered from my childhood). But if you want an uber chocolatey gravy, I'd suggest trying that.

1 tbsp flour
3/4 cup sugar
4-5 tbsp of cocoa
Pinch of salt
2 cups of milk (depending on how thick you want yout gravy, maybe less)
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Put all the dry ingredients into a saucepan on the stove. Gradually add in your milk, a little at a time over medium heat. Whisking/stirring to keep the lumps to a medium. Cook over medium heat till mixture comes together and thickens a little. (If it thickens too much, just pour a little more milk in).

After cooking for a few minutes and the gravy is the consistency you want, take off the stove and stir in your butter till it melts and the vanilla.

Spoon over biscuits.

TWD: Tall & Creamy Cheesecake

Cheesecake is hands down one of my favorite desserts. Not only are cheesecakes delicious... but they're so simple and inexpensive to make and yet... when you make one from scratch and take it somewhere... people act like you're a baking genius. Seriously... you want to make something easy, cheap, and something that can be done ahead of time that will knock people's socks off?? Cheesecake is your answer.

I was excited that Anne of Anne Strawberry chose Dorie's Basic cheesecake recipe Tall and Creamy Cheesecake for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, because I love trying out new recipes.

My previous go-to recipe for Cheesecake was a Tyler Florence recipe. It's foolproof. I've made it 100 times... with splenda, with sugar, with a water bath, without a waterbath. Seriously folks you can't mess this cheesecake up. It's light and fluffy with a little tang from the sour cream and lemon and it's white and crack-proof on top. A gorgeous, delicious cheesecake.

But, move over Tyler... there's a new cheesecake in town. Dorie's cheesecake is texturally my favorite cheesecake. It's cheesecake how I like it... soft and creamy, but not gooey (as I find cheesecake factory's cheesecakes to be). I think after making a few cheesecakes now... that I prefer cheesecakes with more heavy cream than sour cream. I think the cream is what makes for a browned top, but I don't mind that. I'll take flavor over looks any day. This recipe calls for both, but you can choose to omit one and use entirely the other, or a mixture of sour cream and cream. I used a mixture. Some sour cream and some heavy cream.

This cheesecake is dynamite and will definitely be my cheesecake recipe from now on.

TWD: Butterscotch Pudding

Butterscotch. Let me just start off by telling you how much I love butterscotch. I always pick out the butterscotch first in an assortment of hard candies. I love the sweet and the buttery mixed together. It really is a match made in heaven.

So, to say I was excited about making Butterscotch Pudding for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, is a bit of an understatement. I had visions of using this pudding in a tart shell for a Butterscotch Pudding Tart. Because... honestly... how good does that sound??

I was over at my parents house on Saturday morning and decided to rummage around their liquor cabinet (because, they seriously have anything and everything you would need in terms of liquor... its like going to a free liquor store). I knew my dad would have some Johnny Walker Black (which... I know.. is blended whiskey or whatever... semantics) until I saw this little jewel...

Glenfiddich 15 year reserve SINGLE MALT. Exactly what I was looking for! Just for kicks I poured my mom and I out some in a little glass, because honestly, I'd never had scotch before. Nevermind that it was like 10:30 in the morning. First, I smelled it and about gagged. And then I took a sip and seriously thought my tongue was going to burn off and that I would die choking on it. It was bad. My mom took a sip and I expected her response to be the same... I waited patiently looking at her, wanting her to join in the disgust for scotch with me... But she threw the glass back and after her non-chalant reaction I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd stuck her tongue down in the glass and licked it. I mean. Jeez... she pounded that scotch like nobody's business. Finally she said... "Hmm... would be better with a little water."

For those of you keeping score that's...

Mom: 1

Amy: 0

In the "who's a better drunk category. "

I didn't let the taste of the scotch deter me... I was determined that this was going to be a kick ass pudding. I got home and remembering how quick on your feet you have to be when making pudding, I laid out all my ingredients like I was on Emeril or something. I made only a half batch... because I was planning on just making two little adorable butterscotch pudding tarts.

The recipe came together quickly. I was glad I was prepared, because it made things go soooo much smoother. But, as it was coming together I noticed the pale, ashy, disgusting color that it was becoming and I was hoping that the vanilla and scotch would help fix that a bit.

It didn't and I thought... well who cares, I'll just cover the top in whipped cream. I decided to give the pudding a taste before I whipped up my tarts....

One word describes this pudding: Scotch. It should be called Scotch pudding. I mean... there is no buttery-ness whatsoever. But, if you love scotch... you'd freaking love this pudding. So... make this for your Mom (in my case, who apparently doesn't mind the taste of scotch) or your cirrhosis plagued uncle.

Thanks to Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases (Cute blog name!) for picking out this recipe. Maybe once I "acquire" my scotch palate, I'll be into this pudding. Until then, I guess I'll stick to my artificial butterscotch flavors.

Nigella's Banana Bread (err... Muffins)

Last year for Christmas, my dear friend April bought me How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. Clearly... she knows me well. I mean, if there is anything in this world that I want to be... it is definitely a domestic goddess. And if there is anything in this world that I am NOT, it's definitely a domestic goddess. So, there ya go. Perfect gift.

So, I've had this cookbook for over a year (she gave me my present early) and I have YET to make something from it. I've probably read the whole thing, including most of the recipes... and while I enjoy reading the intros to the recipes and the way Nigella describes the food, nothing has jumped out at me screaming: MAKE ME NOW. Which, is a shame, because... I NEED to become a domestic goddess. I mean... I'm a single 28 year old girl. When I say I NEED to become a domestic goddess, I'm not kidding. I need a man, folks. And everyone knows... Domestic Goddessdom= Snagging a Dude.

Finally, last night with three big bananas at the peak of the ripeness, I decided to start my quest to become that domestic goddess.

I cracked open the book and found this recipe for banana bread, that I decided to make into muffins instead. I was a little surprised that the recipe didn't include instructions for myself... like, I was expecting it to say...

First, go into your wardrobe and pick out the tightest, deepest v-neck sweater that you have. Put it on. Next, curl your hair with a curling iron, so that you have soft, bouncy curls. Then put on extra mascara and black eyeliner and a little bit of a pale pink lipstick. Put on your sexiest, highest heels and pour yourself a glass of wine. Now you are ready to bake.

But, it didn't. So, I put on my apron, stayed in my sweatpants and tshirt, and pulled my hair back and got to work. I know, very non-domestic goddessy of me.

Anyway, I'm ALWAYS finagling with quick bread recipes. Trying to make them healthier and lighter (I know... AGAIN very non-domestic goddessy of me... Sheesh. Maybe I'm not cut out for this domestic goddess jazz). And this recipe was no different. I did some butter and sugar substitutions, added some pumpkin I'm trying to use up for some extra nutrients and moisture and voila... Heathy-ish Banana Muffins.

They turned out well... a good banana flavor and very moist. Next time, I'll add nuts and wear some stilettos.

Nigella's Banana Bread (muffins)
adapted from How to Become a Domestic Goddess

So, this is how I made the recipe. So, there are a few substitions and changes. She also added boozy raisins to her batter, but I opted out of that.

Make sure to cook these muffins through. With all the extra fruit they are VERY moist and therefore aren't delicious right out of the oven. They are kind of gooey at first and need to set and cool a good bit. Once they do, though, they are a really good, easy, healthy muffin recipe. And if you want to completely stray from the the domestic goddess route, then try some whole wheat flour, instead of all white. (I know, shameful!).

1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup splenda
2 large eggs
3 medium-large, very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease a muffin tin.

Preheat the oven to 325F and get started on the rest.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium sized bowl and, using your hands or a wooden spoon, combine well.

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, applesauce and sugars and beat until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas and pumpkin. Then, with your spoon, stir in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture a third at a time, stirring well after each bit. Pour into muffin tin. They don't rise much, so I filled them pretty much to the top and bake in the middle of the oven for about a 45 minutes (but check after 30). When it's ready, an inserted toothpick or fine skewer should come out cleanish. Leave in the pan on a rack to cool.