ganache

Assorted Truffles in a Chocolate Bowl

What sort of recipe starts off with a grocery list that includes plastic gloves, balloons, and turtle food? Okay, the turtle food is actually just something I picked up for my precious chelonian friend, so I guess we can ignore that. But I promise plastic gloves and balloons are both important tools when making this adorably fancy dessert.

I had leftover ganache from this indulgent dessert / monstrosity and considered tossing it. I’m so glad I didn’t! I stumbled across a discussion of using leftover ganache to make truffles and suddenly had a plan: I’d make a batch of simple truffles myself! As usual, my plan grew . . . and grew. Before long, my elaborate menu included four varieties of truffle, and, oh yes, wouldn’t it be sweet to serve them in a bowl made of chocolate? Marbled chocolate, even? Oh, yes.

Call me harebrained. I don’t mind; I like bunnies (well, except that louse of a pet rabbit my little brother owns . . . his name is Pilfer, and he frequently reminds me what a pity it is that I haven’t yet tried rabbit stew. But I digress.)

My ideas do get a little “hare-y,” but this time it worked out into a sweet little plan — and one that would be perfect for a simple but sophisticated Mothers’ Day gift!

My four truffle varieties all begin with the same base: a ball of rich, thick ganache. Mine had been stored in the fridge since I made it and was lovely to work with. After rolling the ganache into a ball, it got one of four treatments:

  1. Plain truffles: ganache coated in melted chocolate and rolled in cocoa.
  2. Oreo coated truffles: ganache coated in melted chocolate and rolled in pulverized oreos.
  3. Hazelnut truffles: ganache with a toasted hazelnut in the center, coated in nutella and rolled in chopped hazelnuts and melted chocolate.
  4. Tuxedo truffles: ganache coated in melted chocolate and then dipped in vanilla and chocolate candy coating.

Deb of Smitten Kitchen explained a truffle-making technique that I employed. In fact, the instructions below are really more of a method than a recipe. One of the most important things to note is that you should do some mise-en-place before starting! It’s no fun retrieving something you forgot with sticky, chocolatey hands.

My setup was relatively simple: bowl of ganache, bowl of melted chocolate, bowls of my multiple coatings (chopped nuts, cocoa, crushed oreos, vanilla candy coating), a sieve for shaking off excess coating, and finally, a big strip of waxed paper for drying. The truffle-making process is where those rubber gloves come in, by the way! To coat each ball of ganache in melted chocolate, you smear the chocolate on your glove and roll the chilled ganache therein.

And what about the balloons? Ah, yes. Those were for the chocolate bowls which looked so easy when I read about them, and turned out to involve a lot of trial and error! Out of 5 or 6 tries, I managed to obtain 3 reasonable-looking bowls. Not too shabby. Lessons I learned include blowing your balloon up small, using candy coating instead of regular melted chocolate that takes longer to dry, and double coating where possible. And just expect to shatter a few bowls — it seems almost inevitable. Take heart that with each bowl that collapsed, I had a better idea of what to do differently on my next try.

Chocolate Bowls



Recipe by: Technique found here
Yields: Depends on how much chocolate you melt!

Ingredients/equipment:
one package chocolate and/or vanilla candy coating (I use CandiQuik)
toothpicks if you plan on trying to marble your bowl
balloons

Directions:
Melt candy coating according to package directions and then pour into shallow container to let it cool slightly and get slightly less viscous. You want it to be a consistency where you can sort of “paint” it onto the balloon with a spoon and it won’t immediately pour right off — though it will slowly drain. When it’s cooled for a minute, carefully paint it onto the bottom of your balloon with a spoon, placing each balloon on wax paper to dry*. After they’ve dried for a few minutes, the candy coating should be starting to harden. If your first coating seems thin, paint another coat on and let it dry as well.

After letting the candy coating cool thoroughly, snip the top of the balloon with a pair of scissors, letting the air out slowly. The balloon will pull away from the bowl. When it stops, very gently continue pulling it away until your chocolate bowl stands alone!

*Note: If you’d like to try marbling your bowls, pipe thin lines of chocolate in a contrasting color on the still-wet chocolate after coating the bottom of the balloon. Use toothpicks to very carefully drag through the piped lines, creating a marbling effect. Let balloon dry.

Speaking of how fragile these bowls are (or at least, how fragile mine were), the above photo shows what happened in the midst of my photoshoot. It was almost dessert disaster, but when life hands you shards of chocolate bowls (life is strange), why not make an ice cream sundae? Yep, even broken bowls make for pretty desserts.

If you’re not that into edible bowls (weirdo), the truffles would also look adorable in a cellophane bag with a ribbon, or any sweet little container you have lying around — maybe even a heart-shaped box? If you love the bowls but aren’t that into truffles (weirdo), you could use these chocolate bowls for serving ice cream or even individual French silk pies (I want to give Dr. GG a hug for that brilliant idea)! Or follow in my bunny-brained footsteps and make both bowls and truffles for a fancy schmancy dessert.

Assorted Truffles



Recipe by: Bon Appétit (ganache) and Robert Linxe (method)
Yields: Perhaps around 30-40 truffles?*

Ganache Ingredients:
3/4 cups whipping cream
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I use a combination)

Optional ingredients for Hazelnut Truffles:
whole hazelnuts
melted semisweet chocolate
Nutella

Optional Indredients for Oreo Coated Truffles:
7 pulverized oreo cookies
melted semisweet chocolate

Optional Ingredients for Plain Truffles:
cocoa powder
melted semisweet chocolate

Optional Ingredients for Tuxedo Truffles:
vanilla candy coating (I use CandiQuik)
chocolate candy coating (I use CandiQuik)
melted semisweet chocolate

Directions:
First, set up your work area to minimize the amount of chocolate you have on random kitchen surfaces when you finish. Then, for all truffle types, make ganache. Bring whipping cream to simmer in large saucepan. Remove from heat; add chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before transferring it to the refrigerator.

Plain truffles: Roll chilled ganache into a ball of desired size. Don cute plastic gloves. Smear melted (and slightly cooled) chocolate on one glove and gently roll the ganache ball in the smear until coated. Toss into a bowl of cocoa powder and toss to coat with a fork. Transfer the truffle to a sieve and shake off excess cocoa powder. Store truffles in sealed container in the refrigerator.

Oreo truffles: Repeat plain truffle procedure, but instead of coating in cocoa powder, coat in oreo crumbs. Store truffles in sealed container in the refrigerator.

Tuxedo Truffles: Repeat plain truffle procedure, but instead of coating in cocoa powder, place chocolate-coated ganache ball on a plate and freeze for at least 10 minutes. When hard, use a toothpick to dip each ball into melted vanilla candy coating, wiggling the ball off onto wax paper to dry. You may have to double-dip if the white doesn’t fully cover. When dry, dip the sides of each white truffle into chocolate candy coating to form “lapels.” Use a toothpick to dab on chocolate candy coating “buttons,” forming a tuxedo design. Store truffles in sealed container in the refrigerator.

Hazelnut Truffles: Toast hazelnuts on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees F for about 5-7 minutes, checking and shaking the pan periodically. Save some of the hazelnuts whole to form the center of truffles. Chop the rest of the toasted hazelnuts up very finely and let cool. Place cooled, chopped hazelnuts in a bowl. Prepare another bowl of melted chocolate.

Roll chilled ganache into ball of desired size and poke a whole, toasted hazelnut into its center. Don cute plastic gloves. Smear nutella on one glove and gently roll ganache ball in the nutella until coated. Drop coated ball into bowl of chopped hazelnuts and toss with a fork to coat. Drop coated ball into the melted chocolate to coat. Finally, coat the ball in chopped hazelnuts one last time. Set on wax paper to dry. Store truffles in sealed container in the refrigerator.

*Note: Since I made this with leftover ganache, I used a different amount, and can’t say exactly how many this recipe will make; however 30-40 is my best estimate.


The messy process. By the way, do as I say and not as I do: those balloons are blown up too big!


Enjoy!


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Coffee Cookie Dough Fudge Cheesecake

Coffee Cookie Dough Fudge Cheesecake



Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, adapted from Annies’ Eats’ Cappucino Fudge Cheesecake with eggless cookie dough by Family Fun

Yields: one 9-inch cheesecake
Crust Ingredients:
32 chocolate sandwich cookies, finely processed into crumbs (use whole cookies, filling and all)
5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt

Ganache Ingredients:
1½ cups heavy cream
20 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I combined both)

Filling Ingredients:
3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons mild-flavored (light) molasses
3 large eggs

Topping Ingredients:
1½ cups sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Layer Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 to 6 tablespoons water (I used 4)

Directions:
To make the crust, butter a 9-inch springform pan. Combine the chocolate cookie crumbs, melted butter and salt in a small bowl. Toss with a fork to moisten all of the crumbs. Press into a thin layer covering the bottom and sides of the springform pan (at least 3 inches up the sides). I did this using a smooth glass to press crumbs into place.

Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Once the cream reaches a simmer, pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk in small circles until a smooth ganache has formed. Pour 1.5-2 cups of the ganache over the bottom of the crust. Freeze until the ganache layer is firm, about 30 minutes. Reserve the remaining ganache; cover and let stand at room temperature for later decorating.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F and position a rack in the middle of the oven. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until well blended. Beat in the flour. In a small bowl, combine the coffee granules, vanilla and molasses, stirring until the coffee dissolves. Add to the cream cheese mixture and beat until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition.

Pour the filling over the cold ganache in the crust. Enclose the bottom of the springform pan in tightly wrapped foil and place it in a baking dish. Fill the baking dish with hot water about halfway up the cheesecake pan, careful not to let the moisture touch the cheesecake. Bake until the top is lightly browned, puffed and cracked at the edges, and the center moves only very slightly when the pan is lightly shaken, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire cooling rack. Cool 15 minutes while preparing the topping (maintaining the oven temperature.)

To make the topping, whisk together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour the topping over the hot cheesecake, spreading to cover the filling completely. Bake until the topping is set, about 10-15 minutes. Return to the cooling rack and let cool at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to the refrigerator and let cool at least 3 hours, until completely chilled and set.

To make cookie dough layer, cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the flour, salt, vanilla and chips. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, until you have reached a cookie dough consistency. Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Spoon the cookie dough into the pan and flatten to an even layer. Freeze the cookie dough layer until ready to use (at least 30 minutes).

To finish, wrap a warm towel around the outside of the springform pan to help loosen the crust from the sides. Carefully remove the springform. Transfer the cake to a serving platter. Turn cookie dough out of cake pan and place layer on top of cheesecake, pressing it gently into place. Place the reserved ganache in a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip and use to garnish the top of the cake as desired. Chill until the ganache is completely firm, at least 6 hours.




Happy Anniversary, Mike!

Un Petit Trésor: Les Macarons

The time has come. What a lovely night: I’m sitting in my little white desk chair, burning my raspberry scented candle, and weaving together a story I’ve been itching to tell you for ages. Why haven’t I told it sooner? It’s about an endeavor that until this month, I simply haven’t had the nerve to attempt. In keeping with their character and mission, however, the Daring Bakers have once again pushed me out of my comfortable nest. For weeks now I’ve been flapping my wings in a frenzy, uncertain as to whether I’d fly through this challenge like a graceful (albeit nonexistent) Willow Bird, or fall to my (melodramatic) doom. Well, here I am telling you the story I’ve longed to tell you, so it must be good news, right? Let me tell you a tale of magnificence, of magic, of madness, of . . . feet?

Of feet.

Don’t be grossed out, podophobics — these aren’t the sort of feet with heels, arches, and toes. These are the sort of feet that bakers across the world have been dreaming of long before this month’s challenge rolled around. You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m referring to the sweet little feet on a lovely French macaron.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Macarons are unique, delicate sandwich cookies with a crisp shell, soft innards, and a variety of different fillings. They’ve been called “the new cupcakes” because of their petite portion sizes, their diverse flavorings, and their meteoric increase in popularity in recent years. While I don’t think they’ll be replacing cupcakes anytime soon, macarons are infinitely versatile. The shells can be flavored with cocoa, powdered fruits, and teas; colored with bright powdered food coloring; and filled with any one of myriad ganaches, frostings, creams, nut butters, or jams.

The recipe for macarons is deceptively short and (forgive my beloved puns) sweet. The plethora of nit-picky addendums to said recipe, however, expose the truth: macarons are difficult to perfect. They’re finicky about ingredient ratios, oven temperatures, folding intensity and duration, your kitchen decor . . . you get the idea. I was nervous but determined as I set my first batch of egg whites out on the counter to age. To be honest, the aforementioned nit-picky how-tos probably added to my anxiety more than they aided my technique. My obsessive compulsive nature was on overdrive trying to compile the 847,948 macaron tips I had read, some of which conflicted and some of which were insanely detailed. I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find someone prescribing optimal wrist angles for folding batter or proper macaron-making hairstyles.

At some point, you have to stop reading the mountain of macaron manuals and just jump on in. In that spirit, I picked up some cardamom in the bulk spice section of my local grocer and set to work on Cardamom Pumpkin Macarons.

Macaron recipes all typically follow a basic pattern: beat egg whites and sugar to a stiff meringue, process almonds and powdered sugar together until fine, sift to remove lumps, fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients to form the macaronage, pipe out into circles, and bake. I added the cardamom into my macaron shells and whipped up Tartelette’s Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling to sandwich between them. I sprinkled some roasted, salted pumpkin seeds in the center of some of these macarons for good measure.

When I knelt to peer into my oven window and saw feet on my macarons, I grabbed my phone and my camera. The former was to call Mike and share my elation, while the latter provided a video memento of my victorious achievement. I love knowing that so many fellow bakers (daring or otherwise) have felt the joy of this very moment while sitting in front of their own ovens.

Despite my elation, my first batch of macarons certainly wasn’t perfect. They were delicious, but the shells were a bit flat. After reflecting and reading, I decided the flatness of the shells was probably due to overfolding my macaronage, and that the Daring Bakers recipe was a risk, seeing as it used a different ratio of ingredients than the accomplished Tartelette. Thus I made the following changes: I would count my strokes as I folded in my dry ingredients, ensuring that they were under 50, and I would use Tartelette’s recipe.

Batch #2 was comprised of plain macaron shells with two fillings: Cream Cheese Buttercream with Strawberry Jam, or David Lebovitz’s Chocolate Filling. And finally, using only 45 folding strokes, egg whites aged for 48 hours, and Tartelette’s careful ratio, I achieved a magnificent macaron!

While both fillings were good, we strongly preferred the chocolate filling to the somewhat overly tangy cream cheese buttercream. Y’all know I love cream cheese, but the taste of this recipe struck me as a bit odd (maybe I did something wrong). I do love the idea of cold, fruity jam on top of cream, but next time I’ll use a regular vanilla buttercream.

These gorgeous bites would be perfect with tea or coffee (I have to admit, though, I’m not a coffee drinker. In fact, that’s Coke Zero in the mug up there — go ahead and laugh). Because of their flexible flavoring, macarons are also ideal for any time of day. Eat a light jam macaron on the patio for breakfast, a buttercream macaron for a late morning brunch, or a ganache-filled macaron for a decadent dessert. Don’t be discouraged if your first try doesn’t yield perfection; the eventual success and satisfaction is worth the wait!

Cardamom Pumpkin Macarons


Recipe By:

-Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern (adapted by me)
Tartelette (pumpkin cream cheese filling)

Yields: around 2 dozen macarons (48 shells)


Macaron Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.) icing sugar
2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.) almond flour
2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.) granulated sugar
1/2 heaping teaspoon ground cardamom
5 (Have at room temperature) egg whites, at room temperature (I followed the popular recommendation and aged my egg whites for 24-48 hours on a counter top, covered with a paper towel)


Pumpkin Cream Cheese Ingredients:
2 oz (60gr) cream cheese, at room temperature
2 oz (60gr) freshly cooked or canned pumpkin
1/8 tsp ground cloves


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the icing sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift half of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold to combine. Fold quickly at first and then gently. Add cardamom to your batter. Sift in the remaining almond flour and continue to fold, but be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients. Note: Count your strokes and try to stay under 50. The macaronnage should “flow like magma,” whatever that means, when it’s ready.)
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets (double up on baking sheets if they aren’t professional grade) lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper). Note: I piped mine too close together. Be careful.
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored. Note: Don’t get so excited about their feet that you yank them out too soon; if you do, the feet will collapse into a sad ruffle. Don’t ask me how I know this.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

For filling: In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, pumpkin and cloves until completely incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with this mixture and pipe onto half the shells and top with another shell.

Note: If I had this to do over again, I’d use Tartelette’s recipe (below) with cardamom added for the macarons.

Plain Macarons with Two Fillings: Cream Cheese Buttercream with Strawberry Jam and Chocolate Ganache


Recipe By:

Tartelette (macarons, cream cheese buttercream, adapted by me)
David Lebovitz (chocolate filling)

Yields: around 15-17 macarons (30-34 shells)


Macaron Ingredients:
3 egg whites (about 90 gr)
30 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr almonds


Cream Cheese Buttercream Filling Ingredients: Note: I would have preferred regular buttercream. This filling had an odd flavor.
1 1/2 sticks (170 gr) butter at room temperature
4 oz (120gr) cream cheese, softened
3 egg whites
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
2 Tb water
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean split open and seeded.
Strawberry jam (or flavor of your choice)


Chocolate Filling Ingredients:
½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
4 ounces (120 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (15 gr) butter, cut into small pieces


Directions:
For the whites: the day before (24hrs), separate your eggs and store the whites at room temperature in a covered container. If you want to use 48hrs (or more) egg whites, you can store them in the fridge. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue. Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry and your macarons won’t work. Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Pass through a sieve. Add them to the meringue,with the coloring and give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that flows like magma or a thick ribbon. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper lined baking sheets (double up on baking sheets if they aren’t professional grade). Preheat the oven to 300F. Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit and bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. Note: Don’t get so excited about their feet that you yank them out too soon; if you do, the feet will collapse into a sad ruffle. Don’t ask me how I know this. Let cool. If you have trouble removing the shells, pour a couple of drops of water under the parchment paper while the sheet is still a bit warm and the macarons will lift up more easily do to the moisture. Don’t let them sit there in it too long or they will become soggy. Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.

For strawberry cream cheese filling: In the bowl of stand mixer, whip the egg whites until they have soft peaks. In the meantime, combine 2 Tb water with the sugar to a boil in a heavy saucepan and bring the syrup to 250F. Slowly add the sugar syrup to the egg whites. If you use hand beaters, this is even easier and there is less hot syrup splatter on the side of your bowl and in the whisk attachment of the stand mixer. Continue to whip until the meringue is completely cooled. Slowly add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. The mass might curdle but no panic, continue to whip until it all comes together. Add the cream cheese, the same way, a little at a time until everything is smooth. Whisk in the vanilla extract, or paste or bean. Keep it to spreadable consistency for the macarons and refrigerate the leftover for cupcakes or mini toast in the fridge up to 3 days or in the freezer.

To assemble macarons, pipe cream cheese buttercream onto one side topped with a dollop of jam. Sandwich the other shell on top. Refrigerate to set.

For chocolate filling: Heat the cream in a small saucepan with the corn syrup. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter. Let cool completely before using. When cool, I whipped the chocolate with a handmixer to achieve a good spreading consistency. I then piped a large dollop in the middle of shells and sandwiched other shells on top. Refrigerate.


Piping batter onto a macaron template and then the cookies fresh out of the oven (and a little wonky).



Blurry proof of feet for batches 1 and 2!





I hope you enjoyed this post! Don’t forget to cruise the Daring Bakers blogroll to see all of the creative French macarons.


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Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes with Ganache

I did some super secret daring baking this weekend, but I can’t do the big reveal until later in the month. I’m not too disappointed, though, because I have a stack of past baking endeavors just waiting for their internet debut. Like Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes, for example.

These cupcakes — which are also floating around the internet as Black Bottom Cupcakes — remind me of the chocolate cake cookies Mike and I used to buy from the local grocery store and scarf down shamelessly. They had a cream cheese filling and when you heated them for a few seconds in the microwave, they were exquisite. In fact, I was secretly excited when Mike started eating less sugar, because that meant more cheesecake cookies for me! Oh sure, I would offer him some — but what a relief when he refused! Mike’s sugar abstinence aside, I knew I had to make these Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes when I saw them. They were pure genius: moist chocolate cake AND creamy cheesecake combined in one cute cupcake! I was sure that even Mike with all his willpower wouldn’t be able to resist. I eagerly awaited the perfect occasion to make a batch.

I have a confession we may as well get out of the way: I’m a bit hokey. I like Scrabble. Mike and I are watching our way through Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I collect Nancy Drew books even though I’m over 10 years old. I own and love those turtle plates above. And I adore theme dinners! You know, you pick a theme ingredient or idea and create dishes to match. I finally got my chance to make the cupcakes as part of one of these very dinners. The theme was “stuffed,” so we dined on my semi-homemade Taco Stuffed Crescent Rolls (one of Mike’s favorites), a pan of hearty stuffed portobello mushrooms, and last but not least, the Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes.


“Stuffed” Dinner — after which we were stuffed!

Never content to leave delicious enough alone, I decided to make a smooth ganache to drizzle over each cupcake, adding some goo factor. What’s chocolate without some gooeyness? It turned out to be an exceptional addition to an already exceptional cupcake.


Some ganache for good measure.

In addition to being delightful, these cupcakes are also extremely simple to whip up. It’s one of those great recipes where the taste far outweighs the effort. I hope you’ll give it a try and let me know what you think.

Chocolate Cheesecake Stuffed Cupcakes with Ganache


Recipe By:

JoyofBaking.com (cupcakes)
JoyofBaking.com (ganache)

Yields: 12 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:
8 ounces (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (210 grams) light brown sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) unflavored vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Ganache Ingredients (optional):
8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter
1 tablespoons cognac or brandy (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, or generously butter or spray each cup with a non stick vegetable spray.

Cream Cheese Filling: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth. Set aside while you make the Chocolate Cupcake batter.

Chocolate Cupcakes: In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl mix the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until nice and smooth. Evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups (resist the urge to overfill — remember that the cream cheese filling needs some space too). Spoon a few tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each cupcake.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling is a little brown and the cupcakes feel springy to the touch (a toothpick inserted into the chocolate part of the cupcake will come out clean). Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur. Makes enough ganache to cover a 9 inch (23 cm) cake or torte.

These cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days.


Ready to bake!



Enjoy!

Milan Cookies

Saying that I love to try new recipes and techniques is an understatement. Even when I’m making a tried and true dessert that I’ve made repeatedly, I always have a crazy urge to try a new decorating technique or another twist. It was a wonderful decision, therefore, to join The Daring Bakers.

Each month, one of the Daring Bakers is responsible for hosting a challenge that they issue to all of the others. Bakers complete the challenge and everyone posts their results on the 27th of the month. This is my first month in the group, and I can already tell I’m going to love it.

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network (to see my Mallows, go to this post).

First and foremost, I think the Daring Bakers will encourage me to try recipes I might not otherwise consider. These Milan Cookies, for example, aren’t something I would have decided to try on my own, but they are delicious and sophisticated. I can picture them being served at tea; they’re so prim in their little paper bowls! The cookie filling is a thick ganache with a hint of orange zest that complements the slightly citrus flavor of the cookie itself. Everyone who tried these loved them!

Just a hint: I had some lemon curd frozen from my Lemon Burst Fairycakes, so I spread it on a cookie and gave it a taste. It was heavenly! You could even sandwich some lemon curd between two cookies and dip them in ganache! Clearly, these cookies have inspired me.


Milan Cookie with lemon curd filling in the place of ganache.

This recipe is from Gale Gand and Food Network, but of course, I tweaked some things. Changes to the recipe are marked in italics below. I hope you enjoy these cookies, and be sure to send me a photo and/or leave me a comment if you make them! I’d love to see your results!

Milan Cookies


Recipe By: Gale Gand (slightly tweaked — changes in italics)
Yields: about 50 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
1 1/2 cups flour
Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 orange, zested

Directions:

Cream the butter with a paddle attachment then mix in the sugar. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe thick 2-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan (note: it’s easier to pipe onto parchment if you “glue” it to the pan using some nonstick cooking spray), spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 7-8 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

Cookie Filling: In a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl. Whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools). Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

NOTES on storage from Audax Artifex: Let cookies cool completely before storing them, or the residual heat will produce steam that will soften the cookies and accelerate spoilage. Separate layers of cookie with wax paper or foil.

In a dry climate, keep unfilled cookies crisp by storing them in a loosely covered container, such as a cookie jar without a snug lid. In a damp, humid climate, store in a tightly covered container.

Also keeping the unfilled cookies in an air tight container with a muslin bag of salt or bicarbonate of soda – this will absorb the dampness keeping your cookies crisp.

All of that said, I will tell you, my cookies got soft. We actually enjoyed them that way, so don’t fret if yours aren’t as crisp on day 2. Many of the Daring Bakers also tried fun combinations — chocolate Milan cookies with chocolate mint ganache, plain Milan cookies with no citrus, etc. So do some experimenting!

Process Photos:


Baking in the oven.



Cooling off (here you can see that a few were quite
wonky! To reduce the number of crooked cookies,
quickly and confidently pipe a thick, straight line.)



Mixing cookie filling.



The sandwich construction station!



LOTS of cookies!






Enjoy!

Visit the Daring Bakers (temporary) Blogroll to see more of these treats from amazing bakers!

Since I mentioned challenges, what’s the most challenging recipe you’ve tried?

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