daring bakers’ challenge march 2013: black bean brownies

Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

I’m finally getting a chance to get back into my Daring Bakers’ Challenges!

It’s been QUITE a busy year so far. I spent all of January transitioning out of my position at Hungry Girl, training my replacement. It was a difficult company to leave, but I knew I needed to make a move in order to continue my personal growth.

For the past two months I’ve been working at a digital marketing agency as a web/social media designer and front-end developer. I’m learning new skills everyday, its’s great!

Coinciding with my job change, I’ve been trying to eat “clean-er.” For quite some time I’ve been straying further and further from over-processed foods, but it’s really hard to avoid when you’re working at a company who uses many of them as their basis for recipes! Now that I’m not in that environment anymore, I’ve been doing a lot of juicing and smoothie-ing. I’m reintroducing healthy fats (like COCONUT!, traditional nuts, seeds) in moderation, as well as power grains like quinoa. ALthough many of the recipes on my blog are “clean,” you may see some “earthy crunchy” recipes like smoothies, homemade nut milks, and chia seed puddings. Things that I don’t normally make or eat, but have taken a recent interest in.

This absolutely does not mean I’ll be giving up baking or entirely switching up ingredients I use when baking. You have to live a little!! So back to making time for Daring Bakers!

I’d been seeing recipes using black beans in brownies for quite awhile, so I decided to find a recipe and give it a whirl. You definitely cannot taste the beans at all, not like I expected one to be able to in the first place. Black beans don’t have THAT distinctive of a taste, just a bit salty. Right?

I changed this recipe up a bit, but if I made it again, I would make some more modifications. They were a bit too thick for my taste. Normally I’d just use a larger pan so they come out more thin, but you’re already using a large pan here. I would try reducing the flour by about 1/2 cup. The brownies are super rich and decadent, so you definitely want to have a glass of milk handy. I ended up cutting them into small squares (the ones pictured, for example, were cut into fours).

my ultimate favorite chocolate chip cookies

featured on tastespotting

You know how there are some recipes of your mother’s or grandmother’s you just can’t quite mimic? Chocolate chip cookies are one of them for me. My mom uses the Nestle Toll House version, but she uses some sort of Country Crock and Crisco combination and undercooks them. I know, Country Crock and Crisco…it sounds like some sort of Paula Deen-esque concoction, but it works!

But try, try, try again to get my mom’s recipe right I will no longer do.

Because these ones are amazing.

I can stop right there. But I won’t.

The secret to these amazing cookies is the ginormous amount of chocolate chips and toasted walnuts. What the heck is wrong with me? Why didn’t I ever think of toasting nuts before adding them to baked goods? Toasting the walnuts gives them a buttery flavor that goes so well with the semisweet chocolate. If you don’t like the texture of nuts in your cookies, give them a pulse in a food processor or blender until finely chopped or powdered. My dad absolutely hates nuts, but I made a big batch and sent them to him for his birthday one year and he had no idea there were any nuts!

I’ve made both crispy and chewy versions of these little babies. I prefer chewy. But you better believe me, if you tied me down and forced the crispy ones on me, I wouldn’t struggle one bit.

josh’s 30th birthday part 2: ice cream cake

It’s no secret that I love baking. So it’s not much of a surprise that I love making birthday cakes, right?

I insisted on making Josh’s birthday cake. But he’s difficult and doesn’t like cake (of course). [Disclaimer: I call BS on this statement of his. He likes cupcakes. How can he not like cake?] So what better solution than to make ice cream cake? It was a perfect solution considering my ice cream making obsession.

So one day we brainstormed his perfect ice cream cake. And it went a little something like this: Brownie layer, ice cream layer, chocolate chip cookie bar layer (Josh: But only if it’s made from scratch. It has to be completely from scratch. Duh.), more ice cream, chocolate ganache.

This cake took a long time. I started making it six days before I planned to serve it. Partially because I was excited to start and also because my schedule was busy (preparing for the birthday dinner!). You might be able to pull this off in one day if you start really early (like 7 or 8 am early), but I’d really strongly suggest to give yourself 2 or 3 days to allow for all the freezing. You don’t want a melty mess because you tried to rush things.

Also, another quick note, since I started making ice cream I turned my freezer dial up to mega-super-ultra cold so that my ice cream maker bowl would be really cold. I dropped this cake on the way out the door with it. And there were no damages sustained. This is one ice cold hunk of dessert.

I made Mint Oreo truffles too. Just use the recipe from here with Mint Oreos instead of original!

We served this cake at Josh’s birthday, with a crowd of about 15 people and it was devoured. In minutes. It was a big hit and definitely worth all the time and effort. Plus, no one has ever made an ice cream for Josh from scratch before… Score!

josh’s ice cream cake

serves 16

• Ingredients
• Cookies and Cream Ice Cream (you can do store bought if you don’t have an ice cream maker!)
• Half of this Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie recipe
• Brownie Layer:
• 10.25 oz pouch of brownie mix
• Chocolate Ganache:
• 8 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Parchment paper
• 9-inch springform pan

First, make the ice cream.

Then, using the removable base from your springform pan, trace two circles onto parchment paper and cut them out. Place the base back into the springform pan. Spray with nonstick spray. Place one of the parchment circles into the bottom of the pan and spray with nonstick spray.

Prepare the chocolate chip cookie dough according to the instructions. Spoon the dough into the springform pan and evenly spread it out to form a layer. Bake the cookie at 375 degrees until golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the side of the springform pan. Allow to cool completely, slide the cookie off the base (while keeping the parchment paper attached to the cookie), then place in the freezer.

Next, prepare the brownie batter according to the package directions. Divide the batter in half. Prepare the pan as you did before for the cookie — spray, add parchment paper circle, and spray again. Pour one half of the batter into the pan and spread to form an even layer. Bake at the temperature suggested on the package until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then place in the freezer. Keep the sides of your springform pan on. The brownie layer must be completely frozen before moving on to the next step.

When the brownie is frozen, take out one pint of your cookies and cream ice cream. Allow it to soften for 5 minutes, then spread in an even layer on top of the brownie. Remove the cookie layer from the freezer, and remove the parchment paper from the bottom. Place the cookie layer into the pan on top of the ice cream. Gently press down to adhere to the ice cream, then freeze for several hours.

Next, allow your second pint of ice cream to soften for 5 minutes. Take the cake out of the freezer, and evenly spread the ice cream across the cookie layer. Put back into the freezer to harden for several hours.

Finally, make the ganache. Place the chocolate in a medium-sized bowl. Heat the whipping cream and butter on the stove and bring to just a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave it there for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, whisk together to incorporate. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature.

Place the ice cream cake on a wire rack set in a baking pan. Remove the sides of the springform pan.

Working quickly, pour the cooled ganache onto the center of the cake and let it drip down the sides. If it’s not dripping, place a spatula on the center of the cake and briskly move in circles to get the excess ganache in the center to drip off the sides. The cake will be very cold, so the ganache will start to freeze as it contacts the cake. Place the cake back in the freezer for a bit, just so the ganache can solidify.

When ready to serve, the cake should sit out for about 10 minutes or so to soften and be easier to cut through.

CCCs – cranberry chocolate cookies

It’s been quite the exciting week. Coachella was AWESOME, despite the unusual weather (cloudy/rainy Friday, highs/lows of 70/50). As per usual, I saw so many bands, but also missed so many. And for the record, the Tupac hologram was definitely creepy.

Wednesday was my birthday, which was celebrated with copious amounts of cake and Mexican food at Tortilla Republic. I loved their cucumber lavender margarita!

Now, my birthday wouldn’t be complete without my favorite type of dessert — cookies! This recipe happened kind of by accident. I fell mildly in love with the photo of them in Food & Wine, and upon realizing how simple they were, decided to make them. The recipe called for semisweet or white chocolate morsels… I figured, why not use BOTH? Ta-da…

CCCs – Cranberry Chocolate Cookies

adapted from Food & Wine Magazine

makes 3-4 dozen cookies

• Ingredients
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups (5 ounces) dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Beat the butter and sugars on medium until creamy. Add the egg, then egg yolk and vanilla, beating thoroughly between each, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Beat in the dry ingredients in batches. Stir in the cranberries, white chocolate, and semisweet chocolate.

Scoop the dough by overflowing teaspoons onto the baking sheets. I do even scoops using my favorite 1.5 teaspoon mini-scooper. Bake the cookies for 12 – 15 minutes. They’ll begin to turn golden around the edges. Cool slightly on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool.

lighter indulgence – red velcano cupcakes

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve baked anything since I’ve been out of town so much recently. This past weekend the weather forecast was not looking good. I decided to take advantage of the time indoors by finally firing up my oven again.

My mom used to make chocolate cream cheese cupcakes, also called black bottom cupcakes. Red velvet and cream cheese are such classic flavors, so I thought these might work out pretty well together. I overlooked one little thing while creating this recipe… While whisking everything together in the final steps, I noticed some bubbles… and remembered: baking soda + vinegar = explosion. After a few moments of minor panic, everything worked out just fine, but the bubbles reminded me of lava, and the cupcakes remind me of tiny little volcanos… of deliciousness. I give you: Red Velcano Cupcakes!

These cupcakes are dense and moist with a decadent cheesecake filling. By using 1/3 less fat cream cheese and applesauce instead of vegetable oil, you’ll save 60 calories and reduce the fat by 50%! If you want to take it even further, use fat free cream cheese and each cupcake will be less than 200 calories!

red velcano cupcakes

makes 14 cupcakes

• Ingredients
• Filling
• 1 (8 ounce) package 1/3 less fat cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Cupcakes
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk OR alternative*
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 25 (or more) drops red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Beat all the ingredients together for the filling, except the chocolate chips, until light and creamy.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the buttermilk (or alternative), applesauce, vinegar, vanilla, food coloring, and whisk together. My cupcakes didn’t turn out as red as I’d liked, so add more food coloring if you’d like a deeper color.

Fill the cupcake liners with 1/4 cup of the batter. Spoon two teaspoons of the cream cheese filling into the middle of the cupcakes. Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips into the center of the cupcakes.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the red part of the cupcakes comes out clean.

* If you don’t have buttermilk, you can easily make some! Add 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Fill with milk to the 1 cup line and let sit for 5 minutes. Voila! Buttermilk!

Per cupcake: 219 calories, 6g fat, 25g cholesterol, 358mg sodium, 37g carbohydrates, 4g protein