bake 52: coconut macaroons

Since trying the french macaroon sandwich cookies a few weeks ago, it was fun to try the coconut macaroon version.  So easy.  So few ingredients.

Pulse the coconut in a food processor until fine.  It said 1 to 4 pulses.  I did more than that... but my coconut still didn't look that "fine" to me.  But I was afraid to do it too much.  So I left it.  Maybe I should have pulsed it more?

Process egg whites, sugar, salt and almond extract until light and foamy.  Easy.

Add this mixture to the coconut.  Mix well, and refrigerate for 30 minutes so that the coconut can really soak up that liquid.

Form either balls or pyramid/square shapes... you know, something that resembles the Luxor (think Vegas.)

Bake 13-15 minutes.  This was 15.  They still didn't turn out as nice looking as the ones in the book.  And... so much of the liquid seeped out.

Not sure what happened.  You can see here better how strange they ended up looking, right out of the oven.  Ugly.

So, I cut off those ugly sides, and tried to dip them in chocolate, like the book suggested.

What a mess.  I ended up holding the macaroons upside down and trying to carefully spread the chocolate on the bottom of the cookie.  Hmm...

They tasted great.  Really coconuty with a almond flavor.  Mmm.

Head over to Emily's blog for the full recipe.  Thanks for a great pick, Emily!

Bake 52: Chocolate Blackout Cake

Chocolate.  Blackout.  Had to be good.  I am very picky when it comes to cake.  I don't like dry cake, and typically, that's just what cake is.  So I was really hoping for a yummy, moist, chocolate cake.  And that's what I got!

Yesterday was my Phebe's birthday.  Ten.  Wow.  Where did that go?  Luckily she wanted a chocolate cake for her birthday.  I showed her the picture in the book, and she said that would be great.  Thank goodness.  I mean, I only NEED so many desserts hanging around.

Pudding:  Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt together.  Slowly add half-and-half and milk.  Simmer.

Chop the chocolate.

Stir in the chocolate and cook about 1 more minute.  Remove from heat, add vanilla.

The pudding is transferred to another bowl, and plastic wrap is placed directly on the surface of the pudding.  ( This way you don't get the skin that sometimes forms on top.)

Cake:  Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

Melt butter and cocoa in saucepan.

Whisk in coffee, buttermilk and sugars.  (The coffee is added to bring out a stronger/deeper chocolate flavor.)  I'm not a coffee drinker, so I added Pero.  Worked great!

Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, then slowly whisk in the flour mixture.

Pour, (the batter is pretty runny), into the prepared pans.  I did two small rounds, and then 6 large cupcakes.  Thought it would make such a fun little birthday cake, and I had a feeling this would be a pretty "rich" cake.  The giant cupcakes will make a couple of GREAT thank you's to some friends.  I'm thinking one to each, will be just perfect.

The cakes sat in the pans for 10 minutes, and then we turned out and allowed to cool for 2 hours before frosting.

The book had some great tips on slicing the layers in half.  Using a ruler, mark with a small sharp knife the middle of the layer.  Do this all around the cake.  Then using a long serrated knife, and the marks made previously, "score" the cake all the way around.  Then carefully slice through the layer, turning and cutting through a little at a time.  Worked like a charm.  Although, I was wondering if the marks made with the little knife would be easier to see on a lighter colored cake?

Both layers are sliced in half, so you end-up with 4 layers.

Place one on your cake place, with parchment strips laying under on all sides to catch crumbs.  It's all about the presentation!

Then start layering.  Cake, pudding, cake, pudding, cake and then frost the whole thing with pudding.  The last layer (number 4), is crumbled and then pressed along the sides and top of the cake.

Now here's where it went south... when I took my pudding out of the fridge, it was so stiff.  I just knew that it would never spread, and it would rip my cake to shreds.  (This cake was so moist and soft, I just knew there was no hope.)  So, I decided to add a little milk to thin it out... just a bit.  I'm thinking I thinned it a bit too much.  You can tell from the pictures that it was a little too thin.  Dang.  Maybe I should have left it, and given it a try?  I'll never know.

So there's the finished product.  The picture in the book was amazing.  The pudding really looked like frosting (so maybe my pudding was right at first, and I shouldn't have messed with it?).  And, I couldn't see any holes between the cake crumbs, showing through to the pudding - like you can with mine. 

But, it tasted great.

I had a little bit of whipped cream on the side of mine, but most of the kids had a small scoop of chocolate ice cream.  Nothing goes better with chocolate than chocolate.

And Phebe?  Well, she loved it.  She didn't mention the holes between the cake crumbs, or the slightly sliding pudding.  I think she had a great day.  Happy 10th, Sunshine!

For the full recipe, check out Courtney's blog.

Bake 52: Lunchbox Brownies

Brownies.  What's not to love?  Chocolate.  Dense.  Rich.  Fudgy.  Chocolate.  Oh, I said that already.  Can't really go wrong there.  

In all my years of making brownies from scratch, I have yet to find a recipe that I REALLY love.  Either they're too caky (I prefer them more dense and fudgy), or they're not chocolatey enough.  But this was a really great recipe.  

I went a little rogue this on this recipe, stepped out on my own a bit.  It's just that After reading through the recipe, I kept thinking about a killer brownie-esque dessert recipe that I've made repeatedly.  It's made in ramekins, and then a few chocolate chips are placed on top before cooking.  When ice cream is placed on top after cooling slightly, that cold ice cream turns those melted chocolate chips into hard little disks.  Ooo, it's good.  Can't truly imagine it until you've tried it.  Anyway, on to this week's recipe...

Start by melting the butter and chocolate together in the microwave.  Allow to cool slightly.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Combine sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  (There's something about eggs.  That yellow color is so pretty.)

Here's where the deviation started.  Pint sized jars.

There's the batter, just a-waitin' to be cooked.

Close-up of the batter.  Mmmm.

There it is, right from the oven.  I forgot to put the chocolate chips in before baking, so I threw them in right after.  I think it had the same delicious effect.

 Look, plenty to go around.  Come on over.  I'll share.

Had to be done.  Top with vanilla ice cream.  Nothing wrong with that.

I thought about doing them in ramekins, but then thought about how fun these would be to give as a gift.  (Before the ice cream, of course.  That would just be too messy.)  Maybe to a friend for a birthday?  How fun to get one of these.  Just for you.  All yours.  Your own little birthday brownie.  You don't have to share with anyone.  The way it should be, at least one day a year.

Up close and personal.  Check out all that fudgy goodness.

And ready to be gifted.

Great pick Liz!  Head over to here, her blog, for the full recipe.