"Fancy Schmancy" Chocolate Souffle

Chocolate Souffle is one of the fanciest things that I've ever cooked. It looks fancy, and it tastes like part cake, and part pudding. I was scared; I've heard all kinds of things about souffles, but actually, it was pretty easy and turned out pretty good. This recipe is adapted from "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking" (my Valentines present from my Sweetie :) Yup, I got a cookbook for Valentine's day) Here's what you'll need.

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup strong coffee
1/2 Tablespoon butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
3 Tablespoons butter
4 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon vanilla
6 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
Powdered sugar
It also wouldn't hurt to have some vanilla ice cream, or some whipped cream to serve it with :)

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Then add the chocolate and the coffee to a small, microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave on medium heat, stirring often, until chocolate is completely melted.

You will also need a souffle dish. I didn't have one, so I used a bowl. It was fairly shallow and about 8 inches across. 

Butter the inside of your dish. Then you get to do some aluminum foil origami :)

Take a piece of foil that is long enough to go around the inside of your bowl. Also make sure it's at least six inches tall. Then fold it in half the long way

then fold it again

then again

Then, butter one side of it, and put it inside your bowl.

 This is so that your souffle will rise up higher than the sides of the dish (although, it didn't for me, and this step is kind of a pain.) I'm declaring this step as optional. 

Measure your flour into a 2-quart saucepan. (TIP OF THE DAY- don't use nonstick unless you have a whisk that is not made of metal! Otherwise this next part might make you cry a little bit)

Slowly whisk your milk in, getting it as smooth as you can. Add butter.

 Stir over moderate heat until boiling. 

Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and beat 1 minute or so to cool it down slightly. 

Next, add your egg yolks (one by one) to the mix. 

Notice the change in color.

Then add your vanilla and your melted chocolate/coffee mixture. 

Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top to prevent a skin from forming on top while you do the next steps.

Now you will need to get a giant bowl. I kept having to switch bowls because this egg white mixture got SO large. I went through three bowls. Save yourself the heartache and start with a ginormous bowl. 

Beat your egg whites and salt in aforementioned bowl.

Beat until soft peaks are formed. (NOTE: If you are a superhuman, you can try to do this by hand. Otherwise, use a hand mixer with a whip attachment.) 

Next, beat in the sugar very slowly, just sprinkles at a time. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. 

I'm fascinated by egg whites. How do they get SO fluffy?

Next, scrape the chocolate mixture into the side of the bowl with the egg whites. Fold it in very gently. If you do not fold gently, your souffle will be less fluffy (not good.)

Pour it into the buttered bowl. and put on the bottom rack of your oven. Then turn the oven down to 375. 

In 35-40 minutes, when it has risen and the top is cracked, sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Then continue baking for 5 minutes. 

Serve at once. 

mmmm.... 

You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!

Or... maybe I got my chocolate in your peanut butter? One of life's big questions.....

Today's recipe is Homemade Peanut Butter Cups. Mmmmm.... These are delicious and simple (although a bit messy) to make.  

Ingredients:

2 Cups chocolate chips (milk chocolate would be nice, I used semi-sweet because it's what I had)

2 teaspoons butter

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt 

12 paper muffin cups (I made them full-sized, but they'd be fun mini-sized, too. Use 24 mini-muffin cups)

The first step is to cut the top half off of the muffin cups (to make them more shallow) 

Place them in a muffin tin.

Next, melt the chocolate chips and the butter together. (you may omit the butter, but it makes the chocolate more glossy) My preferred method is the microwave (50% power for 2 1/2 minutes, stirring occasionally) but you can also melt them in a saucepan or a double boiler if you wish. 

Then, eat the entire bowl,  repeat step 2, and pretend like it never happened. (you may skip this step, it is optional)  

Next, using a small spoon, spread the chocolate on the bottom and sides of each paper muffin cup. Make sure you use about half of the chocolate, as you will need the other half to go on top later.

Put the muffin tin in the fridge for 45 minutes to an hour, or the freezer for 15-20 minutes ; to harden up the chocolate. 

While you are waiting for the chocolate to harden, combine peanut butter, powdered sugar, and salt. 

THIS... is the single most useful thing that I learned in high school. 

When measuring peanut butter (or shortening, or anything messy and sticky) line your measuring cup with plastic wrap....

...then measure your peanut butter (or etc.) and pull out the plastic wrap and scrape off your peanut butter into your bowl. It's brilliant!  

Here is what your PB mixture should look like

After your chocolate has hardened, microwave the PB for a minute to make it spreadable. 

Then, scoop some of your PB into your chocolate coated muffin cups. Make sure you leave a bit of space at the top for another chocolate layer. 

Then, pop those babies into the fridge or freezer until they set up  (And, not real babies, of course. The fridge is a bad place for them. I meant the peanut butter cups. But you knew that...right?)

But I digress.... 

When your peanut butter cups are set, you may need to re-melt your chocolate chips. Then, spread a layer of chocolate on top of the peanut butter. Make sure you don't leave any holes in the top or sides. 

Chill (again) until the candies have set up (again) and you are finished!

Magnificent!  

This is NOT a recipe...

This is my tale of the first time I totally RUINED dinner. This delicious looking specimen was, in fact, supposed to be a pizza.

Well, actually first it was supposed to be a pizza, then, I tried to turn it into a calzone. And after many frustrated minutes, this is how it ended up. Mmmmm.... Yeah, ok not really.
This whole lovely ordeal began 3 hours prior to this moment, with pizza dough. I had made the recipe at least 4 times before. I didn't think too much of it. I measured my flour the wrong way, so the dough looked a little squashy. I figured that after it rose, it would be a bit more....stable? I don't know what i was thinking.

SO....
A few hours later it was time to start making dinner, I opened the bowl of dough to find... this....

It was probably the texture of silly putty mixed with Elmer's Glue.  It stuck. To. EVERYTHING!  But, I figured that with a little flour (ok, a lot of flour) and a bit of determination, it could be a pizza crust. 

But, in fact I was wrong. So, (see photo #1) I decided for a plan B. After picking all of the toppings (except the cheese and some small pieces of mushroom) out of the dough blob, I decided it could be bread. So I baked it.

Then, I boiled some noodles (penne would've been ideal, but All i had was spaghetti, so that was what I went with.) But, first I decided that I should probably dump half the box of pasta on the floor first.

It doesn't look like much in the photo, but, IT WAS. Yeah... I was on a roll last night.

Anyways, then, I mixed all of the stuff that used to be on the pizza with the pasta and some butter. 

It was no more than ok, even covered in cheese.

 So, that was my exciting dinner experience last night. 

I promise to have more recipes, and less failures soon :)

EEK! Didn't You Know I'm Dressing?!?! (ranch dressing, that is)

*cricket, cricket*

ahem....Sorry. Lame joke. I couldn't help it....

Anyway, after making those red velvet cupcakes, I have a TON of buttermilk left in my refrigerator. So, I decided to make some ranch dressing. It ended up really tasty, and it was low-fat, too. (FACT OF THE DAY: buttermilk is mostly fat-free. It's made from skim or 1% milk.) 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 C Buttermilk

1/4 C Mayo (I used the Light kind, because that's what I had)

1 T Parsley

1 1/2 T coarse ground black pepper

1/2 tsp Garlic (I used minced, but you may use powder)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

Dash hot sauce

Dash cayenne pepper

squirt of lemon juice

little squirt of dijon or spicy brown mustard

DIRECTIONS

Whisk together buttermilk and mayo until smooth & free of lumps.

Add spices, and feel free to get creative. (add what you like, leave out what you don't)

Stir.

Yeah... I think that's about it. I'm eating it right now with carrots and it is quite tasty. 

I did, actually eat that whole little bowl. I didn't expect to.... (:

The flavors will change a bit as it sits in the fridge, as happens with most foods of this type. It should last for a minimum of a week to 10 days if your fridge.  

Tasty!

Name's Velvet... Red Velvet

Mmmm. Red Velvet. Just the two words together makes your mouth water. Cakes, cupcakes... anything dessert-related with those two words before it is sure to be delicious.  Here's my new favorite red velvet recipe. Not too dense, but not too fluffy either.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks softened butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 0.3 oz bottle of red food coloring
3 T. of cocoa powder
2 T of vanilla
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda



First preheat your oven to 350.

Use a very large bowl. Cream together your butter and sugar. Beat 'til it's fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one. 

Squeeze the whole bottle of food coloring into a small bowl. This is kinda scary looking....

Yikes! but don't worry, it's just food coloring! 

Then add the cocoa powder and the vanilla. Stir until a thick, smooth paste forms.

Add the paste to the butter mixture. 

And mix well.

In a two-cup measuring cup mix the buttermilk and the salt. Add one third to the batter. Mix. Then add one third of the flour, and mix. Alternate between buttermilk and flour until you've added it all. 

The next step is your science experiment for the day. 

Does anybody know what happens when you combine baking soda & vinegar? Combine in a small bowl...

bubble, bubble

Stir together and add to the cake batter. Mix well.

So now you have a choice to make... Cake? Or cupcakes?

If you're making cupcakes, line a muffin pan with paper liners, fill a little more than halfway and bake for 22 minutes. 

If you're making a cake (this will make a 3 layer cake), grease and lightly flour your 8 inch round pan(s) and bake for 35 minutes.

I did a combo of the two. I got one 8 inch round cake and 16 cupcakes.

Frost with cream cheese frosting 

(see blog post Dec 11th, "What's Cuter Than Cupcakes?")

(Red Sugar Sprinkles are optional)

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

THE END

What's cuter than cupcakes?

Not many desserts can compete with the cute factor of cupcakes. (they were voted cutest in their High School Yearbook!) Here's some tasty chocolate ones! 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 1/4 Cups Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)

2 1/2 Cups Sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 1/4 teaspoons Baking Powder

1 1/4 teaspoons Salt

3 Eggs

1 1/4 Cups Milk

1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1 1/4 Cups Warm Water

Directions:

Sift all dry ingredients into a very large bowl. 

Yes, sifting is time consuming and especially difficult if you don't have a sifter. 

I do not have a sifter, so I just add them to a bowl and whisk all the lumps out of them.

It makes little to no difference in the final product. 

Then, separate one of your eggs.

Add the yolk to the bowl. 

Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl.

Then beat for about 3 minutes with an electric mixer.

mmm....

Line your cupcake pan with paper liners

And somehow manage to get all of the batter from the giant bowl into the tiny cupcake pan. 

For me, that's the hardest part. 

The easiest way is NOT to take it one spoonful at a time from bowl to cupcake pan. It's messy and time-consuming. 

The quicker but still just as messy solution is to mix your batter in a bowl with a spout and then attempt to pour it without spilling any.

In my research, I got a large amount of batter on myself

And my counter as well

What I found was this:

 Add your batter to 2 large ziplock bags- half in each (either having someone hold the bag for you, or using a large plastic container to hold it)

Then take it out and hold it pastry-bag style.

I made the mistake of only putting the batter into one bag and it leaked all over the counter while the cupcakes were baking! Use 2 bags and make sure you have 2 cupcake pans! 

Cut a hole in the bag when you are ready to use it (no sooner! I mean it!) and squeeze the cupcake batter into its rightful home. Fill the cups 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full

Aaah, Finally...

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 

I like them best with cream cheese frosting, so while whey are cooling take:

 1 package cream cheese, 1 stick butter and 2 cups of powdered sugar (give or take a little)

Mix until desired consistency, adding more powdered sugar if too thin, or a splash of milk if too thick.

I must not lick the computer screen...

Frost your cooled cupcakes

Viola!