I love the taste of chocolate mixed with coffee. In desserts. But not in beverages. That’s right, I don’t care for mocha in beverage form. But I cannot get enough of it in desserts.

Coffee in its various forms (actual coffee/espresso, Kahlua or espresso powder) is probably my favorite flavor to add to chocolate desserts (although peanut butter is hot on coffee’s tail). I’m heavy handed with coffee in any dessert that calls for it and quite frequently I throw a tablespoon of espresso powder into any recipe I make that contains chocolate. In my opinion, the addition of coffee amplifies the chocolate flavor.

So, a couple of weeks ago when we needed a super quick dessert made, this recipe for mocha nut balls was an easy choice. I’d eaten them before at someone else’s house so I knew they were delicious. The cookies themselves are a dark and caffeinated version of the ever popular Mexican wedding cookies. They’re extremely easy to make and as long as you like pecans, coffee and chocolate, you’ll love them. I made the mistake of sharing a few with coworkers and they’ve been asking for more ever since.

The recipe I used is from the Taste of Home website and I think it was originally featured in their print magazine. The only alteration I made was my substitution of 1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder for the 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules called for in the recipe. My reason? I prefer espresso over regular coffee.

Mocha Nut Balls

Recipe from Taste of Home

Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (I used espresso powder.)
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
• Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa and coffee granules.
4. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
5. Stir in pecans.
6. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake at 325° for 14-16 minutes or until firm. Cool on pans for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks.
8. Roll warm cookies in confectioners’ sugar.

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No long, drawn out descriptions from me today. All you need to know is that you need to make this gingerbread cake with coffee icing. Why? Because it’s easy and delicious and I loved it even though I don’t particularly like gingerbread. With loads of spices, dark beer, coffee, cocoa powder and molasses, how could I not love it?

The recipe is from The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco and Mindy Fox (which is a pretty cool cookbook that I’ll purchase someday soon). The actual recipe is for 18 cupcakes. I made a bundt cake instead because I currently don’t own any muffin tins for making cupcakes (that’s a long story for some other day). I didn’t alter the size of the recipe at all. Batter for 18 cupcakes is apparently exactly the right amount of batter for a bundt cake.

Other than making cake instead of cupcakes, the only change I really made was the use of porter instead of stout. Yes, I live on the edge when it comes to recipe alterations. I also skipped the candied ginger on top as I truly believe that would have been weird on a cake.

Since this is a lazy post and since NPR was kind enough to post the recipe on their website, I’m not posting it here.

P.S. If you’ve read this far and care, I have no wedding plans to blab about at the moment. We’re still figuring out the when and where.

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Yes, I’ve been on a quest for The Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes. And I think I might have found it!

Published in Everyday Food magazine last fall, Martha Stewart and company dared to call these “Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies”. Ultimate is indeed a good word for these. They really weren’t falsely advertising the goodness of these cookies!

This is where I admit that I’ve wanted a chocolate chip cookie recipe that tastes like the cookies made from the stupid Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough that comes in a plastic tube. Despite my baking abilities and my good intentions to eat less processed food, I have to admit that I like the Pillsbury cookies as they are exactly and precisely how I want chocolate chip cookies to taste. I like them crisp around the edges yet soft, chewy and a touch under-baked. Sadly, Pillsbury always delivers on those qualities.

Fortunately this “Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe came along and I’ll never have to buy Pillsbury again. And neither should you.

The recipe make a lot of small cookies. When I saw how many cookies this recipe was going to produce, I wisely froze some of the scoops of dough for a future dessert emergency. I left them in the freezer for about 6 weeks and honestly the cookies tasted just as good then as they did when the dough was fresh.

You’ll notice that this calls for both milk and semi-sweet chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of milk chocolate but it works in this recipe. Use both kinds!

The recipe also mentions that you can add a couple of cups of walnuts or pecans to the recipe. I did add walnuts to part of the dough and they were a fantastic addition…if you’re the type to enjoy nuts in your cookies.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe very slightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine

Makes approximately 75 small cookies

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used kosher salt)
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer), beat butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, 6 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture just until incorporated.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.
6. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet with about 2 inches between each scoop of dough.
7. Bake until edges are light golden brown, about 10 minutes if you like your cookies slightly under-baked like I do, rotating sheets halfway through.
8. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
9. Bake remaining dough in same manner as directed above. Or if you’ve got more dough than you need, unbaked cookies can be frozen on a baking sheet until firm; store in a resealable plastic bag in the freezer. Bake from frozen in oven preheated to 350 degrees.

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As much as I love the fluffy buttercream frosting I’ve been making near constantly for almost 2 years, it was time to make a new friend in the frosting world. Maybe a wordly, sophisticated frosting that isn’t so reliant on powdered sugar? Swiss meringue buttercream frosting is that new friend and possibly a friend for life.

Swiss meringue buttercream is my new favorite frosting and it should be yours as well. The fluffy buttercream has been pushed aside for the not-too-sweet, super smooth and shiny Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. While the buttercream I’d been making called for about a million cups of powdered sugar, the new Swiss meringue buttercream calls for barely a cup. It’s a healthier option…if you can look past the copious quantities of actual butter in this frosting. I have. And so should you.

As my first venture into this new frosting world, I made the frosting to go with a batch of mini chocolate cupcakes. Both the cupcakes and the frosting recipes are from Martha Stewart‘s relatively recent Cupcakes cookbook. Just so you know, the One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes are pretty killer…and the recipe yields a LOT of mini cupcakes. 58 to be exact. It yielded so many cupcakes that we kept a bunch and both the boyfriend and I took lots of them to our respective offices…where they were met with high praise. Praise like “This is my favorite thing you’ve ever made!” and “It was so good, it made you want to slap your mother.” And it’s not like these people haven’t had lots of baked goodies from me in the past…the cupcakes were just that good.

Back to the frosting. For the mini chocolate cupcakes, I made a coffee version of the frosting following Martha’s careful instructions. Since then I’ve also made a batch of white cupcakes with a chocolate version of the frosting. Both versions are super-duper-amazingly delicious. Next I’ll try a plain version.

Let it be known that I made the frosting despite some old fears of screwing up what looks to be a fussy recipe. In fact, it was not a fussy recipe. It’s a little time consuming only because the mixer has to whip the meringue for a long time. Other than that, it couldn’t have been easier. I should probably note that in order to really make this frosting successfully, you should use a stand mixer. A hand mixer might work but you’ll be awfully tired of using it by the end. With the stand mixer, you can walk away and do other things while it’s whipping. If you’re like me, the other things you’ll do will probably be the dishes.

For the number of mini cupcakes I made, I prepared just a half batch of the frosting recipe shown below. Everything divided in half well other than the egg whites…so I used three of those. If you’re planning to use this frosting for a regular cake, make the full recipe. Or if you like your normal sized cupcakes heavily frosted with a bowl of extra frosting just to eat, make the full recipe.

One more comment: If you (or your office mates) love coffee, definitely try the coffee variation. My office mates actually ate their cupcakes in the morning…with their coffee.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Makes about 5 cups

Ingredients

• 5 large egg whites
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water.
2. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).
3. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form.
4. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.
5. With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla.
7. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth.
8. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month.
9. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Coffee Variation: Mix 2 tablespoons good quality instant espresso powder (do not use instant coffee) with the vanilla extract. Stir until espresso powder is mostly dissolved and add to frosting in step 6.

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I love flipping through magazines in search of recipes. Over the years I’ve become pretty selective about which ones I actually clip and file for later. Despite my selectivity, the vast majority of the recipes I clip are never made. Then there are the recipes that look so delicious that I make them before they’re ever clipped from the magazine.

These Peanut Butter Cup Cookies were one of those recipes. As soon as I saw these in the latest issue of Real Simple, I knew they would be made. Quickly. Like 2 days later…which was as soon as I could actually justify making another dessert. This recipe was not one that would linger in the binder for years without ever being made. This was a recipe capable of cutting in front of all the other recipes that have been patiently waiting in line for months (or even years).

If you like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (and I do), these are for you. The dough in these cookies is secondary to the Reese’s Cups and I’m okay with that. They’re super easy to make. The hardest part is chopping the Reese’s Cups. If you’re not really a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or peanut butter, you probably won’t enjoy these as much as I did.

I made only a few modifications to the original recipe. I added a little bit of peanut butter to the dough and I used regular sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups instead of mini ones. I prefer the peanut butter to chocolate ratio in the regular sized Reese’s Cups. But if you like the smaller ones better, use them.

This recipe uses a LOT of Reese’s Cups and that could get expensive…but Halloween is approaching and you should be able to find a jumbo-sized bag of them on sale soon!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Adapted from recipe in Real Simple magazine, October 2009.

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• about 16 regular-sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Beat the butter and sugars until creamy with an electric mixer. Add the egg, vanilla and peanut butter and beat to combine.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.
6. Fold in the chopped peanut butter cups.
7. Drop tablespoon-size balls of dough 2 inches apart onto the parchment lined cookie sheets.
8. Bake until light brown around the edges, about 10-12 minutes.
9. Transfer to baking rack and cool.
10. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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Since I need to experiment with different types of cake for the wedding cakes I’ll be baking later this year, I decided to make a chocolate Génoise cake last weekend.

If you’re not familiar with Génoise, here’s what Wikipedia has to say: “A Génoise Cake is a sponge cake named after the city of Genoa and closely associated with French cuisine that does not use any chemical leavening, instead using air suspended in the batter during mixing to give volume to the cake.”

For my first attempt at Génoise, I think I did pretty well. I did overbake it slightly as the bottom of the cake was a little denser than it should have been. Despite this, it tasted like it should and I won’t overbake it next time.

The recipe I used for the Génoise is from Baking Illustrated. As usual, this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated turned out very well and the recipe was well written and straight forward.

I sliced the Génoise in half and filled it with chocolate mousse from Sherry Yard’s Desserts by the Yard. If you haven’t ever flipped through this cookbook, you should. It’s beautiful and everything I’ve baked from it has been perfect (or as nearly perfect as I can do).

The mousse recipe can be found here on the Los Angeles Times website. I didn’t really change the recipe at all. The recipe made more mousse than needed for the cake…fortunately having too much chocolate mousse is never going to cause any problems at my house.

I’d been hunting for a good (and easy) mousse recipe for a while and this recipe is it. I shall search no longer.

And finally (as if the chocolate Génoise and chocolate mousse weren’t enough), I topped the whole cake with chocolate ganache. The cake probably didn’t really need the ganache to taste great but it certainly made it look a little prettier. And shinier.

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One of my friends wanted to come over to our house for a visit. But she had ulterior motives and she was up front about them. She wanted cupcakes. Who am I not to indulge a request for cupcakes? Especially if the person requesting the cupcakes is more than willing to help make them and to chip in for ingredients? Especially if the friend’s kitchen isn’t very well-equipped for baking and mine might very well be over-equipped? I’m pretty sure I’ll never be able to say no when a friend asks to come to my house to bake (or cook). I’m a regular good samaritan, eh? I’d like to think I’m doing my part for the desserts of the world.

After flipping through Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for the zillionth time, we decided to make S’mores cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes with peanut buttercream frosting.

I’ve made the peanut buttercream frosted cupcakes at least a few times in the past and they’re always well-received. In all honesty, I could eat this frosting all by itself. With a spoon. By the vat. Not that I know exactly what the quantity of a “vat” is. The point is that this stuff is good. Really good. So good that I’m glad I have a wee little bit of self-control. Without it I’d be passed out on the kitchen floor with a spoon and an empty vat.

For these cupcakes, bake your favorite your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. You can add a little creamy peanut butter to the batter if you’d like to bump up the peanut butter flavor. I usually add about 2 tablespoons to my batter.

Peanut Buttercream Frosting

Recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

Makes enough frosting to generously frost 12 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 1/2 teaspooons vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
• 1 to 2 tablespoons soy milk

Directions

1. With electric handheld mixer, cream together margarine and shortening at medium speed till smooth.
2. Add peanut butter, molasses, and vanilla; beat until very smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff.
4. Dribble in soy milk a little at a time, beating continuously till frosting is pale tan and very fluffy.
5. If frosting is too thick or too thin, adjust the consistency by adding small amounts of soy milk or confectioner’s sugar if necessary.

For the record, I’ve never had to do step 5. This recipe has been perfect (and possibly divine) every single time I’ve made it.

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Chocolate is good by itself. So is peanut butter. But they’re both better together.

I hoard Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. For this recipe and this recipe alone. After Halloween, I bought at least 10 bags of them on sale. Hopefully they’ll last for most of the year.

These peanut butter cup brownies have been begging to be posted for about a year now and I’ve never gotten around to it…in large part because I never got around to writing down the exact recipe. One of the pictures here was posted on Slashfood’s Feast Your Eyes blog yesterday so I now feel the need to follow up that mention with a proper recipe.

I brought baked goodies to people at my old job pretty frequently and these were one of the most requested items. Even the guys that worked in the kitchen begged for them on occasion. As a last treat before I left that job, I baked a batch for them.

The base recipe for these is from Baking Illustrated’s Chewy, Fudgy Triple-Chocolate Brownie recipe. I’ve made a few alterations.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Ingredients

• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder (I use a mixture of Hershey’s regular & Penzey’s Dutch Process)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (I only use unbleached)
• 8 or 9 regular size Reese’s peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8″ square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Microwave chocolate chips and butter in microwave for about 45 seconds. If not mostly melted, microwave for 20 more seconds. Stir until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso powder. Set aside.
3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, peanut butter and salt until combined.
4. Whisk the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
5. Stir in the flour until just combined.
6. Fold chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups into batter.
7. Pour mixture into prepared pan, spread evenly and level the surface with a rubber spatula.
8. Bake approximately 35-40 minutes. Brownies will be slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out mostly clean.
9. Cool to room temperature for about 2 hours. Cut into 1″ squares. Store in a tightly sealed container, preferably in the refrigerator.

A couple of side notes that you don’t necessarily have to listen to:

• I freeze the Reese’s cups. Freezing them works well as they’re easy to chop when frozen..especially if it’s summer and your kitchen is blazing.
• You really shouldn’t cut these into squares larger than 1″. They’re really rich and decadent and one small square is more than ample.
• You could use fancy chocolate in these but I don’t. Nestle chocolate chips work just fine.
• Don’t overbake them…or any other brownies. Brownies should be moist and sort of chewy. Not dry and hard.

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