Posts filed under 'experimental recipes'
I work with this amazing bakestress. Her name is Raquel (aka ROK, because she DOES ROCK!), and she makes hands down the most delicious, creative homemade scratch cakes I’ve ever eaten.
See her website here
and
Her flickr page here.
Anyway, in addition to her amazing cakes, she’ll also just sometimes bake and bring in random treats. A week or so ago, she brought in these UNREAL yummy Mexican Chocolate Icebox cookies, and of course I just had to have the recipe. Be forewarned they are slightly spicy (but not crazy, just a little bit of heat, which you can adjust to your taste).
Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies
Recipe from Raquel Salaysay
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup quality dutch-process unsweetened cocoa (IMPORTANT-don’t use hersheys, get a good quality dutch cocoa for these)
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 – 3/4 tsp cayenne (here is where you can adjust to your liking)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
12 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into large bowl and beat with electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes.
- Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more.
- Using your fingers, work flour mixture until dough is just combined. Don’t worry, it’s so supposed to be super sticky on your hands. Oh well, you’ll just have to lick it off.
- Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9″ log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder.
- Freeze dough logs for at least 3 hours, and as long as overnight
- Preheat over to 350º. Unwrap dough and slice each log into 1/3″ thick rounds.
- Place rounds 1/2″ apart on parchment paper-lined (or silicon liner) cookie sheets.
- Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, about 8-9 minutes.
- Transfer immediately to cooling rack, being careful not to crack cookies.
- Enjoy little bites of spicy chocolate heaven.
Thanks, Rok, for this super tasty recipe!
November 27th, 2008
So…I was flickring through some old flickr pics today, and I found a couple of cute cupcake friends that I had made a while back, and thought I would share them.
The monkey and pig cupcakes were for my nephew Nathan’s birthday party last September, and the bunny cupcake (below), was from Easter of this year.
So fun!
August 29th, 2008
This Saturday, I decided it was time to make the infamous bakerella’s cupcake pops!.
It was a long process, filled with some lumpy chocolate debacles…but after all was said and done…they came out pretty great.
I used mint chocolate for the bottom chocolate coating, and colored white chocolate for the pink tops. Inside, there is a delicious devil’s food cake filling. YUM!
If you have some time, and you love to bake up tiny cute things…I highly recommend giving these a try.
Thanks, Bakerella!
August 25th, 2008
my friend john and i love snacks. and whenever we would visit his mom at her cozy cute house, she would always make us little snacks and treats. bowls of tiny nuts, or crunchy things. little tiny fruits. or crispy shrimps in panko crumbs with yummy dips etc.
well, one day…john and i were looking for something a little more sub-sub-substantial (a can of beans, some black-eyed peas, some nescafe and ice??)…
no way! we were looking for some spicy grilled cheeses on texas toast. we’d gotten thee idea from one that we’d shared at some weird stand at a figure-8 race once. and john just got it in his head that we needed to duplicate this comforty spicy treat. so we went out to the store, furiously perusing the isles for the perfect bread, cheese, toast, butter, and yum…spicy peppers.
when we arrived at his mom’s with groceries in tow, she thought we were both nuts. but we perservered. we got out pots, pans and spatulas, and concocted our tasty sandwiches with a dance in our pants. because gosh darn it…cooking with friends? is super fun.
anyway…those sandwiches we made were pretty dang yum. but after experimenting with some ideas i had on the subject…i found the following recipe. i think it’s pretty tasty. and i hope you like it.
SPICY GRILLED CHEESE recipe altered from one found on Epicurius
INGREDIENTS:
3-ounces tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chilies
1 tablespoon light molasses
6 slices sourdough bread – cut to texas toast thickness
6 thick slices of cheddar cheese (i like extra sharp…but you can use mild, or even american cheese if you want)
2 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (optional)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
lots of butter (of course) room temperature
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Blend tomato paste, chilies, and molasses in processor until smooth.
- Spread tomato/pepper mixture over 1 side of each bread slice.
- Arrange 3 bread slices, sauce side up, on work surface. Divide half of cheese among bread slices.
- If desired, top with tomatoes, then onion, cilantro, and remaining cheese.
- Cover sandwiches with remaining bread slice, sauce side down. Spread butter on outside of sandwich tops and bottoms.
- Heat pan or griddle over medium heat.
- Cook until bread is golden and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes per side.
Makes 3 sandwiches
July 30th, 2006
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