Champurrado

We’ve been getting snow lately here in the Northeast, which in my household usually means hot chocolate. However, I was browsing recipes online when I came across one for “champurrado,” a hot, corn-based Mexican drink that incorporates chocolate. Supposedly it was smooth, creamy, and thick, making it the perfect snowy-day beverage.

Well, you know me and my love for thick, rich, chocolate drinks, so I had to try it out. Another incentive was to finally make use of the Mexican chocolate tablets I keep seeing in the grocery store– I’ve always wanted to try them, but never had a reason to do so. I even remember a substitute Spanish teacher of mine named Mr. Ibarra who used to tell wonderful (probably highly embellished) stories about his childhood in Mexico, and who claimed to be part of the family that made Ibarra Chocolate. I have no idea if he actually had a family connection, but it was a great story!

The ingredients for champurrado are pretty standard– masa harina (that’s corn flour that’s been specially treated and is used to make tortillas or tamales), chocolate, piloncillo (a dark sugar usually sold in cones), water, milk, and a touch of cinnamon. The techniques used in different recipes, however, varied widely– some have you infuse the milk with cinnamon and sugar first, some wait to add plain milk at the end, some stir the masa harina into simmering water, some mix them together first at room temperature and then heat them together… the instructions below are what I found easiest, and resulted in a beautifully velvety chocolate drink.

I will note that if you can’t find Mexican chocolate or piloncillo, you can use dark chocolate and dark brown sugar instead. I did on my first try and they worked just fine!

Plum Almond Cake

I know it’s not plum season anymore, but back in September I bought some late summer plums, ate a few (they were too sour) and promptly forgot about them. Of course, by the time I remembered them, the were not only plenty ripe, but even overripe– not prime eating material. What to do? Bake!

I found a simple cake recipe online that didn’t require softened butter– always a plus in my opinion– and which set off the plum flavor with almond and lemon, which I thought would make a nice combination. The cake came together easily, and baked up nicely. It was somewhat breakfast-y, in that it was kind of rustic and reminded me of a coffee cake. It made for a nice bake for a fall afternoon, though it was homely enough that I don’t think I’d break it out for company (though that may just be my personal standards). Definitely good for breakfast (maybe topped with some vanilla yogurt), an afternoon snack (with a cup of hot tea), or dessert (ice cream, all the way!).

Mini Apple Cider Donuts

Is there anything more representative of fall than a fresh apple cider donut? Usually we get our apple cider donut fix when we go apple picking or when we stop by the local farm store to get pumpkins to carve for Halloween, but this year I decided to break out the mini donut maker and make my own!

These apple cider donuts are made with reduced apple cider (for more concentrated flavor), plus an array of warming spices and brown sugar. The just-baked donuts (which are nice and tender) are dipped in melted butter and immediately rolled in a sugar-spice mixture for that signature sugary crust on the outside, that really makes the dessert. Plus, smaller donut = larger surface area, which in this case is a very, very good thing!

The great thing about this mini donut maker is that it bakes the donuts in just under 90 seconds, which makes the baking process go by really quickly– in fact, I had just enough time to remove the baked donuts, pipe new batter, then dip and dredge each new donut before it was time to start all over again. A piping bag makes the process so much easier– really a crucial tool here, along with a skewer to nudge the donuts out of the machine when they’re done (without scratching the nonstick surface).

Definitely try making these the next time you’re in the mood for the freshly-baked taste of fall!

Pumpkin Truffles

It’s October, which means it’s pumpkin season! I love all things pumpkin– pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pudding… and now I have a new addition to the collection: pumpkin truffles. These adorable little pumpkins are soft, toothsome, and full of autumnal flavor. And did I mention that they’re adorable? So cute!

These are somewhat similar to brigadeiros, the Brazilian confection made of sweetened condensed milk, cooked until thick and rolled into balls– with the addition of pumpkin for flavor, cream cheese for creaminess, and white chocolate and graham crackers for additional firmness. They come together easily in a skillet, and after the mixture is chilled it’s a snap to shape them into tiny pumpkins– just roll them into balls and use a toothpick to make the indentations. Topped with a chocolate chip stem, they’ll make a delicious addition to any dessert tray!

Spooky Chocolate-Almond Pear Tart

It’s spooky season! As you may recall, I enjoy making fun Halloween treats, especially when there are parties I can bring them to. While I don’t have any particularly fancy Halloween plans this year, that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun with themed desserts– and this one is totally worth the effort!

I admit that I shamelessly lifted the idea (at least visually) from this Grim Reaper Galette from Ghoul At Heart, but since I didn’t have an entire bottle of Chambord to soak my pears in, and because I love the combination of pears and almonds, I decided to go in a different direction for the details. This tart uses a chocolate pate sucree, filled with chocolate frangipane and red wine-poached pear skulls. (Note: since I had extra ingredients I made some mini tartlets and spread some raspberry jam into the bottom of the crust before filling them– a tasty variation!)

The skulls were surprisingly easy to make– I used red D’Anjou pears, on the firm side to ensure that they didn’t fall apart, peeled, halved, and cored. I used a 1/4 tsp. measuring spoon to scoop out the eyes, and the tip of a paring knife to cut the nose and teeth. I poached the pears in a bottle of (cheap) red wine with an entertainingly goth-y label– you really don’t need to get the good stuff, since you’re pouring in sugar anyway! I will note that the pears don’t look all that red while in the wine bath (which worried me– I really wanted the color to pop), but once you take them out the color really comes through. And once they’re baked, they get even darker.

The finished tart was gothically gorgeous, not to mention delicious! The tart crust is almost cookie-like, while the frangipane filling is like a gooey brownie surrounding the boozy pears. Drizzled with a little red wine syrup (disturbingly blood-like), this dessert will be a fabulous finish to any Halloween dinner party!

I will note that there’s a decent amount of down time for this tart– your butter has to come to room temperature for the crust and frangipane, the crust needs time to rest and chill before rolling out, then more time to chill before baking. Then you need to blind bake and cool it the shell, and your poached pears need to be thoroughly chilled before assembling and baking the final tart. I split the work over two days, making my tart dough and pear skulls the night before and wrapping them in plastic to chill overnight, then making the frangipane and baking the tart the next day. If you want to serve this in the evening, get started in the morning to make sure everything is ready.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

For years now, I’ve been looking for the perfect pumpkin ice cream– I’ve tried many versions, both in the carton and at ice cream shops, but none of them have quite hit the spot. After decrying most of them as “not pumpkin-y enough,” I realized recently that what I was really looking for was pumpkin pie ice cream, not plain pumpkin ice cream. Something with the creamy, custardy texture and spicy flavor of pumpkin pie, with some bits of savory crust thrown in for good measure. And since I was unable to find anything like that pre-made, it was time to break out the ice cream maker.

I say “ice cream maker” because my first attempt– a no-churn recipe chosen for its convenience– was reasonably tasty, but the texture wasn’t right. I decided that to really get that creamy, pumpkin pie texture, I’d need to make an actual custard and churn it up. I ended up picking a recipe that was slightly lower in egg yolks than the others (4, rather than 6), just because I hate having leftover egg whites. And I subbed in evaporated milk for the regular milk because that’s what I use for pumpkin pie, and I wanted to make this as close to frozen pie as possible. I tweaked the spicing a bit to suit my tastes– again, according to my usual pie recipe– and dusted the pie crust bits in sugar just because I felt like it. You can skip that step if you like, or use shortbread cookies or graham crackers, but I like the slightly salty hit of pie crust to contrast with the ice cream.

The finished ice cream is unbelievably smooth, scoopable right out of the freezer, and in my opinion is the next best thing to pumpkin pie. If you’ve ever been dissatisfied with the blandly sweet, mildly spiced pumpkin ice creams out there, give this one a shot!

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Every time I have tiramisu at a restaurant, I end up thinking to myself, “Why don’t I make tiramisu more often?” And then I go home and forget about it until the next time, mostly because I never have an excuse to make it in the meantime. Well, this week I was in luck, because we had a bake sale at work and I finally had a reason to bake something impressive! Cupcakes, by preference, since they’re easy to transport and sell in single servings.

I started with a basic vanilla cake, brushed with an espresso-rum mixture to evoke the flavors of classic tiramisu. Then it was time for the filling/frosting. I originally tried a whipped mascarpone recipe that called for equal volumes of mascarpone and whipping cream, whipped with powdered sugar. Unfortunately, in refused to stiffen up, and when I kept whipping it just curdled into a grainy, soupy mess. I was going to throw it away, but it occurred to me that if the cream had curdled into butter, then I could just drain off the liquid and treat it like butter! I poured off as much liquid as I could (there was a lot), then chucked in some additional powdered sugar and started whipping it up again… and it worked! That being said, since I don’t want anyone to have to rescue a frosting disaster I’ve included an adjusted frosting recipe here, which is basically a cream cheese frosting that uses mascarpone instead of cream cheese. It’s got a fresh, milky flavor you can only get with real mascarpone, and I definitely recommend it.

To really hammer home the tiramisu theme, I dusted the tops of the cupcakes with cocoa powder and garnished them with a ladyfinger cookie.

Nut-Free Macarons!

Now you know I adore macarons– delicate, chewy little cookies sandwiched with delectable, creamy fillings, ready to be tinted, sprinkled, or otherwise decorated to match your fabulous tea party. Sadly, one of my friends is allergic to tree nuts and so has thus far been unable to appreciate them as they deserve.

Well, no more! I had an extra six egg whites and was determined to crack the code for nut-free macarons!

Some online research yielded two main contenders for almond flour substitutes– oat flour and pumpkin seed flour. I’ll tell you right now that I did not like the oat flour macarons at all– they had a weird, gritty texture (like raw oats) and the flavor was off-putting. I would not recommend them, but if you’re going to try the recipe, be careful with the “folding in the dry ingredients” step– it takes much less stirring to reach the batter stage.

The pumpkin seed flour, on the other hand, behaved exactly like almond meal in my standard macaron recipe, with the exception of being slightly darker in color. Rather like unblanched almond meal, it had little brown specks in it, and without food coloring I’m betting that the macarons would be a pale, pale green. That being said, the macarons spread nicely, had cute little feet, and tasted almost identical to almond macarons!

I filled them with chocolate ganache and salted butter caramel, and proudly presented them to my friend with the allergies, who had never before been able to have macarons and was happy for the opportunity.

I would definitely make these again for my next nut-free event. They’re no more trouble than almond macarons, and just as delicious!

Chocolate Raspberry Thumbprints

I decided the other day that I was going to bake something– not an uncommon occurrence, but this time I had a specific reason: to welcome new neighbors. The problem was, it was the middle of the week, which foreclosed the possibility of shopping for specialty ingredients, and I had to be careful to keep the recipe generally inoffensive. No nuts, in case of allergies. No really unusual spices or flavors (which foreclosed my peanut butter chili crisp cookies as an option). And they had to look at least marginally appetizing, since I couldn’t rely on my reputation for tasty baked goods to encourage people to try them.

I found a jar of raspberry jam in the pantry and decided to make thumbprint cookies– chocolate ones, since raspberry and chocolate is a fantastic combination. I did some digging into various chocolate thumbprint recipes, many of which seemed rather short on chocolate flavor, and finally found one with some unusual-seeming proportions, but which looked interesting. There’s relatively little butter, but the addition of melted chocolate makes up for it while adding a nice dose of chocolate flavor. While the dough starts off soft (and therefore requires thorough chilling before use), it shapes up nicely when cold and doesn’t crack too much when gently flattened onto the cookie sheet.

The finished cookies were really delicious– the cookie base was soft and tender, the jam added the perfect bit of tanginess and interest, and the chocolate garnish was a nice finishing tough. I will definitely add these to my recipe box!

Classic Shortbread

Shortbread is such a classic cookie that I can’t believe I’ve never made it before– I mean, sure, I’ve made variations like pink peppercorn shortbread, or cocoa nib shortbread, but regular, simple shortbread has never made it onto my radar. Until now, of course.

I was looking for a cookie to make on short notice (meaning, no room-temperature butter allowed), with a minimum of fuss, so a basic, no-frills cookie was definitely called for. I didn’t want to have to deal with rolling and cutting, or even portioning into balls, so with those restrictions in mind shortbread seemed perfect. Add in the fact that this recipe calls for melted butter, and it was a no-brainer!

I will note that once you make the dough (which takes no time at all), you’re supposed to let it rest in the pan at least 2 hours, or overnight– however, I didn’t have a problem with this because I just mixed it up the night before and baked it the next morning. The only slightly tricky part was cutting the par-baked dough into even fingers, but I wouldn’t skip this step– it makes the cookies so much easier to separate once baked. I’m certain that if I’d tried to cut them after baking they’d have crumbled into pieces!

The finished cookies are elegant in their simplicity, with an added crunch from the raw sugar and salt sprinkled on top. Baked in a fluted tart pan, they look almost fancy, but still homemade in the best way possible. I think I may add this to my list of recipes for cookie trays– easy to make, easy to overlook, but addictive once you have the first bite!