CAKE UPDATE

I REDID THE Lemon Ricotta Cake RECIPE. BASICALLY USED ABOUT 1/2 CUP COCOA DIVIDED AMONG THE BASE AND DRY INGREDIENTS OMITTING THE LEMON JUICE AND GRATED LEMON SKIN.. ALSO ADDED A FEW DARK CHOCOLATE CHIPS TO THE TOP.

SOME SHADOWS ON THE CAKE, NOT BURNT

THE RESULTS ARE A RICK DENSE CHOCOLATE CUSTARD LIKE BASE WITH A CRUNCHY SWEET CHOCOLATE TOP AND A CAKEY MIDDLE LAYER. COULD PASS FOR SUPER BROWNIE. VERY TASTY

Chocolate Shortbread olé

A chocolate type cookie , easy to make, cinnamon and a bit of chili powder. I choose to use smoked chili powder and it is way in the background in the taste of the cookies.

From a Nestle recipe book, instead of pecans , walnuts were used.

• 8oz chocolate bits, ghirardelli chocolate chips used
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 inch cayenne pepper (smoked dried chili flakes used)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 sticks butter
• 1 cup chopped toasted pecans, (walnuts used)

Melt the chocolate

Mix the sugar and butter till fluffy, add the melted chocolate.

Combine the flour, cinnamon and chili pepper, and stir into the above.

Stir in the nuts.

Shape into 1 inch balls (or use a scooper)  and then press them to flatten with a glass bottom coated in sugar.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

My cookies were a bit dry but none the less, very good.

prep, toast the walnuts, melt the chocolate

cookie dough

press with a sugar coated cup

ready to bake

cooling

Banana chocolate cake

Bananas,a staple of our diet but  when they ripen faster than you can eat them,  into the freezer they go. I happen to come across this recipe for chocolate banana bread (and muffins)  that fit the bill with the exception of buttermilk, which I substituted milk with a bit of vinegar to sour it. So the frozen overripe bananas, now defrosted can be utilized.

The recipe is from Chatelaine.com

Chocolate-chunk loaf and muffins

basically a cake recipe that makes a lot of batter enough for 12 muffins and 1 loaf, good for lunch box.

    no pictures as of  yet of the finished products, they rose just fine and had a semi light  texture.

(another use for overripe bananas is that they can be mashed and served with other overripe fruits or utilized in a smoothie.

 

Scottish Oatcakes

From the Betty Crocker International Cookbook:

“These quick Oatcakes can be served with butter and jam, honey or, for a more substantial tea-time snack, cheese or herring. The sweetened cookie variation, below, resembles our oatmeal cookies.”

18 Oatcakes

preheat oven to 375 degrees:

Ready the ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup oats or quick cooking oats.

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

added optional ingredients;

about 1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips ~60% cacao

approximately 2 tablespoons sugar.

(if you want to make cookies add 1/3 cup sugar)

cut the shortening into the dry ingredients, (mixed). Add the cold water a tablespoon at a time till a stiff dough forms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now on a slightly floured surface roll it out to about 1/8 inch.

 

Cut into about 2 and 1/2 inch rounds, a small mason type jar worked well as a cookie cutter . Place on a cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 12 minutes till slightly browned may be 2 or 3 minutes longer.

These cakes are on the dry side, the small amount of sugar I used made them slightly sweet and the chocolate chips gave them more flavor as they were eaten plain without butter etc. I would use butter instead of the shortening if I make the recipe again and consider adding chopped nuts.

Makes a good lunchbox addition.

The basic cookie

Not a big fan of cookies , but somehow it’s necessary to get chocolate incorporated into your diet. Another requirement, a simple recipe.

How about a one bowl, no mixer required. just the use of your hand(s) recipe.

Don’t actually recall how I found this recipe, possibly a twitter link but whatever some conversion from grams to ounces was required and maybe some translation if your not up on your french.

First the method:

Cut up the butter

Add the sugars, mash together with your fingers

The egg….

The flour….

Mix with your fingers again…

Mix till incorporated….

until it forms together…

for ease of division, form into logs….

Divide as to how large you want the cookies

Place on the cookie sheet flatten slightly, and bake..

Voila !

 

OK ! enough pictures ?

Now the particulars, by the way this is the second recipe, as I cut back on the flour from the first attempt. The first recipe was good also if you like the cookies a bit on the caky  side.

The ones pictured in the video (reference to follow) look very thin and crispy. If you are a cookie expert you can adjust the ingredients to your liking and cook till desired crispness is achieved. I note that not using a mixer (electric etc.) they are more towards a sugar cookie finish, being that mine where a bit on the grainy side. My joke, was that you need permission  from your dentist to eat them. To me a cookie is a cookie so I didn’t fret. (and they didn’t last long being on the counter and brought for working lunch either!).

So ! here’s the link that sold me on the ease of this recipe…

http://www.lexpress.fr/styles/saveurs/recette/video-les-inratables-de-jean-francois-piege-les-cookies-de-philip_1623334.html#cyvTlqxdUxGHMkoS.99

10 ounces flour , 2 cups
1/2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate, baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounce butter
6 ounce brown sugar
4 1/2 ounces sugar
1 egg
8 oz chocolate (Don’t be a whimp, 60% or better chocolate (chips))
400 degree oven
Try less flour 9.4 oz by weight, about  1 and 1/2 cups.

I would like to press this (cookie dough) into a large round in a spring form pan, bake , and build a ice cream cake on top !

Thanks for stopping by Sweet Tooth !

made before the holidays, more drafts to post, now turkey soup I’m working on.

Bonus photo my “kitchen” at my day job !

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Prep 2 , 9 inch cake pans, line the bottom with parchment paper and grease.
A recipe modified from a sweet potato spice cake utilizing bananas.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine in a bowl
15 ounces mashed banana (about 4 bananas)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

Blend and add 3 eggs, one at at time.

 

 

Add 1 cup vegetable oil, stir and
Add 1 cup chocolate chips. (I chopped large chips.) 60%
1/2 cup pecans (optional)
Add 1 cup water
Now blend in and mix in the dry ingredients.

 

Split the batter between the two cake pans and bake.

350 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove from pans and cool .

I have yet to decide to frost the cake.

Update: a cream cheese frosting was made and the cake frosted.

Not a real sweet cake, the banana is apparent, but the frosting makes up for it as it is sweet. A delicious way to utilize over ripe bananas.

spiced raisin crunch cookies

from Poppy’s Patisserie /Bunny Kitchen

http://bunnykitchen.com/2011/11/06/spiced-raisin-crunch-cookies/

This  original recipe from the United Kingdom  is by metric  weight so using a conversion app, converted to ounce weight measurements. Or if an app or calculator is not available ,then by longhand. That is 1 gram = 0.035274 ounces.

Using a scale instead of traditional volume measuring cup, the ingredients were weighed. It was a not a large batch of cookies. One 1/2 sheet pan is large enough.

The method of making these cookies is different as the butter sugar and honey is melted together.

So here’s how I assembled the cookies.

110 grams, 3.88 ounces (rounded to 4 oz.) 1stick, margarine (butter).
75 grams sugar, 2.64 ounces, by weight
(used white, cane sugar vs. demerra)
placed both in a glass measuring cup and microwaved till melted , then stirred together.
Added about a tablespoon or so honey. Mixed in.

In a separate bowl mix together
110 grams, 3.8 ounces by weight flour, all purpose.
add pinch of salt .
as for the spices, I used some spices from a chai tea mix, ground in a mortar and pestle. cardamon pod, cloves, ginger etc.
mix (or sift ) together.
add 110 grams, 3.8 oz. by weight Quaker type oats.
Add 50 grams, 1.75 ounces by weight
raisins.

Mix together so the raisins are distributed in the dry mix and then add the melted butter/syrup  mixture.
Mix by spoon and then by hand, my mix came out very moist.

On a parchment paper  lined cookie sheet press flat a  ball of the cookie dough to about 2 to 3 inches diameter.

I added small size chocolate chips, sprinkling them and pressing them into the surface of the cookies.

Bake at 325 Fahrenheit  for about 10 minutes. The cookies will be soft till fully cooled and they really didn’t brown on the tops.

These are easy to mix and make. Plus there is the learning experience of using a scale for measuring ingredients by weight, versus a measuring cup by volume.