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Archive for the ‘caramel’ Category
I am a Martha Stewart junkie. Even her checkered past doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for everything Martha; I just can’t get enough. I also love technology, especially if somebody else installs and troubleshoots it. So here’s how technology connected me to Martha’s Cashew Caramel Cookies:
I listen in my car to Everyday Food Editor Sandy Gluck’s show on the Martha Stewart channel on Sirius radio. Sandy raved about Martha’s latest book, Martha Stewart’s Cookies, so I previewed it on Martha’s website, logged on to amazon.com and ordered it. It’s great to get exactly what you want without ever having to set foot inside a store. I guess I’m the perfect example of someone who is fully plugged into the Martha Stewart distribution network. I even asked my husband to record all of Martha’s television shows for me so that I can watch them in the evening.
So far, each recipe that I have tried has been simple to prepare and delicious. When relatives recently came to visit, they loved the cookies so much that they even ate them for breakfast. I sent the book to my niece and she is having similar successful results. I hope you enjoy your copy of Martha Stewart Cookies as much as I do mine. I swear that I am not on her payroll, though perhaps I should be!
The cookies have a salty tang to them (because you use roasted, salted cashews) and the drizzle of caramel on the top is just a lovely finale to each cookie. They look wonderful, and taste wonderful. Thanks, Kathleen!
Cashew-Caramel Cookies
Recipe By: Martha Stewart’s Cookies
Serving Size: 36
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups cashews — roasted, salted
2 tablespoons canola oil — plus 1 teaspoon
1 stick unsalted butter — (8 tablespoons) softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar — packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 cubes caramel candy — 7 ounces, soft type
1/4 cup heavy cream
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour and salt together. Coarsely chop 1 cup cashews; set aside. Process remaining 1 1/2 cups cashews in a food processor until finely chopped. Pour in oil. Process until mixture is creamy, about 2 minutes.
2. Put cashew mixture, butter, and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually add flour mixture. Mix in reserved chopped cashews.
3. Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls; space 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 6 minutes; gently flatten with a spatula. Bake until bottoms are just golden, 6 to 7 minutes more. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
4. Melt caramels with cream in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring. Let cool. Using a spoon, drizzle caramel over cookies; let set. Store airtight in single layers.
NOTES: Plastic wrap and foil both stick to the caramel topping. Ideally, freeze these individually on a large cookie sheet, then place in a plastic bag so they won’t stick together. Someone on the Martha website suggested reducing the amount of heavy cream to eliminate the stickiness. Don’t know if that would work or not.
There are probably 1001 recipes out there for molten chocolate cake, or lava cake. Meaning that some of the batter doesn’t quite get cooked through, so when you press your fork or spoon into it, some of the center, hot batter oozes out and becomes a sauce. I have made these before, but not often, since I rarely make a heavy-duty chocolate dessert for guests. I do serve chocolate, but not usually a really heavy dose of it because the caffeine in chocolate affects me, so I assume it affects others too. I’m sensitive to caffeine. A half a cup of regular coffee and I’m feeling jittery in a matter of 15 minutes and regular coffee would probably prevent me from sleeping all night.
When this was served at the cooking class last week I hesitated. Should I really eat this? I don’t want to be up half the night playing mindless games on the computer. But my will power was weak. Especially when each of these cakes was cut in half, so I was only getting a half portion. I dug in. Ah, yes, it was good. Very good.
It’s a relatively simple recipe. The batter can be made up ahead of time, poured into ramekins and refrigerated. Then you can pop the pan into the oven about 15 minutes before you want to eat them. You could bake them just as you’re getting up from the dinner table perhaps. The only thing I learned from this version was dusting the buttered ramekins with granulated sugar before pouring in the batter. You could also use powdered cocoa (that’s what I’ve done in the past) but the granulated sugar is probably a better option. Dusting the ramekins with one or the other helps when it comes time to unmold the cakes. And make the caramel sauce ahead of time - it will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.
The good news is that I slept just fine, thank you!
Molten Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Recipe By: Deb Buzar, professional chef
Serving Size: 4
MOLTEN CAKES:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks — whole, reserve whites for another use
6 tablespoons flour
CARAMEL SAUCE:
8 ounces sugar
1/8 cup water
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
GARNISH:
2 cups vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
Fresh berries to decorate plates
CAKE :
1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Butter and sugar 4 custard cups or ramekins. Place on cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a bowl of simmering water (do not let bowl touch water), and stir occasionally until chocolate and butter are melted. Stir to combine, then add sugar. Remove from heat and mix until combined. Blend in eggs and egg yolks with a wire whisk. Stir in flour until no flour streaks are visible. Pour batter equally into the four cups.
3. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until sides are firm but the centers are still soft and jiggly. Let them stand for one minutes. Take a small knife and loosen cake from sides of ramekins. Invert cakes onto dessert plates. It may take a fairly solid bang onto the plate to get them to release. Or, serve them in the ramekin. Serve immediately with topping of your choice, and with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and berries for garnish.
SAUCE:
1. Place sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and gently bring to a boil. Brush down the edges of the pot with a wet, clean pastry brush. Add the corn syrup and continue to cook until the caramel turns a golden amber color. Do not stir even once.
2. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter. Carefully pour in the cream, whisking gently but constantly. May be done ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator for several weeks.
I purposely have not included the nutrition count on this as the recipe assumes you eat all of the caramel sauce, which you won’t do. The numbers would scare anybody away from ever making this!
Printer-friendly PDF recipe
Knowing I wouldn’t have lots of time to prepare dessert for Easter Dinner, I whipped through my tried and true recipes for one that is easy, but looks like you slaved for hours. Aha! This cake fit the bill. It’s a rich, delicious flourless chocolate cake, with an easy caramel sauce that you drizzle over it. When Phillis Carey made this she talked about how easy it was to make. It truly is – you melt chocolate and butter, then combine with sugar, cocoa and eggs. That’s IT. Pour it into a greased and parchment bottomed springform pan and bake. Done. Then you just have to make the easy caramel sauce, which can be made up to a day ahead.
The flavor? Rich chocolate, no question. Low calorie? No, certainly not. Delicious? Oh yes. You need ice cream on the side, though, to cut the richness. And you can easily cut smaller servings to feed about 16 people if you need to. A small, very small, wedge is sufficient. We fed 9 on Easter and there were still 5 or 6 slices leftover. And I think the slices were too big for a dessert following a rich dinner.
You’ll be very happy you tried this. I’ve made this several times, always to good reviews. When it was first served to me at the cooking class, Phillis told us it’s better warm – so if you can, re-warm the cake in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes. If you have leftovers, store them in a sealed container at room temp for up to 4 days.
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Caramel Sauce
Recipe By: Phillis Carey, cooking instructor
Serving Size : 10 (or up to about 16)
CHOCOLATE CAKE:
1 cup unsalted butter
8 ounces semisweet chocolate — ScharfenBerger preferred
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder — sifted
6 large eggs
CARAMEL SAUCE:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream — at room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 T. rum or 2 tsp vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 10-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. Stir butter and chocolate in a 4-quart saucepan over low heat until melted.
3. In a large bowl mix sugar and cocoa powder. Add eggs; whisk until blended. Whisk in chocolate-butter mixture and pour batter in prepared pan. Bake about 40-45 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan, on a rack.
4. Caramel Sauce: Stir sugar, water and lemon juice in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil - without stirring - until syrup is a deep amber color, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble vigorously. Return to a low heat and stir in any bits of caramel that aren’t dissolved. Add butter and run or vanilla and whisk the mixture until smooth. This can be made one day ahead.
5. Cut the cake into wedges and serve drizzled with the warm caramel sauce with a scoop of ice cream on the side. If desired, using a baking sheet, you may re-warm the wedges of cake at 350° for about 10 minutes.
Per Serving: 650 Calories; 40g Fat (52.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 75g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 216mg Cholesterol; 59mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 7 1/2 Fat; 4 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
My mother used to make a simple applesauce spice cake, so when I ran across this recipe (from Gourmet, December, 2005) it took me back to my childhood. Reminded me of coming home from school and the house would be perfumed with spices. Those apple-pie kind of spices. I don’t have my mother’s recipe, so this offered an opportunity to try a similar one. I think my mother used to add chopped apples and raisins to hers. They would be an easy addition, even to this recipe.
This is a simple cake to make, including the frosting. Once you get all the ingredients together in one place, it’s quite simple to mix up and pour into a greased springform pan to bake. Once the cake is cool, it’s frosted with an easy cooked frosting flavored with rum. The cake has a couple of teaspoons of rum in it too (you could easily use rum flavoring instead). If you go onto epicurious, you can read reviews of the cake. By and large, everyone who made it enjoyed it. A couple of cooks thought it needed more spices, and a couple of people thought the frosting was too thin, so I added a bit more powdered sugar than was called for. You pour the frosting all over the cake and let it drip down the sides.
My family went absolutely nutso over this recipe. I believe more than one piece was consumed the next day with breakfast (ah, I am guilty, your honor). It was that good. But, having read some of the reviews on epicurious, my supposition is that the frosting makes the cake. It’s not a normal frosting – but kind of a cross between a frosting and a caramel sauce. And maybe it’s the turbinado sugar too that makes such a difference too, although turbinado can be interchanged with brown sugar.
Cook’s Notes: use your own choice of spices, but what’s in the recipe gives the cake a pleasant, light spicy flavor. Add more if you like a highly spiced cake. The recipe calls for turbinado sugar (which I had), but you can substitute brown sugar. I added about a tablespoon more powdered sugar to the icing.
Applesauce Spice Cake
Recipe By: Gourmet, December 2005
Serving Size: 10
CAKE:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg — freshly grated, if possible
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup turbinado sugar [or brown sugar]
1 stick unsalted butter – (1/2 cup) softened
2 teaspoons light rum
1 large egg
1 cup unsweetened applesauce — plus 1 tablespoon
ICING:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup turbinado sugar [or brown sugar]
6 tablespoons evaporated milk — canned
1 teaspoon light rum
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar + 1 tablespoon
1. CAKE: Place oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter pan and set aside. Whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl.
2. Beat together sugar, butter, and rum with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until combined well, then add egg and beat until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes with a stand mixer or 5 to 6 minutes with a handheld. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until combined well. Add applesauce and mix until combined well. Spread batter evenly in springform pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Start testing the cake at 25 minutes so you make sure you don’t overbake it.
3. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then remove side of pan and cool completely.
4. ICING: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, then add sugar and evaporated milk and simmer, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in rum, vanilla, salt, and remaining tablespoon butter, then whisk in confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Cool to warm, about 20 minutes, then spread over cooled cake.
Per Serving: 374 Calories; 14g Fat (33.4% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 58mg Cholesterol; 226mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 1/2 Fat; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
Printer-friendly PDF recipe.
Posted In: Desserts, apple, applesauce, cake, caramel, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, turbinado sugar
(photo taunton.com)
Almost nothing heralds Fall more than gingerbread and pumpkin cake, pie. Cool weather would help too, but alas, here in Southern California we’re in the low 100’s every day. But, back to Fall cooking here. Until I tried this cake, I thought a gingerbread is a gingerbread is a gingerbread. Sure, you could have a more dry one, maybe a moist one, one more highly spiced than another. But I doubt I would have thought a gingerbread could be something I’d really rave about.
Then Cherrie and I went to a cooking class at one of our favorite cooking school haunts, Our House South County, and Sarah made this fabulous cake. It just went right over the top for me. I’ve made it several times since. The apples make it different. I’d just never had apple gingerbread before. But then you add the “caramelized” part of it and it really did shoot through the moon. This cake isn’t hard, although it does take a bit of extra time to cook the apples and make the caramel. What a terrific accompaniment to a tummy warming dinner tied to fall flavors. If you make this, I guarantee you, you’ll have a hard time staying out of it.
Caramelized Apple Gingerbread
Recipe: Our House, South County
Servings: 10
POACHED APPLES:
6 whole apples — baking type - Pippin or Granny Smith
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
CARAMEL SAUCE:
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
GINGERBREAD:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter — softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2/3 cup dark molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 cup sour cream
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. POACHED APPLES: Peel, core and halve the apples, then place in a large stock-pot style pan large enough to hold all of them in one layer. Add sugar, vanilla and water to cover them. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat and simmer until apples are just beginning to soften, but barely still retain their shape, about 8-10 minutes. If using Granny Smith apples, it may take longer. With a slotted spoon, remove apples from poaching liquid and reserve.
3. CARAMEL SAUCE: Melt butter in a 9-inch nonstick round cake pan on a very low burner. Add the corn syrup and brown sugar. Stir with a wooden spoon until sugar is completely melted, then remove from heat. Gently turn the apple halves flat side down on top of the caramel mixture.
4. GINGERBREAD: Cream butter and sugar with mixer. Add the egg and mix completely. Add molasses and mix in completely. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon and ginger. Add the dry ingredients and sour cream alternately to the butter/sugar mixture until mixed in thoroughly. Pour this over the apples and level with a spatula. Place cake pan on the center rack in the oven and bake for 50 minutes to one hour. When a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes.
5. Serving: Invert cake onto a serving platter and top each slice with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
NOTES : Ideally you should serve this cake when it’s warm. If you want to make it earlier in the day, leave it in the cake pan once you take it from the oven. Once cool cover with foil, then when you’re ready to serve it, gently reheat for about 10-15 minutes at 250°, then invert onto the serving platter as indicated. This cake is not as sweet as you might think. Be sure to cook the apples until they’re almost falling apart because they do retain their shape in the cake pan and don’t cook much more.
Per Serving: 499 Calories; 16g Fat (28.4% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 88g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 60mg Cholesterol; 256mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 3 Fat; 3 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a printable recipe, click HERE.
When I was in Berkeley 2 weeks ago Cherrie and I went on a tour of the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory. It was just a few blocks from our hotel near the waterfront and my GPS drove us right to the door in the industrial section of town. The factory itself was a big surprise - it’s quite small. Having once visited the Nestle plant in Pennsylvania, I was expecting something dramatic, especially with the panache garnered by the Scharffen Berger line.
As I think I explained before, John Scharffenberger (spelling intentional) came to some reknown as a winemaker. After a couple of decades producing some very fine sparkling wine (a favorite of mine, his to be specific), he sold the business. Then he was approached by Robert Steinberg, a friend, and now his partner in Scharffen Berger, and they decided to start a chocolate manufacturing company, but only producing a high quality - European style - product. They purchased European, i.e. old, equipment. They wanted to capitalize on the known Scharffenberger name, but John had sold the rights to it with the winery. So, they merely added a space beteween the n and the b and made it into Scharffen Berger. It wasn’t quite building a business in a garage, but close to it.
They don’t make chocolate every day. Although likely some pieces of equipment are running most days. The roaster (the red thing right) was in a separate room (warm and if running, very noisy). The building probably isn’t 300 feet long and about 200 feet wide, and not only housed the factory floor, but offices, a restaurant and a store. Did I spend money in there? Well, to be sure. Did we taste chocolate? Oh yes, indeed. Probably the most important thing I learned there was about how to eat a piece of chocolate: put it into your mouth, hold it on the middle of your tongue, up against the roof of your mouth, and allow it to completely melt on your tongue. Don’t chew. Don’t move it around. You’ll savor the flavors far better, and it’ll last longer besides. Kind of like how you taste wine.
To the left is the photo of the cocoa bean crusher. A huge cauldron - I mean huge - of swirling, melting chocolate and the crusher rolling around in the middle. So, it was on a blog a few months ago that I read about a recipe in the new cookbook published by the Scharffen Berger partners, The Essence of Chocolate. Liking chocolate as I do, I made it and oh - my - goodness. 
What flavor. Not all that difficult. I like bundt cakes, and this one doesn’t require anything but the cake itself. It does have a caramel sauce that is poured over the hot-out-of-the-oven cake, but otherwise, nothing else. No garnishes, although you could serve with a bit of vanilla ice cream. It’s rich enough, however, as it is. I will include the nutrional information about the cake, but for heaven’s sake, whatever you do, don’t read it. I’m going to put it in the smallest type available on this blog
Banana Caramel (Chocolate) Cake with Caramel Sauce Recipe :Essence of Chocolate by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger.
Serving: 12 - I think it will serve at least 16
CAKE:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3 ounces chocolate — broken into small pieces (size of chips)
3 whole bananas — diced
CARAMEL:
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. whole milk
4 tbsp. unsalted butter — cut into pieces
1. Butter and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan that can hold 12 cups. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda).
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, oil and sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar has been incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix for another 30 seconds. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure everything is incorporated. Once the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the pecans, chocolate and bananas. Gently fold them in with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Don’t over mix.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes and then test the cake to see if it’s done by poking a toothpick or cake tester into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, bake the cake for another 5 to 10 minutes. In my oven, this cake took 55 minutes.
5. About 5 to 10 minutes before the cake is done, make the caramel by combining all the ingredients in a small pan. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat. The caramel needs to be thin, so add more milk if needed. Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Immediately pour the caramel over the cake, stopping every now and then to let the caramel sink in. If the caramel pools in spots, poke more holes to allow it to sink in. Gently push cake away from sides to add more caramel.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once it’s cool, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and then unmold it onto a plate. If most of the caramel pooled on the top (in the pan) you may want to turn the cake back over so the wide side is on top.
NOTES : Note from Carolyn: I think the caramel is too thick - it doesn’t drip down into the cake like I think it should, so I’ve been adding more milk to the sauce so it’s thinner.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 595 Calories; 36g Fat (52.7% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 67g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 64mg Cholesterol; 308mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 7 Fat; 3 Other Carbohydrates.
