Souffle Waits for Nobody

Souffle is a nice, airy dessert, made primarily from egg whites whipped to soft peaks. This was my first attempt at souffle. All in all it came out well, but I will make a few adjustments next time; I'll share those changes here. Since souffle must go from oven to table in less than 90 seconds, lest you risk deflation, I made only two souffles. This dessert seems easy, but takes multiple tries to master.

The recipe I used came from realsimple.com.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• pinch salt
• pinch cream of tartar

Directions:

• 1- Heat oven to 375° F. Use 1 tablespoon of the butter to grease two 8-ounce ramekins. Coat the ramekins with the cocoa, tapping out the excess.
• 2- In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and remaining butter. Stir occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and add the vanilla. Whisk in the yolks one at a time until smooth. Set aside.
• 3- In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar, salt, and cream of tartar until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Gently fold the egg-white mixture into the chocolate. Spoon into the ramekins. Tap mixture down to ensure there is enough in the ramekin. (The recipe can be made to this point up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)
• 4- Bake until puffed and set- about 14 minutes. (If baked directly from the refrigerator, add 5 to 10 minutes.) 

Have fun:)

Mocha Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting

I decided to make cupcakes this past weekend, but I didn't want to make plain old chocolate cupcakes, so I made mocha chocolate cupcakes instead. The coffee intensifies the flavor of the chocolate, while adding subtle flavors making them not too sweet and kind of dangerous. 


The recipe is adapted from mybakingaddiction.com:

Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temp
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
I also had chocolate covered espresso beans handy, which I ground up and added to the mix as well.


Steps:
1. Preheat to 350°F. Line cupcake pan with liners or spray with non-stick spray.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, brewed coffee and vanilla.
3. In a stand mixer at medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture, alternating with the coffee mixture, ending with the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and the ground espresso beans, if used.
4. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool before frosting cupcakes.


Frosting
Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cups unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla 
1/2 cup butter, softened
3-4 tbs milk
ground espresso beans


1. Mix together sugar and cocoa
2. Mix together coffee and vanilla
3. Beat butter at medium speed until creamy. Alternate adding the sugar and coffee mixture, beginning and ending with the sugar
4. Add in ground espresso beans, if used
5. Add milk, 1 tbs at a time, until desired consistency is reached


Any unused frosting can be frozen. Remember to only frost COOL cupcakes!


Have fun:)

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

For dinner, we had bowtie pasta with fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, crushed red pepper, and basil. We had a salad, a light red wine, and these yummy whole wheat dinner rolls on the side. The rolls were a last minute addition. They were so easy to throw together, only 50 minutes rising time total. You use a muffin tin instead of forming them by hand, thus making the prep process even easier. It's important to add the all purpose flour because adding only whole wheat flour will result in a product that is too dense. Here's the recipe:

RECIPE:
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast- one package
1 cup warm water
2 tbs melted shortening
1 egg
1 cup flour

(Oven: 400 degrees)
1- Mix together whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, yeast
2- Add in warm water, melted shortening, egg
3- Mix until smooth- I had to add little more flour because the dough was too sticky.
4- Place a small amount of olive oil in the bowl, cover with a kitchen cloth and let rise in a warm, dry place for 30 mins. Should double in size
5- Punch down after 30 mins
6- Grease muffin tin then spoon dough in (should be exactly 12 rolls- eyeball how much dough to put in each)
7- Let rise another 20 mins
8- Bake until golden (15ish minutes)

(Recipe courtesy of cooksrecipes.com)

Have fun :)