Random Recipe: Chocolate Chess Pie #2

Posted by random olio

My mom used to make a Chocolate Chess Pie when I was a kid and it was so easy. It had 4-5 ingredients and I absolutely loved it. As you can see from a Random Recipe post earlier this year, I have continued to try to recreate her recipe – with not the best of luck. Nothing seems to taste like I remember. I think Chris is bored with my trying, however, since I am not one to quit — I am not giving up. This is my most recent attempt of trying another Chocolate Chess Pie recipe.

Chris still is not super excited about the result — he felt it was too much work for the taste, but I think this is the recipe that gets closest to the taste of what I remember. A few caveats:

The crust ingredients listed below made too much and we had to throw a bunch of it away. To me, a Chocolate Chess Pie should always be served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Oh – ENJOY!

INGREDIENTS:

CRUST:

15 graham crackers
1/3 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

FILLING:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs plus 1 large egg white

DIRECTIONS:

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grind the graham crackers in a food processor until they are a fine crumb. Place in a bowl and stir in sugar and melted butter with a fork. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9″ or 10″ pie dish. Bake until firm, about 10 minutes.
Make the filling: Melt the butter with chocolate in a medium sized bowl in the microwave, heating on high in 30 second increments and stirring until the chocolate is melted and smooth.
Once the chocolate is melted, whisk in the flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk in eggs and egg white until the mixture is smooth. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake until the top is puffed and filling is set in the center, 35-40 minutes. Let cool, serve at room temperature. Top with ice cream.

Random Recipe: Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Posted by random olio

I have had a favorite cookie recipe for years. Nothing compared to it. Until this week. This past year Chris and I have found that we tended to gravitate towards chocolate chip cookies with flake salt on top. Anytime we are at a bakery that is what we order.

Over the weekend I decided it was time to find and make a recipe to have them at home — that and I keep having these nesting urges to bake. This is a must make recipe. It is really no different to make than any other chocolate chip cookie recipe. One thing that is always important to me is what they taste like a few days later. Often I find I only like cookies right out of the oven and they taste differently the next day or a few days later. Not these cookies. Chris will have to fight me for these — he usually gets what is left after day one.

Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Heath Bar Bits

Makes about 18 to 24 cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw) [If you do not have any use brown sugar.]
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 pound semi-sweet chocolate cut into 1/2″ chunks with a knife
1/4 cup heath bar bits
Flaky sea salt to top cookie dough

Heat oven to 360°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with a mixer for about 5 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Mix in salt and baking soda until combined. Add flour until just mixed. With a spatula, stir in the chocolate chunks and heath bar bits.

Form cookies into 1 1/2 tablespoon sized mounds and add to prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each with a few flakes of sea salt. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden on the outside but still very soft inside. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving. So good!

Random Recipe: Pumpkin Honey Beer Bread

Posted by random olio

First time ever. I completely missed posting a blog yesterday. Blame it on pregnancy brain. Alas. I do have a great recipe to share with you today. You can see I am continuing my pumpkin theme. I cannot get enough, and since pumpkin eventually gives away to peppermint and egg nog, well, you have to take advantage while fall is upon us. Can you believe that Costco already has their peppermint pretzels? It is not even Halloween yet and we can already purchase favorite treats for Christmas. Will we soon be able to purchase Christmas treats in July?

This recipe is a must try. It is, dare I said it? (Moist!) Yummy, and the perfect treat. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. We actually had it for dinner last night with tomato soup. It is worth trying this fall.

Pumpkin Honey Beer Bread

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

2/3 cup beer (at room temperature)

1/4 cup honey

4 large eggs

1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons table salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Shortening (to grease pan)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add pumpkin, and beat at low speed just until blended.

2. Whisk together flour and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, and beat at low speed just until blended. Divide batter between 2 greased (with unsalted butter) and floured 9 x 5 loaf pans.

3. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool bread in pans on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and cool until you’re ready to devour it!

Random Recipe: Fontina and Spinach Baked Eggs with Garlic Brown Butter Breadcrumbs

Posted by random olio

You know when you have the most amazing meal? It is memorable. They way it tastes, smells, and just hits the spot. Mmm. Sometimes a meal is so so, and other times they just suck. I am not going to tell you the below recipe is amazing. It was very good. These days though how long something takes to make outweighs how amazing something is, as our time is more and more precious. For it taking over 45 minutes, I think you can get more bang for your buck with something a bit different. Having shared all that, I will tell you — the best part is the Garlic Brown Butter Breadcrumbs. The topping made this recipe.

So if you have the time, try this recipe. What I would like to do is take some of the good parts and find a simple and quick way to make something similar. Do you have any ideas?

Fontina and Spinach Baked Eggs with Garlic Brown Butter Breadcrumbs [Adapted from How Sweet Eats]

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:

3 oz fresh spinach
4 oz fontina cheese, freshly grated
4 large eggs
2 T heavy cream or half and half
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 T unsalted butter
1/2 minced garlic clove
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
chopped fresh herbs for topping
2 large pieces of cracked wheat sourdough (toasted)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9×9 baking dish with nonstick spray.

Place fresh spinach evenly in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle about 1/2 of the grated cheese over the spinach. Place the 4 eggs over top spaced evenly. Sprinkle the salt and pepper, then add the heavy cream — drizzled over the top. Sprinkle the remaining cheese. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Cook longer if you want the yolks cooked through.

While the dish is baking, add butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly. Once it starts to brown, remove from heat and keep whisking for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and whisk some more. Add in the panko and fresh herbs and stir until panko is coated.

When the baked eggs are done, remove from the oven and cover with panko mixture. Serve immediately over buttered toast.

Random Recipe: Mozzarella Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes

Posted by random olio

Last weekend we were at a house-warming party for a friend. She made the most amazing salad. Seriously, it has been a while since I have had a new salad and one that truly hit the spot. The guests cleared out the bowl, and she saw how enamored I was with it. She pulled me aside and said she would make more. It is easy and has very few ingredients. We then made it this week, and it was good, but I need to find out what she did. She sometimes cooks in the oh I’ll add more of this here and that there. And, somehow her version just tasted better. Hmmm.

We cut the recipe in half (even though the original recipe says for 2).

Smoked Mozzarella Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing [Adapted]

Serves 2

Salad_

2 oz mixed greens

1/2 lb smoked mozzarella cheese, sliced

Dressing_

2.5 oz jarred sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil (drained weight)
1/8 c fresh basil, shredded
1/8 c fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 tbsp capers, rinsed
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 garlic clove, chopped
extra olive oil
salt+pepper to taste

Directions_

Put all the dressing ingredients into a blender. Use the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes and add extra as needed to equal 1/3 cup of oil. Blend until smooth. Toss the mixed greens, sliced mozzarella, and dressing together and serve.

Try it — I am curious what you think, and how it could be tweaked.