Carb Fuel Fridays project 2: Blondies

Earlier this week in the school university cafeteria, "Blondies" were the featured dessert. Disgusted by the school's cakey, airy attempt at what is supposed to be a dense, brownie-like dessert, I decided to attempt what I had never attempted before. Although my teammates (when I do eat at the cafeteria, I eat with the team directly after practice. We really are like a big family) loved them, because they were packed with sugar and the option to cover them with ice cream and whipped cream was available, I promised the team that I would show them what a REAL blondie is supposed to be like. I turned to my favorite recipe guide, the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book, for what I knew would be a foolproof and perfect blondie recipe. Follow this recipe to a t, and it will be perfect!

Blondies (Chris Kimball and the America's Test Kitchen)

INGREDIENTS

1	cup pecans or walnuts (4 ounces)
1 1/2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
1	teaspoon baking powder
1/2	teaspoon table salt
12	tablespoons unsalted butter ( 1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled
1 1/2	cups packed light brown sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
2	large eggs , lightly beaten
4	teaspoons vanilla extract
6	ounces white chocolate chips (1 cup) or chopped bar, or 3 ounces each white chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts on large rimmed baking sheet and bake until deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer nuts to cutting board to cool; chop coarsely and set aside.

   
   

   Nuts, pre- roasted.

   
   

   Nuts, post-roasted.

   
   

   pecans, chopped

   
   

2. 2. While nuts toast, cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch length foil and fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet (if using extra-wide foil, fold second sheet lengthwise to 12-inch width). Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

   
   

3. 3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
   

4. 4. Whisk melted butter and brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not overmix. Fold in chocolate and nuts and turn batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula.

   
   

   Prebaked blondie.

5. 5. Bake until top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes; do not overbake. Cool on wire rack to room temperature. Remove bars from pan by lifting foil overhang and transfer to cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

   
   

   When it looks a little something like this, take it out.

   
   

   See, that's more like it! I really think of blondies more as a cookie bar than a brownie, but they certainly aren't very cakey. Too much fat. Try this recipe and love it!

Wednesday Night Dinner: Jessica's Broccoli-Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Garlic Butter

One of the first chicken recipes I ever made was this allrecipes submission titled "Garlic Lemon Double Stuffed Chicken." Although that recipe is wonderful, I have decided to completely tear it apart and redo it... my own way. I forgot to take pictures of this one guys, so you're gonna have to trust me on this one. My rendition of the recipe is more like this Barber Foods broccoli cheese stuffed chicken on STEROIDS:

There are a few technical things I also changed: Like I don't pour the garlic butter on the chicken until it has already been baking for 20 minutes... in my experience, this makes the chicken a LOT crispier... not so soggy. This dish is amazing with honey dinner rolls and mashed potatoes... VERY decadent and great for company. I think it was one of Charles' favorite meals. I made 8, so there are plenty of leftovers. These heat up great in the microwave on high at 1 and a half minutes, or you can re-bake them at 270 degrees until warm again. Okay, so here we go.

Jessica's Broccoli-Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Garlic Butter

Serves 8

Ingredients:

Oil, for greasing pan

8 Boneless, skinless medium to large sized chicken breasts, excess fat trimmed off

1 8 oz. Block of cream cheese, room temperature

1 8 oz. Block of Vermont cheddar (I use Boars Head.. kinda pricy, but definitely worth it), grated by hand

 15 fresh small broccoli florets, cooked in the microwave according to bag instructions

4 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

1 cup butter

1 tbl minced garlic

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two large shallow baking dishes with oil.

2. Combine the cream cheese and cheddar. Remove the stems of the small broccoli florets and crumble. Add broccoli to the cheese mixture, evenly distributing the broccoli.

3. Working one at a time, sandwich the chicken breasts between a large piece of parchment paper. With a meat mallet, pound each breast to 3/4 inch thickness. Butterfly each breast by cutting in the center of the breast horizontally, but do not cut through completely.

4. Spoon 2 tablespoons of broccoli cheese mixture into the center of each butterflied breast. With your hands, press to seal the edges of the chicken breast. You shouldn't need to roll the breasts up or toothpick them. 

5. Whisk eggs and 1/2 cup milk together. Also mix the plain and seasoned breadcrumbs together. Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, and then in the crumb mixture. Cover each breast thoroughly, do not double dip chicken. Pat additional crumbs onto the top of each breast.  Arrange the chicken on the baking dishes, and put it in the oven.

6. While the chicken is in the oven, in a small saucepan, melt butter into the minced garlic. Add 3 tablespoons lemon juice and pepper. Let simmer on Low for about 5 minutes, stirring often.

7. Drain the butter mixture of the garlic chunk, set garlic butter aside. When the chicken has been in the oven for 20 minutes, Drizzle garlic butter evenly over each breast. Let bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center and juices run clear.

Favorite Things Tuesdays: Post workout food, Tomato and Mozzarella Salad Recipe

Just thought I would drop in for an update. Carb Fuel Fridays is tentative this week because I have a cruical doctor's appointment.... I get to find out whether the blockage in my airways is caused by a thyroid swell (again...) or if I have asthma. Both would make a lot of sense, but nonetheless, I will have to miss practice on Friday for my appointment. I am, however, planning on making dinner tomorrow night (I'll be blogging about that, of course), and I will probably make something for the team on Thursday and drop it off in earlier in the morning. Depends on how I feel.
Today I'm heading to Bridge Street Town Centre to sample the new self-serve frozen yogurt bar, Orange Tree Frozen Yogurt. I'm a frequent visitor of Cefiore, a frozen yogurt place closer to my house. So it'll be nice to be able to have a place to go that is a tad bit closer to school. As an athlete, I love frozen yogurt. There is no doubt about it, it can be the best light fuel before and after a workout. Here some of my favorite things to eat after a hard workout to help me recover.

1.) Mt. Olive Hot and Spicy dill pickles- I often crave these suckers with crunchy peanut butter. No, I'm not pregnant. Your body craves things it needs to replace after a workout.... and vinegar is one of the best things for an athlete to ingest to reduce cramps. In case you didn't know, pickle juice is basically just vinegar that the pickles have been soaking in. That explains the kick... and why I love pickle juice and mustard so much!

2.) Luna Sport Recovery Smoothie- there are a few obvious reasons why I drink this stuff to recover from a tough workout. Aside from it being NCAA legal, which means I can ingest it without penalties on my eligibility, it's formulated specifically for women. It's low calorie too, only 120 calories per serving... but I mix it with milk and it's delicious. The strawberry banana flavor is good, but I like dark chocolate better.

3.) Frozen Yogurt- There are a lot of health benefits to eating frozen yogurt. The probiotics it contains helps keep you regular, helps women not get yeast infections, reduces inflammations and pain, and keeps bad bacteria from growing. But the reason why I like frozen yogurt after a workout has nothing to do with its health benefits... I mean I feel less guilty than going to get Ice cream of course, but frozen yogurt is just plain downright refreshing. Simple as that. It's wholesome and filling and I don't go home and do my usual after-workout binge afterwards.

4.) Mozzarella and Tomato Salad with Olive Oil and Basil-

Done Jessica's Way:

Ingredients:
1 medium sized tomato, very ripe
about 3 ounces bulk mozzarella, cut into 4 1/2 in thick slices
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 teaspoons dried sweet basil

Wash tomato, cut into four slices horizontally. Lay slices flat on plate. Lay 1/2 in thick mozzarella slices on top of each tomato slice. Drizzle each slice evenly with olive oil, sprinkle with dried sweet basil, and voila! you've got the a tasty, perfect mix of protien, calcium, and carbs to help you recover from a workout.

Okay, so those are my top four after workout foods... tomorrow I'll be back with details of my wednesday night dinner, featuring a foolproof and easy recipe that makes for a beautiful presentation and a decadent meal... perfect for guests!

Carb fuel Fridays project 1: Hot Fudge Brownies.

Today, while sitting in the track office, I asked my teammates what they wanted me to make for the first Carb Fuel Friday. The general consensus was brownies. This comes as no surprise to me. Several of them don't like cake, a few don't even like chocolate (but like brownies... which makes NO sense to me...?). After hearing a few of their ideas, one of the guys mentioned something I hadn't thought about. He asked for hot fudge brownies.

He really got me thinking. I don't live on campus, so I couldn't warm these brownies for them, but if they were to pop these suckers in the microwave for 15 seconds, they'd be dripping with hot fudge flavor and packed with ooey gooey chocolatey goodness. I still wanted to achieve that hot fudge flavor even if they aren't warmed. I did some thinking... and a little research on how to make chocolate syrup... and I came up with this recipe. It works! It's wonderful for drizzling as a glaze for a chocolate cake or brownies like this. It's runny at first, and then it dries smooth until you pop it back into the microwave. I took pictures, too. This recipe makes about 3 cups... enough for about 3 batches of brownies or more.

Jessica's Hot Fudge Dessert Topping

2 2/3 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream

2 3/4 cups of Granulated White Sugar

1 cup butter.... make sure this is at room temperature!

4 handfulls of semi-sweet chocolate chips (3 if you have big hands! mine are tiny)

1 tablespoon of Vanilla Extract

1.) In a saucepan, combine heavy cream with granulated sugar over med-hi heat.

2.) Stir mixture every 30 seconds, paying close attention to the heat of the liquid. When the sugar has completely dissolved into the cream, the mixture will yellow slightly. When the mixture starts to simmer (tiny bubbles will appear around the sides of the saucepan... like the picture below), turn the burner off. 

3.) With the saucepan still on the burner, add the butter at room temperature and stir until dissolved. Add chocolate chips and WHISK.... if you think 3 handfulls might be too much, taste the mixture as you add more. However, do make sure it is uniform.... like pictured below... before you make an addition based on taste. Until the mixture is uniform, you will not get an accurate impression. The chips will look odd in the cream mixture at first. Finally, add the tablespoon of vanilla and keep stirring until thicker but still runny...

4. Transfer to a glass bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap. Store in the refrigerator for 25 minutes, but stir often. When the mixture is cool, but not cold, and much thicker but drippable,  it is ready for pouring.

5. Pour over desired dessert and wait 40 minutes. The topping should be dry, MUCH easier to transport! Enjoy!!!

New: Carb Fuel Fridays

Ahh, the beginning of track season. In addition to the torture that I undergo on Mondays through Fridays, this also means the beginnings of a crucial process to help me as a baker and a cook: team experimentation.
I'd like to think of myself as a hero, providing these teammates of mine with free, delightful mounds of carbs that surely we will need to get through the many months of imminent torture. In return, they provide me with necessary criticsm (although they might not be the best critics... I mean, a group of 40 kids who haven't had a home cooked meal in weeks? I'm sure they'll love everything I bring them). Last year, I brought over 100 fully decorated, iced, 4 x 4 inch sugar cookies to the team christmas party. I'd say about 75% of them were eaten, the other 25% were basically smuggled out... and not by me. So this year, provided that I don't have any orders, I have been thinking about conducting a season-long experiment... Carb fuel Fridays. Every Thursday that I'm not swamped with cake orders, I will be providing my teammates with a new and experimental treat. Although cookies would probably be the easiest to transport, I'll try some other things as well. My cupcake courier.... the other love of my life... will be a great help in making that happen. Every Saturday I'll have posts about the stuff I brought the team... pictures, and what they thought about it! I am so excited.

Sweet 16 Cake

As promised, here are the pictures from the cake I made for my family friend this weekend. It was so much fun! I looooooooooove piping logos! It featured a layer of yellow cake, a layer of cookie cake, and another layer of yellow all held together with my french vanilla creamy buttercream icing.

The Easiest Cheesecake EVER!

So, I thought since I can't find any decent tomatoes, I would make something else to update my blog. Recently, I subscribed to Cooks Illustrated magazine. This magazine is edited and owned by Christopher Kimball of my favorite television show, PBS' America's Test Kitchen. If you know me well, you know that I am obsessed with Christopher Kimball. I read his "Greetings from Vermont" emails three times over whenever I receive them, which I never do with what some would consider junk mail. I'm a recipe tester for America's Test Kitchen, I have all the cookbooks and handbooks, and I LITERALLY take notes on the food science editorials by Chris. I have a staple cheesecake recipe that I use to make cheesecakes for company and cake orders... it's a bit of a pain in the rear for just feeling like making a cheesecake so I can have it. So... America's Test Kitchen provided me with this WONDERFUL, no hassle recipe... I tried it tonight, and it was WONDERFUL! Although I will still use my other recipe for orders, I thought that I would share this with you. It is easy because you don't have to worry about overbeating batter or a water bath! My cheesecake was consistent, smooth, and best of all CRACK FREE! I will make my comments in bold italics. 

New York Style Cheesecake--- by America's Test Kitchen!

INGREDIENTS

Graham Cracker Crust
1	cup graham cracker crumbs (4 ounces, 8 whole crackers, broken into rough pieces and processed in food processor until uniformly fine) I used graham cracker crumbs from a box, because I didn't feel like going to buy graham crackers to crush. You might notice that these boxed crumbs have lost a lot of flavor... I added 1/2 tsp vanilla and an extra 2 teaspoons of sugar, and the crust turned out wonderful.
1	tablespoon granulated sugar
5	tablespoons unsalted butter , melted, plus additional 1 tablespoon melted butter for greasing pan
Cheesecake Filling
2 1/2	pounds cream cheese , cut into rough 1-inch chunks and left to stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes It is IMPERATIVE that you cool this cream cheese to room temperature. This effects everything, makes the cheese easier to cream. That reduces air bubbles that can cause cracks in that cheesecake you worked so hard to craft!
1/8	teaspoon table salt
1 1/2	cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
1/3	cup sour cream (2 1/2 ounces) Do not use heavy cream! Sour cream adds a wonderful, tangy flavor that makes this cake uniquely New York style.
2	teaspoons lemon juice from 1 lemon PureLemon juice works fine, too.
2	teaspoons vanilla extract I added 1 tbl. (3 tsp)
2	large egg yolks
6	large eggs

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. For the crust: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar in medium bowl; add 5 tablespoons melted butter and toss with fork until evenly moistened. Brush bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan with most of remaining melted butter, making sure to leave enough to brush pan in step 3. Empty crumbs into springform pan and press evenly into pan bottom. I greased the bottom of the pan with butter, too, to prevent sticking to the bottom while trying to remove the cake from your springform. Bake until fragrant and beginning to brown around edges, about 13 minutes. Cool on wire rack while making filling.
   

2. 2. For the cheesecake filling: Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment If you are like me, you hate using a mixer! Use it anyway., beat cream cheese at medium-low speed to break up and soften slightly, about 1 minute. Scrape beater and bottom and sides of bowl well with rubber spatula; add salt and about half of sugar and beat at medium-low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; beat in remaining sugar until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla, and beat at low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add yolks and beat at medium-low speed until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Scrape bowl; add whole eggs two at a time, beating until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute, and scraping bowl between additions.

3. 3. Brush sides of springform pan with remaining melted butter. Set springform pan on rimmed baking sheet (to catch any spills if springform pan leaks). Pour filling into cooled crust and bake 10 minutes; without opening oven door, reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of cheesecake registers about 150 degrees, about 11/2 hours You might have to bake longer than this, I did. Check for jiggliness... if on a scale of 1-10, the cake is jiggly level 6, PUT IT BACK IN for 20 minutes!!!. Transfer cake to wire rack and cool 5 minutes; run paring knife between cake and side of springform pan. Cool until barely warm, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours. (Cake can be refrigerated up to 4 days.)

4. 4. To unmold cheesecake, remove sides of pan. Slide thin metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen, then slide cake onto serving plate. Let cheesecake stand at room temperature about 30 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.
   

Tomato delay :-(

I guess large tomatoes aren't in season right now. I really need to start researching the longevity of crops before I commit to making a recipe. Charles and I went to the Fresh Market on Sunday night and the beefsteaks look horrible! Now more than ever, I wish I had a garden. No matter what, I am planning on making the eggs in tomatoes. Right now might not be the best time, though.
I have actually been busy this weekend not cooking, but sewing and crafting. I am working on opening up my own etsy shop with a kitchen and baked goods theme. I'll feature aprons, ornaments, jewelry, placemats, and other kitchen decor and storage accessories. I am so excited that I have been thinking about it all day in school.
This weekend I made two cake orders: one was a cookie cake for a little boy, and the other was a sweet sixteen cake for a family friend. I'll post pictures of them soon, once I find the cable to my camera battery charger. Charles says that I lose everything... sigh... I guess creative types like me are also the clumsy and forgetful types.

An Exciting Addition to my recipe book family!

Last night, my amazing boyfriend Charles (We have been together for quite a long time. He is FULLY supportive of my cooking endeavors, it is so nice to have a wonderful supportive partner who believes in me :-)) bought me a very expensive cookbook that I have been eyeing for quite a while. He brought me to Barnes and Noble last night after work, and my heart started beating faster as we walked towards the cooking section. He ended up getting me The Silver Spoon, a staple in the home of every true Italian family. Recently, Italy's bestselling cookbook for over fifty years was translated into English. Over 2,000 recipes await me.

Granted, some of these recipes are pretty strange (I've never seen a cookbook with a section reserved for Wild Boar).... and almost all of them contain olive oil (I have NO problem with that. Ask anyone who's had any of my entrees, I douse in olive oil and basil no matter what the dish), but I'm ready to take on most of them. This is something that I have been looking forward to for a really long time! First, I'm going to try Eggs with Tomatoes. I know that sounds easy, but I never would have thought to scoop out the inside of a tomato and crack an egg in it. I'm kind of nervous because I don't know how it will taste, but I am making this. There will be pictures, the entire recipe, and how I achieved success (or failed miserably, I guess we'll see.