I haven’t had much time for cooking and baking these days because of Mio, but I recently tried making this green tea-ginger marshmallow shortbread that my best friend Debbie sent me the recipe for.
The bottom layer is shortbread and you create the matcha-flavored marshmallow top layer from scratch with egg whites, sugar, honey, and gelatin. I’d never made marshmallow from scratch before so it was an exciting undertaking! I don’t have a candy thermometer like the recipe calls for, so I couldn’t be as precise as I’d hoped to be… I ended up getting a very thin layer of green tea-flavored gelatin in between the marshmallow and shortbread layers, so I may have done something wrong, but it still tasted pretty good! 🙂
The candied ginger on top gives it a nice punch, and goes really well with the green tea flavor of this delectable treat!
I’ve had all sorts of cobblers before, most of which have been fruit-based — peach cobbler, blueberry cobbler, apple cobbler, cherry cobbler… all delicious. But I’d never heard of chocolate cobbler until I saw this Tasty Kitchen blog post (a cooking community founded and led by The Pioneer Woman, whom I mentioned previously) come through on my Google Reader earlier this month. I was immediately intrigued by the idea and was determined to try it, especially when my chocolate cravings struck today.
Here is the mouthwatering result:
My first chocolate cobbler!
The recipe, which you can find here, is surprisingly simple! The ingredients are very basic and are things that you normally have already stocked in your pantry — I didn’t have to make an extra trip to the grocery store or anything. The steps went super quickly, and the batter was ready to go into the oven in ten minutes!
What is at first alarming about the recipe is that you create the main cake batter, then pile on a mix of sugar and light brown sugar, and then pour hot tap water on top, and then stick it in the oven without stirring it. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? I thought that there must be some missing step or misprint in the recipe, but the blog post assured that this was how it was supposed to be, so I trusted them despite my reservations as I uneasily stuck this visually unappealing mixture into the oven.
All watery and muddy-looking on the top. Doesn't look too appetizing, does it?
Somehow, 40 minutes later when you take it out of the oven, the liquidy portion has sunk into the inside and the top has set in a cakey layer. It’s like magic! (Or some science to baking that I can’t quite grasp.)
Out of the oven.
Smells pretty good!
Breaking open the top of the cobbler to find the chocolate oozing out.
The chocolate filling is still steaming when I break the surface. (It's similar to those molten chocolate lava cakes in that sense.)
Enjoying some chocolate cobbler for dessert!
Dan described it as a “liquid brownie” when he took his first few bites, and then when the cake mixed more with the syrupy filling, he said it started tasting like pudding. He couldn’t get enough of it and ended up eating about a third of the cobbler! 😮
It was delicious (although admittedly indulgent) and the best part is that it’s so easy to make with on-hand ingredients. Big thanks to Tasty Kitchen for such a great recipe! Dan and I were talking about how we want to try our hand at some fruit cobblers too! We’ll let you know how that goes…
After having that s’mores cupcake from Cupkates Truck last weekend, I became sort of obsessed. I kept having cravings for more of them the whole week for more. It’s like once my taste buds were awakened to the divine concept of s’mores in the form of a cupcake, they desperately needed to have more. I kept talking about them with Dan, and we then decided that instead of hunting that darned cupcake truck down again, we’d try making those delicious morsels ourselves.
We were a little apprehensive about the mission ending in disaster, but it turned into a fun collaborative project for the two of us. 🙂 And the results were not too shabby, if I do say so myself:
As I usually try to do here, I’m going to post the recipe, but I’m also going to try something new. My friend Luice recently introduced me to The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond’s site. If you’re not familiar with her, she’s a woman who used to live an urban lifestyle (growing up in Chicago and then attending college in Los Angeles) who then fell in love with a cowboy (yes, a cowboy) and lives out in the countryside now. She calls her cowboy husband “The Marlboro Man” and her four adorable kids her “punks,” and despite the fact that her life is 180 degrees different from her previous city life, she actually fell in love with the country life. She has a huge online presence, with her site featuring extensive topics — everything from recipes to a personal blog and sections dedicated to photography, home & gardening and homeschooling. (I especially loved reading “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels,” her love story about how she met The Marlboro Man and how their whirlwind romance took off… although I confess I haven’t read all of it yet — it’s a series of blog posts.)Â Aside from being a funny personality and a really good writer, her recipes are awesome in that she uses step-by-step photos in them. I really love how she does this, because I’m a very visual learner and it really helps for me to see each of the steps as photographs (really pretty ones, too!) — when I buy cookbooks, I go out of my way to find ones that have lots of pictures in them. So I decided to try out this clever idea and do this post “The Pioneer Woman”-style. I’m not sure if it’s something I’ll be trying again anytime soon, though — taking step-by-step photos is actually pretty tiring and it’s difficult to get the shots to look good. Nevertheless, here goes my pathetic attempt.
The actual recipe is at the bottom of the post, for those who just want to skip the photos or want the detailed ingredients and directions.
The ingredients for the chocolate cupcakes: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, vegetable oil, whole milk (I only had 2% but the recipe calls for whole), baking powder, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Stir the dry ingredients until well combined.
Pour in the other ingredients: egg, oil, milk, vanilla extract.
Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed.
Add 1 cup of boiling water. Batter will be watery but no worries! That is how it should be. (I know this photo doesn't look very appetizing, but trust me on this one.)
Fill the cupcake lines with the batter.
Fill 1/2 to 3/4 full with batter.
Bake for 22-24 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
What you will need for the frosting: sugar, light corn syrup, mini marshmallows, vanilla extract, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt.
Combine the sugar, corn syrup, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt.
Place the bowl with the mixture over a pot of simmering water (not touching the water).
Continue stirring over heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture becomes warm to the touch.
Remove the bowl from heat and beat on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form and the mixture is still warm.
Add in 1 cup of marshmallows and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Reduce mixing speed to low.
Beat until marshmallows have melted and blended completely into the mixture. The frosting should be used right away.
Frost the chocolate cupcakes with the marshmallow frosting.
Pile on that frosting!
S'mores cupcakes are not complete without these key players: graham crackers and chocolate. Most recipes recommend Hersheys chocolate bars but I prefer Cadbury.
Chop the chocolates into bitesize pieces. S'mores traditionally use milk chocolate, but if you're a dark chocolate lover like me, feel free to use dark!
Stick pieces of graham crackers and chocolates into the tops of the frosted cupcakes.
Use a culinary butane torch to slightly toast the frosting. Carefully not to get too close as to scorch the frosting!
Dan is a closet pyro, so I think he enjoyed helping with this part the most. He mastered the "gentle sweeping motion" in toasting the frosting.
S'mores Cupcakes!
We were pretty impressed with ourselves. They actually came out looking pretty nice!
This one is my favorite. Dan did the frosting on this one!
Me with our masterpiece! They tasted as good as they look!
Posing with our cupcakes, in the lovely cupcake apron that Akiho gave me as a birthday present! I love Anthro's aprons; they're all so adorable.
Rows upon rows of s'more cupcakes. Some didn't come out as pretty-looking but they're still yummy!
A new household favorite! Will definitely be making them again.
Here’s the recipe without all the photos for anyone who’d like to print it out and try it themselves!
S’mores Cupcakes
(Note: I based my cupcakes on a recipe from Glory Albin of Glorious Treats, featured on Food Magazine. There are some slight variations and tweaks I made on mine, so feel free to follow either.)
The Chocolate Cupcakes:
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Directions:
1. Line the cupcake cups with paper or aluminum liners. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Stir together the dry ingredients – mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
3. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be watery but that is how it should be).
4. Fill liners approximately 2/3 – 3/4 full with batter.
5. Bake regular cupcakes for approximately. 22-24 minutes. Mini cupcakes for 13-16 minutes.
6. Cool completely on wire rack before frosting. (Makes approximately 24 standard size cupcakes.)
Marshmallow Frosting:
Ingredients:
2 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch of salt
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. In a large heat-proof bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, cream of tartar and salt.
2. Set the bowl over (but not touching) simmering water in a saucepan and heat mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160° F), about 3 minutes.
3. Remove the bowl from the saucepan. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the mixture until soft peaks form, and it is still very warm, about 2 minutes.
4. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the marshmallows and vanilla. Continue beating until the marshmallows are melted and the frosting is completely smooth, about 3-4 minutes. Use frosting right away.
The Final Touches:
Ingredients:
2-3 large graham crackers
1 large chocolate candy bar (the ones that come in squares are easier to use): milk chocolate or dark chocolate, depending on your preference.
Directions:
1. Frost chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow frosting.
2. Top frosted cupcakes with a piece of graham cracker and a piece of chocolate.
I love going out to eat and exploring new delicious dishes and then seeing if I can make them myself at home. It’s usually pretty hit or miss — a long time ago, when I was obsessed with P.F. Changs chicken lettuce wraps, I tried to recreate the appetizer at my college apartment and failed miserably — all we could taste were the crunchy water chestnuts. (I’m hoping to redeem myself by trying again someday.)
One of my absolute favorite dishes is linguine frutti di mare, which is essentially mixed seafood pasta. Linguine tossed with “fruits of the ocean” and loose red sauce — just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I have a hobby of trying the seafood pasta every time Dan and I go to a new Italian restaurant for the first time, and going around comparing. So far, some of my personal favorites have been Luciano’s in Oakton, The Cellar in Blacksburg, Buca di Beppo (various locations in California), and The Milanese Caffe in Berkeley. There were many other good ones, but we try to support unique, non-chain restaurants, so we don’t often dine at the likes of places like Olive Garden (although theirs is not bad, either).
