Sweet & Savory

A in the Kitchen!

With J on a business trip in Japan, I had the kitchen all to myself! This is not to say that J doesn't usually share, but more that it seemed to be fitting to make something special. I decided to make a variety of snacks for my sweet-toothed coworkers. On the menu were (left to right, top to bottom) russian tea cakes, chocolate covered brown butter blondies, chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese and chocolate filling, and mendiants.

Russian Tea Cakes, aka Mexican Wedding Cookies, aka Snowballs, aka ..., were a common request amongst my coworkers. I made a batch for them about a year or so ago, and they have been asking for another batch ever since. So, I finally decided to oblige them. There are as many recipes for these little treats as there are aliases, but I used the one from Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of Baking.

Next up were the chocolate-covered brown butter blondies, which I adapted from a recipe I picked up while visiting the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory last April (adapted recipe included below). Not being a great fan of milk chocolate, I did not have the six ounces that the recipe asked for. Instead, I improvised by mixing some bittersweet Michel Cluizel with some Toblerone milk chocolate candy. This substitution complemented both texture and taste, as the bits of almond nougat in the Toblerone were chewy and agreed well with the buttery caramel flavors in the blondie layer.

Next, I made a recipe that I had previously found on someone's blog when I was searching for a cupcake idea for Nancy's birthday last Februray. The blog owner Chris proclaimed it to be the "World's Best Cupcakes". I wanted to see if the cupcakes could live up to their name. I made the cake and filling batters by hand, since I was cautious of overworking them. The assembled cupcakes went into the oven, where the cream cheese and chocolate chip filling melted and melded into the ooey gooey centers of the final product.

The cupcakes were definitely different from others I've had so far, mainly in the fact that it has a filled center instead of a homogeneous batter, both with and without chunky ingredients mixed in. I haven't gotten any word back on my coworkers' tastings, so the verdict is still out on whether these are really the world's best cupcakes. In any case, I've linked the recipe above, so you can try them out for yourselves. And if you know of a recipe for tastier cupcakes, please do share it with me!

Finally, mendiants! Mendiants are essentially tempered chocolate disks embedded with various nuts and dried fruits. For the chocolate, I once again used bittersweet Michel Cluizel. For the nuts, I toasted hazelnuts, slivered almonds, pecan halves, and pine nuts, to really bring out the nutty aromas. For the dried fruits, I used apricots, black cherries, figs, and cranberries. Arranged together, the ingredients made quite an impressive array!

Chocolate-Covered Brown Butter Blondies
adapted from a recipe by Scharffen Berger

• 1 stick unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• pinch salt
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3.5 oz bar Toblerone milk chocolate candy, broken into chunks
• 25 pecan halves, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350°F and position a rack in the center. Butter a 9" x 9" baking pan and set aside. Place the brown sugar in a large heat-proof bowl and set aside.

In a small pot over low heat, melt the butter. Tilt the pan every now and then and watch the butter carefully — it will first sizzle, then the solids will separate from the fat, before finally turning a light nutty brown color while developing a nutty, toasty aroma. Right when the browning begins (after about five minutes), remove the pan from heat and pour the butter over the brown sugar. Add the salt and stir (the mixture may appear greasy, but this is normal).

Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour and gently mix until just combined.

Turn the batter and spread it (it will be sticky) into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is shiny and a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean, about ten to twelve minutes.

Immediately distribute the chocolate pieces on top of the warm blondie layer. Return the pan to the oven for one to two minutes, just enough time to allow the chocolate to soften. With a small offset spatula, spread the melted chocolate in an even layer. Arrange the pecan halves in five rows of five. Let cool completely.

Cut into 25 pieces, one pecan half per piece. Store in a tightly covered container for up to one week.