Tag: huckleberry

Deep dark chocolate bread

It took me a couple of tries to get this one right.

The first time I tried was last fall when I spent a weekend binge-baking recipes from Christina Tosi’s recently published Huckleberry cookbook.

The original recipes says it makes one loaf.  And even though I thought that single loaf pan was really, really, REALLY full, I went with it.  Luckily my spider sense told me to put a half sheet pan on the lower rack because there was a serious chocolate explosion in my oven.

I made a note to try two loaves the next time I played with the recipe.

Then several months passed and it wasn’t until recently that I was brave enough to risk having to scrub the inside of my oven.

Sure enough, this recipe was meant to make two loaves.  Total success!  My nickname for this cake is “bribe bread.”  If you need a favor from someone who likes chocolate, this will do the trick.

Chocolate Chocolate Teacake

slightly adapted from Zoe Nathan’s Huckleberry, Stories, Secrets and recipes from our Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 3/4 C/100 g pastry flour (can sub all purpose in a pinch)
  • 6 TBS/45 g all purpose flour
  • 6 TBS/30g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 C strong brewed coffee, cooled (I used espresso)
  • 1/2 C buttermilk at room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 C/ 300g coarsely chopped dark chocolate, 60-70% cacao
  • 1/2 C + 2 TBS/ 140 g unsalted butter, cubed at room temp
  • 1 C + 2 TBS/ 225 g sugar
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3 eggs at room temp

Directions

  1. Position a rack in the middle of oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease 2 9X5 inch loaf pans and line bottoms with parchment paper.
  3. Sift together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.  Set aside.
  4. Combine the coffee, buttermilk and vanilla.  Set aside.
  5. Melt 3/4 C (130 g) of the chocolate.
  6. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.
  7. Incorporate the eggs one a a time, beating in between each.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl well.
  8. Pause mixer, add flour mixer and mix on low until just combined.
  9. Pour in the coffee mixture and mix on low until just combined.
  10. Fold in the melted chocolate.  Then fold in the remaining chopped chocolate.
  11. Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake for 55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
  12. Allow to cool completely before removing from pans.
  13. Dust with confectioner’s sugar if desired.

 

 

Though she be but little, she is fierce

I have long been a fan of the kumquat.  A childhood friend had a kumquat tree in her backyard and we’d dare each other to eat the tart little fruit, relishing in the novelty of eating the skin.  Last fall I posted a super tasty citrus loaf cake by Zoe Nathan. Her original recipe called for kumquats…not exactly in-season in November. So I made due and waited.

And then I started thinking.

In its directions, the recipe asks the baker to zest several citrus fruits including the kumquats. After I stopped laughing at the idea of zesting something the size of a large olive I thought, there’s got to be another way. So, I took to the internets and found a couple of recipes that use a kumquat puree. Not sure about anyone else, but in my book cutting and seeding a couple of cups of kumquats is much easier than attempting to zest them.

I used my Vitamix to puree the kumquats. Because I could. A regular blender or food processor will work as well. While the puree smelled amazing (I was tempted to dab some behind my ears), it did have just a hint of bitterness in flavor.   Luckily it baked right out.

I also saw the addition of cardamom in a couple of recipes. Cardamom!  That’s fun to say.

I love cardamom’s exotic floral scent and think it makes elevates this recipe just enough  This is a gorgeous loaf—both in looks and flavor.

You all know, I openly admit to my citrus fruit biases, but really, make this cake.

Like now before kumquats disappear until next spring.

By the way, I’m not sure what is going on with the tumbnail photo that is supposed to sit in the upper left of my posts.  I’m on the case!

Kumquat Loaf

adapted from Huckleberry stories, secrets and recipes from our kitchen

Ingredients

  • 1 C+ 2 TBS/ 255 g unsalted butter at room temp
  • 1 C/ 200 g sugar
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 C kumquats quartered and seeded
  • 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
  • 1 1/4 C/ 160 g all purpose flour
  • 1/4 C/ 35 g pastry flour
  •  1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 TBS buttermilk
  • 1 TBS vanilla extract
  • 3/4 tsp cardamom

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and line with parchment a 9X5 loaf pan.
  2. Quarter and seed kumquats.  Puree until smooth.  This should yield about 3/4 C puree (though you’ll only use 2/3 C).
  3. Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter,  sugar and salt  on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  4. Incorporate the eggs and egg yolks one-at-a-time, blend well after each addition.  Scrape down sides of bowl a couple of times.  Add-in vanilla.
  5. Fold-in 2/3 C puree (save or discard remainder)
  6. Add-in the flours, baking powder and cardamom.  Mix-on low until ingredients are just combined.
  7. Scoop batter into prepared pan.  Bake for 60 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched and cake tester comes out clean.
  8. Once out of the oven, let rest for 5 minutes then remove loaf from pan.  Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

When the hipsters are right

In a town full of hipsters, I am decidedly not.  I don’t have a cool fedora or any tatoos.  The last time we went out in Hollywood, TD and I were home by 10:30 (uhm, P.M.).  I think cocount water tastes like spit.  Despite the fact that I love Jud Apatow and think Lena Dunham is talented,  every time I watch  Girls all I can think is, ‘good gravy, just wash your hair…all of you’.  Well, maybe that last one just means I’m old.  I don’t Tweet because I am so not interesting enough.  So yeah, if hipsters are cool, I’m pretty much the opposite. 

We do share one thing in common, the cool kids and me: food.   One of my favorite hipstery places is Huckleberry in Santa Monica.  Despite its hipsteriness (or maybe because of it), I dig the whole vibe.  So of course, I want to emulate it.  And now I have and you can too because a couple of years ago Zoe Nathan (she of Huckleberry creation) published her recipe for salted caramel squares in Food & Wine. 

It starts with a shortbread base (see…I was trying to be all hipster and instagrahmy with the artsy fartsy picture).

So that the shortbread does not puff, the recipe instructs it be weighed-down with pie weights.  I use beans to the same end.

Be sure to line the unbaked cookie with parchment before adding the weights.  I’ve done it the other way.  More than once.  Not good.

While the shortbread browns, it’s time to get down to the business of making caramel.  Two pots: one with cream and vanilla bean, the other with sugar and just enough water to make you doubt whether the whole thing will work.

But it will.

This is a two-step process.  After the sugar reaches a certain temp, the cream is added and then brought up to a final soft-ball stage.  The last step: salt (they call for kosher, I used fleur de sel).

The finished caramel is poured over the golden shortbread.  And then, into the fridge.  For what seems like an interminable about of time.

This is what was going on in the other room while I was making the caramel.  Despite our lack of, ney, anti-hipster household, we have made the jump to the new iPads.  In my App downloading glee, I somehow procured a game for cats.  Yeah, I know.  In the game a life-like mouse skitters across the screen and if you “catch-it” it squeeks.  I showed it to the Kitchen Gods one time.  That’s all it took.  Now, no matter where they are in the house, if I turn on the game (it has little mouse squeeks in the background), they come running.  In fact, they only have to see the iPad to come running.   Suddenly, everything thing from Flipboard to Words with Friends is a cat game.  Nice.

Oh yeah, we were making something weren’t we?  Okay, once the caramel has set, the entire slab gets pulled-out by the overhanging edges of parchment.  Then cut. 

I have to admit, if standing in line ease-dropping on all of the hipster conversations wasn’t so much fun, I’d proclaim that I no longer needed Huckleberry.  Because these?  Are legit.

Soundtrack

Elliott Smith.  Kind of introspective for making molten-hot caramel sauce, but what do you do?

Salted Caramel Squares

Zoe Nathan as published in Food & Wine July 2010.

Ingredients

Pastry Shell

  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 large egg white, beaten

Caramel

  • 2 1/4 cups heavy cream
  • 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the short sides.
  2. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer at low speed, cream the butter. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar. Add the whole eggs and beat until incorporated, then beat in the flour and salt. Press the pastry into the prepared pan in an even layer, 1/4 inch thick. Freeze until firm, 10 minutes.
  3. Line the pastry with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake for 35 minutes, until just set. Carefully remove the pie weights and parchment. Brush the shell with the egg white and bake for 20 minutes longer, until golden and cooked through. Let cool.
  4. In a saucepan, bring the cream, vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer. Cover; keep warm.
  5. In a large, heavy saucepan, stir the sugar into 1/4 cup of water. Simmer over moderate heat, without stirring, until a deep amber caramel forms, 7 minutes.
  6. Remove the caramel from the heat and carefully add the cream. When the bubbling subsides, stir in the butter. Insert a candy thermometer and cook over moderately high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the caramel reaches 240°, 10 minutes. Discard the vanilla bean and stir in the salt. Pour the caramel over the shell. Refrigerate until firm, 4 hours or overnight; bring to room temperature. Remove the bar from the pan using the parchment overhang; cut into squares.
  7. TMH note: these will keep well for a few days in the fridge.  While solid, the caramel will soften and attempt to slip over the sides of the squares if left at room temp.