Tag: penuche

JB Bars

JP, this one’s for you.

Since traveling to Australia is sort of like going to the U.S. from a size perspective, we chose to visit three cities: Melbourne, Sydney and Port Douglass (an hour outside of Cairns).

In each of the three cities, a delightful little petit-four like cookie was served alongside coffee for a taste of something sweet at the end of meals.

The little treats started with a shortbread base.  To which a layer of penuche, or brown sugar fudge was added.

The squares were topped by a layer of chocolate.

These are kind of like million dollar shortbread.  Only not.

Once we got home I spent some time trying to find a name for these little guys.  No luck.

So, TD and I decided to name them ourselves.

While in Sydney, we met up with our friend Julia (and Jennifer and Myra).  They were there leading a group of college students and while it’s a sad state of affairs to have to go halfway around the world to spend time with someone who lives less than 10 miles away, good fun was had by all.  Some of that fun was the discussion, debate and general admiration of a certain footie player from the Sydney Swans.

Australian rules football is fantastic.  TD and I caught a Sunday game in Melbourne (at the historical MCG) between the Richmond Tigers and the Carlton Blues.  It was a crisp afternoon in early fall with huge clouds and a cool breeze.  Beer, meat pies with tomato sauce and some very….athletic athletes.  It doesn’t get much better.

Australians are fervent sports fans and on their island nation, the Sydney Swans are royalty.

Their crowned prince?  That certain footie player, Jude Bolton.  A prolific athlete–315 games in his 14 year career thus far–Mr. Bolton is, according to JP, also an ace bloke.   Dear readers, meet Jude.

Photo source: Phil Hillyard / News Limited via FoxSports.

By now you’ve figured it out.  JB Bars are short for Jude Bolton bars.  Because, we like him that much.

As for the Sydney Swans…well…Australia seems to have a knack for using American fight songs as their own.  The Sydney Swans fight song is set to the tune of the Notre Dame fight song.  Make what you will of that little nugget.

If you like this, you might like these.

Salted Caramel Squares

Twix Bars

JB Bars

penuche layer adapted from Stephanie Stiavetti at www.theculinarylife.com everything else is Misanthropic Hostess

Shortbread Base

Ingredients

  • 10 TBS butter, cold
  • 1/4 C brown sugar
  • 1/8 C granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 C flour
  • 1/8 C salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 235 degrees.
  2. Line an 8X8 or 9X9 pan with parchment so that pieces hang off the end on all four sides.
  3. In a food processor, pulse together sugars, flour and salt.
  4. Cut butter into 1/2 TBS pieces.  Using pulse function on the processor, add-in pieces one-at-a-time until the dough just barely comes together.
  5. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
  6. Press dough into pan.
  7. Prick dough all over with fork.
  8. Bake on middle rack until golden brown (20-30 minutes…begin checking at 20 minutes or when you  begin to smell the butter cooking).
  9. Remove from over and allow to cool completely.

Penuche & Chocolate Layers

Ingredients
  • 2½ cups brown sugar
  • 2½ cups white sugar
  • 1¼ cup whole milk or half and half
  • ½ cup unsalted butter
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 8-12 ounces chopped chocolate (I used bittersweet) depending on how thick you’d like the layer.  I used about 9 ounces.

Directions

  1. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low flame, heat brown sugar, white sugar, milk, butter, and salt to 236F while stirring constantly. This should take 20-25 minutes.
  2. Pour penuche into the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium for 2-4 minutes, or until fudge is thick and smooth. Lower speed to low and add vanilla extract.
  3. Using a spatula greased with butter, spread penuche fudge on top of shortbread base, smoothing out the top. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  4. While the penuche is cooling, melt chocolate in a double boiler or in microwave (50% power, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in-between until chocolate is melted and smooth).
  5. Spread chocolate evenly over penuche layer using an offset spatula.  Allow to harden.
  6. Lift entire concoction from pan using the ends of the parchment.  Cut into 1-inch squares.
  7. Serve or use within two or three days.  Will keep slightly longer if stored in an air-tight container.  Do not refrigerate.

 

A tribute to the great Mary See

Who is Mary See?  Funny you should ask.

It seems like most families have their own sort of internal economy complete with a currency and policies toward compensation, incentive and, of course, debt.  In my own family, the economy is ruled by the all mighty See.  Well, See’s Candy.  This “old fashioned” West-coast purveyor of confections plays a role in many of my childhood memories.  The grandchildren at my maternal grandmother’s Thanksgiving table were always exceptionally well-behaved in hopes of earning one of the coveted chocolate See’s turkeys.  World series games and professional golf tournaments were watched in nervous anticipation because a pound or two of See’s candies were always on the line.  So great was their love for these chocolate-covered goodies that my mother, aunts and grandmother would make regular pilgramages to the See’s store in Santa Barbara because their home town of Santa Maria did not have a shop of its own.

Does it surprise you at all that I come from a family willing to drive four hours round-trip for a chocolate?

Ninety years after the first store was opened in Los Angeles, See’s offers something for everyone; from suckers to truffles to bridge mix to chocolate turkeys. For me that something is very specific.  The Bordeaux.  Brown sugar and buttercream covered in either milk or dark chocolate and smothered in chocolate sprinkles.  Want my heart?  I’ll trade you for a Bordeaux.  It’s the sprinkles.  But then, its always been the sprinkles.

Which may help explain why, when I was at my favorite cooking supply store a couple of weeks ago and saw a huge container of those little jimmies, I immediately thought: Bordeaux cupcakes (well, I had to have some way of justifying the purchase).

And so I bring you my interpretation of the Bordeaux in little cake form.

I started with Martha Stewart’s near ubiquitous brown sugar cupcake recipe.  Really, try Googling “brown sugar cupcakes.”  Pretty much all brown sugar roads lead to Martha Stewart (yes, I know, I just stepped into that one, TD.  Go ahead, say what you will).  This recipe is lean on ingredients and comes together in a flash.

The recipe says it makes between 28 and 30 and that the cups should be filled to three-quarters.  As ever, Martha is serious about this.  I fudged the 28-30 into 24 cupcakes and of course, over-filled and had some spreading.  I hate it when that happens.

While the cakes were in the oven, I turned my attention to the brown sugar buttercream.  While I tossed around the idea of filling the cupcakes with the cream, I eventually decided to spread a layer on the top of the cakes before frosting.  Oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

A little research revealed the centers of the bordeaux candy, while described by See’s as a buttercream is actually  penuche or a type of fudge.  So, to make, I combined brown sugar and butter in a heavy pan.

Let it melt.

Then let it boil (note–there is no candy thermometer in the photo because the recipe doesn’t need one).

Then let it cool.

And finally, added a ridiculous amount of confectioner’s sugar.

The result is a paste that once cool, is very easy to mold.

For each (cooled) cupcake, I rolled-out a little ball (probably half-an-ounce).

Then I flattened it and molded it to the top of the cake.

Then, I generously topped each cupcake with a layer of bittersweet ganache.  Half of the linked recipe will cover two-dozen cupcakes (even if you have a very heavy frosting hand as I do).

Which brings me to the sprinkles.  If you are planning ahead for this recipe or any other that might call for food decoration, for heaven’s sake, do not buy them at the grocery store or even a regular retail outlet such as Williams Sonoma or Sur la Table.  You’ll pay way, way too much.  Three ounces at my local grocery is about four-dollars.  Yikes.

If you happen to live in the Los Angeles area, Surfas is a great place to buy decorations (and just about anything else food related).  My 12 ounce jar of chocolate sprinkles is about $8 there.  If you don’t happen to live in the area, you can mail-order from them via the same link.  If you don’t need a pound of chocolate sprinkles, Off the Beaten Path has a staggering array of sprinkles, sanding sugars and edible glitter in smaller sizes.

Now for he piece de resistance.  Pour a generous amount of the sprinkles into a shallow dish.  Then, quickly up-end the frosted cupcake and gently press the frosted side into the sprinkles.

The result will be quite satisfying

And very tasty.  Thank you Mary See!

Bordeaux Cupcakes

makes 28-30

Cupcakes

Recipe credit: Martha Stewart

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients

  • 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions

Line cupcake pans with wrappers.  Whisk together dry ingredients.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one-at-a time.

Reduce mixer speed to low.  Alternating dry ingredients and buttermilk, add to butter mixture in three parts beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Fill cupcakes to 3/4 full.  Bake until a tester comer out clean (15-25 minutes).

Brown Sugar Penuche

Recipe adapted from Stephanie Paschal

Ingredients

  • 1 C brown sugar
  • 1/2 C butter
  • 1/4 C whipping cream
  • 1/2 tsp instant coffee
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 C confectioner’s sugar

Directions

Melt butter and brown sugar together in heavy pan.  Bring mixture to a boil and let roll for two minutes.  Stir in cream, coffee, salt and bring to boil again stirring constantly for 30 seconds.  Pull off heat and let cool for 10 minutes.  Stir-in confectioner’s sugar.  Chill until paste holds shape of a ball.

Note: half this recipe will be enough to cover the entire batch of cakes.

To assemble cupcakes

Roll penuche into small balls and then mold to the tops of the cupcakes.  Pour chocolate sprinkles into a shallow bowl or dish.  Frost cupcakes as desired.  Carefully dip each cupcake into the sprinkles, adding sprinkles to the bowl as you go.