dessert Archives - Page 6 of 7

Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches

I gotta give it up to Alice Medrich. Why? Because Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches…for real.

Why wasn’t it me who came up with melted chocolate on buttered, toasted bread? I crane my neck and scream at the chocolate gods:

Why? Why wasn’t it me?

As usual, they ignored me, but I’ll be alright. My girl, Alice Medrich, hooked me up.

Usually, when it’s snack time, I reach for a big ole box of Cheez-its. Sometimes, if Sriracha is on hand, which is always, I’ll make my favorite stove top popcorn. But this sandwich? Oh man, grilled chocolate sandwiches are my new favorite snack. I love that you can see the chocolate peeking through the sourdough. Hello!

I’m not gonna lie to you. I put extra chocolate in my sandwich. Hey, it’s not my fault, man! San Luis Sourdough has really long slices, alright? Plus, I needed the antioxidants or whatever.

Pay attention, now because this is simple: chocolate + buttered bread + grill = your next culinary adventure. Do it…then tip your hat to Alice Medrich…and of course, the gods of chocolate.

Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches Recipe

Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches Recipe barely adapted from Food52

Grilled Chocolate Sandwiches

Makes 2 sandwiches

Author: Alice Medrich

Serves: 2

Ingredients

Unsalted butter or olive oil
4 slices sweet or sourdough French bread or firm white sandwich bread
About 2 ounces broken or chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, or ⅓ cup chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt (optional)
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

Butter one side of each slice of bread generously or pour 2 T olive oil in skillet and swirl to coat.
In a skillet big enough to hold them, cook the slices butter side down over medium heat, just until pale gold on one side.
Put chocolate on two of the slices. Cover pan to make chocolate melt quicker.
Flip a naked slice on top, butter side up.
Cook, turning the sandwiches as necessary, until the chocolate is softened and the sandwiches are browned on both sides.
Sprinkle with sea salt and/or cinnamon-sugar, if using, and serve immediately.
Variation: Spread 2 T of peanut butter on the other slice of bread to make a Grilled Peanut Butter and Chocolate Sandwich.

Chex Scotcheroos

Did you know about Chex Scotcheroos?

Yeah? Well, I didn’t.

Apparently, they’re similar to rice crispies and made with peanut butter, chocolate, and butterscotch chips? Wtf? Why didn’t I know about this?

I saw the recipe on Pinterest and that was it. Right then and there, I knew they were going to be my next thing.

Here’s what happened…

Brown Butter Pumpkin Shortbread & One of Those Days

Ever have one of those days?

One of those…just my luck, stay in bed, bag of of Oreos, watch Die Hard days?

Of course, you have. You’re a human being! Well, as luck would have it, I experienced just such a Crapfest the other day.

I don’t wanna go into details but I was feeling a bit blue. Whenever I get like that my first reaction is to eat/drink my feelings. But if I have an ounce of will power, which is rare, I force myself to get out of the house, out of my head and into my car. So I hopped into P-POS. P-POS stands for Purple Piece of Shit. Hey, it’s a term of endearment, ok!

So…I was driving along, thinking about how I can make beer and cookies go together, when I slowly came to a red light and noticed some green paper on the ground.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: How slow was this chick going?

Answer: Slow enough to know that green paper was $20.

Needless to write, I pulled over, picked up the twenty, stuffed it in my jeans and took off like my ass was on fire. The rest of a day was a blur, but I remember feeling surprised and relieved. Yes, it was only twenty bucks but that’s a whole lot of Oreos…enough to eat through my feelings properly.

In the future, if Oreos aren’t an option, I hope I will have enough energy to make this Brown Butter Pumpkin Shortbread. I’ve worked on this recipe for a minute because cakey pumpkin cookies are just not my thang. It took a few tries but I finally removed most of the water content, as to produce a crispy shortbread. Here’s how I did it.

Brown Butter. Butter is roughly twenty percent water. When you brown it, the water cooks off.
Pumpkin Butter. Make a dense decadent pumpkin butter.
Thin Cookie. Roll the dough no thicker than 1/3″. I prefer 1/8″-1/4″.

Go on, now. Make some brown butter pumpkin shortbread. It’s a wonderful treat…much like the six bags of Oreos I bought with the twenty that I found in the street.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Shortbread Recipe

Note: Use this recipe for Decadent Pumpkin Butter. I used the glaze from Lauren’s Latest Soft Glazed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Shortbread

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

18 mins

Total time

48 mins

Makes ~ 24 cookies, 2¼in

Author: Mondo

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

½ c butter, 113g, browned
⅓ c powdered sugar, 34g
1⅛ c flour, 135g
⅛ t salt
½ c decadent pumpkin butter, 135g
½ t vanilla
1 t ground cinnamon
½ t ground ginger
⅛ t ground cloves
⅛ t ground nutmeg

Instructions

Cook butter on medium high for 3-5 minutes, until it becomes golden. Pour brown butter in a bowl and let cool.
Mix the pumpkin butter and powdered sugar.
Add cool brown butter and vanilla. Mix until fully incorporated.
Mix flour, salt, and spices.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.
Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper, roll ~1/3in thick and freeze for 10-15 minutes. There's no need to flour the parchment.
Use a 2¼ in ring to cut out cookies. Re-roll scraps and repeat process.
Place cookies on baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 18-24 minutes.
Remove cookies and let cool on rack.
Glaze cookies, if desired.
Remember: The thicker you roll the cookie, the longer it will take to bake. Watch carefully, as they will burn easily.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Shortbread Photo Notes

by David

This wasn’t fun. Over the years, Mondo and I have shot a lot of cookies for Mondo’s Morsels and frankly, when it comes to photographing cookies, the creativity tank is on “E.”

The Old Days

Years ago when I first started shooting food, film was my thing. It’s almost laughable now, but I would use a 24 exposure roll and dedicate 6 shots to each setup. Film and processing was expensive so this made complete sense. If I didn’t get the shot in 6 tries ….. tough luck.

With digital, I usually dedicate 10-20 shots per setup. For this shoot, I was at 100 shots and had gone from bad to average. The cookies in the cup just weren’t working. I finally got something usable, but it wasn’t great.

When we finally moved over to the green mat with the cookies on the grate, we got it in 6. Go figure.

Lighting

The lighting is the same as the Decadent Pumpkin Butter shoot. Both were done on the same day so I didn’t bother rearranging the strobes.

Technical

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm 2.8
Strobes: White Lightning x1600
Tripod: Manfrotto
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 50mm
Shutter: 125
Aperture: f/11

Happy National Chocolate Day

Happy National Chocolate Day!

Why didn’t I know about this earlier? I should be ashamed of myself, as chocolate and I have been BFFs for ages. Not to worry, there are plenty of great chocolate recipes out there for me and you. So, get ready to gorge yourselves.

I’ve been revisiting this recipe for months. Don’t you just love Twix bars? There’s even a pumpkin version. What? (Back to the Cutting Board)

These Salted Caramel and Nutella Stuffed Double Chocolate Chip cookies seem to be very popular. There must be a great reason, right?(Top with Cinnamon)

You could always make your favorite cupcake and top it with Salted Sour Cream Ganache. That’s what I’d do.

Can someone make this Devil’s Food Cake for me? It looks scary and decadent…perfect for Halloween. (Design Sponge)

If chocolate and mint is your thing, you can get crazy with these cookies. (Martha Stewart)

All in all, I’ll probably end my day with this Gooey Chocolate Cake…topped with a humongous scoop of coffee ice cream…’cause that’s how I’d like to roll. (Joy the Baker)

Enjoy!

If there’s no chocolate in Heaven, I’m not going.
Jane Seabrook

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake & a Surpise Party

Listen up, everybody! The rumors are true. I’m throwing a surprise party and everyone’s invited. For whom, you ask? This grande soiree is for Margaret Fox.

I mean…I don’t know her personally, but what the hell? If she’s responsible for one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made, then she deserves a vat of bourbon and a chocolate cake. One that she doesn’t have to bake herself, of course.

I spotted the recipe for Margaret Fox’s Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake on Food52. Immediately, I knew that it was something I had to make and probably very soon. One of the great things about this recipe is its simplicity. If you’re a baker, you probably have everything you need on hand. There will be no trips to the market because your boyfriend finished the eggs this morn. And don’t worry if your milk has gone south; you won’t need it, this go ’round. You’re good. Sit back and relax. You’ve got this.

You can file this recipe under quick. Well, not as quick as Usain Bolt, but quick nonetheless. Quick as in: your batter has come together, you’ve placed it in the pan and it’s all set to go, but your oven hasn’t preheated yet. What? Yeah, this recipe is no joke. Just think of all the things you can do with that extra time. You could wash all the dirty dishes before you even open your oven door. Now, I’m not telling you to do that, I’m just saying it’s a possibility.

Full disclosure: if you’re looking for a super-chocolatey cake, I’d give this one a pass. However, it’s super moist, pairs well with a straightforward icing and will be ready in 45 minutes-start to finish. I went with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar which made the preparation even quicker. As a result, I had just enough time to wrap Margaret Fox’s gift. I hope she likes Chia Pets.

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe

Recipe Slightly adapted from Food52

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

Author: Margaret Fox

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

1½ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons neutral oil (like corn, canola, or vegetable)
1 cup cold water
1½ teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cider or white vinegar
Confectioners' sugar (optional, for dusting)

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350° F.
Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Sift. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vanilla, and vinegar.
Whisk together the wet and dry mixtures. If lumpy, whisk until smooth.
Pour into a greased and floured 9-inch round cake pan. (I used an 8-inch which I lined with a greased aluminum foil round)
Tap the edge of the pan against the edge of the counter, or drop from 6 inches to the counter several times to pop air bubbles.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed gently. (My 8-inch cake needed the full 30 minutes)
Cool before removing from the pan and dusting with confectioners' sugar, or frosting if desired.

Easy Vegan Chocolate Cake Photo Notes

After being away from the studio for a few weeks due to illness, it was good to be back in the saddle. Unfortunately, I share a studio with a couple of fashion photographers and I’m the Felix Unger of our crew. Needless to say, the studio was in rough shape. Models are some of the messiest people on earth, so this ended up being more of a studio decontamination than photo shoot.

Gameplan

This was going to be pretty simple. I wanted to replicate window light with a bit of on-axis fill. The large simulated window would hopefully reduce the specularity created by the shiny surface of the easy vegan chocolate cake.

Lighting

I setup a light panel made up of 400 leelux as my main light 45 degrees behind the cake and used a silver umbrella for on-axis fill. I also added a white bounce card opposite the main light. I dialed in the exposure with my trusty Sekonic L-758dr and everything went according to plan.

Wrap-up

The real challenge wasn’t the lighting but the styling. A round dark cake without frosting isn’t the most photogenic object, so I decided to do something graphic and focus on the shape from above. To finish off the shoot, Mondo cut the cake and we did the traditional commercial shot with a slice on a plate. Overall, it was a pretty easy shoot with a clean studio as the payoff.

Set Shot

Tech Notes

Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm 2.8
Strobes: White Lightning x1600
Tripod: Manfrotto
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 48mm
Shutter: 125
Aperture: f/11