Tag Archives: Smitten Kitchen

Amazing chocolate chip cookies

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These cookies will be the most annoying you’ll ever make. The dough is just so incredibly crumbly. You might swear a little and think there is something missing in the recipe. But then you cut them up and pinch them together on the baking sheet and place them in the oven and suddenly your kitchen smells like heaven. Chocolate heaven.

And then you bite into one, still warm from the oven. And bliss.

Despite the annoying texture pre-bake these cookies are some of the best I’ve ever tried. And according to the blog Smitten Kitchen, where I found the recipe, they could in fact contribute to world peace.

Amazing chocolate cookies, makes about 25-35

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe. Original recipe by Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets.

180 gplain flour

5 tbsp + 1 tsp cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

160 g softened butter

120 g soft light brown sugar

4 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp vanilla

140 g chopped dark chocolate

Mix flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat butter until fluffy. Add both sugars, salt and vanilla and beat until creamy.

Add the flour mixture and place a tea towel over the bowl (to avoid flour dusting all over your kitchen) and beat on low speed until the flour has been incorporated. Beat as little as possible. It needs to be mixed but the dough will have a very crumbly texture. Add the chocolate and pour the crumbs out onto a baking table and divide into two heaps. Press each heao into a roll, 2.5 inches thick and cover with clingfilm. Refridgerate for at least three hours.

Pre-heat oven to 160C. Cover two baking trays with parchment paper. Cut 1 cm thick slices of the cookie dough rolls and place on the trays, about an inch apart. The dough will crumble but just press the crumbs into a rough cookie shape.

Bake for 12 minutes in the middle of the oven. They won’t look done, but they will be. Leave to cool on a wire rack or tray and serve.

Buttermilk sponge cake with sourcream chocolate frosting

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IMG_3294When I went to New York for the first time last summer, I was actually shocked over the portion sizes in some restaurants, although of course I knew  what to expect.

And the same thing happened to me with this cake. It is an American recipe so I expected a large cake. But not this giant. Oh well, it doesn’t matter as it went down a treat and disappeared very quickly at the office despite its size.

And no wonder. The sponges are very light and super moist (thanks to the buttermilk in the batter). And the very strange frosting, consisting of little else but dark chocolate and sourcream, is neither too rich nor too sweet.

All in all, I would say this is a pretty perfect cake!

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Sponge cake with buttermilk, 2 large round cakes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.

480 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

225 g unsalted butter, softened

400 g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 large eggs, at room temperature

475 ml buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease to springforms, about 22 cm in diameter and cover with a round of baking parchment in the bottom. 

Mix flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl. Beat butter and sugar creamy in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla. Then add the eggs one at the time. Mix well in between each and scrape down the sides. Then add the buttermilk and don’t over-mix. Add the flour mixture in batches. 

Divide the batter between the two tins. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins and then let cool completely on wire racks.

Chocolate frosting with sourcream, enougn to cover a large cake with two sponges

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s recipe.

425 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

530 ml sourcream – N.B! at room temperature!

ca 60 ml corn syrup, to taste

3/4 tsp vanilla

Melt the chocolate over a bain marie. Leave to cool until at room temperature. 

Mix sourcream with corn syrup and make sure it is at room temperature. Add the tepid chocolate in batches. In case of lumps use a wire whisk and they should disappear. Leave to set in frdge for about 30 minutes or until spreadable without being runny. 

Place one sponge on a cake plate and cover it with frosting. Place the other cake on top and cover the top and sides with frosting. Keep in fridge until serving. 

Carrot cake pancakes

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It is not the first time I got so inspired by a Smitten Kitchen post that I had to try it straight away. Yesterday I saw Deb’s latest post on carrot cake pancakes and last night I had it for supper.

These pancakes are of course even better for a lazy weekend breakfast or at a brunch with friends. Either way, you just have to try them. And of you’ve had a substantial lunch they’re pretty good for supper too (evidently).

The original recipe is from Joy the Baker but Deb at Smitten Kitchen made a few changes and I made some. My only change really was to omit cinnamon to the cream cheese topping and instead add lime zest to it, which I normally have with a carrot cake. To me it was the perfect touch of freshness the pancakes needed.

Carrot cake pancakes, makes about 15-16

Adapted from this recipe.

Pancakes:

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1 egg

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup butter milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)

butter for frying

Cream cheese topping:

115 g Philadelphia

1/4 cup icing sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

grated zest from 1/2 lime

Mix flour, bicard, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Mix butter milk, egg and sugar in a smaller bowl. Add the grated carrots to the wet mixture then transfer to the large bowl and mix it all together. Leave to rest for a few minutes whle preparing the topping.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth in a bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla and lime zest and combine.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Use about 2 tbsp mixture per pancake and fry 3-4 at the time. Keep the fried ones warm in the oven until you’re done with all the pancakes. Serve with a generous dollop of the topping. Dig in!

 

Crisp salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies

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I found the recipe for these irresistible cookies on the Smitten Kitchen blog (do check it out if you haven’t already).

I knew immediately after seeing the recipe that I had to make them. I am not one who can resist white chocolate or the salt-chocolate combo. And it was equally difficult to resist eating say five when the first batch came out of the oven.

I really enjoyed these, they are really crispy on the outside and with salted butter and the added salt in the recipe they have the perfect salt balance to the sweetness I think.

Making these also gave me the opportunity to finally use my lovely cup measures I got from my birthday. They are in the shape of babuschka dolls and incredibly cute. :)

Since I for once followed the recipe, there is no need for posting it on here, instead use the recipe on Smitten Kitchen’s website. You find it here!


Chocolate chip meringues with nuts

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As a food blogger I prefer to look for inspiration with other bloggers than the big recipe sites. Partly because the blogs are updated more frequently, but also because the blogs are more personal. It is like asking a friend for a recipe. If you know that a certain blog write about things you like, you know it is very probable that you will like the next post as well.

A blog I really treasure and that I would happily cook everything from, is Smitten Kitchen. Although Deb usually uses someone else’s recipes I like her selection of recipes because it is what I like too.

A few days ago I tried her mom’s recipe for meringues with chocolate and nuts because I have several beakers of eggwhites in the fridge. The meringues were not too sweet, and the dark chocolate and nuts contributed to that fact. Nice and crisp they disappeared quickly when I brought them to work the next day.

Chocolate chip meringues with nuts, makes 20

The original recipe is posted here at Smitten Kitchen. If you prefer European measurements you find them below.

2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar – I used baking powder though
1 tsp vanilla
175 ml caster sugar
175 g dark chocolate, chips or chopped
60 ml chopped nuts

Beat the egg whites foamy. Add the cream of tartar/baking powder, salt and vanilla. Beat until soft peaks occur. Add the sugar bit by bit and contnue to beat on high speed.  When stiff and glossy fold in the nuts and chocolate. Use a tablespoon to spoon the mixture on to baking parchment. Bake for 25 minutes in 150C. I baked two trays at the same time, swapping place after half the time. The meringues are done when they are slightly golden and crispy on the outside. Check that they are dry and crisp underneath and they are done. Store in an airtight container.  

Chewy chocolate chip cookies

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I was totally up for baking cookies on Sunday, I just had to decide which recipe to go for. And then I saw Anne’s latest post, clicked on the recipe and realised it was from the blog Smitten Kitchen which I adore (and I have loved every single recipe I have tried from it), so of course I was going to make these chewy chocolate chip cookies.

The cookies were easy to make, and they were exactly they way I had pictured them; chewy in the middle, crisp on the outside, the perfect taste of earthy cookie combines with both sweet and bitter chocolate. That was the only change I made to the recipe, substituting some of the dark chocolate for white. Yum, is all I have to say to that!

Chewy chocolate chip cookies, makes 25

170 g  butter

300 g flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

210 g brown sugar

100 g sugar

1 egg yolk

1 egg

1 tbsp vanilla extract

100 g white chocolate, chopped

70 g dark chocolate, chopped

Melt the butter. Mix flour with bicarb and salt in a bowl. Stir together both sugars with the melted butter. Beat in the egg, the egg yolk and the vanilla extract, until the mixture turns light and fluffy. Stir in the flour mixture, and finally the chocolate.

Scoop cookies onto a lined baking sheet, and leave plenty of space for them to spread out (I baked 6 cookies at the time.) Bake at 165°C for 12 minutes.