Bittersweet Chocolate & Pear Cake

I have some news. I am moving. To California. In 2 days. It's a long story (kind of), and I don't know if I want to share it here. But before I go, I have to share this one last recipe. It is a keeper. I make it over & over. Twice a week, sometimes. And it's simple. I had a hotel guest ask me for the recipe, and I quoted it to her without stuttering or stopping to think, "Wait, 1 cup or 1/2? Baking soda or powder?" Nope, it's just that good.

But how could it not be? With chunks of bittersweet chocolate (if that's too much for you, any other chocolate type will work) & pear nestled in a delicately crumbed cake that has the most amazing thin crust on top? Ah, I hear you naysayers out there. "Chocolate & pear?" you say skeptically, as if strawberries are the only fruit allowed to marry chocolate. It is simply delicious, and if your fruit prejudices are going to prohibit you from inhaling a slice of this wonder, you have no one to blame but yourself. Although, if you have any sort of diet ambitions, I suggest you troll to another blog, perhaps one about running marathons or baking with butter substitutes. As for the rest of you, prepare to be a pear + chocolate believer.

This is before you put it in the oven. I promise, the chocolate & pears really do end up inside the cake. Please do turn on the oven light and check it every 5 minutes to enjoy the chemical wonders of thoroughly beaten eggs & baking powder.

 A man of discerning taste. I did not use the spatula after.  

First ten minute check. See those edges starting to engulf the chocolate & pears? Lo, it is a glorious thing!

Bittersweet Chocolate & Pear Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, at room-temperature
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 pears, peeled, in a small dice (I used bosc & I know my photo has 3 pears in it, but the little guy ate the third one. Two were plenty.)
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and dust with flour, set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the eggs on high speed until pale and very thick. (Smitten says it takes 9 minutes on a home kitchenaid. I watched my eggs like a hawk, and they took approximately 8 minutes & 38 seconds to reach optimum whippedness.)
While the eggs are whipping, brown the butter. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan (because it will foam a lot) and cook it until the butter browns and smells nutty (about 6 to 8 minutes). It helps to frequently scrape the solids off the bottom of the pan in the last couple minutes to ensure even browning. Remove from the flame but keep in a warm spot.
Add the sugar to the eggs and whip a few minutes more.
Just as the egg-sugar mixture is starting to loose volume, turn the mixture down to stir, and add the flour mixture and brown butter. Add one third of the flour mixture, then half of the butter, a third of the flour, the remaining butter, and the rest of flour. Whisk until just barely combined — no more than a minute from when the flour is first added — and then use a spatula to gently fold the batter until the ingredients are combined. It is very important not to over-whisk or fold the batter or it will lose volume.
Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle the pear and chocolate chunks over the top, and bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch, about 40 to 50 minutes [I baked mine for 50], or a tester comes out clean.
Serve it with barely whipped whipped cream with a drop of vanilla extract in it. Or plain with coffee. It makes a great breakfast.

And now that you have the only recipe that really matters, I'm going to say goodbye to the Hampsher. But do not be dismayed! for I have another blog being born to chronicle this new chapter in my life. Stay tuned for more thrilling adventures in the life of an absolutely ordinary girl.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

 

These muffins sounded really good, so I made them even though I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (story of my life). I substituted, optimistically thinking they'd turn out anyway...

It wasn't that they didn't turn out, as you can see from the photos. They look like a perfectly normal muffin. But something was a little off inside. The texture of them was more like an old marshmallow than the tender-crumbed, yet hearty oaty muffin-ness I was imagining. I will make them again, this time with all the right ingredients and see. That said, they weren't a bad muffin anyway, so you should still make them. Especially if you have a half-can of pumpkin you need to use up pronto!

(But stay tuned: I've got a recipe for apple coconut muffins that did meet my oaty/tender expectations, even with substitution, coming up.)

 

Pumpkin Streusal Muffins

 

set your oven to 375, and grease a 12 muffin pan or use paper liners

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons molasses (I didn't have any, so I used table syrup:/ it would be a lot better with molasses, methinks)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour (I used only all-purpose because that's all I had. Perhaps this was the proverbial "missing ingredient" that ruined my muffins.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Cream the sugar and the butter, and then beat in the eggs, pumpkin, buttermilk and molasses. In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Make the streusel topping in a third bowl, using a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the whole thing is thoroughly combined and crumbly.
When you're ready to bake, mix the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just enough to combine. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full, and sprinkle the streusel topping liberally over the muffins.
Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan before taking them out.

WaBash 2012

For those of you who came out Saturday to enjoy Wa"Bash", here are a few pictures (you are probably in some somewhere...) to peruse.

For those of you who didn't, these will make you want to come next year (always the last Saturday in September)!

The little "bluebird" train enjoyed by the little ones.

Fun on the bikes. This bike guy comes every year with his contraptions. I think he's the biggest hit with the tweenagers.

I think my favorite part about Wa"Bash" is the community feel. An impromptu game of football. Cousins hanging out. Forrest-Strawn-Wing alumni reconnecting with classmates after years of not seeing eachother. The whole town out for the festival.

A little Jeremiah Sundown.

 Great food: cotton candy, Amish hand pies, Wabash cannonballs, pineapple-bacon pork burgers, teriyaki chicken, corndogs (whether that's great food can be discussed off the blog...), ice cream.

Apple Granola Crisp

I can usually tell if I'll like a recipe just from reading the ingredients. Unless it's from smittenkitchen. In which case, I don't even have to read it. The names themselves are enough to sell me. "Apple granola crisp." All the right words for an autumn breakfast. The best part? You can make a whole 9x13, and the eat apple granola crisp for breakfast every morning for a week. It's just as good cold as it is hot out of the oven.

I modified the recipe somewhat for my Hotel guests. I enjoy utilizing individual serving sizes (it takes less bake time, and wastes less when you only have 2 guests. Plus it just looks cute and makes them feel special. "What? I get my own little ramekin of apple granola crisp? You are too kind!"), so I cut the recipe in half.

I accidentally made an extra. Two extras actually. So I ate one for breakfast along with my guests and had the second one for lunch. (Love when that happens!) They smelled so scrumptious baking, getting all bubbly and aromatic. The textures were fabulous. The right amount of crisp with tender apples. It was tres facile, and it's got "apple" and "granola" in the name so we can pretend it's healthy, too.

 

Apple Granola Crisp - serves 4 (if you want the 9x13 recipe, go here)

 

4 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks ( I used Gala apples, and they worked well)

1 T lemon juice

1.5 T sugar

1 T corn starch

1/2 t. cinnamon

salt

4 T unsalted butter (if you don't have unsalted, just dial back on the salt you add in...kind of obvious, but it took me a few years to figure that out. I almost always just buy unsalted butter now)

1/8 c. honey

1/4 c. flour

1 c. oats (I used quick oats, but I doubt it matters)

1/4 c. sliced almonds

1/4 c. shredded coconut (I used sweetened)

 

Preheat oven to 400. Mix apple chunks with lemon juice, sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Divide among 4 ramekins (I'm not sure what size mine were. They held 12 oz of water when I tried to figure it out for you, so I'm going to call them 12 oz ramekins. You're welcome.). In a small sauce pan, melt the butter with the honey. Stir in the flour, oats, almonds, & coconut. Sprinkle evenly over the apple mixture and bake for 35 minutes or until apples are bubbly (and you can hardly stand the smell!). If the granola starts to brown before it's done, cover them with foil until the last few minutes of bake time so the granola is nice and cripsy when you eat it. Let cool. (Or don't.) Eat with yogurt and in the time it takes you to polish off one ramekin, admire the orange foliage of the sugar-maple out your living room window.

 

Irish Coffee Blondies

At the request of an anonymous reader, I am going to try to include more food posts, with recipes. And I'm going to start with this beauty (cue trumpets and confetti cannons, or perhaps, bagpipes and a jig): Irish Coffee Blondies.
Irish as in whiskey. Coffee as in...well, coffee. Blondies as in brownies, but blonde.
I saw this recipe in MS Living in March in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, and I knew I had to try it out. And people! Oh it did NOT disappoint! Very rarely do recipes exceed my wildest expectations, but this one...well, you might just have to see for yourself. Click me to experience melt-in-your-mouth wonders I do have to warn you, you will never want to make another bar again. So if you feel any particular loyalty to m&m's, or coconut, or peanut butter, I would advise you to stop reading now. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 (Very nearly ate the unbuttered parchment paper stuck to the bottom. Yes, they are that good.) As I ate my [unnamed amount] piece, I wondered why I don't make these more often. As in, everyday. Unfortunately, the recipe starts, "2 sticks of unsalted butter." I suspect that is why. But really, every once in a while, or even once a day, they should probably be enjoyed. And do try to enjoy them, rather than inhale them as you will most certainly be tempted to do.

*Tip: If you don't happen to have any Bailey's on hand, I have a suspicion that cold brewed coffee would work just as well in the glaze (if you do try that, let me know how it turns out). And I've always had to bake it 10 minutes longer than the recipe says. Also, don't forget to butter the parchment paper...

Now, get thee out of thy chair and betake thyself to thy kitchen to experience these! You will not be sorry.

The Gloaming

gloam·ing

noun \ˈglō-miŋ\

: twilight; dusk

 

I pulled over to the side of the road, climbed a fence, and waded through waist-deep weeds to get these shots. But it was worth it.

I'd hate to miss any moment of this season that I love so dearly.

Maple Cheesecake with Glazed Pears

Though autumn doesn't officially arrive until September 22, it's been autumn for days in the littered landscape that is my mind. And that means I suddenly start hankering after PEARS! and PUMPKIN! and MAPLE! and APPLES! and SWEET POTATOES!

After the looong hot summer of eating simple, fresh fare with as little time spent over a steaming stove as possible, I start baking things again: for example, this past week I've made 1) this cheesecake 2) 2 pumpkin pies & 3) pumpkin latte coffee cake. It's like a disorder. Not that my family would complain.

(Just look at the beautiful transparency of those glazed pears!) In my humble opinion (which I share so rarely, so listen up), they were a little on the overly sweet side, being brushed with pure maple syrup & broiled to bring out the natural sugars in the pears. But oh, did they satisfy the eyes!

Late Summer's Bounty

Zucchini Bread Pancakes (via SmittenKitchen) with maple-sweetened greek yogurt

Eggs with kale, tomatoes, and feta

 

As September is upon us (hallelujah!), gardens are madly producing their last crops.

Zucchini's kind of a joke in the Midwest: leaving a grocery bag of it on your neighbor's porch is akin to leaving a bag of...something else not so nice. It doesn't take a green thumb at all to raise. And they seem to multiply overnight. If you don't harvest them daily, you'll discover you've got a leafy patch of green baseball bats where there used to be zucchini.

But they do make great pancakes. Really. See those flecks of green? They make a plain pancake moister. Add some nutmeg and cinnamon, and you've got a pancake that tastes unmistakably like crisp autumn days.

And blistered tomatoes with wilted kale, sprinkled with feta, baked with eggs? I don't think I need to say anything else.

 

 

Station 220

Station 220: a "farm to fork" restaurant in downtown Btown.

An impromptu outing with a friend. It couldn't have been a better night.

A fillo-wrapped poached egg, lightly crisped, nestled on a bed of buttery Bibb lettuce.

A sunset-hued drink with just the right amounts of everything.

An espresso-soaked cake topped with dollops of heavenly cream.

Bottomless cups of realllly good coffee.

A waiter with a sense of humor & propriety.

A balmy night walk lit by streetlamps.

A cross-section of small city humanity.

Conversation that made a good friendship a better one.

Two people pondering the path to true contentment (we did, really).

I think we came close.

 

Berries & Cream

I'll take any excuse I can to eat whipped cream. And I mean the real stuff. Cool Whip does not count. If you have some free time (haha, what's that, right?), google "what is cool whip really made of?". You will never eat it again.
But I digress. Whipped cream: It is easy on the eyes--who doesn't enjoy ogling soft peaks of pale butter-yellow ? It is easy on the tastebuds, of course. And if the time of day you happen to indulge in it is full of molten gold rays and an ever so slight tang of autumn in the air, so much the better. Til next time.