Dutch Oven Chocolate Cake

Dutch Oven Chocolate Cake!

Being a feedfeed editor means that I was gifted this lovely Staub cocotte featured in this post.  I was so happy to use it to make a cake for you guys, which was (heavily) adapted by this Sweet Paul recipe.

Ingredients:

• 8 TB unsalted butter
• 8 oz good quality milk or dark chocolate
• 2 egg
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• 1 TB Grand Marnier
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 1 TB baking powder
• 1 1/3 cup AP flour
• 1/4 cup strawberry jam
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup flavorless oil
• 1/4 cup whole milk

 Directions:

1. Grease a small dutch oven or a 10 inch springform pan with butter and flour
2. Preheat oven to 350*F
3. In a double boiler, combine your butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally until fully melted
4. Allow to cool slightly, add in your eggs, vanilla and liquor
5. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cocoa, cornstarch, baking powder and flour
6. In a separate measuring bowl, whisk together jam, sugar, oil, and milk
7. Now, alternate between adding the milk mixture and the chocolate mixture until all ingredients are combined in the flour
8. Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake
9. For the dutch oven: keep covered, will be gooey inside and ready at around an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes
10. For the springform pan: will be less gooey on the inside and ready at about 50 minutes

Tahini Buckeye Truffles

My sister and I are creating new traditions, facsimiles of who we were once. People used to think we were twins--same haircut, height, and mannerisms. We grew apart, became different people. Still are, but we found a way to communicate that is at once reminiscent and on another hand completely foreign to us both.

Two days ago, I was at her house and we baked dozens of cookies. The kind my father liked, the kind my mother liked. Last week, my parents went over to her house and my mother and sister made candies. I was not able to make it, prior commitments I sometimes force on myself to keep an arms length with my family. My mother brought me back cherry cordials and lemon-flavored hard candies. I snacked on one while she told me about her day and how beautiful my niece, Lana, was. 

It's one tradition that has lasted, making candies by hand as presents. I was in charge of buckeyes this year, the cyclopean truffle that is just peanut butter and chocolate. I morphed it to my tastes, to who I am these days. Added some tahini and a little flaked sea salt. I'll bring them to her house on Sunday. And I'll smile, knowing the centrifugal force of holidays, how it all comes full circle and then falls into place. 

Tahini Buckeye Truffles

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup tahini (or 1 1/2 cup tahini, as a substitute of the TB)
• 3/4 cup peanut butter (or 1 1/2 cup PB, as a substitute of the tahini)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 - 5 cups confectioner's sugar
• 8 oz milk chocolate, chopped
• 6 oz dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 TB sesame seed
• 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt

Directions:

1. First, prepare two pans with cooling racks for your truffles to rest on
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together your tahini, peanut butter, butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until well blended
3. One cup at a time, slowly pour in your confectioner's sugar with the mixer on its lowest setting. Add just enough sugar so that a crumbly dough forms
4. Roll out onto a work surface that is dusted with confectioner's sugar and knead a couple times to form a disc
5. Wrap disc in plastic wrap and allow to rest in the fridge for 15 minutes
6. When 10 minutes have elapsed, melt your chocolate either in a microwave or a double broiler (see author's note below)
7. Take disc out of the fridge and unwrap back on your sugar-dusted work surface
8. Pinch off about a 1/2 TB of the tahini mixture and roll in your hands to form a ball
9. Roll in your chocolate with a fork and allow to harden on the cooling rack
10. Sprinkle with a little sesame seed and salt
11. Repeat with remaining filling
12. Can be stored in a container for up to a week

Note: I gave two methods for melting chocolate here because I know people have their preferences (and their qualms). If using a double broiler, you're golden, but it may take a bit of time for the chocolate to melt, which is fine as the longer the dough stays in the fridge the better anyway. For the microwave option, only add 2/3 of the chocolate you are melting in the bowl and heat at 30-second increments, stirring between rounds. When that chocolate is melted, add your remaining 1/3 and stir vigorously to melt fully. This is a ghetto tempering trick I learned from Ina Garten.

Cioccolata calda: Or, Italian-style Hot Chocolate

In Italy, I drank a lot of tea. Too embarrassed to order the proper coffee and how many packets of sugar I used; I got mine from vending machines on campus anyway. I would nurse it while craning my neck to look at a fresco, taking notes, doodling in the margins when my teacher would switch to Italian. I did not know Italian. I never thought to learn before moving there.

Italy is a blur now, I remember it in fragments. In some ways, I can't remember much of anything except the cafeteria, the silent nuns who nodded their heads. The liturgical smell of the monastery that was a mix between parchment and antiseptic solution. I remember the art in vague metaphors of form and color. I think I cried seeing the David, but it could have been an eyelash. My contacts were old that day too, I do remember that.

October was a blur. I took trips to Belgium, Ireland, Spain, and Tunisia. I didn't bother to answer my phone when my mother called to wish me a happy birthday. I ended an email to a professor with "Besos". I was not myself, but I was a lot of things. I ate with my hands, standing up, quickly with my head down. I smoked a joint on a statue with two friends and fell asleep in the cab home. I didn't get the hang of it all, but I thought I did.

By November of that year, I started to figure out how to order coffee, the rules and rituals of calling Rome my home. We had a fake Thanksgiving and then Christmas rolled in lazily. Marketplaces and stands selling witches and baubles. I bought nothing but a ticket to the carousel and the icy air turned my cheeks red and dry during finals week.

It's six years ago today since I left for a flight to JFK. The morning before my bus left, I ordered a hot chocolate. Something to keep my hands busy and warm, as impatient as they were back then. The drink was thick, nearly a pudding, its silken warmth coating my throat. It was spiked with an alcohol I never quite tasted again but it hung on my tongue like a whispered prayer.

And this is my approximation, with Reddi-wip and chocolate sprinkles and smooth peanut butter. Made on the stovetop in a saucepan I found at a Texas flea market. It all comes full circle, it just took a few years and a few thousand miles to get there.

Italian-style Hot Chocolate!

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup almond milk
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 2 TB whole milk or water
• 6 oz milk chocolate, best quality you can afford, chopped
• 2 TB smooth peanut butter
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• ½ TB almond liqueur
• Whipped cream, marshmallows, and sprinkles, if desire

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, whisk together cocoa, sugar, cream, and milk
2. Heat on medium until sugar is dissolved, but making sure to stir frequently so the cocoa doesn’t clump
3. While the saucepan is heating, in a small bowl, mix together cornstarch and milk to create a slurry
4. Next, heat your cream mixture until bubbles form around the rim, then immediately take off heat and stir in your slurry, chocolate, peanut butter
5. Continue to stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until everything is well-mixed
6. Finally, stir in extract and liqueur
7. Now, if you feel your chocolate was a bit clumpy, you didn’t stir enough, or your slurry did not fully incorporate into your mixture, I recommend running your entire mixture through a sieve to make it extra silken
8. Serve immediately, top as desired. This recipe doesn’t not store wel

Black Forest Bread Pudding

We recycle things around here. Some Christmas cards get framed, some shoe boxes store our spices. We recycle memories, getting two aunts confused in the same anecdote. When we are done with roast, it becomes soup. When the bread goes bad, it becomes dessert.

Last year I made a bread pudding for my mom, dedicated to her, really. Large chunks of sourdough and apples in a casserole dish. This year, I recycled once again. Those same thoughts, those same memories, that said love into another recipe. I used old stoneware mugs that were my grandmother's. I used bread my father had left on the counter, not bothering to throw it away while my mother worked doubles this week. I recycled a palate I know too well, chocolate and cherries and cream on top. We ate ours so quickly and asked if anyone else wanted seconds. 

I'm moving to a farm at the end of the month. Five acres with someone I love and three dogs to keep us busy. I'm making up for lost time, baking a few of my parents' favorite dishes to say thank you for taking me in this year.

Black Forest Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of hearty bread, slightly stale, cubed

• 5 eggs

• 1 ¼ cup white sugar

• 6 cups buttermilk

• 2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, divided

• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

• ¼ cup cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt

• 8 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or substitute this with dark chocolate chips)

• ½ cup maraschino cherries, roughly chopped + more to top

• 8 oz Vermont Creamery mascarpone

• ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

• Chocolate sprinkles to top, if desired

Directions:

1. Put bread in a large bowl
2. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, whisk together eggs and sugar until light and combined
3. Continue whisking and add buttermilk, 1 ½ TB vanilla, Grand Marnier, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk until ingredients are completely combined with no lumps
4. Now, slowly pour your wet ingredients over your bread, turning with a rubber spatula to get all of your bread moistened
5. Add chocolate and cherries and stir to combine
6. Cover loosely and allow to rest for 30 minutes
7. While your mixture is resting, preheat oven to 325*F and prepare your pan with a liberal amount of butter. I used stoneware mugs, but any pan can do (this recipe is very forgiving in this way)
8. When 30 minutes have expired, divide your mixture for your baking vessels. This recipe puffs up slightly, so I suggest filling until you reach a half inch from the top. If you are using mugs or smaller vessels, place on a cookie sheet for easy transportation
9. Bake for 35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Begin checking at the 30 minute mark for smaller pans/mugs and you may go well into 45 minutes for larger vessels
10. While dish is baking, whisk together mascarpone, confectioner’s sugar, and remaining vanilla until well combined. If you would like to cut the sweetness, add a pinch of salt (to your taste)
11. When bread pudding is done baking, allow to cool before assembling
12. To assemble: top with mascarpone mixture, a couple cherries, and some chocolate sprinkles. Enjoy immediately (while delicious, this recipe does not last longer than a two days)

This post was inspired by Vermont Creamery, who excel at making quality dairy products. In this recipe I used their mascarpone to top these bad boys, which is an Italian-style cream cheese (but is way more flavorful than cream cheese and is super versatile!). Check out their website, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter for more information. Thank you, Vermont Creamery!

Happy #nationalbundtday! Pumpkin Chocolate Bundt, in partnership with Nordicware!

Microwaved coffee and Milo in his sweater. That's who my week has started. I worked outside yesterday, pulling dead branches off an old fruit tree and took the trash to the curb. I looked for a used truck, I have big plans to live in a farm. My dad called from a gas station outside of Virginia to say he loves me.

The cats outside are shaking, the cats inside are fighting. I babysit them while my parents take a week to visit my brother at their house in North Carolina. They bought three trash bags full of clothes for the flood victims, but most of what they found were swimming trunks. There's irony in there somewhere, but I didn't have the heart to tell my mother. She's always been bad at thinking things through, we ran across the country when I was little, moved to five new states by the time I hit kindergarten, and then when I was 15 she asked if she thinks that affected me at all. 

But we're a home now, tucked in Pennsylvania. I drive two hours roundtrip to see my sister and my niece. We watch the football game my brother-in-law went to and we bring over sandwiches so she doesn't have to cook. Next week, she's hosting Thanksgiving at her house for the first time and we'll help how we can. I promised to bring the dessert, a chocolate pumpkin cake spiked with peanut butter and cinnamon. She doesn't need to do everything alone. We're all in this together now. 

No more moving, no more leaving anyone behind. There's irony in there somewhere, but I'm not thinking about that now.

Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake

An easy, all-on-one cake recipe that it perfect for a bundt, but can also be baked in any traditional pan, you will just have to adjust the temperature. Coming from Indiana, I always think that a bundt cake during the holidays is just that much more festive; and with NordicWare's bundt cake with the fall leaves pattern, it takes autumn to a whole other level.

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cup AP flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon + more for sprinkling
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• ½ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• White sugar, for sprinklin

Directions:

1. Prepare your bundt pan with shortening and flour (I used their harvest leaves bundt pan to add a little festivity to this post)
2. Preheat oven to 350*F
3. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, sugar, and cinnamon twice in a large mixing bowl
4. In a measuring cup, whisk together peanut butter, egg, pumpkin, vanilla, and buttermilk
5. Create a well in the center of your dry ingredients with a wooden spoon
6. Gently pour a steady stream of your wet ingredients into the center of the well, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed—but beware over-mixing
7. Pour into your prepared bundt pan
8. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean
9. Allow to cool, remove from pan, and sprinkle with white sugar and cinnamon on the leaves, as shown
10. Enjoy! Can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight containe

A special thanks to Nordic Ware for sponsoring this post. Nordic Ware has been producing quality kitchenware products in their 70 years and are now one of America's most beloved and iconic brands. Today, Nordic Ware manufactures the vast majority of its products in America, at our Minneapolis headquarters, including cookware, bakeware, grillware, microwave, and kitchen gadgets and accessories.For more information or products, check out their website!