Break Radio Silence Part Deux

Now you didn’t think I’d forget about the Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes would you? Nah, it’s not in my nature to let things slip through the cracks. That and I’m currently listening to The Ramones and The Stooges so I’m on a roll! All this energy is going straight into typing and blogging!

I’m going to be honest, the most simple thing I do in my life is eating a bowl of cereal, but as my friend Michael Spear can attest to, even that is hardly simple. So as with the Tiramisu Cupcakes, there are a few flavor enhancing steps added to the process. I don’t take shortcuts, so if you’re a Betty Crocker or Rachel Ray kind of person in the kitchen, you’re in the wrong place.

On to the recipe!

Hazelnuts

• 1 Cup Filberts/Hazelnuts
• Sheet Pan

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and toast the Filberts for 10 minutes. Once they become fragrant remove from the oven and pan into a kitchen towel. Allow to cool.
2. Making sure the nuts are securely tucked into the towel, roll your hand around the towel on your counter top. What this does is remove the skins off of the nuts so you are left with the beautiful lightly toasted little Hazelnut! Discard the skins and reserve the nuts for later.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (Yield 24 cupcakes or 1 double layer 8″ Cake)

• 2 cups + 2 tablespoons Soymilk, unsweetened and plain
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups Sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Hazelnut Extract (expensive, but worth every penny I promise!)(See quick tip below for an alternative)
• 1/4 cup Safflower Oil
• 2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
• Toasted Hazelnuts

1. Keep your oven on at 350F and prepare your cupcake tins.
2. We’re making Vegan Buttermilk again! Vigorously whisk the daylights out of soymilk and vinegar and set aside to thicken for 5-10 minutes.
3. In your mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
4. Once the buttermilk is ready, add the sugar and hazelnut extract whisking to return to a frothy state. Slowly add the oil, while whisking, to incorporate the fats and maintain the desired texture of the buttermilk.
5. Turn on your mixer to a low speed, using the paddle attachment, and slowly add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients. Once the liquid is added scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and turn the speed up to a medium-high speed for about 20 seconds, then scrape the sides of the bowl once more. Return the speed to a medium-high speed and beat for a few seconds more or until the major lumps have been beaten out and the mixture looks billowy and luxuriously smooth.
6. Immediately fill your lined cupcake tins with the cake batter filling it 3/4 of the way full. Then for a secret surprise inside, I like to drop one Filbert in the center of the cupcake. As they bake the batter overtakes the nut and right below the surface lays a lovely little nut for you, your friends, or family to bite into! That and the oils from the nut add to the flavor of the cake!
7. Pop the cupcakes in the oven for 18-21 minutes. You want them bounce back at the touch of your finger or you can do the toothpick poke test. When the toothpick comes out clean from the cake they are fully baked!
8. Cool the cupcakes for 5 minutes in the tins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream

• 1/2 tub Tofutti Cream Cheese, cold
• 6 ounces Earth Balance, cold
• 3 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, sifted
• 1 teaspoon Hazelnut Extract
• Optional: Vanilla Beans from one pod
• Non Dairy Milk, on hand to thin if necessary
• Toasted Hazelnuts

1. Combine the Tofutti and the Earth Balance in your mixing bowl and beat until combined. A very important thing to keep in mind that Vegan “fats” have a higher water content than their dairy cousins, so start cold and DO NOT over mix. The water will separate and you will be left with something…well, weird.
2. Once the mixture is smooth add the (optional) vanilla beans, Hazelnut Extract, Cocoa Powder, and powdered sugar in small stages (3 is a nice number), start on a low speed and work up to a medium-high speed fully incorporating the sugar until the mixture is smooth.
3. Feel free to taste test your buttercream as you go along. I know I do. Sometimes I want the chocolate flavor lighter, or darker. Same with the Hazelnut, if you want Nutella flavored frosting you’re going to want to add more. With chocolate buttercreams I like to keep them a little bit stiffer than vanilla based buttercreams. I don’t know, maybe it’s something about me viewing Chocolate as being more robust and luxurious. Again, you don’t want this to be stiff, envision a thick Chocolate Mousse and you’re on the right track.
4. Fill your piping bag with a star tip 3/4 of the way full. Maintaining a light hand pipe the the buttercream starting on the edge of the cupcake and working your way in pipe in 3 turns. Do not add too much frosting to the cupcake, we don’t need to over power the cake. If you love frosting, save some to eat later with a spoon, but please respect the cake and it’s flavor.
5. Roughly chop up some of our reserved Filberts and place them on the buttercream to your liking. Remember, these are your cupcakes! Have fun with it, be relaxed and make them look like you want them to! No apologies and no excuses! Just love them and all their little imperfections!
6. Bon appetite!

Quick Tip:

• If spending $5 to $6 on Hazelnut Extract is a little hard to swallow (and I don’t blame you) add some additional Hazelnuts to the toasting process and after removing the skin place about 1/2-3/4 cup in your food processor and grind until a powder is formed. Like Hazelnut flour! Whisk into your flour mixture and reduce the flour by 2 tablespoons for every 1/4 cup of nuts you add. Then proceed as usual!

Better Luck Next Time

This is one of those bummer stories. The kind where things don’t exactly go the way you had hoped, but contains a silver lining. As is the case most of the time with me, the silver lining is inevitably good food.

My friend Michelle began the 26 year of her life this past weekend and wanted to bring it in with her closest friends around her in a relaxed setting, making crafts, and eating delicious treats. My kind of night. Michelle loves anything chocolate and coffee studded and I had every intention of delivering on those goods.

Here’s the background. I don’t own a car, and quite frankly I don’t want one. The only purpose I see one of those behemoths serving is to get me to Disneyland in a time efficient manner. But I digress. I also work nights, which means I have the sometime elusive task of catching my “z’s” during the daylight hours. This was not in the cards for me this past Saturday.

Living across the street from a gorgeous park is utter perfection, until a wretched, indiscernible  70’s cover rock band plays from 9am until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Needless to say, not a whole lot more than internal desperate pleas for silence and constant tossing and turning until eventually, surrender was inevitable. This unfortunately left me with no energy and feeling ill, which left me unable to make the trek to my friends’ home (it would have been an hours journey, half by bus and half by bike).

This truly hurt all the more because upon walking into my kitchen at 3 o’clock that lovely Saturday afternoon, to what would normally be a view to inspire childlike joy, to look at a plate of perfect, soft, moist, billowy, fudgey, and espresso ridden Brownies. Ah yes, brownies. The deceptively simple, yet complicated dessert. The downfall of women and the weakness of grown men. The childhood favorite, and the future bringer of world peace. Yes the Brownie is all this and so much more, but my sweet Michelle would miss out on these specially made morsels.

That morning that I returned home from work I immediately set to work on these monsters. I am going to be perfectly up front with you about my brownies. I do not like black out, over the top, sugar studded Brownies. Yes, I’m pointing the finger at you box mix! To me chocolate is something to be celebrated and highlighted. You should taste the chocolate, not overwhelmed by it. Second point I will emphatically make. Healthy and brownies will never go in the same sentence. Don’t talk to me about diets, fat free, whole grain, low sugar, or any of that other nonsense when we are talking about brownies. There are certain things that need to be what they are, and brownies should never be diet. So unfortunately if you are one of my health nut or Vegan readers, I must bid you adieu at this point (or stick around if you need a guilty pleasure in your life. I promise not to disappoint).

My brownies focus on depth and combining flavors. It may seem complicated, but if you have a well stocked pantry this will be no big deal. I am a firm believer that in baked goods, never go with one type of chocolate, personally I believe in combining 3 different types, but 2 is absolute magic. This recipe is results in more of a fudgey brownie, not a cakey due to the fact that I melt down chocolate and do not use cocoa powder. The next biggest insight I’m going to lay on you, eggs. Lots of eggs. This not only gives the brownies moisture and structure, but the eggs act as your leavening agent and they give a nice glossy crust that forms on the top of the brownies giving texture as well as adding a whole depth of flavor. With all that said, here comes the recipe!

These Aren’t The Kind of Brownies You Take Home To Meet Your Mother (9×13 pan) (Inspired by Craft of Baking)

Brownie Batter

• 3 sticks Unsalted Butter, room temperature
• 3 oz High Quality Milk Chocolate, roughly chopped
• 3 oz High Quality Unsweetened Chocolate, roughly chopped
• 6 Eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 cups Dark Brown Sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups All Purpose Flour, sifted
• 2 teaspoons Sea or Kosher Salt
• 2-3 teaspoons Espresso Powder, finely ground
• Dark Chocolate Chips

Espresso Cream Cheese Swirl (There will be some left over, I do this on purpose to have on hand for other baking ventures)

•  6 oz Cream Cheese, soft and at room temp
• 3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, soft and at room temp
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg, room temp
• 1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
• Espresso Beans, very finely ground

1. With a hand or stand mixer, whip the cream cheese and butter until combined and fluffy.
2. Add the Vanilla and the Egg and whip until fully combined.
3. Sift in the powdered sugar and whip until fluffy and soft.
4. At this point you are going to want to add the Espresso Powder in small batched until you have achieved the desired coffee flavor. I wound up adding 3-4 tablespoons. The mixture looked like cookies and cream ice cream!
5. Cover and chill while preparing the brownies.

For the Brownies:

1. Preheat your oven to 375F as well as grease and line your baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Get a medium to small sauce pan and fill with and inch or two of simmering water and cover with a heat proof bowl (glass is perfect), making sure that the glass does NOT touch the water. We want to heat the chocolate very delicately and respectfully. Add your 6 ounces of chocolate and the unsalted butter. Using a rubber spatula fold the two together until fully melted and incorporated. Do not scorch the chocolate or leave it alone, burned chocolate will produce tears of bitter sadness. Once the mixture is fully melted. Turn off the heat, but leave the bowl on the sauce pan to keep the chocolate warm.
3. In a large mixing bowl whisk together your sugars and eggs until fully combined and billowy. Do not leave the egg and sugar mixture alone. There is a chemical reaction that takes place where the sugar cooks the eggs. (Isn’t science and baking awesome?!) Once the eggs and sugars are incorporated, slowly whisk in your cooled chocolate mixture.
4. Sift your flour and salt on to the chocolate mixture and using a rubber spatula, gently fold the mixture together. It is of the upmost importance not to over mix the brownie batter. Use a light and delicate hand and just before the mixture is fully incorporated add your chocolate chips and espresso powder.
5. Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish, starting in the center and gently working the batter to the edges. Grab your cream cheese mixture and add 6 dollops on top of the batter. Using a fork, knife, skewer, toothpick, or shoot your finger will work just fine; swirl the cream cheese mixture on the top level of the brownie batter. Be sure not to incorporate the cream cheese into the brownie batter.
6. Bake the brownies for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Check on the brownies at this point and get a gauge for the time. My brownies typically bake for another 10-15 minutes. You will know when they are ready to come out when the crust is formed and there is only a slight giggle in the center of the pan when you shake it. Do not wait until the brownies are stiff, they will be over baked. The more you bake brownies the better you will become at discovering the nuances of when to pull them from the oven.
7. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then pull up on the parchment paper and let the brownies cool completely on the wire rack.
8. At this point you may do as you please. But also know this, brownies freeze and reheat beautifully! If you are a mom, or a busy college kid who needs a dessert immediately and don’t have time for all these steps, you have a friend waiting for you. Make sure the brownies are completely cooled off then tightly wrap in plastic, these will keep for 2 months. To reheat, pop them in your oven at 350F for 10 minutes and you’re golden!

So the story goes that the brownies turned out absolutely delicious and had a wonderfully strong coffee flavor that was balanced by the creaminess of the cream cheese and the light chocolate brownie. Sadly, my friend didn’t get to have them for her birthday, but I relish the opportunity to be able to do something for her again in the near future. Se la vie.