Cappuccino Fudge Crinkles

You know what irks me this time of year?  The people who like to proclaim to everyone & anyone “WOW!  Only X days lefts till Christmas!  Can you believe it?  Are you ready?”  Don’t these people KNOW what this does to procrastinators with anxiety issues?!  Look people, I have a calendar, I know what day it is.  I can do simple arithmatic and deduce how many shopping/wrapping/baking are days left.  Mmmmkay?

While I have made a Christmas treat, (ridiculously easy) Peanut Butter Fudge this Christmas season, I realized two weekends before Christmas, that I’d yet to do any REAL holiday baking.  The flour/sugar/eggs/butter, get-your-pans-dirty, “turn on the oven” kind of baking.  So I perused my bookmarks and remembered some delicious cookies a local food blogger shared with me about a year ago.  Instantly I could remember how perfectly rich, & coffee-spiked these tasted.   I can definitely recommend these cookies to you, and it’s still not too late to begin some holiday baking!  (Even though we’re in the single digit countdown.  Shhh….)

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Cappuccino Fudge Crinkles

from Better Home & Gardens New Cookbook as seen on OPKitchen

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter
1 packed cup brown sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp instant coffee (I used instant espresso powder)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 egg whites
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt (I used nonfat plain greek yogurt)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar, (colored sugar sprinkles optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

With a mixer, beat butter on medium to high speed for about 60 seconds to soften it up, then add in brown sugar, cocoa powder, coffee, baking soda, and cinnamon (not granulated sugar). Beat till combined, scraping bowl as necessary.

Add in egg whites and yogurt, and beat till combined. Add in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating till just combined (if you’re using a hand mixer you may need to finish off with a wooden spoon — the batter gets pretty thick and sticky)

Pour granulated sugar in a shallow bowl, then drop teaspoons of the cookie dough into the sugar, a few at a time. Roll the dough into balls, coating with sugar as you go. The dough will be crazy sticky, but you’ll be able to handle it easier once the white sugar is stuck to it.

Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about ten minutes, or until edges are firming up. Cool on a wire rack.

*Mine didn't really crinkle, so I pressed the baked cookies with the bottom of a drinking glass to sort of flatten them out.

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Browned Butter Pumpkin Bundt Cake

The bundt cake pan is one of my most underused, yet most loved kitchen items.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love beautifully frosted cakes, but there’s just something about the simple beauty of a bundt cake.  You can always choose to drizzle it with a glaze, or dust it with powdered sugar, but it looks beautiful on it’s own.  This also makes bundt cakes incredibly easy to transport!

I made this cake to take to The Boy’s family’s Thanksgiving.  You see, last year I tried to take a healthy couscous salad.  To say I think they were disappointed would be an understatement.  I knew this year I had to bring my reputation back up to what they knew best from me… DESSERTS!  I wasn’t able to stay long enough to see everyone eat dessert, but I certainly do expect that they liked it more than they did the couscous salad last year.  I know I certainly loved this cake.  You see, I knew I would need to *sample* it for the blog’s sake, right?  I mean, I can’t blog something I didn’t even try!  So, as a favor to all you faithful readers, I cut a slice, took many photographs Thanksgiving morning, and then ate it for breakfast!  I know most of you might have went with something healthier/lowfat/etc like cottage cheese to keep the calories low in preparation for the day’s big feast.  But not me.  I chose dessert!

Because I opted to skip the glaze (since there would be much time & travel in between glazing it before I left the house & the time they’d actually eat dessert), this delicious bundt cake was a great stand-in for breakfast.  It was almost breakfast-bread/muffin like, except it wasn’t quite as heavy as those can be.  It was perfectly spicy, with a hint of nuttiness, thanks to the delicious browned butter.  Yum-yum-diddly-dum, this one’s a keeper!

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Browned Butter Pumpkin Bundt Cake

adapted from Blisstree.com

Ingredients:

CAKE:
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and allowed to turn golden brown then cooled
2 1/4 cups organic all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs

GLAZE: (optional, as I chose to forgo it)
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted and allowed to turn golden brown
About 3 cups of confectioner’s sugar, or enough to make a thick glaze
1 tbs bourbon if desired
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

CAKE:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease pan, preferably with non-stick baking spray, as it's easiest to get all the nooks & crannies of a bundt pan.

Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, salt) together and set aside.

Beat cooled butter and sugars until well mixed. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Fold in pumpkin.

Add flour and buttermilk alternately and mix until smooth.

Spoon into baking pan. Bake at 350F until done, about 50-65 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes and then remove from pan to cool.

GLAZE:
Mix all ingredients until smooth. Spoon over warm cake. Sprinkle on almonds if desired.

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Peanut Butter Fudge

Someone at work recently shared peanut butter fudge with me.  Perhaps it was because I ate it at the end of a STRESSFUL day, but with that melt-in-your-mouth magic that peanut butter fudge does, it was like all my troubles went away.  Which of course meant I needed to go straight home after work and make some!

I searched through my bookmarked dessert recipes, only to discover that within the 199 recipes, not a single one was for peanut butter fudge.  Whaaaa-?!  After some quick Googling, one of the first recipes that popped up was Alton Brown’s.  Immediately, I knew I could trust that recipe.

Holy-Cow.  Y’all, I’m not super great at math, but if you were do some kind of equation for effort vs taste, this thing would score off the charts.  It literally, does NOT get any easier that this.  You know me, I’m not one for shortcuts, or taking the easy way out of making desserts.  But listen, you can make this in 5 minutes.  FIVE MINUTES!  The only hard part about this is NOT EATING ALL OF IT.

Want more fudge?  Try this Candy Cane Fudge or Pumpkin Pie Fudge!

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Peanut Butter Fudge

from Alton Brown, Food Network

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, plus more for greasing pan
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
approx 1 pound powdered sugar (you may not need the full pound)

Directions:

Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes. Add vanilla and powdered sugar (THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO ONLY ADD AS MUCH POWDERED SUGAR AS YOU NEED! If it begins to look too thick, STOP!) to peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Pour into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with waxed paper. Place a second piece of waxed paper on the surface of the fudge and refrigerate until cool. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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Manhattan

While I do want to share with you this cocktail recipe, and also tell you about an awesome local liquor, I mainly want to say “I GOT A NEW LENS AND I LOVE IT!!!”  *Swoon*  This bad boy came in the mail a day earlier than I expected.  We’d just returned from running errands, and I said “I’m gonna make a cocktail.”  The Boy went out to check the mail and came back with saying “Oh, looks like you got a package.”  Of course I immediately ripped into it.  The very next thing I did was  make this cocktail!  After all, I needed a subject to photograph.  Luckily there was just enough light left in the day to snap a few shots.  Although, I’m pretty sure my neighbors across the street think I’m a bit of a weirdo for photographing a cocktail.  I guess that’s a sight they’ll get used to, with a food blogger living across the street!  😉

Now, about the lens.  It’s a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens, and it’s incredibly affordable!  I’m seriously kicking myself over not purchasing it sooner.  While the lens that I bought with my camera body is a great all-purpose lens, Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6, it doesn’t allow me to shoot as well in low-light situations.  While I used to be limited to an f5.6, now I can go all the way to f1.8.  Having access to a much larger aperture also increases my depth of field, which makes shooting something like a martini glass a LOT of fun!  This is a great lens for food, and also for people.

Ok, enough about the lens, let’s get on with the cocktail!  This is a standard, traditional recipe for a Manhattan.  If you’ve ever been out for drinks with me, you’d know I don’t like the typical girlie drinks.  I like my drinks strong, not sweet.  If it’s sweet, I’ll suck it down too fast like Kool-Aid.  But if it’s strong, I can linger with it, and sip it slowly.  Another thing you’d know if you went out for cocktails with me (or perhaps if you’d just read a recent blog post of mine), is I like bourbon!  Not too long ago I was at the Corsair Artisan Distillery.  They are a local company based in both Bowling Green, KY (where I went to college), and in Nashville.  I got to sample all the different spirits they sell, and one that I was most excited about was their Pumpkin Spice Moonshine.  They say it’s great in a Manhattan, so by-golly that’s the first thing I wanted to do with it!  If you were wondering why my Manhattan was a bit lighter in color than your typical one made with bourbon or whiskey, it’s because Corsair’s Pumpkin Spice Moonshine is clear.  The pumpkin spice flavor is really really subtle in this Manhattan.  It’s definitely got the kick of a strong bourbon.  YUM YUM!

Of course, you don’t need Corsair’s Pumpkin Spice Moonshine to make this Manhattan.  I’ve made one plenty times before with our typical house bourbon, Bulleit.  Which brings me to mention, Midtown Wine & Spirits is hosting a bottle signing this Monday, Dec 6th with Tom Bulleit from 2pm-3pm.  I’m very happy The Boy & I are both off work, because we’ll definitely be there!

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Manhattan

from Epicurious
serves 2

Ingredients:

4 1/2 ounces rye or bourbon whiskey
1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 Maraschino cherries

Directions:

Fill a pitcher with ice and add the whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Stir vigorously until the outside of the pitcher is thoroughly beaded with sweat and is extremely cold to the touch.
Place a maraschino cherry in each cocktail glass. Strain the drink over the cherries and serve immediately.

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