Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Desserts

  • “One Sweet Cookie” Sandys – A Recipe Not to be Repeated, Sadly

    I still have Tracey Zabar's One Sweet Cookie book at home, and unlike my previous recipe attempts from this book, the Sandys recipe was a bit of a failure.  The recipe calls for a lightly spiced cookie (cinnamon being the spice) with bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips.  Unfortunately, the cinnamon/bittersweet chocolate (my chocolate of choice, with 5 oz of chips instead of the 12 oz called for in the recipe) combination was a little weird and fairly unpleasurable, as was the "sandy" texture of the cookies.  

    The pros of the cookies were that they were quick to make – only about 10 minutes of prep time – and that the few cookies to which I added a big of candied ginger were actually quite tasty.  That being said, if I have a ginger dessert craving in the future, I'll probably find another recipe.

    One Sweet Cookie Sandies

  • Milk Chocolate Brownies – Another Library Cookbook Keeper!

    I recently checked out One Sweet Cookie by Tracey Zabar from the library.  I chose this book while browsing the shelves because it a) I wanted to try some new cookies and desserts not found on CooksIllustrated.com, my usual dessert go to, and b) the recipes appeared to be compiled from a number of chefs and restaurants I like, including the great Spot Dessert Bar in NYC.

    Interestingly enough, my first recipe attempt from this book was not a cookie, rather the Milk Chocolate Brownies by Nick Malgieri.  The recipe was fairly simple to construct – melting the chocolates together, and then basically whisking the rest of the ingredients together.  The result was pretty good – fairly fudgy and flavorful.  Definitely a great, quick recipe for a potluck or kid's party.  

    I hope this recipe attempt sets the stage for the rest of the book's contents, which I can't wait to check out!

    One Sweet Cookie Brownies

  • “Quintessential” Chocolate Chip Cookies – Quick Recipe for a Weeknight Cookie Fix

    The New York Times recently featured a chocolate chip recipe from Martha Rose Shulman, a writer whose healthy recipes have inspired many of my seasonal cooking attempts.  The recipe – for Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies – seemed easy enough to make on a weeknight, and its publication coincided with my realization that I have a lot of chocolate baking bars in my cupboard.  

    As I initially thought, the dough was incredibly simple and fast to make.  The main alteration I made to the recipe was to half the amount of chocolate because I generally prefer a greater cookie to chocolate ratio in my cookies.  I also broke up the chocolate pieces into smaller than the 1-inch pieces called for in the recipe – maybe into 1/2 inch chunks?  

    The result was great – the bittersweet chocolate was actually a wonderful change to the standard chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I think I will bake with bittersweet chocolate more in the future.  The cookies got a bit grainy and crumbly the day after they were baked, but they still tasted pretty good.  I think I may have put in too much flour, so maybe this is my incentive to finally get a kitchen scale!

    Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Definitely Not an Everyday Dessert for Two: Frankies Spuntino Cheesecake

    One of our favorite restaurants in Brooklyn is Frankies 457 in Carroll Gardens.  We don't go there too often, but every meal we have had there has been incredibly flavorful, fresh and simple.  And they generally have a fair number of small and large vegetarian options, which always lends itself to lots of intratable sampling which I enjoy tremendously.  

    Thus, when I saw the Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cookbook at the Brooklyn Public Library several months, I did not hesitate to pick it up.  That being said, when I initially picked it up, I didn't exactly make that much from the book.  I think I started and stopped with roasting some carrots and other vegetables using their recommended technique (but the results were amazing, despite the simplicity of preparation).  

    When I was thinking of trying some new dessert recipes recently, I immediately thought of this cookbook again even though I didn't give it a full run-through the first time around.  I remember flipping through the pages and seeing their Ricotta Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Chocolate Tart and other delicious-sounding recipes, so decided to request it again from the library.  When I finally got it from the hold queue, I settled on the Ricotta Cheesecake recipe because although ricotta pie is a favorite dessert of mine, I have never actually made it at home.


    Frankies Cheesecake
    The first comment I have to make about this recipe is that it's definitely not an everyday, weeknight dessert.  The cheesecake takes a LONG time to bake and cool (though a relatively short time to prepare the ingredients), and you have to pre-make the pie crust as well.  I think the next important tip to pass along is that this is also not a dessert that you want to make for just two people (as I did).  While the flavor and texture of this cheesecake are pretty close to perfection, it's not exactly healthy fare nor is it light enough to eat the entire cake and not feel completely disappointed with oneself.  

    So when I make this again, I will be making it for a crowd, which I recommend all of my readers do as well.   It's definitely a strong year-round recipe that is fresh and light enough for a summer gathering, as well as creamy enough for a winter holiday event as well.  And as a result of this recipe, I will definitely be buying a copy of this cookbook for my own collection!

    Frankies Cheesecake without Springform Pan

  • Sticky Toffee Pudding (or Sticky Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce)

    While staying at the amazing Novotel in Vizag, I was exposed to sticky toffee pudding for the first time.  I usually don't like dates, which are a central feature in this dessert, but I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this cake.  It was rich and flavorful while being relatively light at the same time – almost a nice in-between a chocolate dessert and a vanilla/fruit dessert.  The dates were also so finely chopped that the texture of the dessert was quite smooth as well.

    When I returned to the U.S., I looked up several recipes to make this British dessert.  I ended up settling on the Gourmet magazine version because it seemed the simplest to assemble and did not require using all of the toffee sauce.  When I read the ingredients for the toffee sauce – basically insane amounts of heavy cream, butter and sugar – I decided to not actually use all of the sauce in the dish, rather just serve it on the side.  

    Apart from some self-inflicted mishaps, the recipe was pretty easy to follow.  I followed the reader suggestions on the website, and added some additional spices to the dish – nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves – and baked the dish for 65 minutes for the cake to fully cook.  I also used slightly smaller proportions of the ingredients for the toffee sauce and cooked the sauce for 8 minutes, which seemed when the sauce may been done (couldn't tell if it had "thickened slightly").  

    Date Pudding with Toffee Sauce

    I definitely produced way more pudding than could be consumed by 2 people though, so I have to admit it became a bit of a chore to eat it as the days went on (though with the rich toffee sauce, not THAT much of a chore).  I would highly recommend this dish for a get together of 8 – 10 people, and during a winter event like Christmas or a holiday party, where the dish would fit in wonderfully.

    Date Pudding

  • Relatively Low-Fat and Low-Calorie Chocolate Cake – and It Tastes Good!

    For Superbowl Sunday, I prepared a mix of new dishes and MadhuKnitsandCooks.com favorites.  I made the Cook's Illustrated Classic Mac and Cheese for the first time to anchor the food fest, and prepared Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa and Guacamole as appetizers.  I also made a home-made pizza with jalapenos and sliced garlic.

    Finally, for dessert, I wanted to make something simple that I could prepare early in the day and that wouldn't be too calorie-laden given the previous food offerings.  I ended up settling on the Cook's Illustrated Light Chocolate Sheet Cake because it seemed easy enough to prepare, was 270 calories a slice, and called for ingredients that I had easily at home (though I substituted regular cocoa powder for the Dutch-processed).  

    Although at first I thought I had overbaked, and thus ruined, the cake, that final product turned out wonderfully.  It was incredibly moist, tasted greater for the days that followed its preparation, and didn't need frosting for flavor – a little bit of powdered sugar was the perfect accompaniment.  I will definitely make this recipe again – it's a perfect last minute dessert to prepare for dinner or a potluck.

    Light Chocolate Sheet Cake

  • Banana Bread – Is There a Ceiling to How Great It Can Be?

    I make a lot of banana bread, mostly because I buy bananas fairly frequently and then never eat them before they turn black.  I then either make banana bread or muffins right away, or freeze the ripened bananas for future baking.  

    For the past several months, my go-to recipe has been the Martha Stewart Banana Bread recipe.  It's really, really good and I generally would not imagine deviating from it.  However, recently I had 3 frozen, ripe bananas and 3 black bananas on my countertop, so I decided to take a gamble and try the Cook's Illustrated Ultimate Banana Bread.  The Cook's Illustrated recipe calls for 6 bananas, which is generally far more than I ever have.  

    In classic Cook's Illustrated form, their recipe is more complicated than one's standard banana bread recipe (including the Martha Stewart version) and involves cooking down some banana liquid.  Despite the longer process and need for far more cooking instruments, the result is really amazing.  Incredibly rich with banana flavor (remember, 6 bananas for one loaf!), a perfect crisp exterior and good consistency within the bread.  The presentation of the bread is also much nicer than one usually finds because one banana is sliced and placed on top of the bread before baking (perfect for a brunch potluck).  

    So, all in all, I am very happy I decided to try the new recipe and will look forward to trying more because it seems like maybe banana bread can only get better and better?

    Cooks Illustrated Banana Bread

  • 30 Minute Dessert – Chocolate Mousse

    I recently went to a dinner party where I volunteered to bring a gluten-free dessert.  Because of some other time constraints on my end, I couldn't commit myself to making something extravagant but I still wanted to make something homemade and tasty.  I found a chocolate mousse recipe on the Cook's Illustrated website that seemed perfect for the task at hand – gluten free and something I could make early in the morning before my day got too nuts.  The recipe was incredibly fast and simple to make, though it used more bowls that I would have liked 🙂  The result was enjoyed by all as well – please check out the action shots graciously provided by Robert Burnett, Jr. (who also enjoyed the dessert!).

    Chocolate Mousse

    Re-whisking the whipped cream garnish for serving:

    MadhuriWhisk
    Yum!

    Elizabethmousse

  • Cook’s Illustrated Molasses Spice Cookies – Fluffy and Rich Winter Cookies

    Molasses has been on my mind for most of this winter.  And while I could re-make gingerbread cake or gingerbread cookies, as always, why not try something new?  I turned, naturally, to Cook's Illustrated and chose their Molasses Spice Cookies with Orange Essence recipe for my new bottle of molasses.  The recipe was really easy to follow, and I made just a few modifications:

    • 1.5 tsp. of orange zest
    • no allspice, instead maybe 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg
    • baked for 10 minutes total
    • cookies were probably slightly smaller than the original recipes because I ended up with 26 instead of 22

    I also had a good 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup of leftover orange/sugar mix, and instead of throwing it away, I put the remainder in the freezer which I have no idea if that is a good idea or not.  We'll see when I try to re-purpose it, but for this recipe, I would recommend reducing the sugar mix so you don't end up with waste at the end.

    The cookies were pretty light and fluffy, though maybe a tad on the dry side.  I will probably make the recipe again, though gingerbread cake is definitely more winter-esque, just to use up the sugar mix.

    Molasses Spice Cookies

  • Chewy Gingerbread Cookies – and Ruminations on Why Baking is Not Just Chemistry

    I recently made the Cook's Illustrated Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookie recipe and while assembling the ingredients, I realized that I did not have the exact measurements the recipe called for.  Unfortunately, many people I know would have told me to stop there.  I have been told time and time again that "baking is chemisty" and that to get a good baked good result, one needs to follow a recipe EXACTLY.  I really dislike having those conversations because I don't think that baking is or needs to be more precise than cooking.  I make modifications frequently to baked goods, and although the result may not be perfect (just like most of my cooking isn't perfect), nothing is actually perfect to everyone.  We all have different palates and making baking modifications, like making cooking modifications, isn't wrong to achieve the outcomes we want.  I don't mean substitute baking powder for baking soda (there is certainly chemistry in baking), but I think people should treat baking like cooking – experimenting to find something you like, and using the recipe as a guide and not a fail-safe scientific formula.

    So, in any case, modifications I made.  I only had around 1/2 a cup of molasses (probably btwn. 1/3 and 1/2 cup of molasses), so I just used that.  I added more liquid in the form of adding maybe 3.5 tbsps. of low-fat milk.  The dark sugar I used was also a bit dry and old, so I warmed it up in the microwave with some water to make it more moist.  I reduced the baking time to about 7 – 8 minutes to avoid too dry cookies and to adjust for making much smaller cookies – in the form of Star Wars cutouts.  

    The result was great – soft, chewy and thin cookies, which were rich in flavor.  I look forward to making more in the coming winter months!

    Thick and Chewy Gingerbread