Good Old Fashioned Brownies

I volunteered to make brownies for my son's pre-school Halloween party. I always panic when I have to bake for a large group. This time, I wanted to make two pans full of brownies and naturally, I only had enough semi sweet chocolate to make one pan. I called my mother in law in a panic to see if she had any on hand and thankfully, she showed up on my doorstep bearing a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips. I had to keep the recipe simple. Not nuts of any kind were to be used, due to a student with allergies. As usual, I turned to my girl, Martha Stewart, for a suitable recipe. Two bits of advice - 1. It does matter what kind of chocolate you use in the recipe. For one pan, I used the semi sweet chocolate baking squares I had in the house. THAT pan was predominantly better than the pan made with the chocolate chips. Don't get me wrong, both pans were great, but the baking squares' pan had a little something extra. 2.  Your brownies will be cooked, just chewier if you only cook them for 30 minutes as opposed to 35 minutes. So, if you prefer the brownies chewier, shave off 5 minutes cooking time. Just check the brownies with a tooth pick to make sure that they are indeed cooked. Every oven is different, so my 30 minutes may be your 32 minutes. Served with a side of chocolate ice cream, these are sure to please.

Martha Stewart's Double Chocolate Brownies
Makes 9 large or 16 small squares
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces coarsely chopped good-quality semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to hang over sides. Butter lining (excluding overhang); set pan aside. Put butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until butter and chocolate are melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on medium speed until pale, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture; beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat, scraping down sides of bowl, until well incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top with a rubber spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, about 35 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out brownies; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Birthday Bash

Lobster stuffed beef tenderloin, roasted red potatoes and yellow buttermilk cupcakes, oh my!!! For my father in law and nephew's birthdays, we had a dinner party in our home. We kept the meal to meat and potatoes, with a little lobster thrown in to spruce things up.  My sister in law, Janet, made the amazing lobster stuffed beef tenderloin. It was extremely tender and flavorful.  She made a garlic butter sauce as a garnish to drizzle over the meat and fish.  I kept things simple as well, making basic oven roasted red skinned potatoes and yellow cupcakes. I spent a long time icing and decorating the cakes to get some practice with my decorating tips. I have a lot to learn, but it was definitely fun! I used Martha's Stewart's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcake Recipe and Wilton's Buttercream Icing Recipe  for the cake and icing.I used M&Ms,colored sprinkles and marshmallows for a decorative touch. The potatoes were awesome, spiced up with some white pepper and dill. Without further ado, here are the recipes used to make our dinner party a success.

Beef Stuffed Tenderloin  from allrecipes.com (Similar to Janet's recipe)
3 whole lobster tails
4 pounds beef tenderloin filet
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
8 Slices of bacon to garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add lobster tails, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from water, rinse and remove shells. Cut tail meat in half lengthwise. Cut tenderloin lengthwise, to within 3/4 inch of the bottom. Fill center of meat with lobster tails. In a saucepan, melt butter with lemon juice, garlic powder and 1 cup of the wine. Drizzle about 1/4 of the butter mixture over the lobster. Tie the tenderloin with kitchen string. Rub tenderloin with olive oil and place in a roasting pan. Pour remaining wine in bottom of pan. Sprinkle with cracked pepper. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Top tenderloin with bacon for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Stir garlic salt into remaining butter mixture, and serve with slices of roast.

 
Roasted Red Potatoes  from cooks.com 
4 to 5 red potatoes, medium size
1/2 stick of butter
3 tbsp. Lawry's seasoned salt
2 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. chives, chopped
2 tsp. dill weed
Instructions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and scrub 4 to 5 medium-size red potatoes. Chop potatoes into small pieces approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length and width. Place chopped potatoes into ungreased glass baking dish approximately 8 x 12 inches. Cut one stick of butter into 1/4 inch slices and place over potatoes so that potatoes are covered. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons Lawry's seasoned salt over butter. Sprinkle 3 teaspoons white pepper, chopped chives and dill weed over salt. Roast in oven 45 to 60 minutes, turning potatoes every 15 minutes.

MS's Tiramisu Cupcakes

Two of my favorite things: tirmasu and cupcakes. What could be better than a tiramisu cupcake? I will be honest and say that even though these cupcakes were delicious, I'd like to keep these two entities separate. My husband described it as being similar to the invention of cheeseburger pizza. Cheeseburgers are great and so is pizza. BUT if you put it together,while not BAD, it does not meet expectations. I'd also like to add that I think tiramisu really means "huge mess in the kitchen". All in all, the cupcakes were a tasty treat but it wasn't like eating real tiramisu. The only advice I can give is make sure you use plenty of the marsala syrup and let it aborb for more than an hour.  No matter how tempting the cupcakes look, they must sit and soak.  The frosting is heavenly and the cupcakes are a wicked (in a good sense) vanilla flavor.  I guess they 2 vanilla beans I purchased for 14.99 were doing their job. So here's the recipe, have fun and enjoy!
Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
1 cup sugar
Coffee-Marsala Syrup (recipe to follow)
Mascarpone Frosting (recipe to follow)
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Heat milk and vanilla-bean pod and seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles appear around the edge. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until melted, and let stand 15 minutes. Strain milk mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, and discard vanilla-bean pod. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted. Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee-marsala syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.
Martha Stewart's Tiramisu Cupcakes

From Martha Stewart Cupcakes, May 2009
Ingredients
Marscapone Frosting (Makes about 2 cups)
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately.
From Martha Stewart Cupcakes, May 2009

Marsala Syrup
Ingredients (Makes enough for 18 cupcakes)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon freshly brewed very strong coffee (or espresso)
1 ounce marsala
1/4 cup sugar
Directions
Stir together coffee, marsala, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Let cool.

From Martha Stewart Cupcakes, May 2009

Mocha Cupcakes(AKA I Need a Drink After This)

This was one tough cookie- I mean cupcake. I'd been eyeing up the Martha Stewart Cupcake recipe book for sometime and I'd finally bought it. I couldn't wait to dive in - just looking at the pictures made my mouth water.  I finally decided on trying my hand at mocha cupcakes with coffee icing.  They sounded and looked divine. I have to admit I am not much of a baker, which added extra stress to this task. The cupcakes themselves, even though the mixing was a bit time consuming, came out absolutely perfect. So perfect in fact, I ate four of them before the frosting went on.  Now on to the thorn in my side: the icing.
I usually use the kind of icing that comes from a can, so again, this was new for me.My Kitchen Aid mixer is on the fritz, so I had to use a hand mixer. I made the mistake of using carton egg whites, which never peaked and my corn syrup/water/sugar mix kept sticking to the bottom of the pan no matter how much I stirred.  I dumped the first batch ended up in the garbage.On a second attempt, a used regular egg whites, which peaked better, but the sugar mix still didn't turn out right.  I went on to plan B, which was a home made frosting mix, passed down from Dori, my husband's grandmother. The frosting came out amazing. I coudln't find my piping bags or decorating tips, so I had to use a Ziploc bag, with the corner cut off. I garnishe with chocolate sprinkles and used a potato peeler to created chocolate curls and shavings from sweet chocolate squares. I will try the MS frosting recipe again - I am shaken, but not stirred. Happy Baking!

Martha Stewart's Mocha Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
3/4 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (not instant coffee)

Seven-Minute Frosting (coffee variation)
For the frosting
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tablespoons pure coffee extract

CUPCAKE DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Line standard muffin tins with paper line
Whisk together cake flour and cocoa. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth and light. Add the brown sugar and eggs; beat until fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add the vanilla, baking soda, and salt; beat to combine thoroughly.
Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, and beating until just combined after each. Mix together brewed espresso and espresso powder; add to batter, and beat until smooth.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely be¬fore removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
To finish, use a small spoon to dollop cupcakes generously with frosting and make decorative peaks. Garnish each cupcake with a coffee bean before serving.

FROSTING DIRECTIONS (MARTHA STEWART)
Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230°F (110°C).
Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beating to combine.
 As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230°F (110°C), remove from the heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons coffee extract, whisking to combine. Use immediately.

Dori's Famous Mocha Frosting
3 cups Confectioner's Sugar
2 TBSP cocoa powder
 
1 1/2 sticks of butter
2 TBSP strong brewed coffee
1/4 teasponn of vanilla
1 square of melted chocolate
 
Mix the dry ingredients together; mix the rest in a separate bowl. Combine all ingredients and mix with a stand mixer or hand blender until completely creamy and blended.