Brownies (somewhere between fudgey and cakey)

What better way to start off an evening of sleepily studying histology than baking some delicious brownies? Especially since I’ve never made brownies from scratch before! This recipe produces thick, moist brownies that are somewhere in between fudgey and cakey. They bake up to have a bit of a crisp top but the inside is soft, thick and moist.
I didn’t take any pictures while we were making them (oops!), but it’s pretty simple one-bowl recipe. You can melt the chocolate and butter either in a bowl over simmering water or by microwaving with intermittent stirring until it all melts. Unlike most baking recipes, these brownies will be overdone if you wait until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The toothpick may have a few moist clumps when pulled out when the brownies are done.
About Melting Chocolate:
Melting chocolate can be a tricky business. Water or overheating will make chocolate go clumpy or seize. It’s best to use a clean, dry heatproof bowl. Don’t try to rush the process. Chop the chocolate finely and put it in the bowl.
On the stove: Fill a pan with around 4 cm or 1.5 in of water that has been boiled and removed from heat. In a dry, heatproof bowl that fits the pan without touching the water, put the chocolate and let that sit while the chocolate softens. Once soft, stir until smooth and remove from the pan to cool slightly or keep it on the pan to keep it as a liquid. Overheating the chocolate will cause it to scorch, seize or clump, and taste bitter.
In the microwave: Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and cook it in 15-second bursts on 50% power. As it melts, it may maintain its shape but will become shiny and sag around the edges. If it clumps up too badly you can try adding a few drops of vegetable oil or shortening and stir until smooth.
from The Essential Dessert Cookbook by Bay Books
BrowniesRecipe adapted from JoyofBaking.com 
Ingredients

• 5 oz (140 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped or use chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coca powder (I used dark chocolate)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• (optional) 3/4 cups chocolate chips or nuts or other (I didn’t add this)

Turn the oven on to 350 F and prepare a square baking pan by greasing the bottom and sides.Melt the butter and chocolate either in a microwavable bowl in the microwave, stopping to stir frequently or in a stainless steel bowl over simmering water. When melted, remove from heat and stir in the sugar and cocoa powder. Next whisk in the 3 eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Next stir in the flour and salt. Add the optional chocolate chips or nuts if desired. Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for around 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbles but not completely clean. Allow them to set awhile in the pan. Best served at room temperature.
Then enjoy!

Salted Caramel Pumpkin Blondies

Last weekend I really was on a pumpkin kick. I not only made pumpkin bread, but I also tried out this recipe for salted caramel pumpkin blondies. A blondie is like a brownie except instead of the focus being on chocolate it’s on brown sugar. Many other flavors can be incorporated into a blondie such as walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or coconuts, for example.
I adapted this recipe from Sing for your Supper. All I changed was substituting 3/4 of the butter with applesauce; instead of 2 sticks of butter I used 3/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup butter. The recipe also calls for salted caramel sauce. I decided to try my hand at making my own. I used a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I didn’t have heavy cream so I had to use half and half, which I think results in a thinner sauce.
Here’s what you’ll need

Combine your dry ingredients in a smaller bowl and set them aside. In a large bowl, beat together the butter, applesauce and brown sugar. It won’t turn as fluffy as it would with just butter and brown sugar, but just combine it.

Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined then mix in the pumpkin. Mix in the dry ingredients and put the bowl in the fridge while you make the caramel sauce.
For the caramel sauce you’ll need salted butter, white sugar, and heavy cream if you’ve got it. Put the sugar in a sauce pan and start heating it up.

Note that I have an electric stove. This does not bode well for temperature changes, but I do what I can. Keep heating and stirring until the sugar turns a nice, dark amber color.


Don’t worry about clumps. Just keep stirring and they will eventually melt. When you get a nice brown color, add in the butter all at once and stir it in.

Once the butter is all melted, turn down the heat and add in the heavy cream (or half and half, whatever the case may be). I changed burners since that’s really the only way to get an electric stove to reduce heat quickly. On the down side, I didn’t let the other burner heat up enough before hand. Anyway this is the really cool part! When you add in the cream, it’ll foam up some and then you will get caramel! It’s so cool!


When you’ve sufficiently stirred, pull it off the burner and let it cool off some. Pull the batter back out of the fridge and add half the batter into a greased 9x9 baking dish. Pop that in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take it out of the oven and add the layer of caramel (add 1/2 tsp of salt sprinkled on top if you want). Spoon the rest of the batter on top as evenly as possible.

Pop it back in the oven for another 30 minutes or so until the top is golden brown. And that’s it!

(I don’t have toothpicks, hence the fork marks)

For the blondies:
Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2-3/4 caramel sauce (or however much you want)
• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Butter a 9×9-inch baking dish. 
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, spices, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt.  Stir together and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, apple sauce, and brown sugar for about 2 minutes.
4. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree.
5. Add in the dry ingredients with mixer on low speed until just combined.
Optional: Put the batter in the fridge and make caramel sauce.
6. Pour half the batter in the prepared pan and smooth evenly. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and spoon caramel in an even layer with the other ½ teaspoon. Spoon the remaining batter over the top and get it as even as possible. Put it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
Adapted from recipe for salted caramel pumpkin blondies from Sing for your Supper
For the caramel sauce:
Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp salted butter
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp heavy cream at room temperature (temperature is important)

Directions
1. Melt the sugar over medium to moderately high heat in a 2 or 3 qt pot. Whisk or stir the sugar as it melts. Keep stirring despite any clumping; it will even out.
2. When the melted sugar reaches a dark amber color add the butter all at once. Stir it in, turn down the heat to low and pour in the cream, whisking until you get a smooth sauce.
3. Use immediately or store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Super Simple Pumpkin Bread

I cannot believe it’s October! In fact, I can’t believe it’s been October for 13 days. Time flies when you don’t have the extra brain capacity to note its passing. Over the weekend I got into a pumpkin craze seeing as it’s technically fall and everything. Last week, there was even some passable fall weather in Southern California. It’s gone now, though, don’t worry. All the born and bred Southern Californians can stop panicking about the end of the world now that the rain has stopped.
I kid,of course…mostly.
This recipe is from a fantastic basic cookbook that everyone should have. I like to think my grandma gave me my copy, but the truth is she gave it to my brother and I conveniently made sure it didn’t get packed with him when he moved away. I love being a younger sister. Anyway the cookbook is the Better Homes and Gardens “New” Cook Book (I say “new” because that’s what is on the cover but the first edition was published in 1930).

Look at the spine! It’s starting to look legitimately used, which makes me rather pathetically happy.

(Yes, that is a volleyball in the background that I have owned for around 12 years complete with crappy 5th grade handwriting. Also those are some blood physio notes sitting beneath the book).
Ok, back to the pumpkin bread.
As usual gather the major players. In this case flour, brown sugar, pumpkin, butter, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk, salt, eggs, baking powder and soda.

Combine your dry ingredients.

Add in everything else and mix it up.

Pour it in to a greased loaf pan and pop it in the oven for around an hour. Pull it out and let it cool off in the loaf pan for 15-20 minutes.

Loosen the edges with a knife, turn it over and it should come right out without too much trouble.

Then give it to your friends who have never had pumpkin bread so that they, too, can learn to love it.
Pumpkin Bread
from Better Home and Gardens New Cook Book, 11th edition
Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger or ground cloves (I like to add both)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
• 1/2 cup raisins (definitely optional and not recommended…but that’s just me)

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 in. up the sides of a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Set oven for 350 F.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup flour, the brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger and/or cloves. Add pumpkin, milk, eggs, and shortening/butter. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat on medium to high speed for 2 minutes. (Don’t worry regular old muscle power works just fine). Fold in the walnuts if you want and raisins if you must.
3. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 F 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick/fork/knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan. Cool completely, wrap and stir overnight.

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I just noticed that there is nutrition facts per serving in this book! Awesome. As you will see in a moment, pumpkin bread is good as a snack or for breakfast.
Calories            189
Total fat             8g
   Sat. fat           2g
Cholesterol        27mg
Sodium           138mg
Carb.               28g
  fiber                1g
Protein               3g
Vitamin A          35% DV
Vitamin C            1%
Calcium              8%
Iron                  10%
Recipe makes 1 loaf or ~ 18 servings.

Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

This week I have another dessert that uses a health alternative to the usual ingredients of baked goods. These banana cupcakes are made using unsweetened applesauce instead of butter or oil. What does one gain in substituting all the butter in a recipe with applesauce? Primarily the benefit is a massive reduction in calories, fat, and cholesterol. A half cup of applesauce contains 6.25% the number of calories in a half cup of butter. Additionally the applesauce contains no fat and cholesterol compared to butter’s 88g and 240mg, respectively. Below is a chart illustrating this comparison.

*%DV is percent daily value based on a 2,000 Calorie diet.
I haven’t put much effort in to using healthy alternatives in my baking before, but it is surprisingly easy. It doesn’t even require going to a specialty food store. If you are interested in substitutes that can be used for an ingredient, whether you are trying to make a recipe healthier or you don’t have an ingredient, a great resource is the Cook’s Thesaurus website.
The recipe I used today comes from an NPR article “Have Your (Less Sinful) Cupcake And Enjoy It, Too” which can be found here.
Here’s what you’ll need

In that plastic bag in the back is some 60% cocoa chocolate to melt down for the frosting. The iPad with recipe instead of a regular paper recipe is optional and not particularly recommended. The bananas could be even more ripe/black if you have any.
With an electric mixer if you’ve got one available, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until they are “thick and light” (this could take a few minutes).

Mix in the smashed banana, bananas, buttermilk (or homemade sour milk in my case), applesauce, and vanilla.

Add a mixture of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just blended.

And that’s it! Load up your cake pan or cupcake pans/tins and pop ‘em in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Make sure they are not sticky on top when you pull them out. Even after you can insert a fork/toothpick and pull it out clean, the tops might still be a little sticky. They’ll come out better if you wait until they aren’t sticky any more. Here’s what slightly sticky looks like:

Here’s what an appropriately baked cupcake should look like:

Let the cupcakes cool off for awhile while you make the frosting. I forgot to take pictures of making the frosting, but here’s the end result.

And that’s it! Go hand ‘em out to your friends or fellow med students, whatever you have on hand.
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Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
Cupcake Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups smashed, ripe bananas (~ 3 medium bananas)
• 1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk*
• 4 tbsp (1/2 cup) unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
•  1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (or confectioner’s sugar, if you must)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened almond milk, plus more if needed (I used regular milk)

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa), finely chopped or dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F
2. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until thick and light, around 5 minutes.
3. Mix in the smashed bananas, buttermilk, applesauce, and vanilla.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over mixture and beat until just blended.
5. Transfer batter to prepared pan, sprayed or with cupcake holders. Fill to 3/4 full.
6. Bake cupcakes until golden brown on top and a toothpick or fork inserted into center comes out clean. Around 18-20 minutes.
7. Let the cupcakes cool.
8. For the frosting**, add sugar and milk to a small saucepan over heat and mix until sugar is dissolved into the milk
9. Slowly stir in chocolate and mix constantly until fully melted.
10. Dip tops of cooled cupcakes into icing, twist and let the icing harden completely (~10 minutes)

* You can make sour milk and use that instead of butter milk. Add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1 cup. Stir and let stand 5 minutes.
**We didn’t actually follow these directions for the frosting. We carefully melted the chocolate in a microwavable bowl in the microwave. This involves lots of stopping, stirring and restarting. Then we mixed in the powdered sugar and milk. We used more milk to thin out the frosting. If you accidentally make it too thin, you can thicken it some more either by adding more powdered sugar and melted chocolate or unsweetened cocoa powder.

This describes my typical weekend so well.