Yummiest of Playing House 2010: Sweet Edition

Welcome to the Sweet Edition of the Yummiest of Playing House 2010. As much as I love to cook, baking is really where my heart lies, and it's infinitely more fun when I get to share what I've baked with you. Below you'll find my favorite treats from this year.

I wish each of you a sweet, happy, and healthy 2011. Thanks for reading!

Hugs,
Amy I.

Yummiest of 2010: Savory
Yummiest of 2009: Savory
Yummiest of 2009: Sweet

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes


Dulce de Leche Cupcakes


Strawberry Peach Crisp


Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars


Cornflake Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookies


Lemon Poppyseed Muffins


Oreo Truffles


Cherry Brown Butter Bars


Salted Caramel Brownies


Caramel Apple French Toast


Pumpkin Pie Bars

Yummiest of Playing House 2010: Savory Edition

I love arbitrary traditions and always jump at the chance to create new ones. The Yummiest of Playing House is now officially a tradition. I started this last December as a way to highlight my very favorite recipes from throughout the year. Like last year, I'll be dividing my favorite recipes from 2010 into 2 posts, a Savory Edition and a Sweet Edition.

What was your favorite kitchen creation this year?

Enjoy!

Yummiest of 2009: Savory
Yummiest of 2009: Sweet

Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti


Soft Pretzels


Pad See Ew


Pasta Salad with Tomatoes & Corn


Challah


Spring Green Risotto


Summer Veggie Salsa


Heirloom Tomato Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's confession time. I just made chocolate chip cookies for the first time. I mean, I've made other types of cookies before. I've even made cookies that are really similar to chocolate chip cookies. But I've never made straight-up, classic, plain old chocolate chip cookies from scratch before today.



I set out on a mission to do a taste-test of sorts, systematically trying recipes until I found one that I could adopt as my go-to favorite. Doesn't every American home baker need a chocolate chip cookie recipe in their back pocket? I didn't get too far in my experiment, though, since the first recipe I tried was a winner.

These cookies are of the crispy edges/chewy center variety. My cookbook says that using melted butter instead of room-temperature solid butter is to thank for the perfect texture. If you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend using it for the flour and brown sugar (and in any recipe where weight measures are given). It's far more accurate than using measuring cups, and increases the likelihood of a massive success in the end.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
Makes 24 cookies
Printable Recipe

2 cups plus 2 tbsp (10 2/3 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed (7 oz) light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

2. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the chips until incorporated.

4. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart (12 to a sheet). Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking.

5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Pink Grapefruit Cake

For my birthday yesterday, I chose to have dinner at Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller's casual, family-style restaurant in Napa. It was easily (and not surprisingly) the best meal I've had in recent memory. I'd heard and read great things about Chef Keller for years, but now that I've had a transcendent meal at one of his restaurants, I'm an official groupie.



I came straight home and bought a copy of Ad Hoc at Home, which is a stunning work of art posing as a cookbook. This cake was the first thing that jumped out at me. I feel strongly that grapefruit is a severely underrated citrus fruit, and will take any excuse to bake with them. The method was nearly identical to the Lemon Lemon (Lemon) Loaf that I made last year. The cake is incredibly moist, appropriate for breakfast or dessert, and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when I felt that Thomas Keller's recipes for home cooks were infinitely beyond my ability and skill level. Thank you, Chef Keller, for inspiring the beginning of a new era in my kitchen; in my opinion the best thing that could happen on my birthday. Also? Thank you for serving a cheese course from the Von Trapp family's Vermont farm at my birthday dinner. That pretty much made my life.

Pink Grapefruit Cake
Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home
Printable Recipe

For the cake:
2 cups flour
1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon grated pink grapefruit zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the grapefruit syrup:
1 cup strained fresh pink grapefruit juice
2/3 cup granulated sugar

For the grapefruit icing:
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh grapefruit juice

Garnish (optional):
1/2 grapefruit, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10x4 or 9x5 inch pan or lightly oil it (Amy's note: I have 2 9x3 pans so I split the batter between the 2 and adjusted the baking time).

2. Sift flour and baking powder. Stir in salt and set aside.

3. Combine the sugar and eggs in a mixer and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes until the mixture is thickened. Beat in the milk, then the oil, grapefruit zest and vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate.

4. Spread batter in the pan. Put the pan on a small baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the pan around and bake for another 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack.

5. While cake is baking, combine the grapefruit juice and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Simmer one minute. Set aside.

6. When you remove the cake from the oven, using a long skewer, poke deep holes every ¾ inch or so all over the top. Immediately begin brushing the syrup over the cake. It may be necessary to wait for the syrup to soak in, but continue until you’ve used all the syrup. Let the cake cool for about 10 min.

7. Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack. Turn it right side up, and let cool to room temperature.

8. Stir the powdered sugar and grapefruit juice together in a bowl until smooth. Using a spoon, drizzle the icing on a diagonal over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Garnish with grapefruit slices (optional). Slice and serve.

Chocolate Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

Ever since I made a batch of mediocre Red Velvet Whoopie Pies a few months ago, I haven't been able to stop thinking about making them again. I know that whoopie pies have the potential to be out of this world (I proved it with the massively successful Pumpkin Cream Cheese variety), and I wanted another success. These chocolate marshmallow ones come pretty close.



While not quite as moist or flavorful as the gold-standard pumpkin, I'm really pleased with how these came out, and so was the crowd I served them to. If you're looking for simple, classic flavors but want something snazzier than a basic chocolate chip cookie, these are an excellent pick. Plus, rumor has it that whoopie pies are the new cupcake.

This post is dedicated to our dear Alan, who passed away last weekend. He has been my Nana's sweetheart, and my de facto grandfather, for the past 5 years. He was genuinely the sweetest man I have ever known, and emphatically adored every possible thing about my Nana, including her granddaughter's food blog. The impression that his infectious love and humor made on our family will be sticking around for a really, really long time.

Chocolate Marshmallow Whoopie Pies
Adapted from Annie's Eats
Makes 24 sandwich cookies
Printable Recipe

For the cookies:
3½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling*:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
7½ oz. jar marshmallow fluff
2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Combine the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl; whisk together to blend. Set aside. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Blend in the buttermilk and vanilla extract until incorporated. Mix in the dry ingredients, blending just until combined.

2. Using a 1-oz dough scoop, drop the batter onto the prepared baking pans, 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow to cool on the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.

3. To make the filling, place the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Blend in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated. Beat in the marshmallow fluff and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

4. Once the cookies are completely cooled, match them up in pairs by size. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain with the marshmallow filling. Pipe a dollop of marshmallow filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair, and sandwich the cookies together, pushing the filling to the edges. Store in an airtight container.

*If you tend to be a generous cookie-filler like I am, consider making 2 batches of filling. I'd hate for you to run out.

Spaghetti Squash: A Photo Tutorial

Spaghetti squash was one of the first things I ever learned how to cook as an adolescent. I can't quite remember how or where I learned this method, but it has stuck with me for about 20 years. That's how much I love this stuff.



I adore spaghetti squash for three reasons. First, it's a crazy miracle of nature (that's the scientific term). It baffles me that something can morph from a completely solid state to thousands of perfectly uniform strands when heat is applied. The second reason is the texture. It's similar enough to actual spaghetti, but has a crunchy bite that gives away its vegetableness (also the scientific term). I can easily eat a giant half in one sitting. And finally, it's so easy to make. I'm a recipe person; I rarely ever wing my cooking without one. But this is one of the rare methods that I feel completely comfortable with on my own, without the guidance of a recipe.

If you've never had spaghetti squash, or haven't mastered its preparation yet, follow along. I'll show you how!

Cut a spaghetti squash in half lengthwise using a big, sharp knife.


Scoop the seeds and strings out. I like to use my ice cream scoop, I find it's sturdier and more effective than a spoon.


Cut 1-2 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and place them in the cavity.


Cover the squash tightly with plastic wrap.


Microwave for 10 minutes. I know 10 minutes seems like a really long time, but I promise it's right. Let the squash sit in the microwave for 5 more minutes. When you take it out and remove the plastic wrap, it should look like this:


Now it's time for the fun part! Use a fork to shred the flesh into tiny spaghetti strands. This should happen easily, with very little effort on your part.




Serve with your favorite marinara sauce (here's mine) or add some extra butter and a sprinkle of cinnamon & sugar. Enjoy your new favorite veggie!