So, here’s a thing I make at work a couple of times a week as a petit four. Consider them Rice Krispie Treats, perfected. They started out as these. Then they evolved.

That's as good as the photos get these days, folks.

Dirty Rice Krispie Treats

1. 2.75 oz. unsalted butter
2. Large pinch Kosher salt
3. 15 oz. marshmallows
4. 9 oz. Rice Krispies (or generic puffed rice cereal)
5. 4.5 oz. cocoa nibs

Place the butter and salt in a large-ish pot, something with a wide bottom. Heat over medium until butter melts and begins to brown, stirring occasionally. Cook the butter to a dark brown (not black).

While the butter browns, spread the marshmallows in a single layer in a large mixing bowl or on a clean baking sheet. Torch the heck out of ‘em. You could also put them under a broiler if you have no torch, but a torch is really the way to go here. You want a burnt, black, crispy shell on at least 2 sides of those marshmallows. With gooey insides. Once the butter and marshmallows are done, turn the heat down to medium-low and add the marshmallows. Stir occasionally with a buttered heat-proof spatula until completely melted.

SUPER DANGEROUS ACTION SHOT

Combine the cereal and cocoa nibs in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Butter a medium rectangular baking dish (or a half sheet pan, if you’re in a professional kitchen…I cut them 1×1.5″ for petit fours so they don’t need to be that thick, but they’d be too thick to fit a quarter sheet) and line it with parchment. Liberally butter the parchment. Butter, butter, butter. Once the awesomely burnt goo in the pot is totally melted, add the cereal and nibs and stir to combine as evenly as possible. Scrape into your buttered vessel and smooth evenly. At work I use a liberally buttered large offset spatula. If you’re into cake decorating you’ll have one. If not…use whatever a home cook would use to spread and smoosh Rice Krispie Treats. I don’t know. After this, I butter another sheet of parchment and lay it on top, then wrap and let it set up for a few hours. Then I turn that sucker out and cut it up with a buttered knife.

Not sure what the next post will be. Banana jam? Toasted almond milk? How to make lame-ass cultivated blueberries taste like wild ones? Perhaps the infamous ANIMAL CRACKERS, the recipe for which I’ve only shared with one very special person?

I know I don’t talk about myself all that much here. I’m more interested in telling you about food. But as this is food related, I figured I should mention it here.

I left my job.

I know. I really liked my job. And I still really like the restaurant. But sometimes, you have to move on to something else. So I decided to go in search of that something else. And I considered all sorts of things in my search…switching over to bakery work, learning a totally new cuisine, even raw desserts. Then I got lucky.

I’m not going to say too much now since it’s not open yet. Let’s just say I’m getting my very own pastry station. Dessert concepts have been submitted and approved. I can get in there and start testing in a matter of days. There’s a lot of work ahead of me, but it’s incredible that I’ve come this far, this fast.

Watch this space for more details (including, you know, name and address and opening date).

That’s enough of that for now. Let’s move on to the cupcakes I made for this month’s Mystery Box Challenge.

Is it really spring?

This month’s theme, luckily for me, was to make a pretty pretty birthday cupcake for someone special. My mom has a March birthday and what could be more special than that?

It blooms!

When I think of my mom, I think of plants and flowers and growing up in a house with a yard full of wild strawberries. So I made Spring Lawn Cupcakes with Strawberry Marshmallow Blossoms, Fresh Mint Custard and Chocolate Ganache Frosting.

Roots? Roots!

Since I’m generally all about flavors over really fancy presentation, I had to think hard to come up with something clever to make these as pretty as possible, so I filled the cupcakes with the pretty green custard to give the cross-section an illusion of roots growing from the soil.

Wishing for real flowers...

A few notes, if you make these. The recipe as I’ve written it only make 8 cupcakes, but you can’t very well just make a few small flowers’ worth of marshmallow, so you’ll have a lot of strawberry marshmallows left over. However, I’m not really minding…

Spring Lawn Cupcakes

First, Make the Cupcakes (adapted from Martha Stewart):

1. 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2. 3 Tbsp hot water
3. 1 cup AP flour
4. 1/4 tsp baking soda
5. 1/4 tsp baking powder
6. 1/2 tsp salt
7. 3 oz. butter
8. 1/2 cup +1 Tbsp sugar
9. 1 egg
10. 1 tsp vanilla
11. 1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350F. Whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water, set aside. Sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar, then transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk on medium-high speed until cool (4-5 minutes). Beat in the eggs one at a time, thoroughly scraping down the bowl in between additions, then beat in the vanilla. Thoroughly incorporate the cocoa mixture, then alternately add the dry mixture and the sour cream in three additions each. Mix the batter until homogenous but don’t overwork it. Scoop into lined muffin tins, bake 10 minutes, rotate the pans and bake for another 10 minutes. Test the cakes with a toothpick to make sure they’re not wet on the inside before removing from the oven and cooling in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove to racks to finish cooling, then chill overnight, loosely wrapped in plastic.

Fresh Mint Custard:

1. 1 cup milk
2. About 30 medium-large fresh mint leaves, washed, dried and roughly torn
3. 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
4. 2 egg yolks
5. 2 Tbsp cornstarch
6. Green gel food coloring

Place the milk and mint in a small saucepan and bring to a low boil, then remove from heat and cover. Steep at least an hour, until the milk tastes “leafy” but not too minty. Once you’re happy with the flavor, return it to the heat. While you wait for it to get hot again, whisk together the sugar, yolks and cornstarch (beat them really hard and don’t let them get too gloppy) and continue whisking until the milk steams. Pour the milk into the yolk mixture through a strainer, whisking constantly. Whisk in the food coloring a little at a time, until it’s a light yellowish spring green color. Once it’s all mixed together return it to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. Once it becomes thick, taste it, but continue whisking. If it tastes at all starchy, keep cooking it, repeating the process until it no longer tastes like starch. Force through a chinois or strainer into a bowl, then press plastic wrap onto the surface of the custard and cut a few thin slits in it to let steam escape. Let cool in the refrigerator overnight.

Strawberry Marshmallows:

1. 1/4 oz. powdered gelatin (1 packet Knox)
2. 6 Tbsp cold water
3. 1 cup sugar
4. 1/3 cup corn syrup
5. Pinch salt
6. 1-2 Tbsp strawberry juice
7. Red gel food coloring
8. Powdered sugar

Pour 1/4 cup of the cold water into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle with the gelatin. Bloom for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 2Tbsp water with the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and pour into the bloomed gelatin, then beat on the highest speed with the whip attachment for about 8 minutes, until the marshmallow is airy and fluffy. While it’s whipping, prepare a rectangular pan (a loaf pan would be fine, or a small sheet pan) with a generous amount of nonstick spray, then a piece of parchment paper and another layer of spray. Also apply the spray to a rubber spatula. Once the marshmallow is fluffy, beat in the strawberry juice and just enough food coloring to make it light pink. Once fully incorporated, quickly scrape the marshmallow into the prepared pan, spreading it flat if necessary. Top with another piece of greased parchment and let set for at least 3 hours.

Once set, cut out flowers with a small oiled cutter. If the pan you used for the marshmallows is small and your marshmallows are very thick, just cut thin slices and stamp out the flowers from there. Toss cut marshmallows in powdered sugar and store in an airtight container.

Ganache Frosting:

1. 6 oz. heavy cream
2. 6 oz. dark/bittersweet chocolate, chopped small

Heat the cream to a low boil and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then mix with a rubber spatula, stirring in small circles as you go around the bowl. If there are still chunks of chocolate after you’ve fully incorporated the mixture, heat over simmering water, stirring frequently until smooth. Chill, stirring occasionally, until it is thick and spreadable.

Assembly:

1. Chilled cupcakes
2. Fresh mint custard
3. Ganache frosting
4. Strawberry marshmallow flowers
5. Small fresh mint leaves, washed and dried

Using a small circle cutter, remove the center of each cupcake. Reserve the “stumps.” Beat the custard with a spatula or a handheld or stand mixer until it is smooth and pipeable and load into a pastry bag fitted with a very small round tip. Fill the cupcakes with the custard, reserving the leftover custard in the piping bag for a later stage of decoration.

Put the ganache into a piping bag fitted with a very large round tip and pipe blobs of frosting onto the cupcakes, fully covering the “root” of the cupcake. Crumble up the reserved bits of removed cake and press the crumbs into the frosting. Pipe a small circle of custard onto the top of the cupcake and arrange two or three mint leaves on it, then press in a marshmallow flower.

Makes 8

The winner of March’s Mystery Box Cupcake Challenge will receive prizes from:

• Angela’s Images; a selection of handmade crafts
• Bake It Pretty; a $5 online gift card
• Beanilla; a $7 online gift card
• Miss Kitty Creations; a handmade cupcake charm of your choice
• Simply Caked; 600 brown greaseproof cupcake liners
• Sweet Cuppin Cakes; a $5 online gift card
• Tundra Books; a selection of 3 very sweet children’s books

Thank you to all our prize sponsors!

Even if I tend to consider noon “time to roll out of bed and think about eating something” time.

A very serious breakfast.

Quite honestly, most “mornings” I end up just eating fruit alongside my morning cup of gunpowder, or occasionally getting a big, chewy, cream cheese-stuffed bagel from the neighborhood coffee shop. Or I eat leftovers. (Or just throw on some clothes and head into another ‘hood for awesome sandwiches or slabs of pizza or something.) Actually throwing something more than that together first thing is not really my style. I’m sure a lot of people feel similarly.

Something gooey this way comes.

You know who REALLY doesn’t wanna mess around with a complicated breakfast first thing in the morning, but probably desperately needs the warm comfort of a soft, chocolate chip-studded muffin? People with hangovers. Who, if they have some leftovers from the night before and tend to bake ever at all, should have the ingredients to build these amazing little lumps of barely-appropriate-for-morning baked goodness.

A non-fruity chocolate is best. Milk chocolate would be interesting.

These muffins are so easy and fast to throw together, you can have them baking while you make some coffee or tea (or chug a Gatorade with a couple aspirin, if it’s THAT kind of morning). They’re fragrant, fluffy and soft with crunchy tops, best enjoyed warm so the chocolate oozes with every bite. The recipe is also very easy to divide in half and forgiving towards sloppy cup-measuring. There’s really no reason not to have whiskey and chocolate for breakfast.

Breakfast is served.

Whiskey Chocolate Chip Muffins

1. 1 3/4 cup AP flour
2. 3/4 cup sugar
3. 2 tsp baking powder
4. 1 tsp baking soda
5. 1/2 tsp salt
6. 1 tsp cinnamon
7. 1/4 cup melted butter (or a neutral oil like canola)
8. 2/3 cup plain yogurt
9. 1 tsp vanilla
10. 1/2 cup whiskey
11. 2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and whisk to combine. In a liquid measuring cup or other small cup, combine the melted butter, yogurt, vanilla and whiskey. Whisk or stir with a fork to combine well. Dump the wet mixture into the dry mixture and add the chocolate chips, then whisk just until there are no more large streaks of flour visible. Spoon into a paper-lined muffin pan and bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool for at least 5 minutes in the pan before removing. Makes 12.

You could easily substitute another type of alcohol for the whiskey – rum would be nice, maybe with a little ginger added. Brandy would be tasty, too. You could also sprinkle the tops of the muffins with raw sugar and/or spices before baking, but they are fine as-is and get a nice crusty top without any extra help.

Snowball?

I had fun though, and was rewarded with reports of happy snarfing from around the country. Among a couple of old favorites I included some new treats, many of which were variations on recipes I use at work.

Cute!

You won’t be seeing posts on the triangle-shaped biscotti, salted bitter brownies or experimental fudge cookies; though they all came out delicious I considered them to be sort of works-in-progress.

But these cookies? They’re pretty much my ideal.

So nibbular!

A crunchy, chocolatey twist on the classic Mexican Wedding/Russian Tea Cake. Shortbread dough, classically mixed with toasted chopped nuts, instead is peppered with cocoa nibs. Texturally fun to eat, with a sophisticated bitter flavor, these are among my very favorite cookies that we’ve done for the cookie plate at work.

Making them at home, I wanted to give them my own personal twist, something cute and clever and tasty that would make these cookies even more interesting and unique. So I thought about cocoa nibs…and what goes with cocoa nibs? Cinnamon and spice. Perfect! I took a little artistic liberty on the name and added a little cinnamon and cayenne to the outer layer of powdered sugar. And then I baked them and packed them and sent them with love.

Smells so good.

Oaxacan Wedding Cakes:

1. 12 oz. butter (not cold but not soft or melty either)
2. 3/4 cup powdered sugar
3. 1 tsp vanilla
4. 2 cups AP flour
5. 1 cup cornstarch
6. 1/2 tsp salt
7. 1 cup cocoa nibs
8. More powdered sugar, for rolling
9. Cinnamon to taste
10. Cayenne pepper to taste

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. You will probably have to scrape your bowl and beater(s) a few time. Make sure there are no stray lumps of butter in the mixture. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt all at once and beat on low until the mixture comes together, scraping down as needed to create an even mixture without overmixing the dough. Gently mix in the cocoa nibs and pack into an airtight container (makes about one quart of dough). Seal the container and refrigerate the dough overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Use a spoon to scoop chunks of dough and roll them quickly into roughly 1″ balls in your hands. Place at least 1″ apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so, until the cookies are very lightly browned on the bottom and slightly cracked on the top. Allow to cool completely on the sheets before removing. Combine powdered sugar with cinnamon and cayenne pepper to taste (you want a cinnamony smell and a slight bite from the pepper, neither should be overwhelming). Once the cookies are cool, roll thoroughly in powdered sugar mixture, more than once if necessary to get an even opaque white coating.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

September marks the anniversary of the release of one of my most very favorite books, The Flavor Bible! Last year I did a post about it and this year Karen and Andrew (the authors) were kind/terrifically sweet and generous enough to send me a copy of The Flavor Bible’s companion book, What to Drink with What You Eat, as well as a few bottles of wine to play with. There was a bit of a snafu with the delivering of said book (though the wine showed up quickly, at 9 p.m. from a refrigerated UPS truck…odd) which FedEx decided to send straight back after I wasn’t home to receive it, but Karen and Andrew just arranged to have it sent to me at work and all was well! So that explains why this post is just barely still in the month of September. It was frustrating having the wine around and no book to glean ideas from, though!

How dramatic!

Luckily it took me almost no time at all to decide what to do with the first wine. I’ve had an idea for a red wine-chocolate chip sorbet scribbled in my idea notebook since I moved to New York (actually I think it was scribbled in there as I was brainstorming to pass the time on the trip down) and I was excited to put it to use! I’m not much of a red wine fan – dry whites and the occasional rosé are more my speed (and, ok, hard liquor over everything if we’re really getting down to it) but one of the bottles I received was a gorgeous, deep purpley-red Cabernet-Sauvignon. Not very sweet but not overly tannic either, the added sugar and spice in this sorbet really helped the wine achieve its maximum dessert potential, I think.

Of course you have to serve it in wine glasses.

I hope I’m  not insulting any wine purists by dumping the whole bottle (minus a few sips to taste test it) in a pan with sugar, water and spice, but this is how I roll. You give me a foodstuff, I make said foodstuff into dessert. It’s what I do. It would be very good on its own, without the little bits of bittersweet chocolate throughout, maybe with some fresh cherries or other red or blue/black/purple berries…but then it would be more of a palate cleanser than a dessert. And I like dessert.

The booziness never really goes away completely.

Let’s talk about those books for a bit. You all know how much I love and rely on The Flavor Bible to spark my creative process. If I’ve convinced you to pick up a copy and put it to use, good! I hope you love it as much as I do…though if you do, you’re going to need What to Drink with What You Eat as well. Really. I can’t believe I’ve gone for so long without it. In addition to being an excellent way to learn a lot of the basics about wine quickly, it also covers EVERYTHING you could possibly drink. Including water. There’s even a nice, thorough tea section. As someone who seeks out flavors in unusual places, this just adds another dimension to what I can potentially do with flavors in my dessert experiments.

The chocolate is a little big but it still tastes awesome.

The spices in this may seem overpowering at first, even when it’s freshly churned, but will mellow out once it’s had a chance to set up. The only improvement I can suggest is to use bittersweet chocolate shavings (the chocolate MUST be bittersweet…I’ve decided this, don’t question it) or do it up straciatella-style, as it’s hard to balance big chips in bites of quickly-melting alcoholic sorbet.

Happy birthday, Flavor Bible!

Cabernet-Sauvignon Chocolate Chip Sorbet

1. 1 bottle Cabernet-Sauvignon
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1 cup water
4. 1 medium cinnamon stick, roughly broken up
5. 1 tsp whole cloves
6. 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
7. 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Place the wine, sugar and water in a deep saucepan. Add the spices and bring to a boil. Keep on a low boil for 5 minutes, until most of the alcohol has cooked off and the spices are apparent. Remove from heat. Remove as much of the spices as you can find with a small strainer and allow to come to room temperature (or chill over an ice bath if you’re in a hurry). Strain completely into a medium-large bowl and place in the freezer for about 5 hours, until the mixture is slushy. Churn in an ice cream maker, mixing the chocolate chips in at the last few seconds of churning. Remove to a chilled container and freeze several hours, until firm and scoopable.

Yes, you do really need to pre-freeze the base until it’s slushy. And eat it in small quantities (or just very quickly).