Chocolate madeleines

The first time I saw madeleines was on the TV show Friends. Since they were a cute shell shaped French cake cookie, I was intrigued. Also, they said they were hard to make. Double bonus!

Since then, I have always wanted to try them, but never have, because they require a special pan. The chocolate therapy challenge was a great reason to buy a madeleine pan! I will be trying a non-chocolate madeleine recipe as well, but first and most important is the chocolate recipe. My source is La Tartine gourmande. Since her recipe requires a kitchen scale and I don't have one, and also is not detailed enough for this madeleine beginner, I had to supplement it with info from 101 cookbooks madeleine recipe and a conversion website.

I ended up using mostly dark chocolate with mint, since that's what I had in the fridge. I also overfilled the molds the first time, since 3/4 full of a shell shaped mold is kind of hard to see. Overfilling them is bad, since they stick to the mold more. I think there is a skill there you have to develop to have all your madeleines look awesome like pictures I've seen. Mine turned out okay. The batter recipe is easy, it is getting beautiful looking madeleines that is the hard part.

I'd also appreciate the recipe saying put in a heaping 1 Tbsp (approx amount for regular madeleine molds I'd say), since that would be easier to measure/see. Also, unmold them on a flat surface instead of wire racks for better luck IMO.

The flavor and texture was great. It was like a little cake, delicate and light and chocolatey. Yum! They are rich and delicious. The chocolate mint worked really well for me. MMM...

Photos: Top are my 4 best madeleines. Next is my first batch, which mostly fell apart, trying to unmold on the rack. Next is the amount I put in the molds the 2nd time, resulting in no overflow and finally a batch that I unmolded on a flat surface.

Here is the recipe, modified as I did it:

Chocolate Madeleines

3 eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
3.5 oz dark chocolate
4 oz (1/2 stick) butter, unsalted
1 tsp. baking powder
dash sea salt

*Place the chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl and melt over a pot of simmering water. Let it cool down.
* Sift the flour and baking powder and keep on the side.
* Place the eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on high with a whisk attachment until they double/triple in volume (about 3 minutes).
* Reduce the speed and add the sugar in a steady stream. Increase the speed to high again and beat until lighter in color, about 2 minutes (until thick and ribbony).
* Remove the bowl and add the flour and baking powder with a wooden spoon.
* Add the cool melted chocolate and butter and blend, not overworking the dough.
* Place the batter in the fridge for a few hours before baking (minimum 1 hour).
*Use baking spray on molds or butter & flour them.
* Fill special madeleine molds 3/4 full. (Approx 1 Tbsp per mold). Do not spread out, as they will fill it while baking. Do not overfill.
* Preheat your oven at 430 F and cook the madeleines for 7 minutes first so that they rise nicely, then reduce the heat to 350 F and continue to cook for 4 more minutes.
* Unmold immediately and cool on racks. Best eaten day they are made, will keep a few days.
Makes approx 3 dozen cookies.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

I remember the first time someone shared their bag of dark chocolate truffles with me... wow. First you taste the cocoa, then the dark chocolate comes thru and mixes with it and melts in your mouth. Mmmm....chocolate.... :)

I'm a day late in posting and finishing these truffles since they were part of December's Chocolate therapy challenge, but I'm still sharing. These are so simple to make! I was worried they'd be delicate and easy to mess up, but nope. If you can bring heavy cream to a boil, you can make these. They may not be as pretty, but they'll sure taste as good!

I used a mix of a bag of Dove dark chocolates, Hershey's special dark, and another small bar of dark chocolate I had in the fridge to make 1 lb of chocolate. Total cost for the pound of chocolate? About $5. Considering that a pound of truffles can run up to $34 (and I've paid it...) that's a deal. But you still need some heavy cream and good cocoa powder for dusting. Not a cheap treat, but a worthy one.

Note that the mixture sits in the fridge for an hour, not overnight. If you leave it overnight (innocent whistling), you will have to have it sit out and gently warm it up (don't melt it again, you could mess it up.) But its still yummy, even if you just chip off a piece of the hardened ganache mixture and roll it in the cocoa powder.

1 lb. dark chocolate (pick stuff you like, this will be the flavor you get.)
1 cup. heavy whipping cream
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Break up chocolate into pieces, put in large heat proof bowl.
2. Heat heavy cream on stove to just boiling. (this is called scalding).
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 5 minutes.
4. Stir the chocolate/cream mixture until it is smooth and creamy.
5. Put in the fridge for an hour to cool/thicken.
6. Scoop out balls of mix, and roll in cocoa powder to finish.
7. Try not to eat them all before sharing! ;)

Mint Oreo Truffles

Chocolate Therapy Challenge this month is truffles, and the first recipe to try for me is the easy oreo truffle. :) I first tried these about 2 months ago and mmmm...yummy...:) And simple! Well worth trying. (Visit Create Cakes for my friend's experience with truffles!)

Mint Oreo Truffles
8 oz cream cheese
1 package oreos
1 tsp mint extract
12 oz chocolate
1 tsp oil

Crush the oreos, use a food processor or just crush with a rolling pin when they are in a plastic bag. Beat the cream cheese until smooth with mixer, then mix in oreos until totally black, with no cream cheese showing. Refrigerate until firm and cold.

Shape into little balls, about a tablespoon of mix each, putting on cookie trays and then in the fridge to firm up and get cold again.

Melt the chocolate (semi-sweet chips or bars, dark chocolate bars, fancy candy chocolate, whatever is your favorite...even half chocolate/half andes bars if you want mint overload) in a double boiler, mix in the oil to make it a bit thinner and easier to use.

Have another tray with parchment paper ready, put a ball of filling in the chocolate, cover with melted chocolate, lift out with a fork, hit on edge to shake off some of the extra chocolate, place on parchment paper by scraping off fork with a small knife. Repeat with other balls, melting more chocolate if necessary (I used about 24 oz). Put back in the fridge to firm up and get cold.

If you want, melt a different colored chocolate and drizzle on the top for decoration.

Eat, share, enjoy!

(Note, I don't think you can put them in the freezer, cream cheese does NOT do well with the freezer, which is why you need a little bit of fridge space, or a cold garage or snow outside... :) )

I got 50 truffle balls, others have gotten more, it will depend on the size you make them, and how much of the filling you eat first!

(NOTE: Because of the cream cheese, these must be stored in the fridge too. But after they harden up, you can move them to a more compact storage than the trays...if they last that long.)

Thanksgiving Run Down

I still haven't posted my thanksgiving 2007 complete rundown...It was a great thanksgiving dinner! I did not get any great beautiful table shots b/c we served the food more buffet style, but I did get individual dish pics!

The turkeys were in a fight over who was better, the brined than fried turkey or the brined than roasted in the oven turkey...The winner on taste was the roasted turkey. The meat stayed much more moist and delicious. The fried turkey skin is awesome, but the meat was a bit more dried out. The look of the fried turkey is more beautiful maybe, but roasting just produced better tasting meat!

We had free range pastured turkey this year and you can really tell the difference. The legs were so much bigger! You can tell these turkeys ran around and had a good time. :P

In the shot of most of my guests eating, notice the guy in the back with the giant turkey leg! It was a great prize, the drumstick on these turkeys! Just like in medieval movies where they show large sticks o' meat.



In other dishes, we had the traditional mashed potatoes & gravy, our macaroni salad that I posted about before, traditional stuffing, orange rolls, dinner rolls, cranberry-orange relish, a butternut squash soup & the sweet potato casserole. In new adventure dishes, we had a wilted spinach salad with radishes & oranges and a warm vinaigrette, roasted green beans & carrots with a basalmic honey sauce.

For dessert there was pecan pie, fudge pecan pie, spiced pumpkin cheesecake and apple cranberry pie. I really love Thanksgiving! Writing about it makes me sentimental and hungry. Mmmm...pie... :) Here are a few pictures of foods to make you hungry too! :)

Creamy Enchilada Casserole

Nava Atlas writes great cookbooks with great recipes. The Vegetarian Family Cookbook is wonderful. Simple, great tasting, kid-friendly...what's not to like? She also does a monthly newsletter from her website with scrumptious seasonal recipes. I checked it out again from the library and have been enjoying it! :)

Creamy Enchilada Casserole

(filling)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 16-oz can vegetarian refried beans
1/2 cup mild or medium hot bottled salsa or 4-z mild green chiles
2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro (optional)
1/2 tsp dried oregano

(sauce)
1 1/4 cups milk, rice milk or soy milk
2 Tbsp white flour
1 1/2 cups grated monterey jack or other non-dairy white cheese

8-10 corn tortillas, cut in halves
1 scallion, thinly sliced
salsa for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Oil your 9x13 pan or 2 qt casserole

Heat oil in medium skillet, add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and saute until onion os golden. Stir in remaining filling ingredients and cook unitl well heated thru.

Heat 1 cup of milk in small saucepan, dissolve flour in remaining milk .Whisk into saucepan, then sprinkle in 1 cup of cheese. bring to gentle simmer, stirring frequently, and cook until thickened.

Line pan with a single layer of tortillas, pour in filling and spread evenly over tortillas. Cover with remaining tortilla halves.

Pour cheese sauce evenly over tortillas, sprinkle with remaining cheese. Sprinkle scallions over the top. Bake 15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly. Serve at once, pass around salsa for topping if desired.

N.B. I used flour tortillas, we don't like corn ones in our home, it worked fine. This recipe was delicious, and has possibilities for improvization too. :)

Chinese Noodle Bowl

Checking out the recipe book Beggars Banquets that I saw on another blog, I found this recipe that sounded fun. It took some interpretation on a few of the ingredients, but resulted in a successful delicious dinner for our family. My boys ate it up with relish and DH thought it was wonderful.

I used broccoli instead of cucumber because of family preference, the book suggests using whatever vegetables are cheapest/in season at the store. The hoisin sauce is the real flavor. :)

Chinese Noodle Bowl with Bean sprouts, carrots and peanuts


12 oz ground pork or diced firm tofu
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 bunch spring onions, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce or to taste, with extra for tossing noodles if desired
5-6 Tbsp hoisin sauce (or more, to taste)
2-2.5 oz water
4 oz bean sprouts
1 lb dried Chinese egg noodles (I used ramen type noodles)
2 tsp toasted sesame oil, to taste (optional)
3-4 Tbsp roasted peanuts
1 carrot, julienned
1 cucumber julienned
2-3 Tbsp coarse chopped fresh cilantro

Stir fry the pork or tofu w/garlic and ginger in the oil for 6-7 minutes until lightly browned. Stir in half the onions, the sugar, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce. Remove pan from heat and stir in water, then return to heat and warm on medium heat. Remove from heat, and add bean sprouts

Cook noodles in rapidly boiling salted water until just ender. Drain and toss with sesame oil then serve straight away, topping each portion with some of meat sauce, onions, peanuts, carrot and cucumber and cilantro. (Or mix it all up and then serve, which is what I did.)

Mike's Macaroni Salad

This recipe is a family favorite, and a holiday or large party standard. It is a recipe that originated from a TV show on the Food Network, though I don't remember which one.

My DH immediately started playing with the recipe and it is pretty different from the original now. It is delicious because of the way the spices play together with the ingredients, and that is mostly the same as the original recipe. Most of the work is in chopping up ingredients. Yes, it takes more than a day to make correctly, but it is worth it.

Mike's Macaroni Salad

1 (16-ounce) package salad macaroni (or ditali pasta)
1 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup yellow or white onion, diced
1 cup medium cheddar, diced
1 cup Swiss cheese, diced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesano Reggiano
1 cup sweet pickles, diced (bread 'n butter work well)
1 cup ham diced
1 can drained sweet peas

1 to 2 tablespoons Lowry's garlic salt
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise/miracle whip (a 50/50 mixture is best)

Add 2 quarts of water to a medium stockpot and bring to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until it is al dente, approximately 9 minutes. Do not overcook the pasta or it will fall apart when the salad is tossed together. Rinse macaroni until cool. Drain well and let it dry out slightly.

Add pasta to a large bowl. Carefully fold in celery, onion, cheddar, Swiss cheese, Parmesan, pickles, ham, and sweet peas. Refrigerate the mixture, uncovered, overnight (the flavors are much better if overnight) (refrigerate at least 2 hours).

Mix the garlic salt, minced garlic, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard and celery salt together. Add to salad. Fold in 1 cup of mayo/miracle whip mixture to start. Add up to a 1/2 cup more of mayo/miracle whip if needed. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

We almost always double the recipe for a party, to make sure there are adequate leftovers. :)

Coconut Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes

I found the original version of this recipe in the coupon inserts a few years ago. It was fabulous. It is a simple and fast dinner, nutritious and fun to make! Serve with rice, or whatever else you like to have with curry.

I decided this time to try and adjust it to a slow cooker recipe for easy prep in the morning, and it worked out wonderfully with very little modification.

Coconut Chicken Curry with Sweet Potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 pound chicken breast tenders
2 large shallots, finely sliced
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion
2-1/2 teaspoons Curry Powder
1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced (1/2-inch piece size)
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk
2 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper; sauté in Dutch oven for 5 to 7 minutes, or until center is no longer pink. Remove chicken and cover.

Add remaining oil to Dutch oven. Sauté shallots and red onion for 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle in curry powder, crushed red pepper and sea salt. Add sweet potatoes and coconut milk; bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 10 minutes.

While sweet potatoes are simmering, dice cooked chicken.

Add chicken to sweet potatoes; simmer an additional 5 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through.

Apple Chestnut Soup

From "The Flexitarian Table" comes this wonderful soup that is to be paired with the penne with beets. It was delicious, once I was finally able to obtain chestnuts and do the whole roasting thing. I will be making it again, or some variation of it, like this one.

Trying this soup was reminiscent of the first time I had a good butternut squash soup. It was an eye opening experience. The seasonings and flavors of this apple chestnut soup really make it an experience not to be forgotten. Yum.

Apple Chestnut Soup

1 lb chestnuts in shell (3 cups), scored and soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
4 Tblsp unsalted butter
2 c. finely chopped onions
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
2 tsp chopped peeled fresh ginger
Sea salt
2 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled & chopped
2 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 large apple, such as mutsu, winesap, gala, or golden delicious, peeled, cored & chopped
4.5-5 cups stock or water
2/3 c half-n-half or heavy cream
freshly ground black pepper
maple syrup for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread soaked chestnuts on rimmed baking sheet. Roast until the shells crack open and you can easily peel away the skins, 45-60 minutes. Wrap in a clean towel and steam until cool enough to handle, 5-10 minutes. Pull away the shells, then the skins, briefly return to the oven any that are difficult.

In 4-5 quart dutch oven or other heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat and let it cook until it has turned golden and ceased to sputter, about 5 minutes. Add onions, sage, ginger and 1/2 tsp salt, cover, and cook, stirring frequently, and adjusting the heat as necessary to keep the onions from browning, until the onions are golden and meltingly tender, about 15 minutes.

Add potatoes, parsnips, apple, chestnuts, and stock or water to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, simmer until vegetables are tender enough to crush against side of pot, 25-30 minutes.

Using immersion blender, or working in batches with regular blender, puree soup until smooth. Blend in cream if using and thin with more stock or water if desired. Transfer to saucepan and reheat, seasoning with salt & pepper and serve with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge Week in Review

This was an interesting week. I never did make the chestnut soup or the coconut curried chicken, they got pushed into the next week. But contrary to my belief, there weren't so many leftovers that it was nuts, and it was actually nice to have a good dinner each night.

It was also nice to have a plan for breakfast, it made mornings easier. I never had to run to the store all week, I had everything I needed, thanks to the time I had put into planning. Hopefully I can get faster at that planning, it is worth it.

What I really take away from this week is that it is okay to spend $100+ a week on my family groceries, when I have a plan. I am still coming away from student land where we ate spaghetti most nights to keep costs under $50 a week. This was about having abundance, but with a plan, so that it wasn't excessive or expensive, and it was wonderful.

What I actually cooked/served each day this past week: (compare with my original plan).

Sunday
B: German Pancakes
L: Leftovers
D: Swiss & Mushroom Quiche (Moosewood Cookbook)
Des: Chocolate cream sandwiches cookies

Monday
B: oatmeal porridge
L: Sandwiches
D: Beet penne pasta (The Flexitarian Table) & Slow cooker apple pork roast
Des: Slow cooker Chocolate Almond Cheesecake (Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker)

Tuesday
B: Cranberry orange muffins
L: Sandwiches
D: ate out at Cheddars (due to melting rice cooker)
Des: leftovers

Wednesday
B: banana sour cream muffins
L: leftovers
D:Slow Cooker stuffed peppers
Des: Chocolate souffle

Thursday
B: Oatmeal porridge
L: Sandwiches
D: Slow Cooker Corn Chowder & breadsticks
Des: leftover cookies

Friday
B: apples & breadsticks
L: Leftovers
D: Homemade Margherita Pizza
Des: Grapefruit Ice cream

Saturday
B: pancakes
L: leftovers
D: leftovers