Culinary Goods

I failed to see the word "fudgy" in the title before I made these, so was surprised when they turned out dense instead of light and fluffy. They really are the consistency of brownies and are awesomely dense and buttery. This recipe only made 18 instead of 24, and as you can see, they definitely weren't overflowing, so I don't know what happened there. I cut down the sugar quite a bit, so the cupcakes were a bit bitter on their own, but were perfectly sweet with the frosting, which really is amazing frosting. They get a 7.5 and the recipe came from melskitchencafe.com. BROWNIE CUPCAKES:  1 cup butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces)   1/2 cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips   1 1/2 cups (11.25 ounces) lightly packed brown sugar  I used 1 C. and 2 TBS  1 tablespoon vanilla extract   3 large eggs   1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour   3/4 cup (2.25 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder   1 teaspoon baking powder...

I'm putting this here because this is my default recipe and I'm tired of looking it up each time I want to make black beans. I like this flavor and this can obviously modified to suit your taste. 1 (1-lb.) bag  black beans, rinsed and sorted 1 tablespoon   onion powder 2 teaspoons   garlic powder 1-2 teaspoons   salt 1   bay leaf 6 cups   unsalted vegetable broth, chicken broth, or water It says to cook this on the Bean/Chili setting, but I usually need to cook these for 20 minutes longer than that. 

So, these were fantastic. I made 2 versions. One just as it is listed below, and one with only 1/2 cup sugar and 50% half and half and 50% cream. You can easily go with only 1/2 cup of sugar, but if you don’t use all cream, it’s not as thick. Lemon Pots de Crème By Martin Courtman Fine Cooking Issue 56 Ingredients Finely grated zest of 4 lemons 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice   3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup is fine 3-1/2 cups heavy cream 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped and pod reserved (or 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract) 10 large egg yolks Sweetened whipped cream, for garnish Essentially, you boil the lemon juice, lemon zest, and  1/4 cup of sugar until it’s reduced to about half cup (15 minutes or so). Then, you bring the cream and part of the sugar nearly to a boil, then temper it with the eggs that were beaten with some of the sugar, and then combine it back together and cook to 170. Then you add the lemon stuff and strain it immediately into a cup. ...

These were good—they taste similar to key lime pie. So, we kind of combined a few recipes for these. I made a lime curd using this recipe but just swapping our lime for the lemon. Classic Lemon Curd by Elinor Klivans from Fine Cooking Issue 26 3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature 1 cup sugar I cut this down to 1/2 cup 2 large eggs 2 large egg yolks 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1 tsp. grated lemon zest I used 3 Tbs from 3 lemons In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks. In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. It should leave a path on the back of a spoo...

This was good, but I didn't like the consistency of the cake. Because it doesn't have eggs, it was rather dense instead of airy and light. If this deters you, I would swap out the cake part for a traditional chocolate cake with eggs. It gets a 7, and the recipe came from the Layered cookbook. I also didn't make the coconut caramel glaze for this, but I'm sure it would be great. The cinnamon is also very prominent in this cake, so I would probably omit it next time. For the eggless chocolate cake: Butter, nonstick cooking spray, or coconut oil for the pans 2 1/4  cups  (280 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans 1 1/2  cups  (300 grams) granulated sugar I used 1 1/4 C.  6  tablespoons  (35 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/2  teaspoons  baking soda 1/2  teaspoon  ground cinnamon 3/4  teaspoon  fine salt 1/2  cup  (120 milliliters) melted coconut oil 1 1/2  tablespoons  disti...

Those of you who know me well know that I don't like sugar cookies. I like food with flavor, and sugar cookies have no discernible flavor (because sugar is not a flavor). Not only that, but most sugar cookies are dense and crumbly, which makes for an overall yuck experience for me. Right before we moved from Lehi last year, our next-door neighbor (Jackie Finlinson) brought over some sugar cookies, and they were just lovely because they had great almond flavor and were soft and wonderful.      They get an 8, and she said it's a family recipe that she's modified to make more almondy. 4 C. flour 1 C. butter 1 C. sugar (I used 3/4 C.) 3 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt Mid all ingredients and add: 1 C. milk 2 eggs 1 tsp. almond flavoring Mix, cut into desired shape, and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Warning- these are super soft when rolling out and cutting, so I would recommend refrigerating them for at least 1 hour before-hand. I did this, and they were still ...

So, this had a great tasted, but I didn’t think it was any better than version 3 that I just blogged. I would probably stick with my originals, but I do like the idea of lemon. Also, this spread so much, so I would probably bake it as one big rectangle and then cut it. Lemon-Poppyseed Shortcakes with Summer Berries By Katherine Eastman Seeley Fine Cooking Issue 58 13-1/2 oz. (about 3 cups) all-purpose flour 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. granulated sugar; plus about 3 Tbs. for sprinkling 1-1/2 Tbs. baking powder 3/4 tsp. table salt 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. finely grated, lightly packed lemon zest; more for garnish 2 Tbs. poppyseeds I left these out 6 oz. (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 1-1/4 cups heavy cream; plus about 3 Tbs. for brushing 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice Recipe and instructions can be found at link below: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/lemon-poppyseed-shortcakes-with-summer-berries

I forgot to grab a picture of this, but it’s a classic strawberry shortcake with a biscuit-like shortbread. This was good—I give it an 8. However, my original versions aren’t any less awesome, so I might stick with those. Classic Strawberry Shortcake By Karen Barker Fine Cooking Issue 111 9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for rolling 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbs. granulated sugar 2-1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 4 oz. (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 1 large egg 1/4 cup heavy cream; more for brushing 1/4 cup buttermilk Recipe and instructions can be found at link below: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/classic-strawberry-shortcake So, I followed this pretty close, except I cut the sugar down to a scant 1/4 cup and it was fine. This has a great texture. We added a few Tbs of lemon zest (as well as a few Tbs of lemon juice to the liquid), and that was a fun change.