Amazing Brownies (with beans)

Brownies with beans? Nutritional value? Kind of like subbing apple sauce for oil? I’m all over it! So, of course, I was all over this recipe from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Here’s how I did it:

• 4 ounces dark chocolate
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups soft-cooked black beans, drained well
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup instant coffee
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1½ cups sugar or honey

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 11- by 18-inch (rimmed) baking pan with parchment paper and lightly oil with canola oil spray.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in over low heat or in the microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on high. Stir with a spoon to melt the chocolate completely.
3. Place the beans, 1/2 cup of the walnuts, the vanilla extract, and a couple of spoonfuls of the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Blend about 2 minutes, or until smooth. The batter should be thick and the beans smooth. Set aside.
   
4. In a large bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts, remaining melted chocolate mixture, coffee, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
   
5. In a separate bowl, with an electric mixer beat the eggs until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar/honey and beat well. Set aside.
6. 
   Add the bean/chocolate mixture to the coffee/chocolate mixture. Stir until blended well. Add the egg mixture, reserving about 1/2 cup. Mix well.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Using an electric mixer, beat the remaining 1/2 cup egg mixture until light and fluffy. Drizzle over the brownie batter. Use a wooden toothpick to pull the egg mixture through the batter, creating a marbled effect.
8. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies are set. Let cool in the pan completely before cutting into squares. (They will be soft until refrigerated.)

Makes 45 (2-inch) brownies.

So, the verdict? These were tasty, I noticed no hint of beans. My boyfriend didn’t either, although he tried them without knowing. The downside? They needed to cook a lot longer than indicated (although that may have been my oven temperature), and they never really solidified. They were gooey and yummy for me, my boyfriend complained they didn’t seem cooked well enough (they were, they were just soft), so I felt kind of funny sharing them. Still, for an at-home treat, it’s a winner!

Ultimate Peanut Butter Cup Cake

I had a full day ahead of me and a craving for a cooking adventure (one last hurrah before my roommates returned and I had to go back to sharing the kitchen), so I clicked through some archived recipes, and came across the Ultimate Peanut Butter Cup Cake recipe posted by The Voracious Vegan.

I had to make some changes, so here’s how I did it.

2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

¼ t. salt

1½ c. granulated sugar

½ c. natural peanut butter

1/3 c. butter at room temperature

1 c. milk

¼ cup mashed banana

2 t. vinegar

1 t. vanilla extract

1 c./180 grams chocolate

1 c. natural peanut butter

½ c. powdered sugar

1/3 c. butter at room temperature

Pre-heat the oven to 350F and oil and flour two 8-inch round cake pans. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, peanut butter, and butter and beat until fluffy. Beat in the milk, banana, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir until just combined. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool.

Melt the chocolate chips in a double-broiler over gently simmering water. Combine the melted chocolate with the peanut butter, powered sugar, and butter and until fluffy.

Remove the cooled cakes from the pans and spread about one-third of the frosting over 1 of the cakes. Place the other cake over it and frost the top and sides. Cover and store in the refrigerator until serving time.

Comments: This was rich and delicious, though not as awe-inspiring as I expected from The Voracious Vegan’s buildup of the recipe. It was great though, as I had all the ingredients, and made my first cake in Argentina’s crazy (unpredictable) gas ovens!

Peanut Butter Cookies

I wanted something sweet, quick, and easy. AllRecipes had this highly rated recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t. vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Combine ingredients and drop by teaspoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Let cool. Recipe doesn't make very many, so you could double recipe as you desire.

Comments: These served the purpose, but next time I’d put in the extra effort to make the flour, eggs, and butter version.

Crepes

I've been craving crepes for days! Finally, I finished off my huge stockpile of veggies and salads, and was able to move on to satisfy my urge. I decided to go with this recipe, as it was easy to divide in half, and very clear cut. However, next time I'd like to try one that uses beer and see if there's a difference in the flavor.

Making Crepes

If you're making enough crepes to serve a lot of people, there are three easy ways to handle it. First, you can stick the crepes on a plate in a barely warm (200°F) oven, where they'll stay warm until you are ready to assemble them. Second, you can serve them as you make them. When serving family on a busy night, it's sometimes okay if people eat them as they are served. Third, it's not a big deal if the crepes cool down a little bit before you eat. If the filling is warm, it makes up for it.

To make about 20-24 crepes, you'll need:

4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 ¼ milk
¼ cup (½ stick) melted butter or margarine

Sugar, rum, and vanilla for sweet crepes.

It is no problem to make a half-batch or a double-batch.

Making the Crepe Batter

1. Gather your ingredients.
2. Break four eggs into a bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to eggs and whisk eggs and salt together until the egg looks uniformly yellow.
3. Measure two cups of flour and add some of the flour to the egg mixture.
4. Whisk the flour into the eggs. It will be a bit lumpy right now, but that's okay.
5. Whisk some of the milk into the batter. It will get thinner. Keep adding milk and flour alternately until you've added it all.
6. Whisk the batter until it is smooth. It shouldn't take more than a minute or two to whisk it smooth, from the time you started to add the flour.
7. Add the melted butter to the batter, and again whisk it until it's smooth.
8. Cover the batter.
9. Put the batter in the refrigerator

At this point, your batter is ready to go, and you can begin making the crepes whenever you are ready. You can the batter a few hours or even a day in advance of when you make the crepes. If you let it sit for a long time, the butter will separate from the rest of the batter, but you just need to whisk it for ten seconds or so, and it will be ready to use. I've kept my batter for several days, and it has been fine. After a couple of days, the batter gets a bit darker in color, but the crepes still taste fine.

If I'm making the batter right before I make the crepes, I refrigerate the batter while I prepare the filling.

Cooking the Crepes

1. Select a non-stick skillet (8 inches is ideal).

2. Preheat your pan on medium heat. Use about one-fourth of a cup of batter for an 8 inch pan.

3. Pour the batter into the pan.

4. As you pour the batter, twirl the pan around.

5. As you twirl the pan, the batter coats it and makes the crepe. If you put in too little batter to begin with, pour in some extra batter to fill in the gaps.

6. As the crepe cooks, it changes in appearance. The batter starts out looking moister and hasn't set. Once it has set, it’s still a bit moist. You can usually see a lace pattern developing on the underside of the crepe.

7. When the crepe has set you can see the spatula through the crepe. The crepe will also usually slide around when it is ready. (It make stick a bit a the edges though.)

8. Slip the spatula under the crepe. Sometimes you need to poke it a bit. If it helps to pick up the edge of the crepe with your fingers, do it.

9. Flip the crepe over. Look at that nice lace pattern on the crepes. If you're skillful, you can flip the crepe with a quick action of the wrist and no spatula.

10. After the second side has cooked for maybe twenty seconds, slip it out of the pan onto a plate for serving, or into a baking dish that you can put into a warmed (200°F) oven.

Comments: These turned out great! Well, the recipe was easy enough. I didn't get much crepe, I think I used too much unseasoned spinach and too little cheese, so it mostly tasted like spinach, until I went for the dessert crepes. Dulce de leche was purchased for the occassion, and yum! Mine weren't too circular, as my pan was pretty big, and I didn't want to attempt giant crepes, but otherwise they were fabulous and easy.

Melt-in-your-mouth Chocolate Cake

I made this cake to try and get the most bang for a small amount of cannabutter I had. Unfortunately, the cannabutter failed to come through (i.e. it wasn’t strong enough for the two servings we divided the half cake into), however the cake was chocolately, rich goodness, a bit like a giant brownie. As I only made a half-recipe, it ended up a bit burnt—or maybe that was due to the lack of a temperature gauge on the oven? Either way, I’d probably stop the half recipe after 15 minutes next time.

- 200g (2 sticks minus 1 Tbsp) butter
- 200g (7 oz) dark chocolate
- 200g (1 C) sugar
- 4 eggs
- a rounded tablespoon of flour

Note: like all dark chocolate cakes, this cake is best made a day ahead (or at least in the morning if you serve it for dinner).

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper (no need to if you're using a non-stick pan).

Melt together the butter with the chocolate (in a double-boiler or in the microwave slowly and for just a few seconds at a time, blending with a spoon between each pass). Transfer into a medium mixing-bowl. Add in the sugar, stir with a wooden spoon and let cool a little. Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Finally, add in the flour and mix well.

Pour the dough into the pan, and put into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven off but leave the cake inside for another ten minutes, then put the pan on a cooling rack on the counter to cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate, and take it out about an hour before serving.

Update 4/24/09:  I made this again, exactly as specified.  I'm not sure if it was my memory that betrayed me, or the changes, but while it was delicious, it wasn't quite as addictive as the last time.  I think part of this was due to leaving it in the fridge overnight, it was very cold, as opposed to straight-from-the-oven melty.

Butter Flaky Pie Crust

This time, I used the pie crust recipe from Allrecipes, Butter Flaky Pie Crust. A vast improvement on the previous, I think the majority of the problem with this one was due to technique (most obviously, that I was unable to refrigerate it for the full four hours, and instead left it for about an hour). While it tasted pretty good, it wasn't flaky and was quite ugly (I had problems getting it to stretch.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
• 1/4 cup ice water

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

Some tips to keep in mind next time:

• Try using hands instead of food processor.
• Freeze the butter for 15 minutes, before using
• And/or use a cheese grater to shred the butter.
• Freeze the water a little, until ice crystals form.
• Brush prepared crust with egg whites, if sogginess becomes a problem (it wasn't this time).
• Refrigerate the dough a bit between adding butter and water.
• Rolling out the dough twice may help it stretch.
  

Foodie415's Tomato Tart Buttery Pie Crust

This recipe had a large error. The amount of liquid to dry ingredients was off (by a lot). I believe it needed to start with 3 times the butter. However, it included an egg yolk, which I haven't seen in any other recipes, so I'm not sure how that affected things.

Regardless, it was overmixed, as I had to keep adding more and more water (before I realized the fault was a lack of butter), and very tough.