Bargain Box Mawardi Orange and Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup whole walnuts

Zest from one orange

2 tsp of baking powder

2 large eggs

1 cup brown sugar or white if brown is not available

Juice from 2 Mawardi oranges (any orange will do)

½ cup olive oil

Confectionary sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut out a piece of parchment paper the size of the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan. Brush the pan with olive oil and place parchment paper on the bottom and brush with oil. Dust with flour.

Finely chop the walnuts or place in a food processor to grind being careful not to grind too much.

In a mixing bowl combine flour, ground walnuts, orange rind, and baking powder. Make a hole in the center and add the eggs, sugar, orange juice, and olive oil and mix so that it comes together as a batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for ten minutes and then turn over a baking rack, peel off the parchment paper, and allow the cake to cool.

Once cooled, using a sifter spoon powdered sugar over the cake and place a walnut in the center.

Adapted from marthastewart.com

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:

12oz / 340g good quality semi-sweet dark chocolate

2/3c / 160ml heavy cream
1-2 Tbl liquor or brandy (optional)
Unsweetened cocoa or finely chopped nuts

Chop the chocolate very fine and set aside in a glass bowl. Chopping can be done in a food processor. Scald the heavy cream so that it begins to bubble. Pour the cream into the chocolate, cover the bowl with a small plate and let it sit for a few moments. With a rubber spatula stir the chocolate mixture so that it is smooth. If bits of chocolate are not melted completely put it in the microwave and nuke for 10 second intervals at 50% until melted. Stir in the liquor.

Put the mixture in the refrigerator for approximately three hours so that the chocolate hardens. Using a truffle scoop or a teaspoon scoop out globs of chocolate and form them into balls using your hands. This is very messy and periodically you’ll want to wash your hands because the heat of your hands will warm the chocolate and it will get sticky. Wash your hands in cold water to cool them down. Also if the mixture becomes too soft put it back into the refrigerator.

Put the balls into a small bowl of unsweetened cocoa or finely chopped nuts to coat them. Place them into small paper truffle cups (available at the supermarket) on a baking sheet or in a container.

I keep them in the refrigerator until I need them.

One thing to keep in mind is if the day is too warm or the kitchen too hot, the chocolate will melt.

To see how it is done go to: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/02/10/dining/100000001342431/do-it-yourself-truffles.html?ref=dining

Easy Brownies

I recently had a yen for chocolate and figured that the easiest way to satisfy that desire was to make brownies. I went to Google and found different recipes that didn’t really suit my needs. Many recipes use unsweetened chocolate and while this ingredient helps to make for good chewy brownies, I usually don’t have any unsweetened chocolate around.

(I stopped buying unsweetened chocolate long ago because, except for brownies, there isn’t much call for it. It keeps for a time but eventually gets a white misty surface and bleaches out.)

I found a recipe that looked easy, but needed my own special assistance. Basically it called for 5 Tbs. dark chocolate, 2 Tbs. unsweetened chocolate, 8 Tbs. butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 egg yoke, 2 tsp. vanilla, and 2/3 cup of flour. (I’m sure it called for salt, but the only time I use salt is when I’m baking with yeast.)

I had no unsweetened chocolate, had an inexact measurement for butter, in Lebanon it comes in 200 gram bars, and didn’t want to be bothered with separating an egg. I had a few different odds and ends of dark chocolate that I had used for holiday baking; one was too bitter so I sweetened it up with another brand.

Ingredients:

6 Tbl unsalted butter

6 Tbl of dark chocolate

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your pan by buttering and flouring it and including a parchment bottom.

(In this case, the recipe called for an 8 inch square pan, but all I have is a round cake pan, so I used that. I buttered the sides, bottom and fit in a piece of parchment paper that I cut out from tracing it around the bottom of the pan. Butter the parchment paper too.)

Break up the bits of chocolate and put them in a sauce pan with the butter cut into tablespoons.

(It is always hard to tell with chocolate because it comes in bars not in spoons so I usually eyeball an amount that looks like it will produce a good chocolaty flavor.)

(A word about melting chocolate and butter: the original recipe called for a double boiler. It is true that you can control the heat better with a double boiler, but I think it is too much trouble. If you are really careful, keep a constant eye on your chocolate, keep stirring it, use a very low heat, and take it off of the heat while stirring when most of the chunks are melted, you can do it straight from the stove. With a microwave, it is best to do it in spurts starting with 30 seconds at 50% and when it is really starting to melt, 10 seconds. Be sure to stir it once it begins to melt. Basically the butter will melt first and needs to be incorporated. The last of the chunks should be melted in the pan that is warm to the touch. For brownies I use a pan directly on the stove, because I can put in the rest of the ingredients and not have to dirty a bowl.)

Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the sugar. Making sure your mixture is not hot to the touch; add one egg at a time stirring after each addition.

Incorporate the vanilla and flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, pop it into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. You’ll know it is done if you stick a toothpick into the center and it comes out with a bit of crumb. Don’t over bake the brownies.

Put the pan on a rack for ten minutes and then turn it onto the rack to cool. Cool completely before cutting the brownies.

I love frozen brownies for a midmorning snack, so I usually store them in a sealed plastic bag and keep them in the freezer. When I have them around my clothes fit a bit snugger.

This recipe yielded some of the easiest and best tasting brownies I have made in a while, so enjoy!

Syllabub with Pomegranate

Single cooks and couples often forgo dessert because it is too much of a hassle to prepare. They’ll make do with a bowl of ice cream or a piece of fruit. Here is an old fashioned British dessert that is easy to make and quite elegant. Syllabub is a mixture of heavy cream, sugar, white wine, lemon juice, and lemon rind. Sprinkling a few pomegranate seeds on top gives it a festive appearance.

If you are just setting up your kitchen, you may not have a measuring cup, no problem. I can’t even get a measuring cup in Beirut so I’ve adapted my measuring to what I have. I use a mug, that is not really a standard American size mug, but a little smaller – I think – don’t really know because I don’t have an eight ounce mug to compare it with. I eyeball the amounts in the mug that I have and figure it will measure out fine.

Put ½ cup sugar into a bowl with 1 cup of heavy cream. Beat it with an electric or hand mixer or a whisk until it begins to thicken. Put ¼ cup of white wine, 1/8 cup of lemon juice, and 1 tsp. of grated lemon peel into the cup and add it to the cream. Beat the mixture until it is thicker, but not completely whipped. I pour it into three champagne flutes, because that is what I have, and a small glass. Put the glasses into the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Right before serving sprinkle a small handful of pomegranate seeds on top. If you don’t have pomegranate you can use any berry or grated lemon peel. And, voila, an elegant dessert for two, three, or four.