Chocolate Cake

This is a take off Portillo's chocolate cake recipe. If you are ever in the Chicago area you must go to Portillo's. They're famous for Chicago style hotdogs, but their chocolate cake is absolutely divine. Yes, divine. This recipe, while not quite an exact replica, it comes darn close. And the only difference is maybe that I had to do the dishes myself. I swear that changes flavors for me.

This being a baking recipe, if you're in a high altitude area, you'll want to take note of the ingredients and directions in orange. If you're at sea level, skip those parts.

What you need
1 chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker, it's the only brand I can use at this high altitude)
1/4 cup flour
3 lg eggs
1 cup water (+2 Tbs. water)
1 cup Hellman's Mayo (This is a weird one, I am completely aware of that. Please just think of this substituting for the oil in other cakes. Don't get weirded out, ok? I also usually use generic brands for almost everything, but I stuck with Hellman's here. The website specifically called for it. I didn't want to take the chance of messing up my cake. )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (375 degrees). Grease 2 round cake pans. Beat all the ingredients together for 4 minutes. Pour into pans. Bake for 30 minutes (40 minutes) until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes then pop out of pan. Cool completely. Frost with your choice of either canned frosting, or use a chocolate butter cream frosting. (I found mine in my Betty Crocker cookbook. It's the best.)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Yum, yum, yum. Have this with a mug of tea or hot coffee to dip in. Wow. I found a couple of pumpkin biscotti recipes, changed a few things and made it up for high altitude. I'm writing it out for regular altitude, but, as always, high-altitude changes are in orange.

What you need
5 cups flour + 1/3-1/2 cup flour
1 Tbs. baking powder a bit less than 1 Tbs. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
dash of cloves
1 1/4 sugar, plus 2 Tbs. sugar
1 cup butter, softened
15 oz. can pumpkin
2 Tbs. water + 2 Tbs. water
1 cup chocolate chips (any kind, I used the 60% cocoa)
1/2 cup nuts (I used pecans)
1/2 cup cream cheese frosting, or vanilla glaze (follows biscotti recipe)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (400 degrees). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I just sprayed mine with cooking spray and they came out fine with no sticking).

Combine flour, powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in medium bowl. Mix well.

Beat sugar and butter in large bowl at medium speed till fluffy. Add the pumpkin and water; beat till blended. Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time. If you have a regular stand mixer, your mixture is going to reach the top. Stay right with your mixer and just keep scraping it down. Stir in chocolate chip and nuts. This is such stiff, stiff stuff! I actually broke my favorite mixing spoon (sniff, sniff) while stirring this up. So, be warned!

Shape dough into 2 logs, each about 14 inches long and 4-5 inches wide. Bake 40 minutes (it will be more like 1 hour, but check on them periodically after the 40 minute mark) or until firm to touch. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes. Cut into 1 inch slices, and place back on baking sheet cut side up. Bake 10-20 minutes. (Again, this will take longer, just keep checking till they are at the stage of toastiness that you like. Did I just say toastiness?) Cool on wire racks.

If you use frosting from a can, microwave it for a bit to make it drizzalbe. I'm just full of made up words today! If you want to make your own, or don't have frosting in a can, the following recipe is great. It's from the Better Crocker cook book.

Vanilla Glaze
What you need
1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-4 Tbs. hot water

Melt butter in a sauce pan.

Stir in sugar and vanilla. It will be clumpy, just stir it in. Now, stir in hot water, 1 Tbs. at a time, until smooth and and consistency of thick syrup. Use a spoon and drizzle over the biscotti after they are cool.

This is how I like to enjoy my biscotti!

Mom's Nut Rocca (a.k.a. Toffee)

If you live at sea level, or just not clear up on a mountain, this stuff is great. And relatively easy. If you do live up on a mountain, can you tell me how to get it to the right temperature?! I made it, it tastes good, but it has a different color and it's much chewier than my mom's. So I'm blaming it on the altitude. I pretty much blame everything on the altitude. My dry skin, my flat hair, headaches...but I digress!

Ok. You need a candy thermometer, but those are inexpensive at any market. However, my mom says that the metal ones are the best because they don't break. I couldn't find one at our store, but maybe if check a kitchen store, you might have some luck. Everything else, I'll bet you have in your pantry, so try it! It's fun to make candy and it's impressive. Have fun!

Here's the recipe, in my mom's own words (parenthetical commentary provided by yours truly).

What you need
2 cups butter (real butter)
2 cups sugar
2 Tbs. light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1 pkg. milk chocolate chips (12 oz.)
1 cup finely chopped, toasted nuts (any kind will do, I'm partial to pecans. Must be my Southern heritage.)

1. Line a 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan with heavy duty foil, extending over edges.

2. In a 4-5 quart sauce pan, melt butter. Stir in sugar, syrup and water. Cook over medium-high heat to boiling, stirring till sugar is dissolved. Avoid splashing up on the sides of your pan.

3. Clip you candy thermometer to the pan. Be sure bulb or bottom of thermometer is well covered and not touching bottom of pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently till thermometer registers 290 degrees, soft crack stage. This should take about 15 minutes. (Now, if you use a 4 qt. pan, like I did, your mixture is going to reach the tip top of the pan, and your heart is going to be in your throat imagining all that sticky corn syrup spilling out onto your stove. So just stir like crazy, gently though, and it will all be good. If you have a gas range, you may want to start out slower than med. heat.) The mixture will turn golden brown right at the last. (That's one way to know it's done. If it's still butter yellow, it's not done and will turn out the color of wax if taken off at this point. Trust me, I know.)

4. Remove thermometer. Pour into prepared pan; spread evenly. Cool 5 minutes, or until top is just set. Sprinkle on your chocolate chips and let set 2 minutes. Spread with a spatula till all toffee is coated with chololate. Top with nuts, press into chocolate. Cool several hours or till set. If necessary, place in fridge. (Mom sets it outside, covered and safe from the squirrels. My parents live in the woods. I don't know if a towel would keep it safe from a bear....hmmm.)

5. Holding foil, lift candy out of the pan. Break into pieces. To store, layer candy between sheets of waxed paper.

Makes about 2 1/2 pounds.

Doesn't that sound wonderful? Here's the way it came out for me. Remember, though, I'm at 8,000+ ft. in altitude and that just does funny things to baked goods.

Pretzel Nugget Truffles

The holidays are upon us! Get out your mixers! Preheat those ovens! Let's bake! Actually, this recipe is a no-cook. You've got to love that!

I am so excited about these little goodies. They are not my creation, I found them in a Rachel Ray calendar (I love her. Have I told you that? Recently?), thought they were too wonderful not to share with anyone who does not subscribe, so I'm posting them here.

On to it!

What you need

1 bag soft caramels (14 oz.)
1 bag pretzel nuggets (10 oz.)
12 oz. dark chocolate, finely chopped, OR any equivalent (I used the 60% cocoa bittersweet chips I had on hand)
2 cups nuts (your choice, I used pecans), toasted and finely chopped

First, toast your nuts in a pan or oven. Watch them, they burn easily. Need to know how to do this? Just toss the amount you want in a dry skillet, stirring or tossing every now and then until they give off a nice aroma (they will smell like pecan brittle. Mmm, my mom makes that every year). Take skillet off burner and allow the nuts to cool slightly before chopping them. Chop them finely or you'll have big chunks on your truffles. Or, don't chop finely if you like big chunks!



Unwrap the caramels and, using a rolling pin, roll each one out into a long oval shape. Unless you're completely buff and work out several times a week, I would suggest rolling 3-4 out, roll up your pretzel, then roll out 3-4 more caramels, etc. It takes a lot of arm strength, and I'm no muscle-lady. Not even close.

I thought these sort of looked like snails. If I didn't lose anyone with that analogy.....

These sort of reminded me of pig-in-a-blankets. Again, if you're still with me.........

After you've rolled out all your caramels and rolled up your pretzel nuggets, melt your chocolate. You can use a double broiler, or the microwave (which is what I used). If using the microwave, only cook at 30 second intervals and stir in between, even if doesn't look like it's cooked at all. It doesn't take very long, only about a total of 1 1/2 minutes.

Now, get your assembly area all ready. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and set next to your bowl of nuts, bowl of chocolate and caramel wrapped pretzel nuggets. Toss a few nuggets into the bowl of chocolate, cover it completely in chocolate, and use a fork to lift it out. Tap off the excess chocolate. Toss this into the chopped nuts to coat. Place on the wax paper. Repeat with the rest of the nuggets. If you can, let these guys rest for 3 hours, but I can tell you from personal experience, they're ready before this!

Gorgeous!

Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips

My friend Colleen used to make this last year in NYC. It will always remind me of our little NYC apartments, days at Dolphin park and Mary. It's just autumn in loaf-form for me. Owen and I made a batch yesterday, and then today I made another batch. It's just that good. If you live above 6,500 ft. you'll want to make the changes that are in orange. Being in high altitude does something funny to baking things.

What you need:

1 can pumpkin (not pie filling, actual pumpkin), 15 oz.
1/2 cup water / 1/2 cup water + 1-2 Tbs. (depending on your altitude. I used 2 Tbs and I'm at 8,000)
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cup flour / 2 1/2 cup flour + 1 Tbs.
2 1/4 cup sugar (don't gasp)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda / just a smidge less than 1 1/2 tsp baking soda. I just let the clumps be scraped off when I measured it out of my cardboard container.
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp each: cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg
about a 1/2 -3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. / Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

First, mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then, beat the pumpkin, eggs, oil and water in your mixer till combined (medium speed for about 2 minutes).
Gradually work in the dry ingredients, mixing just enough so you won't have a huge flour pouf all over you when you add more. Stir in your chocolate chips.

Grease and flour your bread pans. I used 3 smaller pans yesterday and 2 larger pans today. If you use 3 smaller pans, bake for around 50 minutes (1 hour) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (it will have chocolate chips on it). If you choose to do 2 larger pans, bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes (same or about 5- 10 minutes more). Let them sit in the pans for 10 minutes before trying to take them out (trust me on this one, I learned the hard way).

I actually forgot to stir in the chocolate chips today when I made my 2 larger loafs, so I had to sprinkle them on top. Then I got a little crazy and just slathered the whole top of one with chocolate. I don't know how this will taste yet, but I'm hoping for the best.


This is what it should look like. Mmmm-mm. Yummy goodness.
I'm so proud of myself for remembering to take pictures! What do you think?

Choloate chip pecan pie

It is what it sounds like. Divine. Oh yeah. With the holidays coming up (I know, they're not immediately around the corner, but they'll be here before we know it), this is a perfect pie. Top it with whipped cream or ice cream. This comes from my Texas friend, Melissa. Thanks, Melissa!! Oh, the good times we all had together just eating!

What you need:

Pie crust dough (you can make your own or do what I do, and get the kind in the refrigerated case, just don't tell my mom!)--you need only 1
3 eggs
1 cup light-colored corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter--melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (I've used mixed nuts, too, both very good)
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbs. butter or shortening

Place the pie dough in a 10-inch pie pan. Don't prick it, but press it into sides.

In a mixer, beat eggs, then add in corn syrup. Add brown sugar, butter and vanilla until sugar is dissolved. Stir in nuts and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Carefully pour filling into pan with crust. Cut dough to fit pan, and you can do any sort of fancy design on the edge (my fancy was fork-tine design. Ooo!) Place pan on foil or another baking sheet because it tends to leak over.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (at my altitude, 8,000+, this actually took almost 1 hour, so keep that in mind, based on your alitude). The top should be sort of solid/crispy. My test is, I jerk the oven rack a bit, and it there's no jiggling in the pan, then it'sgood.

Meanwhile......take that 1/3 chocolate chips and the tablespoon butter and melt together in a saucepan or in the microwave (just for about 30 seconds). Stir together. When pie has cooled just a bit, use a spoon and make zigzag lines all over that pie. So pretty!