One Bowl Chocolate Cake

This winter has been so incredibly long and drawn out that I almost feel like I don’t know what to do with myself.  I keep hoping for spring, but all I get is another week of winter.  So I thought that maybe if I make a recipe that is the epitome of comfort food that you want on a winter day, spring would actually come.  I don’t know if this will actually work, but it’s worth a shot.  I also really just wanted an excuse to make this recipe again; it’s so incredibly easy (I know I say that a lot, but this time I mean it.  This might be the easiest recipe I’ve posted on this website).

I’m sure you’ve seen recipes for chocolate mug cakes around the internet, but a lot of them look dry and almost too cakey I found this recipe on babble.com and it was everything I’d hoped I would ever find in a chocolate cake.  It was moist, rich, a little nutty and so incredibly easy (did I say that already?)  This is perfect comfort food to end a bad day with, and it tastes good enough to serve when you’ve got company.

 

Now, if you can’t tell this was too big for me to actually make in any of the mugs that I have, so I chose to use a microwave safe bowl.  You can use whichever you’d prefer.  But be warned: this makes a surprisingly large amount of cake.  You can definitely split this between 2-4 people, especially if you serve it with ice cream on the side… Just sayin’.

I know I’m repeating myself, but this recipe is so easy anyone that can count to four can make it.  I’m not joking.  Here’s what you’ll need:

4 tablespoons self rising flour

4 tablespoons white granulated sugar

1 egg

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

3 tablespoons Nutella *

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

*You could probably substitute peanut butter for Nutella if you don’t like hazelnuts.  Just a thought.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until all of the ingredients are combined and smooth.  Put the bowl into the microwave and cook for 1 ½ minutes to 3 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave.  I microwaved mine for about as long as it typically takes me to heat a bowl of soup.    When you take the bowl out of the microwave use oven  mitts since the bowl will be hot.  Let sit for a few minutes and enjoy.

 

You can add toppings like powdered sugar, whipped cream, ice cream, nuts, or essentially anything you want to put on a chocolate cake!  So give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed!

PW's "The Best Coffee Cake. Ever"

So last semester I was more or less the worst food blogger ever.  I’m not proud of that fact, but between not having a camera to use and being too lazy to update my blog, I just didn’t.  That doesn’t mean that I didn’t cook, I just stuck to recipes that I knew and wasn’t excited to write about… I tried my best to take pictures though, and since it’s midterms here at Wheaton I’m going to use one of the recipes that I have stored from last semester to make up for my lack of updates recently.  So here goes nothing: (Oh and fun fact, all of these pictures were taken with my phone’s camera).

I’ve had the same best friend since second grade, and since then she and I have done almost everything together.  Even though we go to different schools when we’re home for break we’re almost inseparable.  And quite frankly she’s one of the few people that knows how to help me in the kitchen (mainly because she knows when to help and when to step back).  Over winter break she and I made the Pioneer Woman’s “The Best Coffee Cake. Ever.” and to be completely honest, it was probably was one of the best coffee cakes I’ve ever had.  It didn’t turn out quite like hers, but the cake was still soft and fluffy and the topping was still just as delicious as coffee cake crumbs can be. 

The recipe is somewhat time-consuming, but it’s worth it, and it makes a lot of coffee cake!  Kat and I were able to split it between our two families (and she’s got four siblings to share with).  So if you’ve got an electric mixer you should definitely give this recipe a shot!

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the cake

• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• 2 cups Scant Sugar*
• 3 cups Flour, Sifted
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1-¼ cup Whole Milk
• 3 whole Egg Whites, Beaten Until Stiff

For the crumbs:

• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• ¾ cups Flour
• 1-½ cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1-½ cup Pecans, Chopped

*Scant sugar is just another way of saying” a little bit less than”.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 

Beat the egg whites and set aside for later.  It’s easiest to beat egg whites with a beater ahead of time instead of trying to beat them by hand… unless you want to work out your arms, then by all means go ahead!

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the dry ingredients and milk alternating as you mix.  Be sure that you don’t over-mix the ingredients because this can lead to the cake having a stiffer texture.  (On a side note, I walked away to measure something without realizing that I left the mixer on and after about three minutes of the ingredients mixing constantly I realized it.  DON’T do that.)

Use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the batter.  Do this gently and only fold until the ingredients are completely mixed. 

Pour the mix into a buttered 9x13 cake pan (the higher the sides the better).  I didn’t have a 9x13 cake pan so I guesstimated and hoped for the best.

In a clean bowl combine the crumb ingredients with a pastry cutter.  If you don’t have a pastry cutter a fork or your hands work just fine.  Spread evenly over the cake and place the cake in the oven.  Let it cook for about 40-45 minutes.  Make sure the center still wiggles a little bit when you take it out of the oven. 

This recipe was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy to make, even if it had a few steps.  It might have been the company, or the fact that I didn’t eat dinner that day, but I still think about this coffee cake some days when I’m really bored in class.  Judge me all you want until you try it.  Then you’ll understand.  

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Its official, I got accepted to culinary school! I know the majority of my readers know this fact already thanks to facebook, but I wanted to say it anyway.  I got the acceptance letter the night that I got home for break, and since then I’ve just been enjoying the fact that I know what I’m doing next year.  Between getting  culinary school and not having classes for a week I’ve been in a state of bliss.  

There’s something that just can’t be beat about sitting around the house during the day, doing homework at your leisure and cooking whatever you want for dinner.  One night my dad and I decided to try something new for dinner and make stuffed chicken breasts, and they were delicious.  We were so happy with how the recipe turned out and we were amazed at how easy it was. 

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and I couldn’t be happier with it. It had a 4.5 star rating and I can see why—this recipe was so simple and a really great dish.  The chicken was tender and moist, the spinach was green and a little creamy and the bacon tied the whole meal together adding flavor and making the dish just a bit more savory. It’s pretty healthy too since it has over 2 cups of spinach per serving!

This dish is so simple you can adapt it easily and play around with it!  The final product looks and tastes great with minimal effort; whether it’s to impress someone or just to have a simple and delicious dinner at home, this is definitely a recipe that you should try to make soon!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup shredded pepperjack cheese

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

1 pinch ground black pepper

8 slices bacon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use tinfoil to cover a shallow baking dish or cookie sheet (with at least ½ inch high walls).  

Empty the bag of spinach into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for and heat for three minutes, stirring every minute or so.  Take the bowl out of the microwave and mix in the sour cream, shredded cheese and garlic. 

Pound the halved chicken breasts until they’re ½ an inch thick and place aside.  Put a quarter of the spinach mixture on each chicken breast and spread it out evenly.  Roll the chicken breast up and wrap two of the pieces of bacon around the rolled piece of chicken.  Use a toothpick to hold everything in place. 

Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  When 30 minutes have passed increase the temperature to 500 degrees for 5-10 minutes so that the bacon can brown.   Take out of the oven and enjoy! 

The First, but Definitely Not the Last, Macaroni and Cheese

The other day I was reading a blog post that mentioned what someone would eat if they could only eat one thing for the rest of their life.  She had some ridiculous sounding dish that was overly complex, but considering that it was her hypothetical only meal it was understandable.  Since reading that post I’ve been thinking about it and all I’d ever want to eat was macaroni and cheese. 

If you don’t know this already I love cheese.  Not like the normal person does though, if I could subsist solely on a diet of cheese I probably would.  I love every type of cheese that I’ve ever eaten, sure some more than others, but I honestly can’t get enough of cheese.  There are so many possibilities and combinations between types of cheeses and pastas that I could probably eat it three times a day for a year and not run out of combinations…. This is tempting. 

Anyway back to this blog.  For a while I sat there thinking about all of the possible combinations of macaroni and cheese that I could possibly make. I finally decided to turn to the wonderful and trustworthy internet to find a recipe that would diminish my craving, and the recipe I found definitely didn’t let me down. 

The recipe is from a blog called “My Cooking Quest” and the post is titled “Perfect Mac and Cheese” and all things considered, this recipe lives up to its name.  It takes about an hour to make, but it’s well worth the wait. The final product is gooey, cheesy, spicy, creamy and just all around delicious.  I’d make it again in a heartbeat (and I probably will when I’m home for break next week).  I changed the original recipe a bit and added pepper jack to add a little kick to the cheese, and I couldn’t have been happier with it.  This recipe is easily adaptable so if you want to substitute a different cheese you can go ahead, but you really need to make this recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need:

8-12* ounces of large hollow pasta (I used rigatoni)

Two Cups of Beesher’s Flagship Cheese sauce (see below)

2 ounces grated cheese (I used one ounce of Cheddar and one ounce of pepper jack)

¼ - ½ teaspoon chipotle powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the cooking dish.  You can use an 8-inch dish or a pie dish; I chose to use a pie dish instead.  Cook the pasta for two minutes less than the cooking directions so that they’re very al-dente.  The pasta will continue to cook in the oven, so don’t worry.  Rinse the pasta with cold water and make sure it is thoroughly strained.

Combine the cooked pasta with the cheese sauce and mix so that all of the noodles are completely covered and filled with the cheese sauce.  Sprinkle the top of the dish with the grated cheese and then with the chipotle powder. 

Cook for 20-30 minutes or until the top has formed a golden crust.

For the Beesher’s Flagship Cheese Sauce:

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

14 ounces semi-hard cheese, grated (I used New York Extra-sharp Cheddar)

2 ounces grated semi-soft cheese (I decided to use Pepper jack)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chile powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Grate the cheddar and pepper jack and place in a bowl or on a plate to the side. Measure the salt, chili powder and garlic powder.  Place in a small bowl and put it to the side.

Melt the Butter in a sauce pan over medium and add the flour.  Mix together until they’re thoroughly incorporated.  Slowly add the milk and stir for about 10 minutes or until the sauce starts to thicken. 

Once the mixture thickens remove from heat and add the cheese, chili powder and garlic powder and stir.  Continue to stir until the ingredients completely mix and there are no lumps.  This took me about two to three minutes of stirring.  After this the sauce is done!

This recipe is much simpler than it seems, and for the time and effort that you put in it’s definitely worth it.  The leftovers are amazing as well, so give it a try—it definitely beats Kraft!

Peanut Sesame Noodles

Ramen is a wonderful thing.  Well, not really, but when you step outside of the boring college student version of Ramen, it’s a wonderful thing.  It’s incredibly cheap, and even though it isn’t healthy, when prepared correctly, it can be pretty delicious.  So this week, I decided to take on the challenge of making ramen noodles more interesting, but still super easy.  And with the help of Gourmet Magazine I think I was able to accomplish this. 

Ever since seventh grade I’ve had somewhat of a love affair with cold sesame noodles.  They’re chewy and nutty and they really hit the spot when you’re not in the mood for traditional fried Chinese food.  After seeing this recipe on epicurious I knew that I needed to make it (especially since I got my very own processor this week)!

This recipe is all I could have ever wanted and more.  Its nutty, creamy, and just a little bit spicy.  I added red bell peppers and cucumbers which help cool down the red pepper flakes, but feel free to change the ingredients around.  This is really a great recipe that’s so easy to make and the leftovers are even better.   I’m amazed I haven’t made it again.  You really really need to try this recipe… I’m salivating just thinking about it right now. 

Here’s what you’ll need: (Adapted from the June 2002 issue of Gourmet Magazine)

For peanut dressing:

• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 medium garlic clove, chopped
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar ( I only had champagne vinegar so I used that)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

For noodle salad:

• 3/4 lb dried linguine fini or spaghetti (I used ramen)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• ½-1 cucumber

In a blender or a food processor mix the ingredients for the peanut dressing until smooth.  In a blender this will take about 2 minutes, with my food processor it took about 1 minute.  Let sit until pasta is cooked. 

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the package directions.  While draining it rinse it under cold water to cool the noodles off quickly. 

While the pasta is cooking dice at least one half of a cucumber and one red bell pepper and place aside. 

Add the bell peppers and the cucumbers to the dressing and toss with the cooled pasta.  Make sure all of the noodles are coated and serve immediately. 

Pop tarts

Have I mentioned that my friends love me? Well, if they don’t they should… it’s just logic. The food from the cafeteria gets old, fast, and that’s when my boredom and love of real food kicks in. Since I don’t want to eat it all in one sitting (because yes, I could do that) I give the majority of what I make to my friends. And they’re more than happy to take it. So like I said, my friends should love me. Tonight especially, tonight I decided to make something that has definitely been done before but probably isn’t considered by many college students when the vending machine is so close by. But it was worth it… so worth it. I made homemade pop tarts. This recipe has been circulating around the internet for a while which means I’ve wanted to make them for just as long.

I finally got around to it tonight after the ingredients have been sitting in my fridge for about a week now. I don’t know why I put off making these for so long, but I shouldn’t have. I could have made five batches by now and I wouldn’t think twice about the ten pounds that I’d have gained. This recipe is so simple and quick that I guarantee you that anyone can make it as long as they have a cookie sheet to bake them on. Did I mention that they’re delicious? Because they are, they really, truly are. They’re warm, flaky, gooey and just all around delicious… what more could you want from a pop tart?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• One package of any premade croissant package
• Any filling you want. I used nutella, strawberry preserves and cinnamon sugar.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, or whatever the cooking instructions of your croissants say. Cover your baking sheets in parchment paper so that the dough doesn’t stick to the sheet and fall apart when you try to take it off. Next, open the package of croissant dough and break apart into squares (they’ll come in triangles so if you can try to keep two of the triangles together when you’re unrolling the dough). Use a rolling pin (or one liter soda bottle in my case) to roll out the dough and help seal together the perforations in the dough. This also spreads out the dough so that it doesn’t get too puffy or flaky and you have more surface area to spread the fillings in.

After that, cut the pieces of rolled dough into squares. If you’ve rolled out two triangles together just cut them in half. Then, apply the different fillings of your choice and fold in half. Use a fork to seal the edges of the pop tart closed and poke holes into the dough so that the air has a place to escape when its baking. Then place onto baking sheet.

When you’ve finished putting together all of the pop tarts place them in the oven and bake according to the directions on your croissant package. Take out of the oven when they’re golden brown and let cool for at least 5 minutes.

You can serve them right out of the oven or wait a while. They should stay for at least a day if you can keep them around for that long!

Granola with Cranberries, Raisins and Almonds

It’s official; I’ve hit that point in the winter where I’m sick and tired of all things winter. Snow, indoors, clanging pipes, ice, and yes, even hot chocolate. Especially after it was about sixty degrees here in Massachusetts on Friday I’ve got absolutely no desire to see snow any time soon. So today, in protest of winter, I decided to make something that’s not traditionally associated with any season, let alone winter. I decided to make my own granola. It’s something that I’ve wanted to make for a while and when I found the recipe last night I couldn’t wait (the fact that I had all of the ingredients only added to my excitement to make this recipe.

Granola from stores is surprisingly expensive for what it really is, and being a college student with about $3.78 in my bank account paying $4.50 for a 10 ounce bag of granola is not really feasible for me. And after making this recipe I don’t see why I’ll ever go back to paying so much for granola, it’s so simple and you can really do whatever you want with it!

The granola itself takes about 45 minutes to make, but it’s so incredibly easy and it tastes great. It’s crunchy, sweet, a little salty and it’s healthy! Who doesn’t want that in a snack?

Here’s what you’ll need: (Adapted from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking”)

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt*

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole almonds

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup dried cranberries

* I used 1 teaspoon of salt and it was too salty, which is something I never say, so for safety’s sake I’d lower it to ½ a teaspoon so that it doesn’t overpower the granola

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix the oats, salt and the cinnamon together. In a separate bowl mix the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.

Pour the wet ingredients onto the oats and mix them together with your hands. The best way to do this is to grab fistfuls of the ingredients until all of the oats are covered in the honey mixture.

Spread the combination of ingredients onto the baking sheet that you placed aside. Be sure to spread out the mixture evenly, but leave a few clumps like you would find in store-bought granola. Place baking sheet into the oven for ten minutes.

After ten minutes, take the sheet out of the oven and flip the granola with a spatula. Add the almonds and bake for fifteen minutes flipping the granola half way through.

When the sheet has cooled add the mixture of raisins and dried cranberries into the granola and put into an airtight container.

I promise you’ll love this recipe and you can mess around with the ingredients to make the granola however you like. You could add chocolate chips and peanuts to make it more like a traditional trail mix. You could even add more cinnamon and dried apples to make it like apple crisp! The possibilities are endless, so give it a try!