Teriyaki Salmon- WHAT?

When I started this blog almost a year ago, I didn't set out to make only desserts. They just turned out to be the most fun (to eat) and the prettiest! Baked goods can't help being so awesome.

There's also something I love about baking that I think might make me a Non-Cook: it's almost a science. There are measurements, exact times and procedures. Cooking regular food (read: not dessert) is all about throwing stuff in a pan and tossing some salt and pepper and going by taste. There's a certain amount of freedom that both fascinates and terrifies me but there's also that other thing: huge room for error. I almost always fall on the side of error. I admire people (like my mom) who can just throw stuff together and know what'll work or how long to steam vegetables or whatever. I am not that person (yet). It's something I know only comes with practice and I'm working on it.

In the spirit of expanding my horizons, I attempted to make a MEAL. Salmon seemed like the easiest beginning: not only is it hard to mess up but because it's always good, I had frozen fillets handy. I had to adapt a recipe a coworker had raved about but it was minor things like using my oven instead of a grill. I came up with a couple sides dishes out of nowhere (because how does one construct a meal, anyway? Does zucchini go with salmon??).
It all came out pretty good, if I do say so myself. The original recipe called for 1/4 tsp crushed Habanero peppers which I laughed at. BUT I bought a little pepper and took about five seeds and stirred that into the glaze (couldn't taste them, thank God). But then, I licked my index finger. ...The one that'd just been touching the pepper. It was like INSTANT FIRE on my tongue. I stuck my head under the sink. Good God.

So this is my toned down, adapted version (which I can personally attest was not too sweet or spicy and quite lovely). The original is here for you brave, grill-having, spice-loving souls.



TERIYAKI SALMON WITH HONEY GLAZE
Adapted from Karan Dersham of Dersham’s Outlook Lodge

For a 2-3 pound salmon fillet

Marinade
1 cup soy sauce
I cup golden brown sugar
1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic
1 tsp. course ground pepper
set aside 1 tbsp. of this marinade for the glaze

Glaze
1 1/2 tbsp. reserved marinade
1 1/2 tbsp. honey


Combine the marinating ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Reserve 1 1/2 tbsp of marinade for glaze later. Pour marinade into plastic baggie (or shallow ceramic or Pyrex pan) with salmon fillets and refrigerate for 1-2 hours, longer if fillet is thick.

Position oven rack to highest level and heat broiler to high. Place marinated fillets in a shallow baking dish (such as a pie plate) and broil 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from highest rack and turn off broiler. Place fillets on a lower rack for an additional 2-3 minutes in the warm oven to ensure it cooks fully.

Plate fillets and brush or drizzle the honey glaze on top of each before serving.

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SAUTEED ZUCCHINI AND SQUASH

1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Cut zucchini and squash into half-inch thick slices. Heat oil and butter until melted in a frying pan over medium. Toss zucchini and squash in pan, coating slices with butter. Add about 1 tsp of salt and pepper.

Lower heat to low and cover with lid, allowing one side to stay open, releasing steam. Cook for ten minutes (or until vegetables reach your preference of firmness), stirring every so often to evenly cook.

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(Couscous: follow instructions on box! I used chicken broth instead of water to flavor it.)

Like the doughnut

You know what's EASY to photograph? Muffins.

The sole motivation for this was simply to make something EASY. Nothing is easier than cake. Easier still is a cake without icing. Hence, the muffin.

I was even looking for something simple in terms of ingredients. No special anything here, folks: butter, sugar, cinnamon, etc. It's so straight-forward, you could make it in your sleep. (But, seriously, don't do that; you'll burn the house down and I couldn't live with the guilt.)

I got the recipe from Williams-Sonoma (again). They have such adorable pictures next to all their recipes! It's hard not to just sit and browse until something jumps out at you. So I found these little muffins that the site correctly asserts taste just like cinnamon sugar cake doughnuts (but without the frying). They're especially good slightly warmed with a big glass of milk. Mmm, simple pleasures...


CINNAMON-BUTTERMILK MUFFINS
Source: Williams-Sonoma


For the muffins:

7 Tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract


For the topping:

2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted


Preheat an oven to 350°F. Grease 9 standard muffin cups with butter or butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray; fill the unused cups one-third full with water to prevent warping.

To make the muffins, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well until pale and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in 2 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. The batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each three-fourths full. Bake until the muffins are golden, dry and springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins and let stand until cool enough to handle.

To make the topping, in a small, shallow bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Put the melted butter in another small bowl. Holding the bottom of a muffin, dip the top into the melted butter, turning to coat it evenly. Immediately dip the top in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, coating it evenly, then tap it to remove excess sugar. Transfer the muffin, right side up, to the rack. Repeat with the remaining muffins. Let cool completely before serving. Makes 9 muffins.

German Chocolate Cake Ice Cream... Almost

You know what's hard to photograph? Ice cream. Even after you prep and do everything in your power short of shooting it IN the freezer, it just gives up on you and starts to melt in mere minutes. With this particular ice cream, it was SECONDS. I even froze the stuff in the shape of scoops so there was no lag between the freezer and my shots but still. It started breaking down about twenty seconds in. Prissy friggin' food.

Other than the prima donna act it gave me in front of the camera, this flavor really delivered. I got the chocolate base from Williams-Sonoma and had to modify it only superficially: I had no half-and-half so I substituted half milk and half cream (theoretically, half and half from scratch). They weren't kidding about it being rich. And after cooking the custard over the heat so there was no raw egg situation, I felt extremely comfortable licking the bowl of chocolate custard and dipping brownie in the creamy stuff as well. Mmmm. Chocolate 'splosion.

When I envisioned this flavor, I was aiming for German Chocolate cake. Then after I got home from the store, I remembered there are pecans in the caramel coconut part. Oh well. It came out just fine. The only complaint I'd have against the stuff is that the caramel is very sweet and the ice cream is very rich. It makes for an intense flavor. But some people like very sweet/very rich a lot so it's just up to personal tastes, really.

I was rather pleased with making the brownies and caramel sauce myself. It felt good to look at the final product and know I made every bit from scratch. This, from a novice cook, that is. I mean, watching the caramel come to a boil? Terrifying. I just knew it was going to burn the second I looked away. (So I never looked away.)

I've encountered a few issues with ice cream, though.

#1. It doesn't give you immediate results. I'm used to baking something and having it ready to eat right then. This, you go through all the work and then? Put it away (to freeze completely). It's somewhat unsatisfying.

#2. It's not portable. If the stuff melts only minutes out of the freezer, imagine a ten, fifteen or twenty minute car ride to someone's house! So people have to come to IT (again, with the prissy nature). It makes it difficult to get to family and friends.

However, my love of creating personal flavors outweighs any faults the cooking process may have. I see pistachio and then banana on the horizon...


MMMMM... BROWNIES
Source: cicada77 at AllRecipes.com


1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch square pan.

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and water. Cook over medium heat until boiling. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the chocolate mixture. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies set up. Do not overbake! Cool in pan.

After completely cool, cut out 1/4 of pan and freeze. When hard, cut into 1 inch cubes (roughly 1 cup of chunks) and refreeze until ready to use.

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CARAMEL COCONUT SWIRL
Adapted from Gourmet, Nov 1998

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
7 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 - 1 cup shredded coconut


In a 3-quart heavy saucepan boil sugar, corn syrup, water, and a pinch salt over moderate heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Boil mixture, without stirring, gently swirling pan, until a deep golden caramel. Remove pan from heat and carefully pour cream and vanilla down side of pan (mixture will vigorously steam and caramel will harden). Simmer mixture, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Remove pan from heat, add coconut and cool caramel. Caramel swirl may be made 1 week ahead and chilled, covered. Bring caramel swirl to room temperature before using. (If caramel swirl is too stiff to pour, heat slightly.)

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CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
Adapted from Williams Sonoma


1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
(about 1 1/3 cups)
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract


In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the heavy cream and milk until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until smooth and blended.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Slowly add the chocolate cream, whisking constantly until fully incorporated.

Pour the mixture into a bowl on top of a double boiler. Set the pan over but not touching simmering water in the bottom pan. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until a finger drawn across the back of the spoon leaves a path, 10 to 12 minutes; do not allow the custard to boil. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl and stir in the vanilla. Nestle the bowl in a larger one filled halfway with ice and water. Cool the custard, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Just before ice cream is finished churning, add brownie chunks and stir in completely. Transfer one third ice cream to an airtight container and drizzle one third caramel swirl over it. Repeat layering with remaining ice cream and caramel swirl. Cover and freeze until firm, 3 to 4 hours, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.

Coffee Ice Cream Too!

Continuing on with the ice cream experimenting, I next attempted my second favorite flavor: coffee ice cream with fudge swirl and chocolate covered almonds (AKA Starbucks' Java Chip). I guess I should disclose that the ice cream is the only thing I actually made: the almonds and chocolate fudge are store bought. Next time, I'll make my own chocolate. This was good, of course, but it wasn't MINE.

I ran into an issue with this recipe and the entire Ben & Jerry's ice cream book: they use raw eggs. I was nervous. Very very nervous. But after asking around (and the fact that these recipes are tried and true), I went for it and it's fine.

Another issue that haunted me was the swirl... The recipe calls to "fold" it in as the very last stage however, it also says to chill the chocolate so it's not exactly pliable. It was a big clump so I kept cutting and folding and soon it became mostly-mocha ice cream. I've heard some people layering the ice cream and fudge in the storage container itself so when you scoop in, distinct stripes of chocolate you get! Will try that next time...

COFFEE ALMOND SWIRL
Adapted from Ben & Jerry's

2 large eggs
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons espresso powder
3/4 cup chocolate covered almonds (halved)
1 cup cold fudge sauce


1. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Add the cream, milk and 2 tablespoons of the coffee and whisk to blend.

2. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

3. After the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it is done), add the remaining 1 tablespoon of coffee and 3/4 cup almonds, then continue freezing until ice cream is ready. Remove the dasher and fold in fudge sauce with a spatula.

You scream, I scream.

I'm still here! I haven't disappeared! I'm in the middle of moving to a new house so you'll have to excuse my bouts of absence. It's kind of hard to cook when you can't find measuring cups... But I finally got an ice cream maker for my birthday and I couldn't be more excited. So many recipes to try! I can make my own ice cream?! SCORE. This is my very first and it was a total success! A little explanation first, though:

You all know those ice cream chains that mix up toppings and stuff into the ice cream in front of you. Cold Stone is probably the most widespread but in Houston, Marble Slab came first. They have many amazing flavors but my favorite is the Vanilla Cinnamon. One day, my mom decided to mix in a never-fails ingredient: Butterfinger. And the rest is history. Or, you know; my favorite ice cream flavor of all time. Since I'm no longer in Houston and have no access to Marble Slab, I knew I would have to attempt cinnamon ice cream with Butterfinger mixed in.

Now, ice cream making is intense; this entire process took 3 DAYS. It'll take two next time but this time I had to freeze the bowl overnight, make the ice cream and chill the liquid form in the fridge overnight then brew it up in the machine the next morning then freeze it AGAIN overnight. When it first comes out of the machine, it's like soft serve and that's just not real ice cream to me. But when I took it out today? Perfect!

I found a few cinnamon recipes but tried one that was highly rated at All Recipes first. It doesn't look like Marble Slab's but it sure is cinnamony!

It came out smooth and creamy and so so good. I split the batch and kept half plain then I went ahead and mixed my Butterfinger in the rest!!
oh good God. It's SO good. I don't know what it is (cinnamon and Butterfinger??) but it goes so well together. VERY sweet but so yummy. I still can't believe I made ice cream! It looks and tastes so real!! I'm going to include my modified recipe but just cut out the crushed Butterfinger if you want straight cinnamon ice cream (which is delicious on it's own). It would go wonderfully with a dense chocolate cake...


CINNAMON ICE CREAM WITH BUTTERFINGER
Adapted from Elizabeth's Cinnamon Ice Cream

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup crushed Butterfinger (or to your liking)
  

1. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the sugar and half-and-half. When the mixture begins to simmer, remove from heat, and whisk half of the mixture into the eggs. Whisk quickly so that the eggs do not scramble. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan, and stir in the heavy cream. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla and cinnamon. Cool in refrigerator overnight.

2. Pour cooled mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

3. At end of mixing process, add crushed Butterfinger and let stir until fully combined. Remove from ice cream maker and store in air tight container in freezer overnight (to allow ice cream to fully refreeze).

Birthday de Moi!

I have an obsession with strawberries, it would seem, since they make me unreasonably happy. I'm sure it stems from childhood stuff (see user pic of Strawberry Shortcake birthday) but I don't care. I asked my mom for a strawberry cake for my birthday last week and this beautiful creation is what she produced. I didn't make it myself so I could exclude it from my food blog but I can't keep the pretty away. PINK!


STRAWBERRY CAKE

• 1 package white cake mix
• 1 package (3 ounces) strawberry-flavored gelatin powder
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup mashed strawberries or sweetened frozen strawberries

Combine cake mix and gelatin powder in a large bowl. Beat in oil, eggs, water, and strawberries. Pour into 2 9-inch round greased and floured cake pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely before icing.


STRAWBERRY FROSTING

• 1/4 cup butter
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup mashed strawberries or remaining sweetened frozen strawberries (drain juice)

Beat the butter/shortening and confectioners' sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Add strawberries. Spread between cake layers, then frost top and sides.

Easter goodness

I've been neglectful of the blog, it's true, but I have decent excuses that are too boring to go into. Suffice it to say, there were reasons. I return with cutesyness I dare you to refute!

I saw this eggs-in-the-grass-frosting decoration and knew I had to try it, if for nothing else than to just line them all up and see a field of greenery. I can't help it; I'm a Taurus and we're irrationally drawn to Earthy tones and, oddly, pastels.

I also dyed eggs for the first time in YEARS and while exact colors were an exercise in futility (see the lone "purple" atrocity), I like how they came out because they're PASTELS. I have so much love for Easter simply because it's so damn pretty.

But back to the cupcakes. I tried a new recipe, Billy's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes from Billy's Bakery in NYC. They're definitely very vanilla-y and they're good but I'm not sure I'd make it a staple. The cake is tender and, overall, a great little cake but I'm a traditionalist; you're kind of hit over the head with vanilla in these little things. They taste like sugar cookies: sweet and vanilla.

The frosting is also extremely sweet but with this nice, trim grass, it's not a sweet-overload problem for me. I used Wilton's Leaf Green color, the #233 tip for the grass and Cadbury Mini Eggs for the decoration. Et voila! Happy Easter to all!
BILLY'S VANILLA, VANILLA CUPCAKES
Source: Billy's Bakery in New York City via Martha Stewart

Makes about 30 cupcakes

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and softened
  
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.

2. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.

4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.



BILLY'S VANILLA BUTTERCREAM
Makes enough for 30 cupcakes

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.

Double Double Valentine's Love

It's kind of impossible to think of Valentine's Day and not think of chocolate. Even The Food Network gets in on the action and makes a week of it. So I wanted some chocolatey goodness and boy did I find it.

I got the recipe for this Double Chocolate Cake from Epicurious and was immediately intrigued by the loads of positive feedback and comments. It is, in fact, very rich and moist and worthy of the praise. I used different pans for the holiday, of course, so the only thing I would say if you diverge from the 10-inch pans the recipe recommends is, the batter expands. It's a wet batter so do not overfill the pan (1/2 to 3/4 if you're feeling lucky). TRUST ME.

But it came out very good and oohh so in need of a big, cold glass of milk right along with it, it's so chocolatey! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!



DOUBLE CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE
Source: Gourmet Magazine, March 1999


For cake layers

• 3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
• 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For ganache frosting

• 1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

Special equipment
two 10- by 2-inch round cake pans


Make cake layers:
Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.


Make frosting:
Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency).

Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

Everyone likes Brownies

A woman at my work, who I'm confident in saying is hardly more than a casual acquaintance, loaned me an entire TV series on DVD this past month. Now, I take my DVDs very seriously and when you loan them to someone - even family and friends - sometimes you don't see them again for many many months (brother! oh, wait, I still have his Transformers DVDs...)

ANYWAY. I was terribly grateful she put that trust in me and I rushed through about 65 hours of TV in three weeks flat. I wanted to make her a little thank you goodie and figured brownies were pretty universally liked, yes?

I, foolishly, tried the top brownie recipe from All Recipes.com first. And it was all right but nothing to write home about and certainly not something I'd give as a gift. It used cocoa as opposed to melted chocolate. Then I tried the Best Recipe's Basic Brownie and, once again, they came through. Their brownie was moist and rich, fluffy but not airy. It falls apart with softness but isn't gooey (although I love gooey but that's a personal preference; these were supposed to be universal).

If I were making them again for myself, I'd add some walnuts and maybe even caramel (mmm, extra gooey!) but otherwise, they were perfect. A definite keeper!

BASIC BROWNIES
Source: The Best Recipe

To melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave oven, microwave chocolate alone at 50 percent power for 2 minutes. Stir chocolate, add butter, and continue microwaving at 50 percent for another 2 minutes, stopping to stir the mixture after 1 minute. If chocolate is not entirely melted, microwave an additional 30 seconds at 50 percent power. Make sure to cool the melted chocolate and butter for about 10 minutes - it can be warm to the touch but not hot. Batter can be doubled and divided evenly between two 8-inch pans or poured into one 13 x 9-inch pan. If using one large pan, bake for about 26 minutes.

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 2/3 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• (optional) 1/2 cup chopped nuts

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. In medium, heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth. (Alternatively, melt chocolate and butter in microwave oven. See instructions above.) Set mixture aside to cool.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl; set aside.

3. Whisk sugar into cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then fold in flour mixture (and nuts if using) until just combined.

4. Pour batter into greased 8-inch-square baking dish; bake until toothpick inserted halfway between center and edge of pan comes out with a few fudgy crumbs, about 20 minutes. If batter coats toothpick, return pan to oven and bake 2 to 4 minutes more. Cool brownies completely in pan set on wire rack. Cut into squares and serve. (Pan can be wrapped in plastic, then foil, for up to 2 days. To preserve moistness, cut and remove brownies only as needed.)

Flan, the Finicky

In my search for that perfectly textured vanilla-y, cake-y-but-not-cake dessert, I've kind of wandered into custard-y territory. When all's said and done, I think I really craved a light bread pudding (is that possible?) but time's run out and I will soon succumb to Chocolate February in all it's Valentine's glory.

With one last vanilla hurrah, however, I tried a flan for the first time. Now, my mom's been making this for years during the holidays and she's perfected it however I hit a few bumps on the way but that's why I'm here: to warn you of where you might go wrong.

First, the sugar you melt to pour into the bottom of the custard cups for that pretty syrup that runs down everywhere when upturned. It has to be done on medium and SLOWLY. The moment it's liquefied, take it off the heat and pour away. Do not let it burn! I hesitated to make sure it got that one bubbling all over and it was too long. Side note, DO NOT try to taste it to SEE if it's burnt. This lesson is brought to you by Retarded Niki 101: liquid, scalding sugar = bad on finger and tongue. It tastes like BURNING.

Second, the texture of flan is very important. That's what makes good flan great. It should be completely smooth. If you overcook, it comes out a little chunky and not great. Keep a very close eye on it after 30 minutes (for 6 oz custard cups) and test with a knife often. If you think it's rather close to being done, know that it's going to continue cooking a little in the hot water bath after you take it out.

So. Better to take sugar and custard out of or off the heat than to overcook because they'll ruin if they go over.


FLAN

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 can (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

Place sugar in small skillet over medium heat and stir while it liquefies. Watch carefully so that it does not burn. Pour the caramel into the bottom of 6 oz custard cups (or 9-inch flan pan or soufflé dish) and, working very quickly, spread it evenly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place eggs, yolks, vanilla, milks and cream cheese in a blender or food processor and process AT LEAST 5 minutes. Blend to death!

Pour mixture into the cups and place in larger baking pan in the center of the oven. Pour boiling water halfway up the sides of thecups. Bake 30-35 minutes (or 1 hour and 10 minutes for 9-inch pan) or until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Watch carefully and cover the flan with foil if the top seems to be getting too brown. Remove from oven, cool to room temperature, then cut around the edges and invert onto serving plate.

Serve each piece with some of the caramel syrup.