Could You Please Pass the Salt and Red Hots?

I'm finally repainting my hideous kitchen. It was a mustardy yellow that had been "antiqued" and had distressed teal green trim. Unfortunately, the "antiquing" made it look like old oil splatters, so it was kind of a French country fail.
In any case, I unloaded all of my cookbooks from the shelves and started to go through them, deciding which are going to be donated. My absolute favorite book is Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything," and I have others by him as well that I use quite often. There's one, however, that I never even cracked open: "Bittman Takes on America's Chefs." It's billed as a "culinary battle of home-style vs. restaurant style."
I started flipping through it and saw a recipe for Broiled Squab with Jordan Almonds. Say what? Yep, the ingredients were squab (a.k.a. flightless pigeon), salt and pepper, butter, and 1 1/2 cups of chopped Jordan almonds. I've never had squab, but the picture looked pretty unappetizing. That recipe was provided by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Bittman's challenge to this was Broiled Cornish Hens with Red Hots: Cornish hens, salt and pepper, butter and 1 1/2 cups ground Red Hots. I can't say that this recipe looked much better.
In the notes, Bittman says that, "the sugar from the nuts caramelizes perfectly, and for a simple dish, the crunch and flavor are unbeatable. And the Red Hots melt into a cloak over the top of the bird and then harden to a brittle, candy-like topping that is both sweet and hot."
I don't know what to think. On one hand, I want to say no thanks, but on the other hand, it might be interesting to play around with candy and savory foods. Have any of you Yumsters tried this (or anything like it)? What's your opinion?

I Call It "Almond Joy Cake"

(Not a pretty picture. It looked a lot better before it was hacked up.)

Maybe I should be doing a cake-of-the-week post. With all this snow we've been getting and some sort of social activity planned every weekend, I seem to be doing a heckuvalotta baking. This past weekend, it was a cake that Almond Joy lovers would, well, love: ground almond meal, coconut and bittersweet chocolate topped with chocolate ganache. Tonight, Mr. "I-Don't-Like-Cake" Goodbar was getting a bit hysterical, really, when he couldn't find the leftovers in the fridge. In fact, I think he was darn near accusing me of cake theft. (Turned out it was under the pancakes.)
This recipe is from "125 Best Chocolate Recipes" by Julie Hasson. I give her props; I've tried many of her recipes and they're almost always flawless.

Almond Chocolate Coconut Torte
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan, then line bottom with parchment paper.

7 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli chips)
1 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract

Chocolate Glaze
5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup whipping (35%) cream

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Microwave, uncovered on medium (50%) for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until soft and almost melted. Stir until melted and smooth. (Let Sugarbaby lick the spoon.) With a clean spoon, stir in brown sugar until smooth. Let cool slightly. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition. Stir in vanilla and almond extract.

In a small bowl, mix together almond meal, flour, coconut and salt. Add to chocolate mixture, stirring until smooth.

Spread batter in prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. (I used a smaller pan, so cooking time was about 10 minutes more.) Top of cake will be puffed (do not overbake). Let cool completely in pan on rack.

Chocolate Glaze: In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and cream. Microwave uncovered on medium (50%) for 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds, or until cream is hot and chocolate is starting to melt. Stir well until chocolate is melted and mixture is thick and smooth. If chocolate is not completely melted, return to microwave for another 10 to 20 seconds or until chocolate is soft and melted. Stir well. If glaze is very thin, let stand for a few minutes to thicken slightly.

Invert cake onto a platter and remove parchment paper. Pour glaze over top and spread with spatula, letting glaze drip down sides. Refrigerate until glaze is firm.

Read Any Good Books Lately? The Sugar Baby Has.

This weekend we went up to Vermont. Here's what I packed to entertain the Sugar Baby:

• Travel lap desk with markers, crayons and pencils
• Stamps and stamp pads
• An assortment of books
• Stuffed animals
• Matchbox cars
• Stickers
• Toy magnets

Here's what he occupied himself with the entire time:

Click here for visual

I kid you not. He spent the entire three hour drive staring at the See's Chocolates catalog I had left over from Christmas. He carried it up to the check-in desk and proudly showed the inn-keepers his "book." Later, that night, as bedtime reading, I had to tell him what each and every chocolate was.
I swear to you, I have not tried to encourage a love of chocolate in this kid. Apparently he comes by it naturally. (He does also love grapefruit, so maybe there is something genetic about taste.)
On the ride home, he slept the entire way, making me wonder what he was going to be like when he woke up. Certainly he'd demand all of my attention, when all I really wanted to do was take a nap.
By some miraculous intervention, this was waiting on my doorstep:
"Chocolates and Confections at Home with The Culinary Institute of America," written by Peter P. Greweling (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010).
"Whoa! Look at this!" I said to the Sugar Baby.
He swiftly grabbed it from me (it weighs about as much as he does) and he hauled it over to the couch. Three hundred pages later, we had looked at each and every picture. Then he took the book and ran downstairs with it where he had his own quiet reading time.
Here's where my official review comes in. This is a beautiful book. The pictures are gorgeous and the recipes are easy to read. I particularly like the third chapter on Master Techniques. This section takes you step-by-step through tempering, dipping and garnishing-- all things that make me quake in fear whenever I consider making my own chocolates. This book makes me feel like I could actually do it.
I had the thought of doing a sort of "Julie & Julia" kind of thing-- dedicating myself to creating every recipe in the book over the next year. I'd love to do it, but I'm not sure I have the stamina. This is something I'll have to give a little more thought to.
In any case, I've only gotten to look at the recipes briefly because the Sugar Baby has pretty much had it under lock and key since its arrival. (He went so far as to take it to school with him.) When I went to the library last night to return some books, he shouted after me, "Look for another chocolate book, Mom!"
I'm telling you, it's got to be in the genes.

(Mr. Goodbar indulges the Sugar Baby with some pre-dinner reading)

White Circus Peanuts in Wisconsin Anyone???

A reader wants to know:


There is a horse cupcake recipe out there with white Circus Peanuts. Do you know of anyone in the Cedarburg, WI (@20 miles north of Milwaukee) area that might sell them?

Here in New England, it's high season for Circus Peanuts, so you can usually find the mixed bags, but I'm not sure about the Midwest. So.... anyone have an answer?

(FYI: You can see these cute cupcakes at http://www.hellocupcakebook.com/, and they also have a list of mail order places to get the white peanuts.)

There's No Such Thing As A Coincidence

Sue MKAFFGGF and the Golden Nose came over this weekend for a little garden chat/steak eating contest, so for dessert, I decided to try something new from the 125 Best Chocolate Chip Recipes cookbook which, as you may recall, was the source of the Best. Dessert. Ever.

This time, I opted for Chocolate Chip Coconut Pie, because the description made it sound so good:



"This dessert-- a chewy, ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookie baked in a flaky pastry crust-- acts like a party in your mouth."



Well heck, who doesn't love a good party? It was by far the easiest dessert I've made in a long, long time. Here it is:


Preheat oven to 350.



1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut (note: next time I'd use a whole cup)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla (note: next time I might use almond extract to give it an Almond Joy flavor)

1 unbaked pie shell

Confectioner's sugar for garnish



In a large bowl, combine sugar, chocolate chips, flour, coconut and salt. Add melted butter, eggs and vanilla, stirring well.



Pour mixture into a pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out almost clean. Let cool completely on rack.



Lightly dust top with confectioner's sugar. (I didn't do this. I served it warm with vanilla ice cream.)



There you have it. Easy as, well, pie. But here's the thing. Check this out.



The Golden Nose took a bite and he said, "Mmmm, this is so good. It's like a party in my mouth!" I kid you not! He really said that. I said, "I bet you say that to all the desserts," but he claims that, no, he never says that. So wow. There you go. Fiesta!