Trifle Dish Part 2: Making stuff ahead

For my trifle (and really, the dinner party I'm having tomorrow is all about the dessert) I'm doing 4 different layers of things repeated over and over again in a trifle dish.

Actually, wait. Let me label it a "pseudo-trifle." See, from what I've been able to find online, trifle traditionally includes some kind of custard and fruit. My trifle includes neither, so whether it qualifies as a real trifle or not, I'm not entirely sure. I thought about throwing in some berries to make it more classic, but I don't think it needs them.

As it stands, it's going to include:

-Chocolate cake

-Chocolate pudding (see recipe for the chocolate pudding I made with the strawberry semifreddo in July)

-An oreo cream (I really need to start learning official cooking terms for things)

-Whipped cream and toffee bits

The cake, pudding, and mousse can all be made ahead (which is what I spent today doing).

The chocolate cake I made is very simple (and doesn't require a sifter, which is great because I don't own one). Really, any kind of chocolate cake would be great for this but here's the recipe I used:

-2 cups granulated sugar

-1 cup chocolate milk*

-3/4 cup cocoa powder

-1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

-1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

-1 teaspoon salt

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-2 eggs

-1 teaspoon vanilla

-1 cup of boiling water

*Yes, chocolate milk - you can use regular milk if you must, but I think this adds a little something extra. And no, I don't mean some milk you whipped up yourself with some crappy syrup that's been sitting in your fridge for 8 years... Go for the good stuff, or don't bother.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of one 9x13 inch cake pan.

Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. Stir until well combined. 

Next, combine the eggs, oil, chocolate milk, and vanilla. Mix with your mixer until well combined. Then slowly add in the boiling water while mixing constantly. Take this mixture and add it to the dry ingredients and stir until smooth and well blended.

Pour the mix into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Voila! Chocolate cake:

Next, the delicious oreo cream/pudding/mousse/whatever. 

I made this and immediately hoped for leftovers to sit and eat straight out of the bowl. It's amazing.

First, I started with a vanilla pudding. This recipe was adapted from my chocolate pudding recipe, minus the cocoa, plus some butter. You'll have to forgive me for copying and pasting my chocolate pudding recipe and editing slightly, but I'm too tired to rewrite entirely:

-3 egg yolks

-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

-2 cups of whole milk

-1/2 cup of vanilla sugar (or plain granulated sugar if you don't have vanilla sugar)

-Pinch of salt

-4 teaspoons of corn starch

-1 tablespoon of unsalted butter

Whisk a 1/2 cup of the milk, the egg yolks, salt, and cornstarch in a bowl until well combined.

In a saucepan, combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk and the sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

Now the only semi-tricky part: GRADUALLY add the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Nobody wants scrambled eggs, so add the hot milk very slowly to allow the egg mixture to come up to temperature. 

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Return to medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until it comes to a full boil. At that point, reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. 

Remove from the heat and add the tablespoon of butter and vanilla extract, whisking until the butter dissolves.

Transfer the pudding into a bowl and refrigerate for a couple hours or until fully cooled.

Now, you could stop here and have an awesome vanilla pudding (it should have probably about 4 hours in the fridge to fully cool and set before eating). Or, you could bring it to the next level. You'll need:

-1 row of Oreos

-1 cup of heavy whipping cream

-2 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar

Crush the oreos into fine pieces/crumbs. This is most easily done in a plastic bag with something heavy, like a rolling pin.

Add the oreos into the cooled pudding mixture and mix.

Next, whip the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to make stiff peaks. Don't go too far, just until the cream will form a good peak without collapsing on itself.

Fold the whipped cream into the oreo pudding in small batches. It will take at least 3 batches to do this. Keep folding until the mixture is homogenous (no streaks of white cream).

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Trifle Dish

I bought a trifle dish!!

Thus, I will be making a trifle and having people over to eat said trifle (because an entire trifle is a little much for 2 people to handle).

Fingers crossed that it will come out as delicious as it sounds in my head... Assembling it on Thursday.

Super Easy Gooey Chocolate Brownies

After my awesome birthday weekend planned by my fiance (complete with a surprise party, woo-hoo)  I decided to bake Dan some brownies as a thank you. But, I'm also tired and lazy today...

Recipe:

-Your favorite brownie mix, including the ingredients it calls for

-1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

-1/2 cup of white chocolate chunks

-1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

-1/2 cup of mini marshmallows

I started with my favorite brownie mix, made according to the box directions.

Before pouring the batter into a greased brownie pan, I added the walnuts, white chocolate, marshmallows and chocolate chips. Mix everything together thoroughly, then pour into a brownie pan.

Bake until a knife inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Allow to cool before serving (if you can stand to wait that long).

Yeah, I know. Such a cop-out, totally not homemade, but really good.

 

Strawberry Semifreddo and Chocolate Pudding

Another cooking blog.

I'm not going to be sharing any new, unheard of, unique recipes here... Just my take/attempt on making stuff, with good ingredients. Because I'm becoming obsessed with food - everything about food. Where it grows, buying it, making it, and eating it. 

Today's recipe:

Strawberry Semifreddo

What's a semifreddo?

I don't know, before today I'd never eaten one. It's cold and light, and it doesn't require an ice cream maker. That's why I decided I would make it. It does require a mixer. So, if you're like I was up until about a month ago and you don't have one of those, move on unless you have some muscles. 

It's the end of the local strawberry season... Or it was, 2-3 weeks ago. I made this with Canadian strawberries. I like local food, so this was stretching it, but my brother is visiting and I know he likes strawberries. So Canadian strawberries were forgivable.

Recipe:

2 pints of strawberries, washed and hulled

1/3 cup of granulated vanilla sugar plus ~2 tablespoons (vanilla sugar is sugar infused with a vanilla bean for extra flavor, you can substitute plain granulated sugar if you're not that fancy)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

3 egg whites

Good pinch of salt

Start by pureeing half the strawberries in a blender. Go until it's, well, a puree - thick liquid with no chunks. Whip the heavy cream and salt to soft peaks and set aside. Combine the puree, the egg whites, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla in a mixer and mix until it's pale and frothy. This took me about a minute to do, but it's going to vary based on the speed of your mixer and whether it's a hand or a stand mixer. Then gradually add the 1/3 of a cup of sugar. Fold in the whipping cream. 

Pour the mixture into whatever container you would like, I used a small rectangular Pyrex dish but you could use ramekins, a brownie pan, the bowl you mixed it in - whatever is handy. Cover and place in the freezer. It will need to freeze for at least 4 hours or until it's solid.  

Meanwhile, cut the remaining berries into slices. Taste them, if they're super sweet start by adding 1 tablespoon of sugar rather than two. Add the rest of the vanilla... Then taste again. If the alcohol in the vanilla is overpowering or it's not sweet enough, add more sugar. If it's too sweet, you can add a little lemon juice. This really goes by taste rather than a set recipe. Cover the berries and place in the refrigerator.

When ready to serve, spoon the semifreddo into a serving dish and place a heaping spoonful of the sliced strawberries on top.

So, what to do with the leftover egg yolks?

I made homemade chocolate pudding (waste not, want not). 

This isn't milk chocolate pudding... It's a little more intense. You could try substituting the semi-sweet chocolate for milk chocolate and thus having a sweeter pudding. You could also substitute a dark chocolate and have dark chocolate pudding. 

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

4 teaspoons corn starch

1/3 cup of good cocoa powder

Good pinch of salt

2 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate, broken into small chunks

3 egg yolks

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Whisk a 1/2 cup of the milk, the egg yolks, salt, vanilla, and cornstarch in a bowl until well combined.

In a saucepan, combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk, the sugar, and the cocoa powder. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat. Add the chunks of chocolate, whisking constantly until fully dissolved. 

Now the only semi-tricky part: GRADUALLY add the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Nobody wants scrambled eggs, so add the hot milk very slowly to allow the egg mixture to come up to temperature. 

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Return to medium heat and cook, whisking constantly until it comes to a full boil. At that point, reduce the heat to a simmer and continue whisking for 2-3 minutes or until thickened. 

Pour the pudding into whatever you want to serve it in (cups, bowls, a big bowl, whatever). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Top the pudding with some whipped cream before serving.