Cooking adventures!

Today I made this beautiful (if I do say so myself) little cake for my mother's birthday. It is full of rich chocolatey goodness covered in chocolate ganache and almonds. Yum!

But seriously, it could not be simpler or more classy. Though I made about thirty dishes, I did this in just over an hour between classes. Worth it? Yes.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
(adapted from a recipe from KirbieCravings.com via foodgawker.com)

Cake:
7 oz semisweet or milk chocolate chips (I used bittersweet and added about a 1/4 c. sugar)
1/4 c. butter
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. almond extract/dark rum/orange extract/whatever you feel like (optional)

Ganache:
1 c. heavy cream
9 oz chocolate chips
powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line a 6-7" round pan with parchment paper (cake will stick to a greased-only pan).

Microwave chocolate and butter in 30-second intervals, stirring between each go, until melted and smooth (probably about 1 - 1.5 minutes). Meanwhile, beat eggs at high speed for about 7 minutes until almost tripled in size. Add egg mixture by thirds into chocolate, folding carefully until no egg streaks remain.

Pour into pan and bake for 22-25 mins, or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Will not rise very much.

Ganache: Heat cream over medium heat until just boiling. Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add powdered sugar for sweetness or thickness. (You can also cool it in the fridge and then whip it for a lighter frosting.) When cake has cooled slightly, poor over it starting in the middle and working toward edges.

Add chopped almonds and powdered sugar (or orange peel, or sprinkles, or whatever floats your boat). EAT WITH A VENGEANCE!

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I also recently made replicas of Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits. I've never had the real thing, so I'm not sure how close they actually come to the real thing, but they were extremely good. Worth making if you're craving deliciousness.

This is actually the recipe I used (or a censored version of it...ha. Thanks Imgur.)

4 c. Bisquick
1 1/3 c. water
4 oz shredded sharp cheddar




Mix!





Bake @ 375F for 10-12min

Combine:
1/2 c. melted butter
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/8 tsp salt
black pepper

Brush as it comes out of the oven!

EAT!

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Muffins!

I made these muffins yesterday in an attempt to bring some sunshine back into an otherwise dreary day. And it worked! They are freaking delicious, perfect with their dense but not too sweet flavor, fresh strawberries, and just enough chocolate! Yum!

So, without further ado, MAKE THESE MUFFINS!

Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (I used all-purpose, but there's no rule against whole wheat!)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 egg

1 cup sugar

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 1/4 cups sour cream or natural Greek yogurt (I used the yogurt with no problems)

1 cup(ish) fresh strawberries or thawed frozen (I used fresh and you can just kind of guestimate based on how much strawberry goodness you want in each muffin)

3/4 cup chocolate chip of your choice (semi-sweet was nice)

Chocolate drizzle:

     3 Tbsp chocolate chips

     1/2 Tbsp butter

Directions:

Oven: 425F

Pan: Large muffin tin, lined and greased and ready to go! (Although honestly I always do this last...hehe)

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in your largest bowl. This shall henceforth be known as the "dry bowl". 

Now in your second largest bowl, whisk (ahem, I definitely just used a wooden spoon) the egg until yolk and white are just combined and lightish yellow. Dump in the sugar and combine. Add the butter in three additions, whisking together sloooooooowly. Then gently add in the sour cream/yogurt and mix until just combined. Do not overmix! This is very important. I don't know why, but it is. This is henceforth known as the "wet bowl".

Add the strawberries and chocolate chips to the dry bowl and mix up until the strawberries look weird all covered in flour. It's okay. That's good. Then slowly dump the contents of the wet bowl into the dry bowl in three additions, and fold slowly and carefully until all the dry ingredients are wet. Again, don't overmix. This batter will be quite thick. 

After that, you know the drill--spoon batter into muffin tins, but this time make sure you fill them all the way up. The batter won't rise an incredible amount so you want the tins pretty full. Then bake them at 425F for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350F and bake for another 20-22 minutes. Let them cool for five minutes while you melt the butter and chocolate together (I had a stupid amount of trouble with this--shut up) and then drizzle (or plop) the mixture over the muffins. When they've cooled a bit longer, invite your friends over and eat them all! It'll probably make about a dozen muffins. 

Enjoy!

302 cal/muffin (1/12 of recipe)
With healthy substitutions (butter > apple sauce, fat-free sour cream, sugar substitute, no chocolate drizzle) = 169 cal/muffin (1/12 of recipe)

(From Sally's Baking Addiction)

(Thanks Mom for successfully melting the chocolate and putting it on the cupcakes.)

Kinder Egg Inventory

On a side note, I bought a bunch of Kinder Eggs in Brussels and I've eaten two so far. In the first one I got a stupid little ripoff Barbie cell phone that looked like luggage. So that was disappointing.

ButTHEN! Today I had another one and guesswhatguesswhat?!?! I GOT A FUZZY BABY RHINO!!!! 8-D

Look at how cyoooot he is!

UPDATE: Look at my new Kinder buddies! :D I am suddenly so lucky!

(yes, that is a very tall giraffe and a tiny polar bear)

UPDATE (again): Apparently my luck has run out. I got a stupid slutfairy whose barely wearing underwear (and you can tell). -_-

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: My last Kinder Egg was hiding a baby lion! I have half the collection now. I just need a baby elephant, hippo, and panda! But my lion is cute, even if he's got demon eyes. :)

Day 3: Brussels, City of Good Gastronomy and Big Physics

Belgium is, as my grandfather has put it, a "gastronomical city," meaning, of course, that there is good food here. Besides the chocolate and the waffles and the frites, there is a legitimately tasteful (haha) food scene. My meals today are definitely worth mentioning.

Breakfast: (at the hotel) chocolate croissant, pineapple, and fresh French sourdough bread with strawberry jam. Also, some damn good scrambled eggs.

Lunch: French bread straight out of a local patisserie and fresh homemade Brie (which would definitely have been illegal in the US) out of the cheese shop next door. Then, best waffle ever - even better than the one I had yesterday!

Dinner: (restaurant called Ricotta & Parmesan) Super-fancy salade folle (crazy salade) with baked chèvre cheese, olives, smoked ham, grilled zucchini, and many more surprising vegetables. Then just a little spinach and ricotta cannelloni followed by chocolates from that same little shop.

Other than stuffing ourselves, today we visited the Atomium, which is a bajillion-times-life-size model of an iron atom or something that was built for the World's Fair in the 50s and never taken down. You can go up to the top, and like the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building, or Seattle Space Needle, look out on a panorama of the city below. Very lovely to go there again. The place is so weird, sometimes I think I just made it up in my head, but it's really there. :)

After that we returned to the Grand Place to eat (see above), took a rest at the hotel for a few hours, then went to dinner (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a fattie) and came home.

But WAIT! What did I find when I got to my room? The sweet concierge who helped me with the hot water problem yesterday bearing two boxes of Neuhaus chocolate truffles for the inconvenience. Uh, yeah. I will take a shower in the room across the hall any day if it means free Fancypants chocolate. Thanks, Monsieur le Consierge. Talk about excellent service!

Oh, I also bought the sixth Harry Potter book in Dutch to add to my collection (I already had the seventh one in French - I'm working backwards). The Dutch covers are really simple and pretty. I approve! :)

Day 2: Brussels, the City of Waffles, Chocolate, and Little Peeing Boys

It's fascinating coming back here after twelve years. Though I don't recognize much of the city itself (it appears to have been much modernized in recent years), the Grand Place and the surrounding area are exactly as I remember them. It's a vibrant contradiction: new versus old, discovery versus nostalgia, the memory of childhood versus the experience in adulthood.

In a way everything does seem smaller; after all, I was probably barely four feet tall when I left. But on the other hand, the city seems so much more than I remembered, so much more full and bustling and tall. It's probably because of where we lived, but I don't remember Brussels as, you know, a huge city like London or Paris or New York. I don't remember that feeling of confinement and bustle and humanity.

Either way, today was an interesting one. We walked to the Grand Place, and I got a waffle along the way - the first REAL waffle I've had in twelve years, and I must say, it was divine. No one can make Belgian waffles like the Belgian, which should go without saying, but people everywhere always try so hard, always label anything that comes out of a waffle iron a "Belgian" waffle, but they always always fail. Seriously, you can't beat a true Belgian gaufre made with whatever secret ingredient makes it so addicting, glazed in sugar with little sugar chunks, and smelling like a very specific kind of heaven all the way down the street. You just can't beat that anywhere but here.

After the Waffle Experience, we saw the most beautiful square in the world, smack in the middle of Europe, the Grand Place. Oh, it's gorgeous! So old and yet still so alive. It was exactly as it was in my childhood. :)

Then we tromped down the streets to the Menneken Pis - the peeing boy - one of the most beloved symbols of this city and a perfect example of Belgian humor. Sometimes he eveN wears clothes! And he's almost 400 years old. Also, he is my favorite statue. :)

After that we went to dinner at a place called Léon something-something after being mercilessly solicited by the door men of the many famed seafood restaurants along this particular road. One even grabbed me and tried to "subtly" block our path anywhere but into his restaurant. But I really don't like seafood and my grandfather's a vegetarian, so we got by with some arguing and instead I enjoyed a meal of a ham and cheese omelet and pommes frites (the original French Fries) before we stopped by a chocolatier known as Belgian Gourmand and got truffles.

Now I am stuffed and exhausted and so thankful for the concierge who sorted out the lack-of-hot-water situation in my hotel room. To bed!

Did I mention that America doesn't have good chocolate?

I'm in Belgium. Yup.

What America Lacks: Good chocolate.

Mission: travel to England.

Objective: procure Cadburys Buttons.

Status: achieved.