Don't Forget to Grease the Pan

Stop #1: J. Dorian Chocolatier

2009-05-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

A while ago I made a chocolate map of all the chocolate shops I wanted to check out in the Dallas area. Now that Tom and I are moving soon, I feel a certain urgency to check out these places to A) Find out what I'll be missing or B) To have a good reason to come up and visit Dallas again.

On my first stop, I went to J. Dorian's chocolate shop here in North Dallas. It's a quaint little place with windows from the shop showing directly into the kitchen, where the artists really work. I told him that this was my first time to his shop and he was very generous with free samples (always a plus!). All his chocolates are made fresh with no preservatives or artificial flavors and they look like little pieces of art. There are a wide range of tastes to meet anyone's palate, but my favorites were the peppermint truffle and the lavendar and honey truffle. He has milk, white and dark chocolate, but mainly dark. And even if you aren't a dark chocolate fan, you will be surprised to find that his dark chocolate is not bitter in the slightest. I think my mom who is a die-hard milk chocolate lover would even approve.

In addition to chocolate, he sells cupcakes (made fresh daily, of course!) and other goodies all for a reasonable price. If you are in the area, I would recommend stopping in and treating yourself to little pieces of happiness.

I'm back!

2009-05-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

As you may have heard already, I have a bun in the oven due this December. As a result of this fabulous new adventure, I had that old "morning" (noon and night!) sickness and really gagged at most food with any kind of flavor. I even passed up dessert and chocolate everyday because it made me so sick...yeah, crazy, I know.

But, now that the naseau has somewhat faded, I am back in the kitchen whipping up tasty experiments. Also, I was getting really behind in my cooking class and need to get caught back up, so here is something tasty and that you probably have in your pantry already if you are a Moroccan food lover like myself.

Curry Rice Pilaf
2 T butter
1/4 c. chopped yellow onion
1 c. uncooked rice (I HIGHLY recommend Jasmine rice. Don't use that nasty ol' minute rice stuff)
2 c. chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. golden raisins
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
smidgen of cayenne

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook until tender. Stir in rice and cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broth, salt, raisins, allspice, curry and tumeric. Bring to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Cook for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Oh, Martha...

2009-04-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

I could spend a whole post debating whether I hate/love Martha Stewart, but I would rather just show you these incredibly creative cupcakes. I love anything cupcakes and these are just so freakin' cute. I have plans to make the corn on the cob ones for a BBQ this summer. Enjoy.

Corn on the cob
TV dinner
Beach Theme

Hittin' the books

2009-04-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, I am working on finishing my degree (having a baby my senior year kind of complicated attending lectures) through BYU independent study. I have 3-1/2 classes done (!) but I still have 3 more to go. But luckily enough, this is the textbook for one of my new classes:

Cooking dinner and doing homework at the same time? Sounds GREAT to me!

Magically Delicious

2009-03-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what a difference good chocolate can do for chocolate covered strawberries.

Oh and did I mention that I also made some of this? Shame on me.

I saw this in bar form at a grocery store for an outrageous price, so I thought I would try to make it myself. It is surprisingly good, but go easy--it has heart attack written all over it.

The Symbolism of Bread Making

2009-03-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

Chocolate: The Devil's Delight or Heaven Sent?

2009-03-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have only known one person in my life who didn't eat chocolate (she was allergic...how horrible), so I think it is pretty safe to say that it is universally enjoyed by everyone, especially women. Growing up with five sisters, I have had many, many years experience tasting, savoring and occasionally stealing chocolate from my mom's "secret" stash and have come to join the ranks of chocolate lovers. But, in more recent years I have been looking for something more than the usual Hershey Kiss or even Lindt truffles to satisfy my tastes.

In my search I have come across a couple books that helped to enlighten my brain about chocolate and I figure, the more I know, the more we can be best friends and share a lifetime of love. Two books I have enjoyed are Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Light and Dark and The Chocolate Connoisseur. While these are rather opinionated books (i.e. they think their experience is the best), it gave me a good starting place as to what is considered chocolate, where it comes from, why the kind of bean is important and where to find good chocolate. In my quest for world reknown chocolate, I am on the search for chocolate stores in the Dallas area to help me (e-mail me if you want a list that I have compiled so far). For those who don't live in the area, what are some of your favorite chocolates and stores? Eventually I would like to compile a national list, so that one of these days when I have lots of extra money to spend, I will go on a chocolate road trip. Anyone care to join me?

Cupcakes

2009-03-09T08:55:00.001-07:00

I think the cupcake was one of those accidents in the kitchen that turned out to be the best thing ever (similar to using shredded vegetables in cakes...more for another time). I personally love them because they are portioned controlled right out of the oven, so I don't have to worry about how big my piece is compared to others. Because I can really pack away the dessert.

In my house growing up, if you didn't like cupcakes, you really were that alien mom and dad got from another planet and put into our family. And you were also out of luck for dessert that night. So, I found a cupcake recipe book that I thought would produce quality cakes while also being easy to follow. And I found it on the bargain shelf at a half-priced book store. Keep in mind it doesn't have a whole lot of pictures, so you'll need to be imaginative in the final presentation. Here's a recipe I tried with some friends and it seemed to go over very well.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Basic Yellow Cupcake Batter (see below)

Chocolate Fudge Sauce (see below)

4 oz (or ¼ c) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting (see below)

Combine 1 cup Chocolate Fudge sauce with the basic yellow cupcake batter. It will turn a light chocolate color, which is what you are looking for. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin (about 2/3 full) and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-23 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and top each cupcake with about 7 chocolate chips. They will get soft but not completely melt. After cupcakes and prepared frosting have cooled, top each cupcake with a generous heaping of frosting. Store uneaten cupcakes (ha ha! Like there will be any) in the refrigerator. Yields about 12 regular sized cupcakes.

Basic Yellow Cupcake batter:

1 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 c. sugar

½ c. canola oil

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

½ c. sour cream

For yellow cupcake batter, sift dry ingredients together and set aside. In a large bowl mix the egg, yolk until thick and a light cream color (about 2 minutes). Mix in oil, vanilla and sour cream until batter is uniform in color. Incorporate dry ingredients until blended.

Chocolate Fudge sauce

¾ c heavy whipping cream

2 T butter

9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ tsp. vanilla

For chocolate fudge sauce, heat butter and cream in a medium saucepan until butter melts, cream starts to make little bubbles or mixture reaches 175 degrees F. DO NOT LET BOIL. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate chips and vanilla until it is all incorporated. This makes 1-2/3 cup of sauce, so reserve the extra for some vanilla ice cream later in the week. :)

The Best Part (Frosting)

1 c. half and half

6 T unsalted butter, cubed into small pieces

4 large egg yolks

¾ c. sugar

1/8 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 ½ c. sweetened coconut

1 c. chopped pecans

Cook half and half and butter over medium heat in a saucepan until butter has melted and steam begins to rise from the milk. DO NOT LET BOIL. Take off heat. In a separate bowl mix egg yolks with sugar and salt. While continually whisking, incorporate hot milk and butter mixture into egg yolk mixture. Return it to the saucepan and continue to cook over medium heat until it reaches 165 degrees F. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla, coconut and pecans. Let cool and refrigerate for up to one hour.

**Note--In my ever fascination with this little delicacy, I decided to check out the famed Sprinkles bakery branch out here in Dallas and was thoroughly disappointed. Here's a few reasons 1) $3.25 per cupcake...that's right. Just for one! 2) The cream cheese frosting was incredibly too sweet and 3) The red velvet cake was a little too spongy and dry for what I was expecting out of red velvet. Mind you, I only tried one kind (because I didn't want to spend my week's grocery money on cupcakes), so maybe that batch was left in the oven just a little too long. But, nonetheless, I figured I can do better at home. And I did. Recipe to come later.

Lovin' from the oven

2009-03-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

I love food. I love to mix it, fry it, bake it, saute it and especially eat it. But, don't get me wrong, I am not a gluttonous person, but just one who loves to be creative in the kitchen. This love stemmed from my mom's skills as a Southern cook and all things made from scratch. In addition to good ol' Southern cooking, I also have a love for the weird, exotic and downright strange things that are here for us to eat in the world.

In order to share this love with the world, I have decided to create this blog to share my own favorite recipes, your favorite recipes, food stories, good cookbooks, food photography and anything else related. As I am still creating my own vast wealth of culinary knowledge (ha ha!), many of the recipes I share will have originated from someone else, so you are more than welcome to e-mail me some of your favorites at ktpauliiine@gmail.com. Happy eating!

And to kick it off, here is my ultimate favorite Chocolate Chip recipe:

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe is from my mother-in-law, Susan. Sorry, Mom, yours got beat. :)

1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. quick cooking or regular oats (If quick cooking oats, add 3T milk)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 (12 oz) pkg. milk chocolate chips*

Preheat oven to 350. Cream sugars and butter until fluffy. Mix in peanut butter, vanilla and egg. Mix in flour, oats (milk is necessary), baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and drop by teaspoonfulls onto greased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes.

*Note--If you want a more rich tasting cookie, use semi-sweet chocolate chips. Since this cookie has a lot of flavors already, I like to use milk chocolate.