Chocolate Birthday Desserts: Compost Cups

My friend and neighbor Erik had his birthday bash this weekend.  He is normally out of town on an annual ski trip, so he rarely has a bithday party with his New York friends and he wanted a big party this year.    It was an excellent party at a great bar, Local 61, in Brooklyn which could accomadate his massive guest list, friends from Ohio and Boston made a trip out for the extravaganza.  I made it my job to make a cake or dessert of some sort.  At first he claimed he didn't want one, and it always seemed like he and his brother were not much for sweets, so I wasn't going to do anything.  But I doubled check the night before to make sure he didn't want anything and found out that he apparently LOVES chocolate.  How I did not know this after three years is beyond me. 

Chocolate made my search much narrower and since it needed to be gluten free, a Flourless Chocolate Cake was the first thing that came to mind.  At breakfast the next morning with a couple of our friends the idea came up to make the dirt cupcakes that you see at a kids birthday with the  gummy worms coming out.  Why?  Because Erik is a Master Composter.  In his spare time he helped set up a composting program at the Gowanus Canal Concervancy and currently oversees the Grow NYC Compost Program.  Needless to say, he is serious about his compost.  So I decided I would be making two desserts, there were going to be a lot of people anyway.

I flipped through my cookbooks and recipe binders until I found a flourless chocolate cake, which I will share next, and a Chocolate Ricotta Mousse recipe from Real Simple.  I added some crushed Gluten Free chocolate cookies to the top and placed a gummy worm and Swedish Fish in little terra cotta pots I bought for muffin making.  They turned out super cute and were very rich and yummy.  The blending of the ricotta and chocolate smoothed out texture of the ricotta and made is silky.  The cookie crumbled added a nice crunch to the texture.  I was not a fan of eating the gummies with the chocolate, but they certainly good on their own.  You should definately give this recipe a try. With or with worms.

Compost Cups
6 servings

• 15 oz ricotta (one container)
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate
• 2 or 3 chocolate cookies (gluten free if desired), crushed
• milk chocolate shavings
• gummy worms
• Swedish Fish

1. Melt the semisweet chocolate chips in a microwave dish.  Make sure you do not burn it so start with one minute on high, stir and put it back in for increments of 15 to 20 seconds, stirring in between each time.  There should be a few unmelted chunks the final time you stir them, and the stirring will finish melting it all.  It shouldn't take more than three minutes total in the microwave, depending on you machine.  
2. In a blender (or food processor if you have one), blend the ricotta, sugar, and melted chocolate until smooth.  Make sure to stop the blender and scrap down the sides to get everything mixed well.
3. Line six terra cotta pots with parchment paper and place a gummy worm in each one.   Fill the pots with the chocolate mousse mixture.  Sprinkle the crushed cookies on top.
4. Put them in the fridge to set up for bit, then stick the Swedish Fish in, they should not sink down once the mousse is a bit thicker, and sprinking the chocolate shavings on top.
5. Real Simple's recipe says that you can store this in the fridge for up to two days and to bring it to room temperature for serving.

Enjoy!

Daily Breakfast

I go into cycles with breakfast. For the majority of the summer, it was a banana before I hopped on my bike and a yogurt smoothie thing. Before that, it was oatmeal of some sort or Coco Wheats shipped in from South Dakota to brave the cold winter. The cycles tend to coincide with the changes of the season. When I start to get sick of my "usual" breakfast, I notice my coffee shop expense go up. I get lazy and don't know what I want and nothing looks good so I end up buying a scone or muffin, and a latte of course.

In an attempt to save some money and try something new, I decided I would try making something on the weekend that I could take with me to work daily. Enter Smitten Kitchen and her Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones. The best part of this recipe is that she give you the directions for mixing them up ahead of time and baking them when you are ready for them and I am going try this brilliant idea with other scone recipes as we continue heading for the cold of winter. I can warm the oven while I take a shower, pop one in the oven, and still have a bit of time for it to cool before I run for the subway. Who doesn't love a fresh baked breakfast? That's what I thought. I am going to try this with other.

Whole Wheat Raspberry Scones
Makes 9 scones

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup  all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup  granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. 
3. Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. 
4. Roughly chop the raspberries on  a cutting board and stir them into the butter-flour mixture.  Add the ricotta and heavy cream together and stir them in to form a dough with a flexible spatula.
5. Using your hands, gently knead dough into an even mass, right in the bottom of the bowl.  With as few movements as possible, transfer the dough to a well-floured counter, flour the top of the dough and pat it into a 7-inch square about 1-inch tall. 
6. With a large knife, divide the dough into 9 even squares.  Transfer the scones to prepared baking sheet with a spatula.  Arrange them on your parchment-lined sheet and freeze them.  
7. Once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or container. 
8. When you are ready to bake them, bring them back to a parchment-lined sheet. Bake 16 to18 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges.  Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Cool them about halfway before eating.

Enjoy!  

LEMON OFF!!

All the delicious Dishes

Yesterday was the big Lemon off and it was a huge success.  So many yummy things and a few amazing trophies!  In a tight race for number one the Lemon Lasagna by Hillary won Best of Show, The Lemon Pasta by Melissa was the Savory winner and the Lemon Icebox Pie by Stephanie took home the Sweet trophy by a landslide.  Truth be told they were all so good, I had trouble making my choices and honestly cannot remember which ones I picked.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa, Hillary, & Stephanie with their trophies

The table after the feast

Unfortunately for me my Lemon Ricotta Tart did not win the trophy this time, but it was delicious. I found it in my Martha Stewart Fresh Flavor Fast.  I had not tried it before and the crust baked faster than the it was timed too so when the tart took longer to bake, my crust was almost over done.  It was fine, but I was still not happy that my oven has no consistency and somewhat ruined my tart.  I didn't have tart pan with a removable bottom, but I don't think that made any difference.

Lemon Ricotta Tart

• 72 vanilla wafers (from a 12-ounce box)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven 375 degrees. In a food processor, pulse vanilla wafers until finely ground (to yield 2 cups). Add butter and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened. 
2. Transfer crumb mixture to a 9-inch tart pan. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides. Place pan on a baking sheet; bake crust until lightly browned and set, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven. 
3. In clean food processor, blend ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon zest and juice until smooth. Pour into hot crust in pan; bake until filling is set and browned in spots, 30 to 35 minutes.  
4. Cool completely on a wire rack. Just before serving, dust top of tart with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Enjoy! 

The rest of the recipes will be up soon!

Anginetti Cookies: Round One

I have arrive back in South Dakota in one piece and on time and as promised have started a baking cooking frenzy. Today was full of making candy with my mom and sister and round one of the search for the perfect Anginetti Cookie.
After Thanksgiving I talked to my coworker whose family I knew was Italian.  His mom sent him this recipe that has ricotta cheese in it. They are really good but they didn't stay little balls, they spread out in the oven.  They are nice and soft and have a different texture from my friend's mom's cookies as well.  Even though they are good, the taste and texture is different enough that I will be testing a second recipe next week. 

Anginetti/ Italian Cookies
2 cups of sugar
1 cup softened unsalted butter
3 beaten eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
15 oz  ricotta cheese

Beat the sugar & butter together then add in eggs and vanilla. Beat until creamy.  In a separate bowl mix remaining dry ingredients.  Add 1/2 of flour mixture to sugar mixture and blend together. Add in rest of flour and ricotta cheese.  Drop rounded tablespoon on ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 12 minutes, until bottom is browned, the tops should not brown. Cool completely before frosting.
 
Frosting
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar 
1 tsp anise extract 
2 tbsp milk (may need more or less)  
Blend until thick but not too thick, just so you can spread on the cookies and it will not run off. You can add food coloring for color if you like (I added red).  

 

Enjoy!