Baked: Sweet and Salty Cake

This was maybe the most ridiculous culinary adventure ever. Making this cake was quite the production, and, of course, I decided to undertake it the afternoon after I ran a half marathon. Smart. Real smart.

Spice got me the Baked cookbook for my birthday, and once I saw this cake, I knew it would be the first thing I made from it!

The cake itself is a classic, very moist chocolate. Maybe one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had. Seriously. Even after a week and a half, the cake was STILL moist!

In between each layer is a layer of salted caramel. Whooo! I could've stopped here and just used the caramel sauce for everyday adventures in the kitchen. I licked the spoon more than once. The frosting is a whipped caramel ganache frosting. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill frosting here! This is so decadent and rich you may roll over in a chocolate induced coma. In a good way.


Sea salt is love. Honor it.


I can't find this recipe printed online with permissions, so I'm not sure I'm allowed to share the recipe, sorry! But you really should go get this cookbook, because it has some real gems in it!

Donuts

I got a donut pan for my birthday a few months ago (thanks Kali!) and just haaaad to make some donuts with them. I chose some very basic donuts for my first go-round.


The donut pan is perfect. I think you can fill the holes with most muffin mixes and they will come out as a donut! Pretty sweet if you ask me!


I sprinkled some chocolate chips on the top of a few as well as some flaked coconut. Both were delicious and a fun surprise for the donuts.

I dipped the glazed part in some chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, which would make them very fun for kids!


Donuts

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon shortening

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease the doughnut pan. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, eggs, vanilla and shortening. Beat together until well blended.

Fill each donut cup approximately 3/4 cup full. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.

To make glaze, blend confectioners' sugar and hot water in a small bowl. Dip donuts in the glaze and dip into sprinkles if desired.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Snack Bars

I'm baaack! Sorry the site was down for so long. Believe me, I missed it as much as some of you did! And hopefully there wont be any more unexpected interruptions! Back to the food!

These were a great bar cookie that I sort of used as an energy bar as well. Obviously, with my sweet tooth extraordinaire, I'm always looking for ways to cut back on sugar! I loved these bars and have made them several times.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Snack Bars
Jenna Laughs

3 tablespoons softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons milled flax seed
1 cup whole oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until creamy; 4-5 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and peanut butter. Beat until combined. Add cocoa powder and beat on low speed.

In a separate bowl, combine flours, flax seed, oats, baking soda and salt. Mix together. Combine dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until moistened. You may need to use your hands to get it all combined. Add chocolate chips and combine. Pour mixture into an 8-inch baking sheet fitted with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi

I've been on a gnocchi kick lately. These were very good. LOVED the spinach in them. I made the recipe a bit healthier by using part skim ricotta and whole wheat flour. I also served it with broccoli mixed in. Loved the simplicity of the sauce that really let the gnocchi dominate. This was really pretty easy and the only time consuming part was forming the gnocchi. But, well worth it!

Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi
Simplyrecipes.com

Gnocchi

• 3 ounces fresh or frozen spinach


• 1 egg


• 2 teaspoons salt


• 1 1/2 pounds part skim ricotta cheese, drained of excess moisture


• 1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese


• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour


• Pinch of nutmeg

Sauce

• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (or whole tomatoes that you shred as you add to the pan)


• 4 Tbsp olive oil


• 2 garlic cloves, peeled


• Salt

Gnocchi

1 Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and heat until simmering. Add spinach and cook until tender, about 1 minute. Drain. Let spinach cool enough to touch, then squeeze as much moisture as you can out of it. You can also use a potato ricer if you have one to squeeze the excess moisture out of the spinach.

2 Add the spinach, egg, salt, and half of the ricotta to a food processor. Pulse until completely blended. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, mix in the remaining ricotta and the Parmesan cheese. Stir a pinch of nutmeg into the flour. Add the flour in by hand, starting with a half of the flour. Mix everything with your hands until the mixture holds together as a dough.

3 Put the dough out on a lightly floured smooth, clean surface. Knead lightly for about a minute, adding additional flour if needed, if the dough sticks too easily to the board or your hands. (At this point, if you wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for an hour, it will be easier to roll out.) When the dough is smooth and pliable, and still just a little bit sticky, divide it into 4 portions, each the size of an orange.

4 Flour your hands lightly. Using both hands, and a light touch, roll the dough out with a back and forth motion, starting at the center and stretching the dough out, to form a roll. This is the tricky part. You don't want to put so much pressure so that you compress the dough, but you do need enough pressure to create a rope of dough. The trick is to stretch the dough sideways as you are rolling. Once the segment you are working on gets to be about a foot long, you may find it easier to cut it in half, and then start working on that smaller segment.

Roll the dough out until the roll is about the size of a middle finger. (Note that if your hands or the board is a little too floured, you may not have enough traction between your skin and the dough to easily stretch it sideways.) Cut each roll into 1-inch pieces.

5 Hold a fork at a 45% angle with its tines facing down on the work board, the curved part of the fork facing away from you. Starting with the curved outside bottom of the fork, press each piece of dough up along the length of the tines. Let the gnocchi fall back down. This is a pretty quick motion, the result is an indentation of the fork tines on one side of the gnocchi, and an indentation of your fingertip on the other side.

I just squeezed a small indent in the middle of the gnocchi without making the fork indentations. Its worked well for me in the past and, well, if its not broke, don't fix it!

Place the gnocchi on a lightly floured cookie sheet. At this point they can be cooked, or kept in the refrigerator several hours or overnight.

5 To cook the gnocchi, fill a large wide pot half-way with water. Bring to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt for every quart of water. Once the salt has dissolved, gently drop the gnocchi in the water, one by one. Try to do this in a way that the gnocchi are not falling in on top of each other, but rest on the bottom of the pan in a single layer. As the gnocchi cooks, they will rise to the surface of the water after a couple minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the risen gnocchi from the pot, place in a serving bowl. As you remove the gnocchi, add more to the pan.

The Sauce

1 Heat oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add the garlic cloves and cook until lightly browned on all sides. Remove and discard the garlic. Add the tomatoes (include any juices from the can) all at once (careful, they may cause the oil to splatter as the tomatoes hit the pan). As soon as the mixture boils, reduce the heat to low and let simmer, uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt. Stir occasionally. Use a potato masher to break up any solid pieces of tomato, you want a rough purée.

2 Once the sauce reduces to a medium thick consistency, add the goat cheese, stirring until it is well blended. Add more salt to taste.

Serve gnocchi with the sauce and extra grated Parmesan. Serves 4-6.

Whole Grain Waffles

These are great, easy waffles to make. I made a big batch and froze most of them so that I would have breakfast waffles during the week. Definitely better than eggo's with all those preservatives!

I topped them with sunflower seed butter and some mixed berry spread I got at the Union Square Farmers Market.



Whole Grain Waffles
Eating, etc.

2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cups milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce and vanilla. Beat in whole wheat pastry flour, flax seed meal, wheat germ, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt until batter is smooth.

Preheat a waffle iron and coat with cooking spray. Pour batter into waffle iron in batches, and cook until crisp and golden brown.