Because of my momma . . . Flourless Chocolate Cake

Because of my momma…

 

I am the person I am today because of my momma.

Because of her, I see the world the way I do.

I write this blog and create the content because my mom allowed me in the kitchen. She taught me to share. She encouraged me to be me.

I am shy, just like my momma.

I have ten fingers and ten toes, a mind and a soul, because my momma carried me.

I have a curved spine, from my momma’s genes.

 

I trust, and I care, and I love, because my momma has done so for me.

Because of my momma, I talk in silly voices to my dog.

I stand on two feet and walk forward everyday, because my mom inspires me so.

I have hot coffee in a mug between my intertwined fingers every morning, because my momma spoils me.

 

I see lovely flowers all around, because my mom gardens so beautifully.

She shows me how to care by caring so passionately and selflessly for everyone around her.

Because of my mom, I am completely and utterly blessed.

 

I made this cake because of my mommy.

I love her, because she is my perfect and beautiful momma.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

 

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze and Berry Coulis

Cake:

½ cup water

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

18 (1 oz) squares bittersweet bakers chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

6 large eggs

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease one 10 inch round spring form pan (or any similar sized pan, I used a heart shaped insert for my springform pan. Baking times may vary though).

In a small saucepan, combine water, salt, and sugar (and optional espresso powder); Stir over medium heat until completely dissolved. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted, pour into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Cut the butter into pieces and slowly add to the chocolate, beating on medium speed. Beat in the hot sugar-water. Slowly beat in eggs, one at a time, until all ingredients are completely combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 300 degrees F for 45-55 minutes. The center will still be slightly jiggly. (Make sure internal temp is 140 degrees F). Chill for several hours, or overnight, to allow cake to cool completely before removing from pan. To remove, gently cut around edges and remove springform ring.

Chocolate Glaze:

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips or 6 (1 oz) squares semisweet bakers chocolate

¼ cup butter

3 Tablespoons Berry Coulis (Optional)

Combine chocolate and butter and melt over double boiler. Stir in Berry Coulis once melted. Allow to cool for ten to fifteen minutes, then pour over chilled cake.

Berry Coulis:

2 cups frozen or fresh berries (any variety)

2 Tablespoons Sugar

Juice of half a lemon

Combine all in a small saucepan and cook until berries are soft and have released their juices. Remove from heat and mash the berries well, or process in a food processor. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Mix in 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Use to add to Chocolate Glaze and/or serve drizzled over cake.

 

Almond Butter

My sophomore year in high school I had an infatuation with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. No really, I did.

Or maybe I just did because it was edible, and other food in the high school cafeteria wasn’t so much. Therefore, I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch every single school day that year. Whether or not I actually enjoyed it is debatable. The most unfortunate part of this story though, is that I actually bought the sandwich from the cafeteria, and not a single time did I pack my own lunch. Imagine the possibilities! I could have used white or multigrain, crunchy or creamy, grape or strawberry. But no, I paid a dollar every day for that silly sandwich with white bread, creamy peanut butter, and grape jelly. Oh high school me, how I’m glad that is over.

Another pbj story: I always imagined the classic sandwich of peanut butter and jelly to be infallible. It never let me down when in need of a quick, tasty lunchtime food. BUT, when I was fourteen I had surgery for my scoliosis and was in the hospital for a week. Hello terrible food. Can I just have a pudding cup, please.

I didn’t have much of an appetite; however, that was not acceptable according to all the people monitoring me, so I was forced to pick a meal. The first few picks were all offensive.  Then, I saw the never failing pbj on the menu and thought, ‘perfect, they can’t mess that one up.‘

They did.

I have never had worse peanut butter in my life. I think it was actually ground up cardboard with some water added to make it spreadable. Really, it was that bad. Give me the pudding cup NOW.

Regardless of my pbj past, I still enjoy a good peanut butter and jelly erry once in while. I have discovered my new favorite version of the sandwich though, which is a bit more sophisticated than my high school or hospital versions. Multigrain bread (preferably homemade or from a bakery), my momma’s strawberry jam, and stick to the roof of your mouth almond butter. Goodbye peanuts, hellooooo almonds.

But don’t go buy that $8 tiny jar of natural  almond butter at the grocery store. (Well do, if that’s really your only option). What you should do is buy the bag of plain ol’ almonds, pour ‘em in a food processor, and let it go. And go, and go and go, for twenty minutes. And then, magically, you have the best almond butter for the best pbj, or abj, ever. I promise.

Almond Butter

-A few handfuls of almonds

Pour almonds (not roasted or toasted or blanched or anything) into the bowl of a food processor. Turn on high for twenty minutes.

The magic starts happening around ten minutes, and you may think its never going to have enough oils, but it will. You do not need to add any extra oil, as some recipes say. Just let the processor go, scraping down the sides as needed, and breaking up the ball of almond paste that forms. Eventually, around twenty minutes later, the almonds will be ground enough and they will have released enough of their own oils to be considered almond butter.

Notes – The noise from the food processor tends to get annoying; hello headphones. Also, the almond butter probably will get hot. That’s because of all the friction going on in there. It’s totally okay. Also also, I like to add a bit of cinnamon to my butter. I typically use about 2 cups almonds, and when it’s almost done add in about ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Also also also, some people enjoy a bit of salt or some sugar in it.

Love,

B

Lavender Lemon Cookies and a Literacy Narrative

“Narrative provides a way to speak things otherwise unspeakable, to give voice to that which would otherwise go unheard” –Lynn Briggs and Meg Woolbright

Writing for Identity

A literacy narrative I wrote for class and felt was significant enough to share.

I’m six and a quarter years old. My favorite color is purple and I want to be mommy and daddy’s perfect little girl. I cry when I don’t draw the picture exactly how I want it to be. I rip it up and throw it. But it’s okay, because I can go swing in my backyard – Up, down, up down; kicking in, out, in out; soaring through the air, closing my eyes. I am anything I want to be. It’s quiet, I’m alone, and everything is perfect.

Dude, I’m nine. I want to be a sport star, but I’m terrible at hand-eye coordination, and I think I’m disappointing the soccer coach who happens to be my dad. But, I can get good grades – that comes easy to me. Quietly listening in class, I wish to be the bubbly girl next to me who the other students flock to, the girl who always has something to say.

I am the same age as my sister; well, at least for this month until she turns thirteen. I want to be her. She’s only eleven months older than me, so why does she get to be so much cooler? It’s stupid and not fair.  She can play soccer, sing in musicals, and make so many friends. My teacher’s tell me I’m smart, but I just want to be accepted by the twenty-seven people my age that I know.

I’m like fifteen. I want to be pretty. My best friend knows how to fix her blonde hair and make up her face. She has a boyfriend. I want to make people laugh the way she does. I wish I could just quit being so damn shy, why don’t I know what to say?

I’m finally eighteen. I want to be an artist. I want to be the stereotypical art student – the one who does the unexpected, dresses in awesome but unintentional style with beanies and wisps of hair every which way (yet, still looking put together), makes crazy unexpected artworks, and goes to art galleries to chat about avant-garde art with other artists. I change my style accordingly.

Now, my age doesn’t really matter. I don’t want. I am. I don’t need to have some alter ego to compete with the real me. I have an identity. The reality of my entire life has been, and is, the shy girl. I participate in conversation most often by sitting back and listening, contributing through nods, slight smiles, and soft chuckles. I’m conservative and modest; traditional.

I didn’t realize this until I created a blog. In a class I was taking, Creative Strategies, one of the major projects of the semester was to create a new self – an alter ego, or our “better half”. The assignment was rather vague and obscure with no right or wrong answer. It wasn’t necessarily supposed to be an alter ego, but someone we would be, without any limitations, if we could. Our future self, perhaps. Most of the project was up to us, if we wanted a new name, a new direction, anything. However, we did have to create a profile on a social network to display our new self and provide an artist’s statement, so I chose to create a blog for my character.

Creating this person was hard for me, even though my entire life I had been creating ideal personalities for myself in my imagination. I wanted her to be perfect, to be the artist I desired to be but wasn’t. I began to create a character that portrayed the “artist” I had been trying to emanate.  The more I worked through all the parts of the assignment though; I began to realize the only person I truly wanted to be was myself. That meant combining the conservative and shy “me” that I had tried to hide with the conflicting artist “me.” I worked through the rest of the project, and finally when the presentation came, I used words on the blog to explain that “I did not know the answer” to the assignment. This was extreme for me, because I had always been the student who gave my teachers what they wanted, because I was supposed to, and this answer to my professor’s assignment was definitely not what she wanted. But through my voice on the blog, I could explain, simply put, that I didn’t quite know how to define the real me yet, that there was a battle between my identities going on in need of compromise, and whoever she turned into was who I wanted to be. I fulfilled all the requirements of the assignment, albeit unconventionally, and I still made it my own.

This blog helped me define an identity for myself that intertwined each aspect of my character; I realized I didn’t need to choose just one thing to identify myself. I felt free to explore my identity. At the same time, I found that through written word I could define myself, explain myself, and have the voice I had so desperately been searching for in order to conquer my shy “self.” My shy speaking voice had somehow become bold – even loud – in written form, on my blog with an audience.

The concept of audience became very important to me. Throughout my development from child to adult, I was desperately seeking to be someone else because I thought I needed an audience. I wanted to be noticed and heard, and the only way I knew how to do that was to somehow get over my shyness so I wished to be someone else, someone less shy. With a blog though, the world was my audience. Anyone who typed in a few search terms could come across my blog and read the words I voiced. I suddenly had a place to put words that I couldn’t find a way to utter aloud, but could write. And these words were being read! This was exhilarating; I felt terrified but so excited at the same time. Here, I found that when my shyness creeps up and takes away the words I want to speak, I could voice them through writing. Blogging was the perfect way to develop this voice because I could write it, formulate my words, be confident, and know that I had an audience.

This blog was a new step in defining myself, and led to my current blog here, Arts and Tarts, which has become a place where I can and will continue to tell stories, share my baking experiences and recipes, and explore my photography. It’s a place where I can be the different aspects of my identity all at once, where I can mesh the shy with the unconventional, where my conflicting “selfs” can coincide. Because of this, it’s a place where I can completely be and voice myself.

Blogging has given me a voice. It’s an outlet to explore my identity, and continue the journey of defining who I am. Each blog post I write adds a new ingredient or instruction to the recipe that makes me, me.

And here is the newest ingredient,

Lavender Lemon Cookies

Lavender Sugar Cookie:

1 cup sugar

4 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter

½ cup sour cream

½ cup oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ – 1 Tablespoon dried lavender buds*

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugars together, add eggs and beat. Add sour cream, oil, and vanilla until combined. Slowly mix in flour, until all combined. Add in lavender buds. Chill dough at least an hour, then use a rolling pin to roll dough out to ¼ inch thick. Cut with cookies cutters. (I cut small 2 inch diameter circles, resulting in a billion tiny cookies). Bake at 350 degrees F for 6-9 minutes, or until just barely browned on edges and top is not longer shiny.  Cool on wire racks.

*Amount of buds depends on preferred taste. Be cautious though, as too much may taste soapy

Lemon Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 Tablespoons water

Zest of lemon

Whisk all together. For stronger lemon flavor, replace water with more lemon juice. When cookies have cooled, drizzle or pour over tops and let set out for glaze to dry. Store in airtight container.

 

Always with love,

B

A Side of Blueberry Pie : Blueberry Hand Pies

My dear friend Candace.

I haven’t dedicated a blog post to you yet, because well, I just cant quite get the words right. I want this post to be perfect – a good story along with a beautiful and delicious pictures and recipe. And to be frank, I just can’t figure it out. Because no matter how long I think about it, I just cant compare you to a food. Weird, right? Or, is it just weird that I’m trying to find a comparison between you and a pastry or cookie or something. That, my friend, could be my problem.

You see, the criteria were set too high this time. I needed to find something that was beautiful, but not just in appearance. The flavor had to be beautiful as well, to fit your character and personality. Something that was sophisticated and classy, but also silly and fun. Something strong. Something personal and emotional. Something that doesn’t need to be paired with a cup of coffee, but could be complimented with one. Ya know what I mean?

And well, I just couldn’t come up with anything, so I decided to write about you to you, and that it was about time I do. So this, my friend, is your letter, with a side of blueberry pie.

Candace, you’re not just an ordinary friend to me. You changed my life. And I don’t mean to sound all gooey, gushy sweet like an under baked cookie on you, because that can seem totes fake (and  actually make you sick). However, I’m not making this stuff up. When we became friends in sophomore year weight training, the most unlikely of places, I never expected that just a few years later I would be a bridesmaid in your wedding and your child’s godmother.You are the best and closest friend I have ever had, and I know that even though 928 miles separate us, you’re closer to me than ever. I can’t wait until those roles of bridesmaid and godmother are reversed.

Blueberry Hand Pies

Flaky Butter Pie Crust:

1 cup very cold, unsalted butter

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3-5 Tablespoons ice water

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt together. Cut butter in small cubes and scatter over the flour mixture, coating them with flour. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients, turning the bowl and cutting again repetitively until the mixture resembles floury crumbs. Slowly add the 3 Tablespoons of the ice water and mix just until dough holds together. If necessary, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time,  until the dough comes together. It will still be a bit crumbly.

Divide dough in two parts, press both together until it forms a ball, then form into round disks, about 1 inch thick. Wrap completely in plastic wrap and chill at least two hours.

When almost ready to assemble, make filling.

Blueberry Filling:

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

In a bowl, combine all ingredients and gently mix, carful not to crush the blueberries. Use right away.

Assembly:

Pie crust dough

Blueberry Filling

Extra flour for dusting

1 egg, lightly beaten

Optional sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour a clean work surface. Unwrap chilled pie dough and place on floured work surface; flour top of dough lightly. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out until about 1/8 to 1/6 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, pastry wheel, or biscuit or cookie cutter, cut the dough into desired shapes, creating as many cutouts as possible. I used a biscuit cutter to create a top and bottom crust (Some other options are squares, hearts, or a circle and folding in half to create the top and bottom crust resulting in a semicircle). Gather dough scraps, reform into a ball, and repeat the process until all the dough is cut into the desired shapes.

To make pies with  a separate top and bottom piece, add 1 teaspoon to 3 Tablespoons of filling (depending on size) to half of your pie crust cutouts (so, just the bottom pieces). Make sure to leave a ¼ inch border of crust uncovered by filling. Moisten the outer ¼ inch edge of the top and bottom crust with beaten egg, and place the top on the bottom, so the egg edges are together (the egg acts sort of like a glue). Press together to form a seal, and use a fork to crimp the edges.

Arrange pies on baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch apart. Brush with remaining beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Bake pies until the crust is golden, 15 to 20 minutes, depending on size of pies. Remove and cool on baking rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Slightly adapted from Handheld Pies

Peppermint Marshmallows

I will often make something, take pictures, and plan to blog about it, only to put it off for several days (sometimes weeks) and then realize the food I made no longer actually fits the season. Cue in Peppermint Marshmallows – I would probably consume them all year round, but they seem rather Christmas-y. Nonetheless, because its still cold and snowy here in Illinois, I present this peppermint marshmallow goodness, perfect for melting in hot cocoa (or if you’re weird as myself and don’t really care for hot cocoa, black coffee).

I first discovered how simple (and hysterically messy) marshmallow making is last summer with two dear friends of mine, Allyson and Maddie. We made vanilla bean marshmallows for some delicious s’mores at a cookout, and they were a huge hit.

Naturally, when hot cocoa season rolled around, we just had to try out a peppermint version.

My lovely sister Raechel taste-tested and approved.

Have a blessed new year.

Peppermint Marshmallows

3 packages unflavored gelatin

1 cup cold water, divided

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

¾ to 1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract

¼ cup powdered sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

Red food coloring

Pour ½ cup of the water into the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment and sprinkle gelatin over the surface; set aside.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining ½ cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Over medium high heat and with a candy thermometer attached to the side of the pan, cook the mixture until it reaches 240 degrees F. Immediately remove the pan from the heat once temperature is reached.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once all the syrup has been added, increase the speed to high and continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the peppermint extract during the last minute of whipping, starting with the smaller amount and increasing according to taste and desired strength.

While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans:

Combine the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use (you may find that you need a bit extra later, just continue with a 1-1 ratio of powdered sugar and cornstarch).

When whipped, flavored and lukewarm, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan.  Drop about 6 drops of red food coloring around the surface of the marshmallows and use a toothpick or knife to swirl the red into the marshmallows. Dust the top with remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at about 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into desired shapes (a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners’ sugar mixture works well). Once cut, dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Variation:

For vanilla bean marshmallows, add the scraped seeds from one vanilla bean pod into the sugar mixture before cooking. Later, replace the peppermint extract with vanilla extract. Omit food coloring.

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown

Much love, Bre

Peanut Butter (Chocolate Chip) Cookies (Gluten Free!)

The simplest cookies ever.

Because sometimes life gets very hectic.

And baking is a good de-stresser.

Oh, and the result – You get to eat the delicious cookies. That helps with the stressful days of life too.

And again, we’ll pretend these are healthy. Because you’re going to eat them all very fast (which is also why I recommend you make a double batch, you know, so you can share).

Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

1 cup peanut butter

¾ cup brown sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all ingredients. Scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Fork ‘em in a crisscross fashion for aesthetics. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Variation – add a ton of mini chocolate chips. Skip the forking; the chips are pleasing enough.

Also, you may as well double the recipe, you’re going to need a few extra.

 

A short and sweet recipe for any day of the week:)

Love, B

Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

As I sat in a cafe last week, I observed a guy eat a cinnamon roll that was as big as his face, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many servings it should actually be. He practically shoveled the entire face-sized pastry into his mouth in like two minutes, too. But then, I realized sometimes I eat a ridiculous amount of cookies in one sitting . . . like when I made these cookies, and then ate four immediately. And then, I maybe ate more for breakfast the next morning.

Another thing. Some people completely lack personal space. I was sitting there still, with my feet up on an ottoman, and a guy came up and sat on the ottoman to talk to his friend (the cinnamon roll guy) next to me. He looked at me when I moved my feet a bit, and said “sorry, I just gotta write something quick.” I offered him the whole ottoman, since there were actually no seats left, and he insisted that no, my feet and his bottom should share the ottoman. Now, that was awkward for me. Then the two guys proceeded to have a loud, obnoxious conversation involving inappropriate things. Uncomfortable.

So back to something that just makes sense – cinnamon swirled into sweet, soft, sugar cookies. Add cream cheese. It’s impossible to stop. You’ll probably eat five.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

makes about 2 dozen large cookies

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour

4 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

8 ounces cream cheese

½ cup powdered sugar

cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing and scraping down the bowl between each. Add the vanilla. Once combined, add the dry ingredients with the mixer on low speed, mixing just until combined. Chill the dough for one hour.

While the cookie dough is chilling, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar until completely combined.

When the dough is completely chilled, take about half of the dough and roll into a large rectangle about ½ thick. I think it works best to roll the dough between two pieces of parchment or wax paper, which helps the dough to not stick and aids in rolling the dough back up later. The length of the rectangle doesn’t really matter, but the width should be around 12 inches.

When the dough is rolled out, remove the top layer of wax paper, spread with half the cream cheese mixture and sprinkle generously with cinnamon.  Starting with the longer side of the rectangle, roll the cookie dough into a log, removing the bottom piece of wax paper as you roll it up. At this point, if the dough has warmed up a bit, the cookie dough log should be chilled again for about 15 minutes. Slice the log using a very sharp knife, wiping the blade between every few cookies, or using dental floss or thread to cut into ¼ to ½ inch slices. Place cookie slices onto a baking sheet two inches apart (6-8 cookies per pan). Bake for 9 to 10 minutes at 350. Cool on a wire rack.

And here’s some process pictures that might help . . . sorry for the poor quality, it was dark.

Love you guys,

Bre