Gourmet Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

I got this recipe from cupcakerecipes.com I saw cupcake wars and decided I wanted some cupcakes. I may have gone over board with the ingredients, but these things are delicious. For instance instead of using unsweetened cocoa powder and sweetening it myself, I bought Ghirardelli chocolate hazelnut cocoa powder.

For the cake I used some cake flour, but also ground up hazelnuts and almonds. They tasted more like a muffin the sweet cupcake, but the frosting makes up for the sweetness (and fatness).

These pictures were taken from by my sister.

Here is the recipe. I couldn't get the syrup for the hazelnuts to form a nice spike.

Gourmet Hazelnut Cupcake Recipe

Makes 16

1/2 cup whole unblanched almonds, toasted

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar

3/4 cup milk

4 large egg whites

Dark Chocolate Frosting

Caramel-Dipped Hazelnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a food processor, pulse together almonds and hazelnuts until finely ground (do not overprocess, or the nuts will turn into a paste). Into a mixing bowl, sift together both flours, baking powder, and salt. Whisk in the ground nuts.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating well after each.

In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. In two additions, gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Using an offset spatula, spread frosting over each cupcake. Cupcakes can be refrigerated up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature and top with caramel-dipped hazelnuts just before serving.

Yummy Caramel Dipped Hazelnuts

Ingredients

24 hazelnuts, toasted and skinned

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

Directions

Gently insert pointed end of a long wooden skewer into the side of each hazelnut. Place a cutting board along the edge of a countertop; place newspaper on the floor, directly under cutting board.

Prepare an ice-water bath. Heat sugar and the water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and syrup is clear. Stop stirring; cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Continue to boil, gently swirling occasionally, until medium amber. Plunge pan into ice bath to stop the cooking; let stand until thickened, about 10 minutes. (To test: Dip a skewer in caramel and lift a few inches; if a thick drip slowly forms and holds a string, the caramel is ready.)

Dip a skewered hazelnut into caramel, letting excess drip back into pan. When dripping syrup becomes a thin string, secure opposite end of skewer under cutting board. Repeat with remaining hazelnuts. (If caramel hardens before all hazelnuts have been dipped, rewarm it over low heat.) Let stand until caramel string has hardened, about 5 minutes; break each string to desired length. Carefully remove skewers. Candied hazelnuts should be used the same day; store, uncovered, at room temperature until ready to serve cupcakes.

**recipe created from Martha Stewart.

This amazing dark, satiny frosting will be perfect for spreading or piping into beautiful swirls. It also has a wonderful sheen. Yum!

Makes about 5 cups

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water

2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 pounds best-quality semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Directions

Combine cocoa and the boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioners’ sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 5 days, or frozen up to 1 month, in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.

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Spinach, ricotta, and pine nut ravioli with sage butter

Spinach, ricotta, and pine nut ravioli with sage butter

My mom started to ask me to make dinner again. So I decided to go with my man Gordon Ramsay. The dude is awesome. The good thing is that my sister from Florida came up so this would be an easy meal to make. Well at least I made it a bit simpler. In his recipe he makes the pasta from scratch and cooked in water that has saffron placed in it. I am all about trying to make pasta from scratch one day, but I was pressed for time. Also, saffron is supposedly amazing, but at the price it cost to buy some, it better be sent from the gods to bless me with wisdom or a bountiful harvest.

Before I get into the help my mom gave me while making this dinner I preface it with this little story. I was telling my sister about this show called "Worst Cooks in America" and how they made my mom look like a good cook. I may have jumped the gun with that statement.

In an attempt to make it go faster, I asked them to help me with certain things. I asked my mom to toast the pine nuts. I explained to keep moving them and not to burn, just get a lit brown color. Meanwhile me and my sister are working on cooking the spinach and getting the seasoning ready. When I hear when are these suppose to be done. I look over and say are you crazy should have been done a while ago! Sure enough she watched them go from light brown to black. There were some pine nuts that were okay. Just when I thought she might not be the worst cook in America she comes back out of no where and takes the title back.

Anyway, I made some Spanakopita and just loved the combo of spinach and pine nuts and wanted to do something similar. Also, instead of making pasta from scratch I decided to buy wonton wrappers. Very easy to make a quick ravioli. I've used them before when making crab ravioli. Just let throw them in the pot and let them cook till they float.

Ingredients

For the filling:

Olive oil

2 gloves or garlic, peeled and minced

1 lb spinach leaves

1 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

sea salt and black pepper

2/3 cup ricotta cheese

2-3/4 oz Parmesan grated

2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

squeeze of lemon juice

beaten egg for brushing

In a large skillet, brown the garlic in the olive oil. Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then increase the heat slightly and add the butter, nutmeg, and seasoning. Drain and roughly chop the spinach. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan and pine nuts. Stir in the spinach and add a touch of lemon juice. Taste and season if needed. Let it chill for 30 minutes (I didn't chill but if you have the time, go for it).

Place about half a teaspoon onto the wonton. Brush at least two sides of the wonton with the egg, and press with a fork. At first I just made triangle ravioli's. However, my sister folded them in half and then folded up the edges on the two shorter sides and pressed them with a fork, then it looked more like a ravioli.

Sage Butter

5 tbsp butter, diced

2 tbsp heavy cream

6 sage sprigs, leaves shredded

Melt the butter in a saucepan and heat until it begins to brown. Take it off the heat and strain into a clean pan. Heat it slowly and stir in the heavy cream and sage.

This is how a meal looks when a pro cooks it.

New Years Pork

I decided that my first post would be the New Year's Day dinner I made for my mom. Besides the typical traditions observed such as kissing at midnight or possibly just getting sloppy drunk, there are a few less known traditions or superstitions are also observed.

Commonly in my house we eat pork. The reason (which I had no idea until yesterday) is because poultry scratches backwards, cattle stand still, but pigs keep rooting forward. The bad part about this tradition is I never liked pork. This is probably because my mom would murder the poor pig again and serve us a piece of dry, tough pork chop. I would usually run to a friends house in high school when we were going to have pork chops for dinner.

So I told my mom I would venture into the realm of cooking pork. I decided to go with a recipe I saw from Iron Chef Micheal Symon. I cooked pork chops on the bone with an apple, peach mostarda and puree. Mostarda is common in Italy and is fruit with the essence of mustard, being either mustard seed or mustard oil. You can make it and jar it up and it is served up with boiled meats.

In this dish there is really three levels of flavor. The mostarda gives a nice tart flavor to accent the pork while the puree adds a bit of sweetness. Also, I specifically looked for the pork on the bone with the fat still on it. The fat just adds to the flavor and can be trimmed off before serving.

The pork chops on the bone are thick. I would typically go to a butcher my dad found in Ventnor, but I found some in Shop Rite. You can probably make this with the chops off the bone and thin cut, but there will be less flavor and easier to overcook. Also, to get a moist chop, it should be slightly pink and somewhere around 150-160 degrees on a thermometer.

Ingredients:

4 Pork Chops

Kosher or Sea Salt

Pinch of Sugar

Blended oil

Apple and Peach Puree

1 Peach peeled, pitted and sliced

1 McIntosh Apple, peeled, cored and sliced

1 cup of unsalted butter (I used 1 cup and then looked in the pan and decided 1 cup was entirely too much and poured a lot of it out, so you may want to use less)

Sea Salt

Apple and Peach Mostarda

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1 tablespoon mustard seed

1/2 cup dried cherries

1 peach peeled, pitted and diced into medium size chunks

1 Granny Smith Apple peeled, cored and diced into medium size chunks

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 shallot finely sliced

2 cups of apple cider vinegar

Sea salt and Black peppercorn

Splash of mustard oil

For Plating

Peppercress

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Instructions

For the pork:

Season the chops with the salt and a pinch of sugar on both sides. If possible season the night before and leave in the fridge. Typically for steaks I don't put salt on meat like steak until AFTER cooking because it tends to pull the moisture out of the meat, but it worked for me. Allow the pork to cool to room temp before cooking.

For the puree:

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat add the butter, apple and peach and allow to get tender about 10 minutes. Carefully put into a blender and blend till pureed. And salt to taste.

For the Mostarda:

In a small saucepan over medium heat add the coriander and mustard seeds. Allow to toast for about 30 seconds. Then add the apple, peach, vinegar, thyme and shallots and cherries into the saucepan. Allow to simmer till the apples and peaches are tender, again about 10 minutes, I let mine on for a little longer. Add salt and fresh pepper to taste. Take off the heat and add a splash of mustard oil.

Plating (which I am not great at):

Toss the peppercress with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Place a spoonful of the puree onto the plate. Cut the pork off the bone and slice up. Place some of the mostarda on the pork followed by the peppercress. Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil and serve! Mine plating is what it looks like on the top. Here is how an Iron chef serves it.