Bordeaux Candies

Folks-
My mom gave me a small bag of homemade Bordeaux candies yesterday, along with the recipe. They taste a lot like something from See's, but not exactly. Using the right chocolate probably makes these a whole lot better than what you're likely to find in a candy store. I'm sure she used Guittard milk chocolate chips to coat hers, that's her favorite brand.
I'll try this recipe soon, but until then, here's her recipe:

Bordeaux Candy

1 Cup light brown sugar

1/2 Cup butter

1/4 Cup whipping cream

1/2 Teaspoon instant coffee

Pinch salt

2 Cups sifted powdered sugar

12 oz chocolate

Melt butter and brown sugar together in a heavy pan. Bring to a boil for two minutes. Add whipping cream, coffee crystals, and salt and return to a boil. Stir constantly for 30 seconds, then remove from heat. Let cool for ten minutes. Mix in powdered sugar. Cool until mixture can hold the shape of a ball. Form mixture into one inch balls and coat with melted chocolate. Cool on waxed paper.

Raised Doughnuts

Yesterday I decided to try to make Raised Doughnuts for breakfast today, and knocked the ball out of the park! It turned out to be a project, but the results were well worth it.
This is going to be less than a doughnut recipe, because I used my Bread Machine Bread Dough Cinnamon Roll recipe I posted here back in April 2013 as the doughnut dough. This entry is more about process.
I am certain the cinnamon roll dough recipe can be adapted to handmade dough if you just look up some homemade yeast bread recipes online and adapt the ingredients to their method, so don't be upset or run away if you don't have a bread machine.
I will be including glaze recipes, though.
I mentioned that I first decided to make these yesterday. In fact, Aaron and I made the dough in the bread machine last night. We then put it in a bowl greased with cooking spray, and covered it with plastic wrap that was also coated with cooking spray on the underside, so if the dough should rise, it wouldn't stick to the bowl or plastic wrap. We placed the bowl into the refrigerator overnight.
This morning, I took the bowl out of the refrigerator, and prepared two cookie sheets by laying down parchment paper on them, and heated the oven just to warm it a bit (under 200 degrees F). I rolled the dough on floured parchment paper to about 1/3 of an inch thick, maybe 1cm, and cut it using a doughnut cutter, and placed the cut-out doughnuts and holes on the cookie sheets.  If you don't have a doughnut cutter, I would cut them into bars or sticks 1-2" thick. Once the sheet was full, I turned off the oven and placed it inside with the door of the oven cracked open to allow the doughnuts to rise for about 45 minutes.
I called Aaron over to help at this point. I had him put about 1/2-3/4 of an inch of oil into a large frying pan, and heated it over medium-low heat until a doughnut hole placed in the hot oil floated and fried to golden brown on the bottom in about 1-2 minutes. We then fried all of the doughnuts in the oil, flipping them once each, and let them cool on a cooking rack placed over more parchment paper in a large jellyroll pan to catch the drips.
This produced darn near perfect doughnut shop looking raised Doughnuts. Fluffy light. No joke.
We used a granulated sugar glaze because we were out of powdered sugar, and made the best sticky doughnuts you could imagine.
Here are three glaze or glazing/icing recipes I would use for these:

Granulated Sugar Glaze (Sticky Doughnuts)
Adapted from a recipe found at Our Everyday Life.

1 Cup granulated sugar
1 Cup water
A few drops vanilla extract

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat to a simmer over a medium-low heat while stirring, and simmer for about 5 minutes after the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes, then add vanilla extract and mix it in. Allow to cool to room temperature, then glaze doughnuts by dropping them into the glaze and flipping them once before returning them to the cooling rack. These will crust like a traditional glazed doughnut, but it takes much more time-about an hour, compared to a couple of minutes for a powdered sugar glaze. If you want to eat these doughnuts warm, like any sane person, they will probably be sticky, and almost certainly delicious.

Powdered Sugar Glaze
Adapted from a recipe at epicurious.

1-1/2 Cups powdered (confectioners) sugar
2-3 Tbsp water or milk (water is used at most doughnut shops, and by me)
1/4 Tsp vanilla extract
A small pinch of salt

Put sugar into a mixing bowl and add water, salt and vanilla. Mix by hand until it is no longer seriously lumpy. Dip doughnuts into the glaze and coat them by flipping once, and return them to the cooling rack. The normal glaze crust should form in a minute or two.

Buttercream Icing
Adapted from a recipe at allrecipes.

1/2 Cup softened butter
2 Cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 Tsp vanilla
1/4 Tsp salt

Optional: 2-3 Tbsp cocoa powder for chocolate icing
1/2 Tsp Maple Extract or Mapline for Maple icing
1/2-1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon for a cinnamon frosting

Cream the softened butter by hand or using a mixer in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually mix in the sugar until thoroughly incorporated (add in cocoa powder or ground Cinnamon to the sugar if using them). Mix in the salt and vanilla (and Maple Extract if making Maple icing). Pour in the milk and mix for 3 or 4 minutes. If the icing is too thick to slowly sheet off of the spoon, add more milk 1/2 Tsp at a time, mixing it in thoroughly until it does sheet off.. Drop doughnuts into the icing on one side, and return to the cooling rack icing side up. The crust should form in one to two minutes. If you want to spread this icing instead, use less milk and mix to a spreadable consistency.

All three of these glaze/icing recipes can be used on cakes, or Cinnamon rolls, or other pastries.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Folks-
This is a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe with just a couple of subtle changes. Melting the butter, instead of using softened butter, is my dad's contribution. I also often use vanilla sugar thrown into the measuring cup before measuring out the white sugar. Tip: I use a 2-cup measuring cup most of the time. First I pack-in the brown sugar, then I finish by adding white sugar until it reaches the 1-1/2 Cup level. That gives you the most accurate measure of sugar for your cookies!

Ingredients
1 Cup (2 sticks) melted butter
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
3/4 Cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or 2 tsp vanilla sugar
2 large eggs
2-1/4 Cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cocoa powder
2 Cups chocolate chips
Optional: 1 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Add all other ingredients except chocolate chips and nuts and mix well. Mix in chocolate chips
From into 1-2 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-12 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Note: It's easy to use a mellon-baller to form these. They can be frozen for up to six months, and baked straight from the freezer.

French Silk Pie

I know, I must have lost my mind posting another recipe so soon after putting my Lasagna recipe up. But today is Pi Day (March 14th, or 3.14.) My daughter asked me to make a pie for it, so I looked up my French Silk Pie recipe, and realized I don't have it online. I decided I needed to fix that.
Really, this is a three-recipe dessert: Crust, filling, and topping. You can use my mom's Fool Proof Pie Crust recipe, or a Graham Cracker crust, for it. I'm going to include a whipped cream topping recipe that has the advantage of never separating.
My daughter is trying to make a peanut butter pie filling to put in the bottom of the pie. I'll try to let you know how that goes later.
Please note, you will definitely want a sturdy powered stand mixer for this recipe, such as a KitchenAid. You can't mix this by hand in any meaningful way, and cheaper plastic-body or hand-held mixers can't stand up to the roughly 25 minutes of continual use this recipe calls for. I actually melted the case of the first stand mixer I tried to use for this recipe!

Please note that the filling contains uncooked eggs and is never cooked. Always use fresh eggs when making this and do not serve it to young children, pregnant women, or the elderly.
For now, here's the French Silk Pie recipe, shockingly unmodified.

French Silk Pie

1-Cooked and cooled pie crust or Graham Cracker pie crust
1-2 Cups Whipped Cream Topping (see below recipe for a good version)
3 oz Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
3/4 Cup Softened Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
4 Large Very Fresh Eggs

Melt the chocolate in a double-boiler or microwave oven; cool, but make sure it is still a liquid (roughly 97 degrees.) In a sturdy mixers bowl, cream the butter, then add the sugar and vanilla. Beat well for about five minutes. Add the melted chocolate and mix it in well. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing at a medium speed for five minutes for each, and scraping the bowl down between each egg. Do not try to rush this. It will take at least 25 minutes of mixing to do it right. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie crust and top with the whipped topping (recipe follows.)

Whipped Cream Topping

1-Tsp Unflavored Gelatin
2-Tbsp Cold Water
2-Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2-Cup Powdered Sugar
2-Tsp Vanilla Extract

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small heatproof bowl and let sit for a few minutes. Place the bowl in a shallow saucepan of water and heat over low heat until the gelatin dissolves. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the cream. In a large mixer bowl, combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat well until the mixture holds its shape. Add the reserved cream to the gelatin and quickly mix it into the whipped cream. Beat until stiff peaks form.

English Toffee

Folks-
This time of year it's a tradition in my family to make my Aunt Carolyn's English Toffee. It's not the simplest candy I make (that would be the truffles) but it tastes SO much better than anything you could buy. If you like Heath Bars or Almond Rocha, you owe it to yourself to try this recipe.

English Toffee

Ingredients:

1 lb butter + extra for coating jelly roll pan

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups sugar

2 cups chopped almonds, toasted if preferred

Melted chocolate for dipping

Coat a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with sides with butter and set aside. Melt 1 lb butter and add sugar and cream of tartar, stir until thermometer reaches 275 degrees. Add chopped almonds and stir to 300 degrees. Spread into the jelly roll pan and immediately score into 1" pieces with a sharp buttered knife. Cool for about 7 minutes and break into pieces. Dip into melted chocolate and roll in chopped nuts. Refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Note: it appears most people don't realize cream of tartar is a powder, not an actual cream. You can find it in the spice section of most supermarkets.

Old Time Fudge

Folks-

The computer was on, so I figured I should power out another Zap 190 recipe. This one I intend to try soon, only I want to try it using whipping cream instead of milk. If I try it, I'll post the results!

-Edly

Old Time Fudge
P. Jones

Ingredients:
2 Cups Sugar
¾ Cup Milk
2 Squares (2 Oz) Unsweetened Chocolate, broken up
1 Teaspoon Light Corn Syrup
2 Tablespoons Butter or Margarine
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
½ Cup Coarsely Chopped Nuts (optional)

Line a 9x5x3” loaf pan with foil, extending foil over the edges of the pan. Butter the foil; set pan aside. Butter the sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan. In the saucepan combine the sugar, milk, chocolate, and corn syrup. Cook over medium-high heat to boiling, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Avoid splashing the mixture on the sides of the pan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until a thermometer reads 234 degrees (soft-ball.) The mixture should boil at a moderate, steady rate over the entire surface. Remove the saucepan from heat. Add butter and vanilla but do not stir! Cool without stirring to lukewarm (118 degrees.) Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until fudge is just beginning to thicken; add nuts if desired. Continue to beat until the fudge is very thick, and just begins to lose its gloss. Quickly turn the fudge onto the prepared pan. While warm, score it into 1” squares. When the candy is firm, use the foil to lift it out of the pan; cut candy into squares. Store tightly covered.

Chocolate Coated Peanut Butter Candies

Folks-
This is a variation of an old recipe I found in a Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I first tried the recipe when someone else gave me one of these, and I loved them! This is really using their changes from the original recipe. Unfortunately, I don't remember just who it was, except to say that they worked with my mom at Live Oak Elementary School.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/4 Cups Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 Cup Margarine or Butter, Softened
4 Cups Honey Graham Cereal, Crushed into Coarse Crumbs (a food processor works well for this)
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Shortening
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Mix peanut butter and butter or margarine in a large bowl; stir in cereal crumbs. Mix in powdered sugar, 1/3 at a time. Press mixture into a melon baller and drop onto an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet, or similar surface. Mix the chocolate chips and shortening in a small bowl and melt in a microwave, stirring the mixture every 20 seconds or so. Dip the candy balls one at a time into the melted chocolate, fishing them out with a fork and replacing them on the aluminum foil lined sheet. Refrigerate for about 10 minutes or until the coating is hardened.

-Edly

Chocolate Lava Cake

Folks-
It's been a long time since anyone made my mom's Chocolate Lava Cake. My kids didn't like it when they were younger, but like it now in their teens. I'm fixing a few measurements in this recipe to make it easier to follow, so here's the patched recipe:

Basic Cake Mix Ingredients

4 Cups Cake Flour

3 Cups Sugar

6 Teaspoons Baking Powder

¾ Teaspoon Salt

1 ¾ Cups Vegetable Shortening

In a bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Cut in shortening until evenly distributed. Put in a large, airtight container. Store in a cool, dry place for up to several weeks.

Lava Cake Ingredients

1 Cup Basic Cake Mix

1/2 Cup sugar

4 Teaspoons Cocoa Powder

1/3 Cup Milk

2/3 Teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 Cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1 Cup Boiling Water

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Combine Basic Cake Mix, Sugar, 4 Teaspoon Cocoa, Milk, and Vanilla. Blend well. Pour into 8” square unbuttered baking pan. Combine brown sugar and 3 tablespoons cocoa powder in a small bowl. Sprinkle over top of cake mixture. Gently pour boiling water over cake mixture (Do not stir!) Bake 35-40 minutes until edges separate from pan. Cool in pan 15 minutes before serving.

Updated 11/1/2024: I just noticed the updated measurements didn't make it into the directions for mixing the cake, so I fixed that. I also updated the formatting a bit.

-Edly

Ed's Truffles

Folks-
The main reason I'm writing this recipe blog is to keep track of the recipes I use and like. Since it's Christmas week, I'll post two today, and perhaps more later this week. I'll start by posting my Truffle recipe. I got it from the Betty Crocker's cookbook, and then started fiddling with it to make it my own. The secret is in the notes at the end (hint: This is a versatile recipe!)

Ingredients:

6 oz Chocolate (Semi-sweet, dark, or milk)
1/4 C Whipping Cream
2 T Melted Butter
1 C Chocolate Chips (Semi-sweet or milk)
2 T Vegetable Shortening

Melt the 6 oz of chocolate over a double boiler or in a glass bowl in a microwave oven (run the microwave starting at 30 seconds and then progressively shorter time periods, stirring between each heating cycle.) Mix in the melted butter and whipping cream until the mixture is smooth, and pour into a buttered baking pan. Refrigerate until hard, and then cut into 1" cubes. Melt 1 C chocolate chips and mix in shortening. Dip chocolate centers into the melted chocolate and fish it out with forks, placing them on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate until hard. Best served at room temperature.

Notes: This recipe is very versatile. You can change the flavor by changing the kind of chocolate, or by adding flavorings. One thing I have noticed is that white chocolate tends not to harden as well as other kinds, I recommend halving the amount of whipping cream and melted butter if using white chocolate.
Mocha Truffles: Use semi-sweet chocolate and add 2 T Instant Coffee crystals to the whipping cream.
Mint Truffles: Add a few drops mint extract to the whipping cream. Seal finished truffles in a container. DO NOT MIX WITH OTHER TRUFFLES! The flavor is so strong that it will overpower the flavor of other truffles and you can easily end up with your box of mixed truffles being a box of mint truffles.
Orange or Strawberry: Add up to 1/2 t flavoring to the whipping cream before mixing it into the chocolate.
Mexican Chocolate: Add 1/4 t Cinnamon and 1/2 T finely chopped almonds to the melted chocolate before adding in the melted butter and whipping cream.
Conversion tip: 1 Cup of chocolate chips is 6 oz. Feel free to use baking chocolate, eating chocolate, or chocolate chips in this recipe!
The coating for these truffles is so good that I use it for almost all candies that need a chocolate coating. I have never had it separate out or bloom.

I'll be posting my dad's Chili recipe soon, and then I'll start posting the recipes from the cookbook I compiled with my old co-workers (The Zap 190 L.O.S. Cookbook!)

-Edly