Roasted Balsamic Mushroom Risotto

I can’t believe I didn’t find out about risotto earlier in life. Did people not talk about it much, or had it just not made it to Wisconsin yet? I feel like I wasted years of my life not eating risotto.

I’m making up for it, one recipe at a time. I simply made this recipe, but substituted asparagus and mushrooms with a wild mushroom mix, tossed in balsamic and roasted to perfection.  The roasting is definitely worth it, if you have time. All vegetables should be roasted in my opinion.

Recipe

·         Risotto (recipe here - use GF chicken stock if required)

·         1 lb mushroom mix (portabella, shitake, button, etc)

·         2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         S&P

Toss the mushrooms with the balsamic and olive oil, and roast at 425 for about 25-30 minutes.  In the meantime, make the risotto, then mix in the roasted mushrooms. Several of my mushrooms didn't make it into the risotto, but they all met up in my stomach. Enjoy!

 

Chocolate Swirled Cheesecake with Oatmeal Crust (GF!)

I like the challenge of baking gluten free. My dad and sister are restricted by the diet, so when my parents were here last weekend I loved brainstorming dessert ideas.

I don’t love the flavor of gluten free flour, so I typically choose to bake things that don’t require flour at all. A couple weeks ago I made this brownie bottom cheesecake, and I loved the cheesecake part so much I decided to make it again, but with an oatmeal crust…with lots of brown sugar and honey! And chocolate swirled and mixed in!

I developed the crust recipe based on a few assumptions:

1.       Oatmeal tastes really good with brown sugar in it

2.       Honey couldn’t be a bad addition

3.       A cookie-like crust is fun, so let’s add an egg and some baking powder

4.       Everything should include butter

And it was a success! Add in a chocolate chip layer and a chocolate swirled-cheesecake, and you’re in business. The delicious dessert business.

Crust

• 3 cups Rolled Oats (buy GF to make sure, if required)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Chocolate chips (optional)

Cheesecake

• 3 packages cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups chocolate chips, melted

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and line a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Mix all the crust ingredients except the chocolate chips, then bake 350 for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle crust with layer of chocolate chips. Let cool.

Reduce the oven to 325. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Pour over the oatmeal crust. Melt the chocolate chips and then drop into glops on the cheesecake. Is glop a word? It seemed like the perfect description, but spell checker isn't buying it.

Finally, swirl the chocolate in with a toothpick. Bake for about an hour to an hour ten, then let cool and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Peach Balsamic Grilled Pork Tenderloin

It may be hard to focus on the pork in that picture with those giant roasted carrots taking up half the screen, but please try. The carrots will get their moment later.

This past weekend was a really, really fun one. My parents were in town from Wisconsin, where they escaped a blustery late-spring snow storm for one of the most beautiful weekends in Dallas.  They got 6+ inches of snow on Thursday, causing a day of flight delays and late arrivals. I always tell them that as I much as I love them, I don't know if I could live there again. That weather is bull$#@%.

On Saturday night we stayed at our house and cooked, ate our body weight in cheese before dinner (the Wisconsin in all of us), and drank one too many bottles of wine...and had one of the most enjoyable nights we’d all had in a long time. I think, at least. I guess I don’t really know where it was on their scale of enjoyability, but it was very high on ours.

Anyway, on to the food. Pork tenderloin is my go-to dinner party meal, especially in the spring or summer. It’s so easy to marinate the night before, then throw on the grill for an easy and delicious meal. I always grill it the same way: 5 minutes on each side of medium-high indirect heat, then 5-7 minutes over indirect (until inside reaches 140). Then cover in aluminum foil for 10 minutes…it turns out perfectly moist and flavorful every time.

Recipe

·         2 pork tenderloins

·         1 jar peach preserves (about 1 cup)

·         ¾ cup balsamic vinegar

·         ½ cup brown sugar

·         ¼ cup olive oil

·         ¼ cup honey

·         3 tablespoons soy sauce

·         Dash Worcestershire

·         2 bay leaves, crushed

Mix all ingredients in a large Ziploc bag, add the pork, and marinate at least 8 hours or overnight (I always do overnight!). Grill as directed above, and enjoy!  I served with wild mushroom risotto, roasted carrots, tomato mozzarella salad, and cheesecake. Recipes to follow!

Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful weekend, and for appreciating the art of eating as much as we do.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten Free!)

It turns out that flour isn't really an essential ingredient in cookies. These are DELICIOUS, and have no flour of any sort. And do they look like they needed it? Nope, nope they don't. And they don't taste like it either. My sister can't eat wheat, so while she's in town I figured I would take a few baking challenges.  The GF flour generally isn't very good, so I like to bake things without it. Plus, these go along with my pumpkin objectives for the season (i.e., increasing my intake throughout the better part of October and November). 

I used oats instead of flour (GF people can generally eat these, if not buy GF oats)...used 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda to help them rise a little more, and the addition of pumpkin definitely helped with the binding process (along with the 2 eggs). Then I threw in a bunch of spices that generally go with pumpkin.  Make these, you won't regret it.
Recipe

• 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tablespoons)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 cups quick cooking oats (if you have celiac you'll want to purchase GF oats)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Cream the butter and sugars together, then beat in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix the oats, soda, and spices in a separate bowl. Add it to the butter mixture, then mix in the pumpkin.  I'm sure it will be Libby's pumpkin, because nobody else in American is able to can pumpkin apparently.  Finally, add as many chocolate chips as your heart desires, then drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-11 minutes. Enjoy!

Canned Pumpkin + Greek Yogurt = Awesome

This is not really a recipe, it's more of a lunch suggestion:

Mix about 1/4 cup canned pumpkin with nonfat plain greek yogurt and 1 packet of splenda. If you're like me and trying to get more pumpkin in your diet this time of year (can you believe all the pressure from the media?!) - this is a perfect way to do it. Plus, did you know that one serving of canned pumpkin has 300% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin A?? It does. I don't know what Vitamin A does to your body, but it must be good things.

Shepherd's Pie

My sister's here! She's in Dallas for 3 weeks on a clinical rotation for grad school. I couldn't be more excited - we already had the best weekend ever and have 3 more to go.  Here she is, the cute one in the back.  

My husband is excited too, as evidenced in the photo below. When we got back from running errands on Sunday he had our dinner for 3 all set up:

Needless to say, I am really happy I get to feed an extra mouth in the coming weeks. I am going to send her back to Wisconsin very fat and happy.

So, first Sunday dinner together: Shepherd's Pie.

I've always turned my nose up at Shepherd's Pie, and I'm sure you have too. It turns out, that's only because I didn't really know what it was. Do you know???!!!

It's basically a beef pie with a mashed potato topping. Beef + gravy + mashed potatoes. Why, why oh why did I not figure this out sooner??  I think traditional Shepherd's Pie is made with ground lamb, and traditional American Shepherd's Pie is made with ground beef. I didn't really like either of those options, so I used steak instead. Then I added lots of vegetables (peas! corn!), and kept the sauce to a very simple beef broth/gravy. So delicious, so easy, and so huge. I think we only finished about a quarter of the above photo.

Recipe

Mashed Potato Topping

• 4 large potatoes
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup milk or cream (more or less for desired creaminess)

Filling

• 1 1/2 lbs top sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
• S&P
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, halved
• 1 cup peas
• 1/2 can corn
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire
• 2 tablespoons corn starch, mixed into 1/4 cup water

Start by preparing the mashed potatoes - boil potatoes in large pot of salted water for about 20 minutes or so, until fork tender. Drain the water, and place the pot over low heat until potatoes have dried out a bit. Mash them, then mix in the butter, sour cream, stock, and milk (or use whatever your favorite M.P. ingredients are). S&P to taste. Set aside.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat, then add the onions and carrots. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and cook a few minutes more.

Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. Add the cubed steak to the same pan, sprinkle with plenty of salt and pepper, and brown on all sides until meat is cooked through.

Drain some of the fat. Pour in the red wine, and let reduce for several minutes. Add the vegetables back in, plus the peas and corn. Add in the beef broth and worcestershire. Finally, add the corn starch mixture and increase the heat to medium high, allowing the sauce to thicken. Pour the filling into a 9x13 inch pan....

oh boy...and top with the mashed potatoes. Texturize the potatoes with a fork to allow for plenty of browning on top.

Place the pan in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn the broiler on for another 5. Let sit for several minutes before serving. 

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Trust me, even if you don't eat gluten-free, you will love these. I just spent 4 days in Wisconsin, and I had to make a second batch by day 2. Eating a lot just feels like the right thing to do in Wisconsin. When in Rome, I suppose.

I halved this recipe (modified slightly from the Backstreet Cafe recipe in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) - and they still make a ton. Sorry, I'll leave the math up to you. It's good for your brain.

Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups Peanut Butter
• 1 1/3 sticks Butter
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 6 cups Oatmeal (buy gluten free just to be sure)
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 cups Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butters and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the oatmeal and baking soda. Add to the sugar mixture, followed by the chocolate chips. Bake for 9-11 minutes, until just slightly browned.  Bonus: these cookies are only 100 cals!

Peanut Butter Cheerio Nutella Treats

Um, have you had the new Peanut Butter Cheerios?

If you haven't, I suggest you run to the grocery store immediately and get yourself some. I did that the second my sister told me they existed. Shortly thereafter, they turned into these:

Peanut Butter Cheerio treats, with a layer of Nutella. Boy oh boy oh boy. Peanut Butter + Marshmallow + Nutella = a no-brainer. The specific idea for these treats came from a hunger-fueled texting session with my sisters Kirta and Bente, in which we were throwing out all sorts of crazy things we could do with PB Cheerios. Yes they are outstanding with milk, but the options - oh the options!! This is ultimately where we landed, and it really is a nod to our natural ability as food pioneers.

That's an old photo of us.

Another great thing about these treats is that they are gluten-free. Bente has to eat a gluten-free diet, and it just so happened that it is her birthday week. So naturally I made three batches and one is en route to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Recipe

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 package large marshmallows
• 1/3 cup peanut butter (don't use the organic stuff)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4-5 cups Peanut Butter Cheerios
• Lots o' Nutella

Start by melting the butter and marshmallows in a large pan over low heat. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth, then remove from heat and add the vanilla (vanilla should go in every baked good). Pour in the cheerios and mix thoroughly.

Grease a square 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish, and press half of the cheerio mixture into the pan. Using a spatula, spread plenty of Nutella on top. Press the rest of the cheerio mixture on top of that, making sure to leave plenty of it stuck to your spatula for a proper taste test. Let them cool and then eat your heart out. And before you have to ask, yes these are good with ice cream.

Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce

This is an incredibly scrumptious and easy sauce that is perfect over some type of grilled meat; I served mine over Grilled Lamb Chops, but I think it might be even better on a ribeye or filet mignon. Regardless, you will want to eat this by the forkful. This was also part of the tasty and cost-effective Sam's Club Dinner

Recipe

• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 T. butter
• ~2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup red wine
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 T. corn starch

Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms (more or less to taste, I like lots), and cook for about 5 minutes.

Pour in the wine, letting it reduce for about 5 more minutes.

Stir in the beef broth, letting it reduce a few minutes more.  Whisk together 1 tablespoon of corn starch and 1/4 cup water in a separate bowl. Add it to the mushroom mixture, stirring thoroughly, allowing the sauce to thicken. Add more corn starch or beef broth to reach the desired thickness (I might have done a lot of eye balling here). Serve over freshly grilled or roasted red meat. Doesn't it look rich and elegant?  I just love it.

Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Want to know what you should grill this weekend? Here you go:

Marinated Grilled Pork Tenderloin. But start now, because the longer you marinate it, the better this turns out. Yes we served ours with a side of mini grilled shrimp, because one entree is never enough.

We are really into dinner parties lately. What's better on a weekend night than having a group of good friends over for food, fun, and wine? Nothing!  I have a few rules for dinner parties that I try to adhere to:

1. Make it relatively easy. This is not the time to attempt Beef Wellington.
2. Try to choose something that allows you to do most of the prep work before guests arrive, so that you can relax and enjoy their company while they're there.
3. Serve dessert, $%mn it.
4. Don't invite boring people.

If you follow all of my golden rules, I guarantee a good time will be had by all.

So, for our dinner party we had on Memorial Day, I decided to serve marinated grilled pork tenderloin. The marinade is a recipe from my aunt, and it has become a staple for our mid-summer get-togethers in the good ol' states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. If you don't know if you like pork tenderloin, trust me, you do. Try this recipe. The key is a looooong marinating process....I highly encourage 24 hours. The other key to pork tenderloin: DON'T OVERCOOK IT. It will be dry.

Recipe

• 3 pork tenderloins
• 1 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3/4 cup key lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 bay leaves, crushed

To prepare the marinade, you're going to need to start with a lot of these:

Which also means you will need one of these:

For that much lime juice, you're not going to want to juice them by hand. Trust me, I've tried that and it all ends up in your eyes.

Mix the honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, olive oil, lime juice, and bay leaves in a large ziploc bag. I am a firm believer in using bags for marinating...it does a better job of making sure the juices really get in there.

Pat the pork tenderloin dry, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Poke little holes in the pork with a knife to ensure the marinade really seeps into the tenderloin (this is my own technique, it seems like it works...though I haven't seen any hard evidence).  Place the tenderloins in the bag with the marinade, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, rotating a couple times for even distribution. Remove from the refrigerator about a half hour before grilling, and place the pork on a plate. Reserve the marinade.

Heat the grill to medium/medium-high on just one side. Prepare the other side for indirect grilling (leave the other side off). Brush a little olive oil on the grates, then place the tenderloins over direct heat. Brush some more marinade on them. Cover the grill and cook for 6 minutes. After six minutes, flip the meat over to the other side, making sure all sides are browned (brush a little more marinade on the other side) - another 5 minutes. After 11 minutes of cooking over direct heat, move them over to the indirect heat for another 5 minutes (grill covered), until meat registers 145 degrees. I would check the temperature after 15 minutes of total cooking time (11 direct, 4 indirect) - you absolutely do not want the temperature to go any higher than 145 when you take it off. For a pinker center, take it off at 140. Transfer the tenderloins to a plate and tent with aluminum foil. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before slicing into 1-inch pieces.

I love this recipe, and every time I eat it I feel happy with life and summer. And what a perfect dinner party entree - more elegant than hamburgers or chicken, but literally all the prep work is done the day before. And like any good dinner party, I served this for dessert.

Good times, good food, good friends!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

My parents visited us in Dallas last weekend, and let me just say I was excited beyond belief in the days leading up to it. They are so cute and fun, and they like eating as much as I do. It turns out that trait is genetic. 

They were only coming for 2 nights so we decided to eat out both nights, but I wanted to make something to celebrate their arrival. We're a dessert family, so it was obvious I needed to make something sweet. I did have one obstacle: my dad has to eat gluten free.  YES.  A baking challenge.  Bring it on. I thought about getting GF flour, or rice flour, or something like that - but I have made baked goods with those items before and they are never as good. So, I decided to make a flourless chocolate cake to keep things authentic. And OH MAN. IT TURNS OUT I LOVE FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE.

This is my own recipe for the most part, using several different recipes as my guidance. All flourless chocolate cakes have lots of eggs, chocolate, sugar, and butter. I have never liked how bitter and dense most flourless cakes are, so I made changes accordingly. I used a combination of milk- and semi-sweet chocolate instead of bittersweet, I added coffee to bring out the delicious chocolate flavor, and I whipped the egg whites to extreme stiffness to make the cake more crumb-y (is that a word?) like a real cake. And I added vanilla, because I add vanilla to everything.

Recipe

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 8 eggs, divided, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch spring form pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper.

Start by melting the butter and chocolate in a large saucepan over low heat.  Meanwhile, separate the egg yolks and egg whites into two different bowls. In order to get a lighter and fluffier cake, you will want eggs at room temperature. If you did not take them out of the fridge in time, just put them in a bowl with luke warm water for about 10 minutes or so.  

Place the yolks in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add in the sugar, and beat on medium-high for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is light yellow.  When the chocolate mixture is completely melted, add it SLOWLY into the yolk mixture (you don't want to scramble the eggs from the heat). Stir until combined, then add the coffee and vanilla.  Taste a bit with your finger (just to make sure you're on track).

Next, beat the egg whites. For a lighter, crumbier cake, beat the egg whites until they form very stiff peaks (about 5 min). If you prefer a denser, fudgier  texture, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, careful not to over stir or deflate the whites. This gives the cake its volume. 

Pour the batter into the pan, and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. 25 minutes for a bit of a molten center (which is what I did), and closer to 30 if you prefer the middle to be more well done.

Finish the cake with a dusting of powdered sugar, and serve it with vanilla ice cream.  Flourless chocolate cake, who knew you were so good??! 

I am hoping the taste it left in their mouths will lure them back to Dallas again soon, I miss them already.

Christmas Wreaths

I'd like to dedicate this post to my little sister Bente, who lives for these little corn flake wreath Cookies. Ok, maybe she doesn't live for them, that would be strange and would require an intervention. But she sure likes them a lot, and so of course I had to add them into my Christmas baking repertoire. I don't know why, considering she lives in Wisconsin. I guess because she likes these a lot and I like her a lot.

Christmas corn flake wreaths are a really fun and perfect addition to your holiday cookie collection. Bright green Christmas wreaths that taste like rice krispie treats, but a little bit better. They are also a perfect choice if your oven breaks and the oven man comes 187 separate times and can't seem to fix the problem, as these are a stovetop item.  I have no hard feelings there.

Our oven has since been replaced, but I plan to make another batch of these this weekend. They are a nice break from the traditional sugar and ginger cookies.

Recipe
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional, but highly recommended)
4-5 cups Corn Flakes
Green food coloring
Red cinnamon candies, red M&Ms, or something else red for the holly berries

Start by melting the marshmallows and butter in a large pot over low heat, stirring often. Don't burn the marshmallows, you will ruin Christmas.

Once the marshmallows and butter have reached a nice, smooth consistency, mix in the vanilla and almond flavorings. Stir in lots of food coloring. You don't want to have a dead-looking wreath.

Lay out aluminum foil or parchment paper to prepare the wreaths on. Mix in the Corn Flakes, stirring until completely coated. I don't have a picture here because I grabbed some corn flakes and had marshmallows all over my hands. And mouth.

Turn off the heat. Drop the corn flake mixture in spoonfuls onto your prepared surface, and poke a hole in the middle to form wreaths. I find this works best right after you drop them onto the surface. They start to get sticky quickly.  You will have to do a little manual wreath-forming as well. I have not found this process to be the easiest thing in the world, but they always end up looking cute so don't worry.  Place the cinnamon candies or M&Ms in clusters of 3 on the bottom of the wreath. Again, do this before the marshmallows dry.

And that's it! Let them sit for a couple hours to firm up, and eat away. These stay good for a really long time, so you can make them really early in the baking season!

Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto

I went on a major risotto kick in Italy. I seriously couldn't stop eating it - suddenly I wanted it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with shrimp, with marinara, with asparagus, with squash. Lobster? Throw it in there, I'll eat it. 

I am back from Italy now, and back to reality. At least risotto reality. Shrimp and lobster seem a little time intensive when not prepared by the authentic Italian chefs of Lake Como, and I don't think I could get John to eat butternut squash risotto (though I intend to try). Thus, that leaves me with asparagus risotto - simple, delicious, and a real crowd pleaser. Yes, I'll make that.  Added bonus: Risotto is naturally gluten-free, for those concerned.

Even though there are a million things you can do to dress up risotto, it is all cooked the same way for the most part. You melt a little butter, coat the risotto in it, and then continuously add liquid (chicken broth is the best choice) for about 20 minutes, until the rice is fully cooked. Here, I will outline the whole process for you, as I didn't realize it was that simple until I made 6 different varieties and connected the dots. Ahhhh, boy am I smart.

Let's get started....

Recipe:

• 1 lb asparagus
• 3 tablespoons + 1 tsp melted butter
• 1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

First, prepare the asparagus. Chop them into about 1/2 inch pieces (or larger if you prefer - I don't know how big your mouth is). Bring a pot of water to boiling; throw the asparagus in there and blanch for 2 minutes.  Remove them with a slotted spoon and immediately throw them into a bowl of ice water. This keeps them looking green and pretty, which you would recognize in the photo below if I were a better photographer. Bright green.  Drain and set aside.

Melt 3 T of the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook for a few minutes until translucent

 

Add the arborio rice, and stir to coat, about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the stock in a large pot (if cooking gluten-free, use gluten free stock).

Next, add the wine, and stir until absorbed by the rice. From there, add the heated stock in 1/2 cup increments, stirring each time until absorbed. The amount of stock in the recipe is approximate; continue cooking rice and adding stock for about 15-20 minutes, until the rice is tender (but not mushy). I used exactly 3 1/2 cups stock and it turned out perfect. During the last round of adding chicken broth, I threw in the mushrooms so they would cook in the broth for a couple of minutes. When the rest of the broth is absorbed, add the asparagus and turn off the heat. Stir in the remaining butter and parmesan.  Generously salt and pepper.

Serve immediately. Or, serve to yourself chilled the following day. Or the next day. Thank you, Italy, for reminding me why we should all be eating more risotto.

Bente's Birthday Cake

When I found out my younger sister Bente was going to be in Dallas for her birthday, I suffered an extreme anxiety attack over what type of cake I was going to make. I seriously could not stop thinking about it, and google came up with nothing when I searched 'Bente's perfect party cake.' 


The cake needed to be fun, unique, and extraordinary, just like her. I should add low maintenance to the list as well, but I don't like baking low maintenance things.


I settled on a chocolate cake for obvious reasons. I did a mixed candy topping because Bente loves candy. She really prefers things like skittles and starburst, but that doesn't really go with chocolate cake. Plus I was in charge and I don't like skittles and starburst. 


This chocolate cake recipe is superb. It has a perfect chocolate flavor, it's deliciously moist, and can easily be eaten in one sitting.


Recipe

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two 8x2 inch pans with parchment paper, then butter and flour the bottoms and sides.

Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, baking powder, and salt in a Kitchen Aid standing mixer with a paddle attachment that you just received for your wedding shower. Just kidding, it does not need to be from your wedding shower.

In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With mixer on low, slowly pour liquid mixture into flour mixture. Add coffee, mix just until combined (over-mixing causes the cake to be dry). 

Pour the batter into the pans and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool completely. Prepare frosting.

Buttercream frosting:

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 stick butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/4-1/2 cup whole milk

I'm not sure I would follow this frosting recipe exactly. I am a wild frosting creator that cannot be bound by anyone's rules. Start with the first three ingredients and add the milk very slowly.

Once the frosting is done you can place the first layer of cake on your cake stand (I got the one below from my wonderful future mother-in-law), and frost the top and sides. I decided to add caramel syrup because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Let that sit for a minute, then add the second layer and finish frosting. I then took each of the following candies and crushed them into pieces: Kit-Kat, Reese's PB Cup, M&Ms, Caramello, and Heath. I then topped the cake with the candy pieces, along with about 7 jars of rainbow sprinkles.

I finished the cake with a little more caramel syrup because it didn't seem like I had enough stuff on there yet. Done!

Seriously, I would make this birthday cake - it is the best cake recipe I have found (other than Funfetti), and it was relatively easy to assemble. It also turns out that this cake tastes awesome the next day, and even more awesome smashed into ice cream two days later.

*** I also tried a version of this cake gluten-free for the party goers that can't eat gluten. I followed the recipe above, but replaced the flour with a gluten-free blend, and created my own baking powder that consists of 2 parts cream of tartar, 1 part baking soda, 1 part corn starch. It tasted awesome!