Chocolate Caramel Goodness

Partially inspired by watching "Waitress" the other night and partially looking for a super chocolately hot mess for Superbowl Sunday, I decided to make my own version of "I Hate My Husband Pie".

What started as a reallllly bad-for-you concoction turned into a not super unhealthy treat, based on what I had in the fridge.

Chocolate-Caramel pie with cereal crust

For the crust:

3 cups Kashi Go Lean (or similar... could use any kind of graham/rice combo cereal)
3 tbsp melted butter

For the pie:

Chocolate pudding filling:

1.5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1.5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups skim milk
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp flour or 2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch salt

Caramel sauce:
2 cups sugar
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tbsp bourbon (optional)

Directions:

Note -- all of these elements can be done a day or two in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to assemble and bake.

Start by making the crust. Crush the cereal and mix with melted butter. Press into 9 inch cake or pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 mins or until just browned.

Next, make the chocolate pudding. Combine cocoa powder, flour/cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Add the milk and stir over medium heat until mixture just boils. Turn down the heat and stir until smooth and thick. In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Remove cocoa mixture from heat and immediately add to beaten egg. Stir in chocolate chunks until melted. Refrigerate pudding at least 2 hours.

For the caramel, put sugar in heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat slowly until it becomes an amber color and is completely melted. Add in butter and milk slowly -- the mixture will bubble furiously. Add the bourbon and take the mixture off the heat. It can be stored in the fridge until pudding mixture is set.

Assembly:

Pour chocolate pudding into baked pie crust. Top with caramel sauce and decorate with pecans. Bake at 350 for approx 30-35 mins or until caramel is set and pie doesn't look wobbly.

Cool on wire rack and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving favorites

On my work blog, PBS Engage, I just posted a list of Thanksgiving favorites from the cooks in my office.

Here's my contribution.

Thanksgiving happens to fall right around two big birthdays in my family, so we’re always looking for a way to combine birthday cake with traditional Thanksgiving desserts, without having to stick a candle in a pumpkin pie. Last year, I made a pumpkin-chocolate chip cake, modified from an Epicurious recipe, topped with a cream cheese frosting – it really hit the mark (plus the leftovers make a Friday morning breakfast of champions).

Frosting:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Cake:
1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I make my own, using 1 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp ginger, ½ tsp ground cloves, and ½ tsp nutmeg)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 sour cream
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (toss with flour to prevent from sinking)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9-inch cake pab. Sift first 5 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar, then beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Beat dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture alternately with milk. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool completely. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Wrap in plastic; store at room temperature.) Ice the cake with cream cheese frosting.

***I make two cakes and use the frosting to layer it, but this recipe works nicely as a loaf or bundt cake as well, with or without frosting!

And check out the rest here:

Cooking Up Thanksgiving Favorites

The Best of What's Around

In an effort to use up some of the baking things that just seem to hang around the cupboard (and being enthused by a lemon polenta cake recipe from Books for Cooks this morning), I decided to use up the little bit of almond flour and various other sundries I had in a modified version.

I didn't have any polenta, and since this experiment was an effort to eliminate things from the kitchen, not add to the randomness, I did a little searching and adapting (mainly from Katrina's gluten-free lemon yogurt cake -- here). Since I'm not concerned about gluten, I subbed in regular flour, reduced the number of eggs, used butter instead of cream cheese, and voila!

Lemon Almond Cake

1 cup blanched almond flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup packed granulated sugar
4 medium free-range organic eggs
4 oz. butter
1/2 cup organic plain or lemon yogurt- low fat is fine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Lemon zest (fine grated peel) from 1 fresh lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch Springform or cake pan with buttered parchment paper.

In a bowl whisk together the almond flour, white flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt and sugar.

Beat the eggs in separate large mixing bowl until they are light and foamy. Beat in the buter and yogurt until combined.

Add in the lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla; beat to combine.

Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time and beat on medium speed for a minute or two.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake in the center of a pre-heated 350 degree F. oven for about 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake emerges clean.

Cool on a wire rack; and release from the pan. Dust with powdered sugar.

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Crawfish Boil 2008: A fest of food, friends, and crazy mudbugs!

Chef or No Chef: Bethesda, Part 1

Let's begin at the beginning. When faced with a challenge, the Two Butt Kitchen never backs down. So when a group of three guys from Mississippi that we'd just met called our cooking skills into question at a disco party last January, we were definitely up for a game. Thus, Chef or No Chef was born.

We had a secret ingredient -- apple cider -- chosen by Kevin (the appointed judge/host), 30 minutes at the sketchy Safeway for shopping, a $20 limit, and an hour when we got back to the kitchen.

Frantically, we ran around the store with our consummate sous chef and videographer, Kristen, in tow (photos here also courtesy of Kristen), choosing ingredients and debating their merits. We definitely had the checkout boy tricked into thinking we were actually filming a reality show. The final menu for team Two Butt:

1. Pistachio-crusted chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto in an apple cider-cherry reduction sauce with thyme.



Ingredients:

For the chicken:
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 cup unsalted pistachios, shelled
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
4-6 slices prosciutto
salt and pepper

For the sauce:
3 cups apple cider
1/2 pound fresh black cherries, pitted
sprigs of fresh thyme
1 clove garlic

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Pound chicken with wooden mallet until 1/2 inch thick. season with salt and pepper or brine overnight before starting. Toast pistachios over low heat, then grind roughly in food processor. Mix pistachios with flour, salt and pepper and set aside. Coat chicken by dipping first in egg, then in pistachio mixture and lay flat on foil-lined baking sheet. Carefully wrap each breast in slice of prosciutto, with opening on foil. Bake at 350-degrees for 20 to 30 mins or until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

For the sauce, quickly sautee the garlic, add the apple cider and bring to a boil. Let the cider simmer and reduce. When it starts to thicken, add roughly chopped black cherries and thyme. When the sauce has thickened but not become syrupy, remove from heat and serve with the chicken.

2. Butternut squash pureed with sage




Boil chopped butter nut squash until soft. Place in food processor and add butter. Lots of butter. Then finish with salt, pepper, and chopped fresh sage.


We also made:
Mixed greens with pears and raspberries in an apple cider vinaigrette and apple cider-bourbon hot toddies with chocolate-dipped ginger snaps. But these were less of a hit, so we'll let you use your imagination.

Stay tuned for the boys' contributions.

Welcome to the Two Butt Kitchen

Welcome to the Two Butt Kitchen! For us, 2008 has so far been an unexpected year of food and friends, collaborating and consuming in Washington, DC. We are creating this blog as a space to share our recipes and the stories that inspired (or resulted) from them. Hope you like it!