Celebrating MLK Day (Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting)

January is one of my favorite months.
It's marked by: 

*New calendars-functional ones & pretty ones

*Goal setting

*The winter days start their swing towards more daylight in our part of the world (These short days are brutal.)

*Sweaters, scarves, layers

*Warm beverages

*Starting a new year- a clean slate (I love marking things off a list, so to mark an entire year off feels pretty great! Especially tough ones like 2016.)

   & 

*MLK holiday

I always relish honoring Dr. King and all those who have boldly and sacrificially fought with truth and peace for equity* (see footnote for more on equity) for all people and continue to.

In our home we always seek to celebrate MLK Day with some type of reading/reflecting/commemoration/dreaming. We sometimes listen to/watch the "I Have a Dream" Speech, or watch a racial justice focused film.  If you haven't watched President Obama's Farewell Speech, it would be a good pick.  And we always make an “integrated” birthday dessert- usually some combination of chocolate and vanilla. Here are a couple of our past celebrations. 

Here's a favorite. 

It’s Ina Garten’s Beatty’s Chocolate Cake recipe that my friend Jennifer recommended to me. What a
lovely cake.  (It is one of the many chocolate cake recipes from Ina, the Barefoot Contessa). It's moist, with a nice body. [Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe.html?oc=linkback]

Her recipe is topped with a whipped mocha frosting that is silky and delicious.  I decided for the MLK cake to top it with vanilla almond buttercream frosting instead so that it was white and black.
[I made it with butter and coconut oil.]  If you use Refined Coconut Oil (like the Crisco brand Coconut Oil) it doesn't taste coconut-y.

And the fun part was making these toppers. 

The inspiration for the chocolate flower toppers was from The Great British Baking Show.  They made these on an episode and my girls and I were enamored.  They look so impressive to be so simple to make! You really should try making them.  I haven't tried other shapes but you could really have some fun with this! 

Beatty's Chocolate Cake  by Ina Garten

Chocolate Cake: 

Butter or cooking spray for coating pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. 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

 

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
makes more than enough, but better too much than not enough! 

2 sticks butter, softened (or 1 stick butter & 1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil or crisco for whiter, thicker frosting)

a couple of pinches of salt
1 (32-oz.) package powdered sugar
6 to 7 Tbsp. milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract- or I use 1 tsp. vanilla/1 tsp. almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter and flour (or use Baker’s Joy to coat) 2 or 3 round cake pans -depending on what you have and like

Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal.

For the frosting:
Beat butter and salt at medium speed with an electric mixer 1 to 2 minutes or until creamy.

Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with spoons of milk, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition. 

Stir in extract. Add milk or powdered sugar to arrive at desired thickness and texture. 

(You can make frosting while cake is in the oven.  Keep on counter until cake is cooled- if you refrigerate it will harden and you will need to thaw before frosting cake.)

With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, (if you made a third layer, repeat,) then spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake. 

For chocolate decorations:

Melt a small amount of dipping chocolate (I like Ghirardelli the best) following instructions on the package for melting.  Melt and stir to where it is smooth but not too runny.

using a spatula, spoon it into a plastic zip-top bag.

Lay a piece of waxed paper on the counter.
Use scissors to clip a very small bottom corner off of the bag.

Quickly and gently let it pour in a looping formation. You may have to try it a few times to get the hang of it.  I like to do a loop and then continue across from it and then start a new loop across from that, and so on, making 6 loops total, crossing in the middle to give it strength. 

You can also draw on a piece of paper the design you want and place that under the waxed paper as a guide. 

Once they solidify, transfer the wax paper to the refrigerator.

[Here's a little video Lucy and I made for you.]

Hoping you are having a great start to the new year and that you have a peaceful and meaningful (and delicious) MLK weekend. 

*footnote: Equity and equality are related but distinct terms.  One day in class, I was speaking about equity and a student asked, “Do you mean equality? Is that the same?” I said, "Well, equality is when people are given the equal amount of something or equal treatment, but equity goes beyond that and seeks to level the playing field- thus making people at a common level, or equal place.  This requires more for some than others!" This graphic is the one I think most simply communicates this. 

So-Good Brownies- A Recipe to Pass Along

This is a brownie recipe recently added to my collection and I am smitten. My mom made these brownies for my birthday this year.  She said she wanted to bake for my birthday but that she knows Dave enjoys the tradition of making me a birthday cake.  (I enjoy this tradition too!)  I suggested she make brownies or cookies since I love those too, and why not have brownies and cake!  

She ended up making cookies for dessert on the night we ate together for my birthday a few days before my actual day.  They were chocolate chip with pecans- one of my favorites.  They were beautiful and delicious! Then on my actual birthday, my dad came to a meeting on campus and surprised me with a plate of brownies (cut heart-shaped) and topped with chopped pecans.  They were amazing! There were too many for me to take home (since I knew cake was going to be at home), and not enough to take to class to share with my students.  So I shared them with my colleagues.  They were glad I did.

Tanya, the custodian who cleans our area, happened to be in the office at the time and I offered her one.  She gladly accepted.   A few days later I saw her in the hall and she said it was the best brownie she had ever had, and that she had saved part of it to share with her twin sister, Tonya.  (Yes, they are twins named Tonya and Tanya. She told me that it was the labor and delivery nurse’s idea to name them one vowel different when her mom had twins that she wasn’t anticipating!) According to Tanya, Tonya LOVES  brownies.  She said Tonya didn’t believe that the brownie was not from a bakery. She asked if she could buy some from my mom! I said, “You can’t buy them, but I will make them for you and give you the recipe.” 

I called my mom and told her how much we enjoyed them and asked for the recipe.  I went ahead and made a few copies of it when she passed it along.

A week or so later I made a batch and brought a box of them to work for her.  I couldn’t find her in the halls so I left it on my desk with the recipe and a note, as I knew she would come early in the morning to collect trash from my office. I ran into her several weeks later and she told me that they have been making this recipe a lot since I passed it along. So fun.  

This recipe is from The Southern Living SEC Tailgating Cookbook.  and has a side bar that says, “Go ahead and copy the recipe to give to friends at your tailgate.  They’ll be asking for it.” I think they are right.  They are chewy, thick, rich and lovely.  What sets them apart from other brownie recipes I make are brown sugar, unsweetened baking squares, and lots and lots of butter (not that this part is unique to this brownie recipe). 

So-Good Brownies 

Makes 16  2 inch square brownies

4 (1 oz.) unsweetened chocolate baking squares

¾ cup butter 

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 large eggs 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line bottom and sides of an 8 inch square pan with aluminum foil, allowing 2 to 3 inches to extend over side; lightly grease foil.

Microwave chocolate squares and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 1 ½ to 2 minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 30 second intervals. Whisk in granulated and brown sugars.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking just until blended after each addition.  Whisk in flour, vanilla, and salt. 

Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Bake at 350˚ for 40 to 44 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Let cool completely on a wire rack. Lift brownies from pan, using foil sides as handles.  Gently remove foil, and cut brownies into 16 squares.  

(Note: this makes a 8 inch square pan, which I thought seemed small, but found that they are rich and thick! I have, however, doubled the recipe a few times when feeding a larger crowd.  This really spotlights the amount of butter, sugar and chocolate are in these lovely brownies!)

I am thankful when sharing a baked good and recipe can connect people to each other. You might want to make a batch and take them to work, or pass them to your neighbors (or tailgate- if you are are tailgater), and show some love via butter, chocolate and lots of sugar! And be ready with the recipe to pass it along. 

  

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Chocolate Shortbread Valentine Cookies

I love Valentine's Day! So fun! So much prettiness and love and sugar!  I have written about my adoration of this holiday in years past and have shared some of my favorite traditions, recipes and treats 

HERE and HERE and HERE 

So, I will refrain from repeating myself and will make this a short post.  

In my home (and my home growing up) Valentine's was a fun holiday not a romantic, "Hallmark", pressure-filled holiday.  It's a day to say "I LOVE YOU" to people you adore- friends, family, co-workers, neighbors.  

Heart garland- fun to make and have love draping from your ceiling! My
friend Connie made this one for me several birthdays ago and I
bring it out each year!

Valentine BINGO played with conversation hearts

Meringue Cookies- heart shaped! 

I usually make heart cut out cookies because they are so pretty and delicious and lovely.  Hearts are my favorite cookie cutter shape and the easiest to frost, in my opinion. 

 I sometimes make sugar cookies or these linzer shortbread cookies.

If you are more in the chocolate mood, these chocolate shortbread cookies are a treat!  

They are soft and like a thin brownie!  

The dough is just a few ingredients that you mix together.

They are easy and fun to ice.

After a bit of refrigeration, the dough is easy to cut out.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

from Everyday Food- Martha Stewart

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

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  With an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy.  Add flour, sugar and cocoa; mix just until combined.  (Chill dough in refrigerator for 10 minutes or more…if you chill it for longer, set out to soften a bit before rolling as it becomes hard in the refrigerator with all of that butter!)

Pat dough onto a flat surface and roll out (using a dusting of powdered sugar or flour to keep from sticking). Cut with cookie cutter into hearts (or desired shape). Place on cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment for easy clean up and no sticking). Bake 10-12 minutes until firm but not crispy.  

Cool completely and then frost as you wish. (See below for ideas)

1. Ice with a simple glaze-

I scooped 1/2 cup powdered sugar, a heaping Tbsp cocoa powder, a few drops of vanilla extract in a small bowl, stirred and added drops of water until it was smooth and thin, but not too thin. Spread on cookies with a spoon.  Add sprinkles while they are still wet.

Or

2.  Melt melting chocolate wafers (I use the Ghirardelli brand) and dip the cookies (half or entire cookie) adding sprinkles while still wet.  

Or

3.  I had some buttercream frosting left over from making a Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake and decided to make sandwich cookies (inspired by the double-doozie cookies at the cookie store)

I think the key is frosting them in a way that makes them easy to stack and package for giving away! The sprinkles provide a nice barrier to cookies which keep them from sticking to each other. 

Bake some lovely goodies, write a kind note, make something pretty, bring warmth to this wintry month, share your adoration with someone! 

A Go-To Peanut Butter Chocolate Blondie Recipe & Gearing Up for Summer

Next week is the last week of school for my kids and I am trying to gear up for summer.  I have to admit that at this point in the calendar, after an intensely packed school year for me and my kids, I just want to sit on the porch, read books and drink lemonade for the next 2 months.

However, the reality is that my gang needs me to be a cruise director rather than a checked-out mom.   I start to have flash backs to Julie McCoy from The Love Boat.  (Or was this before your time?)

Thinking through and trying to create a strategy for managing (and maximizing) long summer days has become an annual ritual of mine. As I looked back at my post this week last year, I saw that I wrote about this AND the Chewy M & M bars that I had just discovered.  I can't tell you how many times I have made them in the past year, since that post! They were on heavy rotation in my kitchen.

Recently, I have added another bar cookie to my Go-To list. A few weeks ago, I was looking to make an easy but delicious dessert for small group in honor of Caroline's love of peanut butter and chocolate.  I found this one online, and it far exceeded my hopes.  It is gooey, just the right amount of peanut buttery and chocolatey, and is a bar which I love - as it is so easy!  It's made with things I had on hand, and is a cinch to whip up.

On days when I need to make a treat for a party, or a picnic, or a get together this summer, these Peanut Butter Chocolate Blondies are a good bet.

(I found the recipe on a blog and it made a small batch- which I wasn't expecting because her pan was rectangular and it threw me off- since I am used to a small batch being in a 9 X 9 pan.  I quickly doubled the recipe and made the large batch (9 X13 pan) for the crowd I was serving.  I have included ingredient measurements below for both sizes, as you might need the big for a crowd or might want a small batch if you are just making them for yourself- as they are hard to stop eating!)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Blondies

borrowed from The Sweet Talker (who borrowed from Two Tiny Kitchens)

(for a 9 X 13 pan)

1 cup peanut butter butter (I used natural- it made them nice and gooey; and you can use

 creamy or crunchy- your preference!)

2/3 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2 cups chocolate chips

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(or for an 8 X 8 pan …so you don’t have to do the division J)

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used natural- it made them nice and gooey; and you can use creamy

 or crunchy- your preference!)

1/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease baking pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together peanut butter and softened butter. 

Gradually blend in the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. 

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended.  

Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven, or until the top springs back when touched. Don’t over bake!

Cool, and cut into squares.

Of course, feel free to add in other treats- like coconut, or Reese’s pieces, or M & Ms, or nuts into the batter.

So, in addition to making these bars and eating them, I'm working on a summer strategy for reading, projects, filling our days with productive, seasonal, relaxing and connecting things.  I am asking my friends with kids for good ideas to help with this. I used a punch card system last year that worked pretty well for my people.  My sister is working on this list of "optional activities" for summer that I am trying to figure out how to best mobilize into action.

I'm looking for a "summer central" type of spot in my house to post our plans/ideas/etc. Maybe the laundry room…or clear off the refrigerator and do it there?

We are also making a Summer Bucket List of things we want to do this summer including:
making lots of variety of popsicles and ice cream (more posts to come on those),
taking hikes to different trails/parks in the area,
pick fruit from local farms, just to get started.

I have all of these pipe dreams of learning to embroidery, learning how to play Rook as a family, working lots of jigsaw puzzles, doing house projects, and the list goes on.

And I have created my annual summer book stack- ones I need and/or want to read this summer.  I don't know how much of a dent I will make on this, but I am sure gonna try.

(I welcome any of your suggestions for managing the chaos of summer with kiddos!)

Regardless of how we end up ordering our days this summer, one thing is for sure: things will be busy in the  kitchen - with lots of hungry eaters and more time to get creative and try new things! 

S'Mores Treats

Every day has highs and lows.  We usually process these at the dinner table each evening.  And at times the highs are the top stories of the night and other times the lows are more dominant themes, but both seem to always co-exist.  This week was that – a mixed bag– some good moments, some terrible ones.  And that’s okay. 

I want to move through the rough patches and learn what there is to learn from them, but then embrace the joys!  There is a quote in a piece we read for my Spirituality in Social Work class that says, “Don’t obsess about the past, or worry about the future, all you need is right here now.”   I think of this quote often.  It has become somewhat of a mantra for me.  

This week, my friend Emily, who continually inspires me, put this Emerson quote on her blog and it stirred me up.  My heart quickened as I read and it made me crave this! I don’t live like this on most days, but I earnestly desire to. 

“Write it on your heart

that every day is the best day in the year.

He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day

who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.

Finish every day and be done with it.

You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt crept in.

Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day;

begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit

to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear,

with its hopes and invitations,

to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Collected Poems and Translations

This weekend, full of activities, ranged from chaos to sweet, and fun to maddening- with weather that matched-  rainy, cold days and a gorgeous sunny day on Saturday.  One of the highlights was these S'Mores Treats that I made – twice, actually.  I made them, along with Banana Pudding and Stop Light Chili for the social work chili supper on Friday night, which is always a fun time.   And then we were going to a neighbor’s house for a Super Bowl gathering and I thought I would take the leftover S'Mores Treats, when I realized there were only a couple left in the container.  Dave confessed to being the culprit and graciously offered to go pick up the ingredients to make another batch.  Which I did.  

They are ridiculously easy... I'm talking 6 minutes. Asher was going to help me make them.  I asked him to wash his hands.  He left the room to wash his hands, must have gotten distracted, came back about 5 minutes later and said, "Where are the ingredients?" And I said, "They are done! I already made them."

They are that fast. Melt, stir, pour, stir, add, stir, dump, press, sprinkle, done!

These bars are like Rice Krispie Treat S'Mores.  My family adores them, which I think is mostly because they love Golden Grahams cereal- which we don’t buy very often.

S'Mores Treats
adapted from Country Clever

6 Tbsp. butter
1 bag (10 oz.) mini marshmallows
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup for topping
1 box (12 oz.) Golden Graham Cereal
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
non-stick cooking spray

You can make this in a pan on the stove top or in a glass bowl in the microwave- it's up to you! Melt butter in pan (or bowl) add marshmallows, stir and continue to heat until melted. (Keep your eye on it, as it can quickly get overdone). Add vanilla. Stir.  Add Golden Grahams and 1 cup chocolate chips.  Stir until well combined and marshmallow goo is fully incorporated into the cereal.  Coat 13 X 9 inch pan lightly with cooking spray.  Dump cereal mixture into the pan and press well.   Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until firm enough to slice.  Slice into bars and serve. 

In the midst of this winter week (cold, dreary, and rainy here in Nashville) will you join me in fighting for joy- joining Emerson's hopeful outlook- that "this new day is too dear,

with its hopes and invitations,

to waste a moment on the yesterdays"?!