oreo cheesecake cupcakes

For my friend Kate's birthday, she specifically requested cupcakes with oreos. Now, Kate is not someone that you don't follow their directions. So, I looked up recipes for oreo cupcakes. I could have sworn that I saw one on SK, but nothing came up in the search, so I turned to google. I found a couple recipes that looked good and similar, but then I decided I wanted to do something a little different and make cheesecake cupcakes. Part of the motivation here is because my roommate is trying to clean out her pantry (as we are all soon leaving the country), and she has been on a baking spree. I mean, three batches of brownies in one night, two types of chocolate cookies another, and now chocolate cupcakes. I knew that my cupcakes would be presented alongside several dozen chocolate chocolate-chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate cupcakes. Instead of forgoing the baking route altogether, I decided to opt for something a little unusual to vary it up a little. Thus, I was drawn to the oreo cheesecake recipe on a blog previously unknown to me (as I'm sure mine is to her).

22 Oreos, 16 left whole, and 6 coarsely chopped
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature (Neufchatel is fine) [I used the local Bulgarian version]
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 F. Line 12 standard muffin tins and 4 ramekins (or 16 muffin tins, if you have them) with paper liners. Place 1 whole Oreo in the bottom of each lined cup.

Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Pour in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared tins, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, 22-25 minutes.

Cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, on a wire rack, then transfer to a plate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

homemade pop tarts

Since I haven't really been cooking much lately, other than attempting to use the odds and ends in my pantry and fridge before I leave (cornbread, couscous, strawberry cake, etc), I thought I would post some recipes and pictures back from before I started the blog. There are only so many that I did in Bulgaria before I started this blog last fall, but I think there are quite a few from Morocco. As you will see from pictures, both the pictures and the food lack a lot of the finesse, if I can be so bold, that they have gained over the past year or so of practice.

A recipe that I made this fall that I really enjoyed making and eating and would like to do again (likely it will be in August or September before I get around to it, though) is one for homemade pop tarts. I really liked the cinnamon filling the best; it looks like it will be dry, but it was really delicious once it was all baked.

Pastry
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pats
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) milk

1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)

Cinnamon Filling (enough for 9 tarts)
1/2 cup (3 3/4 ounces) brown sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, to taste
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg, to brush on pastry before filling

Jam Filling
3/4 cup (8 ounces) jam
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Alternate fillings: 9 tablespoons chocolate chips, 9 tablespoons Nutella or other chocolate-hazelnut paste or 9 tablespoons of a delight of your choice, such as salted caramel or a nut paste

To make cinnamon filling: Whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

To make jam filling: Mix the jam with the cornstarch/water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, and simmer, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool. Use to fill the pastry tarts.

Make the dough:

Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Work in the butter with your fingers, pastry blender or food processor until pea-sized lumps of butter are still visible, and the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. If you’ve used a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Whisk the first egg and milk together and stir them into the dough, mixing just until everything is cohesive, kneading briefly on a well-floured counter if necessary.

Divide the dough in half (approximately 8 1/4 ounces each), shape each half into a smooth rectangle, about 3×5 inches. You can roll this out immediately (see Warm Kitchen note below) or wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Assemble the tarts:

If the dough has been chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to soften and become workable, about 15 to 30 minutes. Place one piece on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick, large enough that you can trim it to an even 9″ x 12″. [You can use a 9" x 13" pan, laid on top, as guidance.] Repeat with the second piece of dough. Set trimmings aside. Cut each piece of dough into thirds – you’ll form nine 3″ x 4″ rectangles.

Beat the additional egg and brush it over the entire surface of the first dough. This will be the “inside” of the tart; the egg is to help glue the lid on. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling into the center of each rectangle, keeping a bare 1/2-inch perimeter around it. Place a second rectangle of dough atop the first, using your fingertips to press firmly around the pocket of filling, sealing the dough well on all sides. Press the tines of a fork all around the edge of the rectangle. Repeat with remaining tarts.

Gently place the tarts on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick the top of each tart multiple times with a fork; you want to make sure steam can escape, or the tarts will become billowy pillows rather than flat toaster pastries. Refrigerate the tarts (they don’t need to be covered) for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.

Charming tip from King Arthur: Sprinkle the dough trimmings with cinnamon-sugar; these have nothing to do with your toaster pastries, but it’s a shame to discard them, and they make a wonderful snack. While the tarts are chilling, bake these trimmings for 13 to 15 minutes, till they’re golden brown.

Bake the tarts:

Remove the tarts form the fridge, and bake them for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown. Cool in pan on rack.

beer bread

When I was in high school, my two best friends, Katy and Laura, showed me how to make beer bread. If you have self-rising flour, its an astonishing 4 ingredient recipe. Laura and I would bake beer bread and make peanut butter-honey cracker sandwiches for track and cross country meets. Katy and I would sneak down to her kitchen in the middle of the night and bake beer bread, tipsy of sips of her mom's liquor cabinet or beers. To this day, some of my fondest memories are those I have had giggling in the kitchen with my best girl friends over the years.

I have tried to make beer bread a couple times in Bulgaria. It hasn't been successful. Each time, I must have mismeasured the beer or another ingredient, and it just hasn't come out as the simple goodness that I know it can and loves to be. The last time I went to the grocery store, recently frustrated by a horrendously bad batch, I splurged 3 лева ($2) on a Corona. I wanted to make beer bread that was good, and if it took buying imported beer so I was using more familiar ingredients, then so be it. I carefully measured and rechecked the recipe. I tasted the last sip of Corona and wished that it, too, came in 500 ml bottles instead of 335 so that I could have a drink while the bread cooked. Then I stuck it in the oven and watched it rise, get its buttery coat, and turn into a deliciously browned butter crusted loaf. My beer bread was back in business. Phew. I still want to make little beer bread muffins, but I needed a success under my belt before my confidence returned and I could experiment again.

3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/4 cup melted butter

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients together. Pour beer in and stir. Dough will be very sticky. Pour into a buttered loaf pan.

Cook for an hour. Halfway through, melt butter and pour over top of loaf. This will make a delicious buttery crust that is essentially the reason I make and dream of this recipe.

Strawberry Summer Cake

Courtney got me back on track with SK the other day by linking her strawberry summer cake to me and telling me that she made it for some students and they loved it. I filed it away in my mind to do later, and then I saw strawberries on sale yesterday and decided to make them. That was before I realized how much I would end up cooking tonight, but once I had the realization, I decided to continue down that path. I made dinner, dessert, and cupcakes for my advisory group's picnic and my committee meeting tomorrow. Three hours of cooking! But they were well worth it.

The cake was very easy to make, and I thought it turned out quite well. It has sort of a breakfasty bread taste and texture, especially with the fruit. I didn't find the cake itself especially sweet, but the warm, tender strawberries meant that it was sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth (which, let's be honest, was getting a lot of indulgence tonight with all the batter in the kitchen). If (when) I make this again, I think I will wedge more strawberries in there, maybe even sticking them in more vertically instead of laying them on top. That way, there will be more delicious strawberry goodness in every bite, and I definitely had plenty leftover from the way I did it.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate
1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup (118 ml) milk
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). This cake would also work in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake than pictured.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer [I gave up trying to squeeze them all in, though it would have been nice to have more in the end result; I used my leftovers to make chocolate dipped strawberries]. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack.

gratuitous cupcake photos

I can't help but take a lot of photos when I cook now. I have already posted this recipe, though, so I don't really need to do it again. This weekend was Arts Fest at school, and I volunteered to bring something for the PTA's bake sale. I decided that chocolate cupcakes never let anyone down, so I made 24 to bring. I also got to play with food coloring in the icing, and we know I always love adding some color to make food look just a bit unnatural. Plus, I knew my teenagers would be more excited by bright colors than not.

I also did quite a bit of baking today, making chocolate souffle cupcakes again for my advisory picnic tomorrow and committee meeting after school as well as strawberry summer cake for dessert after dinner tonight. The chocolate souffle cupcakes are also a repeat of a recipe that I made back at the end of March and just really adored.

So basically, here are a lot of pictures!

 Souffle cupcakes:

 The result of my efforts (not including dinner) from 3 hours in the kitchen today:

tomato soup and leek toast

My time is Bulgaria is dwindling, and I am starting to evaluate what I have laying around my house that won't go home with me. While I generally shop once a week and only buy food for the meal that I will cook on Monday plus whatever baking I want to do plus lunches, I occasionally accumulate items in my two-shelf pantry. I noticed that I had several cans of chopped or whole tomatoes, which I bought because last year Eryn and I made homemade tomato sauce for pasta or homemade pizza usually once a week, so I figured I would use it more often.

At any rate, I decided that I better make a conscious effort to use up some canned tomatoes or else leave them here (which wouldn't be all that tragic). At first, I was just going to make tomato sauce, but then I decided to try out a simple looking tomato soup recipe. I also realized that I would need something to go along with it to keep everyone from immediately getting hungry, and when I saw SK's leek toast recipe, I thought that would be just the thing. From my earlier experience this year making potato leek soup, I have learned that I quite like cooked leeks, and since the recipe included bread and cheese, how could I say no?

Leek Toast (it took longer to cook than the soup)


1 1/2 pounds leeks (about 3 big leeks), lengthwise and white and pale green parts sliced 1/4-inch thick (about 3 generous cups of slices)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for brushing toasts
Coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 medium-sized or 12 baguette-sized 1/2-inch slices of bread of your choice
2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled [I used cyrene, which is similar to feta]
Few drops of lemon juice (optional)

Fill a large bowl with cold water. Add leeks and use your hands to pump them up and down in the water a bit, separating the rings and letting the dirt and grit fall to the bottom. Transfer to a dish or plate for a minute; no need to dry them.

Meanwhile, heat a large, heavy skillet over medium. Once hot, add butter and olive oil and once they’re fully melted and a bit sizzly, add the leek slices, still wet. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and cook leeks for 25 minutes, stirring them occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste.

While leeks cook, brush bread slices with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Run under broiler until lightly toasted. You may either spread the cheese you’re using on now, while the toasts are hot, or sprinkle it on at the end. Divide leeks among toasts. Sprinkle with cheese, if you haven’t spread it underneath. Add a few drops of lemon juice, if desired. Eat at once or gently rewarm a bit later.

Creamy Tomato Soup
This made quite a bit of soup, enough for four roommates and a bowl or two leftover.




1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup, undiluted

1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cubed [I actually didn't include this; I'm sure it makes it creamier and delicious, though]

In a saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in tomatoes, soup, milk, sugar, basil, paprika and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until melted. Serve immediately.

BLBC Cookbook

I just got a mountain of grading. Did I start tonight? Heavens no because I make silly decisions sometimes. I did, however, finish taking the word document of the BLBC cookbook and transforming it into a 120 page book for sale on Blurb. I think it took me about 6 hours to do, which really isn't so bad. I hope that the ladies of the BLBC like it and are all right with the executive decisions I made; at least I like it and will be excited to have one at home! For anyone else who is interested, here is the information:

BLBC Cookbook
$6 plus shipping for softcover
http://www.blurb.com/books/2242451

From the info page I wrote up for the book:

BLBC Cookbook

The ladies of the BLBC, or Bulgarian Ladies Book Club, for the 2010 - 2011 school year were all International women of the American College of Sofia. In addition to reading seven books, having deliciously hosted meetings, going away for a spa weekend, and rafting, we also compiled some of our (and our friends and family's)  favorite recipes into a cookbook. We hope you enjoy it!

The BLBC 2010 - 2011 Book List:

October:  

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

November:  

Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey by Isabel Fonesca

December:  

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

February: 

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

March: 

Cold Snap: Bulgaria Stories by Cynthia Morrison Phoel

April: 

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

May:    

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

The ladies of the BLBC:

Abby Noel, Amanda Crocker, Carolyn Emigh, Hanna Soltow, Jaime Johnson, Jenn Lawrie, Jess White, Kate McKenna, Katherine Conaway, Kristina Pappas, Lindsay Bouton, Magda Bucior, Pei Pei Liu,  Shannon Savage, and Teresa Monicken

A special thank you to Kate McKenna for organizing the BLBC! 

oatmeal pancakes and homemade "syrup"

This Monday night, I was feeling like breakfast. Well, I guess I wasn't feeling like breakfast (would that be squishy?), but I wanted to eat it. Abby had made a delicious make-your-own pizza night on Sunday, so I felt like switching things up for my night. At first I just wanted to go with classic pancakes and fried eggs, but then I realized that without maple syrup (because really, I'm not paying $15 or 20 лева for that), normal pancakes might be a letdown for my roommates. And my old friend, SK, did not let me down. In my recipe search for pancakes (search results included the lemon ricotta ones I made a while ago), I found one for oatmeal pancakes. They sounded healthier and delicious, so I decided to give them a go. I had to do some preparatory work google translating 'oat flour' and then extrapolating, in store, that обесено трици was similar enough to обесено брашно that it wouldn't ruin my recipe (брашно is flour and трици is bran).

I also made a few with bananas because, just like my dad, I love me some banana pancakes. They just make something delicious (pancakes) even better (caramelized heaven). You don't even need syrup if each bite includes that crystallizing sugary goodness! Also, for my Nabokov-Pynchon classmates (or any other Pynchon readers out there), every time I eat anything with bananas, but especially pancakes and breakfast foods, I can't help but think about the banana breakfast in Gravity's Rainbow. Maybe one day I'll get really ambitious (and have a large audience) and attempt a Pynchon/Pirate-esque banana breakfast of my own.

But really, I loved the oatmeal pancakes. They tasted so good and were similar enough to "regular" American pancakes (not the crepe-like палачинки that we have here in Bulgaria) that I didn't feel tricked but also were a bit more hearty and whole grain tasting.

But if you DO need syrup, you can try what I tried. I didn't really know what to expect, but via my browsing on SK, I found a link to a cranberry syrup that she made. I had bought some jarred fruit/jams in Koprivshtitsa in the fall, and I only liked some of them. There is some small berry here that I have never had before, and the flavor is just a bit too strange for me to really get excited about it. I wanted to like that jam, but I just couldn't do it. So I decided to use it in my syrup experiment and wouldn't cry about it if I ended up having to throw it out. It turned out to be not terribly thick but sweet and yummy, and we used it successfully as a syrup substitute for the pancakes.

Dry sugar melting:

 Melted sugar:

 Hardened sugar (after adding water and berries):

 Berry syrup:

 Oatmeal pancake batter:

 Banana pancakes:

Oatmeal Pancakes

3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me) [as mentioned, I used oat bran and it worked]
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon Kosher or coarse salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 cup cooked oatmeal*
1 tablespoon unsulphured (not blackstrap) molasses or 1 tablespoon honey [I used honey]
2 large eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Lower to medium-low. Rub the pan generously with butter; Boyce says this is the key to crisp, buttery edges. Working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the pan, 2 or 3 at a time. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. If you want banana (or other fruit/nuts), place them in after pouring the mounds down and just press lightly into the pancake. Then when you flip them, they caramelize into an almost decadent treat.


Syrup

1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, chopped [I used my rinsed mystery berries from the jar]
1/2 cup water

Cook sugar in a dry 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork or flat whisk, until sugar is melted and turns a deep golden caramel. Tilt pan and carefully add cranberries and water (caramel will harden and vigorously steam). Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is completely dissolved, then pour syrup through a very fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing hard on solids. Let cool.