Comunidad Health Foods

Do you remember how, way back in May when I made my sister's graduation cake, I told you that I halved the cake recipe but left all of the fillings the same? You know, just in case something disastrous were to occur and I realized I would need extra? Well, thankfully, something disastrous did not occur (at least, not anything that put my cake fillings in harm's way), and I was left with a bowl each of chocolate ganache and raspberry curd.

After such an elaborate baking process the week before, I wanted something simple. I also didn't want to have to go out and buy extra ingredients, because baking for fun can get expensive - no matter how cheap flour and sugar are. Immediately, I thought of one thing: a layered bar. The ganache hardened beautifully, the curd remained creamy, and so not only were the flavors made to be paired together from the previous recipe (the bitterness of the chocolate cuts the sweet tartness of the curd better than you can imagine), but the textures would contrast each other wonderfully. More importantly, nothing would come between my taste buds and the purity of this combination - except, of course, the subtle shortbread vehicle through which I would accomplish this bar.

One problem - I don't have a staple, go-to shortbread recipe. Scratch that - I didn't have one, but after testing out Alice Medrich's Twice Baked Shortbread recipe, called to my attention by Deb over at Smitten Kitchen, I don't know if I will try another version of Shortbread out again. There are five ingredients and it took me less than three minutes to put together (me! the slowest baker on this planet!), and then it goes through a lot of inactive prep time, like letting the dough sit for 2 hours or overnight, and baking it two separate times on relatively low heat. I cannot attest to the necessity of these elements, as I followed the recipe to a T (almost, anyway...) the only time I made it; however, I trust that it does do something magical.

So here it is, my thrown together recipe for using leftover cake fillings! Feel free to swap in just about whatever you have: a lemon curd, a chocolate mousse, maybe even a buttercream frosting to turn it into an iced shortbread.

Chocolate Ganache & Raspberry Curd Shortbread Bars, shortbread recipe courtesy of Deb at Smitten Kitchen.
Yield: 1 8x8" pan's worth of delicious dessert
Ingredients
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and still warm (change: of course, what did I have on hand? Salted - I just omitted the salt later on)
5 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract or the scrapings from half a vanilla bean (I used the extract)
1/4 teaspoon salt or a couple pinches of flaky maldon (omitted)
1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) all-purpose flour
Turbinado, Demerara or granulated sugar for sprinkling (omitted, but this would be excellent if baking the bars without adding toppings)
Leftover baking ingredients; be creative! (I used the rest of the chocolate ganache and raspberry curd whose recipes can be found here) and some leftover 100% dark chocolate shavings from the Black Forest Cupcakes)

Method
1. If using a pan with a removable bottom, grease the pan; if using the one-piece 8-inch pan, line it with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add the flour and mix until incorporated. If the dough looks a little too runny to be "pressed" into the pan, just hang in there for another 30 seconds. I was hasty with mine and dumped some extra flour in there, which turned out fine as well, only to realize that the dough needed a little patience and time to come together and solidify slightly.

3. Press the dough into the pan or dish of your choice, doing your best to even it out. Let it rest for 2 hours or overnight. The recipe says there was no need to refrigerate, but I did, and just needed to let it warm up for a little bit before baking the next day (re: I pulled it out as the oven was preheating, discovered a very rock-hard dough in the dish, panicked for 10 seconds, and then stuck it in the oven and resigned myself to letting it bake a few minutes extra).

4. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 300 degrees F.

5. Bake the shortbread for 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, but leave the oven on - you still have another round of baking to do! Lightly sprinkle the shortbread with sugar, if using, and let it cool for 10 minutes.

6. If just making shortbread, remove the baked dough from the pan or dish, careful not to break it. Use a sharp knife to cut it into traditional wedges, and place those pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet (be sure to space them out a little). If you're making the (insert-your-filling-of-choice) bars as I chose to do, leave them whole in the dish for the second baking. I'm sure this alters the end result to some extent, as all sides of the shortbread isn't exposed to the heat, but I didn't see another option if I wanted to put gooey toppings on it afterwards.

7. Bake for 10 minutes, then let cool completely (for plain shortbread) or, you know, mostly - as long as you can stand it before you just have to get those toppings on it in order to have a taste test. Once relatively cool, spoon the raspberry curd onto the shortbread and even out, and then add the layer of (softened, pourable) chocolate ganache over it.* Sprinkle with chocolate shavings, if desired. Place in the fridge (covered) to chill.


*I layered it the other way around: I was afraid that the ganache wouldn't pour well enough, and I would be left with a hot mess trying to spread it evenly over the already mousse-like curd. However, retrospectively, I think the bar would've held up better if the softer layer were sandwiched between two solid ones, as opposed to letting it hang out on top. Still, regardless of the sequence you use, these are delicious, and each layer is both good on its own yet adds something unique to the recipe as a whole. You get the buttery, crumbly shortbread on top of a tart raspberry curd, covered generously with a decadent, almost-too-bitter-but-really-perfect-against-a-raspberry-backdrop chocolate ganache. I raved about the cake, but I think I enjoyed these little leftover concoctions even more - especially when taking into account how much easier they were to make!

Oh, and the pictures? I left for a vacation about an hour after these finished baking, so I chopped some pieces off to bring with me, and took a haphazard picture that weekend of the two last bars. Needless to say, I will post the picture, but don't judge this book by its cover (or the author's lack of illustrative talent, so to speak).

Today, I accomplished a "first:" for the first time, in two years of being in college, I used a dorm kitchen.

And I survived. And so did my project.

Honestly, I don't really know why I have been so against it for so long. I'm sure it's a combination of my first dorm having an old, beat-up and constantly dirty kitchen that you could hardly turn around in, and the harsh stereotype that such dorm kitchens have developed for all dorm kitchens nationwide. But you see, I have the privilege this year of living in a brand spanking new dorm, with a brand spanking new kitchen that is, quite frankly, roughly 1.5x the size of the kitchen in the apartment I'll be living in next year.

So, it was with unfounded trepidation that I entered into the kitchen this afternoon, roommate in tow for company, to bake a treat to bring with me for an induction ceremony I'm attending tomorrow night. And despite having a fully equipped kitchen at my disposal, I nonetheless wanted to keep things simple - after all, I only had one set of ingredients to work with, and if I messed up, I believe it would be Entenman's to the rescue. Or, more realistically, I would've hung my head in shame and pretended I never signed up for anything to begin with, because I can't have store bought goods associated with my name. I have a reputation to uphold, you know?

I settled on a blondie recipe over at Smitten Kitchen (which I am, for the record, pretty smitten with) that seemed dirt simple, yet sufficiently tempting and delicious-seeming. Of course, I couldn't just hand over a simple blondie for my peers to eat. How Plain! It had to be fun, different, and much more effort than that - because as my mother likes to say of me, I really don't know how to do anything normal. Or simple.
So, I set off on my grocery store run - now, all of you folks with normal kitchens and living arrangements probably have absolutely everything this recipe calls for, but seeing as how I keep my room stocked with cheerios, yogurt, and the occasional piece of fruit if I'm lucky, I had some work to do. I also needed inspiration for my anything-but-just-plain-blondies*; clearly, a visit to the candy aisle was in order. I picked up some m&ms, then I considered a chocolate-peanut butter chip version, then I sat contemplating the twix bars and wondering how well they would chop up and mix in with the batter.
But then I found these:


Marshmallows! I picked them up with one hand and grabbed a bag of chocolate chunks in the other, and weighed the possibilities in my mind. While nothing revolutionary, the idea of a s'mores blondie called out to me. I had never attempted something along those lines, it was classic enough to appeal to the average college kid, and it was certainly not-just-a-plain-blondie.

This required some further research, though, and after sifting through two pages of google searches on s'mores bars, I had my plan of attack.S'mores Blondies, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen and the lovely people of google world
Ingredients
1 stick butter, melted
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp almond extract (I used vanilla)1 C all purpose flour
a pinch of salt (omitted!)
1 bag chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
1/2 bag (roughly) mini marshmallows

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and grease either a 9x13" pan, two 8x8" pans, or - if you'd like a traditionally thick blondie, as the recipe calls for - one 8x8" pan. Because of all of the toppings I was adding, I spread the batter thin over two pans, and I think they turned out well (although they haven't undergone a taste test yet, so I may retract that statement at a later date...)
2. Mix the melted butter and sugar, whisking until smooth.
3. Add in the egg and vanilla, beating thoroughly.
4. Add the salt (if using) and stir in the flour.5. Bake the blondies for roughly 20-25 minutes or until the center sets. I thought that mine would take less time, as mine were half as thick as the recipe intended, but they took the full time, and even then I wouldn't be surprised if cutting into them later today reveals a slightly gooey center (not that I will complain).
6. With roughly 5-10 minutes left, remove the pan(s) from the oven and layer fairly evenly first with chocolate, and then with marshmallows. Return to the over and finish baking.
7. My marshmallows hadn't browned at this point, and with the blondies having been in there for a full 30 minutes, I didn't want to kill the cookie layer by overcooking. So, I preheated the broiler and broiled them for no more than a minute to give the marshmallows a perfectly toasted, golden look.

This process, which takes no more than an hour from start to finish (I would imagine no more than 40 minutes for those who move more quickly than I do in a kitchen), will leave you with these gems:




The one on the left could have used a little longer under the broiler - I confess, I was using disposable aluminum pans, and when trying to pull that one out of the oven to switch it to the broiler, I accidentally punched up that corner that didn't brown. I'm not really sure why the convex corner refused to brown, especially since it was consequently closer to the broiler coil, but c'est la vie. I think the (abysmal) lighting also makes them look less brown than they actually are; I apologize for that. If I wind up cutting them and putting them in some serving platter that I don't think I possess in this room, I will take a picture of their insides - I know I'm at least itching to see them in all of their layered glory (I hope)!

So, dorm kitchen cooking was a success, and I feel absolutely silly for taking two years to come to this conclusion - a mere 2 weeks before I leave dorm living for good, of course. Maybe it'll even persuade me to make another appearance in this kitchen before the end of the year, but really...well, we'll see.

*Note: I realized that this post seems to be bashing the regular, Plain Jane blondie, and I am certainly not. I love eating a simple, little thick-cookie-cakey-bar-concoction, without the help of toppings and additives. However, I can never muster up the enthusiasm about actually baking such understated delights, and instead always give in to the temptation of over-indulging my imagination and doctoring opportunities. I'm sure that these blondies are delicious plain, and yes, I should have tried them as they were before diving into the recipe with a scalpel, but when preparing something for a potluck ceremony, I could not leave things well alone. Forgive me, purists and lovers of the small things in life. One day, I hope to get over myself enough to join you, but for now, these are the antics I ask you to endure.

Update: I had every intention of photographing the insides of this gooey treat and posting them, but they were all devoured at tonight's ceremony before I had the chance. Needless to say, they were a sweeping success, and I'm starting to think I should slightly under-cook my cookie bars/blondies more often!