Secret Recipe Club: Chewy Brown Butter Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can't believe it's Secret Recipe Club Group D reveal day again. This month has really flown by and I'm barely keeping up with my blog posts. It's my fault for taking part in so many challenges this month! The secret recipe club is one of my favourite and I always have fun choosing which recipe to make from my assigned blog.

This month I have been assigned Healthy Delicious. Lauren and I have been paired previously for secret recipe club. She chose to make my earl grey tea banana bread and I'm really pleased that I now get an opportunity to make a recipe from her blog. She says she has been cooking for as long as she can remember and initially started her blog as a weight watchers blog. I love this quote from her blog "if it isn't delicious, it isn't worth eating" - definitely a motto I can live by! Most of her recipes take a maximum of 40 minutes to make so it's healthy, delicious and speedy!

I shortlisted quite a few recipes including crispy salted chocolate chip cookies, soft & fudgy chocolate peanut butter cookies, bruleed orange butter cookies, mini pineapple upside down cakes.  As you can tell I was in a cookie mood which is how I came to finally choose these chewy brown butter espresso chocolate chip cookies.

I love baking with brown butter as it has a slight nutty, salty flavour.  The espresso smells amazing here and it's choc full of chips, no pun intended ;) A really good recipe and one that I will definitely be making again. The only change I made to the recipe was reducing the sugar amount and increasing the chocolate chips as it was easier to use the whole bag than to weigh it out!

 brown the butter

 add espresso powder

 ready to go in the oven 

 I wish you can smell this! 

 Yum!! 

Recipe from healthy delicious

113g butter

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

250g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

150g brown sugar

85g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

200g dark chocolate chips (you probably only need 150g) 

• Preheat the oven to 185C.
• In a small saucepan, brown the butter over a medium heat. 
• Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
• The butter should turn a nice golden brown colour and will have a slight nutty aroma. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the espresso powder. 
• Set aside to cool slightly.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the brown butter mixture, sugars, and vanilla. 
• Beat in the egg.
• Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients — the dough will be very soft but should hold its shape. 
• Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Drop rounded teaspoons of dough into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Bake for 10-14 minutes or until the centers are just set. 

Deep Dark Mocha Cupcakes

Earlier this year, I signed up for a gift subscription from Joy the Baker who writes a great blog. If you've never visited, I highly recommend a look - I've made quite a number of recipes from her blog and they've always turned out well. She started Enjoy! which she describes as "Every 3 months, one surprise package, with love from me to you"  How could I resist? She often gives a little clue as to what the gift might contain and as baking or kitchen was mentioned I signed up immediately :) 

 This is my lovely surprise package 

 Joy worked with King Arthur Flour to create this gift which contains Double Dutch Cocoa Powder, Instant Espresso Powder, Pure Chocolate Sprinkles, cute cupcake liners, and a hand-signed Mocha Chocolate Cupcake recipe from her.

I've been wanting to make these cupcakes for ages but somehow I kept baking other things due to demand or need. When Lucy of The KitchenMaid who is hosting this month's We Should Cocoa announced that the challenge this month is coffee I knew exactly what to bake. Plus it was a friend's birthday in June and I knew these would be the perfect gift for her. A win win situation :) 

We should Cocoa is a monthly blogging challenge started by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and Chele from Chocolate Teapot. The idea is to make something with chocolate and a special ingredient chosen by the host each month. 

These are really deep, dark cupcakes as the name suggests. I was worried that they would be dry as they looked quite dense coming out of the oven but they were fairly moist. I think it's the amazing dutch cocoa powder that gives it the colour and flavour.  The espresso frosting is my favourite part - I could just eat it by the spoonful (which I didn't as there was barely enough frosting to pipe on the cupcakes as I went for a big blob of it!) If you like dark chocolate and coffee then this is definitely the cupcake for you! I'm so pleased with my little box of goodies and I can't wait to see what I get next month. Joy has hinted that "its a few treats that you'll get down with in the kitchen!"

I'm also sending these over to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade. Check out her beer, cheese and bacon father's day cupcakes! 

 flour mixture + oil/buttermilk/vanilla

 look at the rich, dark colour 

 looks good... 

 ...even better with lots of frosting on top

 add a few chocolate sprinkles and a chocolate coated coffee bean

Recipe from Joy the Baker - reproduced with permission from the author

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the cupcake

280g flour

200g brown sugar

60g double dutch cocoa 

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon instant espresso

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the coffee buttercream

113g butter, softened

375g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoon hot water

1 teaspoon instant espresso

Preheat the oven to 170C.
Line cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients and set aside.
Ina medium bowl (or jug), whisk together the oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract.
Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being careful not to over-mix.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cups and bake for 20 - 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and 1/3 of the sugar.
Beat until thick and incorporated.
In a tiny bowl, stir together vanilla, hot water and espresso powder.
Add the remaining sugar and espresso mixture to the bowl.
Beat on medium speed until smooth and slightly fluffy.
Spread on cooled cupcakes and top with sprinkles.

Disclaimer: I was not asked to provide a review of Enjoy! I paid for the subscription myself and received no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme

I had lots of egg yolks leftover from my first disastrous attempts at macarons (I am pleased to report that I have since had great success).  I googgled egg yolk recipes and came across this recipe from epicurious.com. I'm not a coffee drinker but I love coffee in desserts. Last time I made mini custard pots with different flavours, the coffee one was my favourite. These were relatively simple to make and tasted absolutely amazing!! It's really rich, creamy and decadent. You really only need a few spoonfuls as it's too rich to have the whole portion in 1 sitting. If you like coffee, chocolate and creamy desserts then do give this a try. 

I'm sending this to Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays  where the aim is to make something from scratch ie no prepared ingredients and I think this fits the bill. 

and also to Frugal Food Fridays run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and hosted by Utterly Scrummy this month as this is uses up leftovers and is quick and easy to make. 

 I got to use my new Russian Doll measuring cups. 

 finely chop the chocolate 

 measure out the cream and milk 

 adding lots of espresso powder as I love the coffee kick! 

 whisk the egg yolks and sugar 

 almost ready.. 

 bake in a water bath 

 cover with foil - remember to poke holes in them 

 can you see how silky smooth the texture is? 

Recipe adapted from epicurious.com

170g chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups double cream (~305mls)
2/3 cup milk (~550mls)
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (adjust to taste)
6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar

• Preheat the oven to 170C. 
• Finely chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl.
• Place the cream, milk and espresso powder (optional: you can add in Baileys or Kahlua here to taste) in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. 
• Pour this hot mixture over the chopped chocolate, whisking as you pour until the mixture is smooth. 
• Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in another bowl. 
• Add the warm chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. 
• Pour the final mixture through a fine mesh sieve and cool completely. 
• Divide the mixture into ramekin bowls. 
• Place the ramekins in a large roasting tray. 
• Prepare a water bath by filling the roasting tray with hot water until it's approximately half full then carefully place the ramekins inside. Top up with extra water if necessary. 
• Cover with a large sheet of foil. 
• Poke holes through the foil with a fork or knife. 
• Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes until they are set around the edges but still wobbly in the centre. 
• Allow to cool on a wire rack then refrigerate for best results.
• Serve with some chocolate covered coffee beans or a sprinkle of cocoa powder. 

Checkerboard Cookies

Dom from Belleau Kitchen hosts random recipes which is a great idea to use more of your recipe books. I tend to get recipes online or from other blogs and as my cookbook collection has grown exponentially last year, I really wanted to use more of my cookbooks this year.  The challenge for this month is simple - choose a random recipe from your newest book and blog about it. My newest cookbook is Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking. I have to admit I was nervous about joining this challenge particularly with this book as I feared my random recipe would be too challenging. As instructed, I closed my eyes and randomly opened the book to page 42-43 which is Chocolate-Orange Pinwheels and Checkerboards. My first thought was 'oh no, this looks complicated and time consuming!' (Dom - I have to admit I was very tempted to cheat and turn the page but the next recipe is apricot pecan rugelach! Lesson is don't cheat!) 

Anyway I decided I would tackle the recipe but only managed to make the checkerboards which to me were more challenging than the pinwheels.  I've never made these before and have always wanted to as they look so cute. I'm glad I tried it but I'm not sure I would make them again as they do require quite a bit of time and patience. They did taste good though so it was worth the effort and the friend that I ended up giving them to really enjoyed them. 

The recipe offers a few flavour variations and I chose to make chocolate-coffee for mine. I've probably made it sound more complicated than it really is! Has anyone else tried making these? 

 roll the dough into strips (ideally, they should be the same length!)

 creating the checkerboard effect 

 cut off the ends... 

 checkerboard effect! 

 ready to go in the oven 

 so pleased you can see the pattern! 

 I also made some 'mini' ones as I had some dough leftover - only managed 3 rows with these. 

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma essentials of baking

155g plain flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

30g chocolate, melted 

125g butter, softened

125g sugar

1 large egg, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 1 teaspoon of hot water

• In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg yolk and vanilla essence and continue beating.
• Add the flour and baking powder and mix well. 
• Divide the dough in half. 
• Place one half in a separate bowl and stir in the coffee dissolved in hot water. 
• Add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder to the other half and mix well. 
• Form each dough into a 5 inch square and wrap separately in cling film. 
• Refrigerate until firm (about 45 minutes).
• Remove the dough from the fridge. 
• Cut each piece of dough into 6 strips. 
• One at a time, roll each strip into a rope, flouring your hands lightly, if necessary. 
• In a small bowl, beat the egg white with a fork until foamy. 
• Lay 3 ropes parallel to each other alternating the colours (see picture above) and press the ropes together. 
• Brush the top with egg white.
• Place a second set of 3 ropes of alternating colours on top of the first set of 3, press them together and brush with egg white. 
• Repeat until you have a stack of 4 rows, always alternating the colours so that a checkerboard pattern is visible when the stack is viewed from the end. 
• Do not brush the top row with egg white. 
• Trim the ends evenly, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. 
• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Slice the cookies and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
• Bake for 8 - 12 minutes until the edges just begin to turn light golden. 
• Allow to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

We Should Cocoa - Chocolate and Mocha Cake

I went to visit a friend of mine who has recently given birth to a gorgeous baby boy. I don't have any baby pictures to show you but I do have pictures of cake! My friend offered to cook dinner so naturally I said I'd make dessert. However, she wanted something low fat as she is still trying to loose her baby weight. So I went off in search of some healthy recipes, saving my full fat, triple layer cake for another day. I looked on my 'go-to recipe site' - BBC Good Food and found 2 options that looked reasonable - a light fruity sponge or a chocolate and mocha cake. I asked my friend to choose and she chose the latter which I was secretly pleased about as it fits into the theme for this month's We should Cocoa hosted by Chocolate Teapot which is to make a health conscious chocolate recipe. 

I have to say I am a little disappointed with this recipe. I've not tried a bad recipe from BBC Good Food until now and there were certainly some unfavourable reviews on the website. The picture presented looks really good but sadly what I baked was nothing like the picture shown. Firstly, there was barely enough batter to fill 1 sandwich tin much less two and my sponge did not rise at all.  Secondly, there was barely enough frosting to spread thinly much less oozing as shown.  I followed the recipe exactly and actually debated about doubling it which would have defeated the purpose. I'll just have to use a much, much smaller tin next time. 

Fortunately, it wasn't a complete disaster as the cake actually tasted reasonably good.  It's nowhere near a lovely buttery, chocolatey sponge but it was a good alternative.  The sponge was still light and moist and the icing was slightly sour due to the yoghurt and cream cheese but still palatable. I added some strawberries for extra 'health' factor and presentation. 

 low fat ingredients (apart from the chocolate) 

 whip the eggs and sugar until it looks like this 

 spread the icing on top of (flat) sponge

 place another cake on top and spread chocolate mocha icing on top

 drizzle with some melted chocolate 

 add some strawberries 

Recipe is available from BBC Good Food website. I followed it exactly and added strawberries on top as garnish.