Espresso White Chocolate Brownies

As a pastry chef, I have been known to invent new ways to torture myself.


One way was to spend my spare time inventing new treats for my adopted Parisian Nana.


As you can imagine, she was hard to impress! Luckily, I tapped into her favorite things and got very inventive.


This recipe was one I came up with in December of ‘04, just before I became a grill cook and lost my mind.

Espresso White Chocolate Brownies

4 oz white chocolate (I like El Rey)
1/2 c butter
*melt in double boiler until smooth, set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 F. and prep your baking sheet. Use a half sheet pan to layer parchment over lapping edges for easy removal. set aside.

Combine:
2 c sugar
2 tsp espresso extract
4 large eggs

Once combined, stir in into cooled chocolate (it has to be cooled or your eggs will curdle)

Fold in 1 c all purpose flour and 1c chopped nuts (your choice. I used hazelnuts)

Pour into prepped pan & spread evenly. Bake on center rack for approx 25 min, then cut into squares and enjoy!

Liked this recipe, changed it up? Email me @ mailto:luna@lunaraven.comto tell me all about it!

Apricot Ginger Pecan Cake

Since I love to experiment and had dried apricots and candied ginger lying about, last night I made this lovely little cake.

3/4 c dried apricots, chopped, soaked and drained
1/2 c candied ginger, chopped
1 stick butter, melted
1 c oats + 2 tsp water, stirred together

Combine throughly to make sure everything is coated by the butter.

Then add: 1/2 c pecans
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 c cornstarch

Mix together until just combined (do not overmix!)

Pour into buttered 7x2" pan and bake @325 F for about a half hour.

Let cool before taking out of pan, place on plate and then sprinkle w/powder sugar.

Enjoy!

Fennel Brown Sugar Cookies

Getting a sample of Fennel Pollen was interesting for me. I wanted to make a savory dish, yet my mind kept saying, 'coooookies....brown sugar.....' So I finally gave in and made some.

I took them to work last week to get my friends to test them out and the reponse was excellent. Then yesterday, one of my co-workers begged me to make them again. So there you have it folks, these cookies are good and they linger in the memory!



Fennel Pollen Brown Sugar Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 F

2/3 c vegetable shortening (I like Jungle)
3/4 c C & H brown sugar
1 egg
4 tsp almond milk
1 tbsp Fennel Pollen Spice
2 c WW flour
1½ tsp baking powder

Thoroughly cream butter, sugar, & Fennel Pollen Spice. Add egg; beat fluffy. Stir in milk. S

Sift dry ingredients; stir in.

Chill at least one hour, though two is best.

On a lightly sugared surface (I used a Fennel Pollen/sugar mix I made) and roll 1/2 the dough to 1/8” thickness, cutout with cookie cutters.

Chill remaining dough until ready to use. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, making
sure they are not touching. Bake 6-8 minutes until light brown.



P.S. There will be a savory recipe with the pollen, so stay tuned!

Love Potion #9 Cake

I tried out this cake on my friends and it ended up paired with figs & goat cheese that had been baked & drizzled in balsamic. The cake is light and moist, the liqueur flavor unique. I know it was a hit because the Cheese Princess kept drifting over for more! The only addition we would have liked might have been little Love Potion #9 laced Chantilly cream.

2 c flour
2 tsp b powder
¼ tsp salt
½ c milk
½ c Love Potion #9
½ c sugar
¾ vegetable shortening
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine dry ingredients, set aside. Combine milk and Love Potion #9, set aside.
Cream shortening & sugar, add eggs. Starting & ending with flour mixture, alternately add flour mix with milk mix. Do not over mix! If you have some flour that doesn’t blend in, use a spatula.
I used four 6 x 3½ loaf pans, baked for approx 25 minutes.

Luna's Chocolate Spelt Cake

Chocolate Spelt Cake

1 stick butter

pinch salt

¼ tsp ginger

¼ c mascarpone

1 c spelt flour

1 c muscavado

4 eggs

¼ c cream

1 c cocoa


Combine all ingredients in a processer to meld. Pour into buttered cake pan. bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream & brandy cherries.

How To Read Food Labels

Reading food labels is important. They tell you everything you need to know about what you are about to eat. You need to know a lot more than just calorie count and sodium content.

Does the label say sugar, fructose, sucrose and honey? Guess what, that means there are four types of sweetener and that could just be in your bread!

You know what should be in bread? Flour, water, yeast, salt and just enough sugar for the yeast to work. So....what does that plastic wrapped loaf of bread you're eating say?

How to read labels is easy:

*The shorter the ingrediant list, the better off you are. Example: your jam should be fruit, sugar, pectin. Why? Because that really IS all you need to make jam!

*The best plan is to avoid anything with partially hydrogenated oil, food dyes or anything you cannot pronounce. Bleached flour, is well, bleached, which can't be good.

Don't worry too much about how to do this, just do it. Paying close attention to what we feed our families & ourselves has never been more important. With genetic foods gaining ground, organic vs non organic, nitrate free et al, food has taken on new significance beyond that of just being fuel.

'Fake Food' is unhealthy, even if it is convient. What price are you really willing to pay to have something fast, cheap and easy?

I hear constantly how expensive it is to eat naturally. It IS more expensive than your regular grocery if you don't know how to shop for a bargain.

Know what's even more expensive? Doctors'. Bills and hosptial visits caused by heart disease, obesity and a host of other food related issues that are currently rampant in several countries.

Here's a recap on what to look for in a label:
*Short list of ingrediants
*Ingrediants you can pronounce
*No food dyes
*Sugar should not be the first ingrediant OR listed more than once
*Avoid fake sweeteners and bleached flour
*Skip the beet sugar for cane sugar

Remember not to stress! Learning anything new can be fun and challenging. Teach your kids to read labels and create a fun game that sets them on a healthy path.

Or if you need help, just give a shout!

Lemon Cocoa Nib Cupcakes w/Caramel

I originally posted these last year, but they are soooo good, I thought they (and you) deserved a second helping!

Lemon Cocoa Nib Cupcakes w/Caramel

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 12 muffin tins with liners.

zest and juice of 2 lemons, separated (the juice is for the caramel)

stick butter, softened

3/4 c sugar

2 eggs, room temp

1/2 c half and half, room temp

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1/2 c All Purpose Flour

1/2 c cocoa nibs

I actually just threw everything together until just combined. Scary I know. Divide among the lined tins and bake for 15 minutes.

For the Caramel

the juice from the lemons

1 c sugar

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp half and half

Put lemon juice and sugar into pan and cover on medium heat. Caramel goes quickly so you want to watch it. When it looks perfect, leave it on just bit burn so it lightly burns. Pull from stove and then add salt, butter & half and half, give it all a quick swirl.

This is your frosting! I swished it on, let it cool and then added some more. They are so good!

Whole Wheat Star Shaped Biscuits

What is the perfect bread to go with a roast & potatoes? Biscuits!

I decided to pull out my copper star shaped cutters for a cute treat.

The most important thing to remember is not overknead them and to make sure your butter cut is throughly.

2 c whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter (cut into small cubes)

3/4 c 1/2 & 1/2

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp dried thyme

Place flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, cut in butter.

Mix in 1/2 & 1/2 (I use a fork) until you get a cohesive dough. Fling flour on clean counter and knead to make sure it is not to wet or dry.

Preheat overn to 425.F

Roll out (sprinkle more flour if you need to) and cut out with cookie or biscuit cutters. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. You can also brush with egg white before baking or melted butter after, if you like a shiny biscuit.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Epicurious.

Moving Beyond Pastry

I love pastry and being a pastry chef. The opportunities it affords for creativity are actually endless.

Lately I find myself turning to the Dark Side, as it were, reading Julia Child and Amanda Hesser just as I have always read Emily Luchetti and David Lebovitz.

Here's the thing: the more good food you eat, the more you want to. And because you want to eat good food, you need to know about good food. So you have to expand your reading.

*sigh*

Each good meal I have makes me crave the next: the first time we had duck, that perfect burger, the first time I tasted Foie Gras, or a piece of really good chocolate.

I admit that sometimes my cooking skills are sort of stretched to the limit but that just means I have room to grow. Each new book, The United States of Argula, The Primal Feast: Food, Sex, Foraging and Love, or In the Devil's Garden is shaping what comes next for me, what I am really to try, taste, learn and love.

I am excited about what lies ahead: next I will be learning more about canning and I have already been experimening with my own flavored liquors. The world of food is an endless wonder, which I am dying to explore!

I can't wait to do some foraging and gardening, learning more about bees and teaching my family about being sustainable.

Moving beyond pastry doesn't mean I am leaving my roots, just expanding and growing them. Thanks to all the people who love food and write about it. You make the world of food more interesting, worthwhile & fun.

Evolution of a food lover

How does a very fussy eater as a child evolve into a chef and food lover? I know that I cannot be the only picker eater in the world who really loves delicious food. The conversation started like this:

“You know, you are really picky for a chef.”
“Really, cause most of the chef’s I know are picky!”

As a kid I mostly ate fresh fruit and veg to the shock & horror of my mother. As a teen I ate ramen, which by the way, does no good for a teenage girl’s metabolism. Middle teens, cereal. A lot of carrots and cereal.

My friend Lori, is the one introduced me to brie, stuffed mushrooms and decent wine. K taught me how to make the easiest dessert in my repertoire (which caused one of my adopted older brothers to become a dessert convert) and Steve is the reason I tried rabbit and alligator.




As your palate opens, you long to try new things. Now that I have tried them, I cannot imagine never again having really good champagne, truffles or excellent cheese. So essentially, you cannot go forward without leaving a few things behind.

Evolution, in my opinion, is important in food. You can’t just say, ‘oh I love dark chocolate’ with snobbery aimed at anyone who likes white chocolate or milk chocolate. Why? Because each of those types of sweet have something to offer if made well.

And because you like what you like. No, I don’t eat certain brands of chocolate any more, as I find the quality no longer suits my palate. I’m hardly going to make fun of someone who does. So you can call me a picky eater all you want, I’ll wear the title with pride.