Tea Infused Butter

I've been talking about it for months...baking with tea. For those of you here in NYC you know that tea is HUGE. I mean, everywhere you turn there are tea baked goods. Small, local shops. Big, more trendy corporate tea houses. Everywhere you turn, a new tea boutique. (well...maybe it's not THAT big. That may just be wishful thinking on my behalf).

So, I've been wondering "How do you make these delicious tea treats?". The decision I came to, and will blog more about, is that infusing butter might just be a good starting place. Extract all the tea-y goodness from the leaves into your butter and then use this. The theory that I'm working under is that in lighter flavored treats (shortbreads, yellow cupcakes, perhaps sugar cookies?, please post suggestions...) will take that tea flavor now in the butter and run with it.

Infusing the butter is a fairly simple process so, here you have it:

Tea Infused Butter
Prep Time: 3 1/2 minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: about 15 minutes plus cooling

Ingredients

• 1 Stick of Butter (8 TBS)**
• 8 - 14 tsp tea (depending on how strong you want it)

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan.
2. Add tea directly to the butter, simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Remove butter/tea concoction from the heat and let steep for an additional 5 minutes, until the butter is tinted by the tea.
4. Pour butter/tea mixture through a sieve, squeezing as much butter from the tea as possible.
5. Let cool to room temperature and use as you normally would in your baked goods!!

**A few Notes:
For a recipe calling for multiple sticks of butter, just multiply the recipe.

There is a certain amount of butter that you will lose as it will stick to the tea leaves. One
cup of this recipe (2 sticks of butter) will actually yield closer to 3/4 cup of butter. Keep
this in mind and make a little more butter than you think you will need!!

Enjoy!

Pledging my undying love for my KitchenAid Mixer & Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake

So far, I'm enjoying my new kitchen! We have a teeny bit more counter space than the old one and are in search of additional counter space for the kitchen. So, what's the first thing that I found a place for in the kitchen? That's right, my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. It is a beautiful piece of machinery. After drooling over these babies for years, my folks finally got me one about a year and a half ago as a gift. And where has she been for the past year and a half? That's right...sitting in the original packaging in my bedroom. Our old apartment was counter-space challenged, and we just couldn't find any place for the old girl. (I'm still in the process of naming her...I'm thinking something French or an old lady name...thoughts?) And tonight I was in the process of making a cake...the perfect instance to give her a spin! She's quite and mixes beautifully & quickly. I think my life may have just changed....

And now, onto the main event:
Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake

I was recently approached by a client to make a traditional chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I'm not normally a cake girl, not that I don't like it...I just never have cause to bake one. Thus I rose to the challenge. This recipe is from one of my absolute favorite cookbooks: The Chocolate Bar (Thanks to Michelle PaoPao for introducing me to it! Sometime I will post about my pilgrimage to THE Chocolate Bar in NYC). Anyway, in the recipe in the book this cake is referred to as a "Stalwart" of a cake. Yup...that's a really accurate description. My client asked for chocolaty and that is just what she is getting!! Without further ado...the recipe:

Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake
courtesy of the Chocolate Bar Cookbook

Yields: 10 Servings (one 8" or 9" 2-layer cake)
Active time: About 25 minutes
Bake time: 35-40 minutes (for 9") or 50 - 55 minutes (for 8")

Ingredients:
Fudge Cake

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened nonalkalized cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• 1/2 cup corn oil
• 1 1/4 cups ice water

Fudge Frosting

• 6 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 TBS vanilla extract

The recipe:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of two 8-inch or two 9-inch round cake pans. Cut parchment to fit in the bottom, then butter the parchment in the bottom of the pan. Dust the pans with flour and tap out the excess.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients together with a whisk.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer (aka my beautiful new KitchenAid...), using the paddle attachment or beaters, beat the melted butter and corn oil on low speed until blended. Beat in the water. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed for about 1 minute, until blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg mixture and mix for about 1 minute, or until blended. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.
• Bake the cakes for 50 to 55 minutes (for 8" cakes) or 35 - 40 minutes (for 9" cakes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks for 15 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the racks and cool completely.

Make the frosting...

• Put the chocolate in the top of a double boiler and melt over barely simmering water. Remove the top of the double boiler and let the chocolate cool.
• Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed for about 1 minute, or until creamy. Add the sifted confectioners' sugar and beat for about 2 minutes, or until well blended and light. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the cooled chocolate.
• Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for about 1 minute, or until glossy & smooth.

Assemble the cake...

• Using a long, serrated knife, slice off the domed top of each cake layer, so that the cakes are flat. Either crumble to decorate the cake, or reserve to enjoy on your own.
• Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Scrape about 1/2 cup of the frosting over the cake, and using a small offset metal spatula, spread it into an even layer. Top the cake with the remaining frosting.
  
• Serve the cake immediately, or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Or...butter + powdered sugar = delicious.

So, Matt's been bugging me to make these for awhile. It's a simple recipe with few ingredients...these tend to be my favorites in terms of recipes. Too many ingredients sometimes muddle the taste. If you have good ingredients, why not showcase them?

It's been probably a good two years since I've made these cookies. I couldn't remember why, I assumed it was just because these cookies are delicate and don't travel well. Much of my baking has to stand-up to the subway test (can I take them into work? Yes = good recipe, No = seldom made recipe). Our apartment isn't fantastic for entertaining, so delicate recipes tend not to be made often. What I realized when making them is I hadn't made them because they require hand shaping. I'm a lazy baker and prefer drop cookies, or cookie cutter cookies. I'm not gonna lie. But...Matt wanted them, so I made them.

Of course...for Matt's sake I was incredibly messy in my baking since he was home. No one has ever (or will ever) accuse me of keeping my workspace clean. However, I managed to drop my container of flour (ie...the top came off when I was taking it from the shelf) and got flour all over the kitchen. Always an adventure...

Anyway, without further ado:

Mexican Wedding Cookies
adapted from Paul Deen
Paula Deen & Friends Cookbook

Prep time: approx 15 mins
Baking time: 45 mins
Total time: about 1 hour + cooling
Makes about 2 1/2 dzn cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
1 cup pecans, chopped into ver small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed, gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatual.

3. With floured hands, take out about 1 TBS of dough and shape it into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place them 1 inch apart from one another on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 45 minutes.

4. Roll in additional confectioners' sugar while still warm. Cook completely on wire racks and store in airtight tins. So...a few adjustments this time around, and we will see how they go.

• I was running low on pecans (a travesty, I know) so I used about 1/2 pecans & 1/2 walnuts. I use these nuts interchangeably a lot anyway. I tend to like pecans more then walnuts and use them to punch up recipes that call for walnuts. The walnuts don't show in the taste, but there is a bit of a walnut-ty after taste. I do prefer the pecans, but think the walnuts aren't a bad way to go.
• I'm generous with my vanilla use.

Enjoy!