Petit Pains au Chocolate

Posted by: Annie

I can't pronounce the name of this dessert. I could awkwardly say "petit pains au chocolate" when I started baking these delicious pastries. But then, I acted like an impatient child and I bit one of these delicious bundles of chocolate in half as soon as it came out of a 400 degree oven, and proceeded to burn every taste bud off my tongue.

So now, I can't really taste anything, let alone say fancy French names. Don't worry though, I will not let my burnt taste buds get in the way of me eating approximately four more pains au chocolate before dinner!

What you will need:

Two sheets puff pastry (1 17.3 ounce package), thawed, and each sheet cut into 12 squares
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water
4 3.5 ounce semisweet chocolate or milk chocolate bars cut into 6, 2 x 3/4 inch pieces
Granulated sugar
Powdered sugar

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Brush each puff pastry square with egg wash. Place a chocolate in a corner, and roll up dough, covering the chocolate. Pinch edges together to seal the chocolate inside. Repeat with the remaining dough and chocolate. Place the prepared pastries on the baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on a wire baking rack. Dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving.

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Source: Epicurious

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for Two

Posted by: Maggie

Hey guys...we started a Facebook page! It would make our day if you'd go over there and "like" us! Please and thank you :) 

Moving along...

Remember back in August when I made Jessica's brilliant Vanilla Cupcakes for Two?

They were awesome, and I've showed a remarkable amount of restraint with this recipe. I thought that knowing how to make two delicious cupcakes would lead to doing so every day, but fortunately for my bottom I was incorrect.

However...I've had it in the back of my mind since first making the recipe that I wanted to try my hand at turning it into some different flavors. Well, Jeff was tired of listening to me whine about pumpkin shortages, and brought me a can. I immediately decided to come up with a pumpkin version of cupcakes for two, and 3 batches later I have a winner!

The first batch was awful, the second batch was mediocre, and the third batch was like a party in my mouth. This cupcake is moist and tender, with a light pumpkin flavor and a lot of fall spices. Top it with cinnamon buttercream, and shove it in your face hole. You will thank me.

Here's what you'll need:

For the cupcakes:

1 egg white
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1/2 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line your muffin tin with two liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg white and sugar until thoroughly combined. Whisk in oil, vanilla, and pumpkin until fully incorporated. In a small bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until just combined. Lastly, stir in milk. The batter will be very liquidy.

Divide the batter between two liners filling slightly more than 3/4 full. You will have a small amount of batter left that you can eat with a spoon, or just throw away, depending on how afraid of salmonella you are. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cake is set and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool completely before frosting.

For the cinnamon buttercream frosting:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted after measuring
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Beat together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in cinnamon until throughly incorporated into frosting. Makes enough to generously frost two cupcakes.

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Cupcakes heavily adapted from How Sweet Eats, and frosting is by me!

Seasoned Sweet Potato Chips

Posted by: Annie

I have Yam versus Sweet Potato confusion. 

Growing up, I was a very difficult child and hated baked potatoes. As a result, my mom would always make me what I thought was a baked yam. They were orange in color, sweet tasting, and in my opinion far surpassed the baked potatoes that everyone else was eating.

This week, I bought potatoes that were labeled yams and had the following text exchange with Maggie:

...and then I was very concerned. Was I making yam chips? Sweet potato chips? I then went to the most excellent source of information ever - Google. I read this and now believe that I possibly bought sweet potatoes that were mislabeled as yams. Nevertheless, these chips are awesome, and fallish, and make me very excited for the crisp fall weather that has begun.

What you will need:

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean and sliced into 1/8" slices
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add sweet potato slices and oil to a re-sealable bag or large tupperware and shake to coat. In a small dish, combine the seasonings and add to the sweet potatoes. Shake again to evenly coat. Lay potato slices on a foil-lined baking sheet, and bake 12-14 minutes (around 12 minutes mine were getting dark, so keep an eye on the potatoes while cooking!)

Remove the potatoes from the oven and flip. Cook for an additional 10 minutes until crisp. Place potatoes on a wire cooling rack to cool (they crisp up more while cooling.)

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Source: Simple Comfort Food