penuche with panache

Have you tried this thing called penuche frosting? How is it different from caramel frosting or brown sugar frosting? My quick skim of super-reliable sources (you know, things like Wikipedia and Webster's dictionary) leads me to believe that penuche is a fudge-like candy made of brown sugar, butter, and milk. Candy.


So unless you have a thick layer of fudge atop your cake*, cupcake, cookie, or brownie, I think a more fitting name for a topper made from those ingredients would be caramel, brown sugar, or penuche-like frosting--as far as I can tell, they're basically all the same.

*Actually, loving sugar as I do, the prospect of a thick layer of fudgy candy atop my cake sounds rather appealing. But I digress...

How have I gone 26 years without making caramel frosting? It's delicious, divine, decadent, and delectable. I think I've ignored this masterpiece of a cake-blanket because I've always had a bit of an infatuation with cream cheese frosting and usually opt for it over all others. Well, no more. Now it's a battle between the two as to which one most frequently applies itself directly to my derrière.


Folks, this frosting was so scrumptious that the cake beneath it became superfluous. Truth be told, that's a good thing because it really wasn't anything special. Had I not added some cinnamon chips to the batter, it would've been almost worthless. Right now I'm envisioning the glorious apple dapple cake with a smooth and creamy layer of caramel frosting instead of that simple glaze. Yes...

If you're familiar with caramel frosting or any recipe involving boiled sugar, you know how fickle the process can be. This recipe is no exception--if you don't work quickly after whisking in the powdered sugar, good luck spreading the frosting over your cake. You'll have to just eat it from the pot**. I can definitely see how it would be troublesome taking the time to frost a layer cake. Fortunately, all I had to do was dump and spread, and it worked out just fine.

**Once again, not a bad proposition.


Better than fine, actually--it seems I have a new obsession.

Applesauce Spice Cake with Penuche Caramel Frosting
(based on this recipe)

Cake:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 3/4 cups applesauce
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup cinnamon chips

Frosting:
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9-inch baking dish.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugars and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the applesauce and the egg. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Add to the butter mixture and stir until combined. Add the vanilla, oats, and cinnamon chips. Stir the batter until it is combined well and pour into the prepared dish. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

To make the frosting, heat butter and brown sugar over medium until the mixture comes to a boil about 2 minutes. Add the milk, stir, and bring the mixture back to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Let the mixture cool a bit and whisk in the powdered sugar until thickened and smooth, lightened in color, and beginning to lose its sheen. Pour the frosting onto the cake quickly before it hardens and let it cool and set before cutting.

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beau who?

Like most people, I enjoy getting free stuff. So when I was contacted by Challenge Dairy and invited to participate in an event bringing attention to their wonderful butter, I jumped at the chance. I hadn't heard of the company before since it's based in California, but I'm here to tell you that we East Coasters have been missing out!


For this challenge, a plethora of food bloggers were divided up into groups and assigned a course--appetizer, entrée, side dish, and dessert. As someone who rarely, if ever, gets or eats appetizers, that's naturally the group into which I was placed. What's more, we were sent several spices from Spice Islands to use in the dish we'd be creating, and I received one I know intimately, one I’ve heard of but never used, and one I'd never even seen (Beau Monde? What's that? In addition to being yet another example of my sheltered nature, it's also a mixture of allspice, bay leaf, celery seed, cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, black and white pepper. Just so you know.)! So yes, this was indeed a challenge.

I turned to the potato, a tuber that has never failed me. I thought it'd make an adequate, nay, excellent palette for these unfamiliar herbs and spices, and also for the butter (of course). In hindsight, I realize that the traditional preparation of these pre-meal noshes is to cut them into wedges, but I went the diced route. So the silverware might have to come out early--it's not the end of the world!


To add decadence to deliciousness (and since a fork was required anyway), I drizzled a bit of my truffle oil over the seasoned and roasted taters. 'Twas a fine touch indeed.

And in case you're wondering, Beau Monde seasoning is wonderful--it's just a random and complex blend of some great herbs and spices. Try it out!

Truffled Taters with a Tasty Twist
2 lbs potatoes, scrubbed and diced or wedged
1/4 cup Challenge Dairy butter, melted
2 teaspoons Beau Monde seasoning
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile, more or less to taste
salt and pepper to taste
truffle oil, to finish

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil.
Place the cut potatoes in large bowl. Add melted butter and toss to coat well.
In a little bowl, combine the Beau Monde seasoning, fennel seed, ground chipotle chile, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle this blend over the potatoes and toss to coat evenly. Arrange the seasoned potatoes in a single layer on the prepared pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown. Add more salt and pepper as needed and drizzle with the truffle oil before serving.

If you want to be entered for a chance to win one of five $100 gift cards, all you have to do is write a post about the sweepstakes that Challenge Dairy is running. The winner of this sweepstakes wins a pretty spectacular getaway, which you can read about here.

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a possible impossibility

What you see before you is known as Impossible Pie. It's called that because there's no crust involved--it magically forms its own.


I think it should be thusly named for another reason--it's simply not possible to eat only one serving at a time.

If you like coconut, you'll like this pie. There's no way around that. It's a fact. Set in stone. Done and done. The top is toasted and crunchy, the innards are creamy, and the nifty crust is chewy. It's a cinch to prepare. Did I mention that you don't have to fiddle with a crust? I actually don't mind playing with pastry, but I have to admit that it's nice to skip it every once in awhile.


I'm not sure where this recipe originated, but it's one that the great Mambino has made often and fortunately, she's trained me to make it too. It's usually formed into one regular-sized pie, but in this instance, little baby tarts seemed the ideal way to go. You'd think they'd make nice, individualized portions, but as I mentioned, it's IMPOSSIBLE to stop with just one serving. If you can resist, you're a stronger person than I.

Impossible Pie
(from Mamster)

3 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups flaked or shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch pie plate or a muffin tin with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and add in the cooled, melted butter. Blend in the flour and sugar, then add the milk, coconut, vanilla, and salt and beat until thoroughly mixed. Pour into the prepared dish.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until the coconut becomes golden brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Be sure to cover and refrigerate any remaining pie. Yeah, right. Like there'd be any left.

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it's all grandma's fault

The first time I can remember eating an Andes mint was at Christmas around 10 or 15 years ago. My grandma had gotten boxes of them for each of us, and I quickly ate my entire box and never looked back.


The box o' Andes became something of a holiday tradition for Grandma and she made them available every year. Sometimes they were special flavors (I fondly recall a toffee crunch version), but they were usually the classic mint. My love for them has never wavered.

What's your point, Grace? Get on with it already! I'll bet you've seen and probably used the creme de menthe baking chips, but did you know there was a batch of peppermint crunch baking chips as well? I had no idea until I found them in our cabinet at home--hooray for happy surprises, right? They were absolutely made for cookies, so cookies were made.


Baked correctly, the end result is a cookie that's crispy along the outer rim but chewy toward the middle--I attribute this amazing phenomenon to the brown-to-white sugar ratio. Incidentally, in my cabinets, both are (and always have been and probably always will be) the Domino Sugar brand. I must pause to thank Domino for sending me a gift card to use toward the purchase of their terrific products and also direct you to their website, where you'll find lots of great gift and recipe ideas for the holidays. Expect to see more to come in the near future.

The mint baking chips provide a smooth but subtle mint flavor (and a lovely smattering of pink) and the chocolate chips are plentiful enough to satisfy even the most ardent chocolate-lover. There's nothing cakelike about these discs, so don't expect it.


Best of all? I can get my Andes fix without raiding Grandma's stash.

Peppermint Crunch Chunkies
(based on this recipe)(these'd perfect for a cookie swap, no?)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup Domino® dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup Domino® granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup Andes® Peppermint Crunch baking chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300° F.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add in the baking soda, salt, and then flour; mix completely. Stir in the oats, Andes® Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips, and chocolate chips.
Scoop out round balls about 2 tablespoons in size for large cookies or 1 tablespoon for small cookies. Place on cookie sheets two inches apart.
Bake for 20 minutes for large cookies or 12-15 minutes for small cookies, taking care not to over-bake.

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on a cake kick

Sometimes I become obsessed with certain foods. Prime example--my mission to find the best chicken wrap in all of the Capital Region.


Usually, though, the fixation is of the sweet and sugary variety. That's the case with my latest infatuation--apple cake.

In addition to my beloved apple dapple cake, I’ve recently tried two other recipes with delightful and drool-worthy results. After taking a one-tenth-of-a-second glimpse of Kate’s caramel apple cake, I decided to test it out too.

The recipe doesn’t differ much from my apple dapple cake. In fact, the only divergence is that a combination of white and brown sugar is used in both the cake and the glaze. Being a self-proclaimed apple cake connoisseur, I decided to make a few adjustments of my own. I used applesauce in lieu of most of the oil and also added a bit of whole wheat flour in place of some of the all-purpose flour. Now before you get all worked up about me trying to make this more healthy, I guess I should mention another change I made--I doubled the glaze. It’s been well-documented that I have a mean sweet tooth and I make no excuses. I doubled the glaze, dang it, and it was good.


I did one other thing about which I'm quite excited--I tossed some marshmallows into the batter. While they completely disappeared into the baked cake, a subtle hint of their flavor (a taste that I find particularly enjoyable) still remained. It's my belief that they dissolved into the cake and migrated upwards, forming a little bit of a crust on top. Yes, I'll be pulling this trick again.

Future apple cakes to try? Lisa's apple and cream cheese cake, Sandie's toffee apple upside-down cake, and Melanie's apple cider pudding cake.

Another Amazing Apple Cake
(based heavily on this recipe)

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Honeycrisp apples, diced
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup mini marshmallows

Caramel Glaze:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour a 13x9 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, beat both sugars, oil, and applesauce until well-blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add the sugar mixture until just blended. Fold in the apples and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan whilst making the glaze.
To make the glaze, melt the butter in saucepan over low heat. Stir in both sugars and salt and cook over medium low heat for 2 minutes. Add the milk and boil for 5 more minutes, stirring constantly. Poke holes in the cake with a fork or skewer. Pour on the glaze and let set.

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you look awfully familiar...

Certain dishes are worthy of making and eating again and again, and they certainly shouldn't be reserved only for special occasions.


Squash casserole (or its first cousin, sweet potato casserole) is one of those dishes.
Yes, I made it last Thanksgiving. Yes, I made it several other times throughout the year. Each time it morphed a little bit more, and I must say, it's come a long way. For our shindig at work this Thanksgiving, I made a denser version and enhanced the streusel topping enhanced with coconut and pecans.


The very best part. No debate. The end.

Acorn squash was what I had on hand for this, and since it's a good bit more watery than butternut, I added some breadcrumbs into the mix. Heaven forbid I end up with a soupy casserole, am I right? I mean, what if it ruined the topping? We certainly can't have that.

Have a filling and fulfilling Thanksgiving, ya'll!

Tweaked-Over-Time Streuseled Squash Casserole
4 cups acorn squash, peeled, cooked, deseeded, destringed, and mashed
2 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup breadcrumbs

Topping:
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all the casserole ingredients, beating well. Pour into a lightly greased 2-quart casserole dish.
Combine the dry topping ingredients. Cut in the butter with two knives or a pastry cutter until the mixture becomes crumbly. Sprinkle on top of the squash and bake for 1 hour or until the topping is browned and the center is set.

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cherry, cherry, quite contrary

All right, I lied. There was a winner of the clash of the cobblers from a while back, but not because of flavor alone. No, I made one of the recipes again (thereby deeming it the winner*) solely because it was easier to throw together. Is that so wrong?


Slothdom is a frame of mind that I know all too well, but hey--sloths have to eat too!


Tart cherries, soft cake, rich ice cream. The cherries are a pain to pit, but what a reward for that labor! Yeah, it goes down real nice.

*And what a coincidence that it happens to be the recipe from the Pioneer Woman herself, Ree Drummond, who's all over the blog world and America itself these days, on the book tour of my dreams. She seems like such a good egg.

Here are some fun questions I ask of you. Am I the only one who...

...would rather try to carry ten grocery bags in each hand than make two trips?
...keeps some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call?
...sometimes looks at the clock three consecutive times and still doesn’t know what time it is?
...has no idea how to fold a fitted sheet?
...wonders what would happen if Pinocchio said his nose was about to grow?
...feels a need for a sarcasm font?
...loves the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front?
...finds cursive completely useless?
...wonders how many times it’s appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what was said?
...hates leaving my house feeling confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day?

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