white chocolate | Baked in Birmingham

Plethora of Good Ingredients = Out of this world CCCs.

March 17, 2008 at 1:10 am | Posted in cooooookies, {the atomic cakery} | 1 Comment
Tags: butterscotch, chocolate, chocolate chips, cookies, Hot Rod, white chocolate

Do you ever just get the urge to bake cookies? Yes, all of us home-bakers love to be daring and try new things, but sometimes it’s fun to bring it back old school and bake some good ol’ Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Here’s a cookie recipe that I’m proud to say I developed! Zack and I had a couple to eat while we watched Hod Rod one night, but I sent the rest to work with him the next day and I understand they didn’t last too long! The base is just a classic Chocolate Chip recipe, but what makes these so out of this world is using Maple and Brown Sugar instant oats instead of regular, and mixing three chips together: Chocolate, White Chocolate, and Butterscotch. Experiment with it and use your favorite chips and oatmeal flavors.

Malinda Kay’s CCCs:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup Maple and Brown Sugar instant oatmeal
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda soda, and oats. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl on medium speed, beat sugars and butter until well blended. Add vanilla and egg and beat until blended. Turn your mixture to low, and a little at a time, mix in your flour mixture. Don’t overbeat (that’s what she said). Stir in your chosen combo of baking chips. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, drop rounded dough a couple inches apart onto baking sheets lined with a silpat or covered in non-stick spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until the edges are a little brown. Allow to cool (but not too much!), serve with milk, and watch Hot Rod.

The batter might be the best part.

Zack LOVED them; too bad these don’t really comply with the South Beach Diet.

I’m dreaming of a White…chocolate cupcake.

March 17, 2008 at 12:58 am | Posted in Cupcakes are my true love, White Chocolicious | Leave a comment
Tags: emeril, white chocolate

I LOVE white chocolate. I love it the way Southerners love college football. I could drown in a vat of white chocolate and die happy. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You get the point.

Our friends Eric & Tris Chapman had me and Zack and our other friends Brandie and Shane Etheridge to their house to watch the Assasination of Jesse James last month (Casey Affleck is amazing. The rest of the movie just wasn’t my thing). I baked some chocolate chip cupcakes with white chocolate chips and filled with white chocolate ganache – you actually carve out a little plug and pipe in the ganache! Cute! It’s a recipe I got a long time ago by Emeril Lagasse. My dear friend Ruth Tinsley decribed them as a “party behind her face” and even wrote a poem about them. As you can see, I had a little trouble with my cocoa powder on top. I honestly don’t think anyone else liked them quite as much (yes, Tris, I saw you throw away half of yours), but I reckon you really have to be a white chocolate fanatic to truly appreciate them, so I don’t begrudge.

Emeril Lagasse’s White Chocolate Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder (for chocolate cupcakes)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, cracked into a small cup or saucer
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
White Chocolate Filling, recipe follows
16 maraschino cherries, garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter 1 (12-cup) muffin tin. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the remaining ingredients, adding the hot water last. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the greased muffin tin wells. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Cool to room temperature in the tins. Run a thin, sharp knife around the sides of the muffin cups to loosen the cupcakes, and carefully lift out. Place the cupcakes on a work surface.

Transfer the white chocolate filling to a pastry bag fitted with a small tip. With a small paring knife, cut a small plug from the top of each cupcake, reserving the plug, and scoop out a hole in the center of each cupcake to hold the filling. Place the tip in the cupcake and pipe in the filling to fill the hole. Replace the plug and place the cupcake upright. Pipe a small amount of filling on top to hide the plug and top with a cherry.

Arrange the cupcakes on a platter and serve.

White Chocolate Filling:
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup milk
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract In the top of a double boiler, combine the white chocolate and milk. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the chocolate is melted. Let cool to room temperature. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, and vanilla. Gradually add the cooled chocolate and beat until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours before filling cupcakes. Use to fill the chocolate cupcakes as directed.