Schwartzwalderkirschetorte (say that 10 times fast)

We were invited to dine last night at the home of some friends, and, when I asked what we could contribute to the meal, I was told that the cuisine would be German-themed, and to go from there. I hearkened to my German classes from college, and could remember "nicht" so I decided to make a schwartzwalderkirschetorte or, literally, Black Woods Cherry Cake - Black Forest Cake. I don't know much about the history of this cake; only that I remember my mother made it for a brief period of time when I was a child. Opening the refrigerator and seeing this bohemouth shuddering there as it chilled was a close form of torture, because it was usually for a party they were having or going to, so it was hands off for me.

I got out my ingredients, and got to work yesterday morning:


In a heavy saucepan I combined 12 oz of semi-sweet chocolate morsels, 1/2 cup of milk, and 2 tbsp sugar.


Over low heat, melt the chocolate with the milk and sugar, stirring constantly. Once the chocolate has almost all melted, remove from the heat and stir until it has all melted. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1 tsp salt. Set aside.


In a standing mixer or, in a bowl with a hand mixer, combine 1/4 cup butter (not rock hard, but not melted either) and 2/3 cup sugar. Cream together until well mixed. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, until the eggs have been blended into the mixture. Add 1 tsp vanilla, blend.

Take 1/3rd of the flour mixture and combine with the butter & sugar mixture, mix well. Slowly add in 1/3 cup milk, mix well. Add another 1/3rd of the flour mixture, mix; then another 1/3 cup milk, mix. End with the final 1/3rd of the flour mixture (when making a cake, you always want to start with the dry ingredients, add wet ingredients, and end with the dry. In all recipes that I am familiar with, it's best to do the dry in 3rds and the wets in halves).

You may want to stop the mixture periodically and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula, to make sure that all ingredients are combined. When this mixture looks pretty uniform, slowly add in the chocolate and mix well.

Take 2 9" cake pans (round, square, what have you) and butter and flour well. I've read that for chocolate cakes you can use cocoa powder to dust, and I tried that this time:


I found that the cake did not release well from the pans this time, and I think it's the cocoa because this has never happened before. It's an esthetic thing, I think: god forbid you have little bits of flour on the sides and bottom of your cake! For shame! So, I recommend that you stick with the flour - it's tried and true. My opinion.

Divide the batter into the 2 cake pans, and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. The recipe that I have says to bake for 25-30 minutes, but I found that the cakes were almost overdone, so I would say to try it for 20-22 minutes and then check for doneness.

While the cakes are cooling, take 2 cups of whipping cream and mix in a mixer until stiff. Add 1/3 cup sifted confectioners sugar and mix together. You can also add 3 tbsp brandy if that's your bag (I don't care for liquor in things other than cups, so I leave it out).

Once the cakes have cooled, remove from the pan. Take one layer and place on your cake plate.


Slice the layer carefully in half (I have a hard time with this "carefully" business: it's hard to slice them evenly)

and put 1 cup of whipped cream on the divided layer. Take 1/3rd of a can of canned cherry pie filling and spread it over the whipped cream, and try to keep everything about an inch from the edge.


Continue until all layers are completed


Finish off the top of the cake with the rest of the whipped cream. Take a bar of dark chocolate and make curls (with a vegetable peeler), and sprinkle the curls on top of the cake.


If you're not planning on eating this immediately, refrigerate to allow it to set up. You wouldn't want to keep it in the fridge for too long, though, unless you have it covered - and not with plastic wrap, because it will squash the whipped cream.

I hope you enjoy this! It has the potential to be really lovely, and it's an interesting mixture of chocolate, cream, and cherries. Let me know what you think.

The best thing to happen to Cheerios in a while

Cheerios have been around for about eternity and, since I have a small child, they are ubiquitous - in the car seat, in between the couch cushions, on the floor, etc. However, this is a fun little snack that one of my co-workers turned me on to. I will warn you: these are not esthically pleasing to look at. In fact, they are somewhat offensive. But they taste delicious and, I dare say, aside from an apple or another fruit or some carrot sticks, they are not too terribly bad for you either. And the recipe is rather interpretive, so feel free to make these your own.

I call them Those Cheerios Things and here's what they look like (prepare yourself: they are hideous):


Take a quantity of high-quality dark chocolate (rule of thumb here: the higher the cacao content, the better the chocolate for you in terms of anti-oxidents) - I think this time around I used about 8 oz - and melt in a heavy saucepan over very low heat. When you notice it has started to melt, start to stir and keep stirring until it's almost all melted. To facilitate and expedite the melting process, you can chop it up into small pieces. I didn't want to get my cutting board and knife dirty, so I didn't do that this time. When it looks like almost all the chocolate has melted, take it off the heat and keep stirring until it has all melted. Stir a couple more times for good measure.

While the chocolate is still hot, stir in a bunch of Cheerios or other toasted oat cereal (I sure hope General Mills doesn't come after me for not putting a TM or R after that word up there). I think I used about 4 cups. Stir until all the toasted oat cereal has been uniformly coated with the chocolate. You might want to add a little more, depending on how drippy the mixture is. Stir in your choice of other things: I used sliced almonds and dried cranberries this time around. You could use any other kind of dried fruit, or nut, whatever sounds good. I like the dark chocolate combined with the almonds and the cranberries because you're getting all kinds of antioxidents and fiber, along with the toasted oat cereal. G asked me to put some cayenne pepper on some of them, so I did - lightly -, and he seems to be happy. This adds a fabulous heat kick at the finish of the mouthful, it's fantastic. Chocolate and pepper go wonderfully together.

Drop them in rounded, generous tablespoons onto parchment, silpat or waxed paper that is on a cookie pan, and put them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to get firmed up.


These are not only scrumptious, they satisfy all kinds of taste cravings, and they are also filling so you can't eat a ton of them.

Let me know what you think of these recipes.... I welcome your feedback! And G says: "Don't forget a cup of coffee".

My first recipe post - Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So last night I baked up some cookie batter that I had made on Sunday for my book club. You should know that when I bake, I do try and keep the ingredients "natural" - I don't use a lot of food coloring, or any false ingredients such as margarine or bisquick. I use King Arthur All-Purpose flour (when the recipe calls for regular flour... when it needs pastry or cake flour, I use that), which is a white flour that is not bleached. I also use Cabot butter - a local-ish business around here, and real sugar and local eggs when I can get them. Things taste differently, becuase the elements that combine to make the whole are of a high quality. It makes a significant difference. I like to keep the butter cold and sometimes I add a little extra flour - it bulks up the recipe and makes the cookies more chewy and round. They don't flatten out as they bake (and then burn).

So, back to the batter. I made some cookies the other day, and didn't bake everything up, because if it's all made and baked then I will eat them, and I am trying to watch my girlish figure.


The larger lumps that you see here are milk chocolate chunks - I ran out of semi-sweet and, I have to say, I like the cookies a lot better - they have a variable taste: some semi-sweet bits here, some milk chocolate bits there.

I scooped everything out using a great spring-loaded cookie scoop - I think I got it from Pampered Chef, and it's a great tool for cookie or muffin batter, or ice cream.


The pan in that photo is also from Pampered Chef - I've found that it is virtually impossible to burn cookies when I'm using a stoneware pan - the stoneware is heavy as hell, but it heats slowly and consistantly, allowing for a slow and consistant bake on the cookie. I no longer use my metal pans, because they will heat up too fast and burn. The only time I've ever burned cookies on the stoneware is when I forgot to set the timer and left the cookies in the over for about a half hour. What a mess. I can't reccommend these pans enough, though. I have some tart pans that I haven't used quite yet, but perhaps soon. And I have an 8" x 8" bar pan, too, that is wonderful - again, no burning, and consistant baking.

A little more background: I have a 29 year-old Jenn-Air electric stove that I hate. It came with the house, and I am really hoping this summer, when we do our remodeling (new roof & dormer), that I can squeek out a couple more bucks from the bank and get a new gas stove, as well as new countertops. The yellow just really has to go. The stove is ok, I just miss cooking and baking with gas. Also: it tends to overcook things at the back of the oven, and undercook those at the front. I suppose I could just stop being lazy and turn the pans halfway through cooking, but I am a little lazy.

After 12-15 minutes in the oven (the first batch always takes a little longer to cook, due to the pans needing a little bit more time to heat up) at 350 degrees, this is what happens:


These cookies were lovely and delicious, with a perfect mouth texture, melting chocolate, and warmth. They are perfect for any time, for comfort food or an after school (or work) treat. They can be modified, with the chocolate being changed to white chocolate, dark chocolate, what have you. Chopped up candy bars (like a Hershey's with Almonds or a Snickers bar) are also excellent. Nuts, or no nuts. It's whatever you want for them to be.

And here's how to do it yourself:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. If you don't want to clean your pans, line them with silpat or parchement paper.

Take 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 3/4 cup white sugar and combine in a standing mixer or bowl. Using a hand mixer or the paddle attachment of the standing mixer, blend until well combined and creamy.

Add 2 large eggs and 1 tsp vanilla, mix until well blended.

Add 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups flour and 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt (I only add salt if I'm using unsalted/sweet butter) gradually, and mix well.

Add 2 cups of semi-sweet chips, or 1 cup of semi-sweet and 1 cup milk chocolate chips, or whatever you want - just make sure there's 2 cups of it. Also: if you want to add 1 cup roughly chopped nuts, this is the time to do it. Mix well, until all ingredients are well combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto pans. I find that you can fit about 15 cookies per pan - 3 up along the short side and 4 to 5 along the long side.

Bake for 12 minutes (15 if you are using stoneware, or if you like your cookies "well done"). Allow to cool for a few minutes so you don't burn the hell out of your mouth, then remove to a cooling rack, and dig in. These are sublime with the stereotypical glass of milk, if that's your bag. Or just standing at the sink, watching the early snowfall cover your yard.