Ingredients

• 1 c. granulated sugar, divided
• 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 c. low-fat milk
• 2 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat eight 4- to 6-ounce (1/2- to 3/4-cup) ovenproof ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray; place in a large deep roasting pan or baking dish. Put a kettle of water on to boil for the water bath.

Whisk 3/4 cup granulated sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Add milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, and egg yolks. Whisk until smooth.

Beat egg whites in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (see Tip). Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. Fold the egg whites into the batter (it will be thinner than other cake batter and it’s okay if it’s a little lumpy).

Evenly divide among the prepared ramekins placed in the roasting pan.

Place the roasting pan in the oven and carefully pour in enough boiling water to come almost halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake the pudding cakes until golden brown and the cakes have pulled away slightly from the sides of the ramekins, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the ramekins to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.

EatingWell.com, via Delish

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1 c. light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 2/3 c. Abita Amber (dunkel lager)
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. corn syrup
• 1 tbsp. vanilla
• 3 tbsp. Abita Amber

Preparation

Heat the oven to 350 and line an 8x8" pan with aluminum foil. Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and add the beer. Stir until combined. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup and bring to a simmer, stirring to prevent from burning. Allow to simmer and keep stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add vanilla and beer. Be careful, it will try to bubble up. Stir the icing for another minute and carefully pour it over the blondies. Cool completely and cut into squares.

225 Magazine

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. grated orange peel
• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 15 oz. can pumpkin
• 1 c. fresh, chopped cranberries
• 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each one. Add vanilla, pumpkin, and dry mixture about 1/2 c. at a time, alternating between pumpkin and dry mix until all is added. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Divide batter between two 8x4 1/2" greased and floured loaf pans and bake for 55-65 minutes.

Penzey’s Spices

Ingredients

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 standard ice cube (about 2 tablespoons frozen water)
• 10 ounces (about 2 cups)
• all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
• 5 ounces (about 3/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 ounces (about 1/2 tightly packed cup plus 2 tablespoons) dark brown sugar
• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped with a knife into 1/2- to 1/4-inch chunks
• Coarse sea salt for ganish

Preparation

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, gently swirling pan constantly, until particles begin to turn golden brown and butter smells nutty, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and continue swirling the pan until the butter is a rich brown, about 15 seconds longer. Transfer to a medium bowl, whisk in ice cube, transfer to refrigerator, and allow to cool completely, about 20 minutes, whisking occasionally. (Alternatively, whisk over an ice bath to hasten process).

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Place granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium high speed until mixture is pale brownish-yellow and falls off the whisk in thick ribbons when lifted, about 5 minutes.

Fit paddle attachment onto mixer. When brown butter mixture has cooled (it should be just starting to turn opaque again and firm around the edges), Add brown sugar and cooled brown butter to egg mixture in stand mixer. Mix on medium speed to combine, about 15 seconds. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until just barely combined but some dry flour still remains, about 15 seconds. Add chocolate and mix on low until dough comes together, about 15 seconds longer. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate dough at least overnight and up to three days.

When ready to bake, adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions and preheat oven to 325°F. Using a 1-ounce ice cream scoop or a spoon, place scoops of cookie dough onto a non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheet. Each ball should measure approximately 3 tablespoons in volume and you should be able to fit 6 to 8 balls on each sheet. Transfer to oven and bake until golden brown around edges but still soft, 13 to 16 minutes, rotating pans back to front and top and bottom half way through baking.

Remove baking sheets from oven. While cookies are still hot, sprinkle very lightly with coarse salt and gently press it down to embed. Let cool for 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 for remaining cookie dough. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container, plastic bag, or cookie jar at room temperature for up to 5 days.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Serious Eats

Ingredients

For crust:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

For filling:

• 1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 3 ounces bittersweet (at least 60% cacao) chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted roasted cashews

For serving:

• 2 (8-ounce) containers crème fraîche

Preparation

Make crust: In food processor, pulse flour and salt until combined. Add butter and pulse just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and pulse or gently stir with fork until incorporated.

Squeeze small handful of dough: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water 1/2 tablespoon at a time, pulsing or stirring until incorporated. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface, gather into ball, and flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour. (Dough can be made ahead and frozen up to 1 week. Defrost in refrigerator before proceeding.)

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 12-inch round, then transfer to pie pan. Trim edge, leaving 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under and crimp edge decoratively. Prick bottom and side of shell all over with fork, then chill shell 30 minutes. (Shell can be assembled to this point ahead: Wrap entire pan well in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 2 days, or freeze up to 1 week. Defrost in refrigerator before continuing.)

While shell chills, preheat oven to 425°F.

Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans, then bake until pastry is set and pale golden on rim, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake shell until pale golden all over, 5 to 7 minutes more. Cool on rack.

Make filling and bake pie: In medium saucepan over moderately high heat, simmer maple syrup, uncovered, until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Carefully whisk in butter (mixture may splatter), then sugar and salt. Remove from heat and let cool to warm room temperature.

In medium bowl, whisk together eggs and brandy. Whisk egg mixture into cooled maple syrup mixture.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread chopped chocolate in even layer over bottom of prepared crust. Sprinkle nuts in second even layer, then pour filling over nuts. Bake until filling is puffed and center is just set, 45 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. (Pie can be made up to 1 day ahead. Let cool, then cover loosely and store at room temperature.)

To serve: Using electric mixer, beat crème fraîche until it holds soft peaks. Serve with pie.

Epicurious, November 2007

Ingredients

• 2 cups/480 ml heavy (whipping) / double cream
• 1 cup/240 ml whole milk
• Grated zest from two oranges
• 12 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup/100 g sugar, plus 6 tbsp/75 g
• Sprigs of fresh mint or chocolate mint, for garnish

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C/gas 2.

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk, and orange zest and heat until steam begins to rise. Do not let boil. Remove from the heat and nestle the pot in an ice bath. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until the cream mixture cools to room temperature, 5 to 10 minutes.

While the cream mixture is cooling, in a large bowl, combine the egg yolks and the 1/2 cup/100 g sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved and thoroughly blended with the yolks. Gently whisk in the cream mixture.

Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a large glass measuring pitcher or bowl with a pouring lip to strain out any solids. Divide the custard evenly among six 4-oz/120-ml ramekins. Place in a roasting pan/tray and add water to come 1 in/2.5 cm up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the custards are firm, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the water bath to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

To serve, remove the plastic wrap/cling film and gently lay a paper towel/absorbent paper on top of each custard. Gently press down on the towel to remove any moisture buildup, being careful not to dent the custard. Sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar evenly over each custard. Using a blowtorch, pass the flame above the sugar until it melts and turns golden brown. (Alternatively, preheat the broiler/grill and slip the custards under the broiler 4 to 6 in/10 to 15 cm from the heat source to melt the sugar; leave the oven door open slightly and watch closely, as the sugar can scorch suddenly.) Let the crème brûlée stand at room temperature until the sugar hardens, 1 to 2 minutes.

Epicurious, October 2010

Ingredients

For shortbread crust:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

For chocolate dulce de leche:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup dulce de leche
• 4 large egg yolks
• 5 ounces 60%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (preferably in a food processor)

Preparation

Make shortbread crust: Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Butter a shallow 9- to 9 1/2-inch square baking pan (1 to 1 1/2 inches deep). Line bottom and 2 sides with parchment paper, leaving an overhang. Butter parchment.

Blend together butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl with a fork. Sift in flour and blend with fork until a soft dough forms.

Spread dough evenly in baking pan using an offset spatula or back of a spoon, then prick all over with fork.

Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, then cool completely in pan on a rack, about 30 minutes.

Make chocolate dulce de leche: Bring cream and dulce de leche to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan, stirring with a wooden spoon until dulce de leche has dissolved.

Whisk together yolks in a bowl, then slowly whisk in hot cream mixture. Return to pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until pan is visible in tracks of spoon and mixture registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate until melted.

Make bars: Pour chocolate mixture over cooled shortbread and chill, uncovered, until cold and set, about 2 hours.

Run a small knife around edges to loosen, then transfer to a cutting board using parchment. Cut with a hot clean knife (dip in hot water and wipe clean between cuts) into 24 bars. Chill until ready to serve.

Gourmet, July 2008

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• Interior scrapings of 1/2 split vanilla bean, preferably Tahitian
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

For Classic Shortbread:

• 1 cup granulated, raw, or turbinado sugar

For Five-Spice Shortbread:

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground star anise
• 1/4 cup turbinado or other granulated sugar

For Double Chocolate-Ginger Shortbread

• 1/4 cup turbinado or other granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup extra-brut cocoa or regular unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup minced candied ginger
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, or bittersweet chocolate chopped into small chunks

For Caramel Macadamia Nut Shortbread

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 pound macadamia pieces, or whole nuts, roughly chopped

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325°F. In the bowl of a mixer, combine butter, sugar and salt and cream on medium speed until blended, about 2 minutes. One by one, add the egg yolks, mixing until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and the scrapings of the vanilla bean. Scrape down the bowl.

Turn the mixer off and add the flour. Turn the machine to low and mix until the flour is completely incorporated. Remove the dough from the bowl. Working on parchment or wax paper, form dough into 4 logs 10 inches long and 1 1/4 inches in diameter; wrap and chill.

For the Classic, Five-Spice, or Double Chocolate-Ginger Cookies: In a small bowl, combine the ingredients listed.

Cut the chilled log into twenty 1/2-inch rounds. Dip one cut surface of each round into the mixture and arrange the rounds 2 inches apart on all sides on a parchment-lined or nonstick cookie sheet or sheets.

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the cookies with a spatula and cool on a wire rack.

For the Caramel Macadamia Cookies: Grease a baking sheet, preferably rimmed.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and 1/2 cup of water. Heat over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer, about 3 minutes. Cover the pan and continue to simmer, allowing steam from cooking mixture to wash down the sides of the pan. Remove cover and continue to simmer until the mixture turns golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Immediately remove from the stove, and, to avoid mixture bubbling over, carefully pour cream in a slow, steady stream into the pan; do not stir. Return the pot to the stove, reduce heat to low, and, using a wooden spoon, gently stir mixture until cream is completely incorporated.

Transfer the caramel to a medium heat-proof bowl, add the nuts, and stir to coat the nuts evenly. Transfer the mixture to a baking sheet, spreading it evenly, and bake until dark brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool the brittle to room temperature and chop mixture coarsely using a food processor, a cleaver or by hand.

Cut the log into twenty 1/2-inch rounds, press one cut side of each round into the brittle, and arrange the rounds 2 inches apart on all sides on a parchment-lined or nonstick cookie sheet or sheets.

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the cookies with a spatula and cool on a wire rack.

Ming Tsai, via Epicurious

Ingredients

• 3 oz (1 c.) coffee beans, preferably dark roast
• 2 tbsp. cardamom pods
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2 c. (approx) heavy cream
• 1 c. whole milk
• 7 large egg yolks

Preparation

Put the coffee beans and cardamom pods in a food processor or coffee grinder and pulse to roughly chop (not grind) them. Turn the chopped beans and pods into a medium saucepan and add 1/2 c. of the sugar. Put the pan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sugar starts to melt. Once the sugar has melted, continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar caramelizes (to deep amber, almost mahogany). Now, standing back, slowly pour in 1 c. of the cream and the milk. The caramel will immediately seize and harden, but it will smooth out as the liquids warm again. Bring to a boil, and pull the pan from the heat once everything is smooth. Cover the pan and allow it to infuse for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

In a large bowl, whisk the yolks and the 1/4 c. remaining sugar until the mixture is pale and thick. Strain the coffee-cardamom liquid into a measuring cup (discard the beans and pods) and add enough cream to bring the liquid to 2 cups. Gently (without creating air bubbles) mix the liquid into the egg mixture; skim off the foam, if there is any.

Arrange 6 4-oz espresso cups or ramekins in a roasting pan, leaving space between them, and fill them with the custard mixture. Put the pan in the oven, then fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides. Cover the pan with foil and poke two holes in opposite corners. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the edges slightly darken and the custards are set but still jiggle in the middle.

Remove the pan and let the custards sit for 10 minutes. Remove cups from the pan and cool in the refrigerator. Let them warm for 20 minutes to room temperature before serving.

Daniel Boulud, Cafe Boulud Cookbook

Ingredients

• 7 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Unsweetened cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch square by 2-inch deep baking pan; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine chocolate, butter, and the water; cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar to chocolate mixture; beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed until combined. Add eggs and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, and cinnamon. Beat on low speed until combined. Spread batter in prepared pan.

3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar. Makes 20 to 25 brownies.

Better Homes & Gardens