Sweets for the Season 2008: Chocolate Pudding

Heather says:
Did you know that pudding doesn’t have to come from a box? No, I’m serious. On the difficulty scale I’d put it slightly above total n00b. That’s novice for those of you who have managed to retain your brains and don’t surf the web all day. I’m teasing, don’t get touchy. 

Ingredients:

 

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 TBSP corn starch
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 2/3 cup milk
• 4 egg yolks, beaten (We’ll get into this, don’t worry)
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

To separate your yolk from the white. Carefully crack your egg in half over a bowl. Keep the yolk in one half and let the white drizzle into the bowl.

Gently pour the yolk into the other half to finish removing the egg white. Then tip the yolk into another container. 

Some people advise using a separator, but it’s one of those tools that is nice, but certainly not a necessity. If you have a separator, simply crack your egg and gently pour the white and yolk into the center, the white will run off and the yolk will be caught nicely in the middle. Some cool kids catch the yolk in their loosely cupped fingers, which is absolutely fine if you are good about washing your hands. If you are saving your egg whites for a meringue, always seperate over a third container just in case the yolk breaks. Even a smidge of yolk will drastically affect the volume of beaten egg whites.

Give your 4 egg yolks a quick stir and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, gently add and whisk together the sugar, corn starch, and cocoa powder. Turn the heat to medium and add the milk.

Stir frequently and cook until the mixture has thickened and is bubbly / frothy. Then keep up the same thing for another two minutes. (Exciting, eh?)

Take your pan off the burner and place it somewhere safe, we’re not done yet. Here is the important part, so pay attention. Ladle about one cup of your chocolatey milk mixture SLOWLY into your egg yolks while giving them a good stir. This is a crucial step, if you skip it, you’ll have chocolate scrambled eggs and if that sounds appetizing to you, I’m not sure we can be friends. 

Once you’ve added your cup of milk to the eggs, dump that mixture into your saucepan, give it a good stir, and return to medium heat until you reach a gentle boil. Boil for two minutes, remove from heat, add your vanilla and butter, then pour into a bowl. Cover the surface with plastic wrap and allow to set.

You can serve this warm or cold.  If you’re a fan of cold pudding chill it for four hours.

Enjoy.

Got the Burnt Brownie Blues

Dear Home Ec 101,

I love making brownies; it makes the house smell so good! I’ve got everything in my cupboard; I’ll try to make them tomorrow.
Got a question for you all, when I make brownies, often the outer edges are done way before the center is; the edges are overcooked and the center is just done. Am I doing something wrong? It happens with cakes in my 9×13 pan, too. Do you experience this, too?

Signed,

Burnice the Baker
Heather says:

Many people prefer the slightly more done texture of brownie edges, hence the popularity of the Edge Brownie pan, but there is a distinct difference between well done and over done. Here a couple of possibilities. Home ovens are not always calibrated correctly, the next time you are out, purchase a thermometer that hangs from your oven rack. Use this thermometer to check your oven’s setting.  

Additionally surface area matters in baking. It’s very important to either use the pan called for in a recipe or to adjust the cook time. The more surface of the batter in contact with the pan and open to the heat of the oven the faster the item will cook. 

Our basic brownie recipe is designed for a 9×13 pan. When checking brownies for doneness the center should be set, but it may appear soft. Use a toothpick and insert it into the very center of the pan. Very moist crumbs are ok, but raw batter is not. When you near the end of the cook time, only return the brownies for two minutes at a time and err on the side of underdone.

Good luck!

New Features for Home Ec 101

Heather says:
I have two announcements. First, by popular demand I have added a new category to our navigation bar. Read It allows the site to be read in a traditional blog format. 

Second, I finally learned enough CSS to create a printer friendly format. Now all of our recipes are printable and won’t waste ink or paper with pictures or sidebar information. 

Enjoy!

Swingset Mama’s DVD Winner

Heather says:

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s giveaway. The winner, by random number generation is:

Congratulations Stacy. The e-mail demanding kindly asking for your shipping address is from me, not some crazy stalker. Well, as long as it starts with Heather. 

Those of you who didn’t win can buy the CD for 15% off via their site.

Enjoy!

Sweets for the Season 2008: Basic Brownies

Heather says:
I know it seems like a stretch, but you really don’t need a box mix to bake brownies. In fact you may already have everything on hand. If you can’t eat a whole batch, why not surprise a neighbor? It’s not like you’ll make an enemy offering chocolate.

 

Ingredients:

 

 

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• OPTIONAL Stir-ins
  2 cups of chocolate chips
  1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts

 

Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 baking pan. Place your butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. While your butter is melting measure the cocoa, salt, and baking powder into your mixing bowl. Give them a quick stir with a fork to ensure the salt and baking powder are evenly distributed.

Crack your eggs into a measuring cup, add your 1 TBSP of vanilla, and also give this a brief stif to break the yolks.

Measure out your 1 1/2 cups of flour, but just hang onto it for now.

 

Has your butter melted yet? Good. Add your 2 1/4 cups white sugar to the butter and stir until well mixed. If you’re nervous about getting the mixture too hot, go ahead and use a thermometer. You are shooting for somewhere between 110°F and 120°F. Whatever you do, do not bring this to a boil. This step is to give the sugar a headstart dissolving, but not to finish the job.

Carefully scrape your butter and sugar into your mixing bowl that has the cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Mix on low until just combined. If you don’t have mixer this one is a cinch to stir by hand as there are no long mixing times. Slowly add your eggs. Estimate about one egg per addition, it does not have to be precise.

Add the flour and stir until just mixed. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once while mixing.

Pour into your greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350°F for 30 - 35 minutes. Use a toothpick to test the center of the pan. If there is batter on the tooth pick, return to the oven for 2 minutes.

Place the pan on a rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing (use a plastic knife to avoid scratching your pan) and allow to cool completely.

Enjoy

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