Sunday, May 15, 2011

Maria's Killer Kahlua Cookies

Maria my Argentinian classmate shares my passion for cooking and baking. Thus in one of our class that we took together and worked on a project together all we did was shared notes and recipes. Maria baked these cookies for one of our team meeting and we chomped them down like kids. Thus I had to absolutely steal the recipe from her and make them. I had to skip the Kahlua part as I was baking these for my tiny friends. But I did make a separate batch with Kahlua as well and oh boy these cookies are good. They have the right level of sweetness and the taste of cinnamon and Kahlua is so subtle but yet so amazing. Thanks to Maria for sharing this with me and now I get to share it with my friends.


Ingredients:


2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon espresso powder
1 Tablespoon Kahlua
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed firmly
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted & then cooled a bit
1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

3. In a small dish, dissolve espresso powder in Kahlua; set aside.

4. In a large bowl, use electric mixer to cream butter and sugars together. Add Kahlua mixture, eggs and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined. Add cooled, melted chocolate and continue to beat until it’s mixed in. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until all flour is incorporated into the dough, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) 2-inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden brown and no longer look gooey in the middles. Cool completely on wire rack.



Tiramisu Cake

This is my version of the original Tiramisu. I love this particular Italian desert and this was infact my very first attempt at baking something other than a basic cake. I made this for my husban'd birthday in 2008 but unfortunately lost all the pictures courtesy a hard drive crash. Thus this recipe never made it to my blog when I started writing.

I like to present my deserts nicely and thus making the tiramisu in a cake format gives it a neat look. The recipe is definitely not that of an original tiramisu but when you taste it you don't feel that way. However for tiramisu lovers I'll post the original recipe as well sometime soon. Another reason why I love making it this way is because most of the time I find it difficult to find the lady finger cookies. Thus trying to avoid the cookie hunt I stick to this version.

As most of you might have realized by now that I do keep looking for methods to ease out my work and take shortcuts. When not necessary to follow a strict route I seldom take shortcuts like using pre packaged cake mix. I'll do the same in this recipe too.




Ingredients

Cake:

1 pack package moist white cake mix
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee powder
3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon coffee (diluted in hot water)
2-1/2 teaspoons coffee flavored liqueur (I use either Kahlua or original Baileys. Both taste equally good thus I am not too particular and use whatever I have at home of the two)

Filling:

1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese (I buy it from Trader Joes)
1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar or grind sugar at home till it turns into a fine powder
1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons coffee flavored liqueur

Frosting:

1-2/3 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar or grind sugar at home till it turns into a fine powder

1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons coffee flavored liqueur

Garnish:

1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Semisweet chocolate bar or squares

Directions


1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 or 2 (9 inch) pans. I mostly use 2 or at times I even use the just pan and bake the whole cake together and then layer them
2.Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Divide two thirds of batter between 2 pans. Stir instant coffee into remaining batter; pour into remaining pan. (Follow this direction only when you are using 3 pans. Otherwise put the two thirds white mix in one pan and mix coffee in the rest of the batter and put that in one pan)
3.Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a clean tray and cool completely. In a measuring cup, combine brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur; set aside.
4.To make the filling: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer set on low speed, combine mascarpone, confectioners' sugar and coffee liqueur; beat just until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
5.To make the frosting: In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the cream, confectioners' sugar and coffee liqueur until stiff. Fold 1/2 cup of cream mixture into filling mixture.
6.To assemble the cake: Place one plain cake layer on a serving plate. Using a thin skewer, poke holes in cake, about 1 inch apart. Pour one third of reserved coffee mixture over cake, then spread with half of the filling mixture. (My husband loves doing this part so mostly he is assigned to put the liquor on the cake and he makes sure he adds a lot of it thus the cake turns out to be very very moist. If you do not have toddlers eating this cake then you can be generous in this section).Top with coffee-flavored cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour another third of the coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour remaining coffee mixture on top. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting. Place cocoa in a sieve and lightly dust top of cake. Make chocolate curls by holding the chocolate bar in hand and using a vegetable peeler. Run the ppeler through one side of the chocolate to make the curls. Garnish with chocolate curls. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.