I’d been burned before.  Last summer I found an old recipe for Brazilian coconut candies called  brasileiras.  I put all the ingredients together as directed – egg yolks, freshly shredded coconut, sugar – but they wanted nothing to do with each other.  I Googled “brasilerias” to find my mistake but the results were (not surprisingly) unhelpful.  A few weeks later, I attempted beijinhos de coco or “coconut kisses”. Similar to the brasileiras, they’re a combination of condensed milk, butter, and grated coconut that are rolled into balls and decorated with a single clove.  This version called for a final dip in chocolate and almonds.  I should have known when I wasn’t able to form the coconut into balls, mounds or anything like it that I’d made a mistake somewhere.  I kept going anyway, making an expensive chocolate almond mess.  I pretended they were edible, but after a day or two, I stopped kidding myself and threw the rest away.  I hadn’t looked a coconut in the eyes since.

That’s where I was yesterday when I read Julia Moskin’s New York Time’s article, “Milk in a Can Goes Glam“, that included this recipe for coconut brigadeiros by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz.  I needed something to bring to a friend’s house and these would be perfect (if it worked).  As Leticia explains:

“Brigadeiros are like the cupcakes of Brazil,” Ms. Moreinos Schwartz said. “They are at every birthday party.” (They are named for a once-popular politician, Brigadier Eduardo Gomes, who ran for president in 1945 under the slogan “Vote no brigadeiro, que é bonito e é solteiro” — “Vote for the brigadier, who’s good-looking and single.”)

Traditionally, brigadeiros have added cocoa powder and the fudge is then rolled in chocolate sprinkles.  The coconut version is similar to beijinhos, but I didn’t mind switching the chocolate to coconut as long as they had a new name (with a flirty origin) to make a fresh start.

Brigadeiros de Côco/Coconut Brigadeiros
Barely adapted from Leticia Moreinos Schwartz, The Brazilian Kitchen.  The recipe is straightforward, but I made sure I had a spare can of condensed milk in case I need to start over.  It called for corn syrup, which I usually avoid, but wasn’t taking any chances.  When my first batch produced the blob as promised, I decided to use my spare ingredients to switch out the corn syrup for honey.  Darker and sweeter, I decided to roll them in toasted coconut.

1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons light corn syrup or mild honey
1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut (see note).

In a medium-size heavy saucepan, combine condensed milk, coconut milk, butter, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup shredded coconut. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and whisk constantly until fudgy and whisk leaves trails in the mixture, 8 to 10 minutes. When mixture is ready, it will pull together into one soft piece, leaving browned residue on bottom of pan.

Slide mixture into a bowl. (Don’t scrape the pan; leave any residue behind.) Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until very firm, 3-4 hours.

Place remaining 1 cup of coconut in a wide bowl.  Scoop out a teaspoon of batter and roll into a ball.  Drop into the coconut as you finish rolling it.  Roll 4 to 6 brigadeiros at a time through coconut, covering surface completely. Lift out and shake off the excess.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or refrigerate for up to 1 month. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: About 30 brigadeiros.

Note: If you’d like to toast coconut for rolling.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread remaining coconut on a baking sheet checking often and stirring regularly, about 4-5 minutes.

I’ve become deeply suspicious of Cuban cookies.  It’s not really the cookie’s fault.  They’re just not what we do.  Growing up, home baked cookies weren’t foreign but they did have the exoticism of something you’d mostly like get at a friend’s house.  Tres leches, meringues, tocino del cielo, flan were home, toll house was not.  The last couple of months, I’ve tried a few forgettable variations. I follow the recipes to the letter but cusubes elude me and my caballitos de queque were cinnamon drenched failures.  This being the cookie season, I looked though all my Cuban sources for a new recipe that was traditional but workable.  Many called for Crisco with 1950′s abandon while others were really turrones (blended with more Crisco).

Finally, I found estrellas de chocolate.  Star-shaped chocolate sandwich cookies with peppermint cream cheese filling dipped in melted chocolate and rolled in coconut, it sounded like an Oreo having a nervous breakdown.  I had to try it.  Refusing to go down with a bad recipe a third time, I decided to approach each part separately and see what worked.

I used my favorite chocolate wafer recipe and replaced the butter in the heavy chocolate coating with grapeseed oil for a lighter finish.  The cream cheese and peppermint filling worked really well but I left off the shredded coconut.  In the end, they were pretty but plain so I added a little sanding sugar.  I had taken away so many of their frills that I wanted to give them back a little sparkle so they still felt like themselves.

Estrellas de Chocolate/ Chocolate Stars
I came across the idea in Nitza Villapol’s Cocina al Minuto but the recipe is largely adapted from Gourmet, December 2007.  Getting it all down, I realized that it seemed like a lot of steps but it actually goes very smoothly since the filling and coating can be done quickly while the dough is chilling.

For cookies:
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For filling:
3 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Chocolate coating:
1 cup (166 grams) 72% bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (25 grams)  grapeseed oil

Make dough:
In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt then set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed till creamy about one minute.  Slowly add sugar and continue to beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 5 additional minutes.

Add flour mixture all at once and stir with a spoon or spatula for a couple of turns.  Return to stand and beat on low speed until just combined.  Divide dough in half and form into discs.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate till firm, at least 3 hours (dough can be chilled up to 2 days).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle.  Line two baking sheets non-stick liner or greased parchment paper.

Between two sheets of parchment or wax paper, roll out dough to a 1/8″ thick.  Refrigerate or freeze until firm again, about 10 minutes.  Repeat with the second disc.

Using a star cutter (or other desired shape), cut out as many stars as possible from first chilled square.  Immediately transfer cookies to prepared sheet, arranging them 1/2 inch apart.  (If dough becomes to soft, return to freezer until firm.)

Bake until baked through and slightly puffed, 10 to 12 minutes.  Cool on sheet on rack for 5 minutes then transfer to rack.  Repeat with remaining dough.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Slowly beat in confectioner’s sugar until light and fluffy.  Blend in peppermint extract.  Using a pastry bag, pipe filling onto flat side of cookie and top with second cookie.  Chill until filling is set, about 15 minutes.

Place chocolate in a double boiler or heatproof bowl over simmering water and stir until melted.  Off heat, slowly add grapeseed oil until completely blended.

Place cooling rack over a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper.  Balance each filled cookie on a fork over bowl and cover with chocolate until completely coated.  Place on rack and repeat.  Freeze cookies till coating set, at least 15 minutes.

Makes 25 large or 50 small cookies.

]]> http://hungrysofia.com/2009/12/15/estrellas-de-chocolate/feed/ 3 hungrysofia IMG_5986 IMG_5883 IMG_5889 IMG_5950 IMG_5954 IMG_5910 IMG_5963 IMG_5970 IMG_5974 http://hungrysofia.com/2009/09/28/whats-in-a-name/ http://hungrysofia.com/2009/09/28/whats-in-a-name/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:08:21 +0000 hungrysofia http://hungrysofia.com/?p=2236 ]]>

I had resolved to take a dessert break last week but made an exception for this batch of Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.  They were made on request to take as a gift so I wasn’t tempted for long, though the box did go out 1 or 2 or 3 light.  Similar to nutty Mexican wedding cookies, the recipe calls for added chocolate, coffee, and optional ancho chile powder.  Though the recipes in the book are pretty foolproof, I didn’t think the chile could only be an option if they were to give an authentically Mexican kick to the crackles. 

Mexican Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.  This is my go to recipe for thank yous and hostess gifts, especially during the holidays, and comes together easily.  For another alternative mixing chocolate and chile, click here for a Mexican brownie recipe from A Chica Bakes.

3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tablespoon brewed espresso
6 ounces 70 percent cacao bittersweet, finely chopped
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) plus 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (3 ounces), toasted and cooled completely
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder
3/4 cup (3 ounces) unsifted confectioner’s sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread almonds on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, about 7-9 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Bring two inches of water to a simmer in a double boiler or heavy saucepan.  Turn off the heat.  Place the chocolate, butter and espresso in a double boiler or heatproof bowl and set over steaming water.  Stir until chocolate is melted and set aside to cool.

Beat together the eggs with the 1/2 cup of sugar in an electric mixer with the whisk attachment at high speed until it is pale and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes.  Blend the melted chocolate into the eggs until incorporated, about 1 minute.

In a food processor, pulse flour, cinnamon, baking powder, chile powder and almonds till finely chopped, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.  Stir with wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of turns to ensure that all of the flour is incorporated.  Cover with plastic and refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours.*

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls and roll in the remaining granulated sugar and then roll generously in the confectioner’s sugar.  Place on prepared cookie sheet, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake one sheet at a time for 11 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until cookies are set.  They should slide when nudged and not stick to the pan.  Cool on a rack.

*At this point the dough can be refrigerated for three days or scooped into balls and frozen in plastic freezer bags for up to three months.

I don’t know if it was the treasure island theme, the two tiered Italian carousel or a contact high from too many helium balloons, but in the late seventies, Omni International Mall sold the most incredible chocolate chip cookies ever made.  To this day, if any one in my family mentions that they had a really great cookie, the first question is always, “Omni International good?”  Although it’s hard to find a bad chocolate chip cookie, everyone has a different criteria for what makes a great one.  The Omni cookies met every possible criteria simultaneously. They were cakey but crisp, gooey but dunkable, and then they were gone.  The Omni went from being an upscale retail experiment housing Pucci and Hermes to a tropical shipwreck and sometimes Miami Vice location that prompted your parents to ask if your doors were locked when driving past.

Still, I’ve always wanted to make a classic chocolate chip cookie that made me feel the same way they did.  Last Christmas, at the end of a cookie making marathon, I started a final batch of chocolate chip cookies using the Guittard Super Chips, following the straightforward recipe on the package. I was shocked by the results.  I’d tried a few different recipes before, but they typically melted too fast into crisp edged, pools of butter and chocolate. These were different.  They were golden and crisp on the outside and cakey in the middle.  The oversized chips have a little bit of added vanilla making them really flavorful.  I thought I had finally figured out how to make my own version of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

I spent the next year trying to reproduce them without ever coming close.  I seemed incapable of putting all the ingredients together again, in just the right way, for the same result.  I had become pretty adept at making all kinds of cookies, the more complicated the better, so it stung that such a basic eluded me.  Then this past Christmas, again after a cooking marathon, there they were.  Christmas miracle cookies, so smug, that I hated them a little. I finally realized what had been missing.  In both cases, I had been too rushed to let the butter completely soften to room temperature.  This weekend, I tried my luck during a nondescript, non-holiday and there they were again, like they’d never been gone.

I was never trying to recreate the Omni cookies.  I don’t need to tip  windmills to know that these mythic cookies were most likely the result of an early Mrs. Fields outpost plus thirty years of nostalgia.  My cookies could never be as great as the Omni cookies, only as good because I could conjure them at will.

Super Cookie Chip Cookie Recipe
This recipe is adapted from the basic Guittard recipe.

1 cup + 2 tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
10 ounces Guittard Super Cookie Chips or other high quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven 375 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar until light, about 5 minutes.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Add flour mixture all at once and continue to mix on low until just combined.  Fold in chips.

Drop by well-rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 3 dozen.

I promised myself that it wouldn’t escalate.  An after-work dinner with a friend in a nearby restaurant became dinner with friends plural at my house.  I know it’s a mistake to try new things on guests. By the time people arrive, I’m too tense/excited/tired depending on how it went that I can’t enjoy myself.  But who can resist a captive audience?

This time I decided to make camarones enchilados, which I had sprung on friends before, so I’d had some practice.  For dessert, I attempted a cream cheese ice cream recipe with poached guava shells from Eating Cuban: 120 Recipes from the Streets of Havana to American Shores.  Because the ice cream is so rich, I had thought to put three small scoops per guava shell.  The boatlike shells holding the scoops reminded me of the three figures found in representations of the Virgen de la Caridad, the patron saint of Cuba.  That’s how I found myself carving figurative saints out of Spanish shortbread dough.  It seemed so right to find a Caridad in butter and sugar, but putting it all together was more difficult.  Everyone enjoyed it, but the ice cream melted a little too much and the smaller cookies kept pitching forward into the improvised guava boats.  It wasn’t till the next day that I was able to balance it all together with what was left.  Next time, it will seem effortless.

Helado de Queso Crema/Cream Cheese Ice Cream
Adapted from Eating Cuban: 120 Recipes from the Streets of Havana to American Shores by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs.

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
2/3 to 1 cup sugar, or to taste
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole  or 2% milk

With an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the cream cheese together with the sugar, lemon juice, salt and vanilla.  Gradually add the cream and milk and continue to beat until fluffy.  Transfer the mixture to an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Makes about 1 quart.

Polvorones/Spanish Short Bread
This is my favorite shortbread recipe adapted from A Taste of Old Cuba by Maria Josefa Lluria de O’Higgins.

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar plus more for rolling
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat together butter with the 1/2 cup of sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment at medium-high speed until it is pale and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract.

Combine flour and salt and add to mixer at once the stir with wooden spoon or spatula for a couple of turns.  Return to stand and mix on low speed until just incorporated.  Refrigerate until very firm, at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick liner.

Roll the dough 1/8 inch and return to the refrigerator for an additional 15 minutes.  Cut into desired shapes.

Bake them for about 14 minutes, until lightly golden.

As soon as you remove them from the oven sift confectioner’s sugar over the polvorones and set them on a wire rack.  When they are cool, roll them in the sugar again.

Makes 6 dozen.