Pumpkin Pie Cocoa: Pattie Tierney

My friend Pattie Tierney has several fabulous websites that encompass my own passions: Food and Mystery. I've asked her to guest blog before, and she's always posted something wonderful. So, this past month I saw her recipe and post for Pumpkin Pie Cocoa, and I knew readers of dyingforchocolate.com would love this. So here's a repost of this fun and easy delicious recipe. Perfect for the Fall and Halloween. Thanks, Pattie!

Pattie Tierney is a blogger, reader, traveler, diner, jewelry-maker, and lover of all things chocolate and mysterious. Visit Pattie's Etsy store for really cool and crafty mystery jewelry, and check out her mouth-watering blog: Olla-Podrida. Follow her on Twitter @pattietierney

PATTIE TIERNEY: PUMPKIN PIE COCOA

I spent a good bit of time the past couple of days "whipping up" (and yes, I did use the term facetiously here) the meal we enjoyed for dinner tonight, and that graces the cover of the October 2011 issue of Bon Appetit. It is a good one (stay tuned later in the week for the results and step-by-step tutorial), but it took up so much time that I thought I deserved a break.

So I decided to enjoy the beautiful day, put my feet up, and peruse the latest issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray (I do seem to have a one-track mind, don't I?). Craving something pumpkin (as I tend to do this time of the year), this recipe leapt off the page at me, and sent me right back into the kitchen. Pumpkin and chocolate (for those of you know don't know) is an excellent combination. It was nearly a year ago when I first acquainted you with this combo in the recipe for Harvest Pumpkin Loaf. Now here I am again acquainting you with yet another and, people, this one is DECADENT! I groaned when I took my first sip, that's how good it is. Since I only wanted to make one cup I cut the recipe in half. I used Williams-Sonoma's Sweet Ground Chocolate instead of hot cocoa mix (pricey but well worth it), and added a pinch of pumpkin pie spice to the whipped cream.

Try it. Go ahead. I'm sure you deserve it.

Pumpkin Pie Cocoa

2 1/4 cups low-fat milk
1/2 cup hot cocoa mix
3 tbsp. canned pure pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup whipped cream

In a saucepan, whisk milk, cocoa mix, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice; heat until steaming. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream.

Originally posted at Olla-Podrida. Reprinted with permission.
Photo: Pattie Tierney

Chocolate Dipped Candied Orange Peels: Pattie Tierney

Today I welcome back Pattie Tierney, fabulous chocolate guest blogger.

Pattie Tierney is a blogger, reader, traveler, diner, jewelry-maker, and lover of all things chocolate and mysterious.  Check out her online jewelry shop; her online paper goods shop; follow her on Twitter @pattietierney or read her Blog.

PATTIE TIERNEY:

I was first introduced to the magic of the chocolate/orange combination by Bruce Morley, my not-so-secret admirer in the sixth grade. It was the last day of school before the Christmas break and there, waiting for me in the center of my well-used, flip-top desk was a "Terry's Chocolate Orange," the ball of chocolate mixed with orange flavoring, divided into segments to appear much like a real orange, and wrapped in orange-colored foil. Bliss! I never saw Bruce after the sixth grade as we headed in opposite directions for Junior High, but I always figured that he ended up making some woman very happy as, after all, he certainly knew what pleased females back in the sixth grade!

I can't say it was Bruce, or that Terry's Orange, but I have, ever since, had a particular fondness for the chocolate and citrus combination, so when a friend offered me a chocolate-dipped candied orange segment two Christmases ago I had to have the recipe right then and there. She was nonplussed. There's no recipe, she told me (this from, a woman who once cooked with Julia Child!), you simply boil orange peel three times, boil it again in simple syrup, let it dry and dip it in chocolate. Okay.

Essentially it is that simple, but I'm a fanatic for having things written down in some sort of understandable form, and if you are too, here is the recipe. It is easy, and these are more delicious than you can imagine. Don't wait to serve them at holiday time or special occasions, make some now. In fact, never throw away an orange peel, carefully remove it, bag it up and freeze it so you're always ready when the mood hits.

Chocolate-Dipped Candied Orange Peels

3 large oranges
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup superfine sugar
Chocolate for dipping

Cut off the top and bottom of each orange. Then, make four vertical cuts equal distance apart, working your way around the orange and remove the peel in segments. If there is too much pith on the segment, lay it flat on a cutting board and carefully run a knife back and forth to remove as much as you can.
Once this is accomplished, slice each segment, vertically into thin strips, about 3/8" wide.
Place the strips into a medium-large saucepan and cover with cold water.
Place pan on the burner of your stove and bring to a boil.
Boil peel for 15 minutes.
Drain peel and rinse, then repeat the boiling process two more times.
As the peel is draining for the final time, bring the 2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar to a boil over medium heat in a medium-large saucepan.
Add the peel, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 45 minutes until the peels are tender.
Drain once again, saving the syrup, if you like, to use in iced tea.
Pour the superfine sugar into a small bowl and toss the orange peels in the sugar until well coated. Don't overcrowd. You may need to do this 2-3 times depending upon the size of your bowl.
Place the sugar-coated orange peels onto a cooling rack to dry, leaving about 1/4" to 1/2" of space between each one.
Allow to dry at room temperature for 24-48 hours. You'll want to taste one (or 2, or maybe 8) to make sure they're all right.
When they are dry, melt the chocolate of your choice (I've used anything from Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips, to a left over giant Hershey bar) in a small bowl over simmering water and dip the end of the peel into the chocolate to coat.
Place back on the rack until the chocolate is dry.
I have no idea just how long these will keep as that has never proven itself to be an issue.

Cream-Filled Chocolate Cookies: Pattie Tierney Guest Blogger

Today I welcome back Pattie Tierney as a Guest Blogger.  You're going to love these Cream-Filled Chocolate Cookies.. and what a fabulous photo!

Pattie Tierney is a blogger, reader, traveller, diner, jewelry-maker, and lover of all things chocolate and mysterious.  Check out her online jewelry shop; her online paper goods shop; follow her on Twitter @pattietierney or read her Blog.

PATTIE TIERNEY:

True chocoholics know the benefit of expediency where chocolate is concerned, when that craving hits you want something chocolaty and delicious, and you want it now!  Thanks to Debby Maugans and her book Small-Batch Baking, all of this is possible, and in a portion small enough for you to still remain virtuous. Is this perfect or what?  I stumbled across Maugans' book while perusing other cookbooks and was intrigued by the premise.  With just my husband and me left at home, making desserts got to be a bit of a problem when it came to portion control.  Well, no problem at all really, we ate with reckless abandon, then bought the next size up in pants. After a while this got to be expensive, so I decided smaller batches was the economical way to go.

This book fills that need perfectly. It's worth a look just to read the recipes alone because they are just so darned cute: a fourth cup of this, a tablespoon of that, a pinch of the other. It took me back to my Easy Bake Oven days. Cake recipes in this book call for their being baked in vegetable cans. Sliced and layered they look like products from Barbie's Dream Kitchen.

This was the first recipe I tried (making them from start to finish while on the phone with my daughter-in-law) and it's a winner. The yield of six cookies means you can each have three, be perfectly satisfied, and not be tempted by the leftovers in the middle of the night.

Maugan's new book Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers (she read my mind!) just became available earlier this month. I'll be sure to investigate and give a full report.

Cream-Filled Chocolate Cookies

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
About 3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-1/2 teaspoons well-beaten egg or egg substitute

Vanilla Cream Filling (recipe follows)

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set it aside.
Place the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and whisk to blend.
Place 1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons of the sugar, the butter, and the beaten egg in a medium-size mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held mixer on low speed until blended, about 20 seconds.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 20 seconds.  Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat just until the dough is blended, 15 to 20 seconds.
Roll rounded teaspoons of the dough in your hands to form 12 equal balls, and place them on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart.  Pour the remaining sugar (about 1/2 cup) into a small bowl.  Dip the bottom of a drinking glass into the sugar, and press the sugar-coated glass onto a ball of dough to flatten it.  Repeat with the remaining balls of dough, dipping the glass in the sugar before flattening each cookie.  Bake the cookies until they are firm, 14 to 15 minutes.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven, place it on a wire rack, and let the cookies cool completely.
Spread 1-1/2 teaspoons of the Vanilla Cream Filling over the flat side of half of the cookies.  Place the remaining cookies on top, flat side down, gently pressing down on them to squeeze the filling out to the edges of the cookies.

Vanilla Cream Filling
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening
1/2 teaspoon milk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Place the butter, shortening, milk, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl and mix with a fork until a soft, smooth paste forms.  Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until the filling is well blended and smooth.  (This may take up to 5 minutes.)  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it aside at room temperature until you are ready to use it.

Photo: Pattie Tierney

Thin Mint Cookies from Pattie Tierney

Today I welcome back one of my favorite food bloggers, Pattie Tierney. Pattie and I share a love of mysteries and chocolate!  Be sure and check out her Blogs. Pattie has a passion for family, travel, dining, photography, gardening, making mystery and literary jewelry, and loves all things mysterious! Check out her blog Olla-Podrida for recipes, fabulous food photography and so much more. 

Girl Scout's Beware: You may lose cookie sales with this Thin Mint Clone!

THIN MINT COOKIES FROM PATTIE TIERNEY

Pattie Tierney:

This cookie is so easy to make you won't believe it, and you‚ll spend the rest of your life thanking me for giving you the recipe. Well, maybe you'll thank me just once, but profusely. To illustrate just how easy these are, let me set the scene in which I first prepared them.

It was Christmas night. My husband and I were involved in various preparations for our Boxing Day dinner the following day. He insisted, as usual, in standing in front of me at every turn. He also insisted upon helping me out by offering to make a couple of the sauces I needed for desserts namely caramel (that he burned beyond recognition) and mocha chocolate fudge (that came out just fine). I was trying to ice cookies that I'd made earlier in the day, and melt chocolate to sandwich others together. It was about 2 or 3 in the morning, who knows, really, as by this time it was all a blur; a Rocky marathon was running endlessly in the background, heaven knows why. I was punchy with exhaustion and happy to have finished what needed to be done. But when I looked into my little chocolate melting pan I found at least a cup of melted chocolate still remained. Not one to ever waste chocolate, yet knowing I couldn't put away this much by the spoonful, I remembered a little process my daughter-in-law had told me about wherein Ritz crackers are dipped into melted chocolate that has been flavored with peppermint extract, thoroughly coated, briefly refrigerated, and end up tasting like Thin Mints.

I was leery. Years prior I'd tried Semi-Homemade Sandra Lee's idea of doing this same thing with vanilla wafers. The reaction I got from my oldest son when he tasted one was, "Hey what is this? A vanilla wafer covered with chocolate?" Uh, yep, that's what it is.

Okay, it's worth a try, I thought. I pulled out a sleeve of Ritz crackers, dug out the peppermint extract (and felt fortunate that, first appearance to the contrary, the jar was not empty but had about 1/2 tsp. of extract coating the bottom of the bottle). I poured it into the chocolate, gave it a quick stir and began dropping the crackers into the melted mixture. It was almost too easy. I used a fork to flip them over in order to coat both sides, picked them up with my thumb and index fingers, and gave them a little back-and-forth shake in order to smooth out the top. I plunked them down on a piece of parchment and slid them into my packed fridge. Ten minutes later they were ready, but to add a little seasonal festiveness to an otherwise dullish appearance, I grabbed my bag of Ghirardelli green mint chips, melted about an eighth of a cup in a coffee mug in the microwave, dipped a fork into the mixture and just flung it back and forth over the tops of the cookies. They looked great, people loved them, and so did I!

I don't think there are really any specifics when it comes to amounts. I used a mixture of Ghirardelli semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and enough mint extract to have the flavor land somewhere between the punch of Listerine and having you just say "Ahhhh."

All in all, chilling time included, I'd say these took me less than half an hour to complete. Leave the additional topping off and you can have a real treat in probably twenty minutes. Imagine! These were so good that I'll never buy a Thin Mint again.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Clone

1 12-oz. bag chocolate chips
3-4 drops peppermint oil
A sleeve of Ritz Crackers

Melt the chocolate over simmering water in the top of a double boiler. Add peppermint oil to taste. Dip crackers, coating well with chocolate, and place onto waxed paper to set.

Peppermint Patties from Pattie Tierney

Today I welcome back  Pattie Tierney, as a guest Holiday blogger. Pattie has a passion for family, travel, dining, photography, gardening, making mystery and literary jewelry, and loves all things mysterious! You have to check out her blog Olla-Podrida for recipes, fabulous food photography and so much more. As a cookbook collector, I can't wait to get my copy of Pattie's Murderously Good Morsels, Recipes So Good It's Criminal!  Ordered it on Etsy. 

It's no surprise that Pattie has a fondness for Peppermint Patties!  These are fabulous for the holidays -- or any time.

Pattie Tierney

 I was intrigued by this recipe from the moment I laid eyes on it while mindlessly flipping through an issue of Saveur Magazine. I like the York Peppermint Patties (Boy, do I!), but had no real clue as to how they were made, so in order to discover this I had to try making them myself. In addition to being a bit challenged in the candy-making area, I have no fondant making experience, so didn't quite know what to expect, but I blindly soldiered on!

I waited until the house was empty before beginning, as I tend to do when experimenting in order to avoid the rather amused and pithy remarks that often come from the mouths of my husband and son. As I'd allowed an entire evening to make these I was quite surprised that it took relatively little time. I followed the directions to the letter and poured the hot mixture onto the marble slabs. What a pile of glop! Good tasting, minty-fresh glop, but glop nonetheless. How on earth, I asked myself (Yes, I often talk to myself while cooking.), could this turn into anything other than goo (one step up from glop)? But I continued on, sliding it back and forth on the slabs with the only two heat-proof spatulas I had in the house -- pancake turners -- that I was holding tightly at the end. Absolutely NOTHING changed for quite some time, all the while I was thinking of various methods of disposal that would neither point a finger at me or what I'd been doing. The peppermint aroma was delightful, but strong, and a young and clever nose could sniff out my failure if it ended up in someplace as obvious as the kitchen garbage. But then, a miracle occurred, dough was forming! Excitedly I continued by gathering the mixture into a ball and kneading the it. It was very oily from the butter and I thought, once again, that I'd failed, and then all of a sudden I was there. Fondant! It was like magic! One minute I had goo, the next minute fondant! And such a firm fondant that I had to quickly reach for the spray bottle to keep it moist. It was fascinating to see what I'd perceived as a failed mess turn into peppermint patties. In fact, once this process began I really needed help because it was drying out faster than I could turn it into patties. It was supposed to make 36, but I ended up with 20 rather large ones, partially due to the speed at which the fondant was hardening and my enormous zeal to get them formed and shaped before the mixture dried beyond use.

Once the patties were formed, melting the chocolate and dipping them was a breeze. The fondant is sweet, rich, and pepperminty, so certainly you wouldn't want to indulge in more than one, but they are very good, and your family and friends will be dazzled by your skills. I put one atop a small doily at each place setting for a holiday dinner party one evening and they were quite the topic of conversation. Can you say, "Proud?"

If you're the intrepid (and by this I mean foolish) cook that I am, here's the recipe. Give it a try and report back. I'd love to know your experience.

PEPPERMINT PATTIES
The recipe for this fondant-centered candy is based on one in the Candy Cookbook by Mildred Brand (Ideals, 1979).

2 1 2 cups sugar
1 2 cup heavy cream
1 2 cup milk
2 tbsp. butter
1 4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 2 tsp. peppermint oil
6 drops green food coloring
2 1 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted in a bowl

1. Stir together sugar, cream, milk, butter, and cream of tartar in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, without stirring; reduce heat to medium. Attach a candy thermometer to inside edge of pot; cook, without stirring, until it registers 236? (the soft-ball stage), 12?14 minutes.

2. Pour sugar mixture onto a marble slab. Using 2 heatproof spatulas, scrape mixture back and forth to make a fondant, moving it across the marble quickly until it becomes thick and just cool enough to touch, 3?4 minutes. Toward the end, completely work in the oil and coloring.

3. Gather fondant into a ball; knead until it resembles smooth dough, 3?4 minutes. (If it becomes powdery, work in a few drops of water.) Shape fondant into thirty-six 1 1 2"-wide disks, each about 1 3" thick. (Keep unshaped fondant covered while you work.)

4. Working with one fondant disk at a time, dip them into chocolate using a fork; let excess drip off. Transfer to a wax paper?lined sheet pan. Let set in a cool spot. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in a cool spot for up to a week.

MAKES 3 DOZEN

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #107

Visit Pattie's online jewelry shop: www.ptierneydesigns.etsy.com
Visit Pattie's online paper goods shop: www.mysteriousjottings.etsy.com
Follow Pattie on Twitter @pattietierney
Read my blog: www.pattietierney.blogspot.com


Photo: Pattie Tierney