pomegranate and almond pound cake

the other day i was wandering through the grocery store, trying to decide what i wanted for lunch after getting goodies for my pantry. the pomegranates were on sale, and i absolutely love pomegranates, so i threw one into my cart. i began the process of getting the seeds out, which is always a little more work than i remember...and by the time i'd gotten everything out, i decided that i needed to use the seeds for something more exciting than my lunch.

this cake is super easy to make, and has a great combination of flavors. plus, using yogurt instead of milk gives the cake a great texture.

you will need:

1 fresh pomegranate

1 stick butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 egg white

3/4 cup yogurt (i used greek vanilla yogurt, but regular is fine too)

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp bourbon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup almonds, crushed or sliced

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp milk

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. change into a shirt you don't care about, then seed the pomegranate. i didn't take pictures of this process since i decided to make a cake about halfway through it, but here are some great instructions on how to do it. wash the seeds well and make sure you don't have any pith.

use cooking spray or butter to thoroughly grease your bundt pan, then gently flour it. set this aside.

in a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well combined.

add the two eggs and the white to this mixture one at a time, still using the electric mixer. whip it all together so that it has a nice, fluffy texture.

in a larger bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice, vanilla extra and baking soda. 

slowly add the flour and the salt. it's a bit hard to stir, but combine as well as you can with a spatula.

add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and stir well, then add the pomegranate seeds.

stir until the seeds are well distributed throughout the dough, then put the whole thing into the greased and floured bundt pan. (you can also use a loaf pan.)

sprinkle the almonds on top. i just crushed mine in a food processor, but sliced almonds would look beautiful. be sure to press them into the cake so that they won't fall off once baked.

bake. i left mine in for an hour, and i think it was a bit overdone - try for 40-45 minutes and evaluate. you want a toothpick to come out clean.

let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then flip out gently and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

combine the confectioner's sugar and milk in a small bowl. i also added a splash of vanilla extract, but you could also add a little pomegranate juice or almond extract if you prefer. make sure the icing is nice and thick, and drizzle over the cake. serve to your adoring public.

(i brought this cake to a halloween party, so unfortunately i don't have any shots of the cake once it's sliced - but the pomegranate seeds look gorgeous in this cake. great with ice cream, especially topped with some fresh pomegranate seeds. delicious!)

double chocolate almond cookies

i'm really not a baker, but i wanted to make these cookies after seeing the recipe made on tv for a class in my gastronomy program. they're not hard to make and are super delicious, especially with vanilla ice cream.

kathleen king is the creator of this recipe, and it's one that she uses at her southampton bake shop. i barely altered this since i'm always scared to mess with baking recipes too much, but there were recommendations in the comments and things that i've incorporated into this version.

you will need:

3/4 cup cocoa

2 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 sticks salted butter, room temperature

1 cup refined sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp bourbon vanilla extract

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks

1 cup almonds, chopped

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. grab a medium bowl and combine the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.

use a whisk or a fork to combine the ingredients, making sure that there are no lumps in the mixture.

in a smaller bowl, unwrap the butter and make sure it's at room temperature. (i cheated and microwaved it for a few seconds.)

add both types of sugar and use an electric mixer to whip them together.

add the vanilla and the egg, and gently combine with a spatula. then slowly combine with the dry ingredients until it's just mixed together.

then, add the chocolate and the almonds. if you can't find chopped almonds, you can always pop them in the food processor like i did.

combine until the chunks are all well distributed within the batter.

use a spoon or a little ice cream scoop to form the cookies. arrange them on baking pans that you've covered in parchment paper.

pop these into the oven for 10-14 minutes, depending on your oven - i had to keep taking these in and out to get them right. they have a tendency to fall apart when you first take them out of the oven, but after they've sat for a minute they'll get firmer, so wait a few moments before using a spatula to remove them from the baking sheets and place on a cooling rack.

let them cool, and devour promptly. 

rainy day cupcakes

in my new ongoing project to clean out my cabinets, i found some dark chocolate for baking. now, i do not consider myself a baker. i like experimenting with my textures and flavors too much to not screw up the chemistry involved, and baking usually seems a little too formulaic for me. i also hardly ever crave sweets - i have more of a salty tooth. but yesterday was our third day of cold rain, and i was feeling like something unhealthy, i.e. a chocolaty dessert.

hence: flourless chocolate cupcakes with grand marnier buttercream frosting. these cupcakes are super fudgy, almost like brownies, and the frosting is creamy and delicious.

NOT a baker, so i didn't create this recipe - i found it online. i only made a few minor modifications. the frosting is my own creation. i did take pictures throughout this process, but some of the steps aren't particularly photogenic, so i'm not going to post them all.

you will need:

10 ounces dark or bittersweet chocolate

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 cup heavy cream

4 eggs

1 1/3 cups white sugar

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp salt

for the frosting:

1 stick butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp grand marnier (you can leave this out if you want)

to begin, spray each of your cupcake liners lightly with vegetable cooking spray, and pop them into your muffin pan. preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

chop your chocolate up roughly. most of this will get melted, so don't worry too much about getting it into tiny pieces.

grab 16-20 of the smaller pieces and set them aside for once the cupcakes are baked.

(if you have extra chocolate after all of this, please try out this hot chocolate recipe that i found yesterday and tell me how it is, because it sounds delicious!)

in a small saucepan, heat the butter and cream together until they are just simmering.

once the butter is completely melted, add the chopped chocolate and turn the heat down. stir gently until the chocolate is melted, but don't heat too long afterwards or the cream can curdle.

in a medium bowl, mix the sugar, eggs, mayonnaise, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until the sugar is no longer noticeable.

add the chocolate mixture and stir gently, only until things are just combined. fill your cupcake molds about they are about 3/4 of the way full.

pop these into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of them clean.

once you've pulled them out of the oven, immediately grab the chopped chocolate you set aside and push a small piece into the middle of each cupcake. then set the cupcakes aside and let them cool. repeat the process until you've used all of your batter - i got about 16 cupcakes from this recipe. 

while your cupcakes are cooling, whip up some quick frosting. use a whisk to whip the butter up in a small bowl until it's smooth and creamy.

add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, grand marnier, and cream. stir well until it's smooth, and taste - make sure it's the way you want it.

once the cupcakes are completely cooled, cover them with frosting. i sprinkled mine with a bit of cocoa to finish them off. devour promptly.

chocolate soufflé

this is the first recipe i've tried from my brand new cookbook, and i really enjoyed it (and so did my husband and our guest, oliver). having never made soufflé before, i was a bit nervous, but this recipe turned out to be simple and delicious. plus, while the simple chocolate was yummy, it would be easy to add other favorite ingredients into this to make it what you like - it would be great with vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange or lemon zest, peppermint...there are endless possibilities with this dessert.

this recipe makes 6 individual soufflés, each of which will fill a 1-cup ramekin.

you will need:

7 ounces dark chocolate

2 tbsp unsalted butter

3 tbsp heavy cream

 8 large eggs

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

2 tbsp white sugar

2 tbsp confectioners sugar

put several cups of water into a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. place a glass bowl on top of it - you don't want the glass to be touching the water. put the chocolate and butter into it and allow to melt.

when the chocolate is smooth and melted, remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream. set aside, and allow to cool completely.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. separate your eggs, putting all 8 egg whites together and saving 4 of the yolks in a separate bowl. 

 whisk all of the egg yolks into the chocolate until totally smooth. grab your handheld mixer (or a stand mixer, if you have one) and beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on the lowest setting. once the whites start to get foamy, start adding the sugar little by little. beat on a higher setting until the mixture gets light and fluffy, and stiff peaks form.

use a rubber spatula, and mix about a fourth of the egg white mixture into the chocolate. be very gentle, and stir well. fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites a bit at a time until everything is well blended. divide the mixture into 6 1-cup ramekins - they should be filled about three quarters of the way. 

 dust the top of each soufflé with a bit of the confectioners sugar, then pop into the oven for 11-14 minutes, or until they rise.

dust with a bit more confectioners sugar, then top with whipped cream.