Moon Pies

Moon Pies. Intrigue. Not cow pies (thank goodness), but some celestial version. Or maybe these bad boys come to mind:

It's the kind of snack you grab at the gas station as an excuse to use their bathroom. However, on my hunt for a good base whoopie pie recipe, I stumbled across a recipe for homemade moon pies. Needless to say,  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try out such an unusual, regional dessert. Indeed, these taste bits o' heaven are a traditional Mardi Gras treat, so what better time of year to make them than early Autumn!
I can't honestly tell you that I didn't make them because they have a cool name, but that's kind of like the opposite of judging a book by it's cover, right? Respecting a recipe for it's title! 
Because it IS such an uncommon recipe, I dared not stray too far from direction, so here's the link to the website I got it from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/04/moon-pies-recipe/
There are a handful of alterations I would make, but I'll make a note of that as we go along!

1 batch will give you 15 double-decker moon pies
Oven Temp: 350
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

For the Cookies:
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt

For the Marshmallow Filling:
2 egg whites
Pinch cream of tartar
Pinch salt
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

For the Chocolate Coating:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
¼ cup vegetable oil


Begin by beating the butter until creamy. Add the brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, and beat to combine. Mix in the flour and the salt until you get a smooth dough. You may wish to add a little more flour if it is sticky. The dough reminded me a lot of gingerbread dough, if you're familiar.

 Divide the dough in two, shape into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (wahoo! first time I ever splurged and bought parchment paper- I don't ever want to go back) or grease; set aside. Remove one disk from the refrigerator roll out to about 1/8th inch thickness. For these, it won't hurt to be a little on the thinner side (it gives a better creme to cookie ratio). Cut circles into the dough (2 -3 inches in diameter, ideally using a mug or something to get a lovely shape).

 Place circles unto cookie sheets and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, bake cookies (12 to a sheet) for 12 to 14 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on the pans for a couple of minutes, and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
My helpful hint here - I used three baking sheets, I would have one in the fridge with uncooked dough, one baking and then put another in after 7 minutes so the sheets were staggered. It reduced the baking time.

Voila!

Once everything has been baked and is starting to cool (or you can start earlier if you are an octopus and have enough arms to be doing everything) you can begin the filling! Whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar and the salt until firm peaks form (see image below).

From http://www.crunchyrock.com/2011/01/cinnamon-apple-waffles.html

 In a small saucepan heat the corn syrup to 225 to 230 degrees but don't stir. Be sure to get it this hot otherwise the creme will be too thin to use.

Slowly drizzle the hot corn syrup into the egg whites and beat at high speed until glossy, about 2 minutes. At this point you may beat in the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar.

Glob a layer of creme unto two cookies. Place one on top of the other, and layer with a third. Gentle press together to spread the creme out.
Once the pies have been layered, proceed to chocolate stage!

Melt the chocolate and vegetable oil together until completely smooth. Place the assembled cookies on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax paper. Spoon the melted chocolate over each cookie so that it runs down the sides (giving it that beautiful homemade look) and covers most of the cookie.

Let cool for 2 hours and took joy in knowing you made such a funky little dessert!

Now, if I were to make these again (as I hope to do!), I would make these super chocolately. I would make the filling chocolate (by making some kind of ganache/marshmallow creme mix) as well as the cookie (maybe substituting 1/2 cup of cocoa powder for 1/2 of flour). 

Chocolate Chip Apple Cake

It's so rare to find a recipe that incorporates both chocolate and apples. But given that we still have the greater part of a half-bushel of apples left and I had a hot desire to make something chocolate today, I knew I had few options. It's also been a long time since I've made cake.
That's one of those things in life that really upsets me - the lack of cake-making. We've come so far, yet I still find myself waiting patiently for the nearest birthday to make a new cake. And even then it must be the birthday of someone you're really close to. Also, in my family, the birthday cake is a classic yellow cake with M&M's and chocolate frosting. So it's been a LONG time since I've tried a new cake and this doesn't even really because it has a huge whole in the middle. And no frosting! What is this?! 

Oh well...a cake is a cake I suppose. 
In other news, it appears I'm sick. Hopefully no one will catch my disease from eating this scrumptious, unusual choco-apple blend. But even if they do, it's gonna be worth it.

Oven Temp - 325
Bake Time - 1 hr, 15 mints
Prep Time - 20 mints
Total Time - 1 hr, 45 mints

1 cup room-temp butter
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon vaniller extract
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups apples - peeled, cored and finely diced
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

Grease and flour a tube pan (9 or 10 inch diameter). 

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs then add the water and the vanilla. 
Stir the flour, cocoa, baking soda, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg together.

 Beat this mixture into the creamed mixture.

 Stir in the chopped apples and the semisweet chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the cake tests done when a toothpick is inserted near the center. Make sure to rotate it after about 30 mints.

 Transfer to a rack to cool. Makes about 16 servings, so be ready to share.

Apple Butter

This weekend I ventured out for my first ever apple-picking adventure! I was accompanied by two of my friends and we spent a couple hours meandering through a local orchard tasting apples on most trees. I felt like three little runaways scavenging through a field, nibbling our way from one end to the other, looking for the greatest taste. The best flavor came from a lone tree on the edge of the orchard. It was surrounded by other apple trees, chock-full of beautiful red apples that had horrible flavor. My friend Sequoia spotted a huge tree, with no family nearby whose lower layers had been nearly picked clean. Luckily Sequoia, always one with the trees, scampered up to the top and tossed apples down to me to complete our fine collection.

 After returning home with a bellyful o' apple I frantically began looking up recipes to help deplete the enormous stock. And that's when I  found this gem - there's nothing quite so autumny and homey as homemade apple butter. 

Although there is no butter in apple butter, it has a unique spreadability coupled with a very appleine flavor. Something thinner than jelly, but with more natural love than a sauce. As an added bonus, apple butter is a very easy way to make your house smell nice all day long. 


makes 3 pints (enough to share a couple jars with friends)
12 medium apples (cooking apples are ideal)
2 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup cider vinegar

Begin by doing the bulk of the work- peel, core and cut apples into pieces no larger than a square inch. Place in large pot with 1/2 cup water and heat over medium heat.

As the apples begin to fall apart into applesauce goo, be stirring so nothing burns. Once most of the apples have disintegrated, puree into uniform texture.

Now, stir all ingredients into the same pot.

Cook on medium-low heat 3-5 hours or until the mixture has come to optimal thickness.
After about 2 hours, I stopped and strained the apple goop. 
It's important to remember that what we're making is basically just a simple syrup (sugar and water), so the longer you boil it, the thicker it will become and more syrup-like. So you really get to control the consistency here.
Fill jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. As the apple butter is very thick, jiggle the jars or stir with a chopstick to release any air pockets.
Wipe rims and place two part lids on jars. If you have the proper tools, which I do not, you'll want to sanitize the jars to make them last as long as possible. I just carefully wash mason jars and make sure to eat it all quickly!

Brownie-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Several months ago my friend and I decided to get together and bake. Unfortunately, neither of us are particularly decisive people so what ensued was about 90 minutes of debating what actually to bake. We tossed around ideas like peanut butter cups and peppermint patties but decided those were too much effort. However, we wanted to make something more than just the routine chocolate chip cookie or brownie recipe. 
And that's when it hit us. Why settle for one delicious fatty dessert when you can slam two together and produce a fantastical dessert which makes dreams come true. 
Conveniently, it's my friends birthday today, so I get to multitask by both making a recipe and also a present! Shout out to Elijah - the big 17, old man. This one's for you

For this I use the one-bowl brownie recipe (can I get some applause for mastering the in-text hyperlink?) and a "stuffed chocolate chip cookie" recipe because when you slam two desserts together you need the right base recipes.
Game Plan:

 

+

 

 

Oven Temp - 350 for both parts
Prep Time - 15 minutes for brownies, 20 minutes for cookies + 30 minutes cooling
Bake Time - 20 for brownies + 20 for cookies
Total Time - 2 hours (including cooling of cookies and brownies)

Brownies (you want to make these first!)
4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
3/4 cups butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

Cookie Dough*
2 sticks softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Make the brownies first, because you want them to be cooled before you stuff them into the cookies. I would recommend making the cookie dough while the brownies bake and cooling the dough while the brownies cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Begin preparing brownies.  Microwave the chocolate and butter until the butter is melted.
You can cover the bowl up to prevent splashes by using a paper towel. The melting should take about two minutes. Stir until the  chocolate melts as well.
Mix in the vanilla and sugar. Crack eggs one by one. Stir in flour and mix well.

Take a 9 by 13 pan and line with tin foil. Grease the foil. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. When a toothpick is inserted, fudgy crumbs should come out too. These will be a little less baked than you'd normally want, but they will be baked again in the cookies.

Now comes cookie time!

Beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla, continue to beat until well combined.
Place flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl; mix to combine then add slowly to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips.

Prepped for fridgeration

Roll into 30 balls and refrigerate for  30 minutes.
In the meantime, as the brownies cool, mash them up into a delicious blob of chocohappiness (you may eat at will, private).

Flatten out a cookie ball and spoon some brownie into it. Flatten out another cookie ball and cover the brownie blob, flattening the two cookie dough pieces together to form a closed sandwich. Gently press and enclose brownie with dough adding pinches more dough to cover sides if needed.  Place 6 filled cookies onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 18-22 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Remove and let cool for 15 minutes before removing from baking sheet. 

While this is not my favorite recipe (my favorite recipe is the one listed under something along the lines of the most incredible chocolate chip cookies ever), it is ideal for the creation of a "stuffed cookie".  HOWEVER, if you do happen to try this out with my chocolate chip cookie recipe, I'd be really eager to hear how that works out!

Sunday Updates

Because I am a highly important and productive member of society (insert laugh track here) I think it's for the best that I make Sundays my official new post day. This also conveniently provides an opportunity for you, the viewer, to get on my case if I do not fulfill my promise to you. Here it is, my official promise:
I, your dedicated blogger, promise that I will uphold my weekly updates by creating, photoing and blogging a brand-spankin' new recipe each AND every Sunday.

There. 

In return I expect your unwavering love and admiration in the form of fan letters which can be written to itsallez@gmail.com addressed to "Dearly Beloved".