Toffee Butter Crunch

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coursely chopped almonds or pecans toasted
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp light-colored corn syrup
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup finely chopped almond or pecans toasted

Instructions

• Line a 13x9x2-inch pan with foil, extending foil over the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts in pan. Set pan aside.*
• Butter sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan. In saucepan, melt better. Add sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Reduce heat to medium; continue boiling at a steady rate, stirring frequently, until thermometer reaches 290 degrees (soft crack stage). Watch carefully after 280 degrees to prevent scorching. Remove saucepan from heat; remove thermometer. Pour candy into prepared pan.
• Let candy stand about 5 minutes then sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand 1-2 minutes. When chocolate has softened, spread over candy. Then sprinkle with the 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts. Chill until firm. When candy is firm, use foil to lift out of pan; break into pieces. Store tightly covered. Makes about 1 1/2 pounds.

Notes

*Tip: These days, instead of pouring the toffee onto a cookie sheet, I ladle the mixture into a silicone muffin pan that I have sprinkled with nuts. That way I have individual treats without having to break the toffee into pieces. I wind up with larger hunks of toffee, but it works for me, and no one has ever complained about their size.

Remarkable Fudge

 

Ingredients

• 4 cups sugar
• 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
• 2 sticks butter and some extra to butter the sides of the pans
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder this is my addition, and it’s totally optional
• 1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 7.56-ounce Hershey’s Special Dark bar, cut up
• 1 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
• 1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla
• a nice glug of Kahlua  (while delicious, the addition of Kahlua causes us pain)

Instructions

• Butter a 13x9x2-inch pan
• Place the chocolate chips, cut-up chocolate bar, marshmallow creme, and nuts in a bowl. Set aside.
• Butter sides of the Dutch oven.
• In the saucepan, combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and instant espresso (if you choose to use it). Cook and stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking & stirring for ten minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Add the bowl of chocolate chips, cut-up chocolate bar, marshmallow creme, nuts, as well as the vanilla; stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is combined. Beat by hand for one minute (you may want another person to help with this). Spread in the prepared pan. Let the fudge firm up for 20-ish minutes and then score 1-inch squares. When fudge is firm, cut fudge into squares (I like to wait until the next day to cut the fudge). Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature. Makes about 4 pounds.

Notes About Making a Double Batch

Making a double batch is quite easy by following these steps:

• Use the stock pot and the Dutch oven.
• Prep both batches simultaneously through step 4 just up to the point of cooking. 
• Start cooking Batch 1 on the big burner. Wait 10 minutes. At the 10 minute point, start cooking Batch 2 on the small burner. This offset is the perfect amount of time to finish Batch 1, while Batch 2 is still cooking.

Sam’s Cranberry Sauce

12-ounce bag of cranberries, thawed 

1 Granny Smith apple

1/2 Honeycrisp apple

1 1/2 Anjou pear

1 orange (zest and juice)

1 1/3 c sugar 

1/3 c orange liqueur

Pinch of cinnamon

Aged Eggnog

 Adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe.

Ingredients

12 egg yolks (if you want, you can pasteurize the eggs for peace of mind)

1 pound sugar

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (is that enough? may need to add more)

1 pint half-and-half

1 pint whole milk

1 pint heavy cream

1 cup Mount Gay Eclipse rum

1 cup E&J VSOP brandy

1 cup Black Label Evan Williams bourbon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the yolks, sugar, and nutmeg until the mixture lightens in color and falls off the whisk in a solid ribbon (how many minutes? maybe about 5)

Combine dairy, booze, and salt in a second bowl or pitcher, and then slowly beat into the egg mixture.

Move to (3?, 4?) quart Mason jars and store in the fridge for a minimum of 2 weeks (2-3 months is better).

Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

1 stick of butter

2/3 cup (54g) HERSHEY'S Cocoa

12 ounces powdered sugar

1 tsp instant espresso powder 

1/3+ cup milk

a glug of vanilla extract

a glug of Kahlua (optional)

Directions

Min a saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat.

In the bowl of stand mixer, carefully whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa & espresso powders.

Add all of the wet ingredients and beat on high, scraping down the sides one time, until the frosting is smooth. If necessary, add more milk—just a bit at a time—until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. 

Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

210 grams all-purpose flour 

3/4 cup (60g) HERSHEY'S Cocoa 

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2 tsps baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp instant espresso powder 

2 eggs

1 cup milk

112 grams vegetable oil

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13x9 pan.

Stir together sugar, flour, HERSHEY’S Cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add eggs, cup of milk, vegetable oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup of boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

BLT Pizza

 Ingredients 

• 2 TBSP olive oil
• One Detroit-style pizza dough ball
• 8 ounces of shredded cheese
• Kewpie mayo
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and cut or torn into bite sized pieces
• half a head of lettuce, shredded
• 3 Roma tomatoes, cut into wedges and lightly salted

Directions

1. Follow the instructions for “Shaping the Dough.”
2. While your dough is resting, prep your bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes.
3. Once your dough is good to go, sprinkle the cheese over the dough and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, loosely place a piece of foil over the top of the pizza and bake for another 5 minutes .
4. Transfer the pizza to a large cutting board and slice it into 8 pieces. 
5. Dress the pizza in the following order: drizzle the mayo all over the pizza, next sprinkle the bacon all over, then the lettuce, and finally the tomatoes.

Dough for Detroit Style Pizza

Makes enough for one pizza*.

Ingredients

300g bread flour

6g instant yeast 

8g salt 

220g water

Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed

Directions

To Make the Dough in a Stand Mixer: Combine flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Stir to combine, then add water. Mix on low speed until dough comes together into a rough ball, then shut off mixer and let rest for 10 minutes. Continue mixing at medium-low speed until dough forms a smooth, silky ball, about 10 minutes longer. (It should stick to the bottom of the bowl as it kneads rather than riding around the edges.) 

Same day: Remove dough hook, form dough into a tight ball, set in the bottom of the mixer bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place until dough has roughly doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Make ahead: Remove dough hook, form dough into a tight ball, set in the bottom of a greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set in the refrigerator for at least two days. It will rise in the refrigerator.

Shaping the Dough: Preheat oven to 500. Take the dough out of the fridge. Pour a couple tablespoons olive oil in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Transfer dough to pan and turn to coat in oil. Press down on dough and spread it toward the edges. You won't be able to get it all the way to the edges; this is okay. Spread it as much as you can without tearing, then cover tightly in plastic and set aside for 30 minutes to allow dough to relax. Return to dough and stretch it out again. It should be able to reach the edges this time. If not, let it rest a little more and try again. To get the dough to stay in the corners, stretch it up beyond the corners so that it pulls back into place.

Top the pizza however you want and then bake on the bottom oven rack for 12-15 minutes.

*If you want to make a double batch and equally split the dough in half, the stand mixer bowl weighs 1 lb, 11.7 ozs or 786 grams.

Cleaning Pencil Marks Off Walls

Liberally wet a no-scratch blue scrubbie, add a generous dollop of toothpaste, and then begin scrubbing the pencil marks. You may have to let the toothpaste set on the pencil marks for a minute and then go at it again. Once you have removed the pencil marks, wipe the walls down with a clean, wet cloth.