I baked the coffee break muffins last week. I halved the recipe and added semi-sweet and white chocolate chips to the batter.
The recipe made 7 muffins. My first time using the silicon muffin/cupcake cups. Loved them; just have to remember to let the muffins fully cool in the cups for easy removal.
Terrible photo above, a little bummed because the presentation was so much fun. You'll never guess what I tried out with the muffins . . . . I can hardly type:
I tried Pierre Hermes (out of the Chocolate Desserts cookbook written with Dorie):
Hot Chocolate with Coffee and a Dollop of Homemade Heavy Cream
and
Served the Coffee Break Muffins Toasted with Vanilla Pear Butter
We are talking some serious caffeine between the two.
I love making the coffee hot chocolate. You take whole milk with a dash of water and bring to a boil. Add 5 T. espresso ground coffee and stir around for a few seconds then strain through a double cheese clothe layer inside a strainer to catch all the grounds.
Return the mixture to the stove top and mix in a quarter cup of sugar with 4 ounces of Valrhona bittersweet chocolate. After the ingredients are combined, I was to use a hand-held immersion blender for 1 minute. I added a dollop of whipped cream on top and wa laa! Delicious, rich hot chocolate. The kind where the chocolaty aroma wafts throughout the house along with coffee and brings everyone into the kitchen, excited, smiling and impatiently waiting for a cup. A new favorite in my home.
I really enjoyed the coffee hot chocolate as a treat. I just wish Pierre had come up with a fancier name =). His accent is wonderful to listen to and I can almost hear him explaining the recipe. (To get the exact recipe, buying the Chocolate Desserts cookbook through Amazon is really worth it!)
Now moving on to my catch-up recipe:
Dorie's Fresh Mango Bread.
I was scared to death baking this recipe because Larry looked at it and asked: "Can't you just say you baked this?". A traumatic moment when the only people to be eating the mango bread would be myself and Larry (to go in his lunches for work).
I omitted the raisins and used lemon zest instead of lime zest because lemon was all I had on hand.
Baking with such a juicy fruit had me worried the loaf would not bake all the way through without burning. I covered the top of the loaf half way through the baking with foil and just as Dorie stated in her recipe, the loaf was done in 1 1/2 hours.
Verdict:
Larry (Hubby for those who do not know): Are you sure this is the bread we were looking at in the cookbook? I mean, this is "really" GOOD and moist. It is not soggy, I like it. (sigh of Relief on my part)
Me: LOVED it! I really enjoyed the spices and mango, the moisture and flavor all combined into a quick bread I can see myself baking again.
The local produce men: Oodles of thanking me for bringing them more goodies, looking suspiciously at the mango bread, trying, and looking relieved they could honestly say how much they liked it. I was laughing to myself all the way back to my car.
Dorie, I am really enjoying baking my way through your cookbook. I feel like we are friends because we are sharing food experiences week after week.
