Espresso Brownies

Let me just start this by saying first and foremost that I consider myself a cook, not a baker. The irony in that is that lately I've been baking about as much as I've been cooking. Blue Velvet cupcakes for a movie showing for the film club I run, chocolate cake for a date, and now espresso brownies to satisfy a craving.

When figuring out exactly what you're craving, realize that sitting in the best coffee spot in the state might bias your tastebuds. You and your friends may have the conversation I had:

"Coffee cake."

"Mocha chip cookies."

"Espresso brownies."

"Latte flavored bacon."

"Wait wait wait, what was that second to last one? We should probably do that."

Ingredients:

• 2 heaping cups of dark chocolate chips (about 12-13 ounces)
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 Tablespoons finely ground coffee (Espresso grounds if you have them)
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
  
• 1/3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Procedure:

.5. Preheat oven to 350°F and get out some cupcake papers. (You can use an 8x8 pan if you really want.)

1. Set up a double boiler. If you don't have a formal one, put a small pot of water on to boil and place a larger glass or metal bowl on top so that you can fill it (think upside down hat). In the double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir until well mixed. This step can be done while doing the next step, so get good at multitasking.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the sugar, ground coffee, and eggs. Mix them until it starts to thicken up and turn a lighter color, forming ribbons from the whisk when you pull it up. If you're like me and don't have a high speed mixer, this will be a pain. Just keep stirring vigorously and you'll get it. If you do have a high speed mixer, lucky you, just let it run for a minute or two.

3. When satisfied with your mixings, stir in the chocolate from step #1.

4. Sift/slowly pour in a tiny bit at a time your flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix until they're combined, but don't overmix.

5. Pour the batter into the cupcake papers about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up.

6. Place in the oven, checking after 15 minutes. I'm not going to give you a time set in stone, since everyone's ovens run differently. If it takes longer, just keep testing with a toothpick or sharp knife every few minutes. You'll want your testing tool to come out clean, if it isn't, back in the oven.

Notes:

1. I'm sorry, but I don't have a cooking time for if you were to attempt these in a traditional brownie pan. Try it for yourself and figure out which time works best for you and your oven.

2. You don't have to use star shaped cupcake molds. But I like them.

3. Alter them as you want. Chocolate chips, nuts, frosting, whatever you like.

4. Ideal serving accompaniments: A cup of coffee and a scoop of coffee ice cream.

Fennel and Onion Soup

I confess that every now and then I feel the need to completely make something up and try it out on my friends. More often than not, this happens when I'm trapped inside and running out of ingredients (like this week's meatball, onion, corn, and mashed potato pie. It turned out well, but not so much that I'll embarrass myself by posting it here.) I was grocery shopping with some friends a while back, and the fennel just jumped out at me as something I really wanted to cook again.

I've made a soup with fennel in it before, sure, but it was almost an afterthought in that case. I could barely taste it. If I was going to do another soup with fennel in it, fennel would be the star. People would ea and realize this what fennel actually tastes like.

So I figured out things I would want in a soup, relying heavily on what I hoped would be fairly good instincts from when I made french onion soup before. I have to say that it was an surprisingly good, after some on-the-fly improvisations.

Ingredients:

• 2 large, sweet onions
• 2 fennel bulbs
• 8 ounces of sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 12 ounces of fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup of shredded or crumbled sharp white cheddar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of fine ground herbes de provence
• About 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 8 to 10 cups water (or stock)
  

Procedure:

1. Cut onions and fennel (just use the bulb, no need to mess with the stalks here) into half-moon slivers as thin as you can manage. If you have particularly thick fennel, now would be when you break out the mandolin slicer if you have one. Basically, the thinner your cuts, the softer and easier this will all cook down into the soup. No one wants to bite into a huge chunk of crunchy fennel in their soup.

2. In a large, wide pot, melt the butter over medium high heat. Nonstick is your friend here, but if you have wine on hand and want to deglaze the pan later, be my guest.

3. When the butter is melted, put in your onions, fennel, salt, and pepper. Stir regularly or as needed to prevent burning. Let them get caramelized to a medium brown. You'll be waiting around for at least 45 minutes to an hour, so find a chair or something.

4. When the onions and fennel are appropriately brown, add the garlic, mushrooms, and herbes de provence. Stir frequently until mushrooms have browned as well.

5. Add water to the pot and stir thoroughly, making sure to scrape the bottom and mix well. If you want even more flavor, feel free to use stock. Use less water for fewer servings with more veggies, more water for more servings with more broth.

6. When the soup has come back up to a simmer, add ginger to taste. You may use more than I suggested, maybe less. It's all about giving that last bit of balance and fullness to the soup, so you know how much you want. Just keep adding, mixing, tasting, and repeating as needed.

7. When the soup has achieved a zen state of balance, add the spinach. It will reduce in a split second. Cook this for only a minute or two, you want the spinach to remain fresh and green tasting.

8. Ladle into bowls and finish with a sprinkling of the white cheddar.

Notes:

1. Your soup may be a different color and have different sized pieces of fennel/onion than mine. I was running out of time for this preparation and had to rush.

2. Adjust water as needed. Make as much or as little as needed. This batch fed five people two servings with a few meals worth of leftovers.

3. If you have wine on hand, deglaze the pan before adding the water. Enough white wine to coat the bottom of the pot should do it, and will do wonders for the soup.

4. This soup has a surprising flavor. It can have quite a kick to it between the pepper, ginger, and licorice-y fennel.

5. Bread goes really well with this soup, as pictured. Spring for a baugette, you won't regret it.

6. Don't be afraid to mess with things in this. Add meat. Add other veggies. Use different herbs. Serve it in a bread bowl. Just have fun with it.