Never mind toilet paper. The hot commodity of this pandemic seems to be yeast. I have been trying to make a pretzel recipe that my wife had found for several weeks. We could get everything except yeast. It has been out of stock at our local grocery store for those same number of weeks. My neighbor heard my plea when I posted about this on Facebook and so kindly left us a small mason jar of yeast by our front door. Not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, I just had to make these.
The dough was easy to put together and from start to finish it only takes about two hours to make these, including letting the dough rise.
These pretzels were so tasty and reminded me of Auntie Anne's which is in many malls in the United States. The recipe made six pretzels. I divided the dough into six equal parts and rolled each piece into 30 inch ropes. After a quick dip in a baking soda/water mixture I placed on a baking sheet. They baked for 10 minutes. They came out crispy on the outside but soft and pillowy inside with a nice chew!! Brushed with melted butter and they were ready to eat.
With my new fondness for using yeast in baking, a think cinnamon rolls are next. Any good recipes people have to share?
I put together my first culinary cooking class. It is for a classic dessert from Carnival Cruise Lines called Chocolate Melting Cake. Really easy to make. I hope you enjoy. Leave some comments if you have ideas for other cooking classes you would like to see or what your favorite food is on a cruise ship.
Chocolate Melting Cake
½ pound (8 ounces) 60% or higher Cacao Chocolate (Ghirardelli is my favorite)
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter
5 ounces (⅔ cup) sugar
4 ounces (½ cup) all purpose flour
5 eggs
Preheat oven to 400° with middle rack available.
Butter the insides of small baking ramekin. I used 4 ounce size ramekins for this recipe. Set aside on a sheet pan spread apart at least an inch from each other. This recipe will make about 10 four ounce desserts.
Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler over medium low heat until the butter and chocolate has just melted. You don't want to cook this. The goal is to melt and combine.
Cool at room temperature. You can use the same pot you used to melt, although pouring into a round bowl will be easier for the completing the next step.
Using a metal whisk, cream eggs and sugar together in a separate bowl until no granules of sugar remain. Your goal is to whip some air into the eggs so they are a little frothy. It will add structure to the cake and help it rise.
Using a metal whisk, carefully mix in the flour a few tablespoons at a time until all wisps of flour are combined. Be careful not to whisk too fiercely at this point since too much gluten will result in a tough cake.
Once the egg, sugar and flour mixture is combined, pour about two tablespoons of the cooled melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Slowly fold together with a rubber spatula. You are tempering the eggs by only including a small amount of the chocolate at a time. Add about half of the remaining chocolate mixture and combine. Then add and combine the rest, scraping any left from the sides the bowl. The resulting batter should have a consistent color.
Fill buttered ramekins about three quarters full of the batter. Lightly tap to remove any air bubbles.
Bake for 10 - 16 minutes. Depending on the ramekin size you use, this time will vary. For the four ounce ramekins in this recipe, I did a toothpick test at ten minutes and it was still gooey on the top At about eleven minutes the outside had a cakelike crust and the inside was liquidy which is what you want. The toothpick should come out with some batter since you want it to be gooey in the middle. There will be some carry over cooking.
Serve immediately with your favorite ice cream. Vanilla is classic but coffee ice cream adds an interesting contrast.
