Raspberry Muffin with Brown Sugar Hazelnut Streusel

Steven’s parents have a raspberry bush in their yard and I was the lucky recipient of some of the delicious berries. I ended up eating most of them but I managed to set aside some (it wasn't easy) to bake with. The muffin base is adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for blueberry muffins but I replaced the blueberries with raspberries and topped them with a brown sugar hazelnut streusel. The muffin base recipe was absolutely delicious; it'll be my master muffin recipe from now on.

Notes:
- You can use blueberries and omit the topping for the original blueberry muffins
- I cut the sugar down from the 1 cup called for in the original recipe to 1/2 cup with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar on top for the streusel. I found this was the perfect amount of sweetness since Bettina and I don’t like our muffins too sweet.

Raspberry Muffins with Brown Sugar Hazelnut Streusel
Sour Cream Base Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 C sour cream

For Raspberry and Hazelnut Streusel
1 1/4 C raspberries
2 Tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp flour

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, adjust a rack to the middle position. Spray a 12 cup regular size muffin tin with some nonstick spray.

Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk egg, sugar, and vanilla together until combined, then whisk in the sour cream and melted butter.

Scatter half the berries in the flour mix and scatter the rest in the sour cream mixture. Add the sour cream mixture to the flour and fold to combine, take care not to smush the raspberries too much. There should be not large pockets of flour but small streaks may remain. Do not over mix. The batter will be very thick.

Divide the batter evenly into the tin (a very large cookie scoop is excellent for this). Mix all of the ingredients for the streusel together and top each muffin with a small spoonful, then spread the filling out over the top of the muffin.

Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Gently pick the muffins out of the tin and cool them on a rack, flipping them out may cause the topping to fall off.

Strawberry and Blue Cheese Salad

Remember the strawberry and cheese scene in Ratatouille? Remy first takes a bite of the cheese, which creates an upbeat, robust swirl of flavor. Then he takes a bite of the strawberry and tastes a more delicate, twinkling ripple. But together, they create an exciting taste epiphany that ignites bright yellow and red fireworks that dance and sparkle. For me, my taste epiphany came with the combination of strawberries and blue cheese. The sweet and light summer berry paired perfectly with the strong salty flavors of the blue cheese, each with their own captivating fragrance. Now this may not be a combination for everyone, maybe it's just me (I hope it's not too weird combining blue cheese and strawberries), but I loved every minute of this salad. Sadly strawberry season is nearing an end or already over and this was one of the last dishes that I made with this year's berries.

Notes:
- At the time I only had Romaine lettuce but I think this salad would have worked much better with baby spinach greens, which are richer and can better handle the strong flavors in this salad.
- Strawberries are often paired with balsamic vinegar so naturally I made a balsamic honey vinaigrette
- I chose berries that weren't extremely sweet because I didn't want them to overpower all the other flavors in the salad.

Strawberry and Blue Cheese Salad

I don't have an exact recipe since salads are more of "throw stuff in" sort of dish for me but the main players are:
Greens: Baby spinach preferably (but Romaine pictured here)
Strawberries
Blue Cheese: I used Danish blue but I'm sure Gorgonzola would have worked also
Pistachios: they added a nice crunch and lively light green color

Optional:
Bacon: I love bacon, but this salad didn't need it (I used it here though)

Crisp your bacon if using, and set aside to cool on a paper towel lined plate. Crumble before serving.

Crumble your blue cheese, roughly chop the pistachios, quarter the strawberries.

Toss everything together with the vinaigrette.


Balsamic Honey Vinaigrette
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 - 1 tsp honey
Freshly ground pepper (no salt because there was enough from the cheese and bacon in the salad)

I add all the ingredients to a small clean jar and shake until everything is emulsified. I find this is the easiest way to make a small amount of dressing. Alternatively you can whisk everything together while drizzling in the olive oil.

Cool Link:
Check out how the tastes visualizations were developed for Ratatouille (the best movie of the summer if not the year, hands down).

Tiramisu Brownie

The idea of a tiramisu brownie/brownie tiramisu has been brewing in my head for a while now. I wanted the main flavor components of the brownie to be chocolate, espresso, marsala, and mascarpone but I was unsure about how to execute this idea. I debated whether I should make a fudgy or cakey brownie, if I should dip the brownies in espresso, if I should use espresso or both espresso and marsala in the brownie base, and etc. Myriam's 3rd Browniebabe Event served as the perfect occasion to play around with this idea.

One route I considered was a fudgy brownie flavored with espresso and marsala with mascapone cheese swirls. In the end I took a more traditional route and made an espresso flavored brownie, which mimics the espresso soaked ladyfingers, and layered it with a mixture of mascarpone, whipped cream, and marsala, and topped with chocolate shavings. I feared that dipping the brownie in espresso would make it too soggy and heavy since it was already a very dense, fudgy brownie (though this may work with a cakier brownie). Another possibility was to lightly brush a bit of strong coffee or espresso onto the brownie but that can be for another time. The end result was pretty to look at and delicious to eat. With so many different ideas to experiment with, all the more reason to make many more tiramisu brownies!


Notes:
- I tend to make my baked goods with less sugar, so I used 6 Tbsp of sugar in the brownies instead of 1/2 C.
- You may not use all of the filling but this stuff is so delicious, you can just eat it with a spoon (I'm guilty of this).
- I skipped the raw egg yolk (traditionally added) in the filling because I didn't want to deal with it. You can also whisk the egg yolk with the marsala over a bain marie to create a zabaglione for the filling.

Tiramisu Brownies
Espresso Brownie Base
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pats
1 Tbsp instant espresso powder (or sub 2 Tbsp of Kahlua - I have not tried this)
1/2 C sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C AP flour
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mascarpone Filling
8 oz. mascarpone
1/2 C marsala
1/4 C sugar
1 C whipping cream

Topping: Dark chocolate

Make the brownie:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 8 x 8 baking pan with a sheet of foil to make the brownies easy to lift out. You can grease the foil but I didn't.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a large bowl over a bain marie or in a microwave on low power, about 30% (whisk between intervals to insure even heating).

Whisk in the espresso powder to the warm chocolate. Then whisk in the sugar, salt, vanilla, and eggs. Finally add the flour and mix until just incorporated (do not overmix).

Spread the batter into the baking pan and bake for about 17 to 22 minutes. Start checking the brownies early. A toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies should come out with moist crumbs.

After the brownies are done, set them aside to cool while you make the filling.

Make the filling:
In a large bowl, whisk together the mascarpone, sugar, and marsala until smooth.

Meanwhile in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form. I like to whip it with the machine to soft peaks and then whip by hand to stiff peaks so I don't overwhip (easy to do on a KA).

Fold in about 1/3 of the cream into smooth marscarpone mixture to lighten it. Then fold the rest of the whipped cream into mascarpone. Chill the mixture until the brownies have cooled to room temp.

To serve:
It's easiest to make each serving individually since the filling will ooze out if you cut the brownie (not as soft as ladyfingers). This recipe will make 8 2in x 4in servings.

Cut the brownies into 2 x 4 rectangles. Then cut each rectangle in half horizontally so you get two layers of the brownie (top and bottom).

Add a dollop of the filling to the bottom layer, add the top layer, then add more filling on top. Smooth off the top and sides then grate some chocolate shavings on top.