kahlua coffee cocoa cake

sigh...

Do you hear the weight of the world in that sigh? I am about to let you in on my biggest flaw. I am a con-trol fr-eak. Feel sorry for my family and friends because if I had my way they would all live within a two block radius of me, I would have named their kids, picked their cars, and husbands, wives or girlfriends. I would plant their flowers and everything would be perfect.

I try to be a laid back control freak if there is even such a thing. I know I can't control a damn thing so by knowing I can't control anything I, therefore, can control everything. Follow my logic? So when someone doesn't do what I think is best, I stress out.

sigh...

I fancy myself as a dictator of some small eastern European country that you can't find on a map. Actually come to think of it I don't want a small European country, it's cold and snowy 9 months of the year. I would prefer a small warm Latin American island with palm trees, white sand, and good looking cabana boys. I can control that.

Freud says: This is why Krysta likes to cook, it's the only thing she can control.



Well, doesn't that just take the cake.

kahlua coffee cocoa cake:

5 oz. (10 tablespoons) very soft unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, (not dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup of brewed espresso, cooled to warm
3/4 cup of Kahlua liquor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9x9 inch baking pan, dust the bottom and sides of pan with cocoa powder. Tap out any excess.

In a stand mixer, put the butter and sugar in the bowl and using the paddle attachment cream until smooth (about 1 minute). Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing just until corporated, about 20 seconds. Mix in vanilla and salt.

Take bowl of stand mixer and sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder directly onto the batter. Pour in coffee and Kahlua. Gently whisk the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth and mostly free of lumps.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with a spatula. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with only moist crumbs clinging to it, about 40-43 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Carefuly run a knife around the edges of the pan, invert cake onto the rack, and remove the pan. Invert again onto another rack and let cool right side up until just warm. Serve immediately.



Tasting Notes: This cake is the perfect Audrey Hepburn little black dress cake. Simple, plain, but somehow very sexy and perfect. It's the go to snack cake.

"Do not mess with it!" says the control freak blogger behind the curtain.



Still here? Cool beans... so I have been keeping this on the down low but I have a new blog called preheat-oven. It's a 24/7 cookie blog. I'll be posting once a week normally on Sunday nights-Monday mornings. The first recipe is Peanut Butter Chocolate Sandwich cookies. You can catch all the updates here on facebook. Actually I should just demand that you go there but I won't because I am a benevolent dictator.

stir fried red rice with sliced sirloin steak and edamame

My little nephew, Bub, just turned 3... and let me tell you the boy is freaky smart and I'm not saying that because he's my nephew.



(doesn't he look like he's got it all figured out.)

Bub knows his cars. Take him for a walk in your neighborhood and he will name every car... Silver Volkswagen, Red Chevy Truck, Black Volvo. Ford, Dodge, Mercedes Benz, BMW, he knows them all. I'm not sure if he knows: Lotus, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin but I wouldn't doubt it.

update: my sister, bub's mom, informs me that yes he does know aston martin.

He tells me, 'Auntie Ta-Ta drives her blue Toyota.' when he sees my cars keys.

Last Christmas he saw Katie pull up in our Toyota Sienna. He said, 'Katie drives a Cash Cab.'

... from then on he calls her Cash Cab.

Have you ever seen Cash Cab with Ben Bailey? Where unsuspecting New York City taxi passengers hail a cab, a Toyota Sienna, and Bam! they are contestants in a trivia game show.

The kid put together Katie driving our Toyota Sienna with The Cash Cab Taxi and there you have it. Instant nickname. From now on please refer to Katie as Cash Cab.



stir fried red rice with skirt steak and edamame: heavily adapted from this recipe from food & wine march 2010

1/2 cup red rice*
1 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 thai chilies cut in half
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 ounces thinly sliced skirt steak
Salt
1 large red sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
4 cups thinly sliced baby spinach
2 cups thawed shelled edamame
3 tablespoons soy sauce
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
lime wedges, for serving

In a small saucepan, cover the rice with the water and bring to a boil. Cover the saucepan and cook over low heat for about 25 minutes, until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed. Spread the rice out on a baking sheet and let cool.

In a skillet or wok, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil until shimmering. Add the garlic and thai chilies and cook over moderately high heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the flank steak, season with salt and cook, turning once, until browned, 1 minute; transfer to a plate. Remove chilies.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet. Add the onion and ginger and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the spinach and stir-fry over high heat until wilted, about 1 minute. Stir in the rice and edamame, then the soy sauce and steak and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl. Garnish with the cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

* You can find red rice or Bhutanese in most Asian stores, I found mine at Safeway in the Asian section. Go figure



Tasting Notes: This was great. End of Story. The red rice was nutty and chewy, the onion added a little sweetness, the thai chilies added some heat, the edmame gave it some bite, and the lime and cilantro finished it off.

update on my other little nephew who was born a week ago: baby marshall is doing pretty good. he opened one of his eyes yesterday and is gaining a little bit of weight. he is still having some issues breathing which most preemies have but he's hanging in there. i want to say thank you for all your kind words and comments and emails. i have passed them along. i have pictures but some might find them a little disturbing so we'll hold off until he's off the cpap breathing machine. but thank you for including him in your thoughts and prayers.

bacon wrapped dates and a winner

Here I am about to announce the winner of ad hoc at home giveaway and I go and pull up the random number generator and look who's number gets picked.



The third comment is Saint TigerLily's comment...

'She will leave the biscuits for someone else to make and go read some Flannery O'Connor? See, but the only problem there is we don't get fresh biscuits...Since I already HAVE Ad Hoc, as a lovely giftie from you, no less, I don't need to be included in the thingamabob. I just wanted to add to the story. And seriously, if you ever want to read about a drastically different Southern woman, Flannery is your gal.'

Yeah you read that right, I had sent an extra copy to TigerLily awhile back ago because if anyone loves Keller more than I, it is my gal STL. Soooooo... while the force is strong between her and Keller (or so she says. I think he loves me more.) I gave her the opportunity to pick the winner.

She liked this comment the best...

'Well, I really just want the cookbook, but I'm pretty sure the heroine's next step would be to take the biscuits out of the oven, and serve them up to everyone in her crazy family with a entrée of chicken fried rat poison - so the ghostly ancestor can finally have their revenge and the young maid can run off into the sunset with the charmingly sexy, yet horribly undereducated, farmhand named Jackson Rhett Nathaniel Rutherford Lee, III - or, Sonny for short.'

-Liam O'Malley of My So Called Knife

Liam, you are THE WINNER! Please email me at krysta [@] evilchefmom [dot] com and let me know where you want me to ship ad hoc at home to.

Now we must discuss these little crack grenades...



My whole family is a snacking/hors d'oeuvres family. When there are large get togethers we have been known to skip dinner and just eat the
hors d'oeuvres or better yet just have an hors d'oeuvres dinners. Katie made these last Saturday and the little crack grenades (make them and you'll understand what i am talking about) were gone as soon as they were cool enough to grab. I had to sneak a couple and take a quick picture before I was attacked. Sorry but that's why the picture was so dark, it's the only picture I was able to take.

bacon wrapped dates: adapted from apples and butter which she in turn got from gourmet (gasp-sob) which originally came from suzanne goin

Makes 30, allow 5 per person

10 slices of bacon cut crosswise into thirds
30 dates
3 - 4 oz of Parmigiano-Reggiano, broken or cut into small pieces about the size of a date pit

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 450°F. Stuff 1 piece of parmigiano into each date, then wrap 1 piece of bacon around each date, securing it with a pick. Arrange dates 1 inch apart in a shallow baking pan. Bake 5 minutes, then turn dates over with tongs and bake until bacon is crisp, 5 to 6 minutes more. Drain on a paper bag or parchment. Serve immediately.

I served this with a side of really good balsamic vinegar to dip the crack grenades into. You got a little sweet, salty, sour in each bite.