But this is not that french toast. This stuff is so tasty that you’ll barely need syrup. A dollop of whipped cream and a drizzle of real syrup will put it over the edge though.

Simple but not standard.

I changed up my normal French toast routine for this version by substituting almond extract instead of vanilla. That’s a substitution that I’m doing more these days and so far I’ve always liked the almond version better. Also, I made a kind of crazy whipped cream with ricotta and honey. It turned out better than expected honestly.

Almond French Toast

Yield: Serves 3-4.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup milk
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Butter or oil for cooking
8 thick slices of bread

Whipped Cream:
1 Cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 Cup mascarpone (or ricotta I guess)
1 Tablespoon honey

Helpful Equipment:
Cast Iron Skillet or Griddle

Directions:

1) If you're using homemade whipped cream, start by whipping the cream, honey, and mascarpone together in a bowl until the cream forms stiff peaks. Set in the fridge until ready.

2) Use a sturdy bread for this, stale is good, and slice to about 1/3 of an inch thick.

3) Lightly beat your eggs, milk, sugar, extract, and cinnamon together in a dish.

4) Add a dab of butter to a hot pan or griddle over medium heat (I used a cast iron pan).

5) Let your bread soak in the custard mixture for about 15 seconds. (Less if you're using a flimsy bread, more if you're using a sturdy bread)

6) Add to the hot pan and cook for 3-4 minutes per side until the toast is nice and brown.

7) Serve immediately with maple syrup, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and some fresh whipped cream.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything.

Making the whipped cream

So my original plan with this whipped cream was to add a tiny bit of mascarpone cheese with the cream and add some honey. I figured it would be tasty with French toast. For some unknown reason, when I went to the store I purchased ricotta cheese instead of mascarpone cheese.

Since I had it, I figured I would try my idea with ricotta.

Something different...

The ricotta starts off almost like cottage cheese (and I was sure it would be a failure) but then after some serious whipping (which you have to do anyway) it smoothed out quite a bit and magically turned into whipped cream.

The honey gives this a great flavor and honestly the ricotta was very good. It gave the final product a lot of body. I’m not sure that I’d recommend buying ricotta just for this, but if you have extra and are trying to sneak it into things, this totally works and was actually pretty good.

Just add all your ingredients into a preferably chilled metal bowl and whisk like crazy until it turns into whipped cream!

Worked like a charm!

The French Toast

If you can at all help it, please don’t use flimsy white bread for french toast. It just kind of sucks in my opinion. You want something sturdy that can sop up a lot of the custard mixture and hold together without a problem.

You could definitely use no knead bread for this or any good french bread. While you can use fresh bread (I did for this recipe), it’s pretty standard to use older, stale bread. Since it’s kind of dry it’ll actually soak up even more of the custard which is a good thing.

Whichever bread you use, slice it pretty thick. I did about 1/3 of an inch slices.

Bread selection is very important.

This is a really basic french toast custard recipe. The only fancy thing I did was substitute almond extract for the vanilla.

If you’ve never used almond extract before, here’s my advice: Go buy some. Anytime you see vanilla extract in a recipe, try substituting almond extract for it. I’ve yet to find a recipe that doesn’t work great with almond instead of vanilla.

Basic stuff.

Lightly beat the eggs and milk together and then mix in your extract, sugar, and cinnamon. I like to use a pie dish for this because it’s shallow and the bread fits perfectly in it. A bowl would make it hard to get the bread soaking.

Depending on how sturdy and stale your bread is, you’ll need to soak it for different times. If you are using crappy white bread, you’ll need to soak it for about 5 seconds. If you’re using a sturdy stale bread, 45 seconds would be better.

I let my bread soak for about 15 seconds per side and that was about perfect. It should be heavy and clearly filled with custard, but not really soggy.

The long soak.

Cooking the French Toast

Unless you have a large griddle, you’ll probably have to cook these guys in batches which means you should also soak them in batches.

I used my trusty cast iron skillet to cook these. I put my skillet over medium-high heat and once it was heated, I added a tiny dab of butter to it. Then toss the bread straight in!

This will smell good immediately.

After cooking for 3 or 4 minutes on side one, give them a flip! They should be nice and browned but not burnt at all. Then another 3 or 4 minutes on side two.

Flipped!

Serve these up as soon as possible with a dollop of whipped cream, a sprinkle of cinnamon and some syrup!

Freakin' excellent.

This is a really quick way to feed a crowd a delicious brunch. Plus, if you plan right, you can just use stale bread for it! They’ll never know.

But I’m telling you… almond extract. That’ll have them coming back for more!

Luckily, my future wife isn’t too crazy about that stuff either although I’m sure she wouldn’t scoff at the occasional flower. A bag of Doritos, though, sends her head over heels! (I’m not at all joking.)

I told her I’d make anything she wanted for brunch last weekend as an early Valentine’s day and she chose crepes… so I made two kinds!

A good start to the day!

There are so many things to love about crepes, I’m not really sure where to start. For one, you can fill them with almost anything. Second, they are pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it. Third, they actually store pretty well for later as long as you don’t fill them until you eat them!

I’ve made crepes before on Macheesmo but these variations are a bit different.

Crepes Two Ways

Yield: Makes 8 crepes.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Basic Crepe Batter
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups milk
3 Tablespoons butter, melted plus a bit for the pan

Smoked Salmon Crepe Filling
4 ounces smoked salmon
6 ounces cream cheese (or more if you want)
Red onion, sliced
Capers

Banana, Mascarpone, and Nutella Filling
Makes 4 crepes.
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 Cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons sugar
Bnana, sliced
Nutella

Directions:

1) For the batter, mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Then slowly whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir melted butter into the batter.

2) If you're making a chocolate version, stir in 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder to 1/2 of the batter.

3) To make crepes, add a dab of butter to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melting and bubbling, add 1/2 cup of batter right in the middle of the pan.

4) Swirl the pan around to spread the batter out in a thin, even layer over the whole surface.

5) Cook for one minute then flip with a spatula and cook for another minute on the second side.

6) When the crepe is done, fill it with a filling of your choice. Either eat them immediately or keep them in a hot oven (350-400 degrees) for a few minutes to melt the filling. (Don't put the sweet filling above in the oven or it will liquify all over the place.)

Mixing up the batter

Crepe batter is basically like a very loose pancake batter. The only important thing to remember is to mix up the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Leave the butter out until the very end.

The makes of crepes!

So that means combine your flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl and your eggs and milk in a separate bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk together and then slowly whisk it into your dry ingredients. Last, add your melted butter.

I took half of my batter and added 2 Tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to it to make a delicious chocolate version!

Yum.

The Fillings

I went with two fillings for this batch of crepes: one savory and one sweet.

This is a really delicious savory filling. I swooned over it.

Decadent and savory.

You could just layer on the smoked salmon and spread on some cream cheese, but I decided to mix it all together. I roughly chopped my salmon and then mushed it together with the cream cheese with a fork.

I included some classic toppings that go with smoked salmon like capers and red onions, but I didn’t mix those into the creme cheese because Betsy doesn’t like capers.

The savory spread.

The Sweet Side

Betsy requested a very specific sweet crepe (banana and Nutella). I decided to kick it up a notch by A) putting it in a chocolate crepe and B) making a creamy mascarpone filling to go with it.

I actually had a bit of the cream mixture left over because it kind of makes a lot. You could half it I guess if you wanted to go light on the cream filling.

Very rich.

Add your mascarpone and cream into a cold bowl and whisk like crazy. You could also do this in a stand mixer if you want or with hand mixers. I went old school for this batch and just did it with a whisk. It probably took about 10 minutes and I had to stop and rest a few times! After whisking for a few minutes, add your sugar and then continue to whisk. It should be very light and hold stiff peeks.

Stiff peaks!

Making the Crepes

I don’t really think you need a fancy crepe pan to make crepes correctly. You just need a largish non-stick skillet. Add a dab of butter in the pan and put it over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted and bubbling, add 1/2 cup batter, chocolate or normal to the direct middle of the pan.

The important part is to immediately start swirling the pan slowly so the batter spreads out to the sides of the pan to form a thin sheet. There’s some other photos of this process on the last crepes post I did.

Eventually you should have something like this:

The swirl is the important part.

Cook this for about 1 minute on the first side and then gently flip it over with a spatula and cook it for another minute on the second side. If you mess up one or two, don’t worry about it. I’ve made crepes a few dozen times over the years and I’ve never gotten all of them right. Never.

My rule with crepes is to fill just as many as you want to eat. It’s easier to store the crepes and filling separately if you aren’t eating them right away.

But if you are eating them right away, do something like this:

packed full!

Or this:

For the sweet tooth.

Then roll them up and eat them! I think the chocolate ones are best right away while the crepe is slightly warm and the filling cool. For the savory version, I like to roll them up and then set them back in either a hot pan or in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes until the outside of the crepe is a bit crispy and the filling is warm.

You wouldn’t want to do that to the sweet variety because the mascarpone filling would just melt all over the place.

This was a good brunch!

So good.

There wasn’t a lot of flowers or fuss with my Valentine’s Day brunch, but there was plenty of good food and good drinks and what more could ya want?!

If you’re looking for something to make tomorrow with friends or lovers, consider the crepe!

My only issue with tiramisu is it generally uses Brandy which isn’t something I have laying around. Bourbon, however, I do normally have and tend to like more anyway. So I figured I’d try a version of tiramisu with bourbon instead of brandy. It had a much stronger flavor, but was still very tasty.

You want this.

The hardest part of this recipe, if you ask me, is actually finding ladyfingers. At least in DC, they are incredibly hard to find. I went to three different grocery stores before finally throwing in the towel and just deciding to make them myself.

Bourbon Tiramisu

Yield: Makes a 13x9 pan.

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour + chill time

Ingredients:

Ladyfingers
Makes 40ish ladyfingers
1 1/4 Cups cake flour, sifted
1 Tablespoon sugar (for flour)
1/8 Teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/2 Cup sugar + 1 Tablespoon (for eggs)
1 Teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted but not hot
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

Tiramisu:
About 40 ladyfingers
2 Cups very strong coffee
2/3 Cup Bourbon (original recipe was 1/2 Cup but come on...)
1 Cup heavy cream
1 pound mascarpone cheese
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup powdered sugar
Cinnamon (for dusting)
Cocoa powder (for dusting)

Helpful Equipment:
Stand Mixer
Pastry Bag

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift cake flour, then measure and add sugar and pinch of salt. Then sift everything again on some wax paper so you can easily transport the flour.

2) Add eggs and 1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp. sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk until sugar is mostly dissolved. Then beat egg mixture on medium high for 5 minutes until you have a very light and fluffy meringue. The batter should form a ribbon that rests on top of the other batter when it drips.

3) Gently fold the cake flour into this mixture. Fold the flour in 1/3 at a time until it's well mixed. Think of the batter as a foam and you want to keep as many bubbles as possible.

4) Once your flour is incorporated, gently fold in your room temperature melted butter.

5) Add the batter to a pastry bag and pipe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Coat heavily with powdered sugar.

6) Bake the ladyfingers at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

7) For tiramisu, mix your cofee (cold) and brandy in a bowl.

8) For filling, add mascarpone (or cream cheese in a pinch) and heavy cream. Mix on high until it forms stiff peaks. Then add in vanilla and slowly stir in powdered sugar.

9) Dip a ladyfinger in the bourbon-coffee mixture for a few seconds. Layer dipped ladyfingers in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish.

10) Next, spread on a layer of the filling. You should use about half of it. Then dust on a general layer of cocoa powder and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

11) Do another layer of soaked ladyfingers, followed by the rest of the mascarpone filling, and another good dusting of cocoa powder and cinnamon.

12) Let chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving.

Adapted from a Young and Hungry recipe.

After some research, I decided to go with Julia Child’s Ladyfingers Genoise. If you plan on making these, I’d recommend watching that video. She makes it pretty easy to follow.

Making the ladyfingers

This batter is called a Genoise batter, which is actually a bit tricky. The problem is that when the batter is finished it’s in a pretty fragile state, so you want to bake it as soon as possible. More on that later.

First thing to do is get all your ingredients ready and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. For your cake flour, sift it (very important for this recipe), then measure it and add 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 1/8 Teaspoon of salt to it, and then re-sift the mixture onto some wax paper which will make it easy to transfer into your batter later.

Sifting is important

Then add your eggs and your 1/2 Cup + 1 Tbsp. of sugar into a mixing bowl. Whisk together the eggs and sugar just to make sure the sugar is mostly dissolved. Then, with either a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes until they form a light and fluffy meringue. The key is that when you lift the whisk, it should form a ribbon of batter and that ribbon should rest on top of the rest of your batter.

The ribbon!

I think I actually could have beaten mine for another minute. Once your egg mixture is nice and light and fluffy, you need to fold in your cake flour. At this point your batter is in its most stable form, a meringue. From here on out, time is working against you, but that doesn’t mean RUSH. Just work gently but quickly.

FOLD your flour into your batter using a flat spatula, 1/3 of your flour at a time. Do this by pushing your spatula all the way to the bottom of the bowl, turning the bowl, and gently lifting and folding. Think of the batter like a foam and you want to keep as much of the air bubbles intact as possible. Stirring would just pop them all! Again, if you haven’t folded something like this before, check out this video. At about minute six she does some serious flour folding.

Careful!

Once all your flour is folded in, gently fold in your melted butter. It’s very important that your butter isn’t too hot or it will just melt your batter. It should be a bit over room temperature. Once your butter is folded in, your batter will be at its most fragile state.

At this point, we need to make the ladyfingers! If you have a pastry bag, more power to ya. I use a gallon-sized plastic bag and just cut off the corner.

Ghetto pastry bag.

Gently pipe these onto baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper. Work quickly and try to make them as uniform as possible. One tip is to draw lines 3 inches apart on the backside of your parchment paper before you start. That way you’ll have guides for when you are piping.

After you pipe them, dust the ladyfingers with a serious coating of powdered sugar. This will help them stay in place! I got better at piping as I went a long.

Hurry!

Bake these guys at 400 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through if necessary. They should be a nice golden brown color. I’m really proud of the middle row of ladyfingers in the below photo. Most of those turned out pretty nicely. The top and bottom rows are a bit rough.

Not bad.

Honestly, I wasn’t too worried about the shape because I’m dipping them in coffee and bourbon and then layering them between layers of filling. So whateva.

Tiramisu is actually one of the easiest things to make once you get the ladyfinger situation worked out. Just combine your coffee and bourbon (or brandy) in a bowl. The only important part to remember is that your coffee is cool or at least room temp before starting.

Best dessert ever.

For the filling, add your mascarpone (or cream cheese in a pinch) and heavy cream and mix on high until it forms stiff peaks and holds its shape. Then add in your vanilla and slowly add in your powdered sugar. The final mixture should be pretty stiff.

I’ve done this by hand before with a whisk and it’s definitely possible. It takes some elbow grease though and about 10 or 15 minutes. If you have a mixer, use it.

Light and fluffy

To make the dish, dip a ladyfinger in your bourbon-coffee mixture (make sure the liquid is room temperature) for a few seconds. Let the ladyfinger soak up some of the mixture. Then layer them in the bottom of your baking dish. Squeeze in as many as you can.

Bourbon and cofee soaked...

Then do a layer of your mascarpone filling mixture. Use about half of it. Then give the filling a generous dusting of cocoa powder and cinnamon. I probably sifted on about 1/2 Tablespoon of cinnamon and 3-4 Tablespoons of cocoa powder.

After that, do another layer of your soaked ladyfingers, followed by the rest of your mascarpone filling mixture. Finally, give the top another good dusting of cocoa powder and cinnamon. The white filling should be completely covered.

This is what I mean by a good dusting:

Don't skimp on the cocoa people.

Set this all in the fridge to cool for at least 4 hours and then serve it up! I think it’s best the next day after all the flavors meld together a bit.

Fantastic.

Tiramisu is so good. You’ve got to try this if you’ve never made it. If the ladyfinger situation is stressful, I’ve used store-bought pound cake in a pinch also. You won’t really be able to dip the pound cake in the bourbon-coffee mixture though. Just cut slices of it about 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick, make a layer, then pour over a bit of your coffee mixture. That works also!

I’m telling you. Tiramisu is good stuff.

I decided to break one of my rules for this meal (don’t combine two things that you’re doing for the first time in any given recipe), and make a filling with the chestnuts for a ravioli. The chestnuts weren’t too terrible to prepare, but I think I need to work on my ravioli technique a bit. They were very tasty, but not the prettiest thing on the block.

No need for sauces! Well... except butter.

One killer about this recipe is that I don’t have a pasta roller which would make the whole thing easier, but there is something fun about making it by hand. I am no Italian grandmother though so mine just look a bit more, um, rustic.

Chestnut Ravioli

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Pasta: (From How to Cook Everything)
3 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour (you probably won't use all of it)
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 Teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 pound chestnuts (about 20)
8 ounces Mascarpone
Very tiny pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of salt

1 egg for egg wash (plus a Tablespoon of water)
4 Tablespoons butter for brown butter sauce

Helpful Equipment:
Pasta roller
Ravioli Mold

Directions:

1) For pasta, in a bowl, beat eggs and egg yolks together and then add salt. Then, on a clean surface, add 3-4 cups of flour and make a large well in the middle. Then pour egg mixture right in the middle.

2) Using a fork (or your fingers), gently stir the egg mixture around – slowly incorporate more flour into the mixture. Don’t worry if there are some lumps.

3) Work it with your hands, kneading it, for about 10 minutes. If it starts to get really sticky at any point, just add a bit more flour from your outer ring. You most likely will not use all the flour.

4) Once you have a smooth dough, wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour in the fridge. You can make it 24 hours in advance without a problem.

5) For filling, heat your oven to 350 degrees.

6) Using a paring knife, make a small X on the flat side of each chestnut. Lay out all the chestnuts on a baking sheet as you work.

7) Roast the chestnuts for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

8) While chestnuts are warm, peel them. To keep the chestnuts warm while you peel them, leave batches in the oven at 200 degrees and pull out as needed. For those that don’t peel easily, treat them like a clove of garlic. Chop them in half and then give them a good smash with the side of the knife!

9) Add the peeled chestnuts to a bowl and mush them up a bit with a fork. Then add mascarpone cheese and the pinch of cinnamon and salt.

10) To make ravioli, cut dough ball into quarters. You should end up getting about 7 or 8 large ravioli from each quarter of dough. Then take each quarter and roll it out. Keep the dough well-floured so it doesn’t stick. If you want it to look nice, you can trim the edges of the dough with a knife so the edges are straight.

11) Place about a Tablespoon of filling on the right side of the dough. Leave about 1/2 inch in between each ball of filling.

12) Brush egg wash on all the edges and in between each filling piece. So basically there should be a square of egg wash around each ball of filling. Then fold the left half of dough over the right side and press down between each piece of ravioli. The key is to make sure you don’t have any air bubbles in each ravioli as those might cause your ravioli to explode while it’s boiling.

13) Use a knife to slice up your raviolis. If you have a ravioli mold, go around each piece to seal.

14) Get a large pot of salted water going. Once it’s boiling (gentle boil not rolling boil) toss in your ravioli. When they float, they’re done! It should only take a few minutes.

15) Melt some butter in a large pan and just when it was starting to brown, I tossed in my ravioli to coat them in the lovely brown butter sauce.

Making the Pasta Dough

I think the well method is the best for making pasta. In a bowl, beat your eggs and egg yolks together and then add your salt. Then, on a clean surface, add 3-4 cups of flour and make a large well in the middle. Then pour your egg mixture right in the middle.

Making a well.

Next, using a fork (or your fingers), gently stir the egg mixture around – slowly incorporate more flour into the mixture. Don’t worry if there are some lumps.

Use a fork to make this happen.

Eventually, you should end up with a fairly stiff dough that isn’t sticky, but isn’t dry at all. Then start working it with your hands, kneading it, for about 10 minutes. If it starts to get really sticky at any point, just add a bit more flour from your outer ring. You most likely will not use all the flour. This was my final product.

Don't rush this people.

Wrap that in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour in the fridge. You can make it 24 hours in advance without a problem.

Making the filling

The first step in making the filling is to roast the chestnuts. You can roast as many as you want, they are great just to snack on. You’ll probably only need about 20-25 for the recipe though. To roast the chestnuts, heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then, using a paring knife, make a small X on the flat side of each chestnut. Be very careful when doing this. The chestnut is kind of hard and it’s also kind of slippery. Those two factors can lead to massive wounds!

Just work slowly and you’ll get the hand of it.

Careful!

Lay out all the chestnuts on a baking sheet as you work. It took me maybe 5 or 10 minutes to get all these done once I got the hang of it.

Ready for the oven!

Roast the chestnuts for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. They should kind of bloom open. I’ve heard that you can also boil the chestnuts to remove the skins so that might be easier for you.

The trick to peeling

As the chestnuts cool, they kind of harden which makes them much harder to peel. So you want to peel the shell of each one while it is relatively warm. The way I did this was to turn my oven down to about 200 degrees just to keep them warm and then I worked in batches – pulling out 3 or 4 chestnuts at a time to peel.

In an ideal world, you should be able to easily pop the nut part out through the whole where the X was. If it pops out perfectly, it’ll look like this!

Ideal.

But a good number of them don’t pop out nicely. For these, I treated them like a clove of garlic. Chop them in half and then give them a good smash with the side of the knife!

It’s not as pretty, but it works.

Messy.

Once all your chestnuts are peeled, the filling is super easy to put together. Just add them all to a bowl and mush them up a bit with a fork. Then add your mascarpone cheese and the pinch of cinnamon and salt.

This was a really tasty filling.

Mixed with the mascarpone.

Making the Ravioli

This is where it got a bit dicey for me, but for my first try I was pretty happy with the result.

First, cut your dough ball into quarters. You should end up getting about 7 or 8 large ravioli from each quarter of dough.

After an hour of resting.

Then take each quarter and roll it out. Keep the dough well-floured so it doesn’t stick. I was able to get my about 20 inches long by 6 inches wide. If you want it to look nice, you can trim the edges of the dough with a knife so the edges are straight.

Then place about a Tablespoon of filling on the right side of the dough. Leave about 1/2 inch in between each ball of filling.

I made some large ravioli.

Then brush your egg wash on all the edges and in between each filling piece. So basically there should be a square of egg wash around each ball of filling. Then just fold the left half of dough over the right side and press down between each piece of ravioli. The key is to make sure you don’t have any air bubbles in each ravioli as those might cause your ravioli to explode while it’s boiling.

As far as cutting goes, just use a knife to slice up your raviolis! If you have a ravioli mold, that will make sure that all your edges are pressed together well, otherwise, it’s worth it to go around each piece after you cut them. A leak around the edge of your ravioli will not end well. I lost one little guy because of this.

Not going to lie. This took me a while. It probably took me 30 minutes to make all the ravioli. It would’ve been a lot faster if I had a pasta roller. I also think I’ll be better at it my second time around. But I was pretty happy with the end result.

This is actually a lot of food.

Cooking the Ravioli

If you want to store these ravioli, they freeze really nicely. Just wrap them in plastic wrap and then store them in an airtight plastic bag. They’ll keep for awhile in there without a problem.

If you want to cook them right away (and you will), just get a large pot of salted water going. Once it’s boiling (gentle boil not rolling boil) toss in your ravioli. When they float, they’re done! It should only take a few minutes.

As far as sauce goes, simple is best. I just melted some butter in a large pan and just when it was starting to brown, I tossed in my ravioli to coat them in the lovely brown butter sauce. That’s all the sauce you need.

A bite of heaven.

I loved this meal and it actually turned out pretty successful even though I was working with two new things. I think the ravioli could have been a bit more evenly shaped, but that’s okay. They still tasted fantastic!

Would I make these again? Any day of the week. But seriously. I’m buying a pasta roller.

I’ve made brownies before with cream cheese in them, but I wanted to try something different. I’m a huge fan of mascarpone and thought that a mascarpone brownie might be really interesting. That was my great idea. I’m sure it’s been done before. The point is though that I completely botched it. More on that later.

This, however, was the successful version.

Mascarpone on a brownie?

I say successful, but it still wasn’t perfect. I tried to make my mascarpone frosting myself and it didn’t turn out perfect. After doing some research, which by the way I failed to do before making the dish, I learned that most mascarpone frostings are sort of half mascarpone and half cream cheese. This makes complete sense to me after I tried to make one out of 100% mascarpone. It was A) too sweet and B) not sturdy enough.

Don’t get me wrong, it was edible, but I’ve given a recipe below that I think would make it even better.

Mascarpone Frosted Brownies

Yield: 9x9 pan

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Brownie (adapted from Mr. Bittman. This makes a very rich brownie)
8 Tablespoons butter
3-4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
A Pinch of salt

Mascarpone Frosting (Giada's version looks like a huge improvement on mine.)
3 ounces cream cheese, room temp
1/3 Cup mascarpone cheese, room temp
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
3 Tablespoons honey
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts (not sure how this would work for a brownie frosting, but could give it some great texture.)

Directions:

1) Combine the chocolate and butter in a bowl or saucepan and put it on low heat. Use a metal bowl and then set it on some boiling water to melt everything slowly.

2) Once the chocolate and butter is melted, slowly mix in the sugar and eggs until everything is combined well.

3) Slowly add your flour and then spread it all out in a buttered 9 X 9 pan.

4) Whip the cheeses together with the butter until everything is light and airy.

5) Cook the brownies without the mascarpone on them. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350. Ideally though a toothpick would come out pretty clean from the center.

6) Cool the browning before frosting (sticking them in the oven for 30 minutes would work)!

7) Frost the brownies and enjoy!

Making the Brownies

I tend to like a really rich, intense brownie. I want it chocolate-filled and dense. I might work on a brownie recipe that is a bit lighter and more cake like, but this one is rich.

To start, combine your chocolate and butter in a bowl or saucepan and put it on low heat. I use a metal bowl and then set it on some boiling water to melt everything slowly. If you are putting it over direct heat, watch it closely and stir it continuously.

The backbone of the brownie.

Once your chocolate and butter is melted, slowly mix in your sugar and eggs until everything is combined well. Try to make a face!

There is a face in there somewhere...

The original recipe calls for vanilla extract, but I’ve recently discovered almond extract and it has kind of changed my life. I highly recommend trying it out.

Whoa flavor.

Slowly add your flour to the party and then spread it all out in a buttered 9 X 9 pan.

Ready to bake. What could go wrong?

The Mega Fail

Ok. So on round one for these brownies I tried to make them exactly as I would the cream cheese brownies. So I made a mascarpone mixture and tried to kind of fold it on top of the brownie and bake it. It works very nicely with cream cheese because cream cheese is sturdy and bakes well.

Turns out that mascarpone is closer to butter and ends up just melting all over the place.

DISASTER.

Round Two

Not to be defeated, I immediately went to the store, bought some more chocolate and gave it a second shot. This time I figured I would just use the mascarpone as a frosting and this was a much better idea.

(Side note that at this point Betsy thinks I’m crazy. I’m cursing at my oven, flinging butter and chocolate all over the place, running to the store and back in the rain… it was really an all-star performance.)

If I were to do it again though, I would use the above recipe which I think would be just about perfect. I used 100% mascarpone for mine and it was still a bit too light. It really needs a touch of cream cheese I think to make it hold together.

In any event, you basically just whip the cheeses together with the butter until everything is light and airy.

A lot better.

Baking the brownies

Cook the brownies without the mascarpone on them. They will need to bake for 18-20 minutes at 350. I always tend to under-cook my brownies rather than overcook them. Ideally though a toothpick would come out pretty clean from the center.

The key part is to make sure that your brownie is completely cooled before frosting it. Otherwise you’ll just run into the same melting problem. In fact, I even stuck my brownies in the fridge for a few minutes after letting them cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

The frosting worked like a charm.

Frosting is the way to go.

This was a great lesson for me. Do a bit of research before you start and it can go a long way toward success. I got just a bit too excited about my concept (which in retrospect wasn’t so original) and didn’t take the time to think through the whole dish.

But I’ll say a few things:

1) Brownies are good.
2) Brownies with almond extract are really good.
3) Brownies with mascarpone has very serious potential.

If anybody has tried something like this before, I’d love to hear from you! Also, if you can think of any improvements, as always, leave a comment!

These guys would have totally clinched the competition for me: Apricot and Chicken Calzones

One. Million. Dollars.

The sort of annoying thing about the Pillsbury Bake-off is that you have to use specific ingredients from specific lists. Obviously these ingredients are from sponsored companies and it’s how they are able to give out the crazy amount of money that they give out just for baking a cream puff or something. I was originally going to use an apricot jam and a pre-made frozen dough from the approved companies to make my calzones.

Since they disqualified me, I decided to use a different brand of apricot jam. TAKE THAT PILLSBURY!

These are the ingredients I added to my chicken filling.

Mascarpone was a bad choice.

For the chicken filling, cube about a pound of chicken and cook it in two tablespoons of oil. When it is cooked, add about 8 ounces of apricot jam, the juice of one lime, and 1/4 Teaspoon grated nutmeg. Stir all that together and add a pinch of salt and pepper. The apricot is pretty mild actually and the lime cuts the sweetness. It turned out to be a really nice filling.

Simmer it down.

I actually made two versions of this recipe. For version one, I used mascarpone cheese and store bought puff pastry. These turned out okay, but mascarpone wasn’t a good cheese choice and the puff pastry was too light. If I were making these again with puff pastry, I would make them smaller and use a different cheese. If they were bite-sized, they would be tasty little appetizers. Maybe not million dollar appetizers, but tasty!

Puff pastries are tasty.

This was the result of the puff pastry experiment.

Good. Maybe not million dollars good.

But this wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I wanted a more traditional calzone. Something substantial. I also figured that since I was disqualified, I might as well make my own dough, because let’s face it – frozen dough is not worth a million dollars.

I made a standard pizza dough that I would use for forming the calzones. Check out my mashed potato pizza or mini-pizza party post to see the recipe I use for pizza dough. The standard recipe I use in those posts make 2 large pizzas, 4 large calzones, or 6-8 smaller calzones.

Homemade pizza dough shouldn't be intimidating.

I made the same filing for these as I made for the puff pastry version, but I used mozzarella cheese. The mascarpone turned really soupy which I should have expected. Mozzarella is an awesome melty cheese. It worked great with these.

Roll the dough out into a thin circle on a flour-dusted surface. I did not go light on the filling with these. It’s a million dollars people. Don’t skimp on the chicken!

Don't go light on the filling.

Brush the edges of the circle with some egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with 1 Tablespoon of water). Fold over the dough and work out any air bubbles. Then seal the edges. I’m not the best at making the decorative edges. I just make sure that it is sealed well or the cheese will just explode out the side of the calzone. Then brush the top with more egg wash and cut a few slits in the top to let steam escape.

Ready for the oven.

Slide these guys into a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. When the come out, they will be very hot. Let them cool for a few minutes before cutting into them.

Calzone done right.

Ok. So I probably wouldn’t have won the Bake-off, but I also don’t really consider myself a food professional. That’s okay though. These awesome calzones helped soothe the pain of rejection.

A Pizza stone and peel will really help your cause if you want to make these.

Any readers out there able to actually enter this competition??