yellowpigs.net

Recipes

Here are some recipes I've made, which I've shared here mostly for my own convenience.

• Chocolate-cranberry-oatmeal muffins
• Chocolate-chip banana bread
• Chocolate (baked) cheesecake
• Plum sorbet
• Lemon sorbet forever

Chocolate-cranberry-oatmeal muffins

Size: 12 muffins.
Time: 40 minutes.

1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
2. In large mixing bowl, combine:
   • 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
   • 1 1/4 cup milk (I usually use 1% or 2% milk)
   • Let this stand for 17 minutes, or however long it takes to mix the rest of the ingredients.
3. Meanwhile, in small mixing bowl, combine:
   • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
   • 3/4 cup white flour (if you don't have whole wheat flour, use 1 1/4 cups white flour)
   • 1 teaspoon baking power
   • < 1/2 teaspoon salt
   • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
   • < 1 tablespoon assorted spices (I consistently use cinnamon and ginger, and sometimes use small amounts of chili powder or cardamom)
   • Whisk.
   • 1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer larger chips)
   • 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or other fruit)
4. And in liquid measuring cup, combine:
   • 1/4 cup applesauce
   • 1/4 cup canola oil (if you don't have applesauce, use 1/2 cup oil)
   • 1 large egg
   • 1 teaspoon vanilla
   • Whisk.
5. Add to large bowl:
   • the contents of the liquid measuring cup
   • 1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar
   • Mix.
   • the contents of the small bowl
   • Fold (mix lightly).
6. Line muffin pan with muffin cups. Spoon in batter.
7. Bake at 400F (200C) for 15-17 minutes.

Source: Extrapolated from several muffin recipes and experimentation.

Chocolate-chip banana bread

Size: 1 loaf.
Time: 70-90 minutes (+ cooling time).

1. In small dish, melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (microwave 2-4 minutes on medium heat). Use a bit of the butter to grease the bottom and sides of loaf pan.
2. In small mixing bowl, combine:
   • 1 cup white flour
   • 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (or just use 1 1/3 cups white flour instead)
   • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
   • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
   • 3/4 teaspoon salt
   • 2-3 tablespoons cocoa powder (approximately, as I've never measured)
   • 1-2 teaspoons spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, etc.)
   • Whisk.
3. In large mixing bowl, combine:
   • 4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
   • < 2/3 cup white sugar
   • Beat until blended.
4. In small dish, lightly beat 2 eggs.
5. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
6. Add to large bowl:
   • contents of small bowl
   • Beat until blended.
   • 2 eggs
   • splash of rum (optional)
   • Beat.
7. In small dish, mash 2 very ripe bananas.
8. Add to large bowl:
   • bananas
   • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
   • 1/2 cup dried fruit (optional)
   • Fold.
9. Pour batter into loaf pan.
10. Bake at 350F (175C) for 51-60 minutes .

Source: The Joy of Cooking, with minor tweaking (mostly, reduced butter and sugar).

Chocolate (baked) cheesecake

Size: 1 cake.
Time: 2-3 hours (+ chill overnight).

Crust mapper (parallelize with filling mapper):

1. In small dish, melt 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (microwave 2-4 minutes on medium heat).
2. In food processor (or Ziploc bag and mixing bowl -- much slower), prepare crust:
   • 6-8 ounces of chocolate wafer cookies
   • Blend or crush until finely ground.
   • 3-4 tablespoons unsalted butter
   • Blend.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom of springform cheesecake pan.
5. Bake at 350F for 5 minutes until just set. Remove and let cool.

Filling mapper (parallelize with crust mapper):

1. Take out 32 ounces of cream cheese (4 8-ounce packages) to soften.
2. Chop about 10 ounces of dark chocolate (I think I used about 70%).
3. Melt chopped chocolate over very low heat until smooth (stir to prevent burning).
4. In small dish or measuring cup, lightly beat 3-4 eggs.
5. In small mixing bowl, combine:
   • 1 cup white sugar
   • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6. Cut cream cheese into chunks.
7. In large mixing bowl, combine:
   • cream cheese
   • sugar and cocoa powder
   • Blend until fairly evenly mixed (I used a combination of utensils, of which a plastic spatula/scraper was most effective).
   • eggs
   • Mix.
   • lukewarm (but still pourable) melted dark chocolate
   • Mix.

Reducer:

1. Pour filling over pre-cooked crust (smooth the top).
2. Bake at 350F for about 1 hour.
3. Chill overnight before cutting.
4. Cut, garnish, and serve. For long-term storage, wrap slices in waxed paper, bag, and place in the freezer. Defrost in the refrigerator and serve as desired.

Source: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Deep-Dark-Chocolate-Cheesecake-236209, with some modification/simplification/nerdification.

Plum sorbet

Size: < 1 pint
Time: 30 minutes.

1. Pick ripe plums from tree. :)
2. Wash thoroughly and remove pits from at least a dozen plums. (The plums on our plum tree are very small; YMMV.)
3. Add to blender:
   • plums
   • 1/4 cup sugar
   • 1/4 cup water
   • a dash of lemon or lime juice
   • a shot of liqueur
   • Blend for 1 minute or until smooth.
4. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker. Churn for 17 minutes.
5. Eat some, and freeze the rest.

Source: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/plum_sorbet/, with minor modification.

Lemon sorbet forever

Size: rather a lot of roughly 1-pint batches

1. Get 51+ lemons from ex-roommate. :)
2. Wash and juice all lemons. Zest a few lemons. Store and expect to make sorbet daily for awhile.
3. Mix:
   • 1 cup lemon juice
   • 1 cup water (or less if adding other fruit)
   • 2/3 cup sugar (or less if adding other fruit)
   • a dash of zest
   • a shot of rum
   • optional other fruit (e.g., orange, raspberry, blackberry, plum)
   • optional herb/spice (e.g., mint, basil, rosemary, ginger)
4. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker. Churn for 17 minutes.
5. Eat some, and freeze the rest. Don't forget to label containers.