Chocolate and Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

This is another recipe I saved onto my desktop, from Chocolate Shavings. My desktop is filled with recipes I want to try but don't have time to make! I thought this would be a great thank you cake to make for Joey, the friend who designed my new logo!  Don't you love it!  I do!! Thanks Joey!  I also made him these chocolaty cookies.  I found that this recipe makes a lot of batter. So I had filled my loaf pan and then still had extra crumb topping and batter to fill up a ramekin and coffee mug, so I filled them, and baked them too! Thank god I had a cookie sheet under my loaf pan while it was baking, because literally I had a coffee cake explosion. Here's a picture of what the coffee cake baked in the mug looked like to give you an idea...looks just like a cup of coffee, doesn't it?! 

Chocolate and Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake
(recipe source: Chocolate Shavings, adapted from the Baked cookbook, although I made my cake in a loaf pan)
Crumb Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup of hazelnuts
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Cake
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
16 ounces fat free sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Crumb Topping:
Put the flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor and pulse to combine. Add the hazelnuts and pulse until they are finely chopped and incorporated. Add the butter and pulse until mixture looks like coarse sand. Cover and refrigerate.

Chocolate Cinnamon Swirl:
Mix ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Sour Cream Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan (whatever you use make sure not to fill it more than half way, the cake will overflow!!!) Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth. Scrape down bowl and add sugar. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping bowl as needed.
Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three additions, scraping down the bowl before each addition and beating only until each addition is just incorporated. Do not overmix.
Pour one third of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Use an offset spatula to spread batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle half of the chocolate cinnamon swirl mixture over batter and a third of the crumble topping, covering the entire surface of the batter. Spoon half of remaining batter over the swirl mixture and spread it evenly. Top with remaining swirl mixture and crumble topping, then the remaining batter, and spread the batter evenly. Sprinkle the remaining crumb topping evenly over the top of the batter.
Bake in the center of the oven for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

Chocolaty Chip Cookies

I first saw this recipe while browsing around on The Kitchn.  The original post was a cookbook review and recipe from Michel Richard's cookbook, Sweet Magic.  I saved the link on my desktop knowing I'd get around to baking these chocolaty cookies one day. Well, not sure if you saw my new logo on my Facebook page, but if you didn't you should have a look.  Feed Your Sister is going places in the next few weeks!  That's right, a new home, some behind the scenes people and I have been working on putting it all together!  But anyway, I wanted to send my family friend, Joey, who worked on the logo for me some delicious treats!  I chose to make these cookies! I also had some extra to give to another friend, and she described the cookie as the perfect combination between crispy around the edges but soft and chewy in the middle!  The recipe is pretty simple, all done in the food processor and a little elbow grease!  The slice and bake type deal is great, that way your hands don't get too dirty either!  It's a win-win!

A few changes from the original recipe...I did not toast the hazelnuts and then bother to steam them to get the skins off, what I did do was toast them in a dry pan for a few minutes, until they were fragrant and then threw them in the processor!  Next, I had semi-sweet mini chocolate chips in the freezer and thought it would be fine to replace them for chopping up 8 ounces of chocolate.  Same difference, right?  Well, here's the recipe!  Next time I go to the bookstore I am definitely going to check out Michel Richard's cookbooks and see what else he's got for me!

Extremely Chocolaty Chip Cookies

(adapted from Michel Richard's Book Sweet Magic)

Makes 24 cookies (I was able to get about 30 cookies)

1 cup hazelnuts
14.4-ounce box graham crackers, crushed (about 4 cups)
8 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate (I used mini chocolate chips, they worked great and made less work for myself!)
1/2 cup dark alkalized (Dutch process) cocoa powder (I used Hershey's, totally fine!)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar, dark
2 large eggs

Note: The cookie dough is rolled into a cylinder shape that can be refrigerated for several days or frozen for several months. Defrost it in the refrigerator before baking.

Place the hazelnuts and graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade and pulse to produce a fine powder. Roughly chop 4 ounces of the chocolate and add it to the food processor bowl, along with the cocoa powder. Process all together for 15 to 20 seconds, or until uniformly combined. Using a spatula, mix the butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add the eggs and the contents of the mixer bowl and incorporate well.

Divide the dough into halves. Lightly wet your work surface, cut a length of plastic wrap about 24 inches long, and lay it on the damp counter. Place one of the dough balls in the center of the plastic. Take one edge of the plastic wrap and fold it over the dough. Tuck it under and roll the dough, forming a large sausage shape approximately 3 inches in diameter and 6 inches long in the process. Roll up the entire length of the plastic wrap around the dough two or three times. Next, twist both ends of the plastic very, very tightly. If you loosely pack this dough, it will crumble too easily. Fasten the ends tightly with twine or twist ties. Repeat the above steps with the other piece of dough. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or until firm.

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut the remaining 4 ounces of chocolate into large "chips." Line two sheet pans with Silpat or parchment. Slice the dough into ½-inch-thick disks. Place 6 cookies on each sheet pan and press 6 to 8 chocolate pieces into the top of each or sprinkle a few mini chips and press lightly into the dough. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. They will be very delicate—let them sit on the pan for 5 minutes until they are firm and cool enough to remove with a spatula. Carefully transfer the cookies to wire racks and cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Sweet Brussel Sprouts

HAPPY JEWISH NEW YEAR and SHANA TOVA to all who celebrate! This is a great side dish recipe to serve for the holiday!!

Sweet Brussel Sprouts
(serves 2-3 people)

2 containers of brussel sprouts, sliced in half lengthwise
4 tablespoons of butter or margarine
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

In a large saute pan, place the olive oil and butter (margarine) and let melt over medium heat.  After it melts together, place the brussel sprout halves face down and let caramelize and cook to your liking.  ( I prefer them a little over al dente, probably sauteed about 7-10 minutes).  Add the maple syrup, salt, and pepper and chopped hazelnuts.  Stir to combine and let simmer for another minute, place in a serving dish and enjoy!!

Tip: For an easy way to chop whole hazelnuts use a mini food processor!