The Ninja Baker - #ChocolateParty

Autumn Pumpkin Butter Kiss Cookies, #ChocolateParty

NinjaBaker — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 11:50:16 +0000

Autumn kisses Japan with vermilion maple leaves, scents of charcoal-grilled matsutake mushrooms, and sweater weather. Cold spells and exquisite colors also embrace foliage in New England and other parts of the U.S. On both sides of the Pacific, pumpkin is a harbinger of the changing seasons. Japanese kabocha pumpkin squash leans towards more savory presentations. Its American cousin is a bit sweeter.

The Ninja Baker's Pumpkin Butter Kiss Cookies

Roxana’s Home Baking challenge to those attending the #ChocolateParty
was to combine pumpkin and chocolate into one delicious dessert. Riffing on the classic peanut butter surprise cookie, I created the Ninja Baker’s Pumpkin Butter Kiss Cookie. California temps may still be climbing into the 80s but one bite into this subtly spiced cookie (sprinkled with Demerara sugar) and garnished with dark chocolate, you know autumn has kissed your lips.

Pumpkin Butter Kiss Cookies

Pumpkin butter spices mingle with dark chocolate in a moist cookie sprinkled with Demerara sugar.

Ingredients:

2 heaping tablespoons of ground freeze dried organic corn (available at Whole Foods or online)
1 ten-ounce jar of pumpkin butter
½ cup butter, softened
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup organic brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
2 tablespoons corn flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Demerara sugar
1 bag of dark chocolate kisses

Directions:

In a blender, pulse freeze dried corn to powder.

Blend the corn powder, pumpkin butter and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add in the sugars.

Lightly beat the egg and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Pour into the butter and sugar mixture. Blend on medium speed for 5 minutes.

Mix in the flours, baking soda and salt until well combined.

Chill the dough overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

With a mini ice cream scoop create mini balls of cookie dough. (Spray the scoop and the dough will release easily.) Roll the cookie dough balls in Demerara sugar. Place the balls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes. As soon as the cookie sheets touchdown on the cooling racks, press unwrapped chocolate kisses into the center of the warm cookies.

Want an invite to the #ChocolateParty?

Here are Roxana’s party rules.

1.) Blog about your chocolate treat. Your recipe must include the two ingredients we choose. It can be a simple no bake treat or a sophisticated layer cake, the complexity level of the recipe is totally up to you.
2.) Include a link back to the Chocolate party page. Optionally, add the Chocolate Party logo in your blog post or on your sidebar.
3.) Your recipe must be published during the current month. Please do not link old recipes, they will be deleted. Do add the linky code at the bottom of your post.

Celebrate the rich gifts of autumn with chocolate and pumpkin.

Wishing you an autumn kissed with rich blessings.

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

Tags:

pumpkin cookies #recipe

dark chocolate kisses

#ChocolateParty

Strawberry Chocolate Bento, #Chocolate Party

NinjaBaker — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:54:49 +0000

Bento lunch boxes – from Hello Kitty and polka dots to somber and simple – are seen in school lunchrooms, corporate cafeterias in Japan. Most every Japanese home has one.
The demand for the stylish lunch boxes in the U.S. seems to be on the rise; more and more supermarkets and internet sites in the U.S. are selling the stylish lunch boxes. Americans are picking up on this Japanese custom of fixing bento boxes for lunch.

Hello Kitty Bento Box with a Veggie Sandwich

Roxana’s Home Baking Chocolate Party gave this Ninja Baker the perfect excuse to create a dessert bento box. Roxana, the gracious hostess of this monthly soirée asked partygoers to bring something with strawberry and chocolate.

So I filled a bento box with strawberry chocolate onigiri (Japanese rice ball), and chocolate cupcakes with strawberry banana pudding centers topped with pink chocolate ganache. Mini strawberry chocolate pies were also added.

The Ninja Baker's Strawberry & Chocolate Dessert Bento Box

This bento box is not recommended for a child’s school lunch. But it is a fun little box of sweets to share with friends and family.

Strawberry Chocolate Onigiri

A typical onigiri rice ball contains a pickled red plum in the center and is wrapped with seaweed. So, I wrapped black licorice rope (instead of seaweed) around 4 Hello Kitty strawberry marshmallows (which substituted for rice.) In the middle a red M & M was placed for the pickled red plum.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Banana Pudding Filling
& Pink Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Cupcakes:
I brought out Ann Byrn’s The Cake Mix Doctor and followed her instructions for Basic Buttermilk Devil’s Food Cake. Heavenly bites of light, moist chocolate cake ensued upon baking cupcakes from her recipe.

With a melon baller the middles of the chocolate cupcakes were scooped out.
The pudding mixture was gently spooned into the hollow centers. Pink white chocolate ganache was frosted on top.

Strawberry Banana Pudding Filling:In the blender, frappé 1 cup of milk plus defrosted and chopped frozen strawberries. Whisk until combined, 2 ½ ounces of banana pudding mix with 1 ½ cups of the blended strawberry milk. Cover with film and place in the refrigerator for 5 or more minutes before scooping into the hollowed out cupcake middles.
Pink Chocolate Ganache
Adapted from HipFoodieMom

Boil ¼ cup heavy cream until little bubbles emerge around the pan. Pour over 6 ounces of white chocolate which has been chopped. Add pink food coloring intended for candy making. in powdered form Stir from the center out. Make sure all ingredients are completely combined before frosting the cupcakes.

Mini Strawberry Chocolate Pies
Into mini muffin tins, spray a massive amount of cooking spray or until well coated.

Roll out a piecrust. (If you prefer homemade to store bought, my friend Jeanne Sakamoto’s apple pie crust recipe is the best!)
Cut out circles (1” – 1 ½ ”) to fit the mini muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or until golden. Immediately drop 2 chocolate chips into the bottom of each mini pie crust. Spread the melting chocolate with the back of a small spoon.

Once cooled, use an icing spatula to gently slide the mini crusts out of the tin.
Fill with whipped cream. Garnish with strawberry flowers. (Made by using
a mini cookie cutter or bento veggie cutters.)

If you’d like to participate in the Chocolate Party fun, here are a few guidelines.

1.) Blog about your chocolate treat. Your recipe must include the two ingredients we choose. It can be a simple no bake treat or a sophisticated layer cake, the complexity level of the recipe is totally up to you.
2.) Include a link back to a monthly round-up or the Chocolate Party page. Optional, add the Chocolate Party logo in your blog post or on your sidebar.
3.) Your recipe must be published during the current month. Please do not link old recipes, they will be deleted.

And of course, feel free to simply peruse the virtual buffet table (below) of strawberry chocolate treats concocted by talented bakers like Roxana.

Wishing you strawberry fields, forever blissful as rich chocolate.

The Ninja Baker

© ™ Watkinson 2012

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

Tags:

Japanse Castella Pound Cake & Chocolate Buttermilk Buttercream, #ChocolateParty

NinjaBaker — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 00:47:08 +0000

Castella honey cake has been a treasured gift in Japan since the 1600s. Portuguese sailors and merchants brought Paõ de Castela, Bread of Castile to Japan in the 1600s. Even when all foreigners were kicked out of the country by the Tokugawa shogunate for 200 years, the cake stayed. For several centuries the treat was reserved for rich folk – like the Emperor!

Today the royal dessert is readily available to all. Castella pound cake, in fact, is one of the most popular presents (or omiyage) one can bring to a home or company. But so are fancy chocolates. So, in honor of this month’s Chocolate Party celebrating the blissful blending of chocolate and buttermilk, I’ve baked Japanese castella pound cakes topped with the Ninja Baker’s Buttermilk Chocolate Buttercream.

Roxana of Roxana’s Home Baking is the creative force behind the party. If you wish to join the fun, click here. Or simply enjoy the scrumptious goods offered by the other party goers. (Scroll down for the list.)

For the Japanese Castella Pound Cake, I strongly recommend visiting Maki-san of Just Hungry. Her recipe and explanations of how best to whip the eggs and keep the moisture intact are invaluable. (My frosting how-to is slightly less complicated.) I made 3 mini loaves using Maki-san’s recipe and did not alter the baking time. My Castella cupcakes, however, were in the oven for 26 minutes.

The Ninja Baker’s Buttermilk Chocolate Buttercream

Ingredients:

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
½ cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate, sifted
1 tablespoon meringue powder
2 teaspoons vanilla powder
1 cup organic all vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
5 ½ tablespoons buttermilk

Method:
Whisk powdered sugar, cocoa, meringue powder and vanilla powder together. Set aside.

In an electric mixer, combine shortening, syrup and buttermilk. When smooth, add the powdered sugar one big ladle at a time. When smooth, fill piping bags.
Pipe roses or stars directly onto cakes or cupcakes onto fondant blossoms.

Castella & Chocolate Buttercream was also shared at the Easter Party
hosted by Foodie Friends Friday

Wishing you royal treats.

The Ninja Baker

The Ninja Baker has guest blogged and contributed recipes to numerous food sites. These additional recipes can be found here.

Tags:

Japanese Castella Pound Honey Cake

#ChocolateParty

Buttermilk Chocolate Buttercream