Saturday in New York

Today I hauled a bunch of baked goods in to New York City to share with some friends who are either running or spectating at tomorrow's NYC Marathon. In addition to some items I'd baked a couple of weeks ago and frozen, I supplemented with two additional items: Pumpkin Brownies (from a recipe I saw posted at Cookstalk, the forum at the Fine Cooking Web site), and Apricot Crumb Brownies from Baking from the Heart.

The brownies were OK, although I think they ended up just slightly overbaked. The recipe specifies a 50-minute baking time. I set the timer for 40 minutes and took the fully baked brownies out of the oven at 38 minutes. I think they could go a few minutes less. The flavor combination of the spicy pumpkin-cream cheese batter swirled into the brownie is really nice. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies
MAKES 24 BROWNIES
ingredients

* PUMPKIN BATTER
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
* 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ginger
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
*
* CHOCOLATE BATTER
* 5 1/2 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
* 1 1/4 sticks (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 4 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 heaping cup large walnut pieces (about 4 ounces), optional

directions

1. MAKE THE PUMPKIN BATTER: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. In a small bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the sugar, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg, then add the pumpkin puree, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. Stir in the flour.
2. MAKE THE CHOCOLATE BATTER: Combine the semisweet chocolate and butter in a medium bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan with 1 inch of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted. In a large bowl, combine the eggs with the sugar, vanilla and salt; set the bowl over the saucepan of simmering water and, using an electric mixer, beat at low speed until blended. Increase the speed to mdeium and beat until the mixture is warm to the touch. Remove from the heat and continue to beat until the mixture is think and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Using a large rubber spatula, fold in the melted chocolate. Sift the flour over the warm batter and fold it in just until combined. Fold in the walnut pieces.
3. Spread the chocolate batter evenly in the prepared pan. Using a tablespoon, drop dollops of the pumpkin batter all over the top. Using the back of a butter knife, swirl the pumpkin batter into the chocolate; don't overdo it or the swirl pattern will be lost. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting.

Then there were the Apricot Crumb Bars. They're a Susan Purdy recipe contributed to Baking from the Heart, a book published in support of Share Our Strength. These bars are instantly one of my favorite bar cookies ever. Resting on a shortbread base, there's a layer of semisweet chocolate topped with a layer of apricot (both preserves and plumped, pureed dried fruit), and finally with an oat-and-walnut-studded crumb topping. I didn't have quite enough dried apricots for the fruit layer, so I supplemented with a bit of dried mango. The mix of textures and flavors (shortbread, chocolate, fruit, nuts) is brilliant. I'm already thinking about variations for this bar cookie (like maybe dried cranberries with a layer of white chocolate).

(Apologies. I have no photos of the brownies or the apricot bars. They were distributed and devoured -- I hope -- before I could take a photo.)

PLTI

Last year, Karen and I participated in a program called the Parent Leadership Training Institute, or PLTI as we know and love it. PLTI isn't a program to teach people how to be better parents; instead, it's a 20-week program about teaching parents to be better advocates for children. Our class was made up of an amazing cross section of people: parents, grandparents, teachers, community leaders, all of us taught and guided by three great facilitators (the almost Andrews Sisters: Patti, Laverne, and Bruce).

For our class last year, I baked from time to time. I probably should have baked more. When this year's class ramped up, Karen and I were both ready to give something back. Karen has helped out with setup. I baked coffee cakes for the class's first session, a daylong retreat. Then I made something for their first regular class. And the second. And so on. Baking for this year's class has been a pleasure. (The good orange cake I made last week was for PLTI.)

Last night, Karen and I were guests at last night's PLTI session (week nine) about the media. (Last year, we took over the media class. Despite that transgression, we were invited back to offer our insights.)

For last night's treat, I brought a Milky Way Cake. It's a recipe from Baking from the Heart, a collection of dessert recipes from top chefs and pastry chefs; a portion of the proceeds from sales of the book benefited Share Our Strength, a charity devoted to anti-hunger programs. Milky Way Cake is a recipe passed along by Jane and Michael Stern of Roadfood fame. When I first got the cookbook, the recipe caught my eye I think out of sheer goofiness more than anything. Every time I make this cake, I wonder what possessed someone to melt four Milky Way candy bars with a stick of butter and use them as an ingredient. In all fairness, the cake is essentially a caramel cake (the melted ingredients are a big glop of buttery chocolate caramel). Because this cake batter's volume is small enough and lightly leavened (only 1/4 teaspoon baking soda), I was able to use my 10-cup cathedral Bundt pan and not have to worry about batter overflow.

In the end, the cake turned out great, and it looked really impressive, too. I only wish I'd remembered to sprinkle it with a bit of powdered sugar. On the plus side, I had a photo backdrop: a beautiful piece of blue and gold cloth, part of Patti's cloth collection. I enjoyed the chance to see the PLTI class enjoy the cake, then guess what it contained. Many tasters detected notes of maple, but I think everyone was surprised to discover the secret ingredient.

Here's a recipe for Milky Way Cake. It's very similar to the one from the book.

Milky Way Cake
Makes 1 9-in. Bundt cake

4 (2.1 ounce) bars Milky Way
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans (preferably toasted)

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour one 9-in. Bundt pan. Melt candy bars and 1/2 cup of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Let cool. Cream remaining 1/2 cup butter or margarine with the sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add buttermilk alternately with flour and soda to egg mixture. Add vanilla and melted candy mixture and mix until smooth. Fold in chopped pecans and pour into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto wire rack to cool.