Your best chocolate cupcake recipe please. One which will satisfy my boyfriend who likes his cupcakes light, yet chocolatey and utterly rich. (And frosting :)

Forgot to mention above - if you can give measurements in grams/ounces (basically non-cups) that would make you the best person ever. I'm cup-phobic.

This will be one of those things where I send you elsewhere. Basically, there are 3 oft-cited chocolate "dump-it" (one bowl, super-easy) cake recipes that float around: one each from Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson and Amanda Hesser. I can't imagine going wrong with any of them, but having little taste for chocolate cake WITH flour, I haven't tried them yet.

The Post-Gazette was kind enough to do a recipe taste test with these three and one other last month, and their results are over here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06110/683416-34.stm

Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini has a recipe measurement converter on her site I find very helpful. http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2003/10/conversions_equivalents.php

Good luck!

I want the lemon bars and the wild mushroom tart.. and oh could I have the spinach quiche too!! Darn, now I'm going to be thinking about food all day!

yum yum, watching those pictures has made me really hungry, you evil woman you!!! haha
Something that caught my eye was the "jalapeño cheddar corn muffins". Bear in mind that we just get polenta-like corn flour here, not the thinner corn flour you use in the US. Will it do?

Also, the lemon bars look yummy.

My original request was your best cupcake/brownie recipe...you can also thrown a great cookie recipe in there ;)

Oh, and have you ever tried "chipas"? It is a traditional guarani-Paraguayan recipe with tapioca flour and loads of different types of cheese. It is truly awesome, let me know if you want the recipe. By the way, did you ever receive my email?

This is easier than I thought! Because I do absolutely nothing to alter these recipes, I will point you to their sources:

Wild Mushroom & Stilton Galette - http://content1.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/recipedetail.cfm?objectid=C8020363-4F1D-4B3B-9ABD6C39A2189C16
The recipe is fussy, but flawless and tasty.

Spinach Quiche - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/2551 I often make it with a basic pie crust/pastry dough and not the puff pastry.

The lemon bars are another story. I did not love that recipe. My mother has an award-winning (really!) one but I think last time I thought I copied it, I copied a less-good one. (Don't ask.) Let's see if we can get her to leave a comment here with her choice recipe.

Seema, the spinach quishe entry has the url. Here it is:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/2551

Marce - I'll have to get you the corn muffin recipe later, but this is another one where I felt they fell a little flat (no really, look at the picture) in all but taste. I'll post it later.

BAKERS ONE BOWL BROWNIE RECIPE
(use any chocolate you like)

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2 c. sugar (I use 1 3/4)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl at High 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
3. Stir sugar into chocolate. Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour and nuts. Spread in greased 13 x 9 inch pan.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (I check it at 25.) Cool in pan; cut in squares. Makes 24 fudgy brownies. (I make them much smaller)

VANILLA CUPCAKES/CAKE
Ack, another long story. Basically, I use the Magnolia one which IMHO, does not belong to Magnolia but to every American housewife that makes the same cake but calls it a 1-2-3-4 cake - 1 c. butter, 2 c. sugar, 3 c. flour, 4 eggs, plus milk and vanilla. It's a good, solid, moist white cake recipe but I suspect that there is *even* better out there.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened.
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup self-rising flour
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whip butter until very smooth in texture
2. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until smooth in texture
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating very well between each addition
4. In separate bowl, mix the 2 flours together
5. In separate bowl, mix Milk and Vanilla
6. Add flour mixture and milk mixture 1 cup at a time to butter mixture, beating very well between each addition.
7. Spoon into lined cupcake pan (approx. 1/4 c batter per cupcake)
8. Bake for 20-22 minutes in pre-heated oven (350 degrees F)
*You can also make 3 – 9” rounds with the batter. Just make sure you grease and flour each pan.

Hilary at SuperJux believes she has found The One white cake - I haven't tried it yet but trust her baking skills implicitly. You can find it over here: http://superjux.com/baking/2006/05/vanilla-cupcakes/.

Deb,
Pizza Crust recipe! Please----

Do you do any sort of upside-down cake? I recently came across a super exciting mold (shaped like an elaborate sand castle!) that I was looking for an excuse to buy, but have no idea what to make in it.

PIZZA CRUST
3 c. flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 a-p)
2 t. salt
1.5 t. active dry yeast
1 c. water
1 T. olive oil

I whirl all the dry ingredients in the food processor, and then drizzle in the oil and water. I pulse it the on dough setting until it comes together in a ball. (You can add more water, 1 T at a time if it doesn't come together, though I've never had to.) Take it out of the food processor and knead it on a floured surface for a couple minutes. Put the kneaded dough in a olive oil-ed bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and put it in a draft-free place for 1-2 hours.

After it has risen, punch it down on the floured counter, and divide it into two smaller rounds (if you like thin crust) or keep it in one big ball (if you like thick). Cover it with a towel and let it rise for 20 more minutes, then it's ready to roll out onto your pizza stone or tray (both sprinkled first with cornmeal).

Add whatever pleases you atop, then bake it at your oven's top temperature for 10 min or until it looks dreamy.

---
I made the pineapple upside-down cake over here a few weeks ago and will never make another. It was perfect.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/103088
These days I am seeing a lot of Apple Upside-Down Cakes (Ina Garten) and Plum Upside-Downs (Martha, Ina), etc. I'm sure you can have fun with it - peaches? Pears? Damn, just got hungry.

My sister has that sandcastle cake pan, so she is more of an expert, but from what I understand about decorative bundt pans is that you can't make just *any* recipe in them, or not if you want it to mimic the cool shape. I think she uses the one that came with her Williams-Sonoma pan. Looks like they have a lot of fancy bundt-friendly recipes on their site: http://ww1.williams-sonoma.com/sch/rcp.cfm?bnrid=&recipe=bundt&x=0&y=0&formSubmitVar=submitted.

All I have to say is those are some amazing brownies, and can be made in half an hour from start to finish, awesome stuff! I added some cinnamon because I find it intensifies the chocolate flavor. Thanks :)

I googled the jalapeno cheddar muffins and came up with several recipes, and a link to this blog, which said you had gotten the recipe from Mark Bittman's from How to Cook Everything. Since I do not have the book, I am probably going to try out one of these 3 recipes, probably the polenta one, but adding the jalapeño peppers and some tabasco. I am sharing the recipe in case somebody else is interested.
http://www.recipezaar.com/63796
http://www.recipezaar.com/67101
http://www.recipezaar.com/95959

Yay! All your yummy secrets revealed!
Ok, what I wanna know....

1) How do you make such perfect latice atop your pies?
2)blondies
3)pita bread

the black and white cookies?

Please, please, recipes for Oreo cookes and graham crackers again...I'm in a comfort food baking phase. Thank you!

Well, I personally can attest to the fact that your oreos are better than just about anything else on earth.

I made that same Baker's brownie recipe the other night and I completely concur with Deb's decision to reduce they sugar. And then I feel they should be topped with chopped macadamias and white chocolate, but that's just me ;)

Please add the oreo recipe! They look great! Also, do you make homemade pasta or pizza sauce? The only person I know who does is my dad, and I find his recipe too acidic.

I remember a few posts ago you said you work around MSG.. did you notice the line of people on Tuesday and Wednesday? If you did and were wondering who these nuts were lined up to see, the answer is Radiohead. And they kicked ass. Woooooo!

The pizza crust is awesome...I actually got it right last weekend, just been uber busy to post my response! Thanks Deb!

This entry and the comments are giving me serious deja vu--on 6/14, I also posted a pizza crust recipe (Ina's), a one-bowl brownies recipe and a jalapeno-cheddar corn muffin recipe (I checked Mark Bitman's corn bread recipe first). I also posted a black bean soup recipe.

I wonder what the statistical likelihood of that is?

I am going to try using half wheat flour in my next batch of pizza dough as I work my way back towards a crust that's wholly wheat.

LATTICE TOP TRICKS
Back when Sarah Moulton had a (stellar) show on FoodTV, in one episode she gives this great trick to make a perfect lattice top, which has saved many of mine: folding the pieces back.
1. Lay out all of your pieces in one direction.
2. Fold every other slat back on itself.
3. Lay the first perpendicular piece across.
4. Return the folded back pieces to their laid-out positions, over the perpendicular slat.
5. Continue doing this, alternating which pieces you fold back and laying the perpendicular pieces across until you are done. It works like a charm, and you never find yourself holding more than one piece at a time.
6. When you are all done, tamp down and then trim the edges.

I adore you all so much (also, my trusty MS Paint) I drew you a hopefully helpful diagram. It's hidden right here: http://thesmitten.ivillage.com/love/latticepie.jpg - and yes, I am available to illustrate your next cookbook, ha.

PITA BREAD RECIPE
Guess what?! The recipe is the same as the pizza dough - no really. The only trick, and this is a very important trick, is that when you create dozens of little balls of dough to make the pitas, let them rise that second time, that when you roll them out you create no seams. You hear that? None. Any seams, and the pitas do not bubble and create the infamous pita "pocket." Otherwise, it's easy as pie. (Ba-dum-dum.)

BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES
Recipe over here: http://www.recipezaar.com/50220
Only things I changed were I skipped the lemon extract and used almost quadruple the amount of chocolate in the chocolate glaze. This 1) made it bittersweet and 2) made it the dark, "black"-like color.

OREOS
Recipe over here: http://nosheteria.com/dailyspecial/2006/04/chocolate-sandwich-cookies-with.html
My changes: I cut back on the sugar in the cookie by a lot. Typical Oreo wafers are not very sweet, with this recipe, they are. Keep the sweetness in the filling - this is more accurate.

GRAHAM CRACKERS:
The recipe I used is over here:
http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2005/04/shf-7-graham-crackers.html

The recipe I'd like to try next is here:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000126.html

I liked mine a lot, but wouldn't call them a favorite, yet.

BLONDIE RECIPE:
…To come!

Deb, you are a genious with MS Paint!

Did I get the one-bowl brownies AND blondies? Whatever they were, they were AWESOME! I kept the bowl so when you're a famous pastry chef, I can say, "Oh yeah, Deb and I go way back." :-)

On top of everything else, the Blondies (to come) and the Brownies ship very well. Always important if you, like all good reporters, pay your sources off with baked goods, as I did when Howard helped me out with an article for my day job last month.

Bring OREOS. YGYUMMgyumm cookie monster!

Great diagram, no really!

For all my bread (including pizza dough) I use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat. It's not bleached, it's some part of the grain they use at a certain time or something. Either way, it works great. I make Naan (flat bread) and parathas (stove top bread) with it too.

Thank you for the recipes! But I'm gonna blame you if (when) I gain 10 pounds :P

Oh Deb...you horrible rotten awful person! Now I have to COOK EVERYTHING!! I can't say "oh I don't have the recipe for..." And our 4th of July get-together is coming up! Which means I will be cooking and baking for DAYS before. I blame you for this fetish. Know what's worse? I NEVER GET TO EAT ANY OF IT! Angus devours my pies, George devours my cookies, and Brad and Kyle and everyone else devour the rest. Two beautiful pecan pies last summer and I got none. Bah! Damn the having to share! :P Thank you tho for posting all! It will be a glorious party :) Come to Colorado to visit and you can have your way with my little kitchen!

Deb, i've been surfing around for a perfect fruit tart recipe and i can't find one, so here is hoping you will PLEASE PLEASE post the recipe you used on your fruit/berry tarts! thanks bunches!

The oreo's were a HUGE fathers day hit! thanks for revisiting the recipes!

I posted a great chipa recipe at recipe zaar, they are a type of cheese rolls with tapioca flour, super yummy.

http://www.recipezaar.com/174239

Only a week late and several bucks short:

BLONDIES (Recipe from Mark Bittman/How to Cook Everything, reprinted with nobody's permission)
Either one recipe (8x8 pan) or double as I do (9x13). Single recipe below.

8 T butter, melted
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla or 1/2 tsp almond extract
Pinch salt
1 c. all purpose flour

1. Grease pan.
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below). P
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Better if underbaked. Cool on rack before cutting them.

How I make them: I use this ridiculously uppity French butter with specks of sea salt in it. I chop a 4oz white chocolate and 4oz bittersweet chocolate bar into small bits, as well as most of a cup of toasted pecans.

His optional additions. Use one or a combination of: 1/2-1 cup nuts; 1/2-1 cup chocolate chips; 1/2 tsp mint extract instead of vanilla; 1/2 cup mashed bananas; 1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey and add an additional tablespoon of flour; 2 T of espresso powder with the vanilla. (This is why recipes in How To Cook Everything are so awesome, and why I suggest this cookbook first to everyone. Options! Plus, these are the best freaking blondies in the world.)

BERRY TARTS
I've used recipes from a lot of places - basic tart dough/pate brisee + creme patisserie/custard but in the end, I always fall back on Julia Child's very detailed instructions in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The instructions are far to lengthy to retype, but if you buy that book, you will never regret it.

I also added a cup of dark chocolate chips and a cup of walnuts to the one bowl brownies. I think my boyfriend almost proposed after he ate the first one.