JUNIOR MINTS CHEESECAKE: National Chocolate Mint Day!

Today is National Chocolate Mint Day... the perfect food holiday to write about one of my all time favorite candies -- Junior Mints.

Junior Mints is a candy consisting of small rounds of mint filling (with a dimple on one side) inside a dark chocolate coating. They are currently produced by Tootsie Roll Industries.

History: Junior Mints was introduced in 1949 by the James O. Welch Company, manufacturers of candies and candy bars such as Sugar Babies, Welch's Fudge, and Pom Poms. The name of the product is a pun on Sally Benson's Junior Miss, a collection of her stories from The New Yorker, which were adapted by Jerome Chodorov and Joseph Fields into a successful play, directed by Moss Hart. Junior Miss ran on Broadway from 1941 to 1943. In 1945, the play was adapted to film, with George Seaton directing Peggy Ann Garner in the lead role. The Junior Miss radio series, starring Barbara Whiting, was being broadcast weekly on CBS at the time Junior Mints were first marketed in 1949. Welch created a product sold at movie theater concession stands and identified with a specific movie and radio series and displaying a name that sounded almost exactly like that property–yet different enough that it avoided any fees for licensing and merchandising. Junior Mints quickly became a popular candy, and one product in the line is the three oz. box marketed as the "Theater Size Junior Mints Concession Candy."

And, of course, who can forget the Junior Mints episode of Seinfeld?

In case you want to smell like Junior Mints, not just eat them, here's a Link to the Scent.

And, here's a recipe that includes actual Junior Mints: Junior Mints Cheesecake.

JUNIOR MINTS CHEESECAKE 

Ingredients
6 ounces Junior Mints (two 3 ounce packages)
3 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate crumb crust for a 9 inch springform pan (see below)

Directions
Put Junior Mints in freezer.
In electric mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in vanilla.
Pour into crust.
Chop cold Junior Mints and sprinkle on cheesecake.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until just set.
Cool on wire rack, then chill several hours or overnight. Makes 8 servings.

Chocolate Crust: 
Combine 2 cups crushed chocolate wafers (I whirl them in the blender) with 6 Tbsp melted butter.
Press into bottom and up sides of pan.

Rainy Day Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

I live in Northern California, and if you check the news, you'll see we've been had quite a week of atmospheric rivers, cyclone bombs, Pineapple Express, rain, hail, thunder, lightning, wind, and flooding. The land is saturated, the creeks and rivers are overflowing, the sewers are backing up, and sink holes are popping up everywhere. But if you're stuck inside, what can you do? Well, make Rainy Day Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course.

You can never have too many chocolate chip cookie recipes! I have all the ingredients in my pantry and fridge, and I bet you do, too. I won't have to go out in this rain. Have fun!Your house will smell great, too!

Rainy Day Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients 
2-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1-1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt
2 cups dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Coarse sea salt

Directions 
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. When butter begins to foam, start whisking to prevent burning. After couple of minutes, butter will begin to brown on bottom of saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as butter browns and gives off nutty smell.
Immediately transfer butter to bowl to prevent burning. Set butter in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes or until room temperature.
Meanwhile mix together dry ingredients (except 2 sugars).
Once butter has cooled to room temp, with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla, and almond extracts, and yogurt until combined. Add dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed until just combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.
Chill dough for 2 hours in refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are in a hurry (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Once dough is chilled measure about 1 heaping tablespoon dough and roll into ball.
Dip top of the ball into coarse sea salt.
Place dough on prepared cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake cookies about 11 minutes or until edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. Hint: Cookies will look a little underdone in middle, but will continue to cook once out of oven.
Cool cookies on sheets at least 2 minutes. Then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.

 

SHROVE TUESDAY AKA PANCAKE DAY AKA FAT TUESDAY: History & Recipe for Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Today is Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day aka Fat Tuesday! Shrove Tuesday marks the last day before Lent which is traditionally a period of abstinence, associated with clearing your cupboards of goods such as sugar, fats, and eggs. The day is commonly known as Pancake Day because it represents a good opportunity to use these ingredients ahead of the fasting period.  

Pancake Day takes place 47 days before Easter Sunday. Because the date of Easter Sunday is tied to the lunar calendar, Pancake Day can occur anytime between February 3 and March 9. Easter is Sunday, April 20, this year. 

In many countries, Shove Tuesday is celebrated with pancake throwing contests and races. Not so in the U.S.

From Wikipedia: 
Like many other European holidays, the pancake day was originally a pagan holiday. Before the Christian era, the Slavs believed that the change of seasons was a struggle between Jarilo, the god of vegetation, fertility and springtime, and the evil spirits of cold and darkness. People believed that they had to help Jarilo fight against winter and bring in the spring. The most important part of Shrovetide week (the whole celebration of the arrival of spring lasted one week) was making and eating pancakes. The hot, round pancakes symbolized the sun.   

So to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, and Pancake Day, you'll want to make pancakes, and I suggest one or both of the following recipes for Chocolate Chip Pancakes. I've listed two easy recipes for Chocolate Chip Pancakes, but you can also make Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes and add chocolate syrup or a dollop of chocolate ice cream...if you're in a really chocolate mood. And, if you're giving up Chocolate for Lent, this will be your last chocolate treat until Easter!

1. Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Pancake batter
Chocolate chips

Make a batch of your favorite pancake batter. For every cup of dry pancake mix, add 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Mix batter. Stir in chips. Lightly grease and heat griddle or skillet. Pour a little less than 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake. When bubbles appear all over uncooked side of the pancake, it's time to turn over. Cook the second side until light brown.

Or, if you don't have your own pancake recipe:

2. Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sifted flour

1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
3 eggs, separated
4 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions
Put dry ingredients in bowl. Combine well-beaten egg yolks with buttermilk and stir lightly into dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips. Stir in melted butter. Beat in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Cook on griddle or in skillet.
Makes 10-12 pancakes.

Martha Washington's Devil's Food Cake: Presidents Day

Presidents Day: Martha Washington was known for entertaining, and who better than to put forth a recipe for Devil's Food Cake than the First First Lady. Her Devil's Food Cake is a classic chocolate-buttermilk cake that has been handed down through the generations, republished (with variations) by baking chocolate companies, and appearing on thousands of websites. Presidents Day is a celebration of Presidential Birthdays, and this is the perfect Birthday Cake.

This recipe is from Capitol Hill Cooks: Recipes from the White House, Congress and All of the Past Presidents by Linda Bauer (Taylor). The collection of appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts, from two centuries worth of politicos, is a benefit for Homes for Our Troops, which helps injured veterans build or adapt their homes for handicapped accessibility.

Martha Washington's Devil's Food Cake

Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, divided
2 -1/2 cup cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9-by-15-inch pan or two 9-inch cake pans.
Melt chocolate in double boiler. Add 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup buttermilk, and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cool.
Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder, baking soda, and salt and sift together three times.
Cream butter thoroughly. Add 3/4 cup sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add about quarter of the flour mixture, mix thoroughly. Add chocolate mixture and blend. Add remaining flour, alternately with buttermilk, a small amount at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla.
Pour batter into greased pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until done. Let cool. When completely cooled, trim edges and cut rectangular cake in half crosswise to make a two-layer cake. Fill and frost with icing of your choice.