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Recipe from Gobba Gobba Hey by Steven Gdula (Bloomsbury USA, 2011) Vegetable shortening has never been a staple in my kitchen. My parents’ gob recipe calls for it, but I wanted to try swapping it out for butter. I did have a nagging concern about making that switch: Would an all-dairy gob lose the confection’s characteristic moistness?My answer came with the first buttery batch I baked. The gobs are still every bit as tantalizing in texture as the ones made with vegetable shortening. I overhauled the filling recipe, too. When made with butter, the gob filling has a wholly different, creamier mouthfeel. With a little tweaking I created a butter-based gob filling that I like to call “fresh-whipped sin.” The warm vanilla flavor is nicely tinged with a little lemon. For the batter, I like Green & Black’s organic cocoa powder. Its smoky, almost espresso-like richness is perfect with the cool, tangy filling. For the batter
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups sugar, sifted
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut in ½-inch cubes
- 2 eggs, separated, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line three 8-by-13-inch cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients until they’re evenly distributed. 3. In another large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter with a mixer on medium speed. Add the egg yolks to the creamed ingredients, and mix on medium. Then add the egg whites and vanilla, and mix on medium-high until the mixture looks like dense pudding. 4. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the egg mixture, mixing on medium speed after each addition. Then add the sour cream, and mix well. (If batter is too thick add additional buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time, mixing well after each, until smooth.) 5. Using a tablespoon or a pastry bag, drop 1½-inch rounds of batter on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving 1 inch between each round. Bake them approximately 8 minutes, or until the gob domes have risen. Remove the gobs to a wire rack to cool.
For the filling
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut in ½-inch cubes
- 12 tablespoons cream cheese, cut in ½-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons Sour cream
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1. Cream together the butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed. 2. Add the vanilla, confectioners’ sugar, sour cream, and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and beat on high speed until peaks form; scrape the bowl with a spatula to reincorporate the ingredients if necessary. Taste and add another tablespoon of lemon juice if you like. 3. To frost the gobs, flip the baked gob domes over on a cookie sheet and match up pairs of similarly shaped domes. Add 1 tablespoon of filling to the flat side of an overturned dome, then place another dome on top, sandwich-style. Allow the gobs to fully set by refrigerating them on a baking sheet for at least 1 hour. Wrap the gobs in plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.
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