November 16th, 2012 § § permalink
Honestly, where did November go?! I swear I just blinked for a second and now it’s Thanksgiving! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good excuse to stuff myself on turkey, dressing, and as much pie as the next person, but I’m just a little astonished (and way, way underprepared). Luckily, I have a token last minute Thanksgiving recipe or two, and one of them happens to involve snacking on chocolate covered strawberry turkeys (would you really expect any less from me?)…
Ingredients:
- Strawberries
- Melting chocolate
- Candy corn
- Fudge stripe cookies (cut into halves)
- Wax paper
- White royal icing (optional)
Cut the tops off of the strawberries, making sure that you cut the “back” flat so that the tail stands upright. Dip a few strawberries in chocolate and place them on wax paper. Once the chocolate is almost dry (but still sticky), press a half of a fudge stripe cookie onto the back to make the feathers, then press a candy corn on the tip to make the beaks. If you have any excess chocolate on the side of the turkeys, use a butter knife to cut it off. That’s all you have to do! You can put eyes on them with royal icing, but I like to keep it simple, especially since they never last long.
Not only are these perfect for snacking on throughout Thanksgiving (and the few days before and after, ughm..), but they also make really cute hostess gifts!
November 7th, 2012 § § permalink
I have a new found respect for cake-namers. I spent a solid 15 minutes trying to come up with a catchy, new name for this cake combo I concocted but I was seriously stumped! I’ll just claim that I didn’t want to blow you away with my creativity, ughm, so I settled on a tell it like it is name with Cream Cheese and Dark Chocolate Frosted Cake recipe. On an even more serious note, how could a cake with a macaron on top not be totally delicious? I mean, if nothing else, the cuteness alone would make me grab a second piece.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners’ sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.
For the dark chocolate frosting:
- 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 sifted dark cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 cup unsalted margarine
- 1/3 cup of soy milk
Put all ingredients into the bowl of the mixer. Beat on low to combine. Beat on medium high speed until very light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Check that the consistency is good for spreading, not too soft and not too thick, if it’s a bit too thick add a little more soy milk.
For the yellow cake recipe:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Cream sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans and bake 30 to 35 minutes.
September 28th, 2012 § § permalink
I really love cake batter anything. When I discovered cake batter ice cream in college, my whole world changed. Literally. By like twenty pounds, which is why I no longer buy cake batter ice cream. Since I’ve been clean of that habit for a few years now, I decided I’d allow myself to make these cake batter white chocolate chip cookies, which did not disappoint. To make them, I followed this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and modified it a bit:
Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 2 dozen
- 1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/4 cup yellow or white boxed cake mix
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup sprinkles plus extra to add on top
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cake mix, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until creamy.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour. Chilling the dough keeps the cookie from spreading too much.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop rounded tablespoons of the cold dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Add more sprinkles on top of the dough before baking for more visible sprinkles when finished. Make sure to keep dough chilled when working in batches. Bake for 11-14 minutes until edges are slightly browned. The centers will still appear soft, but the cookies will set as they cool.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 4 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
What’s your all-time favorite cookie? It might seriously be these once you try them!
September 14th, 2012 § § permalink
With summer coming to a screeching halt, I thought I should squeeze in one more ice cream related recipe for you. If you’re like us and live in a place like Houston (or the desert I guess) you could be enjoying these babies up until Christmas morning, I’ll leave that up to you. Either way, these chocolate cupped ice cream cupcakes are surprisingly simpler to make than their title, and they will surely leave your guests licking their lips (and possibly twirling around the room until the sugar high wears off). If you’re into healthier means, you can always modify this recipe to your skinny alternatives. Here we go-
To make 12 cupcakes:
- Silicon cupcake molds
- Chocolate for melting – approx. 32 oz.
- Icing of your choice – approx. 24 oz.
- Ice cream of your choice – approx. 1.5 quarts
- Spray oil
- Sprinkles
To make the chocolate liners: lightly coat the insides of the silicone cupcake molds with spray oil. Next, melt the chocolate and spread a thin layer over the inside of each mold. let them cool completely for about 30 minutes, and then coat with another layer of chocolate. Let the second coat cool for an hour.
Releasing the chocolate from the molds is a little tricky. Start by gently pulling the silicon back from the very rim all the way around the mold. Once the top is released, the bottom sort of pops out. The thicker the chocolate, the easier it is to take them out. Don’t worry if the top chips, you’ll never notice once you add the icing.
To finish your cupcakes, scoop your favorite ice cream into each chocolate liner, and then let them sit in the freezer for a bit.
Once they’re nice and chilled, top with frosting and sprinkles, and you’re all set!
July 19th, 2012 § § permalink
Let’s be frank, if you were to tell someone that you’re having cookies and coffee for breakfast, they would judge you. Heck, I might even judge, although I would be secretly jealous, so I can’t say for sure. Nonetheless, if you say you’re having biscotti and coffee for breakfast it’s all of the sudden classy. I’m not sure why that is but I don’t care! I’m having cookies, uh..biscotti for breakfast. To add a festive punch to it, I decided to dip them in colored white chocolate, which is not only the perfect touch to brighten your morning, but easily transforms them into party perfect bites.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon anise extract, or 3 drops anise oil
- 1 16 ounce bag of white chocolate chips
- Colored powered or oil (for colored chocolate)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar and anise flavoring until well blended. Combine the flour and baking powder, stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a roll as long as your cookie sheet. Place roll onto the prepared cookie sheet, and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. When The cookies are cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 to 10 minutes on each side. Slices should be lightly toasted.
- Melt white chocolate chips in a small bowl (using either the microwave or double boiling). Dip each piece into the chocolate and let them cool on wire rack. Once they are completely cooled, dip them again (but only halfway) in colored white chocolate*.
*To color chocolate, you must have either oil based or powdered colors.
Don’t these make for the cutest coffee or tea party?
