Monday, February 8, 2010

Better Late then Never.......

For Thanksgiving I made Katie's Fall Harvest Bread as part of our appetizers. It was delicious!!!! It was also perfect because I hae some little cousins and this was a hit with the 2 year old!





FALL HARVEST BREAD
(Good Things Catered)

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium apple (I like granny smith) peeled, cored, and diced
1 c. fresh cranberries (I used the packaged craisins)
1 c. chopped pecans (I think walnuts would also work well)

DIRECTIONS:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Prepare 9x5 loaf pan or 5 mini loaf pans(or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan).
-In large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.
-In another large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla and stir to combine well.
-Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just barely blended..
-Fold in apples, cranberries and pecans.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be all lumpy - don't worry).
-Bake for 60-70 minutes (35-40 minutes for mini loaves) or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
-Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack completely (makes the slices much more clean.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Gigantic Deliciousness

For a long time I lusted after the giant cupcake pan and I finally got it! It was fantastic! I made my Devils Food Cake and my begged for Peanut Butter Frosting recipe. Before I put the top on I injected some frosting into the middle of the bottom part and it was delicious!





One of the hints from the manual is to cook the bottom at first for a little bit longer then add the top so they cook evenly. THe only other problem I had was transporting it, with all the frosting on top I couldn't get my cake carrier to close.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

I'm back and with a fantastic cookie!

WOW!!! I haven't blogged in almost a year - 2009 was CRAZY!! I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog but in the past year I realized this blog is really helpful to me to get some of my favorite recipes when I am on the road. I might not be blogging as much as in my heyday but here we go again....................

One of the tasks that kept me busy in 2009 was a Holiday Cookie Swap at work that I was in charge of. My favorite recipe from the swap was my boss' cookies who are named after her aunt. I love these and made them for some Christmas Cookie gifts. They are supposed to be a little logs but my batch came out flat on the bottom. Enjoy!!!!!



Right out of the oven:




Coated and looking pretty:








Packed up with some truffles




AUNT NETTIE’S CHOCOLATE COOKIES


INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups of sifted flour
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) margarine, softened (I used butter)
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tspn vanilla
1 (6 oz)pack semisweet chocolate chips (mini chocolate chips work really well but you can use others)
2 cups chopped walnuts (you can also use almonds)

CHOCOLATE COATING INGREDIENTS:
1 large (12 oz) package of chocolate chips
1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix flour and salt
- Beat margarine, sugar, egg, vanilla in large bowl until well mixed
- Blend in flour, then stir in chocolate chips
- Shape dough into 2 by 1/2 inch logs (use a little flour on hands if dough is sticky)
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes
- Cool on wire rack

- Once cookies are cooled then melt 1 large package of chocolate chips (12 oz) and 1/4 cup margarine
- Dip ends in chocolate coating and roll ends in nuts.
- Place on wax paper until set.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Daring Bakers Flourless Chocolate Cake!!



I'm back!!!! It's been awhile since I have done a challenge and this was a great challenge to come back to. It was a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan and we were supposed to accompany it with a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy; however, I instead made a raspberry sauce.

Thanks to our hostess Wendy from WMPESBLOG and Dharm at Dad - Baker and Chef for this delicious recipe. I made them into little bundt cakes and everyone just ate them up.

Enjoy all of the Daring Bakers creative cakes and ice cream!





Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm's Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. 3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

Happy Valentines Day! I am a lucky girl and get to spend Valentine's Day with my little cousins and goddaughter but the other day I made some Valentines treats for work.

I made Red Velvet Cupcakes except this time I cut the chocolate to 1/4 c. They came out a little dryer then I would have liked BUT the cream cheese frosting came out delicious!!!! I actually had some leftover and trust me it is taking all of my will power to not dive into some pink cream cheese frosting!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!



Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Simply Devine Truffles!

My admin at work made these fantastic truffles so ofcourse I had to get the recipe and add them to my Christmas Cookie box! These were sooooooooo simple and absolutely delicious. I made two batches one regular batch with white chocolate melted and sprinkled on top. With the second batch I couldn't resist adding some peppermint extract, I love anything with peppermint and chocolate and these came out sensational.

When I did the second part and coated them in the chocolate I melted the chocolate in batches and one time I didn't need all the squares and another time I used all. So I recommend just doing them in 4 to 6 squares at a time.







SIMPLY SENSATIONAL TRUFFLES
(Source: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/simply-sensational-truffles-107529.aspx)

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 pkg. (20 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 tsp. peppermint extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

- MELT 8 chocolate squares. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Blend in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm.
- SHAPE into 36 balls. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet.
- MELT remaining chocolate. Use fork to dip truffles; return to baking sheet. Decorate, then refrigerate 1 hour.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Thumbprint Goodness!

One of my favorite blogs is Katie's and when I was looking for recipes for my Christmas Cookie Boxes I knew she would have a great one. And I was right her Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies were delicious! I made one batch with Raspberry Preserves and another with Blueberry Preserves and they were both great, except mine didn't come out as cute as Katie's. Thanks Katie!






RASPBERRY ALMOND THUMBPRINT COOKIES

(Source: Good Things Catered)


INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. almonds, ground coarsely
1 c. raspberry preserves


DIRECTIONS:

-In bowl of stand mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy in color, about 3 minutes.
-Add eggs and beat to combine well.
-Add vanilla and combine.
-Scrape down sides of bowl, slow mixer to low and add flour and almonds.
-Beat to combine (mixture will be coarse), remove bowl from mixer and scrape down sides, making sure all mixture is thoroughly combined.
-Scoop dough out into tsp sized rounds, rolling into balls. Place on cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart.
-Place cookie sheet in fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets.
-Make an indentation into top of cookie with finger.
-Using a spoon, place a small amount of jam into indentation of each cookie.
-Place into oven and bake until starting to turn golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool before serving.