Surprisingly Easy!

So if we can all remember back that far, let's talk about Thanksgiving desserts!! As a vegetarian and a sweets fanatic, dessert is my happy time for me - it is my Turkey. This year I made two staples, my Apple Oatmeal Crisp, which is honestly wonderful because there is a crisp later on the bottom and on the top.........thank god it is wonderful and worth it because the apples I bought from Target weren't big enough and I needed more so a quick run the nite before Thanksgiving to the foodstore we were back in business, my fresh Whipped Cream ( I think I did the recipe times 5 - no one will ever complain about too much whipped cream.) (I think new pictures are in order next Thanksgiving!

My cousin sent me an email asking me if I received Cooking Light with a picture of a recipe, after telling her no but the recipe looked great I was asked to make it for Thanksgiving.  I have never made a mousse before and some people (thanks mom) doubted my abilities to carry this off but I have to say in the long run it came out great and it was not hard at all.

The recipe does call for 1 tablespoon of Brandy and I somehow don't know anyone who keeps it on hand so my dad and I (family bonding right?) headed to the liquor store and bought a cheap MINI bottle - and seriously it worked out perfect.  Also, it says instant espresso granules and I don't drink coffee but my mom leaves some good British instant coffee in my fridge for when she comes down so I used that. For the Dutch Process Coco I just used my normal Hershey brand coco.  O yeah I forgot to read the Cool Whip directions on how to thaw it and so it wasn't really/fully thawed before I went to go use it so I mixed it a little before I measured it and I think put in some extra. Also, I had a 9 inch pan and just used that - maybe a little thinner but still delicious.

This recipe was declared a HUGE hit by the family even though when trying to cut and serve it, it fell apart a little bit. I love chocolate but even for me this is super chocolate so a little goes along way - isn't that what the whipped cream is for.

As I said one of my resolutions is to be better about taking pictures and honestly, this is the reason! I totally forgot to take the picture until people were halfway thru it!  




BAKED CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
(Source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon brandy

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs
2 large egg whites1/3 cup sugar

Dash of salt

1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

Baking spray with flour (such as Baker's Joy)

 

DIRECTIONS:

  - Preheat oven to 350°.

 - Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add cocoa and espresso, stirring until smooth. Remove pan from heat. Add chocolates; gently stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in brandy and vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture into a large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes; stir occasionally.

- Combine eggs, egg whites, sugar, and salt in the top of a double boiler, stirring with a whisk. Cook over simmering water until a thermometer reaches 115° (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly with a whisk. Place egg mixture in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until ribbony, soft peaks form (about 5 minutes).

-  Gently stir one-third of egg mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg mixture. Gently fold in whipped topping. Spoon batter into an 8-inch springform pan coated with baking spray, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until almost set (center will not be firm but will set as it chills). Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

OR USE WHIPPED CREAM: You can substitute an equal amount of whipped cream for the whipped topping BUT you have to cook for 5 minutes longer.

 

 

 

Game On!

Some people care about the game, I care about the food and commercials! May the best commercial..........I mean team..........win!

Red Velvet Cupcakes - supposedly in the colors of the Ravens and 49ers......I had trouble making the gold - o well - still delicious!

2013 New Years Resolution............ A little late!

Okay so even doing this post late is fitting because for 2013 I am really going to try and be better about blogging and keeping up with any comments (but I still don't think people read this blog - maybe if I actually blogged.........o catch 22 you get me every time!) I am also going to try and take time in taking my pictures and not oooooooooo last minute, hit someone's hand out of the way, and grab the iPhone type of picture.  Let's hope this goes well................

So Happy 2013 to All!

What will it bee?

I am at that stage in my life where my life is baby showers :) My cousin threw the most adorable baby shower up in NY that was bee themed because the expectant parent's (her sister/my cousin and her husband) did not know what they were having; what would it bee? (It ended up beeing the most beautiful baby girl).  I said I would make the cookies and bring them up to NY via the bus. I tried to plan ahead so I wouldn't be stressing out because October was a crazy month and I made the royal icing ahead of time......however, I messed it up because it seemed too stiff to me so I thinned it a little bit but once it got back to room temperature it was too thin!!! I ended up having all sorts of issues and the royal icing was too runny and I couldn't seem to be able to fix it. I ended up being a nut and the next day trimming the cookies so the icing wasn't all over the sides (I think this is about when I texted my best friend and told her I officially lost it).  I also ended up using lemon flavoring instead of lemon extract and had to guess on how much I actually needed (I also walked down the hallway with the bowl of icing at like 10pm to havemy neighbor try it!) While they didn't come out perfect they still looked cute and tasted awesome, even better!  I really have to get better on remembering to take good pictures but at least I got pictures of my cousin's totally cute beehive cupcakes. She really threw the most amazing shower, every detail was perfect!

Sweet and Salty!!

I feel like there are two types of people in this world: sweet or salty. I am definitely a sweet person.......taste preference not always in behavior :) When I started thinking about what I was going to make for the BaBy Q my mind kept wandering back to a great recipe I saw on Bee in Our Bonnet and I decided that this was going to be the time to make these caramel and chocolate covered pretzels.  Since I tend to be forgetful and overthink things (such a great combo) I couldn't remember what blog I saw the recipe at and so I started doing google searches and honestly the Bee in Our Bonnet recipe was the easiest and the best one so I am glad I finally found it again.  These were a HUGE hit and someone told me they tasted like a Twix - to me like a sality twix. They do take some time to make.

I used the Kraft Caramel squares and it worked out well; Bee in Our Bonet also suggested the caramel bits but I couldn't find them. I followed her directions  with melting the caramel in a pyrex and using the edge to scrape off a lot of the caramel.  I rested then ona cookie rack but then it got the lineson them so then I hand rolled all of them. However, they got the lines again with the chocolate but when I put the decorative chocolate on it I tried to  cover the lines up.  I was pretty lucky and my bag was pretty good and didn't have a lot of broken rods but I did break some when I was doing it so maybe have a second bag just in case.  The original recipe said she got around 30 ish.



I used approximately 2 cups of these and threw in 2 tsp. of water.  I microwaved it for 1 minute, then stirred, then microwaved it for 30 seconds more.  Your times may vary a little but this worked for me.

A 2 cup pyrex measuring cup is perfect to use.  It doesn't even have to be totally full.  If you tip it on it's side and roll the pretzel, you can get about 30ish pretzel rods out of it.  I bought plenty of extra pretzel rods because about 1/4 of the bag was always broken.

CARAMEL & CHOCOLATE COVERED PREZTELS
(Source: Bee in Our Bonnet)

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag of caramel squares - it is about 2 cups
2 tsp water
1 bag of chocolate
Something to decorate - colored chocolate, nuts, sprinkles

Directions:

- Melt 2 cups of unwraped caramels with 2 tsp water in a pyrex measuring cup in the microwave for 1 minute then stir and then add another 30 seconds.
- Angle the Pyrex and using the lip take some of the caramel off.
- After you let them dry a little bit melt the chocolate in the mircowave and then it can be helpful to use a Pyrex or taller. I can not remember but I might have done the chocolate in batches.
- Depending how you want to decorate either let the chocolate dry and then use the decorative chocolate or let it still be a little wet to dip it in the nuts etc.
-You can use a tall glass to disapply or just eat right away!!

BaBy Q Sugar Cookies!

For the BaBy Q I made cookies for the girls as favors and minis for the party...............the minis got devoured even by the boys.  I have to say I was really happy and proud of these cookies. I think it was because I planned and took my time but everything seemed to go well. I used my Sugar Cookie Recipe and Pink Martini and Pearls royal icing recipes that I have used before on the Bow cookies - this time I ended up making 3x times her recipe (2 times early on in the night and one later on).

THE BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES:(Source: All Recipes)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

- Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.


ROYAL ICING:
(Source: Pink Maritinis and Pearls)

INGREDIENTS: Times is by at least 2 - probably 3 times

1 lb. Powdered Sugar (does not need to be sifted)
3 Tbl. Meringue Powder
6 Tbl. Hot Water (from tap is fine)
1-2 Tablespoon of Lemon Extract (this is an addition by me but do it to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

- With a whisk attachment beat all the ingredients on high until fluffy. Do not under beat. Pink Martini mixes for at least 8 minutes. Put the icing immediately in a container with a tight lid to prevent it from drying out.

I then followed her directions for 10 second icing:

BaBy Q!!!!

I think I am at that age where I no longer go to weddings but now I go to baby showers.  I am also the type of person that offers to throw baby showers.................o why! I ended up helping throw a baby shower for my neighbors but we did it with a twist and threw a coed BaBy Q shower and had some awesome BBQ catered; of course, I did the desserts.  I am trying to get better about planning and because I am crazy and planned a last minute trip to Spain leaving the next day (you can check that out on my travel blog: Runaway Cubicle) I spread things out over multiple days and it totally made a difference - even though I was still up crazy late decorating cookies. Since it was a co-ed baby shower we didn't really want to do games but we did do one. I bought baby bottles and we did a beer race with 2 rounds (dads vs non dads) and the winner of each round went head to head. I do not have kids and bought the slow flow ones (um I am clueless) so we decided to puncture them and make them a little bit bigger.............yeah it wasn't a smart idea because it wasn't really a challenge so if you do it then don't make it bigger!

 

Bottles are solid chocolate

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes (regular size and mini)

The Boys Baby Shower Gift was a choice of different flavored Hot Sauces

They were labeled

Brubeck Temper Tantrum Sauce