Archive for the ‘Baking’ Category
Baked Whiskey Tortes
Holy Cow, I have a new favorite cookbook! Well, dessert book! Recently, while searching for inspiration, I went to my local library and checked out a few of the cookbooks. I have been looking for books that will not just give me recipes, but teach me how to bake. Why baking powder and not soda? Why eggs or just the yolks or only the whites? Paddle attachment versus whisking balloon? Though I LOVE to bake and can reproduce pretty much any recipe, admittedly, I have no idea how these people came up with this stuff. I am tired of reproducing recipes and ready to start creating my own. Why re-invent the wheel? I don’t know…a new sense of ownership in what I am working so hard on all the time? As you can see, I have a lot of questions when it comes to baking.
Well, now a LOT of them are being answered. By Sherry Yard. Although I do not know anything about this woman except what the biography in the book says and the little I have looked at online, I can tell you she is most certainly good at what she does. Just Google her name and see what you find. Her book,
is phenomenal. Not only does it provide wonderful recipes, but for me, the main attraction is the fact that she gives you wonderful details about how to do things, why you are doing them, what you can do differently, and how you can personalize it to make it your own. I enjoy the way she has the cookbook organized. One recipe leads to the other with a great fluidity. For instance, the ganaches are all grouped together, then categorized by soft, medium and firm. All the recipes that are similar to ganache, or use ganache as a base to build on, are also put in these categories. She recommends which recipes you can combine and how. It is simply fantastic!
This is no new book, in fact, it was published 8 years ago. But it is new to me and I am in love! I will be trying a great deal of recipes from it and checking it out from the library over and over again.
I will go ahead and post the first recipe I made from the book, but I think after this one, I will just continue posting a link to places you can purchase the book. So go buy it, or go look for it at your local library!
Baked Whiskey Tortes
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (or Pam)
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I purchased the Ghirardelli chips)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons whiskey (I used Johnny Walker Black Label)
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- Whipped crème fraîche for serving
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven. Brush the inside of four 6 – ounce (medium) ramekins with melted butter (I used Pam and it did just fine).
- Using a serrated knife, finely chop the chocolate into 1/4 inch pieces and place it in a medium heatproof bowl (I didn’t do this since I purchased the bittersweet chips).
- Bring the cream and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Immediately pour the cream over the chopped chocolate. Tap the bowl on the counter to settle the chocolate into the cream, then let it sit for one minute. Using a rubber spatula, stir in a circular motion, starting from the center of the bowl and working out to the sides. Stir until all the chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes.
- Combine the whiskey and eggs in a bowl. Whisk them together then gently stir them into the ganache. When the eggs are thoroughly incorporated, pour the mixture into the ramekins, filling them three-quarters full.
Place the filled ramekins in a large baking pan. Carefully pour hot water into the large pan until it comes halfway up the ramekins. Bake the tortes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they feel firm to the touch (mine took right around 30 minutes I think. I started watching them at 20 and my finger was still sinking into the torte when I touched them. I waited until it barely gave at all and didn’t stick to my finger when touched). Allow the tortes to cool slightly before serving. The tortes can be made up to one day in advance and rewarmed before serving in a 325 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Serve with a small dollop of whipped crème fraîche (I used vanilla ice cream and it was lovely!).
This recipe was VERY easy to make, even if you don’t know what you are doing. The chocolate was so smooth going down and blended very well with the ice cream. Prep and bake time took no more than an hour. Any company you have will most certainly call you a gourmet baker if you prepare this for them! Though, it should be noted that this is NOT a low calorie dessert!!! The recipe makes 4 servings and each one is over 675 calories! YIKES! Glad I looked that up so I could plan my whole daily caloric intake around eating one of these tonight!
Marissa vs. Chocolate
Do you ever have those days? You know, the ones that you wake up totally unaware of how terrible it is going to be?!?! I certainly do and this day was no exception. The day proved to bring on a serious match for me.
In one corner, 5 inches tall and weighing in at 5 pounds, born from a serious love for all things chocolate, the infamous Chocolate Bomb cake. His opponent, 5’10”, blankety blank blank pounds, brunette, known to her friends as Betty “the Beat” Crocker…Marissa. The battle began in the early hours of the afternoon. Marissa started out with a quick mix, tossing all the ingredients she had at the Bomb. After throwing in some serious heat (350 degrees to be exact), the Bomb took a shot back and came out swinging and burning. Marissa went at him again, pouring in a whole other round of flour power, beaten eggs and some pudding to make him extra gushy. She came out ahead after this one and the two proceeded on to the next round. The Bomb resisted the gooiness of the ganache and went all grainy on Marissa…creating the necessity for ANOTHER repeat. He was trying to slowly wear her down and stomp all over her gusto and glory. Marissa, “the Beat,” wasn’t through yet. Oh no. She melted the Bomb’s ganache the second time like the Wicked Witch of the West. She covered the Bomb with a right, then a left, then a solid pass around the top of him. It looked like there was no hope left and he was done for. Finally defeated by the super mom. But wait. What’s this? Marissa is getting into the car to leave and what does the Bomb pull out in the final minutes of the match??? That’s right! He slides to the right and INTO the wall of the ring, smooshing his ooey gooey frosting all over the ropes! His beautiful icing detail work all a mess! Marissa has been conquered!!! She falls to the ground as the crowd is yelling “boos” and “oos.” She cries back, hands over her eyes “Not right now kids! Leave Mommy alone!!!!”
That was at 6:32. The cake was supposed to be in my friend’s hands at 6:30. I ran into the house, scraped off the damaged buttercream, whipped up a new batch and re-iced the details. I managed to get it over to her house by 7:00 after threatening my son’s life if he were to tilt, drop or squish that cake. Well, not really, but I’m sure HE felt that way!
I have made this cake a MILLION times. It is by far my favorite, and popular with everyone else who has tried it. I am certainly no master baker, but I am proud of my Chocolate Bomb. I guess we ALL have our off days.
Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating
Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies
As I surveyed our pantry, I realized that although we just went grocery shopping we did not have much by way of snacks. I decided to make sugar cookies with the kids and we had a blast. I absolutely love the way the kids wear flour and powdered sugar and don’t bother trying to hide the fact that they are sneaking sugar cookie upon sugar cookie as soon as they hit the plate.
This is the sugar cookie recipe that my mom has used since my sister and I were little girls. It is just the perfect flavor. We make these cookies every year for Christmas but this is the first time I have made them for another holiday.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 t. cream of tartar
1 cup margarine, softened
1/2 t. almond extract
2 1/2 cup flour
1 t. baking soda
Mix powdered sugar, margarine, vanilla, almond extract, and egg. Stir in the remaining ingredients. I usually start with my Kitchenaid mixer and then finish mixing the dough by hand. Cover and refrigerate for at least three hours. When it comes out of the refrigerator, it may seem crumbly. Mix it up and knead the dough by hand. Roll out on a lightly floured surface (or my favorite Pampered Chef pastry mat!) and cut with cookie cutters.
Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes. The longer they cook, the crispier they will be. Cool on a baking rack.
Once completely cool, frost with your favorite frosting.
I usually use a buttercream frosting, but this time I used a powdered sugar frosting.
Ingredients
2 cups powdered sugar
2 T. vanilla
2 T. milk
food coloring if desired
Mix the vanilla and milk and add powdered sugar. Continue to mix until it is almost a pourable consistency but not quite.
I also made a chocolate powdered sugar recipe. Following the above directions, I just added 2 T. of cocoa powder to the powdered sugar before combining with the liquid. Next time, I will probably not add the vanilla or only add about 1/2 teaspoon. I felt like the frosting was much overpowered by the vanilla. The kids don’t have a problem with it though!
Once you cover the cookies with frosting (it will be messy!!), allow to dry for at least an hour.
Tags: Baking, cookies, decorating, dessert, frosting, Holidays, Jennifer, valentine's day
Super Bowl Cake
Are you ready for some football??? Okay, so the game is really over and the Packers won already. However, my big task of the day was creating a Super Bowl cake for a party and I wanted to share it before I got into bed tonight. The party was for some die-hard Steelers fans. Hopefully, they’ll atill be friendly people tomorrow after the loss! It was a close, good game and fun was had by all, so I would definitely deem it a success! Here is the Super Bowl cake I made. I basically copied a cake I found on the internet related to Super Bowl 2009. I made very few changes to work with what I had and this was the result:
I was pretty darn happy with the result and so were the people hosting the party. No fancy flavors here…just one layer of chocolate and one layer of vanilla (11 x 15). The icing is all fondant except for the black and white lettering. This took four cake mixes, two batches of fondant and three batches of buttercream icing. A LOT of sugar to deal with today!!!
Maybe next time Steelers!
Tags: buttercream, cake, football, Marissa, marshmallow fondant, super bowl
Marissa’s Mudslide
I broke my foot. I think. If not, I definitely sprained it. Well, it may just be horrendously bruised. Whatever the case, it HURTS! Surely some crazy lady down in Florida who has broken both feet on separate occasions in the last six months, sent her no good, super voodoo bad luck up to me in Virginia and I am in some serious pain. I’m not naming any names or anything, but thanks Jennifer!
I am supposed to be running a 14K in 9 days. I have my first ever marathon scheduled in less than 7 weeks. ARGH!!! The doc’s visit is this afternoon, so I am on pins and needles to hear what he has to say about my poor little foot. What am I going to do with myself now that I can’t run my 40 + miles this week? Bake! Hey, if I’m going to sit around and do nothing, I am going to make sure those are some GOOD calories I am earning! Of course, during my first whole day of “taking it easy,” I cleaned the kitchen, went to the library, Wal-mart, and the Dollar Tree, took care of my dogs and my two kids, and baked a cake! I know, I know, I know. I don’t want to hear about it. Especially from you Mom!!! I am being careful and keeping the weight off of it as much as possible. Unfortunately, life does
not stop with a hurt foot, especially when the hubby is out to sea. See!!! It is true, EVERYTHING needs fixing as soon as they LEAVE!!! ;o)
I am trying to look on the bright side of the situation and use this as an opportunity to catch up on the things I usually don’t take the time to sit and do: knitting, internet searching, and cake inspiration hunting to name a few.
Today’s inspiration came from a lovely liquor sitting on the shelf of my bar…Bailey’s Irish Cream. I wanted to create a recipe on my own completely from scratch that held all the terrific tastes of a classic Bailey’s drink – the Mudslide. There are a few things I will do differently next time, but I was 
so excited to hit the nail on the head the first time!!! It was delicious and a perfect treat to sit and talk over with a friend and a couple of mugs of hot cocoa. Just look at the marbling in that cake!!! It was even prettier to cut into! I marbled a chocolate cake recipe (next time I will add the Kahlua to actually make it a mudslide) and an Irish Cream cake to create the amazing flavors in this dessert. Each bite was so good it most certainly must have been bad!!!
I think I am going to have to keep the recipe for myself, but I still wanted to share in my excitement and the cake came out so gosh darn pretty, I just had to post it! I went searching for mudslide cake recipes so I would have SOMETHING to share with you and came across this one. It is very different from mine, but probably worth trying if you really want a go at it on your own (though it should be noted that they posted that the cake turned out dry by some peoples’ account).
Swiss Meringue Cookies
Swiss Meringue cookies make a sweet delicate Valentine’s treat. For these cookies, I used Martha Stewart’s Swiss Meringue recipe.
Ingredients
4 large egg whites
2 cups of sugar
2 pinches cream of tartar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Using a double boiler, combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar whisking constantly until the sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch (you don’t need to boil it). Transfer ingredients to mixer and beat with the whisk attachment. Begin beating on a low setting and eventually increase speed.
Beat for about ten minutes or until stiff peaks form.
The egg mixture should stay at a peak when you lift the whisk attachment.
Add in the vanilla and food coloring.
Drop or pipe on to a parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake at 175 degrees for 2 hours or until they lift off of the parchment easily.
Aren’t these a sweet treat for your favorite Valentine? I made mine a light shade of pink and I also made this chocolate meringue recipe, too.
Linking to:
Valentine’s Box of Chocolate Cupcakes
Don’t know what to get your Valentine for that special day this year? Instead of the typical stuffed bear and box of chocolates why don’t you try this box of Valentine cupcakes? It was super fun to make and a great excuse to play with all the different designing techniques involved when it comes to icing. I had most of the materials on hand but did buy a few things like the chocolate hearts and the sugared jelly cherry hearts.
This, of course was very dangerous because every cherry heart that was not put on a cupcake was put in my mouth. Ugh…so much for today’s calorie counting!!! A few items I used to decorate: red hots, chocolate covered sunflower seeds in purple, chocolate hearts filled with caramel, and the m&m’s to fill the box.
The cupcakes in this box are mint chocolate chip with mint icing and snickerdoodles with buttercream icing. Since I knew I would be putting the time into the decorating, I took the “box shortcut” (as seen in the recipes below). Of course, any flavors would be great. If I were making several of these at one time I would make all sorts of flavors so there would be an assortment like a true box of chocolates. Next time, I will also probably stick with four or five designs for the tops of the cupcakes and just repeat them over and over. My inspiration for this came from the Hello Cupcake Blog. I am very happy with the results and I think I did a pretty good job recreating it. What a great, different idea for your important someone!
Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
- 1 box triple chocolate fudge cake mix and all ingredients box mix requires
- 1 teaspoon mint extract
- 11/2 cups chocolate chips
Follow recipe as given on box but add in extract and chocolate chips. Bake as directed on box
Mint Buttercream
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon mint extract
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 – 3 tablespoons milk
Cream butter and shortening until smooth. Mix in extracts and confectioners’ sugar. Add milk until you have reached desired spreading/piping consistency.
Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
- 1 box yellow cake mix (I used butter recipe) and all ingredients box mix requires
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Follow recipe as given on box but add in cinnamon.
Buttercream
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2 – 3 tablespoons milk
Which one is your favorite cupcake in the picture???
and Hoosier Homemade Cupcake Tuesday!
Tags: chocolate, Cupcake, decorating, dessert, gift, Marissa, valentine's day
Fruit Cocktail Cake
I have been collecting Gooseberry Patch cookbooks for years, ever since I received the first one, Celebrate Autumn, as a gift from my SIL Rhonda back in 1997. I even had a recipe accepted for publication in their first edition of Quick and Easy (that will have to be in another post!).
For a few years the owners kind of strayed away from their roots with all kinds of other kitchen and household stuff. I hadn’t received a catalog in a long time and chalked it up to not ordering anything in a while. I recently discovered they are back on track and are concentrating on their publications (and no more catalogs). They have a wonderful blog with lots of free recipes, including this one for Fruit Cocktail Cake which is from their cookbook, Dinner$ on a Dime. I had never heard of this cake before and just had to give it a try, especially since I had all the ingredients on hand … and needed something to blog about since I haven’t been very creative since Christmas!
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
15-oz. can fruit cocktail–regular pictured here, but I actually used “Light” (do NOT drain)
Directions:
Beat eggs. Add the dry ingredients (sugar, flour and baking soda). Add the undrained fruit cocktail and mix well.
Pour into a greased 9” x 13” baking pan.
Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, until cake tests done with a toothpick inserted in center.
Optional: Top with a dusting of powdered sugar. Makes 12 servings
And the verdict: it was easy, cheap, and tasty! This cake was moist and kind of spongy. I used the light fruit cocktail, because a cup and a half of sugar seemed to be enough sweetener! I think I’ll pick up a couple of cans of fruit cocktail to have on hand in case I ever need a last minute dessert!
Gooseberry Patch cookbooks can be purchased on their website, in local stores such as JoAnn’s and Cracker Barrel, and from Amazon.com. This is not a paid advertisement, I just love their cookbooks!
Tags: Baking, Cakes, Debbie, five ingredients or less, quick and easy
Chewy Energy Bars
I don’t know if these Chewy Energy Bars from Taste of Home really pump you up with energy but they are really tasty!
What you need:
2-1/2 cups crisp rice cereal
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a large bowl, mix the cereal, oats and wheat germ together.
In a small saucepan, melt the corn syrup, peanut butter, and brown sugar together over medium heat.
Stir constantly. Remove it from heat and add the vanilla. Pour the mixture over the cereal.
When the cereal is completely coated, pour into a greased casserole dish. The recipe calls for a 9×9 pan but I used a slightly bigger pan and it filled the pan. Cool completely and cut into bars.
Linking to:
Easy Homemade Granola Bars
Hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope this post finds all of you happy and healthy and having a great start to 2011! So, it is that time of year to ask that question…What is your New Year’s Resolution? I have had somewhat of a hard time coming up with one for myself. I have told friends that the best thing I can think is to stop spending my husband’s money! We’ll see how that one works out for me! ;) I know many of you, like me, also hope to spend this new year eating healthy and taking better care of our bodies. I thought the best way to start us off in 2011 would be to put up a post with a healthy theme…a super easy, quick, and yummy good-for-you snack.
I know after only one time of making these that I will never get store bought granola bars again! Here is a recipe for granola bars adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com. I used some of the suggestions by other cooks on the website and it really simplifies the measuring process even more.
Easy Homemade Granola Bars
- 3 cups quick oats
- 3 cups of any combination of anything else you want to go in
- (for my first batch I used about a cup of coconut, half a cup of sliced almonds, half a cup of crushed cashews, half a cup of dried cranberries and half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate morsels)…but anything you want will work!
- 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add condensed milk and butter and combine with hands until thoroughly mixed. Spread into a Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan. Use a piece of wax paper to press the granola down to condense it and push it into the corners and sides of the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes. When the outer edges are a golden brown the granola bars will be a nice chewy consistency. Leave them in a little longer if you prefer them crunchier. Let cool in pan for 3 minutes then use a pizza roller to cut into bars. Remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Enjoy!
Allrecipes.com says these are 144 calories per bar as prepared in their recipe. Not too bad for a snack that contains ALL natural ingredients. Go look at the back of your store bought granola bars and see what their ingredients are! YIKES!
Recommendations for next time: I will include some flax seed and/or wheat germ for more fiber. I think I will add at least one, if not two teaspoons of pure vanilla extract or almond extract. Maybe a tablespoon of brown sugar and half a teaspoon of some cinnamon, cloves, etc. I will also add more nuts to get that protein in there even though the calories will go up.
I am really excited to look for fun, new, yummy ingredients to make these bars. I am going to work on them to try and make them a great snack to eat before, during, and after my runs. I am training to run my first marathon this March, so you might see more healthy cooking recipes from me and less super chocolate cakes.
Okay, maybe not!!!
By the way – here are the ingredients on the back of the granola bars I usually eat. A whole lot more than oats, nuts, butter, chocolate and coconut:
GRANOLA (WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, BROWNSUGAR, CRISP RICE [RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT, MALTED BARLEY EXTRACT],WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED WHEAT, SOYBEAN OIL, DRIED COCONUT, WHOLE WHEATFLOUR, SODIUM BICARBONATE, SOY LECITHIN, CARAMEL COLOR, NONFAT DRYMILK), SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (SUGAR, CHOCOLATE LIQUOR, COCOABUTTER, SOY LECITHIN, VANILLA EXTRACT), CORN SYRUP, BROWN RICE CRISP(WHOLE GRAIN BROWN RICE, SUGAR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, SALT), INVERTSUGAR, SUGAR, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, GLYCERIN, SOYBEAN OIL. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SORBITOL,CALCIUM CARBONATE, SALT, WATER, SOY LECITHIN, MOLASSES, NATURAL ANDARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BHT (PRESERVATIVE), CITRIC ACID.
Tags: Baking, granola bars, healthy, Marissa, Snacks
