Mini Lime Pavlovas

Yeah, you wanna talk about where I've been? Here's the best part, the total kicker - um, I haven't had a baby. Nope, not yet. Just got a terrible case of the "Busy Bee!"s and haven't had time to type anything up and post to the beloved blog. Yeah, I know - I pretty much suck at this blogging thing these days. But! I've been able to spend a lot of quality-time with friends and family galore before this Robot of ours shows up, so I won't let the blog make me feel too terribly guilty.

Anyhoo! On to the recipe, shall we? Now, I love a good Pavlova. The only problem is that it is so darn humid in Kansas, I rarely get the opportunity to make them in the summer months (and let's admit it, it's not really the type of thing you bust out in the wintertime). I was hosting my book club and wanted to make a dessert, and figured since hey, it was pretty nice, I'd make Pavlovas. I baked them off the night before and planned on serving them with strawberries and kiwi.

So of course, it rained that evening. And the next day. And the next...

So while they were mighty delicious, the Pavlovas were also a bit sad looking. They *poof* fell apart with the slightest touch, so what you're seeing in pictures is a nice, sadly crumbled Pavlova. No matter, though - what they lacked in presentation, they more than made up for in taste. I love Pavlovas because they have that soft, melt-on-your-tongue outer meringue with a lovely, smooshy, marshmallow-like interior. Add some light whipped cream and fruit, and it's absolute heaven.

Also I should note: as far as desserts go, this one is about as healthy as it gets if you go easy on the whipping cream! A note to Kris and Alfie: you can sub the fine sugar with Splenda, just cut down about 1/4 of the amount. It'll turn out the same but will be sugar free!

Mini Lime Pavlovas

(adapted from sadly I can't remember where, but I swiped a mini Pav recipe and worked from there...)

Ingredients:
4 large egg whites, at room temperature

Pinch of salt

1 c. fine granulated (baker's) sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. white wine vinegar

Zest of 1/2 of a lime

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whipped cream

Sliced fruit

Preheat oven to 180 F. Place 2 sheets of parchment paper on 2 sheet pans. Draw several small circles on the paper, using a small ramekin or similar item as a guide, then turn them over so the circles are on the reverse side (this way you won't get pencil marks on your meringue).

Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg whites on high speed until firm, about a minute. With the mixer on high, slowly add the sugar and beat until it makes firm, shiny peaks, about 2 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer, sift the cornstarch onto the beaten egg whites, add the vinegar, zest, and vanilla, and carefully fold them lightly with a rubber spatula. Pile the meringue on your circle outlines, making a small indentation in the middle (for your cream and fruit later). We're not going for gorgeous and smooth here - rough edges are prettier with this dessert anyway, so just pile them on with that spatula.

Bake for 90 minutes. Turn off the oven, keep the door closed, and leave the mini Pavlovas in the oven for about an hour. They should be crisp on the outside and soft inside.

To serve: place one mini Pavlova on each plate. Top with whipped cream and fruit.

Tinnie Cheesecake

I made my last trip (for awhile, anyway) down to see family this past weekend - and they were kind enough to make me a lovely lunch and shower the baby Robot with gifts :) I am spoiled and so is this child, I've decided. I'm spoiled mostly because my sister Miss Tinnie brought out the big guns, and made her awesome cheesecake.

This is The Best Cheesecake Ever. It is actually her version of one of those "kopy kat" recipes, a take on the Copeland's famous cheesecake recipe. I personally have never had the Copeland's version, but according to Miss Tinnie it is The Bomb. If it really does taste like this cheesecake, then I am a believer.

This version is dense and creamy but light, definitely not a baked cheesecake. It's a mile high and sits on a thick, awesomely nutty crust. It's the crust that gets ya. I begged for the recipe and Tinnie was gracious enough to share her version with me. And I'm sharing it with you. Err, it's probably safe to say she won't be sharing anymore recipes with me any time soon...

Tinnie Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1/2 c. Bisquick biscuit mix

3/4 c. flour

1 c. pecans, chopped

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

1 stick unsalted butter

5 pkgs. (40 oz.) cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 c. sugar (make sure it's a "heaping" cup)

2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
16 oz. whipped topping

For crust:

Preheat oven 350 F.

Combine all dry ingredients, breaking up any large pieces of brown sugar. Add pecan pieces and melted butter and mix thoroughly. Press mixture evenly into a 10-inch springform pan. Place pan on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 13 minutes. Allow to cool at room temperature.

For filling:

Cream together softened cream cheese and sugar and vanilla until smooth. Approximately 5 minutes on high speed, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Fold in whipped topping gently until mixture is smooth. Using rubber spatula scoop into pre-baked crust and smooth the top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze overnight or at least 8 hours.

At least 30 minutes before serving remove from freezer and place at room temperature. Cut and serve with your favorite topping or plain.

Blueberry Lime Angel Food Cake

I was cleaning out the freezer the other day, and realized I had 18 egg whites sitting around waiting to be used. Which means one thing in my household - we're making angel food cake.

Angel food cake is one of my favorites. History dates the origin of this cake back to the 1800s, well before rotary beaters even existed. Can you imagine the amount of arm strength it took to beat up a dozen egg whites for a measely cake?? Well, if nothing else that bit of information should the uninitiated that the making of angel food cake even by hand is, indeed, worth the effort.

I, of course, did not make mine by hand (thank goodness for that KitchenAid mixer, which makes whipping up this cake mind-numbingly easy). Now usually I love this cake plain - to me, regular-old angel food cake with maybe some fruit topping is just sublime. Angel food cake is like a baked version of cotton candy - sticky and sweet and light as can be. It doesn't need a lot of decoration to be fantastic. However, I had not only a great berry sauce to use up, but also some limes and blueberries that were getting near their end.

So I did dress up the cake a wee bit with the blueberries and lime, and then figured 'what the heck' and buried all of that in berry sauce. It was all very good! The blueberries didn't really weigh down the cake as I was worried they might do, and the limes gave things and extra zing that you don't get from any other flavoring (much more assertive than lemon). All in all very good! Take advantage of that lovely spring weather folks, and make this cake....

Blueberry Lime Angel Food Cake

(Adapted from CDKitchen)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. sugar, divided
1 c. sifted cake flour
12 large egg whites
1 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
2 Tbsp. sifted cake flour
1 Tbsp. lime zest

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift together 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup flour. In a large bowl, beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form.

Add 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Sift flour mixture over egg white mixture, 1/4 cup at a time; fold in. Fold in vanilla and blueberries. Combine 2 tablespoons flour and lime rind; toss to coat. Sprinkle over egg white mixture; fold in.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife.

Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan; cool completely. Loosen the cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula. Invert cake onto plate.

Chocolate Valentino and Chubby Hubs Ice Cream

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge. Although I didn't use either ice cream recipe, as we were allowed to make any kind we wanted...

Okey dokey, the official wording is out of the way, so now I can do my real write up :)

Like probably half of the Daring Baker community, I made my cake for Valentine's Day. I mean really - what could be more romantic than a dense brownie-like cake and some homemade ice cream for dessert? I ran into a bit of a snag, but I was no worse for the wear.

This cake only has 3 ingredients. Now, at first reading I thought, Piece of cake! I'll have this one finished and done in no time. True, very true, but when I actually settled in to make it, I realized that if I mess up any part of this recipe, it'll be an expensive thing to re-do (especially since I was using my precious stash of Valrhona chocolate for this). But not to be easily intimidated, I forged ahead.


Things were a little hairy right off the bat, when I freaked for a second thinking I had overheated my butter/chocolate (therefore burning the chocolate to worthlessness), but thankfully that was fine. Whew! I whipped my whites and carefully folded them in. No screwing around. I carefully poured my batters into my cake pan and mini Le Creuset heart pan (perfect for pictures, thanks Anne!). I bake, and watch that lovely rise and slight fall of the cake, the characteristic dimpling of the top. I pulled the cakes out and set them too cool. Ten minutes later, faithful to the recipe, I picked up the round cake pan to unmold my cake.

Um. Well, here's where I had a problem: I went to gracefully (but quickly) flip it onto the cooling rack to finish cooling. Only I kinda moved too quick, and my pregnant butter-fingers started to lose grip on the pan. I fumbled with it, flipped it (very impressively, I might add) in the air, and then popped it with my palm when I went to desperately grasp it. Well, that was it. Up! it went and then Down! it landed. With a splat. Chocolate Valentino, shredded and smooshed and not looking too good:

Yeah.

It wasn't a total loss - I just let the darn thing cool in the state you see above, then chunked up the surviving parts to make a lovely ice cream parfait for our dinners. The Le Creuset heart, fortunately, was just fine so I used that the next morning to take pictures.

So: on to the cake. If you try this, keep in mind that there is no messing around with this Valentino recipe! Use good chocolate, as the cake will taste exactly like the chocolate you use. It gets a bit expensive (as you need to use a pound of chocolate), but that won't stop me from making this again. The cake ends up very dense, reminiscent of a brownie. Oooooh, so good.

We were asked to make homemade ice cream to accompany the cake. Initially I was going to make something plain, as I didn't want to overtake the glorious cake. Then at the last minute I changed my mind, when I thought about just how good Chubby Hubby is (and how much I didn't want to buy ice cream when I needed to also make ice cream...). I came up with my own version thanks in part to this recipe, and I must say: it tastes remarkably like the original. Awesome.

For those not in the know: Chubby Hubby is only the BEST flavor ever made by Ben & Jerry's. It's a malted vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate-covered, peanut-butter-filled pretzel nubs, and ribbons of peanut butter and fudge. It is salty and sweet and creamy and crunchy and just all-around perfect. Go buy a pint and see for yourself, or make my version below...

Chocolate Valentino

(from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan)

Ingredients:

16 oz. of roughly chopped chocolate (I used half Ghirardelli milk chocolate, half Valrhona bittersweet)

1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

5 large eggs, separated

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.

While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

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).

With the same beater beat the egg yolks together. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

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.

Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375 F. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140 F. 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.

Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes, then unmold.

(Not Actually) Chubby Hubs Ice Cream

(my shameless adaption of B&J's Chubby Hubby, and no my Hubs is not actually chubby)

Ingredients:

2 c. half and half (or 1 c. heavy cream + 1 c. whole milk)

4 egg yolks

1/2 c. sugar, divided

A dash of salt

1 c. heavy cream

2/3 c. malt powder

1/2 recipe of Peanut Butter Swirl (follows)

Hot fudge (I just used jarred)

1 c. chocolate-covered, peanut-butter filled pretzel nuggets (World Market has them!)

Whisk yolks and 1/4 c. sugar until ribbon-like in a medium bowl.

Heat half and half and 1/4 c. sugar and the salt over medium heat until barely boiling, stirring constantly. Add the half and half mixture to the egg yolk mixture, slowly so as not to curdle the eggs, and return everything to the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-low heat and cook for about 10 minutes or so or until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon (you're going to have to stir it the entire time and probably will be using a wooden spoon, so at some point, take the spoon out, run your finger down the back and if the track stays 'clear', the mixture is done).

Turn off the heat, and add the heavy cream to cool the mix and then strain into the medium bowl.

Put the bowl over a larger bowl filled with ice water and stir in order to speed up the cooling process, whisk in the malt and vanilla, and then chill in the refrigerator overnight to make the following day.

Mix the malted custard in your ice cream maker as directed. Once the ice cream has finished churning (after 20-40 minutes): place in your freezable container. Add a few blobs of Peanut Butter Swirl and hot fudge, and fold a few times into the soft ice cream mixure. Add the pretzels, and fold 2-3 more times to fully incorporate. Freeze for at least a few hours before serving.

Peanut Butter Swirl

Ingredients:

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

3-4 Tbsp. heavy cream, to thin

Whip peanut butter until fluffy. Slowly add the sweetened condensed milk. Once incorporated, use the heavy cream to thin the mixure a bit.

Muzzy's Ice Cream Sandwiches

A favorite treat from my younger days – my mom used to make a ton of these, and keep them in the deep freezer in our basement. This was perfect, as half of our basement was finished off into a rec room/play area where we spent a ton of time growing up. That made it easy for us kids - just walk to the back room of the basement and snitch one of these goodies when we wanted a treat.

They are deceptively easy: just store-bought cookies and Cool Whip, that’s all you need. That doesn’t mean they aren’t fantastic, though! The Cool Whip is better than ice cream if you ask me, not sticky and thick but instead light and creamy even when frozen. The cookies are kinda blah on their own but make perfectly crispy, fudgey bookends to an ice cream sandwich. Oh, so divine, a definite taste of my childhood. These are a mainstay in our freezer.


Muzzy Ice Cream Sandwiches
(from Muzzy)

Ingredients:
1 pkg. fudge-striped shortbread cookies
1 container Cool Whip

Spread a few tablespoons of Cool Whip On the bottom of one of the cookies. Top with a 2nd cookie. Make as many as desired, setting them on a baking sheet when prepped. Place in freezer for 2-3 hours until set, then wrap each individually with wax paper. Keep in the freezer in freezable container or Ziploc bag. Makes about 2 dozen sandwiches, which will last absolutely forever in your freezer :)

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats

These were awesome. Seriously awesome.

Another treat I made, this time especially for my brother Paulo. He has this addiction to Oreos, you see. I mean, bad. He has been this way from the time he could toddle around. My mom didn't really stock the pantry with them, but my brother was entranced by the ads on TV. "Oreo" was one of the first words he learned how to spell, thanks to those ads. In fact, because of his adoration, my mother actually started buying Oreos. He loved them; you'd never know from his beanpole physique, but he grew up eating these things all the time, and I mean all the time, even for breakfast. His obsession with all things Oreo continues until this day: the man has Oreo novelties galore, notepads and cookbooks and tins. Tins full of Oreos, of course. Don't know what to get Paul as a gift? Anything Oreo-themed is probably going to be well received, fortunately.

So, back to the baking: I was headed over to my brother's one Sunday and promised to bring dessert. I wanted to make Rice Krispie treats, and obviously wanted to have some fun with them. Adding Oreos, I decided, would be a no brainer. I did a quick Internet search, which brought up these and these and these... Oreo Rice Krispie treats are popular things, apparently! I liked bits of several recipes, so played around with them until I had what you see pictured.

These are more of a cookies and creme treat - chocolate rice krispie bars studded with chunks of Oreo cookies, and dipped in a creamy white chocolate topped with crushed Oreos. Oh, yes. And they taste as good as they sound! Needless to say, the ton of leftovers never made it out of my brother's house.

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie® Treats
(Adapted from several recipes)

Ingredients:
1/2 c. chunks bittersweet chocolate
3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
10 oz. (1 pkg) marshmallows
1 tsp. vanilla
6 c. Rice Krispie® cereal
15-20 Oreo® cookies, chopped
4-6 oz. white chocolate, chopped
15 Oreo® cookies

Place bittersweet chocolate in a small bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted. Set aside. Grease a 9X13 pan, and also set aside.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add marshmallows, and stir until melted and combined with butter. Turn off heat, and stir in melted bittersweet chocolate and vanilla. Gently stir in cereal and chopped cookies, and mix to coat evenly. Press into 9X13 pan, leveling the top (a buttered spatula works wonders here). Allow to cool completely.

Once cooled: cut into squares. Place remaining cookies in a food processor, and pulse until finely ground. Pour out onto a plate, for dipping. Place white chocolate in a small bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted.

Dip the top of each square into the white chocolate, and then the crushed cookies. Set aside to cool and set completely. These will keep in an air-tight container like, forever. We still had one left over a week after I made them, and it was DELICIOUS.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Oh my goodness! Where in the world does the time go?? Sorry for the week’s delay, it’s been chaos here. I’ve been working 12+ hour days and trying to keep up at home and spending actual time with other humans in-between, so I haven’t had much time to bake or blog unfortunately. Thank goodness I have this little gem of a recipe left over from SuperBowl time!

There isn’t much of a trick to these brownies – they are Dorie’s signature recipe, which I hadn’t tried before. Rich and much softer than this version, so I am still on the hunt for the perfect chewy-yet-rich brownie recipe. We shall find it one of these days, I have faith.

To up the ante on these, I decided to add some TJ mini peanut-butter cups. There isn’t a Trader Joe’s anywhere near me, but fortunately my sister Anne keeps me hooked up with all their goodies so that we don’t die from TJ withdrawals out here in Larryville. And FYI, the TJ peanut-butter cups are deemed clear of that whole Salmonella scare, so no fear in baking with them either. They added just the right amount of peanut-buttery goodness to these brownies.

Unfortunately I cut them while still a wee bit warm, so the cups oozed out all over the place. Only really a problem in the photogenic sense, though, the oozey goodness was just fine in a brownie…

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
(adapted from the lovely Ms. Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
9 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 container Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups (for you poor slobs with no TJs: that's about 3/4 c. chopped regular peanut butter cups)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chopped chocolate and stir occasionally until the ingredients are just melted - you don't want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

With a whisk, stir in the sugar. The mixture might get grainy, but it will even out. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then add the vanilla and whisk enthusiastically to smooth the batter. Finally, gently whisk in the salt and flour, stirring only until incorporated. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Gently stir in peanut butter cups.

Bake the brownies until the top is dull and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, usually about 40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the brownies to room temperature.

When they are completely cool, turn out onto a rack, peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Cut into 32 slender rectangles, each roughly 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches.

Jean's Cream Puff Cake

Once upon a time, a darling coworker (Jean!) made this cake for one of our coworkers on her birthday. It was soooo good, we were all begging for the recipe. Jean was kind enough to share, and I couldn't even wait I week. I had to make this thing again. It's a lot of cake for just me and Hubs (and Robot), though, so the plan was to bring it into work for my coworkers to yet again enjoy.

I tend to get to work early, about 6am. I didn't want this sucker sitting around warming up in our department (it's best chilled), so I put it in one of the fridges in the breakroom, on the bottom shelf near the back, as to not be in the way of my fellow coworker's lunches and yogurts and such.

Flash forward to 3 days later - I realize, as I shove my lunch in the breakroom fridge that morning, that nooooo! The cake, it's still in here! I had completely forgotten to put it out for my coworkers. I pulled it out of the fridge, popped open the lid to check it out. The cream-puff base had gotten a bit soggy by that point, so I sadly had to toss it in the trash. However there was one peculiar thing to note:

About a third of it was missing. Someone had decided to help themselves to the cake, and then came back for seconds and thirds. Either that, or a whole pack of employees went at it. Dude, seriously? Is nothing personal or sacred in the community office fridge??

I hope this story shows you just how good this cake is, though - worth the crime of sneaking into someone else's pan, in broad (office breakroom fluorescent lighting) daylight. With potential witnesses sitting around, no less. And perhaps later some sort of reprimand for your actions. The cake is EXACTLY like a cream puff - poofy, not sweet, but with a pudding-type filling (on top instead) and whipped cream and chocolate sweet chocolate...

Yeah I don't blame the person or persons, really. I probably would have done it, too.

Jean's Cream Puff Cake

(from my sweetheart of a coworker, Jean)

Ingredients:

1 stick (8 Tbsp.) unsalted butter

1 c. water

1 c. flour

4 large eggs

4 c. milk

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 (3.5 oz) pkgs. instant vanilla pudding

1 container Cool Whip
Chocolate syrup

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a large heavy saucepan, heat butter and water to boiling over medium-high heat. Add flour and reduce heat to low. Cook and stir until it forms a ball and pulls away from the pan. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
Spread in bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 35 minutes. Cool completely.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and milk and beat until smooth. Here's the trick, to keep things smooth: start with the cream cheese, give it a good beating until fluffy. Slowly but surely (while still beating), add the milk. Voila! Once these are well combined, add pudding mix and beat until thickened. Spread over cooled shell.

Top with whipped topping, and drizzle chocolate syrup over the top. Keep refrigerated until serving.

Toffee-Topped Fudge Brownie Tarts

Pictures are a bit craptastic, I know - sorry. I took them at 7am in the dusky light of my kitchen, while trying to desperately pack up treats and head out for Thanksgiving. Um, yeah, and this recipe is a few weeks old too. We need to get past that...

Anyhoo: every Thanksgiving I try to bring a treat or two. This year I tackled Luella's Date Pudding (which I won't post, sorry: Hub's relatives might come hunt me down for posting a beloved family recipe). I wanted to bring something else, although the pies were covered. Then I remembered I had bought a cookie magazine a few weeks ago (while waiting in line at the grocery store), and thought I might as well put it to good use. I flipped through and found a recipe with pretty photos that was fairly simple, and than away I went.

These little toffee bites seemed to go over pretty well - Hub's uncle even hid a few away in his cabinet for later. Proof positive that they were Pretty Darn Good. Nice and fudgey, for sure, with a ganache frosting and dotted with toffee. Mmm. While nowhere near as good as Date Pudding or Hub's aunt's cherry pie, it's still certainly a great recipe for those non-Thanksgiving days in your life :)

Toffee-Topped Fudge Brownie Tarts

(from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine: Christmas Cookies, 2008)

Ingredients:

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/3 c. butter

1 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. whipping cream

1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate (chopped)

English toffee, chopped (I just used that pre-chopped Heath Bar topping stuff)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease twenty-four mini muffin cups and set aside.

In a medium heavy saucepan, combine unsweetened chocolate and butter. Cook and stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat lightly with a wooden spoon just until combined. Stir in flour. Spoon a generous 1 tablespoon of the batter in each prepared muffin cup.

Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove brownies from muffin cups and place on wire rack; let cool.

For glaze: In a small saucepan, heat whipping cream over low heat just until it simmers; remove from heat. Add chocolate pieces, stirring until melted. Place chopping toffee in a shallow dish. Dip top of each brownie into glaze, then sprinkle with toffee bits. Return to wire rack and allow glaze to set. Makes 24 tarts.

To store: Place brownies in a single layer in an airtight container; cover. Store in a refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Sweet Potato Ice Cream

I would like to start this off with the following disclaimer: I did not eat this. Even a slight whiff of sweet potatoes makes me want to fall over dead, sadly. Thankfully dear Hubs loves sweet potatoes, and was more than happy to be the guinea pig.

He would like for you to know that the texture was a bit 'chunkier' than regular custard-based ice creams (sing it brother, I could see that from eye-balling the stuff from 6 feet away). But, he really didn't think that was a bad thing. He also said it tasted very much like pumpkin pie, if you added sweet pecans and marshmallows. Or maybe more like candied yams. Or something.

At any rate: he's been dipping into the quart in the freezer all week, so I would guess it is in the "yummy" category. You'll have to give it a try and let me know what you think as well...

Sweet Potato Ice Cream

(Adapted from The Perfect Scoop, 2007)

Ingredients:

1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced to 1-in. cubes

1 c. + 2 Tbsp. whole milk

2/3 c. packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Few drops of lemon juice

Wet pecans (recipe follows)

1/2 c. (or so) mini marshmallows

Place the sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for about 20 minutes (until cubes are tender). Drain and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Pour the milk into a blender and add the brown sugar, sweet potatoes, cinnamon, vanilla, a pinch of salt, and squeeze of lemon juice. Puree until very smooth, at least 30 seconds. Press the mixture through a mesh strainer using a rubber spatula.

Chill the mixture thorougly in the refrigerator (overnight is best), then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to directions. In the last few minutes of churning, add the wet pecans and mini marshmallows.

Wet Pecans

2 c. pecans, roughly chopped

3/4 c. real maple syrup

Big pinch salt

Heat the syrup in a medium saucepan until it comes to a full boil. Stir in the nuts, and cook until the mixture comes to a full boil once again. Toss in a big pinch of salt. Cook while stirring for 10 seconds, then remove from the heat and cool completely. The nuts will be sticky (and wet) when cooled.

PS: See ya in 6 months, Robot.

Buttery Jam Cookies

Try-Outs for Christmas Cookies! The time is yet again here! And this one's a beaut...

First let me just say: I beat you, Tuesdays with Dorie people! Ha! TAKE THAT!! Everybody is gonna see my fabulous cookies before you can post them all over the blogosphere and back in a few weeks! SO. THERE.

Er, um. Here's some buttery jam cookies. They are tres delicious, at first sweet and buttery, and then you are whacked with chewy bits of tart jam. Mmmmmmm. While simple and not much to look at, I truly think these are my new favorite cookies. An added plus is that they are teeny, so you can stuff at least 3 or 4 of these suckers in your mouth before you start to feel guilty...

Buttery Jam Cookies

(from Dorie's Baking: From My Home To Yours, 2006)

Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. jam of choice (Dorie recommends apricot; I used cherry)
Confectioners sugar for dusting (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place two racks in the oven, one in the upper third of the oven and one in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (on high speed) for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat on high speed for an additional minute. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 30 seconds. Add the jam and beat on low speed for 1 minute.

Add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, just until they're mixed in. The dough will be extremely thick and stiff.
With a an ice cream scoop our a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, forming cookies that are about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in size (I used a piping bag, with my largest tip).

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the trays from top rack to bottom rack halfway through. Once baked, let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two and then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Dust with confectioner's sugar, if desired.

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

The plan was to get this post written and up first thing this morning. I had a glorious day planned, too: big coffee and blog writing, then decorate the house, watch the KU/MU game on TV, veg out, call the family. Instead I was awakened at 7am to a soft snowfall outside my bedroom window and the pitter-patter of. . . water dripping from our living room ceiling, splattering all over our beautiful dark hardwood floor. Lovely, just lovely.

Anyway, so I'm up and have done *quite a bit* already this morning but wanted to get this post done and over with, before I got wrapped up in all that other garbage I'll be dealing with all day.

I made mini cakes (from ramekins). I also thirded the recipe. I had read from other Daring Bakers that this cake was sweet sweet sweet, so I knew there was no way we would ever polish off more than a slice apiece. And yes, that is absolutely true. I won't be recreating the frosting anytime soon, that's where most of the sickeningly sweet flavor came from. The cake itself, though, was one of the best cakes I have ever made - incredibly soft crumb, like the kind you find in fancy wedding cakes and the like. With just a lightly sweet flavor of caramel. Oh, yes, the cake was very, very good.

We were also given the option to make caramels, but I've decided to tackle and blog that recipe another time. It got rave reviews from my fellow Daring Baker foodies. Thanks to Dolores, Alex (Brownie), and Jenny for hosting this month! And as always: check out those other Daring Bakers' creations this month.

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

(from Shuna Fish Lydon)

Ingredients:

10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/3 c. Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)

2 eggs, at room temperature

Splash vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 c. milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

Caramel Syrup

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. water

1 c. water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

Caramelized Butter Frosting

12 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 lb. confectioner’s sugar, sifted

4-6 Tbsp. heavy cream

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2-4 Tbsp. caramel syrup

Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Did you know that Dean & DeLuca are selling these puppies for $55 a dozen? I could make a killing! Because they are so easy to make, seriously. And fun to assemble too.

The flavor is out of this world - Hubs took them to his office "Thanksgiving Potluck", and there were several requests for the recipe. They are sweet, spicy, deeply pumkin, and full of a soft, creamy cinnamon filling. Mmmmm. Take it from Peabody, who said she couldn't stop eating them (and she's one to give all her treats away) - these are well worth making.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

(found at Pea's site, from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, 2008)

Ingredients:

3 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground fresh nutmeg

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 c. canola oil

3 c. chilled pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. powdered sugar

1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.In a separate bowl, whisk to sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop healing TBSP of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling. They will look more like mini cakes then cookies, so don’t panic about that.

For the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese an beat until combined.Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful no to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure.

To assemble: Turn half the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe filling (about a TBSP) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoppie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

Dimply Plum Cake

I have seen the dimply plum cake being made all over the Interwebs, and just based on how adorable it is I decided to dive in and make it myself. I had a coworker's birthday to bake for anyway. Only it didn't photograph too well for me, I had a slight issue...

One giant thing to note: this recipe doesn't double especially well. At least, it doesn't look as beautiful when you double it... The cooking time is much longer, so those poor plums sank into my cake rather than sit pretty on top. No worries though - still tasted like a dream! Like a deep brown sugar coffee cake, with juicy halves of fruit inside. Mmmm. This one went over quite well at the office, ugly appearance aside :)

Dimply Plum Cake

(shocker: another one from Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours, 2006)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all purpose four

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter

3/4 c. packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/3 c. canola oil

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

8 purple or red plums, halved and pitted

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter an 8x8 baking dish or a glass pie plate and set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and ground cardamom.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter with the brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the oil, lemon zest and vanilla. Reduce the speed and add the flour mixture. Pour the batter in the prepared dish, smooth the top and arrange the plums on top, cut side up.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.