Tuesday, November 29, 2011

TWD—Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie (or Tart)

TWD Pumpkin Pie

Mini Sour Cream Pumpkin Tartlet

I really wanted to get both recipes made for TWD this week, but I was not able to get to the Normandy Apple Tart!  I have two apple tarts on my must-make list soon.  The week before last there was an Alsatian Apple Tart and this week’s apple tart was chosen by Tracey from Tracey's Culinary Adventures.  She has the recipe on the link to her blog.  And how pretty does her tart look!  I’ve had a similar tart before and it was so good—the applesauce on the bottom was great.    I even bought the apples I wanted to use for the tart, but just ran out of week for making both.

After all the Thanksgiving goodness and still having these pies/tarts on the need-to-make list, I decided to make just half the recipe for the pumpkin pie and I used the leftover pie crust dough from a couple pies I’d made for Thanksgiving.  It was just the right amount of pie dough to make two four inch mini tarts.  After halving the pumpkin pie filling, it was enough to fill the two tarts and two ramekins (without crust).  Yum to both!

TWD--Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie 11-28-11 The pumpkin pie is simple and classic with just an addition of sour cream.  My only adaptations to the recipe were that I used lowfat evaporated milk instead of the heavy cream and I used lowfat sour cream.  I also omitted the dark rum.   I would use this recipe again for pumpkin pies in the future.

Mini Pumpkin Pie

Kevin and Scott both like pumpkin pie and happily ate some of this.  And I enjoyed it, too, you know, since I did use some lowfat ingredients, it’s probably not all that bad for ya—especially the ones with no crust.  This recipe was chosen by Judy of Judy's Gross Eats and she’ll have the recipe posted on her blog. 

Slice of Pumpkin Pie

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie

Nutella Cream Pie

I made this Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie for Thanksgiving and I would have to say, though there were many yummy pies, this one was the hit of the party (it was also the only pie with chocolate, maybe that’s what it was).  I posted a picture of it on Facebook and was bombarded with people begging for the recipe, as well as those who got to taste it at our Thanksgiving dinner—so here it is!

And I must tell you—it IS really good, especially if you like Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread).  The pie on Thanksgiving sat out on the dessert table for a while—and while the pie was still good at room temperature, it is much better having some chilled right out of the fridge.  This pie is a simple combination of Nutella, cream cheese and either whipped cream or Cool Whip.  I actually was planning to make it with whipped cream and for some reason at the last second I used Cool Whip (I had both on hand).   The pie can also be made with any crust you’d like.  I used a homemade graham cracker crust.  You could use an Oreo or chocolate crust to really bump up the chocolate or I thought it would even be good in a regular pie crust (kind of like French Silk Pie).

I also decided at the last minute to drizzle some warmed Nutella over the top of the pie and sprinkle on some chopped, toasted hazelnuts.  I was so happy with how easy the pie was to make and how good it is!

Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie

I was lucky enough to get the one picture of the slice of pie and that it came out so nicely, since the pie was room temperature and it was one of the last pieces after everyone took their own slices off the pie.  I will be making this again soon just to try for better pictures!  Oh okay, and maybe to eat more of it! ;)

Nutella Chocolate Cream Pie, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from my friend Anne’s recipe which was adapted from Plain Chicken

Filling-- 

1 cup Nutella (chocolate/hazelnut spread)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I always use the 1/3 less fat kind)

8 ounces Cool Whip (you can also use fresh whipped cream)

extra Nutella (about 1/4 cup) for drizzling (optional)

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

Graham Cracker Crust--

1 sleeve (about 1  1/2 cups) graham cracker, finely ground into crumbs

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  After grinding the graham crackers into fine crumbs in a food processor, add the sugar and pulse a few times.  Then add the melted butter and pulse until all of it is moist.  Dump it into a pie plate and press down evenly, including up the sides of the plate.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese.  Add the Nutella and beat until all creamed together.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat a little more to make sure it is all incorporated.  Add the Cool Whip or whipped cream and mix again to combine.  Scoop the Nutella mixture into the cooled crust and spread evenly.  Drizzle the extra Nutella (warmed in a small glass bowl in the microwave for about 20 seconds to thin it out slightly) over the pie.  Sprinkle the chopped hazelnuts around the edges of the pie (or however you’d like). 

Chill for at least a couple hours (I made it the day before serving it and it was great!).

Nutella Cream Pie This pie is quite rich, but oh so delicious.  I’m going to make mini graham cracker crusts and pipe the Nutella cream into them for a perfect smaller treat.  Can’t wait!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies—TWD Rewind

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies

Today for Tuesdays With Dorie, we got to choose any recipe in the book that we wanted as a special rewind week.  That helps a lot when TWD falls so close to a holiday.  So you would think since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I would have picked a pumpkin pie or something perfect like that.  But if you know me, I went straight for the chocolate! ;)  I really just thought I would pick something from the book that I’d missed and these Quintuple Chocolate Brownies were picked the second week after Tuesdays With Dorie began back in January of 2008!  I joined the group in October of that year. 

For the brownies, Dorie’s recipe has five different kinds of chocolate—cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate!  Whew!  The only thing I wasn’t too sure about with the brownie recipe was the white chocolate ganache that should have been on the top.  I like white chocolate okay, but find it rather overwhelming and too sweet at times, so I switched things up a bit.

I didn’t realize until I started making the brownies that I was out of unsweetened chocolate, but I technically still used five kinds of chocolate—actually six if you count that I also added some chocolate extract!  In place of the unsweetened chocolate, I used a 70% bittersweet chocolate, but lowered the amount of sugar in the brownies slightly.  And instead of a white chocolate ganache on top, I made a ganache with 60% chocolate and put some white chocolate chips in the brownies.   I decided not to add nuts to the batter, but put a toasted pecan on the top of about half of them.  I prefer nuts in brownies, but the boys don’t.  These are, of course, super rich and can be cut pretty small.  They are a very dense brownie with chocolate times five!

Quint Chocolate Brownies

Laurie our fabulous Tuesdays With Dorie leader chose these brownies the second week ever of baking through this cookbook.  I’ve left you the link to the original recipe.  I feel like I made enough changes, so here’s the recipe as I made it.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Dorie Greenspan

1/2 cup all purpose flour (60 grams)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (20 grams)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup (6 ounces) bittersweet/dark chocolate (used 70%), chopped

3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 grams)

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract (optional)

1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup (3 ounces) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a 9 inch square pan with foil, spray with cooking spray.  Set the pan on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt.  In the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over a pan with about one inch of simmering water, melt the butter and the bittersweet chocolate.  Heat and stir just until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. 

Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture until incorporated.  Stir in the eggs one at a time, whisking each one until mixed.  Add the vanilla and stir.  Switch to using a spatula and gently stir in the dry ingredients just until they are incorporated.  Stir in the milk chocolate and white chocolate chips.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.  Let the brownies cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Make the glaze--

1 cup (6 ounces) semi sweet chocolate (I used 60%), chopped or use chips

1/3 cup heavy cream

Put the chocolate in a medium sized bowl.  Bring the cream just to a boil then pour it over the chocolate.  Wait about 30 seconds, then gently stir with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Let the ganache sit for about 10 minutes to thicken.  Spread it evenly over the brownies.  Chill the brownies for at least 20 minutes, but an hour or two is great! 

Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil edges.  Peel the foil off the brownies and cut into squares on a cutting board. 

Optional **Places toasted pecans on the top of the brownies.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies 11-21-11--TWD

I took these along with lots of other goodies to our Thanksgiving dinner.  They are super rich and fudgy and were gobbled up quickly.

I wonder what all the others in the TWD bloggers made this week. 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Peppermint French Macarons—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

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My Thanksgiving baking is in full swing ahead, but I wanted to share these Peppermint Macarons with you today for the ninth week of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  I’ve been wanting to make macarons again since I made Cocoa Macarons with Dark Chocolate Ganache back in July.  In trying to decide what flavor to make, I ran across these and decided peppermint was the way to go!

French Macarons seem intimidating, but they really are quite simple to make if you follow the instructions.  I may not have them down perfectly yet, but these turned out well and I was pleased.  I made half of them with a peppermint white chocolate ganache and half of them with a chocolate ganache with some almond extract added.  I actually liked the chocolate ones better.  Following the recipe for the white chocolate ganache on the link, it had too much cream with the chocolate, so it didn’t get quite as thick as I would have liked.  It also didn’t have enough peppermint.  I wish I would have added more and will next time—and use less cream as well!

Almond Macarons with Chocolate Ganache 11-23-11

The cookie itself is just the usual macaron made with almond flour.  I think it would also have been good with some peppermint extract.  But the ones I made with the chocolate ganache with some almond extract added were really good.  It was my friend’s birthday Wednesday, so I packed up most of the chocolate ones and gave them to her.

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These would be perfect to give as Christmas gifts.  Who wouldn’t love a gift box full of macarons?  I like that you can make these pretty much any and all colors and flavors you’d like, so you could really kick up the festive holiday look with these.

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I didn’t give my friend any of the ones with the white chocolate peppermint because it just wouldn’t quite stay firm enough and was squishing out of the cookies too much.  They will get eaten here!

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Peppermint Macarons, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Foodness Gracious

1 cup (110 grams) powdered sugar

3/4 cup almond flour

2 large egg whites, room temperature

pinch of cream of tartar

1/4 cup (50 grams) superfine sugar (granulated would be fine)

red food coloring (optional)

Sift the powdered sugar and the almond flour using a fine mesh strainer.  Set aside.

Whisk the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the wire attachment until they become foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and beat a little more.  Add the superfine sugar gradually while beating on high until stiff peaks form.  Add the red food coloring if doing so. 

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold the almond flour/powdered sugar into the egg whites with a spatula, mixing just until all incorporated.  Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe about a quarter size cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Once they are all piped, if any of a point on the top, tap it down gently with a damp finger.   Leave them sitting at room temperature for about 45 minutes, until you see them become dull on top. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  When the oven is ready, put the baking sheets (this made enough to fill about 1 and a half sheets) in an turn the oven down to 325 degrees.  Leave the door open slightly with a wooden spoon holding it open.  Bake for 10 minutes, turning the sheets after five minutes.  Leave to cool for a couple of minutes when they come out of the oven and then gently lift the whole paper sheet from the tray to the counter. 

White Chocolate Peppermint Ganache

5 ounces white chocolate, chopped or you can use chips

1/4 cup heavy cream (my adjusted amount)

3/4 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract (or to taste)

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.  Pour it over the chocolate in another bowl.  Let sit for a couple minutes.  Stir gently with a spatula until smooth.  Add the butter and stir again until smooth and shiny.  Add the extract and stir together.  Let cool and thicken.  Put the ganache in a piping bag (or a plastic zip top bag with a corner snipped off) and pipe a mound of ganache onto one cookie.  Top it with another cookie and continue to finish the remaining ones. 

Dark Chocolate Almond Ganache

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped or you can use chips

3 tablespoons heavy cream

3/4 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or to taste)

Heat the cream to just boiling, pour over the chocolate and let sit for a minute or two.  Gently stir together with a spatula until smooth.  Add the butter and flavoring and stir until smooth and shiny.  Put the ganache in a pipng bag (or a plastic zip top tab with a corner snipped off) and pipe a mound of ganache onto one cookie.  Top it with another cookie.  Continue to fill other cookies. 

DSCF8459 You will probably have some leftover ganache.  I waited until it hardened a little more, then rolled it into balls and tossed it in some crushed peppermint candy for some quick, tasty truffles!  These would also be great for your holiday gifts!  You can roll the balls of ganache in any thing you want—finely chopped nuts, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, colorful sprinkles, etc. 

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This post is also being added to Lisa’s Sweets For A Saturday at Sweet As Sugar Cookies.

SweetasSugarCookies

Check out the other 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hoppers!

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A Little Cute Boys Photo Intermission **And A Fantastic Craft Idea**

Little Pilgrim Sam wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Tuesdays With Dorie has been postponed (for convenience sake) until Friday.  We can make and post any TWD recipe we’d like, one we’ve missed or that was made before we joined the group and we aren’t posting until Friday in case it was something we want to make for Thanksgiving.

So I thought I’d post some fun photos of my boys, since my blog is called Baking AND Boys! and sometimes I don’t put enough of “the boys” on here.  (There might also be a picture or two of our doggy, Chip, but never fear, he’s also a boy!) ;)

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Chip can often be found longingly looking out the window wishing he was outside in the cold.  So we bought him a little gated pen that he can go out and sit in (and not run away or get eaten by wild, ferocious beasts!

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He gets to go out quite often, but he has to share the “pen” with a couple others who need corralled! ha

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Poor little doggy, gets so much attention.  It’s a tough life!  (His little face looks like he’s saying “help”.) (Fencing our property is at the top of our list come this next spring/summer so the pup can have free run outside.)

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The boys have taken up playing with clay (not Playdoh), the real stuff.  Parker has a project for school and needed to sculpt a few things.  I got out some old clay I had that was probably more than 6-7 years old.  It was a little tough, but still workable.  They liked it so much, we bought them another pack of 30 colors of new stuff.  They have created quite the creatures and spent lots of quality time playing with it (instead of electronics, which drive me crazy!).

**On a side note, smartest idea I had (I think I should get paid for my idea—ahaha)—take an old plastic shower curtain (that isn’t yucky), or even buy a new one-they are cheap, and cover your table when the kids want to paint, use markers, play with clay, etc.  It perfectly protects the table and wipes clean with no problems!  Fold it up when done and put it away for the next time.  I don’t even care if anyone else comes along and tells me they already thought of that—I thought of it all on my own and am pretty proud of myself.  (It doesn’t take much, ha.)**

Yes, I do have one more son, the oldest, Scottie, age 13, is often not found when I have the camera out.  Little stinker!  (He is in the picture with the dog in his pen and is actually a big help when the dog needs to be taken outside.)

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We kind of like our little Chippy Poo.  (He’d be so mad if he knew I put that in here---haha.)

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Kevin had a birthday back in October.  I didn’t post any pictures then, but I love this one that looks like the house is going to burn down while he’s blowing out candles. ;)  He’ll be delighted that I posted this---or maybe moreso this one---

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He really likes cheesecake!

1st Snow 11-19-11

We had our first real snow of the season last week.  It was still only about an inch or so.  But that didn’t stop Taylor.  He built a castle out on the deck that he was pretty proud of.

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Chip is often found sitting with his little paws crossed.  Cracks me up.  That or he’ll run ahead of me into the room and get a ball in his mouth and just sit there like he’s been waiting for me to play ball with him.  He acts like he’s been sitting there waiting all day when he really just got there a second before me.  Such a funny doggy!

Okay, I think I’m done for now.  Stay tuned for more delicious treats—coming right up!  Wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and holiday season.  I’m so grateful for my family, they mean the world to me!  We have been given so much, our home, our health, great family, friends, etc.  Thank you also all for reading my blog, I feel that it is often my sanity in life! ;)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Mini Chocolate Chip Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

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I’ll let you in on a little secret—I kind of cheated this week for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  I offered to help a friend with cookies for her daughter’s wedding reception that is tonight.  She was going to make hundreds of cookies herself (four different kinds).  I offered to help and so did some others.  These cookies are the ones I’m making 100 cookies for her.  So while I didn’t come up with this week’s cookie, I did use my own chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with mini chocolate chips.  These Mini Chocolate Chip Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies are made simply by putting some cookie dough in mini muffin tin cups and baking them until they are almost done.  Then when they have 1-2 minutes left, put a frozen mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in the center then finish baking.  That’s it!

Chocolate Chip Reese Cup Cookies 11-16-11

What I really like while making these and deciding this would be what I’d post for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies is that they really would be perfect to add to your holiday baking/sharing.  A few of these added to a plateful of other goodies would make a perfect addition.  Or if you know someone who is a real chocolate/peanut butter lover, a nice tin full of these would be a great holiday gift!

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I adapted my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe for these.  Those cookies are made especially good by using some cake flour and bread flour instead of just all purpose flour.  I really believe that is one of the things that sets my chocolate chip cookies apart from others.  But for these mini muffin cookies today, I went ahead and just used all purpose flour, which does work just fine for the chocolate chip cookie recipe if you don’t have cake and/or bread flour. 

Mini Chocolate Chip Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

17 ounces all purpose flour (3  2/3 cups minus 2 tablespoons) (lightly spooned into the measuring cup and swept level with a knife—kitchen scales are best!)

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt

2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups or 10 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

10 ounces (1 ¼ cups, packed tightly) light brown sugar

8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

about 15 ounces mini chocolate chips (1 package is 12 ounces and would probably be fine)

Miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, about 50-60, unwrapped and frozen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Have mini muffin tins ready.  No need to grease.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until very light, about five minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips with rubber spatula.

Fill each muffin cup about half full, about a tablespoon of dough per cup.  Bake for 8-9 minutes.  Remove from oven and place a mini Reese’s cup in the center of each one and push down slightly.  Return to oven for 1-2 minutes.  Let cool in muffin tin on wire rack until they are set and cool, you can even set the tin in the fridge for 15 minutes or so after they have cooled about 10 minutes.  With a sharp knife, pry each cookie out of their cup—they come out quite easily, just be careful as the peanut butter cup is still soft.  This recipe makes a lot—4-5 dozen.

Mini CCC W/Reese Cups 11-16-11 This is week 8 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies!  Need I say more? Winking smile

 

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

HAPPY NATIONAL BUNDT CAKE DAY!

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Chocolate Chip Bundt Cookie, Ice Cream Sundae!

Today is a big day—definitely a day to celebrate—it’s National Bundt Cake Day!  Do you like big bundts?  Check out Mary’s amazing 30 Days of Bundts leading up to this special day on her blog, Food Librarian.  This gal has some serious bundt lovin’.  This is the third year in a row she has posted 30 bundts in 30 days leading up to this big day—THAT is some major bundt love!  She says this will be her last year doing that but we now have at our fingertips at least 90 bundts to try out!  I love her breaks from the usual when she posts things like The Rice Krispie Bundt or The Broken Glass Jello Bundt.  Fun yum!

Over the last couple weeks, I made a couple bundts.  I shared one with you recently for a recipe I made up for Banana Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake.

Chocolate Banana Marble Bundt Cake 10-26-11

We liked this bundt so much that I made a couple weeks ago, so I made it again on Sunday!  We seem to always have overripe bananas (I do that on purpose), so it needed to be made again.  I especially love the dark chocolate ganache glaze that is on half the bundt, but a couple of the boys prefer the vanilla glaze, which is why I will now always make the cake this way. 

I made another bundt cake a couple weeks ago that was also well liked, but I hadn’t gotten a post up for it yet.

SAC Bundt Cake 10-30-11

I made this Spiced Apple Cider Bundt Cake found at Feast On The Cheap blog.  This cake was dense and quite flavorful.  Especially with the extra spice from my using some spiced cider I’d made to drink as well as more spices in the cake like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves.  This cake was really good!  We had some family over for dessert which included this bundt and the banana chocolate one.  One of our nephews (age 15) who cringed at both cakes decided he go ahead and try the apple cider one, after which he ended up having three pieces of it!

For the glaze, I made it a little different than the recipe linked over at Feast On The Cheap, I added some powdered sugar to it.  It was good!

Spiced Apple Cider Bundt Cake 10-30-11

Are you all bundt-ed out?  Well wait—I’ve saved the best for last (although the photo is at the very top)!  Here at our house, cake is not a favorite dessert, though I love making them—which is why when I do we have company over to help eat it.  But today, it hit me—we love chocolate chip cookies—why not make Chocolate Chip Bundt Cookies.  So I did—I happened to have some of my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer.  I thawed it out and made the cutest little mini cookie bundts!  I was happy that they came right out of the pan (with just some slight prying around the edges with a knife) and that they really look liked bundts.

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These became a little pre-birthday treat Monday night.  Oh yeah, did I mention today is my birthday?  Celebratin’ the bundt cake way!

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cookies 11-14-11

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cookie

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While the cookies are delicious as is in bundt form, they were just screaming for some ice cream—with the works, of course.

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Have you had enough yet?  Okay, one more--

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Okay, okay, I’m done.  Make a bundt today!  Heck, you could even make a meatloaf bundt :(, whatever you choose.  For my birthday—I’m choosing the cookie bundt!  I’m making lasagna for dinner, hmm, I wonder how that would turn out in a bundt? ;)

You won’t regret checking out all of Mary’s bundts over at The Food Librarian!

TWD—Bittersweet Brownies

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Check out my post for National Bundt Cake Day today—and oh yeah---it’s also my birthday!  I’ve made the last few weeks fun having excuses to make a couple bundt cakes, you know, to honor the day.

But I do want to tell you about this week’s TWD.  Once again, we had two recipes to choose from or we could make both.  I wanted to make the Alsatian Apple Tart (page 314), but I wasn’t able to get to it.  Will have to do that sometime though!  If you’d like the recipe for the tart, it was chosen by Jessica of cookbookhabit and she’ll have it posted.

I did make the Bittersweet Brownies that were chosen by Leslie of Lethally Delicious.  They’re brownies, how could I not do that one?  The recipe would have made a 9x13 pan of brownies and I decided to halve it because when I made them, we already had a couple other goodies to consume as well.   I followed the recipe exactly, using some 70% Lindt Excellence dark chocolate (one of my very favorites!).  The only thing I did different was leave out the espresso powder, which was optional anyway. 

These brownies, that Dorie suggests only bake for 20-22 minutes and no more, are very fudgy.  I chilled them in the fridge overnight—which is a perfect way to “set” brownies.   I liked them.  I like fudge.  Kevin thought they were TOO fudgy.  With all this baking I’ve been doing over the last few years, he has come to realize and appreciate that he is learning what he likes and doesn’t really like in baked goods.  He strongly dislikes fudge.  So he didn’t care for these brownies.  He has learned he prefers dense but chewy brownies.  Good for him!  These brownies really were like baked fudge—is there such a thing?  These would be good cut into one inch squares as they are rich and a little bit will do you at a time.

As much as they were not Kevin’s favorite kind of brownies, I believe that between he and Scottie, they ate probably 90% of the 8x8 inch pan.  Please pass the fudge!

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By the end of the year, we will be finished with Dorie’s Baking From My Home To Yours and that is very bittersweet, too!  Never fear the Tuesdays With Dorie group will be starting another Dorie Greenspan favorite, Baking With Julia.

Two posts in one day—check out my post in celebration of National Bundt Cake Day!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Mini Dessert Burgers

Nilla Wafer Burgers

Doesn’t that look like a delicious burger?  I’m not a big burger/meat fan, but these are really good!   Why?  Because they are made with Nilla Wafers and chocolate burgers, then garnished with green coconut “lettuce” and ketchup and mustard frosting!  These just might be the cutest, funnest things I’ve ever made. 

Taylor checked out a book at the school library that had all kinds of fun foods to make in it.  We made a couple things in it as he rechecked it out for three weeks!  It was called Fun Stuff Silly Snacks and is by “Editors of Favorite Brand Name Recipes”.  These burger cookie treats were in the book and we finally made them today.

They really look like real mini burgers.  I love how they look!  The recipe made 24 burgers.

Mini Burgers They taste pretty good, too! 

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Hungry?  Want one?  Or ten?  Taylor had a great time helping me.  He put all the condiments on after I got the patties on the bun.  I would say if anything, the chocolate wafer mixture for the burgers was the hardest thing to deal with.  I would just tweak it a little when I make them again.  The “meat” was a little too wet, so I would use less chocolate/milk mixture, which is added to crushed Nilla wafers and some powdered sugar.  I just happened to have some buttercream left over in the fridge from earlier in the week, so I tinted it really red for the ketchup and I had some yellow decorator’s icing premade that made a perfect mustard.  After tinting some coconut green, we were all set.  The sesame seeds on top of the “buns” were a perfect ending to really make these look just like real burgers!

Mini Dessert Burgers, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 box (12 ounces) vanilla wafer cookies, divided use

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup milk (original recipe says 1/3 cup, which I think is too much)

1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 teaspoon water

3 drops green food coloring

red and yellow decorator’s frosting (in tubes)—or homemade in plastic zipper bag with the corner snipped off

1/4 cup powdered sugar—for glaze to make the sesame seeds stick (optional)

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional)

Reserve 48 wafers for bun tops and bottoms.

Place remaining wafers in large resealable bag.  Crush into small pieces using a rolling pin.  Combine wafer crumbs (about 1  1/2 cups) with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and salt in a medium bowl.

In a microwave safe glass bowl, combine the chocolate chips and milk and melt in 20 second intervals, stirring in between each time until all combined and smooth (takes about 1 minute).

Pour chocolate mixture into wafer mixture and stir until combined.  Cool until mixture is easy enough to handle and roll into balls that fit on the wafer/buns.  (Recipe says cool 10 minutes, but I ended up putting it in the fridge for a good 20 minutes hoping it would set up more, it was way too goopy to form into balls, but worked fine to scoop with a spoon onto the buns—and there is quite a bit of the chocolate mixture left over.)  Once the balls/burgers are on the buns, flatten slightly to form patties, as you make them, place them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.

Combine coconut, water and green food coloring in small, resealable plastic bag.  Seal bag and shake to coat evenly with color.

Top each wafer and burger with some coconut, then squeeze red and yellow frosting on top.  Top with remaining wafers for the bun tops.  Brush tops of wafers with powdered sugar glaze made with powdered sugar and water–it can be pretty runny, it just acts as a great glue to hold the sesame seeds in place.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired. 

sChocolate Wafer Burger

Sink your teeth into one of these big juicy burgers!  Now THAT is my kind of burger!