TWD--Blanc-Manger, My Way (Think Chocolate!)

Our recipe this week was chosen by Susan from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy (if the name of the blog alone doesn't send you over, just trust me on her yummy food and photos!).  From our groups baking book, Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours, Susan chose Raspberry Blanc-Manger.  (No, it's not like the thing Jesus was laid in the stable  after he was born!)  Blanc-Manger is pronounced "blah-mahn-jhay" and it must be pronounced with a strong French accent. ;)

Dorie was right when she told us that this dessert and recipe is so simple it's "positively foolproof".  It was easy, I just wasn't sure anyone in our household would like it, including me--since the main ingredient is whipped heavy cream.  So I set out to change things up a bit to what I thought would get eaten here.  And so, you can get the raspberry recipe for this on Susan's blog.  I followed the directions completely, EXCEPT instead of ground almonds, I used ground hazelnuts.  I also used 4 1/2 teaspoons of Torani Chocolate Flavoring Syrup and 1 1/2 teaspoons Torani Hazelnut Flavoring Syrup instead of the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract the recipe suggests.  I didn't use raspberries at all.  I also put these into three 3-inch round cake pans and an 8x5 inch bread pan instead of the suggested 8 inch round cake pan.  Why?  I felt like it. 

Everything went very smoothly--literally, ha!  Tonight we got the dessert out and I did the simple little trick of setting the pan(s) in a sink of hot water (not too deep).  They came right out.  Then I had the delicious idea of drizzling Nutella on the top.  (BE CAREFUL--if you stick the Nutella jar in the microwave just to soften it up a bit--it could start to blow because of the remnants of foil lining from the safety seal that was on the jar.  I'm just saying--that COULD happen after only like 4 seconds in the microwave.  Or so I've been told. ;)

Here's what my Blanc-Manger came to be.

I was worried it would be a bit too much like gelled whipped cream (with good flavor though) and well, I was kind of right.  Everyone dug in.

I think the boys had more fun just destroying the thing than really eating it.  Never you mind, I still had two more 3 inch ones and the 8x5 one. 

I thought it really looked nice and yummy!

I wanted to see what it was like with a little fruit and the other day after buying a big bag of cherries and getting a nice cherry pitter, I decided to make jam when I realized the boys weren't eating the cherries as fast as I'd thought they would.  The jam was so simple and I think it's really good.  (Kevin won't even try it, he thinks he only likes Smucker's raspberry preserves.)

All I did was plop some jam on the third 3 inch Nutella-manger.  Not very pretty, but I actually thought it tasted really good with the jam.

Katrina's Totally Made Up Really Good Cherry Jam

1 lb. sweet cherries, pitted and chopped

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon (at first I thought it was too much, but I really like the lemon in it!)

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.  It will thicken up beautifully.  Makes about 12 oz.

Yes, that is a washed Smucker's raspberry preserves jar!  The Cherry Jam is good stuff.  You can definitely taste the lemon and I really like it.

Okay, back to the Blanc-Manger.  Well, what are we going to do with it since no one really liked it.  I really thought it was way to whipped creamy.  And while I was trying to make the big one pretty for a picture, my Nutella piping bag exploded on it.

I finished the "drizzle" job and then had a little light bulb moment.  ICE CREAM!  I scraped all of it into a bowl, added 1/2 cup half and half and poured it into the ice cream maker and it churned away.  THIS is some darn good Nutella Hazelnut Ice Cream, People! 

Fresh out of the ice cream maker.

After freezing for a few hours.

All I know is I will make Nutella ice cream again sometime (but I'd go a lot lighter on the ground hazelnuts--like maybe even just save some just  for sprinkling on top.  However, the Nutella flavor is awesome!

Puh-leeese go buy Dorie's book or I supposed you could get her Raspberry Blanc-Manger recipe on Susan's blog today.  Ooh, go check out what all the other TWD groupies have done with this on the Tuesday's With Dorie blog. 

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And just for something fun--check out these carrots I got at the farmer's market this week!

 

I said to the vendor--"Boy, these carrots are really showing some love."  hehe  The boys got a kick out of them.

Lessons Learned With Banana Bundt Cake

I recently saw a great looking bundt cake over at Amanda's delicious blog, Amanda's Cookin'.  It's banana.  I love everything banana.  So I decided to make this.  I was asked to make something for a church meeting (one that I was not able to attend last night), but I never turn down an opportunity to make treats, so last week I did a trial run on this banana bundt cake--I wanted to see if I could make it a little bit healthier.  So I changed a few things--I used half coconut oil and half canola oil for the shortening and I used half agave nectar for some of the sugar.  I also used half whole wheat flour in the recipe.  And finally, I used half light sour cream and half fat free vanilla yogurt.  So basically, I changed a lot of things in the recipe.

Amanda's bundt, which she got from some other bloggers, also had a browned butter glaze.  Besides using fat free milk, I did that recipe exactly as written.  For some reason the glaze was hardening up while I was pouring it over the cake.  In hindsight, I should have added more milk to thin it out some more.  But for some reason, none of us really cared for the taste of the browned butter glaze--it was too butterscotchy.  Anyway, the glaze pretty much fell off the cake after it dried out a bit.  AND, sadly, the cake was rather dry and just not cuttin' it for me.  (I'm really glad I didn't make it the day of the meeting and send it that way!)

  

I mean, it looked okay inside.  It was just off a little. 

Not being one to waste things, the next morning I took what was left and sliced it up.  Then I whipped up three eggs and some condensed milk I had leftover.  Ooh, what was I doing?  Hmmm.  Ideas? 

How about banana bread French toast!

We had lots of fresh fruit and sprinkled on some powdered sugar and syrup.

This made a good healthy breakfast!

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That didn't stop me from making this yummy looking banana bundt cake for the meeting.  But this time, I pretty much made it as it was written.

Bananas and Cream Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Glaze—from Taste of Home (and Amanda’s Cookin’ and Bunny’s Warm Oven and 3 B’s-Baseball, Baking & Books, but adapted by Katrina ;)

1/3 cup shortening  (I used 3 tablespoons coconut oil and 3 tablespoons canola oil)

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream (I used Daisy light sour cream--I always do.)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I left out the nuts in case of allergies, but you know me and nuts--love them!)

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add bananas and mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, stirring just until combined. Stir in walnuts. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Place  piece of waxed paper under the cake before adding the icing.

I made my own icing.  It's good! 

Katrina's Cream Cheese Icing

6 ounces light (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, softened (I nuked it for 10-15 seconds and it was perfect for stirring with a spoon-you could use a food processor or mixer, too)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons 2% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

Combine all ingredients together and beat well until smooth.  Add enough milk until consistency is how you want it.  Drizzle over cake.

I really wanted to cut in to it and take pictures, but since it was going away....

And that night when I got home from the cooking demo class I went to (more awesome yummy dishes (pasta!) by Paige--Le Cordon Bleu in London trained--I go to all her classes!)--when I got home part of the uneaten banana bundt cake had returned because they didn't eat it all at the meeting.  It was a little mushed by being covered, but I still took a few pictures.

This was moist and delicious! (That darned whole wheat flour!  I still might try whole wheat pastry flour next time and just use a little less!)  Thanks for posting this yummy cake, Amanda! 

 

TWD-Rewind--Chunky Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (With Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls)

SO sorry to Denise of Chez Us for not joining in on her pick this week for Dorie's Brioche Plum Tart.  I'll bet it's really good and can't wait to see all the creations out there in TWD Land.  Brioche is some tasty bread and someday I'll make this recipe.  I just wasn't able to spend the time on it this past week.  But to stick with things, I did whip up a quick past cookie (with my own little twist) that I missed before joining TWD.

What a great cookie.  Seriously, how can you go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate and some good wholesome oats?!  Well, I recently found some fun looking pretzels that I thought would be fun to add to a cookie.  They are pretzel balls.  Have you seen these?

 

That's cool, but I thought chocolate covered pretzel balls would be even better!

What'd I tell ya?  Better, huh.

 

Now we're talkin'.  I used 4 1/2 ounces of pretzel balls and 4 ounces of melted Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chocolate. 

Voila!

These are good with that added crunch and saltiness from the pretzels.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters (With Chocolate Covered Pretzel Balls), adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, by Katrina

3 cups old-fashioned oats (I ground them up)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I omitted this)

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I omitted this)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup chunky peanut butter (smooth is okay)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips (I used milk chocolate chips!!--peanut butter goes best with milk chocolate in my opinion)

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted

4 1/2 ounces pretzel balls (you could also used broken up pretzels of any shape)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  (Do not do this until you've chilled the dough.)

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, (spices), and salt

In bowl of electric mixer, beat butter and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.  Add both sugars and beat until well combined.  Scrape down sides of bowl.  Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.  With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients mixing only until combined.  Stir in the chips and pretzels.   Chill the dough for 2 hours (or for up to 1 day).

Drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets.  Bake for 11-13 minutes.  Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then move to cooling racks with metal spatula to cool completely (or for as long as you can stand it). ;)

You know you want one.

Just look at that peanut buttery, oaty, chocolaty, pretzel-ly salty goodness! ;)

Now go look at all those Brioche Plum Tarts!  Link to TWD Land above and the recipe on Denise's blog.

Picture time---Pretty darn talented, eh!

Okay, he may have had a little help.  This is his "new thing", whenever I get the camera out and say, "Go stand by it so I can take your picture."

Now he just wants to have the camera and take pictures.  (He hasn't a clue what he's doing with my camera, but he sure thinks he does.   He can be a stubborn little bugger!  We never did get a good picture of him standing by this awesome Lego tower.

Hello--Cutest Kid Ever Alert, Some Awards and Whole Wheat Bread!

There are no words.

But I must tell you the story.  Taylor found a pom pom on the floor yesterday and that led to he and Sam making crowns.  We got them made and since they had a lot of glue (kids use a lot of glue!), we set them aside to dry.  Later, I taped the ends together and Sam was pretty excited about his crown.  He ran in to Taylor's room to show him and this is how he looked when I went in the room.  Yes, it's upside down.  Dang cute!  He wouldn't even let me show him the right way, he was happy with it just the way it was!
This cuteness even makes up for the fact that last night after I was almost done with the dishes, Sam scooted a chair up to the sink and wanted to play in the water.  I let him.  I finished the last of the by-hand dishes and told him to leave the water running just how I had it and be careful.  I went in the living room (just off the kitchen, but you can't see the sink from where I was.)  I checked on Sam every few minutes.  He was filling a couple cups up back and forth and having a good time.  He always makes a little of a wet mess, but was doing okay.  Well, Kevin came upstairs moments later, entered the kitchen and saw Sam squirting the entire kitchen with the sink hose!  Not only that, but water was gushing on to the floor from the counter in quite the flood!  I'm not sure how he did it in the amount of time since I'd last checked on him, but it took about 10 towels to clean up!  Sigh.  Like I said, it's a good thing he's so stinkin' cute or he'd have been in trou-ble!
(Taylor wouldn't let me take his picture with his crown on.)  Also, it seems in all the pictures of Sam lately, he's just wearing a onesie shirt or just a diaper.  I've been just putting these shirts on him because his newest thing is to take his pants off.  He was even doing it after I'd tuck him in bed at night.  I always go check on him before I go to bed and his jammie pants were always on the floor.  With the snapping onesies, he can't take anything off!
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I wanted to send a shout out and THANKS to a few blogger friends who have given me awards recently.
I got this Kreativ Blogger award from Carla at Chocolate Moosey.  Thanks a bunch, Carla, that's awesome!   And I also got the same award from Peach at The Peach Kitchen.  She is a cute gal in the Philippines with a fun blog in which she showcases places to eat there, interesting food and yummy recipes.  Thanks for thinking of me for this award!
 
I'm supposed to now tell you a bunch of boring stuff about myself (7 things to be exact) and pass this award on.  So I'm passing it on to all the blogs I've got listed as favorite links on my blog.  You all rock!  Yada, yada, yada, there's not much for me to say about myself.
1-I don't like (make that hate) onions.  My mom always said that when I grow up I'd learn to like them.  Almost 40, still hate them.  Sorry, Mom.  I suppose it could just be that I've never grown up. ; )
2-I love chocolate.  There.  That's about it about me.  jk  But that's all you're getting today! ; )
And then, I hate to admit it, but clear back in March (she said muffled under her breath), I so kindly received this award from Melody at Cheat Day Cafe.  I feel like such a heel having never acknowledged this on my blog.  I really am grateful when people think of me and send me these awards.  So, Thanks, Melody! 

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated."
And just how horrible of me is it that after receiving the "FRIENDS" award from Melody, I blew it!  Anyway, thanks and sorry.  Again, I pass this one on to ALL my friends!  Ya'll know who you are and can accept this award and pass it on if you'd like! ; )
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Last week Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod (How awesome is she?!) posted a recipe for some Honey Whole Wheat Bread.  I'm a sucker for good homemade bread, especially when I saw that the mixer does all the kneading and it only had one rise time.  I had to try this one.     This bread turned out great.  It made two big, beautiful loaves.  I wrapped one up and put it in one of the boxes of recycle stuff I had for our recycle guy who comes every other week on Tuesday's.  But I forgot this past week, so after emailing him, he said I could put my stuff out on Friday and he'd come pick it up.  This guy does a lot for our environment, for our own laziness and he doesn't get paid much to do what he does.  He recycles just about everything, too.  It's only $12 a month.  I think that's pretty good and beats loading up all our "trash" and taking it to a recycle center.  That's the only way they do it here in own town.  I kind of wish it was required here (it was in Tucson where we lived before).  It kind of drives me nuts when I go jogging in the mornings and see SO much garbage to be thrown out that could be recycled.  Okay, off the high horse.  I'm not  the greatest at it, nor have I always been this way.
Sheesh, where was I?  Oh, the bread!  It's great, simple and 100% whole wheat.
I only made one minor change to Maria's shared recipe.
Honey Whole Wheat Bread, Stouts' recipe, adapted every so slightly from Maria at Two Peas and their Pod

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 T vital wheat gluten
2 packets of yeast (I used rapid rise)
2 1/2 cups warm water
In a large mixing bowl (preferably a KitchenAid), add the 3 cups flour, wheat gluten, and yeast. Stir. Add in warm water and stir until combined. Let sit for 10 minutes.
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 T lemon juice  (I used distilled vinegar, as I was out of lemon juice or lemons)
1 T salt
3 1/2-4 cups whole wheat flour


Mix the oil, honey, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture after the 10 minutes. Mix until combined. Add in the additional flour and mix. Now knead the dough for ten minutes with the dough hook. When it is done divide the dough into two loaves. Make sure they are even. Shape them into loaf form. Place the dough into 2 loaf pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. After the loaves have risen, bake them for 30 minutes.  (I only baked mine for 25 minutes, they should be a golden brown.)  I also basted my dough with an egg white wash before baking it.

Look at that!  Can't wait to make this again!

Great recipe, Maria!  Thanks for sharing.

The Cuteness of My Boys and More Summer Treats--Lemon-Up Floats and Lower Fat Banana Ice Cream

Would ya look at this--I've said it once before, even quite recently, but seriously, could there be more blue eyes and an angelic face on a kid?  (Yes, he needs a haircut big time!)

And then there's this guy, who thinks he can ride a bike, but can't even reach the pedals.  It doesn't matter, he's cuter than pie.

And a really rare occurrence--all four of them together.

Of course, it's because they are all enjoying a treat together before bedtime, which seems to be an every-night thing around here. 

You remember the pink lemonade sherbert I told you about recently?

A little recipe recap for you--

Katrina's Refreshing Pink Lemonade Sherbert

1  1/2 cups half and half

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup agave nectar (or sugar)

1 can pink lemonade concentrate

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

3 drops of red food color (optional for darker pink color--I did use it_

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to mix thoroughly.  Process in ice cream maker following manufacture's instructions.  Put the thickened mixture in a air tight container and freezer at least two hours.  Or enjoy it immediately in glasses with straws!  It was like a really yummy, thick, tasty Slurpee.  Be careful, this is the brain freezing kind of stuff! ;)

We had some leftover, so I scooped it into cups for the boys and topped it off with some 7-Up for  delicious

LEMON-UP FLOATS (I came up with that name and thinks it's pretty darn cool!)  The boys love Root Beer Floats, and they really liked these.  (It helps that they don't get pop much, so they think it's pretty awesome when they do.) 

Sam wasn't up for trying for one more group picture.

And one more quick summer treat.  I looked at a lot of recipes, but ended up coming up with my own

Lower Fat Banana Ice Cream, by Katrina

2 cups half and half

8 ounces fat free sweetened condensed milk

2 bananas, mashed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacture's instructions.  Freeze for about 2 hours.  Mmmm.  This is great with some chopped nuts on top, or a little chocolate, or some chocolate chips and peanuts, or.....lots of things!

TWD--Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies

This week's Tuesday's With Dorie recipe was chosen by this really cool girl, Lisa, who is not even a TWD blogger.  What?  Lisa recently won a contest for coming up with a new logo for Tuesday's With Dorie.  Check it out.

Lisa has a really funny blog called Surviving Oz.  She is an American living in Australia and she loves us TWD bloggers.  Since she won, she got to pick this week's recipe and you've got to 1--go check out her blog and 2-see her posting about these brownies (and GET the recipe!).  She never bakes from scratch and her brownies look de-lish and her write up is a great read! 

THIS might be my favorite TWD recipe yet.  Why?  The biggest reason is because it is SO simple to make.  But heck, they are also brownies and they are delicious--no matter how you slice it! ;)  I have no idea if Dorie hit it just right with making these brownies just like Katharine Hepburn's, but I do know that Dorie has come up with a great brownie and if the key was what Katharine always said--"don't put too much flour in your brownies", then this is it.  I'm not ashamed to say that I made these brownies four different times over the last week. 

We like them!  I'm excited and happy that "we", as in all of my family, like these.  No cake, no frosting to fret about and I've shared them with some friends and neighbors all of whom raved about what a good brownie they are.    Somebody stop me!  jk

So here's the deal.  The first time I made them, I added the nuts, walnuts that is, and semi sweet chocolate chips.  (Note--all four times that I made these I left out the cinnamon and the coffee--don't care for either one in my brownies!)  I have to say, the nutty ones are my favorite.  I just really think a brownie with nuts is much better than one without!

Pure brownie perfection.

We had to do something fun with the brownies.  So they became the base for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fro Yo Sundaes.  (The same concoction I made the Andes Mint Fro Yo from on a previous post.)

 

Good! 

The chocolate chip cookie dough is from The Perfect Scoop.  You can get the recipe here, among other places, I'm sure.

Next, a few days later, I made the brownies sans nuts because one of my sons thinks he doesn't like nuts in brownies. ;)  He loves them like this---

Just extra chocolate.  Yum.  (But missing nuts!)  Um, these still got eaten right up!

These got a dousing of the peanut butter ice cream I recently posted about with some hot fudge on top. 

(Yes, we've been eating a lot of ice cream 'round here lately!)

Next up I went for the classic peanut butter/chocolate combo.  Whipped up the brownies--did I mention how easy they are?  Melt butter in pot on stove, while it's melting, add cocoa (I never sifted it, I'm lazy).  Let sit three minutes.  Whisk in eggs, then sugar, vanilla and that little bit of flour and salt.  That's it.  Add mix-ins.  Put in 8x8 pan (I always lined it with foil and lightly sprayed it with cooking spray--once baked and slightly cooled, cool to room temperature and chill in fridge for the best, easiest cutting.)  My 8x8 pan is a darker metal, so every time I baked these, I baked them at 300 degrees instead of 325 degrees.  I baked them for 25 minutes at which point they passed the toothpick test and looked done.  They were perfect every time.

With these peanut butter ones, I chopped up 8 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and added them to the batter.

If you're the peanut butter/chocolate fan, you'll love these like this!  The kids ate them up and the neighbors loved them. 

And just because three times just wasn't enough for these, I made them again yesterday.  You know the drill, melt butter, add cocoa, eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour and salt.  Then add 3/4 cup of these--(still cleaning out the baking cupboard here).  I have been known to love the Junior Mints and York Peppermint Patties in my lifetime.  And they were terrific in the these brownies.  And just to be different, I baked them in an 8 inch round cake pan.

I added a Hershey's Kisses Mint Truffle to the top of each brownie wedge as well.

If you like the minty brownies--you'll want to whip these up. 

Puhleeeaassseee, go see other versions of these brownies by visiting the Tuesday's With Dorie blog and checking out the list of other baking bloggers.  I can't wait to see the other's brownies!

By the way, he's feeling much better, but his eyes don't look so good! ;)