Twix Tart

Just to prove to you how delinquent I am in my blogging... I made this Twix tart for.. FATHER'S DAY! Though clearly I was thinking of my dear blog because I took photos of it!! 

This was a hit. So rich and the sea salt on top was perfect.

Twix Tart

via Some Kitchen Stories

Crust:

10 TBsp (5 ounces) of unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 Cup (3 and 1/2 ounces) of sugar

2 Eggs, room temperature

2 Cups (8 and 1/2 ounces) of all-purpose flour
1 TSP of salt

1 Cup of sugar Pinch of sea salt
2 Cups of heavy cream

Caramel:

1/2 Cup of heavy cream

Chocolate Ganache:

12 Ounces of bittersweet (60%-66%) chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Crust

In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix just until incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix on low just until incorporated. Scrape dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a disk. Wrap fully and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Flour work surface and roll out dough to 1/4″ thick. Lay into a 9″ tart pan or tart rings of your choosing and trim excess dough with a knife. Refrigerate for an hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line tart shell with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 30 minutes (check earlier if you are baking individual tarts), turning halfway through. Remove foil and weight and bake for 10 more minutes (individual tarts may not need additional baking time). Tart shells should be lightly golden. Remove from oven and let cool fully on wire rack before filling.

Caramel:

Place cream in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Set aside while you cook the sugar. Combine sugar with 5 tablespoons of water in a heavy saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring, until sugar dissolves.Bring mixture to boil and cook without stirring for about 4 minutes until it turns dark amber. Swirl saucepan to ensure it cooks evenly. Do not stir.

Take mixture off stove and pour cream slowly into the sugar (it will boil up so don’t pour in all at once.) Stir until incorporated and smooth. Add in salt. If caramel has cooled too much and become thick, place over heat and warm until it is liquid enough to pour.

Pour the caramel into the tart shell, covering the bottom evenly. Let cool until it firms and is no longer shiny. You can place the tart shell in the refrigerator to speed up the process.

Ganache:
Place chocolate and salt in a heatproof bowl. Place cream in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on high heat on the stove. Pour cream over the chocolate and let sit for a few minutes then whisk slowly and gently to combine. Do not stir too vigorously as this incorporates air into the ganache and gives it a less smooth and velvety texture.

Pour the ganache into the tart shell over the caramel. Let set at room temperature for at least 3 hours or up to 12 hours. Sprinkle with sea salt before serving.

SHORTCUTS!!

• Feel free to use a store-bought crust in lieu of a homemade one. (I did this- one of the refrigerated crusts work fine!)
• Use pre-made caramel. The caramel will be a little more runny than homemade, but still delicious. I opted to make my own, but caramel can be finicky if you haven’t made it before. It is worth learning though!!

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Pumpkin Doughnuts

A year or two ago I saw baked doughnuts on Prevention RD. They looked awesome and were (almost) guilt-free since they are baked and not fried! After seeing her post a couple of different doughnut recipes, I decided I needed to invest in a doughnut pan. Now I think I need to invest in a second...

Pumpkin Doughnuts
via King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
8 oz flour (about 1-3/4 cups + 2 tbsp)
cinnamon & sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together everything through the baking powder in a bowl. Once smooth, add the flour. Stir until just smooth and combined.

Scoop the batter into your doughnut pan, filling each well about 3/4 full. Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges (I use a spatula for this), and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar.

Yield: Recipe says 15 but I ended up with 19 I think. Extra doughnuts? Not a problem with me!

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Project: Wedding Cake

You guys.. I made a wedding cake. Yeah it was back in June, but I am still proud.

My sister got married June 22 at my parents' lake house in Virginia. This was definitely a DIY wedding. In January she asked me to make the cake and after perusing her Pinterest board, I came up with this sketch:

We tweaked the size and flavors a little bit, but for the most part it stayed the same concept. 

Top 6"- Yellow cake with fudge buttercream

Middle 9"- Yellow cake with strawberry buttercream filling (it took me SO LONG to get a good yellow cake recipe. Seriously the practice cakes were all yellow and I ended up tweaking various recipes I found to get what I needed. The strawberry filling was a last minute change up and I spent a weekend or two testing and trying to make a filling that was sufficiently pink and strawberry tasting without being too watery.)

Bottom 12"- Chocolate cake with peanut butter buttercream filling (this is my standby and didn't require practice.)

I practiced several cakes over the spring- different sizes, flavors, fillings, and the fondant. By June I had so many lists and schedules for this stupid cake that I could have filled a notebook.

I decided to make the basic cakes at home, level them, fill them and cover in the base layer of white fondant and then transport, I would decorate on Saturday morning. The drive to Virginia is about 5 hours and I was SO WORRIED about it collapsing or even melting in the sun in the car.

John created this transportation device for me so they wouldn't slide:

Then they were covered in a loose blanket and we stuck some ice packs under the blanket. After a nerve wracking drive down to Virginia, we made it! Cakes in tact!

We left the cakes on the kitchen island in the boxes while we all did the rehearsal and went to dinner (Homeplace! yum!). When we got back at 9:30/10 at night some was amiss on the kitchen counter...

Yes, that IS a giant cat print smack in the middle of the cake!

You guys, I wanted to kill my sister's cat. All of the stupid work and stressing at home about the fondant being perfectly smooth and pretty and then the worry about transporting the cake. Whatevs- he crushed my dreams.

I couldn't look at it or think about it and went to bed. Saturday morning I tried to figure out the best course of action. I put my old school play-doh experience to work to fill the holes as best I could.

This was the bottom layer that would at least be covered in the center by upper layers and the whole layer was covered in sanding sugar.

Trying to smooth it back out..

Luckily, once the sanding sugar was on the cake it disguised the holes and patches pretty well. I could still tell, but we just made sure that side faced the back.

I made John do the middle layer with the criss-cross on it. The measurements seemed like something an engineer should do.

Then I took back over to do the finishing touches. I added edible pearls around each layer to finish it off.

Voila! Inside finished cake. We didn't want to move it outside too soon so that it wouldn't melt (it was June in Virginia!), but it also had to go outside before the ceremony so it would be in place after the wedding. Yeah.. I made John carry it outside too.

She used the same wooden cake stand that I had my dad make for my wedding and that our cousin Crystal used after me.The stand has quite a wedding record now!

Glad the photographer got a decent picture of the cake! It looks a little lopsided but it wasn't, I swear.

Cake cutting.

Apparently the amount of cake we had we still more than enough for 80ish guests. We had about half of the middle layer and the bottom layer left. We froze the top for their anniversary.

Cake destruction.

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Oreo Cake

 One of my new co-worker's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. She is from out of town, so I had her over on her birthday for a little supper and... cake. Duh.

The recipe below reflects some changes that I would make to the original.

Chocolate Oreo Cake
adapted from MIH  and Annie's Eats

For cake:
2 c. sugar
1-3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. Hershey's Cocoa
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water
10-15 oreos twisted to separate cookies and reveal cream center

For icing:
12 oz. good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
¼ cup very hot water
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. (18 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of salt

For filling:
1/3 c. whipping cream
2 tsp powdered sugar
small dash vanilla extract
1/8 c. oreo cookie crumbs, made from reserved oreo sides

Cake:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 9-inch round baking pans, lining with parchment.
-On the bottom of each pan place cookie halves that have been separated, cream side up.
-Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
-Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.
-Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
-Pour batter very carefully into prepared pans.
-Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
-Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans and place onto wire racks.
-Remove parchment and cool completely.
-Crush remaining Oreos and halves into crumbs.

Frosting:
-Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Set aside and let cool to room temperature.
-In a small bowl, combine the cocoa powder and water and stir until smooth.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
-With the mixer on low speed, gradually blend in the melted and cooled chocolate until well incorporated.  -Blend in the cocoa powder-water mixture until smooth.

Filling:
-Refrigerate stand mixer bowl for at least 30 minutes prior to making filling.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff.
-Gently fold in the cookie crumbs leftover from the cake layers.
-Scoop the mixture into a piping bag (or gallon sized ziploc bag).
-When cake is completely cooled, set one layer of cake on your serving plate. Make icing dam around the top edge of the layer of cake.
-Fill icing dam with a layer of cream filling.
-Place other cake layer on top, and frost with chocolate frosting.
-Place oreo halves around bottom edge and top of cake. Garnish with Oreo crumbs. (I also topped mine off with chocolate dipped Oreos.)
-Serve or store in refrigerator.

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Orange Vanilla Bean Cake

While my old job was less than ideal, there were some positives... I learned SO MUCH from the people working there.. and those girls are some of my best friends. It stinks that I don't see them every day, but we do still all get together for a survivor's support group every once in awhile.

For Lindsey's birthday last week, John and I had her and her husband over on the weekend to celebrate. I let her pick any cake combination that she wanted and gave her a few sites to look at for ideas. She came up with the orange and vanilla bean combination. Since I don't know what a dessert is without a little chocolate, I dipped the candied orange slices in a little melted chocolate.

I used a cupcake recipe from Annie's Eats that I adapted for a cake.

Orange Vanilla Bean Cake
Adapted from Annie's Eats

For the cake:
1 cup (16 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
2 tbsp. finely grated orange zest
4 large eggs
1½ cups heavy cream (or milk)
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (mine took two oranges)
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
 
For the candied oranges:
1½ cups sugar
1½ cups water
One small orange, sliced thinly

For the frosting:
1½ cups plus 2 tbsp. (3 sticks plus 2 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk
One orange, to zest

To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line two 8" round cake pans with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pods and add to the bowl.  (Save pods for another use, or discard.)  Add in the orange zest.  Beat the mixture on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

In a liquid measuring cup, combine the cream, orange juice, and vanilla.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In three additions, add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl, alternating with the cream mixture.  Mix each addition on low speed just until incorporated, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Divide the mixture between the prepared cake pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then remove from the pan to cooling racks.

To make the candied orange slices, combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves.  Add the orange slices to the mixture so that they are in a single layer (none overlapping), reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer about 20 minutes, turning the slices at least once so both sides are candied.  Remove from the heat (to wax paper if you are garnishing right away, or dipping in chocolate). Store in a container with the syrup until ready to use.  (You can repeat using the same syrup for additional batches if pan does not accommodate all the slices in a single layer.)

If you want to dip the orange slices in chocolate, melt some chocolate chips (about 1.5 cups) in a double boiler over low heat. When the chocolate is melted, stir in a tablespoon of shortening if the chocolate is thick.  Stir well to make sure that the shortening is fully combined. Dip the orange slices into the chocolate until they are covered as much as you would like and then set on wax paper to cool.

To make the frosting, add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Add the confectioners’ sugar to the bowl and mix on medium-low speed just until incorporated.  Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean pod into the bowl and add in the salt.  Continue to beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract and heavy cream on low speed just until incorporated.  Increase the mixer speed and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed, about 4 minutes.

To frost the cake, place one cake layer on your serving piece and place a dollop of frosting on top. Spread the frosting out to the edges. Zest the last orange over the top of the frosting in the middle. Place the top cake layer on the frosting. Spread the frosting over the rest of the cake and garnish with orange slices!

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Homemade Cereal Bars

 

 These are our homemade Nutrigrain replacements. It has taken some trial and error, but I think we finally got it down. It doesn't even resemble the recipe I first started out testing. I make two batches at once (for freezing) so that is what you get below.


Homemade Cereal Bars

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups butter softened (5 sticks) (Use real butter, not margarine- the water content varies between them and can affect the bar consistency)
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/4-1/2 cup flax seed 
2 1/2 tsp almond extract

About 48 oz jelly/preserves (1.5 one quart canning jars-most jellies in the store contain high fructose corn syrup, so read the jar carefully)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together in stand mixer. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Add almond extract. Press 1/4 of the crumbs into each of two greased pans (I use two large Pampered Chef bar pans)- you should use about half (or a little more than) of the dough mixture. Spread half of the jelly onto each pan of dough- you should have a thin layer covering the entire batch- do not leave big clumps of jelly or the bars will end up soggy and droopy. Sprinkle the pans with the remaining crumbs.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for several hours and then cut into bars. These keep well in the freezer- wrap in wax paper or baggies and put the batch in a large gallon freezer bag. Pull out a bar a couple of hours before you plan on eating.

Makes: 24 bars/pan for 48 bars

(I have found that my standard stand mixer bowl is too small for all of the ingredients above at once. I make half of the dough mixture at a time in order to not fling flour all over the kitchen.)

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Soft Sugar Cookies with Fudge Buttercream

I have recently been really wanting these awesome cookies from a bakery that used to be local to where I grew up- anyone from the Troy/Capital District of NY is familiar with the Fudge Fancy from the Vanilla Bean. (Or at least they used to be from the Vanilla Bean.. I think they might have closed since the owners went elsewhere?) The cookies are these awesome crumbly sugar cookie with super fudgey frosting- to die for. We actually put them in goodie bags for our out of town guests at our wedding.

These sugar cookies were my attempt at re-creating the Fudge Fancies, since I am no where near NY anymore to go get some. I used a soft sugar cookie recipe from Annie and combined with with a fudge buttercream. The frosting isn't quite right.. not fudgey enough!! Next time I will go heavier on the chocolate and less butter.. maybe more confectioners sugar too.

Soft Sugar Cookies with Fudge Buttercream

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
4½ cups all-purpose flour
4½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
3 large eggs
5 tsp. vanilla extract

For the frosting:
12 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. (18 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of salt

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk together to blend.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until soft and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed.  Blend in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients mixing just until incorporated and evenly mixed.  Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, scoop a scant quarter cup of dough and roll into a ball.  Flatten the ball slightly and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the cookies at least 2-3 inches apart.  Bake about 10-12 minutes or just until set.  (Do not overbake!  The edges should be no more than very lightly browned if at all.)  Let cool on the baking sheet for several minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Set aside and let cool to room temperature. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  With the mixer on low speed, gradually blend in the melted and cooled chocolate until well incorporated.

Source: Adapted from Annie's Eats

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Margarita Cupcakes

Another awesome cupcake recipe from Annie at Annie's Eats. So delicious- the tequila comes through, but not too heavily and is a perfect combo with the lime. As most everyone knows, I am a huge margarita fan, so I was looking for any excuse to make these once I saw the recipe.

Margarita Cupcakes


Yield: about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

For the frosting:
2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites
Pinch fleur de sel (coarse salt)
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2-4 tbsp. tequila

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325˚ F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir with a fork to blend.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.  Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about ¾ full.  Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  If desired, brush the cooled cakes with tequila to emphasize the true margarita flavor.

To make the frosting, combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160° F and the sugar has dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated.  If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again, about 3-5 minutes more (don’t worry, it will come together, though it may take a long time!)  Stir in the lime juice and tequila and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream.  Garnish with lime zest and lime slices as desired.

Source: Annie's Eats

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Macarons

I am "catering" a tea party in a couple of weeks and decided that I would need to make macarons for it. I mean... if there is a place for macarons, it is a tea party. Since they can be pretty finicky, I knew I would need to practice beforehand and Easter seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I went to my go-to for desserts, Annie's Eats, and decided to combine a couple of her macaron recipes- chocolate macarons and chocolate peanut butter. Really, I could have made just the chocolate peanut butter, but I didn't have peanuts to use in the cookie. These were delicious and looked quite fancy, if I do say so myself :)

Annie recommends measuring ingredients, so I followed those directions and everything worked out perfectly, so I would recommend doing the same. The ingredients below are all listed by weight, where applicable.


Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Peanut Butter Filling
via Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
For the macarons:
110 gm blanched slivered almonds
200 gm minus 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder (Dutch-process preferred)
100 gm egg whites (from about 3 eggs), aged at room temperature for 12-24 hours
50 gm granulated sugar

For the filling:
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
¾  cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. butter
½ cup creamy peanut butter

Pulse the almonds in the bowl of a food processor until finely ground.  Add the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder to the bowl and process until blended.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy.  Gradually add the granulated sugar and continue beating until a smooth, shiny meringue with stiff peaks forms.  Add the ground almond mixture to the bowl with the meringue and quickly but gently fold together using a wide rubber spatula until no streaks remain.  You want to achieve a thick batter that ribbons or flows from the spatula when lifted.

Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.  Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain wide round tip.  Pipe into small rounds on the prepared baking sheets (each round should be about 1-1½ inches in diameter), spaced about 1 inch apart.  Let sit at room temperature for about an hour to develop a hard shell.

Preheat the oven to 300˚F.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on size.  Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely before moving the cookies.

While the cookies are cooling, make the ganache.  Place the chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl.  Combine the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.   Bring the cream mixture to a simmer, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.  Let stand 2 minutes, then whisk gently in small circular motions until a smooth ganache forms.  Let the mixture cool until it is thick enough to pipe.  (I found that even refrigerating and freezing for a decent amount of time, the ganache was still way too runny. I melted more chocolate and added peanut butter to it and then mixed that into the ganache. It thickened up quickly and I was able to pipe it then.)

Once the cookies are totally cooled, match them up by size.  Pipe a thin layer of ganache onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair.  With the peanut butter in a separate pastry bag, pipe a small dollop of peanut butter in the center of each layer of ganache.   Sandwich together with the remaining cookie, pushing the ganache to the edges.  Store in an airtight container.

--------------------

Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, can I show you a picture that had me crying while I was piping the ganache/filling. With my addition above, my filling was a little thicker than typical ganache and OMG PEOPLE it looked like cat turds on the macarons. I WAS DYING. Tastes delicious though!

Mmmmm cat turds.

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Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

My father in law retired a couple of weeks ago. To celebrate I made him some cupcakes and sent John over with them after his last day of work. The Humphreys family is a big fan of snickerdoodle cupcakes so when I saw a recipe for Snickerdoodle cupcakes awhile ago I pinned it right away. This turned out to be the perfect occasion to make the recipe!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes & Cinnamon Frosting
via Dinner & Dessert

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted (I used all purpose)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

Cinnamon Frosting

20 tablespoons (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2½ cups Confectioners’ sugar (10 ounces)
1/8 tablespoons table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons heavy cream (I used regular skim milk)2 tablespoons cinnamon (or to taste)

In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla, cinnamon, and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

(I doubled the frosting recipe so I would have enough to pipe with. There was only a little leftover & we brought it to a party with mini Nilla wafers to dip in it.. YUM!)

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Cookie Boxes 2010

This is the third year that I have made cookie plates/boxes for family and friends. I started doing because all of the people that we had to buy gifts for was getting overwhelming. We have been buying presents only for immediate family and then I give cookies to extended family, neighbors and we each bring a set to our offices.

This year I ended up doing about 20 boxes of cookies between neighbors, family, friends and work. I even mailed 3 boxes to family this year!

Chocolate covered rice krispie treat pops.

Cherry shortbread stockings dipped in chocolate.

My own creation - cherry "surprises"
(sugar cookie dough wrapped around a cherry that is stuffed with a chocolate chip).

Pecan sandies with fudge.

Sugar cookies with royal icing.

Burnt sugar almonds.

Zucchini bread with garden zucchini that I froze over the summer.

 I packed all of the cookies in boxes that I got from Nashville wraps. They were on clearance and cheaper than anything else I could find- perfect!

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Cupcakes on Cupcakes!

 

The mini cupcake? I'll give you a hint..

 Thanks to my friend who found this and sent it to me!

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Quiche Florentine

I first made this quiche months ago when I had some leftover spinach that I had to creatively use up so that John would eat it. I figured anything covered in cheese would do. It turned out SO good.. and pretty to boot!

Last weekend, I used the same recipe to create the mini quiches for Liz's baby shower. I just cut the pie crust with a little biscuit cutter and baked the quiches in mini muffin tins. Cute and portable!


Once again, I got the recipe from Tasty Kitchen.

The Best Quiche Ever!
Sprucehill

• 6 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Heavy Cream (I substitute skim milk and it is fine)
  
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons Nutmeg
• 1 dash Cayenne Pepper
• 2 cups Grated Swiss Cheese (I've used cheddar)
  
• ¼ cups Chopped Onions
• 1 whole Pastry Pie Crust

**Feel free to add in veggies and meat! I've done both bacon and sausage as well as the spinach.

-Mix all the liquid ingredients and seasonings together in a bowl. Do not over mix it; I just whisk it together.

-Use your favorite pastry pie crust recipe. I do not have one that I love, so I usually use a pre-made crust (gasp). It is easy and quick and it saves me a lot of time. Pioneer Woman has a good crust recipe on her site.

-Place your grated cheese, onions and whatever filling you choose to put in your quiche in your pastry crust. Sprinkle it around and make sure it is all evenly distributed. Pour the egg mixture over the filling ingredients. You can add a bit more cheese on the top if you like.

-Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes or until it starts to get nice and brown on top. After it comes out of the oven, let it sit for about 10 minutes. It will make it easier to cut and serve.

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Meringue Cookies

For Liz's baby shower last weekend, one of the items I served was fruit salad in (plastic) wine glasses. The fruit salad was topped with almond flavored meringues. I wanted to use the meringues in lieu of whipped cream, figuring it would hold up better. It did!

The recipe I used for the meringue came from one of my favorite websites, Tasty Kitchen. These were SO good. I have been munching on the leftovers since the shower and the rest got devoured at my office!

Marvelous Meringue Cookies

• 4 whole Egg Whites, At Room Temperature
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
• ½ teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
• 10 drops Food Coloring

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
2. Beat egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Increase speed to medium-high. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Beat in extract and food color until blended.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto 2 large foil-lined baking sheets sprayed with baking spray.
4. Bake both sheets of meringues at the same time for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off. Let the meringues stand in the oven for 1 hour or until cool.

**I piped the meringues into cute little whipped cream shapes.

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Christmas Treat Trays

This was our second year making Christmas Treat trays. Last year I took pictures of them for you all, but I never got them posted amidst all of the wedding goings ons. I'll show you the pictures this year instead :)

I got these gold chargers at the grocery store for a couple of bucks each. They made a nice background for the goodies, plus they are re-usable.

The trays included:
Oreo truffles
Cake balls
Chocolate covered Oreos
Cherry and chocolate sugar cookies
Rice krispy treats
Peanut butter cup cookies
Chocolate covered pretzels,
and in the red box, white trash.


This year we did trays again for family, our offices and some neighbors.

The trays this year included:
Oreo truffles
Mocha truffles
Almost a Candy Bar
Chocolate peanut butter fudge
Dipped Cherry cookies
Chocolate dipped pretzels
Sugar cookies decorated with royal icing

The kitchen in the process of assembling. The kitchen looked like this for pretty much a week.

For my immediate co-workers, I gave them some truffles in a cute little truffle box,

and a little loaf of some delicious salami and asiago beer bread.

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