Strawberry Jell-O Salad

I started a walk/run routine first thing in the morning.  And when I say routine, I mean I've done it 4 times in the last 5 days.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good start.  But in reality, I don't trust myself.  I need to check back in a couple of weeks to determine if it really has the potential to be a routine.  I'm doing a 3 mile circuit and I walk some and run some.  My goal is to run the full route at some point.   I think it's necessary that this become a regular part of my day.  Mostly so I can eat more of this Strawberry Jell-O Salad and the array of other desserts my sweet tooth craves.

I've had my eye on this recipe ever since I bought Baked Explorations about a year and a half ago.  It was an easy pick when I was asked what recipe I wanted to host for this round of Club:Baked.  I can't say exactly why it originally caught my eye.  Probably because Jell-O brings me back to childhood.  My family never made a dessert quite like this when I was a child, but I can say my family surely enjoyed it when I brought it for a gathering this past weekend. 

I'm not exactly certain why it's called a salad...but call it what you want, it's damn tasty.  This dessert "salad" is layered in a 9x13 pan.  The bottom is a salty and slightly sweet crunchy pretzel crust.  The middle layer is smooth cream cheese filling that is lightened up by folding in fresh whipped cream.  The top is good old strawberry Jell-O from a box studded with fresh sliced strawberries.  Bring it all together in one bite and I'm a happy girl.

Each component of this recipe is easy to make.  It does require some planning ahead and a little bit of patience to allow the Jell-O to set up properly.  When I took my photos, I think my salad could have used a little more fridge time as it wasn't long until the Jell-O layer started to slowly slide off the cream cheese layer which resulted in far fewer photos than I would normally take. 

I doubled the recipe...sort of.  I wanted to take a full recipe to my family gathering on Sunday, but I didn't think setting up a photo shoot at the event would be the best approach.  And it's not so classy to bring over a dessert that's already been cut into.  So I made a small version just for me!  Problem is I misread the amount of Jell-O thinking it called for a 3 ounce box, when it actually called for a 6 ounce box.  After I was already well into the recipe, I realized that I had double of everything except Jell-O.  Despite the miscalculation, it still worked out just fine.  I had slightly thicker pretzel and cream cheese layers than pictured in the Baked book, but in the end it all tasted delicious.

To see how other Club: Bakers "salads" turned out head over the Club: Baked site.  Enjoy!




Strawberry Jell-O Salad
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:

Jell-O Layer
1 six ounce package strawberry Jell-O
2 cups fresh strawberries sliced (about 14 ounces)

Pretzel Crust
8 ounces salty pretzels (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 pieces
2 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar

Cream Cheese Layer
1 eight ounce page cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream

To make the Jell-O layer
Prepare the Jello-O according to the instructions on the package.  Stir in sliced strawberries and refrigerate until it is partially set (about 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of the container you use--I used an extra large, shallow bowl and it took 1 hour to partially set).  While you wait for the Jell-O, make the other components of the recipe.

To Make the Pretzel Crust
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Prepare a 9x13 pan by buttering the sides and bottom or spray with non stick cooking spray.

Using a food processor, place in the pretzels in 2 batches, pulsing until coarse crumbs form (don't over process into a powder).  If you don't have a food processor you can crush the pretzels in a zip top bag using a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet until coarse crumbs form.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter over low heat.  Whisk in the brown sugar and remove the pan from the heat.  Stir in the pretzel pieces until well combined.  Pour pretzel mixture into your prepared pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan.  You can use your hand or a flat metal measuring cup to press the crumbs into a crust.  Don't press crust up the sides of the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

To Make the Cream Cheese Layer
Place the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl of stand mixer, or use a regular bowl and hand mixer (this is what I did) and beat on medium speed until fully combined (about 2 minutes).  In a clean bowl whip heavy cream on medium high speed with your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or you can whip it by hand with a whisk) until soft peaks form.  Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the whipped cream in batches into the cream cheese mixture until fully combined.

Assemble
Spread the cream cheese over the fully cooled crust.  Chill for 5 minutes in the refrigerator.  Pour the Jell-O over the cream cheese filling and cover and chill for 2 more hours or more before serving.

Store tightly covered and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Grasshopper Bars

Its already time for the latest installment of Club: Baked.  For those of you who don't know, Club: Baked is a small group of bloggers baking our way through the book Baked: Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Polifito.  We bake twice a month, on the 1st and 15th (don't tell anyone that today is the 16th).  Each week, one of the Club: Baked members is the hostess and picks the recipe that the whole group will make and we all post our results on the same day (or maybe some people post a week late sometimes, maybe).  Anyway, it's always fun to see everyone's posts and how they fared with the recipe.  This week's recipe for grasshopper bars was selected by Kirsten of The Sweet Swiper.

I had high hopes for this...I'm a big chocolate mint fan.  I really enjoyed the Chocolate Mint Thumbprint cookies when the group made them last year.  I have no will power when it comes to Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies and I think mint chip ice cream is the bomb.  So I was pretty excited to see this recipe come up on the roster. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely, even resisting my normal temptation to half it.  My only changes were to use a teaspoon of peppermint extract in place of the cream de menthe called for (couldn't find it at my local grocery store) plus a few drops of green food coloring to get that pale minty color.  I also cut the amount of butter in the chocolate glaze in half (mostly because I was too lazy to get another 1 pound butter packet out to cut some more).

Here's what I liked about the recipe.  The frosting is where it's at!  It is smooth, silky and minty.  It's an unusual (to me) butterceam frosting method that starts with boiling milk, cream, sugar and flour together in a sauce pan and then once thickened, it gets transferred to a stand mixer and you beat on high until all the heat has been released and the mixture is fully cooled. Toss in the butter and beat it until you have a magical fluffy frosting.  The Baked boys use this same method in other recipes, like this absolutely delicious caramel buttercream.  What I like about this buttercream method is the frosting isn't overly sweet and it's really light and and airy (traditional buttercream is too sweet and heavy to me). 

Look how dreamy the frosting is...

I didn't love the brownie base.  I'm not sure if I overcooked it...they actually recommend under baking it to give it a fudgy texture.  It just didn't have a that deep fudgy flavor I was looking for.  Though these didn't turn out perfectly, I would like to give them another go because the frosting is so stinkin good and I'm total sucker for chocolate mint desserts.

To get the recipe head over to Kirsten's blog.  To see how other Club: Bakers grasshopper bars turned out, click here.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I've been slacking a little on Club: Baked.  I have every intention of baking along every two weeks.  I find that my intentions don't always become reality, unfortunately.  I'm a week late in posting our last assignment.  Things have been busy around here.  Work is a little more crazy than usual at the moment.  We've been spending time with family and friends for the past few weekends.  I've been cooking and baking up a storm.  And of course I have to squeeze in time for my favorite shows on DVR.  The Real Housewives of Orange County stressing over their latest plastic surgery is my stress relief! 

I was excited to see Red Velvet Whoopie Pies come up on the Club: Baked Roster for April.  So even though I didn't make our scheduled post date, I still wanted to bake along.  Whoopie pies have been quite popular in the food blogging world and I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  To me, their appeal comes from the fact they are individual servings of a cookie meets cake sandwiched by frosting.  Who doesn't love frosting, cookies and cakes?  My Hubby.  But that's beside the point.  I love all these things.  Plus whoopie pies are cute.  Sounds like all the makings for a winning sweet treat, right? 

So here's the deal.  I want to like whoopie pies for all the reasons stated above.  But they just aren't my thing.  I find the texture is not as good as a cake or a cookie, for me.  It almost has a slightly dense and doughy texture.  I'm not a doughy kind of girl (I don't like dumplings, mochi or most biscuits).  I thought maybe I was doing something wrong with whoopie pies.  I've made whoopie pies twice now from 2 different recipes and ended up with a very similar texture result.   The first one I tried was a peanut butter whoopie pie with chocolate cream cheese frosting from the King Author flour website.  I made them but didn't post them here because I just didn't love them.  So why I am posting these?  I try to post everything from the baking groups I participate in...good, bad or ugly!  It's a great way to learn from other people's baking experiences as well.  Plus I think most people like whoopie pies, and I'm the outcast here.

If you are a whoopie pie, red velvet and cream cheese frosting fan, I think you would like this recipe.  The red velvet has nice flavor from the cocoa powder and I think I've already proclaimed my love for cream cheese frosting a number of times.  And this is no exception.  I used a medium size scoop and ended up with 17 whoopie pies.  The cream cheese recipe was more than enough to fill these.  If I were to make these again (which I won't, but I'm sharing in case you might), I would half the cream cheese recipe.  Nearly all of the other Club: Baked girls had really positive reviews, so this is just a texture preference thing for me.  To get the recipe head over to Andrea's blog, Nummy Kitchen.

Next up on the Club: Baked roster: Grasshopper Bars.  Looking forward to this one!

Nutella Scones

Nutella has become a staple in my pantry.  I mostly spread it on English muffins and graham crackers.  But recently I took it to the next level and merged Nutella into the baking world.  Sort of.  Making frosting isn't technically baking.  I made a banana cake and topped it with Nutella frosting.  Banana + Nutella = heaven, by the way.  And now I can say I have officially baked with my favorite chocolate hazelnut spread with these chocolatey scones.

This week our Club: Baked hostess, Lorraine of PhDcupcaker, selected Nutella Scones for the group to bake.  I have been looking forward to this recipe because a.) I have never made scones before and b.) a new way to incorporate Nutella into breakfast is a good thing.

The recipe reads pretty simply.  It doesn't require a mixer or any fancy tools.  But apparently it requires a little finesse.  It definitely wasn't easy as I thought it would be.  The authors of Baked Explorations caution you to not over mix the dough to ensure you have nice tender scone.  They also recommend using your hands to knead the dough.  I don't know about anyone else, but my dough was beyond sticky and I spent quite a bit of time trying to keep the dough from forming a giant chocolate mitten on my hand.  Next time I would keep a little flour on hand to help with the sticky fingers.  Now that I have one scone run under my belt, I'm looking forward to trying other flavor combinations.

I did make a couple of small alterations to the recipe.  The original recipe calls for toasted chopped hazelnuts to be added to the dough.  I omitted the nuts and to dress it up a bit, I sprinkled coarse raw sugar on top for a little sparkle and crunch.  I made half the recipe (yielding 6 small scones) but still added the full amount of sugar (only 1/4 cup in total) because some other bakers had noted that the scone wasn't very sweet.  Even with the extra sugar, I still thought it wasn't very sweet.  But that's okay, the Nutella drizzled on top brings up the sweetness to just the right level.  The scone is tender and almost cakey inside with a little crunch on the outside.  Good stuff.  This is my kind of breakfast.

To get the recipe head over to Lorraine's site.  To see how other Club: Bakers' scones turned out click here.

Speculaas

Today marks the 15th recipe Club: Baked has made from Baked Explorations.  Last July we started on a journey to bake our way through all the recipes in this cookbook.  This week is a little different because we are teaming up with the Baked Sunday Mornings group since our schedules matched up for this week's pick, Speculaas. 

I was excited to see Speculaas on the baking roster because I'm a big fan of sugar and spice and everything nice and that's what I envisioned for these crunchy spice cookies.  I have made a similar spice cookie, Speculoos, the French cousin of the Dutch Speculaas, in the past and really enjoyed them, leaving me with high hopes for their Dutch counterpart.

I'm just going to rip the bandaid off and say it. I didn't care for the Speculaas.  The spice combination just didn't work for me.  Though I'm not quite sure why.  I like all the components but somehow the overall balance of spices was off.  I will say that I didn't use fresh grated nutmeg, so perhaps that had something to do with it.  These cookies also baked up darker than I prefer.  In the Baked Explorations book the authors allude to Speculaas being like the biscoff cookies that Delta Airlines serves as a snack to its passengers.  I have had Delta's cookies, they are delicious and completely addicting.  I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that I don't think the Speculaas live up to the famous airline cookie. 

I'm definitely in the minority here because it seems my fellow bakers had a lot of success with their cookies. You can see how everyone's cookies turned out by clicking here.  For the recipe head over to Baked Sunday Mornings.

I've made 12 of the 15 Club: Baked recipes and this is the first one that I really didn't care for.  Not too bad on the odds overall.

Next up on the baking schedule--Soft Candy Caramels. 

(Non) Mississippi Mud Pie

Many birthday dinners out at a restaurant when I was a teenager ended with a slice of mud pie topped with a candle. The slices were massive and could be shared with my whole family.  I would always choose a non coffee version of mud pie, like chocolate mint or chocolate chip.  Ice cream is pretty satisfying all on it's own, but when it's packed into a pie form with cookie crust and fudge topping, it transforms into something special.

Jess from The Saucy Kitchen is our hostess for this week's Club: Baked pick and she chose Mississippi mud pie as the recipe the group would make.  Even though I'm a fan of mud pie, I was a little hesitant to make this recipe because I knew it had coffee in it.  I thought for sure the coffee would be in the fudge layers, but when I read through the recipe more closely, the only coffee was in the ice cream layer.  A layer that could easily be changed out for another ice cream flavor.  The authors of Baked Explorations say you can choose whatever ice cream flavor you like, but if you stray from the traditional coffee ice cream, you can no longer call it "Mississippi" mud pie. 

So, here I present, my non Mississippi mud pie.  I used dulce de leche (caramel) ice cream instead of coffee. 

Other than the ice cream swap and using almonds instead of pecans (because I burned my pecans), I followed the recipe exactly.  Well, sort of.  I cut the recipe in half and made a mini mud pie.  Hubby is not a chocolate fan so I wanted to make a small version.   My father-in-law was going to be in town so I knew I could share it with him.  Let's just say I shared 1/4 of the pie with him and I scarfed down the other 3/4 myself over the following 4 days.  I would have to go shopping for new jeans if I had made the full pie.

In case it wasn't obvious by my aforementioned pie hoarding, I really liked this mud pie.  The crust is a chocolate cookie crust.  I used Oreos minus the filling as the base because I couldn't find chocolate wafer cookies at my grocery store.  I liked using Oreos because the wafer part on its own isn't overly sweet so it results in a deep dark chocolate crust.  The next layer is a sweet, rich bourbon fudge.  Just a hint of bourbon brings a depth of flavor to the fudge without being too boozy.  Up next is the ice cream layer which gets topped by chopped pecans (almonds in my case).  And finally the top is drizzled with more bourbon fudge.  I didn't use all the fudge on top since I wanted to see a little bit of the ice cream beneath.  The pie is stored in the freezer and is sliceable right out of the freezer.

This is definitely a dessert geared toward a chocolate lover.  But what is so great about this recipe is I can see it being tweaked and twisted into a variety of flavor combinations.  I'm already envisioning a chocolate mint mud pie, replacing the bourbon in the fudge layer with a bit of peppermint extract and a layer of mint chip ice cream.  Or a strawberry shortcake version...with a graham cracker or vanilla wafer cookie crust instead of the chocolate crust.  White chocolate can be swapped for the dark chocolate in the fudge layers and amaretto in place of the bourbon.  Fresh strawberry ice cream nestled in the middle and you have a fun play on mud pie meets strawberry shortcake.  Really, the possibilities are vast. 

What I love about this recipe is it's easy and presents beautifully.  It does require a little planning ahead because the various layers have to chill or freeze until the next can be completed.  You can't throw it together an hour before guests will be arriving unfortunately.  I spread it out over two days and it was a cinch.

Now that I've been schooled on the ways the mud pie...I'm excited to try other flavor combinations.

To get the recipe head over to The Saucy Kitchen.  Thanks for a great pick Jess!  To see how my fellow Club: Bakers did with their pies click here.

Devil's Food Cupcakes with Angel Frosting

2012 has arrived!  Happy New Year!

Did anyone else wake up this morning searching for the Rose Parade on TV, but didn't find it?  It took me about half hour to figure out that when new year's day falls on a Sunday, the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl actually take place on Monday.  With no Rose Parade to watch I decided this was the perfect time to bake the first Club: Baked recipe for 2012, Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting.

For those of you who don't know, Club: Baked is an online baking group where a group of us are baking our way through the book Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  The group was founded last July by Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More.  The group bakes twice a month.  Each week we all make the same recipe which is selected by that particular week's hostess.  So far we've baked some pretty awesome treats.  A few of my 2011 favorites have been New York Style Crumb Cake, Buckeyes, Sunday Night Cake, the pastry cream from the Boston Cream Pie recipe and the Caramel Apple Cake.  You can join us on our baking adventure by getting in touch with Karen via the Club: Baked site.  The more the merrier!

I was excited to see the first recipe of 2012 was Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting chosen by Natalie from Just About Food.  Chocolate cake is one of my favorite desserts to eat.  This one is topped with "Angel Frosting", which is essentially homemade marshmallow fluff.  The silky sweet marshmallow frosting is a nice contrast to the deep dark chocolate flavor.  My Hubby, who you may recall is not a big dessert guy, and is especially not a big chocolate guy, declared the frosting a success!  Not surprisingly, he didn't care for the cake.  Luckily, I have a ton of frosting leftover as I made the whole frosting recipe, but only made half the cake recipe for my mini cupcakes.  Hubs can eat the frosting by the spoonful to satisfy his sweet tooth. ;)

A few baking notes.  The cake recipe calls for hot coffee, however I'm not a fan of coffee in my desserts (even though people swear the taste is undetectable in the final product--I can always taste it).  So instead I dissolved 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder with hot water.  It worked out fine and the cake still had a deep chocolate flavor.  I made mini cupcakes and they took about 17 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  I was worried I would have trouble with the frosting.  I have had some failed attempts in the past with frostings that call for a hot sugar mixture to be streamed into the frosting.  I followed the recipe exactly and I was pleased to see that it came together easily with no issues.  To see how other Club: Bakers cakes turned out click here.

Though I enjoyed this cake, the chocolate cake from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book is still my go to chocolate cake recipe.  The angel frosting recipe is, however, a keeper.  It would be great with a white cake and a lemon curd filling...almost like a lemon meringue cake.  Sounds like a good idea for Hubby's birthday in early March...

Here's to 2012!  I'd like to raise a cupcake to toast the start of a great year!

Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting
from Baked Explorations

For the Cake:

1 ounce good quality dark chocolate (60-72% cacao), broken into a few pieces
1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup hot coffee (I used hot water with a teaspoon of cocoa powder dissolved in it)
1/3 cup whole milk
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 cubes, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter two 8-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment and butter and flour the pan, including the parchment, discarding excess flour.  Or make cupcakes by placing liner in the wells of a muffin tin. 

Place the cocoa powder and chocolate pieces in a medium heatproof bowl and pour hot coffee over them and whisk until combined.  Add the milk and whisk until combined.

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 2 kinds of sugars on medium speed, about 3 minutes, until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at time, beating until each egg is fully combined.  Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.  Scrape down the bowl and mix until for another 30 seconds. 

Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the melted chocolate mixture.  You should begin and end with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter evenly among your cake pans or cupcake liners.  If you are making cakes, bake for 35 - 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.  If you are making cupcakes, bake 18 - 20 minutes.  Test your cake or cupcakes with a toothpick.  If it comes out clean they are done.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack, until cakes or cupcakes are mostly cooled. 

For the Angel Frosting:

5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine 1 1/4 cups of the sugar, the corn syrup and 1/4 cup of water and place over low heat.  Once the sugar dissolves increase the heat to medium-high and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot.   Heat the mixture WITHOUT STIRRING, to almost a soft-ball stage (about 235 degrees).  Mixture should not be heated above 235 degrees F.

While you are waiting for the syrup to reach the softball stage, whip the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Do not beat beyond the soft peak point.

When the syrup mixture reached the soft-ball stage removed from heat. 

Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of water over the soft peak of the egg whites and turn the mixer to low.  Slowly stream in the the hot sugar syrup.  Once all the syrup has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat the icing for about 7 minutes until it is thick and shiny.  Add the vanilla and  beat again until combined.

Assemble the cake (or cupcakes):

For cakes: place one layer on a serving platter and trim the top to create a flat surface.  Spread about 1 cup of frosting on top.  Place the second layer of cake on top and trim to create an even surface.  Frost the tops and sides of the cake.  Serve immediately.

For cupcakes: Simply top with frosting.  You can you use a decorative tip to pipe on the frosting or use a knife to spread it on.  For even more frosting, cut a cylinder shape out of the middle of the plain cupcake and remove the cake.  Fill with frosting (using a piping bag or a ziptop bag with the corner cut off) and replace the cake that you removed.  Proceed with frosting the top of the cupcake.

Buckeyes

I totally cheated.  I not only made buckeyes back in September, I posted them.  I wasn't supposed to do that since Club: Baked was making them this week.  I know I'm bad.  But I'm going to pull the "Mom" card here.  I went in search of chocolate treats to make my Mom for her birthday and I choose two from Baked Explorations.  Marshmallow chocolate cups and buckeyes.  They made a great birthday gift and I couldn't resist posting them a little early.  Hopefully my fellow bakers will forgive me.

I really can't truly call my candies buckeyes since I didn't leave that classic exposed peanut butter eye on top.  To be honest I think that buckeyes look totally unappealing.  How do I say...they remind me of man parts...that I never imagined I would be mentioning on a food blog.  I'm totally uncomfortable that I just said that.  Maybe I'm a little prude, but I went with the fully covered up look, by dipping the entire candy in silky dark chocolate and drizzling a swirl of chocolate to pretty them up a bit. 

No matter what these candies look like, I can say they are delicious. They are like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but better.  The peanut butter filling has that sweet peanut butter flavor with a slightly gritty texture.  Gritty in a good way.  That texture comes from finely ground graham crackers which was something I didn't expect to find in this recipe.  Dip in your favorite chocolate and try to resist the urge to eat them 3 at a time. 

This recipe is most definitely a keeper and would make a great addition to your holiday goodie tray.  It's easy to make and even easier to eat. To see how what real buckeyes look like, head over to the Club: Baked site and check out posts from my fellow bakers.  To get the recipe head over to Karen's site, Cookies Cakes and More.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

This marks the 7th recipe for the Club: Baked online baking group.  We are making our way though Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  The group started on July 1st and we are baking twice a month, on the 1st and 15th.  Every 2 weeks or so one participant chooses a recipe for the entire group to make and post about.   It's a great way to learn new things and learn from each others experiences with a particular recipe.  This week, Billie of Chocolate and Chakra was our hostess and she selected pumpkin cheddar muffins.

Pumpkin and cheddar cheese in a muffin?  

I have to admit I was skeptical.

I love pumpkin and I love cheddar...but together?  What I have learned is I really shouldn't knock a recipe until I try it.  This recipe surprised me.  Though this muffin technically falls into the savory category, it still has a slightly sweet component.  Kind of like cornbread is savory and sweet.  The pumpkin and cheddar are both very mild and the muffin has just a hint of fall flavor.  It has a nice soft and moist interior with a slightly chewy texture on the outside with the crisp bits of cheese.  And it pairs nicely with soup.

I made half the recipe and ended up with 6 muffins which was perfect for Hubby and me.  The muffins are best served warm.  You can pop them into a 200 degree oven while you are getting the rest of your meal together. 

Hubby and I both enjoyed the muffins, but it wasn't love at first sight.  I probably won't be making them again anytime soon.  There are too many other recipes out in the world that I want to try.  But I'm glad I now know how pumpkin and cheddar work together.  It's not such a crazy idea afterall.  Thanks to Billie for hosting this week.  If pumpkin cheddar muffins sound intriguing you can head over to Billie's blog to get the recipe.

To join our baking adventure head over to the Club: Baked site and get in touch with Karen.  The next recipe up on the roster is Sawdust Pie on October 15th. 

Banana's Foster Fritters

The first time I remember having bananas foster was early on in my dating life with Hubby.  We went to a dinner party hosted by one of my co-workers at the time and they made it for dessert served over ice cream. As I watched my co-worker's husband make the dish, I was wowed by the drama of it.  The rum caught on fire lighting up the pan while the bananas flambeed amdist a gooey caramel like rum sauce.  What I was most impressed with was the simple ingredients involved and how quickly a delicious and impressive dessert came together. 

Baked Explorations Banana's Foster Fritters are inspired by the classic dish.  It's bananas foster meets donut.  I was worried this would be a lot more complicated than its inspiration dish.  But it really wasn't.  The dough is very simple and comes together quickly and easily.  The rum dipping sauce takes just a few minutes in a saucepan.  The most challenging part was the frying.  I still struggle with frying and getting oil to the right temperature.  The recipe recommends 375 degrees, but I found that too hot.  My first fritter was very dark on the outside but still raw on the inside.  I lowered the heat and found 350-360 worked best for me, however, the outside was still a tad darker than I would have liked it to be.  But at least the dough wasn't raw!  As you can see I gave these a solid dusting of  cinnamon powdered sugar.

The result?  A crisp texture on the outside with a moist cakey inside.  The bananas are incorporated into the dough and the dipping sauce is what makes this a "fosters" fritter instead of just a banana fritter.  With brown sugar, butter and a little rum, among other things, the sauce has the same flavor as the gooey goodness from a traditional banana's foster.  Seems like the sauce was a big hit with many of the Club: Baked bakers.  Some have even suggested this would be a good sauce/syrup for pancakes, waffles or french toast or a topping for ice cream.  All great ideas!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the best part!  You probably already noticed in the pictures, I added chocolate chips into the dough of a few of the fritters.  I love banana and chocolate together.  It was delicious!

Hubby enjoyed these (the ones without chocolate chips of course), which is always a pleasant surprise coming from my non dessert loving husband.  I made half a batch and ended up with 8 small fritters.

Thank you to Stephanie of Ice Cream Before Dinner for choosing this week's tasty recipe.  You can find the recipe over on her site.  To see how other bakers did with their fritters head over the Club: Baked site. 

Next up on the Club: Baked roster...Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins on October 1st.  I'm not gonna lie, this one sounds a little odd to me.  I have had mixed feelings about savory muffins in the past.  But I'm curious about the combination of pumpkin and cheddar.  This one is definitely outside my comfort zone--which isn't a bad thing!

Boston Cream Pie

Pastry cream.  Pastry cream.  Pastry cream!

Boston Cream Pie (which is really in fact a cake, not a pie) is filled with sweet delicious vanilla and chocolate pastry cream.  I am super jazzed that I have finally made pastry cream.  I think my life has been incomplete without it.  Well maybe that's a slightly dramatic, but really I can't get over how much I love pastry cream.  Pastry cream is a pudding like filling often used between cake layers or to fill cream puffs or donuts.  I have eaten it before, but have never made my own.  Lucky (or perhaps unlucky) for me it is very easy to make.  I could not stop dipping my (of course impeccably clean) fingers into the bowls to get just another taste.  Then I did something I haven't done in years....I licked the bowl.  Well not really.  I used a spatula to scrape all the delicious remnants straight into my mouth.  I didn't let any of this precious magic cream go to waste.  I was little skeptical about using 2 flavors of pastry cream.  I believe traditional Boston Cream Pie only uses vanilla.  But the chocolate and vanilla pastry creams were equally delicious. 

Is it really obvious I adored the pastry cream portion of this dessert?  I guess I need to discuss the other components now.

Let's start with the milk sponge cake.  It had a slightly bizarre texture.  Almost a little tough?  But still moist?  Is that even possible? I don't know.  When you layer all that tasty pastry cream in there it's hard to tell.  I don't think I'd use this sponge cake recipe next time I make Boston Cream Pie (already planning for the next time!).

The cake is topped with rich chocolate ganache-like glaze/frosting.  I thought the topping was pretty delicious and love the contrast of the dark chocolate glaze with the soft luscious pastry cream.  See how I took it back to the pastry cream? 

Overall, this is a pretty special dessert.  Even hubby liked it....well sort of.  Guess what?  He only liked the (vanilla) pastry cream!  He said the cake was "weird" and he's not a chocolate fan.  But like me, he couldn't keep his (not so impeccably clean) fingers out of the vanilla pastry cream.  I am already looking forward to eating this again for breakfast!

Making a Boston Cream Pie is a bit involved with three (well technically four) separate components that have to be made then all assembled.  Consider making the pastry cream the night before you plan to serve the cake.  It needs to chill for 4 hours (or overnight).  You could also chop your chocolate for the chocolate glaze at the same time you chop the chocolate for the chocolate pastry cream and store it in a tupperware for use the next day.  The day you want to serve the Boston Cream Pie bake the sponge cake and once cooled store the layers wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator while you make the glaze.  The cake is easier to slice in layers when it is chilled. 

I halved the recipe and baked the cake in 2 six inch cake pans.  My cake layers were on the thin side because of the size pans I used, but it worked out ok, because the layers of pastry cream were about equal in size to the layers of cake.  Can't get enough of that pastry cream.

Ok, this is ridiculous.  I have used the words "pastry cream" 20 times in this post thus far.  I will consider seeking help.  Right after I think of other ways to incorporate pastry cream into my life...

Boston Cream Pie marks recipe number 5 with Club: Baked.  You see, a group of food bloggers are baking our way through Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  So far the recipes have been pretty darn impressive.  If you'd like to join our baking adventure head over to the Club: Baked site and get in touch with Karen.  It's a ton of fun, a great way to learn new things and meet some great people.  To see how the other bakers of Club: Baked did with their Boston Cream Pies, click here.  At a minimum, I am pretty certain your life would be enhanced by a little pastry cream.  ;)
     

Sunday Night Cake with Orange Cinnamon Glaze

Is anyone getting anxious for fall?  The weather has been pretty mild this summer in Southern California, and I doubt there will be a huge change when fall officially hits.  Just a few degrees cooler and it will signify it's time to start baking all the warm and wonderful fall flavors...cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice, pumpkin and apples.  Though I love the flavors of summer, like watermelon and sweet corn, I'm starting to get a little fall bug.  That's why I made a little twist on this week's Club: Baked pick by Julie of a Little Bit of Everything. 

This week marks the 4th recipe we are baking from Baked Explorations.  Julie picked Sunday Night Cake for the group to make.  The authors describe this cake as a "no frills-affair....it is an exceedingly, pleasing, simple and delicious gently spiced sour cream cake with easy chocolate frosting".  My eyes lit up when I saw the cake had cinnamon as one of the components.  My original intention was to make the recipe as is.  But earlier this week I made this chocolate cake recipe and this chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe for a co-workers send off party.  Then I used the leftover chocolate cream cheese to fill peanut butter whoopie pies (to be posted later this week). 

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but this chocolate girl was feeling a bit chocolated out.  The authors of Baked Explorations suggest you can make this cake even simpler by skipping the chocolate frosting and giving it a simple dusting of powdered sugar.  I contemplated that thinking Hubby would be more likely to help me eat it with powdered sugar.  Then I decided I wanted a something a little more....what could I do and still keep in the spirit of the "ease and comfort" of the Sunday Night Cake?

I looked over my fridge and saw that I had half an orange that needed to be used up.  And the orange cinnamon glaze was born!  This glaze is extremely easy and is delicious with the lightly spiced cake.  To make the glaze I started with powdered sugar, added in a bit of orange juice, orange extract, a pinch of cinnamon and a bit of heavy cream.  Sometimes when I make up my own recipes, I'm not always in love with the result.  But this was awesome.  I loved the flavors of the orange and cinnamon and how they paired with the moist buttery cake.  It was a nice preview of fall and has got my mind turning, thinking about the recipes I plan to make this season. 

Other notes about this recipe.  The original recipe makes a 9 inch square cake.  I halved the recipe and used a 6 inch round cake pan.  I was too lazy to half one of the eggs, so there is an extra half egg in my cake.  I added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract because I couldn't resist.  And the last modification was I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar (again, because I was lazy and didn't want to open the light brown sugar when the dark was ready to go).  While baking, the cake rose about 1/4 inch over the top of the cake pan.  But it shrank down a bit and ended up being exactly 2 inches tall.

And this will come as no surprise, but I've eaten this twice for breakfast already and loved it!
To get the cake recipe, head over to A Little Bit of Everything.  To see what other Club Bakers did with their Sunday Night Cakes, click here.  If you want to join our baking adventure through Baked Explorations, hop over to the Club: Baked site and reach out to Karen.  It's a lot of fun and you get to eat delicious treats, like this Sunday Night Cake.


Orange Cinnamon Glaze

2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (more if you want extra orange punch)
Pinch (generous) of cinnamon
2-4 tablespoons heavy cream

In a medium bowl whisk powdered sugar, orange juice, orange extract and 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream until fully combined.  Add additional tablespoons of cream to get to a pourable yet slightly thick consistency.

Yields enough to generously glaze 6x2 inch cake.

Farm Stand Donuts: Club Baked

To me doughnuts are a special treat.  I remember when I was kid and getting super excited on the rare occasions when my dad would go out for doughnuts on a Saturday or Sunday morning.  I love all doughnuts chocolate.  The chocolate cake doughnuts with chocolate frosting and the light airy chocolate twist.  Or the raspberry filled with chocolate icing....So sweet and delicious.

That's why Farm Stand Doughnuts were the perfect choice for my first time hosting a recipe for the new baking group, Club: Baked.  I have never made doughnuts before so I knew this would be a good challenge.  And a challenge it was!

The Farm Stand Doughnuts are a cake style doughnut.  Sadly, attempt number one produced a barely edible doughnut.  I only wished they tasted as good as they looked!  Just goes to show you, you most definitely should not judge a book by it's cover or judge a doughnut by it's frosting! 

Here is what batch one looked like.

The dough ended up being incredibly dry.  The recipe describes the dough as being "sticky".  Not sure where I went wrong...I may have lost track of how many cups of flour were in the bowl.  I should have used my intuition and added more buttermilk, but I doubted myself and forged ahead ending up with dry dense doughnuts.

The toppings were much better than the doughnuts themselves....shockingly, the chocolate was my favorite!  With the fresh blueberry glaze coming in a close second and trailing up the back was the cinnamon sugar. 

I couldn't very well let these doughnuts get the best of me, so I went for attempt number two this past weekend. 

I did things a bit differently this time and had a vastly improved outcome!  This time I halved the recipe.  I was extra extra careful with my flour measurements and I made mini's this go round.  My mini's were a good size, but unfortunately I made the donut hole too small and it pretty much disappeared upon frying.  Along with making a bigger hole, I also should have made my dough a bit thinner as the donuts puff up quite a bit when they are cooked.  I got 20 two inch mini donuts from the half recipe...which was plenty for our two person household. 

One issue I had on round 2 was with frying the doughnuts.  My oil was around 370 degrees and my doughnuts browned very quickly...about a minute on each side.  They were on the verge of burning so I removed them and cut into one....it was still doughy inside.  I lowered the oil temperature to stay between 350 and 360 degrees so I could allow the doughnuts too cook through without over browning.

In terms of toppings, I went with cinnamon sugar, chocolate ganache and a strawberry glaze using homemade strawberry jam, powdered sugar and a splash of cream.  This time I actually liked the chocolate frosting least...but that is probably because I didn't so much bother with measuring the ingredients and the ganache turned out to be too thin.  The cinnamon sugar and strawberry doughnuts were both great, especially with a hot cup of tea.  These are best eaten the day they are made.

I am certain that the third time making these will be the charm!  And after that, I would like to tackle yeast doughnuts.

See how other bakers fared with their farm stand doughnuts here.

Farm Stand Buttermilk Doughnuts Three Ways
from Baked Explorations

Doughnuts:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 sour cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly browned and cooled
Vegetable oil

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to place your cut donuts on.  Line another baking sheet with at least 2 layers of paper towels to absorb the oil from frying.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside.  Whisk eggs, buttermilk and sour cream in a medium/small bowl.  Whisk in the completely cooled butter.  Make a well in the dry mixture and pour in the wet mixture.  Using a rubber spatula, slowly pull the flour into the liquid center until a sticky dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle lightly with flour.  Pat out the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut out doughnuts using a floured 3 1/2 inch cutter for a large donut and a 1 1/2 round cutter for the doughnut hole.  For a smaller doughnut, use a 2 1/2 cutter for the doughnut and 1 inch for the hole. Cut out doughnuts and holes and place on your prepared parchment lined baking sheet.  Use the scraps to pat another disc of dough and cut out doughnuts.  Repeat until you have used all your dough.  Place your baking sheet in the refrigerator while you wait for your oil to heat up.  You can also make your toppings during this time.

Heat oil in a deep skillet or pan so that oil is about 1 1/2 inch deep.  Slowly heat the oil over medium/high heat until it reaches 365 - 370 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Gently slide each doughnut into the hot oil, making about 3 doughnuts at a time.  When the doughnut has browned on one side (about 2-3 minutes), turn it over with tongs and cook the other side for about another minute, until browned.  Remove donuts from oil using a slotted spoon and place on the paper towel lined baking sheet.  The doughnut holes will cook faster and should be made after the doughnuts.

Assemble doughnuts by dipping in topping of your choice.  See recipes below.

Doughnut toppings - Note each topping recipe is enough for the entire batch of doughnuts so you might want to cut recipe if you use multiple toppings.

Chocolate Dip:
4 ounces high quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocao), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

In a small saucepan heat the cream until just about to boil.  In a medium widemouthed bowl, place chocolate and cover with hot cream.  Let stand for about a minute.  Whisk chocolate and cream until smooth and then whisk in butter.  Keep warm.

Vanilla Glaze:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

Whisk all ingredients together in a medium widemouthed bowl.

Cinnamon Sugar:
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon

Stir cinnamon and sugar together in a medium widemouthed bowl.

New York Style Crumb Cake and a New Baking Group

Don't dare call this coffee cake.  This is way beyond a coffee cake.  This is New York Style Crumb Cake.  Apparently New Yorkers take their crumb very seriously, the crumb to cake ratio is about 40/60.  The cake is sturdy, yet moist as it uses sour cream.  The crumb is pretty outrageous with "boulder" like chunks of delicious brown sugar deliciousness.  The crumb has a nice texture and crunch, contrasting perfectly with the soft cake.  To maximize the sweet goodness of this cake, heat your piece for about 20 seconds in the microwave.  DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.  Really.  It takes this cake to a whole other level. 

This fabulous cake marks the very first posting of the new baking group, Club: Baked.  Thank you Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More for not only picking this great recipe to kick off the group, but for founding Club: Baked.  Karen guided a group of bakers through the Sweet Melissa Baking Book with Sweet Melissa Sundays and that group is posting our last recipe on August 21st.  The perfect time to start a new group, and several other SMS bakers quickly hopped on board. 

Club: Baked will take us on baking journey through the book Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  The book features classic American recipes with a twist.  I am super excited to make many of the recipes...like Strawberry Jello Salad, Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie, Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars, Aunt Sassy Cake, Buckeyes (chocolate covered peanut butter balls--can you tell I like peanut butter?) and Farmstand Donuts which will be the group's second post, scheduled for July 15th. 

If any of the recipes above or these recipes sound good to you,  and or you just want to expand your baking skills, come join us and bake along with Club: Baked!  Every 1st and 15th of the month a baker from the group selects a recipe to make from the book.  Everyone who bakes along for that recipe posts their results on the scheduled date.  It's a great way to get outside your baking comfort zone and learn new things.  I can't tell you how much I have learned participating in Sweet Melissa Sundays for the past year and a half . I really thought I knew how to bake when I joined the group and I quickly realized I had a lot more to learn!  It's fun and your friends, family and co-workers will love you if you choose to share your tasty creations with them (or hate you because you are expanding their waistlines).  To join the fun, head over the the Club: Baked site and get in touch with Karen.

In the meantime I highly recommend the New York Style Crumb Cake.  It would be perfect for a brunch or special breakfast.  Or as a snack.  Or for dessert.  It's delicious!

To get the recipe stop by Karen's Cookies Cakes & More. Check out how other bakers did with their NY Style Crumb Cake here.

Decadent Chocolate Ice Cream and Other Memorial Day Weekend Deliciousness

I'm still full.  Memorial Day weekend was filled with fun food adventures and lots of calories.  Hubby even got involved and helped make some of our new food projects.  We made several dishes we have never made before, including...

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

KFC Cole Slaw
(will post details and the recipe later this week)

Grilled Ahi Tuna

Very Berry Frozen Yogurt

Sneak Preview!  Buttermilk Donuts with Chocolate Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar and Fresh Blueberry Glaze
(details and recipe to be featured on the blog in mid July when I host this recipe for the new Club Baked online baking group...more info to come on Club Baked in a post later this week)

And lastly, we finished the weekend with this very decadent chocolate ice cream.
 

Decadent is an understatement.  This ice cream is unbelivably rich and creamy and deep dark chocolately.  It reminds me a lot of the ice cream base for Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie, but so much creamier.  I'm now a little worried about having an ice cream maker in the house knowing this sort of deliciousness is at my fingertips.  This recipe however, was not as easy breezy as the very berry frozen yogurt.  The frozen yogurt literally took 10 minutes to put together and pour into the machine.  The decadent chocolate ice cream took about 45 minutes to prepare and then 2 - 2 1/2 hours of chilling in time in the fridge before it was ready to go into the machine.  It was worth the effort and the wait.   

Now clearly, I need to hit the gym....so I can eat more ice cream.

Decadent Chocolate Ice Cream
adapted from Cuisinart.com

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean (I omitted and added additional vanilla extract)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa (if you use good quality cocoa, you can easily use only 1/2 cup)
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used 1 1/2 tsp)
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used 6 ounces)

Combine milk and cream in a medium sauce pan and heat on low.  Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a knife and place the seeds and vanilla bean pod into the milk/cream mixture and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.  Discard vanilla bean.  Because I omitted the vanilla bean step I simply brought my milk/cream mixture to a simmer while I was preparing the remaining ingredients.

In a medium bowl combine sugar, cocoa, eggs, yolk and vanilla extract and mix on low with hand mixer until mix until thick.  Remove 1 cup of the hot milk/cream mixture and slowly stream into the egg mixture while mixing on low speed.  Place chopped chocolate into the remaining hot milk/cream mixture in the pan and stir until melted.  Stream in the egg mixture into the pan.  Turn heat to low and cook mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened, resembling a pudding, about 10 minutes.   Remove from heat and immediately transfer to a medium/large bowl and cover surface of the mixture with plastic wrap so that no air touches the mixture.  Refrigerate until completely cooled, about 2 hours.

Pour the chilled custard into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer instructions.

Yields 1 1/2 quarts.