No Bake Peanut Butter "Cookies"

Summer is zipping by.  The last few months have truly flown. Things have been busier than usual around here.  And exciting too!  A lot has been going on... 

Like, I will be starting a new job in a few weeks at my current company.  :) It's a promotion (of sorts) and I'm very excited about the new role!  I will miss my current team greatly, but am so ready (and a little nervous) for this step. 

My family celebrated my Grandfather's 96th birthday in early June and I made a big cake (and dip) to feed 25 people.  In case you're wondering, it was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  The cake turned out pretty good for an amateur.   

Then, a couple of weeks ago I said goodbye....to the first new car I ever bought, way back in college.  I had that car for 16 years (I guess I'm dating myself here)!  Anyway, the car served me very well but it was time bid it adieu!  It actually went to a good cause...we donated it to an organization that gives the proceeds to the troops. 

And with a goodbye, I got to welcome a new car into the picture, which I LOVE!  I ended up getting a hybrid...I couldn't resist the great gas mileage and opportunity to save a few bucks at the pump.  When living in Southern California, this is a very good thing! 

Then last weekend, I baked my second big cake in just over a month.  My very close friend and her husband threw a big birthday bash for their sons and I brought along another chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (chocolate cream cheese frosting to be exact!)--this time to feed 40!  I have to say baking the cake is the easy part....putting it together and decorating it is another story.  But I'm getting better.  The cake was a big hit! 

And since I had a large captive audience at the party, I took the opportunity to test out the New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe as well.  It did not disappoint.  Definitely a winner and it may just be "the one".  Unfortunately the cookies were all gobbled up before I could photograph them, so you know what that means?  More cookies! 

I have to take a moment to give a shout out to Hubby...he not only helped me get the massive 3 layer sheet cake put together, but he also scooped and baked off all the cookies because I was running out of time.  Thanks Hubs!  You're a keeper! ;)

This is the first weekend that things have settled down.  And I'm ready for a brief lull in the all the excitement and activity.  Other than the aforementioned cakes and cookies, I've done little baking in the last several weeks.  In fact, I have been avoiding the oven.  Mostly because it's too darn hot out.  But a girl still needs her sweet fix.  I thought this would be the perfect time to finally try a "no-bake" cookie recipe. 

This version comes from the book Baked Explorations, where I've made a number of traditional "baked" cookie recipes.  Like the authors of the book, I have a hard time truly classifying this as a "cookie."  It's not so much a cookie.  It is more in the confections/candy bar-esque category if you ask me.  But, that doesn't make it any less tasty!  The recipe title indicates this is a peanut butter cookie, but there is a pronounced chocolate element as well with the inclusion of cocoa powder.  You all know how I'm a fan of chocolate and peanut butter together. ;) So this was a winner for me.  And the oats bring in a nice chewy factor.  It definitely satisfied my sweet tooth (a few times this weekend).  The best part--no oven needed! 

Enjoy!

No-Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields 36 cookies

1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Guittard)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and softened
1 cup chunky peanut butter (smooth can be used as well)*
3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan heat milk, sugar, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Bring to a boil and stir constantly.  Once the mixture is boiling, stop stirring and allow to boil for 90 seconds.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and vanilla until fully combined.

Using a small ice cream scoop (about 1 1/2 inches wide) with a release mechanism, scoop out cookies onto the prepared baking sheet leaving room in between as they spread a bit.  You can also use a tablespoon to drop the cookies onto the baking sheet.  Once the cookies are cool, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill for an hour.  Serve cold or you can also return them to room temperature.  The cookies should be stored in an airtight container separated by layers of parchment paper for up to 3 days.

*You can also use natural peanut butter, but you will also need to increase the oats by 1/3 cup.

Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

Happy 4th of July! 

Today I'm going straight for the good stuff.  Sweet, delicious ice cream.  Peanut butter ice cream with fudge ripple swirled throughout, no less.  This is something I'm fairly certain you NEED in your life.  Unless you don't like peanut butter and chocolate together.  Then you should seek counseling immediately.  Because this is a flavor combination that makes one's life complete (unless you are allergic to peanuts...then you already probably stopped reading this)!

I saw this recipe on my pal Tracey's blog and instantly knew this would be the first ice cream churned of the summer at my house.  It was.  And it was pretty darn fantastic.  The ice cream base delivers on a solid peanut butter flavor.  The fudge ripple brings just the right amount of chocolate to balance the peanut butter.  Very creamy, peanutty and fudgy.  All good things in my book!

The ice cream didn't last long here.  In fact I barely had enough to squeak out some photos.  Most of it disappeared after we had my nephew and his fiancé over to watch the Blackhawks vs. Bruins game two Stanley Cup hockey game--yeah I'm a little late posting this!  I have to detour a bit from the ice cream and talk about hockey...

Hubs and I aren't too big into sports.  We occasionally watch things like the Super Bowl or World Series, but rarely follow a team.  Except when a Chicago team is the running for playoffs Hubs gets into it showing a little love for his hometown.  We started watching the NHL playoff series and low and behold the Chicago Blackhawks kept in it all the way to win the western conference and moved on to the Stanley Cup finals where they defeated the Boston Bruins (sorry Tracey!) and won the cup! We had a blast watching the games (and make food for the games).  It's safe to say we are officially hooked on hockey and are looking forward to the start of the next season in the fall. 

Back to the ice cream.

It's really delicious.  Enough said.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream
from Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones via Tracey's Culinary Adventures

For the fudge ripple
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Start by making the fudge ripple.  In a small sauce pan combine sugar, water, cocoa powder, corn syrup and salt.  Heat on medium/high until the mixture comes to a simmer, whisking frequently.  Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate and allow to sit for one minute.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Stir in vanilla.  Transfer to a heat proof container and refrigerate until fully chilled.

For the peanut butter ice cream
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup sugar divided in two
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large egg yolks
1/3 cup natural peanut butter (I used regular Skippy)
1/4 to 1/3 cup fudge ripple

Make the ice cream by adding heavy cream, milk and half the sugar to a medium saucepan and place on medium heat.  Stir to combine and allow the cream mixture to just come to a simmer.

While the cream is heating, whisk egg yolks and remaining sugar in a medium heatproof bowl until pale.

In another medium heatproof bowl (large enough to hold all the ice cream mixture) add the peanut butter and set aside. 

When the cream mixture comes to a simmer, remove from the heat and slowly add the cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking continuously (you don't want your eggs to scramble!).  Add the cream/egg mixture back to the saucepan and return heat to medium/low.  Stir frequently until the mixture thickens slightly and the temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 170 - 175.  The mixture should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. 

Strain the mixture into the bowl with the peanut butter.  Stir to combine the peanut butter until the cream is smooth and peanut butter is fully incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 4 hours, or overnight until mixture is fully chilled. 

Churn peanut butter ice cream in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions.  Transfer ice cream to a freezer proof airtight container, adding drizzles of fudge ripple along the way.  Add as much or little as you like to suit your taste.  Swirl the fudge using a butter knife.  Cover and return to the freezer until firm, about 4 hours.

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!

Homemade Chocolate Candy

Whether my family likes it or not most gifts from me these days consist of homemade goodies.  I find as the years go on, it gets harder and harder to pick out gifts for adult family members.  My poor dad has gotten a book from me for every Christmas, birthday and Father's Day for the past several years.  This year I decided no more books.  Who needs to read when you can eat treats instead? 

My parents both have September birthdays and I made my Dad these Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies earlier in the month.  My Mom's birthday was a couple of weeks later and I decided to make homemade chocolate candies to satisfy her sweet tooth.

I saw two chocolate candy recipes in Baked Explorations that I knew would be right up my mom's alley.  Buckeyes (a.k.a Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls) and Marshmallow Chocolate Cups.   (If any of my fellow Club: Baked bakers are reading this, yes, I'm cheating and posting recipes before the group makes them.  Sorry! I will plan to post again when each of these recipes comes up on the baking schedule). 

I normally use chocolate such as Lindt or Ghiradelli when I want to use "good" chocolate for a recipe.  However there are even higher quality chocolates out there, such as Scharffen Berger, Guittard and Vahlrona.  These are usually a bit out of my price range for everyday baking but I wanted to use a high quality chocolate for these candies.  So I splurged on the good stuff!  (You're worth it Mom!)

Both candies tasted great and were fairly easy to make.  I had some execution issues with the Marshmallow Chocolate Cups and didn't quite get the chocolate to marshmallow ratio that I was looking for.  But now that I have a run under my belt, next time will be a piece of cake!  The airy homemade marshmallow was surrounded by a blend of dark and milk chocolate.  Yum.  And the chocolate peanut butter balls were amazing!  The peanut butter filling is very similar to the filling in a Reese's peanut butter cup.  (I think the secret is the graham cracker crumbs...never would have guessed that ingredient)  Except this is a peanut butter cup elevated with a coating silky decadent dark chocolate.  If the peanut butter ball went head to head in a taste off with the marshmallow cup, I would have to pick the peanut butter ball.  Love the salty and sweet! 

Happy birthday Mom!

Both recipes are going into my keeper file.  These chocolate candies would be great to share at a holiday party or would make a nice gift.  The authors recommend storing both candies in the refrigerator so be sure to take that into account if you plan to give them away. 

Speaking of the holidays, the talented Jamie of My Baking Addiction and Katie of GoodLife Eats have organized a Holiday Recipe Exchange which begins the week of 10/3/2011 and goes for 12 weeks.  Each week has a different theme hosted by a different sponsor.  You can check out all the holiday recipes and have a chance to win some great prizes.  Come join the fun at My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.

Buckeyes (a.k.a Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls)
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields: 36 to 42 candies

Ingredients

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (I used Skippy)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 cups confectioners' sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
12 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped

Make the filling:
Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until well combined in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the graham cracker crumbs and beat on medium speed for 10 seconds.  Add the confectioners' sugar and melted butter and beat on low until combined and then gradually increase the speed to medium and beat until fully combined.  The mixture will feel a bit dry.  Set aside.

Melt the chocolate:
Fill a small pot with an inch of water and bring to a simmer.  Place the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over the simmering water (be sure water does not touch the bottom of the bowl).  Stir regularly until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Pour the chocolate into a small, deep bowl and allow it to cool to tepid (about 100 degrees F).  I poured the chocolate into a 2 cup glass measuring cup.

Assemble the candies:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Form peanut butter mixture into just over a tablespoon sized ball.  I used a small scoop with a release mechanism.  Roll the dough in your hand to form a ball and set on the baking sheet.  Repeat until all the balls have been formed.

Coat each ball in the melted chocolate one at a time.  A traditional buckeye has a round spot on the top that is exposed peanut butter, however I dipped mine fully.  Use a fork to toss the ball in the chocolate on all sides and the remove the ball with the fork, allowing excess chocolate to fall through the tines of the fork.  Gently place on the parchment lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate the sheet pan to allow the candies to fully set up before serving. 

Store in the refrigerator.  Candies are best eaten within 3 days.


Chocolate Marshmallow Cups
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields 30 candies

60 miniature candy cup papers (about 1 inch in diameter)
16 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped
8 ounces good quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 envelope (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water plus 1/4 cup of water separated
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Prepare candy cups and chocolate:

Double the candy cup liners to create a more stable cup and help the candy hold its shape.  Arrange 30 double cups on a baking sheet.

Fill a small pot with an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Place all the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over the simmering water (be sure water does not touch the bottom of the bowl).  Stir regularly until chocolate is melted and smooth.   Remove the bowl from the heat and stir to release some of the heat.  Using a small spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a small round decorating tip (or a zip top bag with a small hole cut in the corner) fill each candy cup with just under 1/4 full.  Using a small pastry brush, brush the chocolate from the bottom of the cup up the sides.  (I recommend stopping at least 1/8 inch from the top of the cup making it easier to peel off the cups after the candy sets).  Make sure the sides of the cup are completely covered in chocolate.  Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator while you make the marshmallow filling and set the remaining melted chocolate aside.

Make the marshmallow filling:

Prepare a pastry bag with a small round decorating tip (or take a large zip top bag and snip off a small bit on the corner) and set aside.

In the bowl of stand mixer sprinkle the gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water.  Meanwhile, place a small saucepan over medium heat and stir together the sugar and 1/4 cup water until combined.  Stop stirring and place a candy thermometer in the saucepan.  Bring the sugar to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, still without stirring, until it reaches soft ball stage on the candy thermometer (235 degrees F).

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly stream it into the gelatin.  Whisk quickly for 30 seconds to release excess heat and then place the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Mix on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.  Add in the vanilla and salt and continue to mix for about 2 additional minutes.  Do not mix until if forms soft peaks, you want it to be slightly looser than that. Pour the mixture into your pastry bag (or zip top bag) and set aside.

Assemble the marshmallow cups:
Remove candy cups from the refrigerator.  Pipe the marshmallow mixture into the candy cups filling about 3/4 full or about 1/8 below the top of the chocolate.  Using a small spoon, or your pastry bag, top marshmallow filling with reserved chocolate until just covered.  (I recommend not making this layer too thick so you can retain a nice chocolate to marshmallow ratio.)
 
Store candy in airtight container in the refrigerator.  Serve the cups directly from the refrigerator or take out a few minutes before serving.  If candy is left at room temperature it will being to melt or bloom. 

The Ginger Snap Girl Turns 1!

About 2 months ago I realized that I was approaching the one year anniversary of The Ginger Snap Girl.  Had that much time passed already?  I remember last year when I accidentally stumbled into the food blogging world and thought I had struck the motherlode!  How were there so many talented cooks and bakers out there sharing their stories, recipes and stunning photos and I never knew stuff like this existed?  I felt a little like a kid in a candy store and couldn't wait to sit down in front of my laptop each evening to peruse the eye candy for the next cool sweet treat to try in my own kitchen.  It was a bit obsessive really.  My Hubby thought I had been abducted by aliens because my myriad of TV shows were piling up on the DVR, unwatched.  Gossip Girl would have to wait. 

After about a week of engrossing myself in my new playground I started thinking about starting my own blog.  Why not?  To be honest I was actually scared and nervous.  What would I make?  What would I write?  What if it required technical computer skills? Who would read it?  What if no one reads it?  That would be kind of sad.  Then I thought, it really doesn't matter since I was pretty sure at least my Grandma Jane would read it.  Ok, let's do it!  Plus I was super excited to join an online baking group--Sweet Melissa Sundays which required having a blog. And so The Ginger Snap Girl was born (check out my first post). 

I floundered a bit in the beginning.  Trying to figure out how to use Blogger to get things to look right with the right spacing between the photos and text was a challenge.  It took me about 3 whole days just to figure out how to link to another website within the blog (this was pre updated Blogger editor).  Thankfully I got past the technical difficulties and was able to focus on what tasty creations I would be sharing with my Grandma Jane.  ;)

This past year has been quite a journey.  Starting a blog.  Finding out that Grandma Jane isn't the only one reading it.  Building new cyber friendships.  Learning soooo much.  It feels like my skills have increased exponentially, but yet I still have so many more I want to tackle.  The year was filled with lots of delicious desserts, such as this one, some not so delicious desserts, a few tears and a swear word or two.  I have learned more than I would have ever imagined when I set out to start this blog.  I have been humbled by it as well.  Apparently the ability to bake a few kinds of cookies doesn't make one an experienced baker.  I didn't even realize how many facets of baking and confections there were to accomplish until I started this adventure!

This past year I also fought a personal battle that caused me to take a brief break from blogging.  I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36.  Thankfully it was a slow growing cancer, stage 1, and I was successfully treated with surgery and localized radiation.  I feel incredibly lucky.  No chemo was needed and I have been officially cancer free for 6 months.  I haven't talked about that part of my life much in this forum, but will be planning to give it a little more air time in the coming year.  Since my diagnosis last September, I know 2 other women who have been diagnosed during that time, both with far more aggressive cancers than I had.  It's something that can touch all of us...whether it's you, your friend, sister or mother.  I look forward to the opportunity to bring more awareness to this form of cancer that affects so many of us.      

With all that has been accomplished in the last year I'm excited to celebrate my 1 year blog birthday milestone today.  And this also happens to be my 100th post.  I look forward to what is to come in the next year for The Ginger Snap Girl. 

So let's get to the good stuff now and eat some cupcakes!

One type of cupcake just wouldn't do for this celebration.  I started with my favorite cake flavor--chocolate.  I decided to make 3 chocolate cupcake variations encompassing some of my favorite flavor combinations.  Chocolate and chocolate.  Chocolate and strawberry.  And chocolate and peanut butter.  And to make things even more exciting I decided this would be a true adventure by trying out all new (to me) recipes. 

I used a chocolate cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking book called, "Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake".  sounds fitting, right?  Another blogger, Laurie (founder of the online baking group Tuesdays with Dorie), described the cake as, "The cupcake as a whole is by far the best cupcake I have ever made. Ever."  I was sold!  I made the cake and frosting Laurie made as one of my 3 cupcake variations.  The frosting was great!  The cake didn't turn out like Laurie's I'm afraid.  It was too dense and was on the dry side.  I'm not sure where I went wrong with the recipe.  But this is the risk you run when trying a new recipe for the first time (a subject for future thought).

(For the best chocolate cake I personally have ever made click here or here.  Another top chocolate cake contender is this one.)

In the meantime, the real stars of today's celebration are the frostings. 

May I present you with.....

Mr. Whipped Chocolate Cream Cheese Delight

The chocolate cream cheese frosting is packed with chocolate (cocoa) and has a light silky texture, finished with a little tang from the cream cheese.  Yummy.

Mr. Peanut Butter Buttercream Dream

This frosting packs a solid peanut butter punch but has such a light, airy, texture.  It has enough body to pipe and holds its shape beautifully.  It is peanut butter frosting perfection and is begging to paired with chocolate.  In fact I was thinking this would make a great filling for a homemade oreo cookie. Really delicious!  

And finally, my personal favorite...

Ms. Sassy Strawberry Cream Cheese Queen

The strawberry cream cheese frosting is divine.  The strawberry flavor comes from homemade strawberry preserves, which really "make" this frosting.  The texture is soft and luscious.  It doesn't have as much body as most cream cheese frostings because of the moisture of the preserves. I wanted it to have a more than a "light" strawberry flavor, so I was generous with the amount of jam I used. 

All three of these frostings are definitely keepers and will go into the arsenal of make again recipes.  The recipes can be found at the end of the post. 

Since this was a special occasion I had to fill these cupcakes too...

Ms. Sassy Strawberry was filled with same homemade strawberry preserves used to make the frosting. 

Mr. Peanut Butter was filled with the chocolate cream cheese frosting and chopped bits of Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, before the frosting went on, he got a coating of chocolate ganache after the cupcake was filled (you can see it clearly in the peanut butter cupcake photo up above).

And finally, Mr. Chocolate was filled with more chocolate cream cheese frosting inside.  My original intention was to fill it with ganache...but since the cake was on the dry side I decided the frosting would help add a little extra moisture that ganache would not.

I have to give a huge thanks to my sister Katie who helped me make all the elements of this cupcake trio.  And thankfully she helped me eat them too as did many of my co-workers.  Though they weren't perfect, they were the perfect way to celebrate The Ginger Snap Girl turning 1!

Thank you to each one of you that takes the time to read my blog (especially those of you that have made it all the way through this post--I'm quite certain it takes the prize for longest rambling to date).  I hope you are inspired to get into your own kitchen and make some tasty creations. 

RECIPES:

For the Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake recipe seen in the post click here.

Whipped Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

from slush.wordpress.com

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

4 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder (I used regular unsweetened cocoa powder)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (about)

1-2 tablespoons heavy cream (I used 1)

Cream the cream cheese and butter until fully incorporated and smooth. Add the cocoa powder, mix to combine. Add the powdered sugar until desired sweetness and consistency is reached. Add 1 tablespoon heavy cream, whip until light. Yields enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Frosting
by Ina Garten from her book Barefoot Contessa at Home

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.  Yields enough to frost 12 cupcakes.

Chocolate Ganache
from Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

6 ounces best-quality semisweet (58%) chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1. Coarsely chop the chocolate and place it in a medium bowl.
2. In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the heavy cream until scalding, or until the cream is steaming and tiny bubbles have formed along the edges. Do not boil.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Stir in the corn syrup.

Strawberry Preserves

2 cups hulled and sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup of sugar (or more depending on the sweetness of your berries)

In a medium saucepan bring the berries and sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to a low boil or simmer and cook down berries until they are thickened...about 20 minutes or so. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from You Made That?

8 oz. of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup homemade strawberry preserves (see recipe above)

In a large bowl put room temperature cream cheese and butter together and mix until light and fluffy.  Add sugar 1 cup at a time and then add strawberry preserves and mix well.

Chocolate Chubbies

Can you say chocolate?  More chocolate?  Then more chocolate?  A little peanut butter for kicks?  It's intense.  And it's good.  I have had my eye on these cookies since Christmas day when I cracked open one of my gifts, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours.  She describes them as "the moistest, most intensely chocolate chocolate chip cookies in the world."  Wow.  That's serious.  And these are serious cookies.  They have a rich deep dark chocolate flavor...much like a brownie. 

The batter is fudgey.

 When they bake up they get that nice crackly top like a brownie.

 Then you break one of these bad boys open.....

Need I say more?

The chocolate chubby is great with a cold glass of milk. 

I suppose I should tell you about the recipe now.  There are 12 ounces of melted chocolate in the batter.  That's a lot.  And only 1/2 cup of flour.  That's not a lot for a cookie recipe.  Sarabeth Levine mixes in 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips and nearly 3 cups of chopped pecans and walnuts.  I am not a fan of nuts in my cookies (or most sweet treats for that matter).  So I did deviate a bit from the recipe.  For my mix ins I used approximately 2 2/3 cups of a mix of milk chocolate chips (1 cup), peanut butter chips (1 cup) and semisweet chips (2/3 cup).  Given I was nearly 2 cups short on the mix ins, my cookies didn't come out quite as chubby as the ones pictured in the book.  I enjoyed this combination of mix ins, but I thought the peanut butter chips got a little lost in the chocolate.  Next time I want to throw in some white chocolate chips....and dare I say, some toasted almonds?  I know.  I just said that I don't like nuts in cookies.  Ok, I might have to think about it.  But the white chocolate chips are a definite. 

The recipe calls for superfine sugar.  If you don't have superfine sugar, you can make your own by grinding regular sugar in a food processor for a minute or two until the granules reduce in size by about half.  That's what I did.  I used my mini prep.  If you are considering purchasing a food processor but think a big one is just too much, check out the mini prep.  For $30 it's a great buy and can be used for a variety of things--from grinding nuts or chocolate, pureeing vegetables and even making fresh whipped cream (a tip I saw recently on Tracey's Culinary Adventures who saw it on another blog, who saw in the LA Times).

Keep a watchful eye on these cookies during baking.  The recipe says to bake them for 17 - 20 minutes.  I checked mine at 17 and they were done.  I think they could have come out at 15.  And unfortunately one tray was cooked for an undetermined amount of time because I never heard the timer go off.  Luckily I was able to salvage the cookies, but they were on the dry side.  Go for underdone versus overdone.

The chocolate chubby is a kick butt cookie.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chubbies

by Sarabeth Levine from Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours 

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes

9 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (no more than 62 percent cacao), finely chopped

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups superfine sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups (5 1/2 ounces) coarsely chopped pecans

1 1/4 cups (4 1/2 ounces) coarsely chopped walnuts

Position racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Line 2 half sheet pans with parchment paper.

Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over low heat.  Put the butter in a wide heatproof bowl, and melt the butter over the hot water in the saucepan.  Add the semisweet and unsweetened chocolate, stirring often, until melted and the mixture is smooth.  Remove the bowl from the heat and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cooled slightly but still warm, about 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.  Whip the eggs in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed until the eggs are foamy and lightly thickened, about 30 seconds.  Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar, then the vanilla.  Whip until the eggs are very thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes.  Reduce the mixer speed to medium and beat in the the tepid chocolate, making sure it is completely incorporated.  Change to the paddle attachment and reduce the mixer speed to low.  Gradually add the flour mixture.  Remove the bowl from the mixer.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips, pecans, and walnuts, making sure the chunky ingredients are evenly distributed at the bottom of the bowl.  (Do not turn the dough out onto a work surface).

Using a 2 inch diameter ice-cream scoop, portion the batter onto the prepared pans, placing the cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake the cookies immediately--if you wait, they won't be shiny after baking.  Bake, switching the position of the pans from top to bottom and front to back about halfway through baking, until the cookies are set around the edges (if you lift a cookie from the pan, the edges should release easily, even if the center of the cookie seems underdone), 17 to 20 minutes.  Do not over bake.  Cool completely on the baking pans.  (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, with the layers separated by parchment paper, for up to 3 days.)

Sweet Melissa Sundays Rewind: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Posting 2 SMS recipes this week. My Bosc Pear and Blue Cheese savory muffins just came out of the oven and I will be posting about them later this evening. But in the meantime, I wanted to share a rewind recipe that I recently made....Melissa Murphy's Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies.

I have mentioned on the blog that cookies are my all time favorite sweet treat to make. I love that cookies are individual little packages of goodness (not like a big pie or cake). Peanut Butter is high on my list of cookies to eat....but it's low on my list to execute. Why? For some reason I can never get them right. These are such simple cookies in theory, but that simplicity eludes me. My past attempts resulted in cookies that are too hard, too crumbly, too soft or too dense and some having an unbalanced ratio of salty and sweet. Quite frankly I had given up on making successful peanut butter cookies. But after looking at Melissa's recipe, I decided to give them a shot.

I wish I could report these were a home run. I would say they were more like a base hit. I got on first...tried to steal second, but at the last moment dove back to safety of first base. The flavor of these cookies was great! The balance of salty and sweet was just right. But I will note one minor change to the recipe...I rolled the peanut butter balls of dough in sugar before stamping in the classic criss cross pattern on the top with the tines of a fork and baking them.


Where these cookies went wrong was in the baking time. These bake on a low heat...325 F. I was scared to death of overcooking them so at 8 minutes I was checking them every minute or so. I pulled them out around 9.5 with zero confidence they were done properly. Guess what? They weren't...Hubby went to test one out after about 10 minutes of being out of the oven....and the cookie fell apart. So I shoved them back in the oven (that had cooled down a bit at this point) and another 3.5 minutes took them out. They didn't crumble. They held their shape...at least initially. They were still quite delicate.

So...I think I've found a good base recipe but just need to work on the baking time. Hubby really likes peanut butter cookies so hopefully with a little patience and practice I will be able to knock these cookies out of the park! A little mix in of crushed up butterfinger or peanut cup might help. ;)


Recipe
Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
by Melissa Murphy

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg which may or may not be optional :)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Before you start: Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream peanut butter, butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 - 4 minutes. Beat in the egg.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that everything is combined evenly.

4. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoons and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets, and press down slightly. Using a fork dipped in flour, press down on the cookies first one way and then the other to form an "X" pattern, creating the crosshatch effect. (The cookies should now measure approx. 2 inches in diameter.) Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Overbaking will cause these chewy cookies to become crunchy so try to avoid it.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, they can be frozen wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil for up to 1 month. Do not unwrap before defrosting.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Peanut Butter Truffles

A baking recipe with 5 ingredients is generally not my friend. The fewer the ingredients, the more skill and finesse needed to execute the recipe. For example....pie dough or meringues. And now I can add truffles to the list. This week was most definitely an exercise in patience for me. And my sister. She was staying with us for a few days this week and helped me take on this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe for Peanut Butter Truffles.

Our first go round on Thursday night was unsuccessful. Best I can figure is the cream reached a boiling point. The cream and peanut butter mixture was quite thick. When it met up with the chopped up chocolate the result was a textured looking sludge. Hmmmm. Not good. Here's what it's NOT supposed to look like:


Off to the grocery store again the next day to pick up more chocolate and more heavy cream. I decided to use semisweet for the second round because the bittersweet called for in the recipe seemed too dark.

Friday night we went for round 2. We decided to make a few modifications. First, we chopped up the chocolate in smaller pieces. Then we melted the peanut butter in the microwave first, rather than heating it up with the cream. (Upon suggestions from other SMS bakers about these truffles not being peanut buttery enough...we used 1/2 cup instead of 1/4...and it turned out to be just the right amount of peanut butter goodness). And lastly we watched the cream like a hawk as it came up to temperature to ensure it did not reach the boiling point. Just as tiny bubbles were forming around the edges I added in the melted peanut butter and it combined together much easier than round 1 and the end result was more liquidy. We poured this over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 5 minutes. Whisk, whisk...add a little butter, another whisk or two....and voila! A nice silky chocolate truffle base. Thank God! I don't think I could have handled round 3!


We decided to mix it up and bit and we added rice crispy cereal to half the truffle base. I had visions of a crunchy crispy peanut butter truffle. It looked great. But the crispies lost all their crunch by the time we rolled out the truffles. Not sure how to keep the crispies crisp. I did a little web browsing on the subject, but didn't see much to help solve this problem. Any ideas fellow SMS bakers?



Luckily we still had half the mixture untouched by experimentation...this turned out to be plenty of truffles. We made the full recipe and it yielded 6 dozen truffles in total. Though the (not so) crispy ones were edible, I was happy to have the regular ones to fall back on.


On to the fun part...the truffle coating. Originally I was going to skip the chopped up peanut coating recommended in the recipe. But at the last moment I picked up some honey roasted peanuts on one of our many trips to the grocery store. We decided one coating option just would not do. So we opted for 4....cocoa powder, powdered sugar, chopped up peanuts and dark chocolate shavings.

I loved Hanaa's idea of chocolate shavings! I meticulously chopped up a semisweet bar....but unfortunately there was a little mishap with the shavings. We stored the bowl of shavings in the freezer while we waited for the truffles to be rolled out. When I went to pull the bowl out of the freezer it flew right out of my hand and chocolate dust went flying everywhere. Sigh. Then we couldn't help ourselves and my sister and I burst into laughter. The scene was very comical! I should have taken a picture! After the multiple step clean up effort (which included removing a drawer from my freezer, a broom, papertowels and clorox wipes), we jumped in the car at 9:30 pm and headed to the grocery store....yet again! But I was determined to have chocolate shavings.


After all that....guess which topping turned out to be our favorite? The chopped up peanuts! They added that extra sweet (from the honey roasted), salty peanutty zip to the truffles. And visually I thought they looked the best....really bringing home the concept of what flavor you would be biting into.


The powdered sugar didn't really work for us so we only did a few. The cocoa powder was nice and the chocolate shavings were good too and had a great texture. It was fun trying different options! Next time I might try milk chocolate shavings mixed with chopped nuts to capture a peanut butter cup taste.

Showing off our final product! Thanks for the help this week sis. I had a blast!



This recipe is a keeper! Thanks to Mara for selecting these tasty treats this week. For the recipe check out Mara's site, Love Your Mother Earth. And see what other SMS bakers did
here.