Ice Cream Before Dinner

Caramel Swirl Brownies

2012-02-19T08:39:00.000-05:00

The other night I made homemade soft caramel candies for the first time. It was a first for me in that I've never made the candy form of caramel - I've done caramel sauce, frosting, and icings before but never candies - and they were very much a success! But I was far too lazy to wrap all of those little candies up in wax paper squares. So what to do with the rest of this delicious stuff? I cut half of the caramel block, wrapped it in wax paper and vacuum sealed it for storage in the freezer until I think of something genius to do with it. But with about 1/8 of the recipe, I decided to melt it back down with about 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream, and then swirl it on top of brownie batter before baking. Good decision. I'm already dreaming of what this would be like on top of blondies...

Caramel Swirl Brownies

Ingredients: 

4 (1) oz squares of unsweetened chocolate 

3 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips

 3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 cup unsalted butter

 5 eggs 

2 3/4 cups sugar

 1 tbsp vanilla

 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

 1 tsp sea salt

Grease one 9 x 13 pan. Line the bottom with parchment and lightly grease the parchment. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate squares, chips, cocoa powder, and butter. Set aside after it has melted and combined. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes. Put the guard on your stand mixer bowl - this gets splashy! Add the melted chocolate mixture, salt and flour and mix until just blended. Let the batter sit on the counter for 20 minutes before pouring into the greased pan (half way through this would be a good time to preheat the oven to 375). Let air bubbles escape by dropping the pan on to a counter a few times.

For Caramel Swirl:

Combine approximately 1/8th recipe of Soft Candy Caramels (from Baked Explorations, found here) or around 25 store-bought caramel candies unwrapped with 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Stir to combine over medium heavy until pourable consistency. Pour over pan of brownie batter and swirl with a knife.

Bake for 30 minutes and test with a toothpick. If it comes out clean with only a few crumbs, remove to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before cutting.

Club: BAKED - Soft Candy Caramels

2012-02-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

I've made caramel sauces, caramel frostings, salted caramel icings, and more, but never made an actual soft candy caramel. Now that it was the recipe this week in Club Baked I finally got a chance to make them. The process was actually quite easy. Most of the length of time it took to make them was waiting for it to reach the correct temperature.

The most tedious part was probably cutting and individually wrapping the little caramels. And to be honest, I gave up half way through and just wrapped the remaining hunk of caramel in one piece of parchment, vacuum sealed it and froze it for use later. Also... I could help myself and with about 1/8 or 1/10th of the recipe, I decided to make caramel brownies. Here's a sneak preview...

These caramels were delicious. I loved the little taste of salt you get at the end from the sea salt. They really are quite soft, too - much softer than any store-bought caramel candy. And surprisingly they don't get stuck in your teeth.

Thanks for hosting, Teri! Head on over to The Freshman Cook for the recipe, and be sure to visit the list of this week's participating bakers! and Stay tuned for my Caramel Swirl Brownie recipe soon...

Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies

2012-02-09T18:38:00.000-05:00

I am normally not one for cake mixes. With only a little bit of extra effort to make a cake from scratch, the results are ten times better. However, I do love cookies. And since I had the majority of a box of Funfetti cake mix left over after making Birthday Cake Rice Krispie Treats I thought I might as well use it, right? I found this ridiculously simple recipe for Funfetti Cookies from Pillsbury and within maybe 5 minutes, the dough was on the cookie sheets ready to go in the oven. If you have a soft, vanilla cookie craving and needs cookies fast, these are the best way to go. I have to admit, though we're not cake mix fans, these cookies disappeared from the cookie jar embarrassingly fast. I skipped adding the frosting on top of the cookies because I thought they'd be sweet enough without them. I'm glad I did because these were perfect.

Funfetti Cake Mix Cookies from Pillsbury.com
Ingredients:
1 (18.9 oz) box of Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, room temperature

Directions:
Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, combine cake mix, oil and eggs; mix until thoroughly moistened. Scoop with a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Using the palm of your hand, slightly flatten the dough balls. Bake at 375°F. for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Speculaas Cookies

2012-02-05T08:19:00.000-05:00

Over the summer on a Delta flight to California, I tasted my first biscoff cookie. How is it that I had never tried one of these things before? I became (not so) mildly obsessed and briefly debated buying them in absurd quantities from their website. Fortunately, I controlled myself and just dreamed about the little cookies instead. Then on a trip to NY to visit family, I was wandering around a specialty grocery store and came across Biscoff Spread. Are you kidding me?! Ground up cookies spread on whatever I want just like nutella? After tasting the spread (and immediately buying a jar of the delicious stuff) I became curious what these little cookies were. After some research I found this description on their website: "Europe's favorite Cookie with Coffee Biscoff is the name given to the traditional Speculoos biscuits in North America". Soon after I saw that "Speculaas" was on our list of things to bake for Club Baked, I was so excited! I get to make my own biscoff!

Apparently there is a bit of a difference between Speculaas and Speculoos. According to one Flemish company that makes them with "the old method," "the Dutch speculaas is a thicker, spiced gingerbread. The Belgian speculoos, or caramelised biscuit, is thinner and has a more refined taste" (Vermeiren Speculoos). The "Baked Explorations" recipe is called "Speculaas" so I was expecting them to be different from my beloved Biscoff. I baked according to the recipe making no changes besides using light brown instead of dark brown sugar and omitting the orange zest (because I didn't have either of those things). I also let the dough sit in the fridge overnight because I had read on one website somewhere that this allows the flavors in speculaas dough to give the spices time to develop and add extra flavor.

I may have taken them out of the oven too soon because mine were not dry and crispy, they were soft and chewy. But that was a good thing for us since Daniel is 100% a chewy cookie person. Normally he does not like spiced cookies but these mysteriously disappeared from our cookie jar very quickly. "Spiced gingerbread" is a good description for this cookie recipe, they were quite different from those Biscoff cookies.

My one complaint about this recipe is that it was too sticky and nearly impossible to use cookie cutters. Instead, I wound up using a pizza wheel and cutting it into squares. Admittedly, the stickiness was probably my own fault though due to my laziness since I really didn't flour my surface very well. When I got really lazy, at the end I just started rolling balls of dough with my hand and rolling them in turbinado sugar. Those ones came out nice and thick, and with a caramelized sugar bottom - quite perfect for our tastes.

You can find the recipe here at Baked Sunday Mornings. And make sure to read through the Bakers Links to Speculaas to see how this recipe worked out for other (less lazy) bakers.

Fluffernutter Cookies with Chocolate Glaze

2012-01-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

Growing up I enjoyed my share of Fluffernutter sandwiches. It was a great way to eat "lunch" while simultaneously having dessert. As an adult my palette has advanced far far beyond fluffernutters, because now I add Nutella to my peanut butter and fluff sandwiches :) Ok, so maybe you're never too old for a fluffernutter. These cookies have everything that makes a fluffernutter a fluffernutter: Marshmallows and Peanut Butter, with the addition of a rich chocolate drizzle. The recipe for "Fluffernutter Chocolate Gobs" comes from Bakergirl. These were so good, I made them twice in 3 days. Yikes.

Fluffernutter Cookies with Chocolate Glaze from Bakergirl
makes about 24 cookies
Ingredients for the Cookies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Mini marshmallows

Ingredients for the Chocolate Glaze:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons milk, depending on how your desired consistency

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla.

Gradually add in flour mixture on low speed and mix until it is just incorporated. Chill dough for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

Using a 1.5 Tablespoons cookie scoop, place on a parchment lined cooking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes, until edges are very lightly browned. Remove from oven and pat down the cookies with a spatula to flatten them slightly. Place 5 or 6 mini marshmallows on top of each cookie and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes, until marshmallows are melted. Let cool completely.

When cooled completely, make the glaze by melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Slowly whisk in the powdered sugar, gradually adding the milk as needed to get it the desired consistency (you want it thin enough to drizzle, but thick enough that it won't run all over- a little thicker than molasses). Whisk until no lumps remain. Spoon a small amount over the top of each cookie. Glaze with set slightly upon cooling.

Birthday Cake Rice Krispie Treats

2012-01-22T16:38:00.001-05:00

As it turns out, Daniel and I re-learned the other night just how addicting rice krispie treats are. After our Bourbon Salted Caramel Rice Krispie treats disappeared after just a couple of days I decided to make another batch of Rice Krispie treats, but this time to channel our inner child (not so hard to do). With some inspiration from Lovin' From the Oven, Birthday Cake Rice Krispies treats were born. These were delicious, fun, and kiddy! But I do think that next time I'll try to up the cake flavor by incorporating MORE cake mix next time.

One of the risks of taking your photo's on the floor....

These are such "Please, Mom?" eyes:

Birthday Cake Rice Krispie Treats, adapted from Lovin' From the Oven

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 (10.5) ounce bag of mini marshmallows

3/4 cup (or MORE for more cake flavor) Funfetti cake mix

6 cups Kellogg’s rice krispies cereal

3 - 4 tablespoons of rainbow sprinkles

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.

Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted.

Remove from heat and stir in the cake mix until dissolved.

Stir in the cereal and half of the sprinkles until it is evenly coated with marshmallow.

Press the mixture into a 8 x 8 square baking dish and top with remaining sprinkles.

Bourbon Salted Caramel Rice Krispie Treats... Krispie Treats for Grown Ups!

2012-01-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

It doesn't matter how grown up I get, I'll never stop loving Kellogg's Rice Krispies treats. I've made Smore Krispie Treats, Mexican Vanilla Krispie Treats, Crunchy Peanut Butter Krispie Treats, and now, Bourbon Salted Caramel Krispie Treats - a treat fit for a grown up. Since I had some extra Bourbon Salted Caramel left over from the Coffee Ice Cream Tart, and an enormous family sized box of Rice Krispies, I decided to combine the two. The result? Probably the most delicious krispie treat I've tried to date.

Bourbon Salted Caramel Krispie Treats

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Homemade Bourbon Salted Caramel + additional for topping

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 10 ounce bag of mini marshmallows

6 cups of Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal

Line an 8 x 8 square pan with parchment paper.

Melt salted caramel and butter together in a large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows, stirring until marshmallows are completed melted down (this will take longer than it does with traditional kris pie treat recipes). Stir in Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal until well coated. Then, turn out the mixture into the square pan. Cut into squares when completely cooled and set, and serve with a salted caramel sauce drizzle.

Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce

2012-01-16T17:30:00.000-05:00

The salted caramel sauce that topped the Coffee Ice Cream tart I made recently became the star of that dish. Its taste fell somewhere in between butterscotch and caramel and with the addition of sea salt and bourbon, it had such a unique, grown-up taste. It was great on the coffee ice cream tart... but I have a feeling it'd be great on nearly anything. It can be stored in the fridge, and then microwaved and served warm.

Homemade Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce, adapted from Lick My Spoon

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons diamond crystal fine sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons Kentucky bourbon

Heat the sugar and water in a medium saucepan on medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Stop stirring and allow the mixture to come to a boil, swirling the pan occasionally.
When the mixture becomes dark amber, add the butter. The mixture will foam up, whisk until the butter has melted. Once the butter has melted, remove the pan from the heat.
Add the heavy cream and whisk to incorporate. Add the sea salt and bourbon and stir until smooth.
Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then pour into a glass container and let cool to room temperature. Don’t worry if the sauce seems too thin at first, it will thicken as it cools. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm in the microwave before serving.

Club: BAKED - Mississippi Mud Pie AKA Coffee Ice Cream Tart

2012-01-15T08:38:00.001-05:00

The Club: BAKED bakers are at it again. This time the recipe we're all making (making, since no baking is required!) is Mississippi Mud Pie aka Coffee Ice Cream Tart. It involves a homemade chocolate cookie crust with a bourbon chocolate fudge filling topped with coffee ice cream.

The original recipe tops the whole thing off with a chocolate topping, but I thought there was enough chocolate already so I made a Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce (Good decision! Recipe found here). Besides the caramel sauce, the only other adjustment I made to the original recipe was to omit the nuts and use chocolate animal crackers instead of chocolate wafer cookies (like a few others, I couldn't find these at any local stores either!). I loved the crust that resulted - it reminded me of the chocolate crunchies found in store-bought ice cream cakes... and who doesn't love those?? The whole pie was reminiscent of an Ice-Cream-Cake version of one of those frozen blended coffee drinks... yum.

We really enjoyed this dessert, especially with the Bourbon Salted Caramel Sauce. The saltiness provided a nice counterpart to all of the sweetness. But hands down our favorite part of the cake was the crunchy-like cookie crust. Be sure to visit the Club: BAKED site to see how this pie came out for the other bakers. Stop by Jess' blog, The Saucy Kitchen, for the recipe. Thanks for hosting, Jess!

Crock Pot Apple Pie Oatmeal

2012-01-07T11:02:00.005-05:00

I know I'm a bit late, but Happy New Year! What are your goals for 2012? One thing I'm trying to do this year is to eat a more nutritious breakfast. It is so easy to grab a pre-packaged granola bar when leaving for work, but with just a little preparation, you can have individual servings of a healthier breakfast ready quick in the morning.

This Apple Pie Oatmeal is made in a crock pot and is frozen in 1/2 cup servings. Stick 1 serving in the refrigerator the night before, and it should be thawed by morning. What's better is that there is less than 1 teaspoon of sugar per serving, and it is full of flavor from the granny smith apples and cinnamon. All I do is add 2 tablespoons of low fat milk, microwave, and add a sprinkling of cinnamon and spoonable Truvia and I'm good until lunch. I'm going to try this recipe again soon using all Truvia and no sugar. But for now this is a good start!

Crock Pot Apple Pie Oatmeal adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen
Ingredients:
3 medium Granny Smith apples

¼ cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp fine sea salt (this is my absolute favorite!)

6 cups water (depending on how thick you like your oatmeal)

3 cup rolled old fashioned oats

milk and spoonable Truvia for serving

Roughly chop apples into ¼ to ½ inch pieces, leaving the skin on.

Spray the slow cooker lightly with nonstick spray. Then add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and water. Stir together and cook on high for 2 hours.

Add oatmeal and stir ingredients together, then continue to cook on high for an additional 1 to 1 ½ hours, depending on how soft you'd like the finished oatmeal to be.

Allow to cool, and then scoop ½ cup servings into silicone muffin tins. Freeze, then remove from the muffin tin and store in freezer in a freezer bag.

To serve, allow to thaw and then microwave with 2 Tablespoons of non fat milk. Stir until you reach a normal oatmeal consistency. Sprinkle with cinnamon and Truvia.

When the oatmeal is done cooking, I scoop 1/2 cup portions into a silicone muffin pan and freeze.

When frozen, remove the oatmeal pods from their muffin pan and store in zippy bags.

Then, just add a little milk, microwave and stir, and serve with cinnamon and Truvia. Voila!

Cake Travel Tip

2012-01-05T10:50:00.000-05:00

No matter how many cake carriers I have, every year there always seems to be a few odd shaped treats that doesn't fit into anything I own. This makes transporting and keeping them fresh very difficult. Most recently, I made this monster cake:

If I had thought it through (which I obviously never do) I would have realized not to put the eyeballs in until I reached my destination. But I didn't. And they were in there so securely, I didn't want to mess with them. As a result, this monster didn't fit into any of the several cake carriers I own (it was too tall!). Plus, the ink on the eyeballs refused to dry, so I couldn't put plastic wrap around the whole thing. Instead, I had to hold it on my lap for the car ride to dinner, while defending the cake against my pup in the backseat who thought it smelled like the perfect appetizer.

The people at King Arthur Flour are so smart! I got a gift certificate to their online store for Christmas (yesss!), so I was perusing their site and saw this post on their blog:

Marshmallows on sticks to hold the plastic wrap from touching the cake. Such a simple, smart solution. I'll be sure to remember this one for my odd-ball cakes in the future.

Side by Side Chocolate Chip Cookies (or High Five Cookies)

2011-12-23T10:36:00.000-05:00

Chocolate Chip Cookies are a common addition to any dessert table, but they're also an almost guaranteed success. Who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie? Especially when it's just slightly under baked, and oh so soft and chewy. If you want to bring Chocolate Chip cookies to your cookie exchange or to your family's holiday gathering, but want a unique twist to wow your cookie-loving friends, then keep maybe this is the right recipe for you. This is basically one chocolate chip cookie dough, split into two - One half is left as a standard chocolate chip cookie, and the other half gets a healthy dose of Cocoa Powder to make it a double chocolate chip cookie. Then, you sit the two doughs Side by Side on the cookie pan before baking. Daniel wanted to call these "High Five" cookies because the two doughs do a high five before being placed onto the pan. I just love the mental image I get when I imagine two chocolate chip cookie dough balls doing a high five and then jumping onto a cookie sheet. :)

I've made recipes from this great little cookbook before, but I think it deserves a revisiting. The original chocolate chip cookie recipe this is based off of is from Little Old Lady Recipes. It really is such a charming little book. Tried and true recipes from grandmothers are included alongside delightful portraits photos of grandmas. I made some adaptations and have included these below.

Side by Side Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted from Little Old Lady Recipes

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour

3 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg, room temp

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla. Then, add baking soda, and salt. Add 1 cup of the flour and mix until just incorporated. Remove half of the dough from the bowl, and set aside. In the electric mixer, add the remaining 2 tablespoons flour and half of the chocolate chips. Mix until just incorporated, then drop by the tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets. Now, add the reserved half of the dough back into the stand mixer bowl. Add the cocoa powder and the remaining chocolate chips. Drop by the tablespoon onto the cookie sheet so that each standard chocolate chip cookie dough ball has a double chocolate chip cookie dough ball beside it. With your finger, make the two dough balls touch. Bake for 8 - 12 minutes or until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Remove to rack to cool.

Christmas Tree Meringue Pops & How-To Video

2011-12-22T21:57:00.002-05:00

Need an idea for a very quick, unique Christmas dessert? Our Round Cake Pop Stand turned these simple little meringue bites into an impressive Christmas display. All it is is a simple meringue piped into a tree shape using a star tip. The tree is topped with an edible star decoration and they're baked. Voila! I'll bet the Christmas parties you're going to haven't seen a meringue pop display like this one :)

I recommend inserting the lollipop stick while the meringues are still warm (and haven't hardened all the way) to make your life a lot easier.

Christmas Tree Meringue Pops, from adapted from Penguin Says Feed Me
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
125 grams granulated sugar
A pinch of vanilla extract
Green food coloring
Star shaped edible decorations
Lollipop Sticks
Round Cake Pop Stand

Preheat oven to 250 F. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in the vanilla and beat to incorporate.
Gradually, while beating, add the sugar until glossy, firm peaks form. Once the sugar has been incorporated, add the green food colouring until the desired colour is achieved.
Scoop the meringue mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe dollops of meringue onto parchment lined cookie sheets, keeping the bases of the trees a little over the size of a quarter. Press a star decoration into the top of the meringue tree.
Bake for 35 - 40 minutes. While meringues are still warm, use a clean awl to gently make a hole in the bottom of the meringue. Be careful! These guys can crack. Insert stick in the hole and put the stick on the Cake Pop Stand.

Check out this video of Daniel, the piping expert, making some meringue Christmas trees:

Gingerbread Cake Bites with Lemon Frosting

2011-12-16T20:59:00.004-05:00

Around this time of year about 5 or 6 years ago, a neighbor brought over a platter of homemade petit fours for the holidays. It had a few different flavors of cake cut into adorable little squares, each topped with a different type of frosting. I can't remember anything that was on that platter besides one: gingerbread cake with lemon frosting. I only ate one of the tiny one inch cake bites, but it was so good I still remember it to this day.

When I got word of Hodgson Mill's holiday recipe contest, "Have a Grain Holiday!" I felt short on good ideas. I tried out a few different recipes using both their Bread Flour and their Whole Wheat flour but I wasn't thrilled with anything. Finally, I thought about those gingerbread cake bites and I started trying to make my own version of the bite sized dessert. I don't know how these would compare to those little bites from a few years ago, but these are pretty delicious. The gingerbread cake is spicy and moist, and the tangy lemon frosting serves is a nice complement. Plus, since it uses Hodgson Mill's Whole Wheat Graham flour, it is nutritious, too. With this type of flour, "the entire natural bran and germ are stone ground, preserving all of the grain's natural nutrients and great taste, with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives."

Gingerbread Cake Bites with Lemon Frosting, serving size: 40-50 bite sized squares.
Preparation time: approximately 2 hours

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat flour

½ cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

a pinch of ground pepper

¾ stick of unsalted butter (6 Tablespoons), room temperature

2/3 cup brown sugar packed

¼ cup molasses

¼ light corn syrup

1 egg, beaten

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup boiling water

2 Tablespoons milk

For the Gingerbread Cake:

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, soda, salt, spices and pepper together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the brown sugar and cream thoroughly. Beat in molasses and corn syrup.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg until foamy. Then, add it to the butter mixture. Stir in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix just until combined, being careful not to overbeat.

Slowly, pour in the boiling water and the milk. Mixture will be very runny. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool all the way, and then chill in the refrigerator.

For the Lemon Frosting:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

zest from ½ a large lemon

juice from ½ a large lemon

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Lemon peel for garnish, optional

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the zest and vanilla. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Add the lemon juice and beat on medium-high for 5 minutes. When the cake is chilled and slightly firm to the touch, spread the frosting on the cake with an offset spatula. Using a pizza cutter, cute the cake into small squares. If desired, top each square with a small strip of lemon zest to garnish.

Contest Winner!

2011-12-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

And the winner is...#5 comment, Melissa! Melissa said "My mom's date and nut bread spread with cream cheese. If she doesn't make it, I have no doubt some family members would cry!" Congratulations Melissa! You have 24 hours to claim your prize. Please either email me at: info@thesmartbaker.com or leave a message on this post with your email address.

Holiday baked goodie coming soon to Ice Cream Before Dinner using Hodgson Mill's high-quality flour!

Hodgson Mill and a Giveaway

2011-12-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

Good ingredients really makes all the difference in a recipe. People always talk about using high quality chocolates and extracts when baking, but rarely do people talk about the type of flour they use. After the first time I bought a higher quality flour than I had used in the past, I never went back.

Recently, Hodgson Mill began a holiday recipe contest. Stay tuned for a holiday treat recipe using their wonderful flours coming up on Ice Cream Before Dinner very soon! In addition to a new holiday recipe, I'll also be hosting a giveaway for $25 to Hodgson Mill's online store!!

To enter to win, simply post a comment on this blog post describing your family's favorite holiday treat recipe.

For a second entry to win, write a post on Twitter or Facebook linking to this blog post saying: "I just entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Hodgson Mill at Ice Cream Before Dinner!" Then, leave a second comment on this post saying you did so.

The contest will end Tuesday, Dec. 13th at Midnight and the winner will be contacted Wednesday.

The Smart Baker at Cocoa Village Craft Fair

2011-12-04T08:58:00.000-05:00

The Smart Baker blogging to you live from the Cocoa Village Holiday Craft Fair!

You mean you don't have a fake oven?

Our towers even look nice with store bought cupcakes! So if you're short on time planning your holiday party, you can still have an elegant dessert display.

Best Oreo Stuffed Brownies

2011-11-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

Brownies with Oreos baked right in the middle have been floating around the internet for a while now. Being huge fans of both, I'm not sure why I haven't got around to making them until now. It is a genius idea to bake something delicious in the middle of something else delicious. Plus, it's such a terrific and easy way to jazz up a boxed mix or your favorite from scratch brownie recipe to surprise your taste testers.

I used a new-to-me brownie recipe: Best Cocoa Brownies. The recipe on Epicurious says "Cocoa brownies have the softest center and chewiest candylike top 'crust'". I'd have to agree. They were super fudgey, soft and moist but still had that slight crisp to the top. I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder for a super chocolatey taste.

Best Oreo Stuffed Cocoa Brownies adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Hershey's special dark cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cold large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

16 double stuf oreos

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with square pre-cut parchment paper.

Combine butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in the top of a double boiler with the water beneath barely simmering. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is mixed. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

Stir in vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer. Spread half of the batter in the lined pan. Arrange oreos in a single layer on top of the batter. Pour the remaining brownie batter on top of the oreos and spread to cover them.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.

Transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into squares.

Speaking of amazing, did you see the wooden bowl my oreo brownies are styled in? One of many things I love about doing local craft shows for The Smart Baker is getting to meet other entrepreneurs. At our most recent show in October, our booth was next to that of a wood turner, Berkshire Bowls. His Etsy site says, "At Berkshire Bowls we try to make all of our pieces from material that was brought down by natural causes. Each time there is a wind storm, ice storm or other means, I am looking for the material for our next piece". So they're not just beautiful, they're very green, too. He boasts such a wide range of products such as pens, boxes, puzzles, bowls of all shapes and sizes. I just couldn't resist this adorable little bowl. We're currently working with Scott, the owner, on some very "smart" kitchen items. I can't wait to share them with you!

Check out Berkshire Bowls' website for more information. I bet there's a bowl or two that you won't be able to resist either.

Glass Cleaner Foaming Spray

2011-11-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

I started off this post by writing about how I love to bake, but that my domesticity doesn't extend into the realm of cleaning. But really, does anyone like to clean? Does anyone enjoy cleaning counter tops of grime, eliminating streaks and water spots from bathroom mirrors, or wiping away dirt? I'd be willing to guess that most people do not find joy in these household chores.

Recently, Stanley Home Products gave me the opportunity to try out their Glass Cleaner Foaming Spray. Out of all the rooms to clean, the bathroom is probably my least favorite. Since this cleaner stuff claims to be non-streaking, fast-drying, water-repeling and grime-guarding, why not give it a try?

I used it on the bathroom counters first. A quick spray on the counters, an easy wipe with paper towel, and the counter surface was spotless. It worked on the mirrors too, and left no streaks. The foam must do all the hard work, because all I needed to do was gently wipe away the foam and the dirt went with it. Overall, it made the pretty un-fun task of cleaning the bathroom quicker and easier and I'll definitely be using it again. You can purchase it online for $6.49 at Stanley Home Products.

Club: BAKED - Caramel Apple Monster Cake

2011-11-01T07:02:00.002-04:00

On Sunday we celebrated Halloween with the family. I saw this Monster cake and really wanted to make it, so when I saw we were baking the Caramel Apple Cake with Club Baked, I thought how perfect! I'd turn the Caramel Apple Cake into this furry little monster.

I don't have 3 round cake pans, so I made 2 nine-inch cakes, and split each into two - creating a four layer cake. Also, I cheated with the frosting. I saw mixed reviews of the frosting recipe on the Club Baked P&Q page, so, being short on time (I made lots of cake balls and puff pastry intestines, too... pictures to come soon), I decided to make a shortcut and just whipped up a batch of my favorite buttercream frosting - adding 1/3 cup of store bought caramel topping for ice cream.

First we crumb-coated. Then we (I say WE because the husband did all of the fur piping! I should really say "HE!") used a grass tip (flat tip with several small holes in it) to pipe the orange fur in concentric rings. His mouth is black licorice, and his teeth are made of Candy Quik that I piped into triangles on parchment, and then let harden before transferring to the monster.

His eye balls are devil's food cake pops dipped in vanilla candy quik. The orange bit is a Candy Melt wafer with black food coloring gel painted on with a paint brush, and a dab of Candy Quik for the little while shine. We painted the veins on with red food coloring gel and a paintbrush. It was time consuming, but fun!

As for the cake, everyone who tried it loved it. My nephew had two bowls full! What wasn't eaten at family dinner was thoroughly enjoyed at work the next day.

Thanks for Melissa of Lulu the Baker for selecting this recipe and hosting this week! What a great pick for this time of year, such a nice Fall spicey cake. Be sure to visit Club Baked and check out how the other Club Baked bakers did with this Caramel Apple Cake.

Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-10-22T13:31:00.000-04:00

A while back, I was catching up on my blog reading and came across Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies on My Tasty Treasures. It caught my eye because Daniel is a lover of vanilla, so I bookmarked to make in the near future. That night, I was flipping through one of my mother in laws magazines as saw the same recipe in an ad for McCormick's vanilla extract. I took it as a sign and made them that night. SO glad I did because it is hands down, my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever made to date... soft and chewy and full of vanilla with just the right amount of salt in it so that you could taste it but it wasn't overpowering. They stayed fairly thick and didn't spread out too much. The recipe made quite a large batch but um... they didn't stick around that long.

Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies from My Tasty Treasures
Ingredients:

3¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

1⅓ cups butter, softened

1¼ cups granulated sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

1 package (12 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars in large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoons (I used a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until barely beginning to brown at the edges. Cool on baking sheets 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

2011-10-08T16:36:00.000-04:00

Nothing says Fall like pumpkin flavored things. The coffee shops are filled with pumpkin lattes, delis have pumpkin muffins, even ravioli are filled with pumpkin in the Fall. And I love it! Towards the end of the summer, I never can wait for Fall to get here to eat all of the pumpkin goodies.

That being said, as much as I love pumpkin-flavored things, I've never bought pumpkin pie spice. And today in Central Florida, it's like a monsoon. I'm talking trees down in my neighborhood and water coming up through my tiles in the living room (but that's another story). Not the kind of weather that makes you you want to go to the store solely to buy pumpkin pie spice. So what do you do if you're stuck in the house and craving pumpkin goodies, with no pumpkin pie spice? Make your own, of course! I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Spice on My Baking Addiction, and I had all of the spices on hand. You probably do, too!

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves

Combine all spices in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Use a funnel to pour into a small air tight jar.

Club: BAKED - A Tale of 2 Pumpkin Muffins

2011-10-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

Today is October 1st. Break out the pumpkin! If you're looking for an excuse to buy pumpkin now that its on the shelves, try these muffins. I altered it (drastically) from the savory Pumpkin Cheddar muffins recipe that was chosen as this week's baked goodie for Club Baked, and I'm happy with the results. In addition to my savory to sweet adjustment, I also split my batter in half and made two varieties: Espresso Pumpkin Muffins and Pumpkin Pie Muffins. I'm not sure which one I love more! I've posted my recipe below as it is so different from the original, but if you're interested in the savory Pumpkin Cheddar version, see Billie of the blog Chocolate & Chakra - the host of this week's recipe. Thanks for hosting and picking this wonderfully Fall recipe, Billie!

Pumpkin Muffins two ways: 1 with Espresso and 1 with Pumpkin Pie spice
Yields 15 cupcake-sized muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons light sour cream
2 large eggs, room temp
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie spice (home-made!)
1/2 teaspoon Espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar + extra for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine pumpkin and sour cream. Add the eggs and butter and combine.
In another bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugars, and whisk to combine. Add to the pumpkin mixture.
Divide the batter in half. In one half of the batter, add the pumpkin pie spice. In the other half, add the espresso powder. Or, if you want an entire batch of 1 variety, simply double the amount of that spice and omit the other.
Put in standard sized cupcake tins lined with cupcake liners. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar.
Bake for 14 - 17 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Serve warm!

Oops! Who ate those?

Visit the other Club Baked bakers to see how their Pumpkin muffins came out! I can't wait to see how the savory version tastes - I was too scared to try it!

Vintage Cookbooks

2011-09-16T18:17:00.000-04:00

I was recently given a whole bunch of vintage cookbooks. The new facility we're renting had two big bookshelves of cookbooks that they no longer wanted, and said we could take whichever ones we want! It was hard to not take them ALL, but I selected about 8 or 9 of them. I saw "Joy of Cooking" and since I don't own that yet, I had to take that one! But I also looked for the kind that seemed like compilations of recipes from local people. I feel like these could be the kind of thing that people contribute their family's favorite recipes to. I found quite a few books that are collections of recipes from local church members and women's organizations. I can't wait to start baking and find the great recipes hidden in these old books!

Have you ever found any recipe gems hidden in old cookbooks? When I started flipping through the books after I got them home, I found something else hidden in one of these old cookbooks:

An old Publix receipt! Thanks to Daniel for being my hand model. Wouldn't you love to go to the grocery store and come home having spent less than $1? :)

Bananas Foster Fritters - Club Baked

2011-09-15T19:33:00.000-04:00

I love banana bread. My grandmother used to make it all the time when I was young, and me and my sister would always look forward to having slices when we got home from school for several days after. When I moved to Florida, she gave me her recipe. Now, at any given time, if you were to take look in my freezer you'd find a zippy bag full of ripe bananas just waiting to be baked into something. But very rarely do I ever actually make banana bread. For some strange reason, the husband doesn't love banana bread. He doesn't dislike it, but if I were to make it, it'd either sit on the counter until it went bad or until I ate the entire thing by myself.

...but he does love doughtnuts, zeppoles and other similar blobs of fried doughy goodness. When it was my turn to host Club Baked - I chose the Bananas Foster Fritters to make both of us happy.

These little fritters were very well received - and very easy to make! I made the dough and sauce in advance and chilled it in the fridge until after dinner, since I knew they were best served right away. After dinner we heated up the oil, ice-cream scooped some dough into the hot oil and a few minutes later we had some hot, fresh banana fritters.

My one issue was with browning. I watched my oil temperature very carefully, but they still browned far too quickly. It probably had something to do with the small size of my fritters. I got about 13 fritters and the recipe said 6 - 10. At 375 F, they needed barely 1 minute per side until they were done on the outside. Even at 355 - 360 degrees, they still didn't need a full 2 minutes per side like the recipe said. But for some reason, they were still a tad underbaked in the middle. Oh well - that didn't take away from how much we all enjoyed them.

I opted for a different rum sauce than the one in the book (because of the ingredients I had on hand). We loved the rum sauce, and I think it really finished these off nicely. I'm including both recipes below.

Bananas Foster Fritters from Baked Explorations
Ingredients for Rum Dipping Sauce (recipe I used is below):
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon banana liqueur (or pure vanilla extract)
2 Tablespoons dark rum
Pinch cinnamon (optional)

For the fritter dough:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (+ more if needed)
3 Tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 medium ripe bananas
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 teaspoon banana liqueur (or pure vanilla extract)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Vegetable oil for frying
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Make the rum dipping sauce:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the cream and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the liqueur, rum and cinnamon if using. Set aside until serving time. (The sauce can be made ahead. Allow it to cool, then cover it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Rewarm it over low heat in a saucepan or microwave it in short 15 second blasts before serving).

Make the fritter dough:
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Use your hands to rub the chunks of sugar into the flour mixture and whisk again (it is ok to have a few chunky sugar pieces remaining).

In another large bowl, mash the bananas with your hands or a heavy spoon and stir in the rum, liqueur and butter.

Use a eubbwe spatular to fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture. The mix should look wet, but it should hold its shape when scooped into a small ball. If dough is too thin, keep folding in flour 1 tablespoon at a time until it stiffens up. Refrigerate the dough while the frying oil heats up and you prepare the sugar topping.

Pour enough oil into a deep skillet to fill it 3/4 inch to 1 inch deep. Slowly heat the oil over medium-high heat until it registers 375 degrees F on a deep-frying thermometer.

While the oil heats, in a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside.

Fry the fritters:
Line a plate with double layer of paper towels and set it near your work area.

Using a small spatula and a small spoon, two spoons, or an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping spoonfuls of dough into the oil. Do not crowd the skillet. Cook until the fritters have browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, turn them over to cook for another 2 minutes or until browned. Do not overcook or burn the fritters. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the fritters to the prepared plate and continue frying dough until finished.

Place the fritters on a serving plate and sift the cinnamon sugar over them. Serve immediately with rum dipping sauce.

Rum sauce (the one I used), adapted slightly from Epicurious
Ingredients:

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons dark rum

Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, cream and corn syrup and stir until sugar dissolves. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Mix in rum. Boil 1 additional minute. Cool slightly. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before using.)

See how the other Club Baked bakers did with the fritters by visiting Club Baked's site!

Why Parchment is better than Silicone Mats

2011-09-08T21:34:00.001-04:00

I used to swear by silpats and other similar silicone mats. I lined every cookie sheet I could with them. They're non-stick, they save your cookies by allowing them to come off of the pan without much effort, and they're green. But gradually, I started to use Parchment more often than silicone mats. Tonight, my belief that parchment is better than silpats was reconfirmed. Why, you ask?

This is the same cookie batter, chilled for the same amount of time, baked for the same amount of time. The one on the left was baked on a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat, and the one on the right was baked on a cookie sheet lined with a parchment sheet. I have absolutely no scientific evidence to back this up, but in my experience, cookies always spread more and fall flatter when they're baked on silicone. Those baked on parchment always seem to maintain their thickness much more, and have a much better texture. Maybe silicone is too non-stick and the cookie dough spreads out too easily, making it flatter? I have no idea why. But every time I give silicone another chance, I see why I stop using it and switch to parchment sheets. I hate it when I ruin good cookie dough!

Oh well. I ruined a few cookies, but I learned that I should only use my silpats when I'm baking items that I don't need to worry about spreading. For everything else, I'll stick with my perfect parchment.

Lightest, Easiest, Quickest Cherry Cheesecake recipe ever

2011-09-07T20:19:00.000-04:00

Have you ever prepared a recipe, and has it turn out totally different from what you were expecting? But you wound up really liking it? I was a bit careless while preparing this recipe and made a little mistake. As a result, this quick and easy Cherry Cheesecake recipe produced a unique, light texture that I really wasn't expecting from a no-bake cheesecake. The airiness made it actually very little like cheesecake and more like a mousse. But everyone who tasted it absolutely loved it. It won't be replacing my favorite cheesecake recipe just yet, but when you want something quick and easy (no baking involved!) and light, this might be the cheesecake for you. (And no, by "light" I do not mean low in calories. Sorry!).

Quick and Easy Light Cherry Cheesecake, adapted from Nigella Lawson
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 stick unsalted butter, soft
10 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 (1o-ounce) jar black cherry spread (or conserves)

Grease an 8 inch springform pan.
Pulse the graham cracker crumbs in a food processor turning it into crumbs, then add the sugar and butter. Pulse again to make the mixture clump. Press the graham mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of the springform pan.
Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice until it is smooth.
Whip the heavy cream until it is the consistency of whipped cream (**See Note Below)
Fold the cream into the cream cheese mixture. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the graham cracker crust and smooth with an offset spatula. Refrigerate for 3 hours to overnight.
When ready to serve, un-mold the cheesecake and spread the black cherry conserves over the top.

**(This is where I strayed from Nigella's recipe. She only lightly whipped her cream, but I got careless and overbeat it. I think this is what added to the lightness of my cheesecake. If you want it light, beat the cream until stiff peaks form. If you'd like a more traditional texture, only lightly beat the cream).

Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing

2011-09-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

There have been a few different Red Velvet Brownie recipes floating around the internet for a little while. One that I've had on my To-Do list for a long time now comes from How Sweet It Is. I finally decided to put this one at the top of my "Things to bake" list, but I didn't want to make the White Chocolate Frosting that goes with it. First, I don't love white chocolate. Second, I don't know about you but I always dread having to melt down white chocolate. It always seems to be temperamental for me. It usually winds up chunking up and looking less than tempting. So, I decided to skip it and go with a traditional match for Red Velvet... Cream Cheese Icing. I whipped up my favorite cinnamon bun cream cheese frosting and spread that on top of the bars. How'd it turn out? Well, I did get a comment that night, "This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth". I'd say it went over well. The brownies found that perfect medium between the fudgey chocolatiness of a brownie, and the only-barely-cocoa-ness of Red Velvet. I'm glad I went with the Cream Cheese Icing because it really finished these off perfectly.

Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing, adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

red food coloring gel

2/3 cups chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Line an 8 x 8 cake pan with parchment (on sale now!)

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in the flour mixture. Add food coloring and stir until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips if using.

Spread in the 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool almost entirely before frosting.

My favorite cream cheese cinnamon bun frosting recipe:Ingredients:

2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 tblspn unsalted butter, softened
1.5 c confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese and butter together until mixed and fluffy. Add sugar, mix until incorporated. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Spread on the barely warm brownies.

Club: BAKED - Boston Cream Pie Cake... Donut?

2011-09-04T07:31:00.000-04:00

I honestly don't think I've ever tasted a traditional Boston Cream Pie but I've had (and thoroughly enjoyed) my share of its donut counterpart. When Boston Cream Pie came up on our schedule for Club Baked - I knew I'd be baking along that week. But I'm late! I made the cake by September 1st, our date for this recipe. But didn't get to make icing and pastry cream until yesterday

I put a tiny spin on this recipe. Since my only real experience with Boston Cream Pie is with donuts... I made a giant Boston Cream Pie Cake in the shape of a donut! It was the first time I got to use my Giant donut pan. Instead of making a chocolate pastry cream and a vanilla pastry cream, I made only vanilla and put just one layer of cream in the cake. I thought I had all the ingredients on hand after a shopping trip, only to realize I had no heavy cream for the chocolate glaze, so I improvised and made an alternate version.

Half of the donut cake, hollowed out slightly to make room for pastry cream

This recipe made enough for one giant donut (equivalent to 2 8-inch round cakes) and one 4 inch cake

Quite a large chocolate glazed Boston Cream donut. :) And the biggest donut hole ever!

Quick and Simple Satiny Chocolate Glaze, adapted from AllRecipes

3/4 cup 60% semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler and stir until completely smooth.

While still warm, spread on top of cake and let drip down the sides.

Overall, this recipe was pretty good. Anything I didn't love about it was probably my fault. For example, We thought it was a tiny bit on the dry side, but I think that would have been better if I had more layers of pastry cream like the original recipe said. Plus, my pastry cream was very thick. Like thicker than pudding thick. But I think perhaps I overcooked it.

Be sure to check out the other Club Baked bakers' version of the Boston Cream Pie cake!

The Cookiepedia and Crinkle Cookies

2011-08-21T08:48:00.000-04:00

Recently I was asked to review a new cookbook, The Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking and Reinventing the Classics by Stacy Adimando. SURE I said, who doesn't want more cookie recipes? Soon enough, the little book arrived in the mail, and honestly, it was so cute I couldn't wait to start making some of the recipes.
First, I noticed that the book is a spiral bound. This one simple little thing immediately made me happy. How many times have you been working from a typical cookbook only to have it slam closed when you're in the middle of a recipe with fingers covered in butter and eggs? The spiral binding allowed it to lay flat on the counter and stay open throughout prep time.
Second thing I noticed before I even started baking was how absolutely adorable the book was. It is packed full of darling little illustrations that appear on almost every page. And, I don't know about you, but I'm a visual person. This book has an index of its recipe that made selecting a recipe so much easier. There are 6 categories or chapters of cookies: Buttery, Chocolaty, Fancy, Fruity, Spicy, and Nutty & Seedy. Each chapter has a two-page introduction that serves as an index: Each cookie in the following chapter has a portrait in this little pictorial table of contents. They say you eat with your eyes first! With a glance at this chapter intro, I was able to quickly pick out which cookie I wanted to make.

i love this picture index!

I've made two recipes from the book so far. First up, I made the Crinkle Cookies. I've always thought these cookies were so pretty but have never made one before because I've heard they're on the dry side. The description in this book, though, said they have a "down-home fudgy flavor". I was sold.
The dough came together rather quickly. Besides chilling time, these cookies were fast and simple. The result? Moist, chocolaty perfection. They were almost truffle or brownie like. Very unlike the dry crumbly crinkle cookies I've heard about. I brought them to work where they were very well received (and all gone!) The only adjustment I made to the recipe was to use a combination of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate instead of all bittersweet. I can't wait to make them again and try the Espresso variation Adimando includes at the end of the recipe.

The second recipe I made was Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies. Once again, the dough was simple to put together. Really! Daniel went to help a neighbor change a fire alarm battery, and by the time he came back a few minutes later, the dough was finished and chilling in the fridge. The only variation I made on this recipe was to dunk the top of my cookies in turbinado sugar rather than sprinkling vanilla sugar on top (but I bet that would have been so delicious!). These came out moist, flavorful, and chewy. They very well might have made their way into my top 3 favorite sugar cookie recipes.

Below is the recipe for Crinkle Cookies, posted with permission from Quirk Books (recipe shown with my small alterations). For the other recipes, pick up a copy of The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando. The Cookiepedia is set to come out in September. The "re-invented-ness" of the recipe make them perfect for a seasoned baking pro, while the helpful guides, instructions, and glossaries make it great for beginners, too. If you want to try out some new versions of classic cookie recipes, be sure to pick up a copy when it comes out.

Crinkle Cookies, from The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando
Ingredients:
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup + 2 Tblspn unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tblspn cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Powdered sugar for rolling

Set a pot of water on the stove and bring to a simmer. Place the chopped chocolate and butter into a glass or metal bowl and set the bowl over the simmering water. Let the chocolate start to melt, then stir occasionally until it's smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
Beat the sugar and eggs on medium speed for several minutes until thick and smooth. Add vanilla and melted chocolate and continue beating on medium-low until combined.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add the mixture in two batches, beating each time until just combined. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let chill for about 2 hours, or until firm enough to scoop. Then, preheat to 325.
Line several cookie sheets with parchment. Roll 1 inch balls, then toss in powdered sugar, coating completely. Place about 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until starting to feel firm to the touch. Cool for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Sunday Night Cake

2011-08-15T17:32:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while, I find myself in a comfort baking rut. It's not that I haven't wanted to bake lately, but that I keep turning to tried and true favorites. Does that ever happen to you? When you find you aren't in the mood to experiment with new recipes, and would rather go with one you know will come out just the way you want.

Luckily, that is one of the main reason I join online baking clubs. Someone in the club chooses the recipe, and we all bake along. It really gets me to go outside my comfort zone and try something new. While I love the cookbook Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, the "Sunday Night Cake" is probably not one I'd have picked on my own, especially not when I'm in an un-adventerous baking mood. I already have a favorite plain vanilla cake recipe, so this is not one that would have stood out to me as a "need to bake asap!" recipe. But, Julie of A Little Bit of Everything chose this recipe as our bake-along for August 15th... and I'm SO glad she did! It was such a hit. Whenever I make something "plain" I always worry that it'll just sit there at Sunday dinner and not get eaten. But everyone loved this cake. The cake itself was on the dense side, and the small 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon really shined through. The frosting was very unique - I love the idea of a chocolate pudding frosting!

The one change I made to the recipe was to cut the 8 inch square cake in half and add a vanilla buttercream layer. I thought the sweetness of the vanilla layer played very well with the richness of the chocolate pudding frosting. All the flavors worked together very nicely. This is a definite will-make-again!

Be sure to visit Julie at A Little Bit of Everything for the recipe (it is a keeper!!). And then visit Club Baked to see how everyone else's Sunday Night Cake came out!

Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies

2011-08-01T11:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I made two desserts. The first is one of the most tropical, summery things I've ever made (Mango Sorbet... post to come soon). And the second is Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies, which, taste testers agreed, "taste like Christmas!" The seasons are a little confused here in this house. But both the Christmas cookies and the summery sorbet were very well received, no matter what season it really is.

The Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies were chosen by Jamie of Random Acts of Food as this week's recipe for Club: BAKED. I've only fairly recently discovered that the combination of Chocolate and Mint is not overwhelmingly gross. Up until last summer, even the scent of mint in my desserts completely disgusted me. Daniel's Chocolate Mint oreos had to be stored in a double layer of plastic storage bag and in a separate drawer to prevent the mint aroma from infecting and absorbing into my oreos. As far as I was concerned, mint was only good in chewing gum. But after growing my own fresh mint plant and including some of it in a Chocolate Mint cookie, I realized it's actually pretty darn delicious. Chocolate and Mint seems like one of those flavor combinations you either LOVE or you HATE. Which side are you on?

I prepared this recipe exactly as written in the Baked Explorations book. I'm glad I did, because they came out terrific. I'd love to try these with fresh mint leaves! If you're making these, be prepared to have some seriously chocolatey hands! The dough, even after chilled, was very messy. But it was worth it!

Be sure to visit the Club:BAKED site to see how the other bakers fared with this recipe. And visit Random Acts of Food for the recipe.

Chewy Graham Cookies

2011-07-30T16:05:00.000-04:00

When I make chocolate chip cookies, there always seems to be a cookie or two made from the very last bits of dough at the bottom of the bowl that have no chocolate chips in them. And those cookies are undoubtedly Daniel’s favorite ones of the whole batch. If you are like Daniel and sometimes just want a plain ol’ cookie without the mix-ins then these are the cookies for you.

These remind me of what a graham cracker would taste like if it were chewy instead of crunchy. The recipe is adapted from one created by My Kitchen Addiction. I’ve actually made this recipe before but they served as the base for my Smore Bites with Homemade Marshmallow. The cookie base was so good, I needed to try them in straight up cookie form. They did not disappoint. I did make a few changes to both the original recipe and what I did last time in the smore bites, so I’m posting the adapted recipe below. Enjoy alone, or sandwich some more deliciousness between two of them (nutella or vanilla ice cream cookie sandwiches anyone?)

Chewy Graham Cookies, adapted from My Kitchen Addiction

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp molasses

1/8 cup light corn syrup

1/8 cup maple syrup

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Approximately ¼ cup to ½ cup cinnamon sugar

Preheat to 375 F and line baking pans with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar, molasses, and syrups. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cream of tartar, and salt to combine. Stir in the flour mixture and mix just until combined.

Using a 1 ½ Tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out dough balls and roll them in cinnamon sugar. Place cinnamon sugar coated cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 9 – 10 minutes, when cookie is just started to turn golden at the edges. Be sure the cookie is set but do not overbake! Allow cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Furbaby Friday and Artistic Oreos

2011-07-29T08:14:00.000-04:00

It has been two weeks since I blogged! We were called out of town for about five days and are just getting back into the swing of things. As the summer winds down, The Smart Baker has been getting busier! But there is always time to bake :) We'll have some new posts up very soon.

In the meantime, it's furbaby friday!

Plus, I also wanted to share this amazing Oreo art with you...

These are stunning!

Furbaby Friday

2011-07-15T20:49:00.000-04:00

From this profile picture, you can really appreciate how adorably flat her little face is. Don't you love it?

The weekend is here - Enjoy it! Happy Friday everyone!

Club: BAKED - Farm Stand Buttermilk Donuts

2011-07-15T15:09:00.001-04:00

Lately I've been baking and making all the things I've always wanted to try, but never got around to it. I've always wanted to try making marshmallows from scratch - CHECK! And now, thanks to Gloria of The Gingersnap Girl, I can now cross another off my list. Gloria was our host for this week's Club Baked and she chose... drum roll please... Farm Stand Buttermilk Donuts!

I've always wanted to try my hand at homemade donuts but I was always afraid of frying. I assumed frying causes dangerous hot oil splatters, burns, and that it stinks up your house for weeks... and I suppose it could do all of those things... but I didn't have that problem (besides the stinky house part, because it does smell like a carnival in here now). I heated up the 1 inch of oil in a dutch oven, and the sides were tall enough to prevent splattering and burns. So besides the funnel cake aroma lingering in the air, this really was a breeze. This recipe was great. The dough was simple to put together, it was sticky but easy to work with, and held together nicely when cut into a donut shape with biscuit cutters.

I halved the recipe and made 9 medium size donuts and 13 donut holes. The end result was quite amazing, and left me wondering - WHY hadn't I tried this sooner?? It produces a cakey donut with a great texture - not too dry or dense. I used the cinnamon sugar coating and vanilla glaze from the Baked book and they were terrific.

So thank you to The Gingersnap girl for finally getting me to make homemade donuts! We enjoyed them very much. :) Be sure to visit Club Baked to see how the other bakers' donuts came out. And stop by The Gingersnap girl for the recipe.

3 Ingredient Coffee Granita

2011-07-14T08:33:00.000-04:00

It's hot. It is crazy hot. They say, "A dome of heat will bubble over the nation's midsection through the upcoming weekend and is set to expand east next week. Extreme heat is forecast to build across the central United States through the weekend and then spread to the Atlantic Seaboard." They add we'll probably get into the 100's in many cities. Awesome. Here in Florida, the short walk from the air-conditioned house to the car already has you dripping with sweat. Yick. What are you doing to beat the heat? I made this super simple only 3 Ingredient Coffee Granita and it is a terrific way to cool down... only try not to eat it shortly before going to bed. :)

3 Ingredient Coffee Granita

Ingredients:

2 cups very strong coffee (or espresso)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla

Stir hot coffee with the sugar until sugar dissolves. Then stir in vanilla. Place in the fridge to cool the mixture.

Transfer coffee to the bowl of your ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions (mine churned 25 minutes).

Serve with whipped cream and caramel syrup for an extra treat!

S'more Bites with Homemade Marshmallows

2011-07-13T14:04:00.000-04:00

During my baking adventures on this blog, I've discovered that some recipes are more difficult than they appear, and some recipes are actually a lot easier than they would seem to be. For example, some people make using yeast look effortless, however, I generally wind up staring at a beautiful dough ball that refuses to rise. But on the other hand, I would have assumed that homemade marshmallows were a difficult confection to put together. I've wanted to make them for some time, but fear of hot stickiness, 3rd degree burns, and candy thermometers made me hesitate. Finally, I gave in. And I'm SO glad I did because, as it turns out, homemade marshmallows are actually quite simple to make. Plus, they're unfathomably more delicious than their store-bought evil twin counterparts. These cloud-like vanilla bites of heaven were much less dense, more moist, and a whole lot more flavorful than the perfectly cylindrical bags of mallows from the grocery store... but don't get me wrong, I'd still eat a bag of those :)

I can't wait to make all different flavors of marshmallows now that I know how easy they are.

After I made the marshmallows, I decided I needed to turn them into something else. Since many different s'more concoctions have been making their way across the food blogosphere, I hopped on the bandwagon and made bite sized s'more bites. The bottom layer is a Chewy, Graham cookie. A homemade marshmallow is "glued" to it with some chocolate, and some more chocolate tops off the whole thing. Consensus? They're amazing.

Homemade Marshmallows, adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

2 envelopes (17g) unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup + 1/3 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

4 large egg whites, room temperature

a pinch of salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Marshmallow Mix:

1 cup cornstarch, 1 cup powdered sugar

In a small measuring cup, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water. Let dissolve and soften.

In a small saucepan, mix the sugar and corn syrup with 1/3 of cold water. Place over medium to high heat and set a candy thermometer in it.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites on low until frothy. Add pinch of salt.

When the mixture on the saucepan reaches 210 F, increase the speed of the mixer to high to beat the egg whites until they are thick and fluffy.

When syrup gets to 245 F, remove from heat and slowly pour it into the whites, being careful so that the syrup doesn't fall on the whisk and splatter to the sides of the bowl.

Add the gelatin/water to the saucepan and stir with rubber spatula to dissolve. Pour this liquified gelatin slowly into the whites as they are whipping. Add vanilla and whip for 10 - 15 more minutes, until the outside of the bowl feels completely cool.

*If making s'more bites and not just marshmallows, please see below for my Assembly note as I found a much easier way to do this after I was done!!

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan with non-stick spray. Lay a pre-cut parchment sheet into the pan. Using a sift or a metal strainer, generously coat the sides and bottom of the pan with the marshmallow mixture.

Use an offset metal spatula (which has been lightly sprayed with non-stick spray) to spread the marshmallows into an even layer in the pan. Sprinkle a layer of marshmallow mixture on top of the marshmallows. Reserve any extra mixture. Allow to set overnight or 24 hours.

When marshmallows have been allowed to sit, roll a pizza cutter in the extra marshmallow mixture and cut the marshmallows to the desired size. When cut, toss the marshmallows in marshmallow mixture and shake vigorously in a wire strainer to remove excess powder.

For the Chewy Graham Cookie Layer: adapted from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion as seen on My Kitchen Addiction

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

1/8 cup honey

1/8 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 egg, room temperature

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar

Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 375 F.

Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and turn on to mix until creamy. Add the sugars and molasses and cream together. Then add honey, corn syrup, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla, baking soda and salt. When combined, add egg and beat to incorporate. Stir in the flour. Using an offset spatula, spread the cookie dough into an even layer in the 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle the top of the cookie dough with Cinnamon Sugar.

Bake for 12 - 18 minutes or until cookies appear set and doesn't jiggle when pan is gently shaken. Cookie should be slightly golden.

Allow to cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then slip the parchment paper and cookie dough out of the pan and allow to cool directly on the cooling rack.

Chocolate Layer:

Your choice! I used a combination - (3) 2.25 ounce bars of Wilbur's Semisweet Chocolate, 6 squares of chocolate bark, and a few tablespoons of shortening (to thin for dipping). Melt in the top of a double boiler and once melted, keep on low and stir occasionally to avoid burning or overheating. Be sure the chocolate is not TOO hot when you are dipping your marshmallows in it, as it could cause your marshmallows to melt if it is too hot!

*To assemble:

*I cut 1 inch squares of cookie, and 1 inch marshmallow squares. Then, I took the marshmallow, dipped the bottom in chocolate, and then used that chocolate to adhere the marshmallow to the cookie. Once the chocolate had cooled, I picked up the s'more bite and dipped the top of the marshmallow in the chocolate mixture. BUT an easier way to do this would have been to

1) Bake the chewy graham cookie first and allow to cool.

2) Pour hot marshmallow mixture directly onto the graham cookie and allow to set.

3) Then cut into squares and dip in chocolate.

Since I didn't know what I was going to turn the marshmallows into when I first made them, I didn't think to do this!

Bouchon Bakery's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-07-09T08:04:00.001-04:00

Three years ago today, July 9th, a chocolate chip cookie obsession swept the nation after the New York Times posted the famed Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The big deal was: 1) Chilling it for 24 hours makes all the difference and 2) A small sprinkle of sea salt on top takes it up a notch from your standard chocolate chip cookie. I made them, and I loved them. But it made me think, sometimes, a seemingly small adjustment to a standard recipe can be intriguing enough to make people want to bake it and try. Case in point: On May 12th, the husband was answering some emails in the morning while watching the Today Show when Thomas Keller, of Bouchon Bakery was on the show making chocolate chip cookies. He introduced his unique technique: Adding a tablespoon of molasses while you're creaming the butter and sugar. He says it is the key to the richness, moistness, and texture of his chocolate chip cookies. Whattttt??? I do not love molasses, at all, but since it is only 1 Tablespoon and it is really used for texture, not flavor, I needed to give this a try. Let me just tell you... I do love the texture of these cookies. The molasses flavor is not detectable in the final product, and the inside of the cookies is so nice and soft and chewy. Whether or not they are better than the famous NY Times cookie, I will not know until I do a side-by-side taste test (or maybe that it just an excuse to make more cookies).

Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies, adapted slightly from Bouchon Bakery as seen on Today Show
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon Molasses
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all purpose flour
1 - 2 cups chocolate chips

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and continue to beat for 2 minutes.
While that is beating, in a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
Add the sugar and molasses and beat on medium 2 minutes and scrape the bowl. Beat for 4 more minutes, scraping the bowl half way through.
Reduce mixer speed to low. In a glass measuring cup or separate small bowl, whisk eggs to beat. Then pour the eggs slowly into the butter sugar mixture. Once fully incorporated, return mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes.
Reduce mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients. When combined, add chocolate chips. Stir only to incorporate, don't overmix.
Scoop on to a parchment lined baking sheet using a 1.5 T scoop. Bake 12 - 18 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.

Furbaby Friday

2011-07-08T13:39:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday, everyone! Over here on Florida's Space Coast, the last shuttle launch just took off. It's always a pretty cool thing to get to watch it from your back yard, no matter how many times you see it. Did anyone watch it on TV (or in the sky if you're a central Floridian?)

Because it is Friday, here are the Furbaby Friday photos. Plus, a New Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (with a SECRET ingredient that's all about TEXTURE) to come later on today. No, you can never try too many chocolate chip cookie recipes. Check back soon!

Customer Spotlight: How to display Cake Pops like a Pro

2011-07-05T18:10:00.002-04:00

Not too long ago, I posted about a customer of ours in Miami whose shop we got to visit. I think I'd like to do a regular Customer Spotlight here on the blog, showcasing some of the amazing businesses who use our products. While we haven't been able to visit this next customer yet (notice I say YET, because each new picture they post on facebook makes me want to drive over there even more!), I still wanted to show you all a bit of what they do.

The Lollicake Queen is in Sarasota, Florida. If you find yourself in the area, you'll have to stop in and taste some of their lollicakes. The Lollicake Queen makes all different flavors of golfball sized cake balls. They even make special order cake balls in a variety of custom designs and colors! What a great gift or party favor idea, huh? Check out some of the Lollicake arrangements they've creating using our round and square Cake Pop Stands:

Don't you just love them?! Be sure to "like" the Lollicake Queen on facebook to keep up with all the great things they're baking up.

Rolo Brownies and Quick 4th of July Dessert Idea

2011-07-04T14:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your day with family and friends, eating lots of food and watching fireworks. If you are going to a barbecue and you need something to bring, this is a great idea that can be made at the last minute.

The second I saw these Rolo Brownies on My Baking Addiction, I knew I'd be making them at some point. When it came time to pick what to make for a Fourth of July party, I thought these would be the perfect thing to bring. They're pretty quick to throw together - it involves a short cut - a boxed mix, something I very rarely do! But it tastes like homemade. If you're not a fan of boxed mix flavor, don't worry - neither am I, and these taste nothing like something you get from a box. Plus, they're quite unique! I doubt anyone else will be bringing Rolo-stuffed brownies to your barbecue.

I've added the simplest, quickest Fourth of July decorating idea that will turn these brownies, or any brownie recipe for that matter, into a festive, Star-Spangled dessert. :)

Star Spangled Rolo Brownies from My Baking Addiction
Ingredients:
1 box chocolate fudge cake mix
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
5 packages Rolo (or 40 rolos) unwrapped
Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat to 350 F. Lightly spray an 8 inch square baking pan with non-stick spray. Line with 8 in Cake Pan Pre-Cut Parchment Square.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, evaporated milk, and melted butter until combined. Divide the batter in half, set half aside. With half of the batter, press into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer. Bake for 8 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Arrange rolos over the surface of the brownies, close together. Sprinkle peanut butter chips in all the spaces in between the rolos. On another 8 in Cake Pan Parchment Square, pat the remaining brownie dough into an 8 inch square. Turn the parchment over on top of the rolo layer, dough side down, and then peel the paper away. Bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Let brownies cool completely before removing from the pan or cutting.

Want the quickest, simplest way to decorate your dessert for 4th of July? Take any white frosting, microwave for 10-15 seconds are stir until frosting is pourable. Drizzle over the top of your dessert, and sprinkle with Red and Blue Star Shaped Sprinkles. Voila! I used this technique on the Rolo Brownies and on some Blondies I made.

Recipe Card! Click to enlarge:

Club: BAKED - NY Style Crumb Cake

2011-07-01T13:32:00.002-04:00

I got hooked on BAKED: New Frontiers in Baking when I made my first recipe from the book in November 2008. Their Brownies quickly became my favorite, and that's saying quite a bit as I've made about one and a half gajillion different brownie recipes. So when several members of Sweet Melissa Sundays mentioned they were started a Club: BAKED baking group based around the book Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, I jumped at the opportunity. I know I'm going to love the recipes we make from the book and I'll find many new favorites.

The first recipe up in our schedule is NY Style Crumb Cake. This is a great way to start off this group! I'm a native New Yorker and have tasted quite a few crumb cakes. And big buttery cinnamon-sugary crumb topping is one of my favorite things in the world. Rather than make the full batch, since I'm baking up other things for Fourth of July in the very near future, I decided to half the recipe and make it in a cupcake tin. This method yielded 12 individual Crumb Cakes. Besides halving, and substituting (1/2 Cup granulated sugar + 1 Tablespoon molasses) for the Dark Brown Sugar, I made the recipe exactly as it appears in the book. I haven't tried one yet, so I can't report on their taste! But from the looks of them, I think they're a winner! I'll come back here with an update once they've been sampled. :)

I'm excited to be baking in this new group! Make sure to visit our site to see the other bakers' version s of this classic dessert. Visit Karen's Cookies Cakes and More for the recipe. Thanks for hosting, Karen (and picking such an awesome recipe to start off with)!

Furbaby Friday!

2011-07-01T07:59:00.000-04:00

It's Friday! Pup Spotlight time. Sadie has been enjoying having both of us home over the summer. She's even been helping us pack orders. Gee, thanks Sades!

Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding

2011-06-28T10:11:00.001-04:00

I still haven't figured out if there is a difference between cinnamon buns and cinnamon rolls. After looking a little bit, many people claim there is no difference - Toe-mate-oh, Toe-maht-oh. Others say a cinnamon roll is a spiral and its bun counterpart may not be. Yet others say the difference is in the icing; that a cinnamon bun has icing while a cinnamon roll does not. So, in conclusion, I have no idea what the difference is. I'm going to continue using the terms interchangeably and eating as many of both of them as I possibly can. Because no matter what you call it, it's absolutely delicious.

You may remember I made Mini Buttermilk Cinnamon Bun Pops for father's day brunch, and I told you the recipe made far more cinni buns that I needed. I found myself with a 5.5 cup container filled with mini cinnamon buns, and heavy cream and buttermilk in the refrigerator... can you hear the gears in my head turning? How could you NOT make Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding?!? The only other thing I could have done would be to make Cinnamon Bun Cake Pops... crumble up cinnamon buns, mix it with the vanilla icing, and dip it in candy coating. Oooh, maybe next time. But for now, I leave you with possibly the most indulgent thing I've made in quite some time, and that is saying a lot... What possessed me to make a custard-soaked cinnamon bun bread pudding during bathing suit season?!

cinnamon buns waiting for their custard bath

Cinnamon Bun Bread Pudding
Ingredients:
5 1/2 cups of stale mini cinnamon buns (either make them from scratch or from store-bought cinnamon buns and let them sit out and get a little stale)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup 2% milk
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoons cinnamon

Butter a 1.5 quart baking dish or casserole dish. Arrange the mini cinnamon buns in the dish.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, buttermilk, heavy cream, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon. Pour over the cinnamon buns slowly and press the buns down into the liquid.
Let cinnamon buns soak in the baking dish while you preheat your oven to 325. Place the baking dish on a baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven for 35 - 45 minutes. When the edges of the cinnamon buns on top are light golden brown and a toothpick test comes out with no runny custard, you can remove to a cooling rack.
Serve warm (reheat in microwave if necessary) and store in the refrigerator.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream

2011-06-25T11:50:00.002-04:00

Do you keep your ice cream maker bowl in the freezer? It takes up a lot of room, but for whatever reason ice cream is one of those things I don't think about making long before I get started. So if I don't keep a bowl in the freezer, I'll probably lose interest by the time the recommend 24 hour freezing period is over. As soon as Spring comes around and Winter is over, I need to make room in the freezer for my ice cream maker bowl so it can always be ready for me.

Luckily when I came across Handle the Heat's Easy Vanilla Ice Cream, I had a bowl in the freezer just waiting to be put to use. With only 4 ingredients, it really is quite simple to throw together, and if you happen to have a bowl in the freezer at all times for whenever a homemade ice cream craving strikes, you can be eating your frosty creation in under an hour. If you have just a little bit more patience, you can throw together a quick Eggless Cookie Dough to add into the ice cream. I'm glad I was able to muster up the patience because the cookie dough really made this ice cream special. I used only half of the prepared Eggless Cookie Dough in the ice cream, so I'm excited to put the rest to use in other recipes!

If it's hot where you are right now (I feel like it couldn't get any hotter in Florida!) then make up a batch of this Cookie Dough Ice Cream for your family, they will surely thank you. And they won't believe it's made from scratch!

Easy Vanilla Ice Cream, adapted from Handle the Heat

Ingredients:

1/2 cup 2% milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 generous tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Using a handmixer set to low speed, combine the milk and the sugar. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla. If you're making plain vanilla ice cream, pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the directions on your ice cream maker. If you are making the Eggless Cookie Dough, put the ice cream mixture in the refrigerator to chill.

Eggless Cookie Dough, adapted from Cupcake Project
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 generous tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 - 4 Tablespoons milk

Combine butter, vanilla and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add in flour and salt and mix on low to combine. Add in milk by the tablespoons as needed to achieve a cookie dough consistency. Put in the refrigerator until chilled. When firm enough to handle, form several thin sheets (about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick). Put in the freezer for about a half an hour. While Ice Cream is churning, take out the chilled cookie dough sheets and cut into small cookie dough chunk pieces. After ice cream is finished churning, remove from the ice cream maker and stir in the cookie dough chunks. Freeze for 2 hours before serving.

Recipe Card! Click to enlarge

Mini Buttermilk Cinnamon Bun Pops

2011-06-20T18:07:00.000-04:00

As I was typing the title of this post, I wondered - should I write "Cinnamon Buns" or "Cinnamon Rolls"? Does anyone know what the difference is? I sure don't. Are they interchangeable?

Anyway, yesterday was Father's Day and we went to the family's brunch to celebrate all the dads. Ever since I got the "On a stick!" Cookbook by Matt Armendariz I've wanted to make more bite sized things. After all, isn't eating something off a stick just so much funner than eating the same thing NOT on a stick? I thought brunch was the perfect excuse to some bite-sized pop creations. I chose Mini Cinnamon Bun Pops, but I used my own recipe instead of that from "On a Stick!" (which calls for store-bought cinnamon buns). However, I did heed their advice and slid the pop stick into the cinnamon buns (which they actually call "cinnamon rolls" in the book) while they still warm. By the way, THANKS to Matt Armendariz I learned that if you let them cool before you try to slip the stick in, it is MUCH HARDER! I can tell this cookbook is going to be very useful. The Mini Cinnamon Bun Pops look really cute on our Square Cake Pop Stand. Since we didn't need quite so many buns, we took off the bottom tier and used it as a Two Tier stand. It worked perfectly. Just the right amount of mini buns for 14 people.

I used the recipe below because I had a bunch of buttermilk in the fridge and nothing to do with it. I'm glad I tried this recipe because the dough was a breeze to put together and they tasted great. However, this yielded A LOT of mini buns, probably around 60 or 70. We made enough mini cinnamon bun pops for brunch, and a few regular sized ones to use up the rest of the dough. To keep this display as neat as possible, instead of pre-drizzling the vanilla glaze on the buns before putting them in the cake pop display, I put it in two small bowls so people could dip and get as much or as little glaze as they want. This method really worked out well.

Mini Buttermilk Cinnamon Bun Pops, adapted from Food.com

Ingredients for dough:

(2) ¼ ounce packages active dry yeast

¼ cup water (110 degrees F)

1 ½ cups buttermilk

½ cup vegetable oil

4 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

Filling (I doubled the filling recipe below because I am a cinnamon-sugar monster and liked the way they came out with this amount, but feel free to reduce it if you like):

½ cup butter, melted

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer with the dough hook attached, empty the yeast packets and add the warm water. Let stand until creamy and slightly thickened (10 minutes)

In a small saucepan, heat the buttermilk until warm to the touch.

Pour the warmed buttermilk and oil into the yeast and mix well.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda.

Stir the flour mixture into the liquid mixture 1 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 20 times.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

While dough is resting, combine melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Cut the rested dough in half, and roll it out into a large rectangle on a lightly floured surface.

Spread the cinnamon-butter-sugar mixture over the dough and roll it up into a log. Pinch the seam to seal. Diameter of the log will have to be about the width of a mini muffin tin, approximately one inch. Thin out the log if necessary by stretching it out with your hands.

Using thread or unwaxed floss, wrap around the log and tie a knot to cut slices - make slices around ¼ in to 3/8^th in wide.

Place slices into greased mini cupcake tin and wrap with plastic wrap. Let rest 30 minutes (or cover and refrigerate overnight). Repeat with other half of dough.

If baking right away, preheat to 325 and bake 12 – 16 minutes, until lightly golden. Let stand approx 2 minutes before removing from the tin with a spoon. If turning into pops, insert pop stick right away.

Vanilla Glaze, adapted from How Sweet it is

1 heaping cup of powdered sugar

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1-2 teaspoon milk

Place sugar in a medium bowl and whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla. Add milk one teaspoon at a time to achieve desired consistency. Pour into dipping bowls to serve.

Recipe Card! Click to enlarge

Furbaby Fridays

2011-06-17T16:52:00.000-04:00

It's Friday, so that means a Furbaby Spotlight.

This is Sadie sitting on the clothes we were about to pack for the honeymoon we were about to go on. That's why I haven't blogged in a little while - we've been on a long overdue honeymoon. First we went to Paradise Island, Bahamas and then Miami for two days. But we're back! I've been baking and you'll be seeing posts very soon.

But for now, I wanted to share with you a recent visit to a customer of ours, Ali's Sweet Treats. She makes some absolutely gorgeous decorated cookies, custom cookies, photo cookies and logo cookies... but I couldn't resist her array of cupcakes! We bought a dozen mini ones and sampled them all. We tasted (if memory serves me correctly): Triple Chocolate, Triple Vanilla, Cookies and Cream, Glazed Donut, Red Velvet, Vanilla Chocolate, Chocolate Vanilla, Lavender, Strawberry Lemon, Strawberry with Chocolate Cake, and Lemon Ginger.

While they were all delicious (really, they were all delicious, that's how Daniel and I were able to eat 12 mini cupcakes between the two of us) I think my favorites were Glazed Donut and Cookies and Cream. Lavender was very interesting - I've often seen lavender flavored desserts but hadn't tried one until our visits to Ali's. It was subtle and fragrant. And while I'm not generally a huge fan of cream cheese frosting, the red velvet at Ali's may have won me over - what a delicious cream cheese frosting she makes! If you're in or around Miami, make sure you stop in to Ali's Sweet Treats for some cupcakes. Or keep her in mind for custom cookies if you want a unique party favor or gift. I think she ships nationwide, too!

Ali's Sweet Treats

7094 S.W. 117th Avenue

Miami, FL 33183

305-279-7944

Grilled Pound Cake

2011-06-08T22:24:00.000-04:00

I needed to share this because I thought it was just an absolutely divine idea. As fancy as some desserts can get, sometimes you just need a piece of pound cake. Dense, moist, plain vanilla pound cake.

But when I saw this idea for buttered grilled pound cake on The Kitchn, I thought I might need to try this to take that plain old vanilla pound cake to the next level.

Definitely on my To-Do list!

Square Cake Pop Stand and Cake Pop Accessory for Cupcake Tower

2011-06-08T16:33:00.000-04:00

Recently I posted about our new Round Three-Tier Cake Pop Display and our Round Cake Pop Rings - an add-on accessory for our 5-Tier Cupcake and Treat Tower. Well, now we have the Square versions of both of those items. It looks like the square versions quickly became the favorites and are currently outselling the round ones. Check them out!

Square 3-Tier Cake Pop and Lollipop Display:

Square Cake Pop Rings - Accessory for Cupcake and Treat Tower

What do you think? Do you like Round or Square better? I can't decide which is my favorite!

BEHIND THE SCENES:

I wanted to share a bit about our photo shoots. I don't generally have a supply of 100+ cupcakes in the house. But when we are prepping for a photo-shoot of our products, I bake up all those little babies from scratch. We take our time and frost them with the good stuff - homemade buttercream. We want customers to get a sense of what our products look like with actual desserts on them.

So what do we do with all of the cupcakes when the photo-shoot is over?

That right there is 100+ mini cupcakes, peeled from their wrappers, sealed in a vacuum bag, and frozen. I'm not a big fan of waste - especially when it involves delicious homemade cupcakes. So I save them for when I need to make cake pops! In the near future when I need cake pops, I'll defrost these bags and half of the work will already be done. :)

Furbaby Friday

2011-06-03T12:31:00.000-04:00

Molly

This is a special edition of Furbaby Fridays dedicated to Molly, my first dog ever. Growing up we never had pets, not even fish, so when my Mom showed up after work one night with a tiny little shih-tzu puppy, my sister and I were equally shocked and delighted.

We got Molly when I was in ninth grade, and we quickly became a family of dog lovers. Yup, the crazy kind that are obsessed with their pups. When Molly was 6 months old, we got Maggie and the two of them were always together.

Molly and Maggie

When my own dog Sadie was a baby, with Molly in the background (Molly and Maggie weren't too fond of my baby Sadie at first)

At the end of last week, Molly got sick and was taken to the vet immediately. My mom found out she had an auto immune disease and within 5 days, my first pup Molly had passed away despite my family doing everything possible to save her. We'll miss you and love you always, Molly, and I know you're in-heaven barking at passersby and eating greenies every night.

Need a better way to display Cake Pops?

2011-06-01T20:08:00.000-04:00

I do love Cake Pops. Cake is good, and cake with frosting is good, too, but there is something absolutely magical about mixing the two together. Don't get me wrong, I love a good cupcake. But when you bite into a chocolate or candy coated cake and frosting ball, it is like a little bite-sized dream.
The first time I made cake pops, it took me such a long time. I was still getting used to the process. My melting wafers kept hardening, things got clumpy and those little cake balls kept falling off the stick. When I was finally done, they looked OK...a little on the lumpy side. Now, I've done them a few more times and I've gotten a little better at it. I learned to use a little chocolate tempering pot to avoid clumping, I learned to coat the cake pops in sanding sugar (it hides those lumps perfectly and adds a delicious crunch!). But it still takes time, it is definitely not a 1-2-3-DONE preparation.
So, when I'm all done making cake pops and I'm ready to show them off and serve them to friends, the LAST THING I want is to serve them on an ugly or unreliable display. I've seen tissue paper wrapped styrofoam blocks used to hold the cake pops' sticks, which can look half decent, but something scares me about putting those precious little pops in styrofoam. Will they stay standing?!?
We came up with these two new products to solve this problem.

First, we made a 3-Tier Cake Pop Stand. It is kind of like the mini-version of our Cupcake and Treat Towers, made specifically for Cake Pops (or Lollipops if you are so inclined). Just like our Towers it is size adjustable, so it can hold 16, 32, or 40 cake pops. It is the same great PVC material that can be easily wiped down and taken apart for storing flat.

For more information on the Cake Pop Stand click HERE to visit The Smart Baker.

Second, we made a set of Cake Pop Rings - a Cake Pop accessory for our 5-Tier Round Cupcake and Treat Tower. It is a set of 5 rings - each ring is made to fit on a tier on the Cupcake and Treat Tower and has holes to hold Cake Pop Sticks. This item I am really excited about - Now your cupcake tower can double as a cake pop tower! Plus, it allows you to be really creative with your Cupcake and Treat Tower. Use all of the rings to hold up to 124 Cake Pops, or use a few rings - alternate a tier of cupcakes, then a tier of cake pops. You can pick and choose which rings you'd like to use and which tiers you'd like to use for standard cupcakes.

For more on Cake Pop Rings accessory for the 5-Tier Round Cupcake and Treat Tower, click HERE to visit The Smart Baker.

ps - we'll be adding square Cake Pop Rings for our Square Cupcake and Treat Tower soon.

Lemon Squares

2011-06-01T11:41:00.003-04:00

Here in Florida, summer has definitely arrived. For a little while now it has been in the high 80's, sometimes breaking past the 90 mark. So on top of new homemade ice cream recipes (at least one of which is coming soon) and other frozen treats to keep us cool, I have a feeling a bunch of citrus and lemony recipes will be on the way. When it's hot out, there is something very refreshing about biting into a tangy, tart lemon dessert. This is the first lemon recipe of the season, and it was a good one. These bars were my first attempt at lemon squares and it was largely a success. My only complaint is that it was a bit thin. While we enjoyed it very very much, next time I might double the filling and 1.5x the crust... or just bake it in a smaller pan for a little extra height.

Lemon Squares, adapted from Epicurious

Shortbread base:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

Ingredients:

4 large eggs, room temp

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (strained, to eliminate seeds/pulp)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 recipe pre-baked shortbread base

Line a 9 x 13 inch pan (or smaller for thicker bars) with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350.

Cut butter into 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick slices. Combine all ingredients in a food process with the dough blade, and process until mixture begins to form small lumps. Use a spatula to wipe down sides of bowl when necessary.

Break up the mixture into the prepared pan and press down evenly. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden, about 20 minutes.

While shortbread is in the oven, prepare the lemon filling.

In a bowl, whisk the room temperature eggs and granulated sugar together until combined. Then, stir in the lemon juice and flour. Pour the lemon mixture over the hot shortbread. Reduce oven to 300 and bake until set, approximately 30 minutes.

Cool completely in the pan and then chill. When chilled, cut into squares. Lemon squares keep, covered and chilled, about 3 days. Serve topped with homemade whipped cream.

Sugar Cookies for Baby - The foolproof way to decorate cookies

2011-05-29T09:02:00.001-04:00

I've never been one of those people who could make adorably decorated cookies. First, I could never get the cookies cut nicely with a cookie cutter. Once the dough was cut, the cookie would never stay in the cookie cutter so I could transport it to the baking pan. Nor could I get a spatula under it to move it safely without destroying its shape. Second, I had never had a good experience with royal frosting. It always dried up too quickly, despite putting a wet towel on top. Plus, I could never get it to the right consistency. It was always either too stiff (and would clog and not come out at all, or crack after I piped it out) or it was too wet, and wound up oozing all over my cookies. Seeing the oodles of perfectly piped and decorated cookies all over the internet, it urked me that I couldn't do the same! After all, I have an art degree, I should be able to make extra cute cookies! So yesterday I put to work and finally solved all those cookie-making problems. I no longer fear the cute decorated cookie. And I came to a few conclusions of how to make the process easier along the way.

What better reason to make charming little cookies than the birth of a new baby?? On Thursday, we welcomed our new niece into the world! She's a beautiful, healthy baby girl. For mommy and daddy, I wanted to make some cute cookies (for breakfast or a snack for the soon-to-be sleep deprived, busy parents).

My favorite sugar cookie recipe is one I adapted from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. It has a slight lemony flavor and isn't overly sweet - a necessity for a sugar cookie recipe when you're topping it with super-sweet cookie icing!

Best Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3/4 Cup sugar

Freshly grated zest (be careful, no white pith!) of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 large egg, room temp

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

2 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and turn on low. Add sugar, zest and salt and cream until light and fluffy.

Add egg, vanilla, almond extract, and lemon juice. Mix to combine.

Add flour and mix to combine.

Pat dough together. Divide into two equal parts. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes.

For rolling instructions see below. Roll to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 8 - 12 minutes (time will vary depending on thickness).

So what did I learn from my cookie-making? How can I make perfectly cut sugar cookies every time?
This is what I did:

After dough is made, pat dough together into a ball and chill in the refrigerator at least 45 minutes. Divide dough into two balls so one is chilling while you're working with the other. You'll waste less time waiting for dough to chill!
When chilled, place dough ball on to a floured sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough ball and place another sheet of parchment on top. (So the dough ball will be in between two sheets of parchment). It is ideal if your parchment is pre-cut to the size of your cookie sheet - this will tell you the size to which you can roll your dough without it getting too big for your cookie sheet.
Roll with a rolling pin to the desired thickness. When rolled, peel off the top sheet of parchment and place the dough on to a cookie sheet. Place in the freezer until thoroughly chilled - almost stiff!
Remove from the freezer. Using a metal cookie cutter, cut out desired shapes. Now I found TWO different methods here, depending on how your dough is cooperating: 1) Cut into the dough with the cookie cutter, lift up the cookie and move to a parchment lined pan. Bake. or 2) Cut into dough and lift up the cookie cutter, leaving the dough on the parchment. Repeat, leaving about 1 - 2 inches between cookies. Then peel away the dough in between the cookies and bake. No moving necessary.

So these are the conclusions I came to:

Chill the dough AFTER it has been rolled out. This way it comes out of the fridge cold and its ready to be cut into shapes immediately.
Use COLD (almost frozen!) cookie dough. I know, I know. I should have known this. But I think I underestimated what "chilled" meant in the past. Instead of just chilling in the fridge, I chilled in the freeze until the cookie dough was stiff. Makes it much easier to work with!
Don't try to roll out dough unless it is sandwiched between two FLOURED pieces of parchment paper. This way, it won't get stuck to the rolling pin (grr, so aggrivating!). Plus, once its rolled, you can lift the parchment and transfer the whole thing right to the baking sheet.
Use METAL cookie cutters. I've always tried to use plastic in the past because that it what I had, but using a metal cookie cutter makes all the difference. The crisp cuts you get from a metal cookie cutter are far superior to the results when you use plastic.

On to the ICING. Royal frosting usually uses either egg whites or meringue powder + confectioners sugar + wet (either milk or water). Well my meringue powder went bad since the last time I used it and I couldn't use raw egg whites, so I had to find a new recipe that didn't use either of these things. I'm glad this happened because I found a NEW recipe that I absolutely love. It gave me no problems, piped out perfectly, didn't dry up, and actually tasted good (The 2 year old big sister picked all of the frosting off her cookies and left the cookie).

Best Sugar Cookie Icing adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients:

4 cups confectioner's sugar

3 Tablespoons milk + extra

3 Tablespoons light corn syrup + extra

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Food coloring

In the bowl of an electric mixer, stir together sugar and milk until it comes together (add a little bit of extra milk if necessary. add slowly by the 1/2 tsp).

Beat in corn syrup and extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.

Divide into separate bowls and add food coloring if desired.

Attach a piping tip and coupler to a piping bag. Fill bag with icing and pipe onto cookies.

The above recipe makes icing for OUTLINING. You'll need to thin it down with additional milk to make it thinner for "FLOODING" (or coloring in).

For outlining - Pipe with a wilton #3 tip. Allow outlines to harden.

For flooding - make icing thinner by adding milk by the tsp until it reaches the correct consistency. Icing should drip off the back of a spoon and disappear back into the icing within 10 seconds. For flooding, pipe blobs onto the cookie with a Wilton #2 tip and spread with a toothpick.

(In the above picture of the "Ella" cookie - the white outline is the stiff frosting piped with #3. The pink was flooded using thinner frosting, a #2 piping tip, and a toothpick. When the pink had hardened, I went back over the top and piped the letters using the stiffer frosting again with a #3 tip.)

For an AWESOME detailed tutorial on this, visit Brown Eyed Baker.

Frosting in my cookie dough??

2011-05-27T11:03:00.000-04:00

When you think cookies and frosting, you imagine cookie-cuttered cookies in cute shapes that are nicely decorated cookies with royal frosting. Well, not these cookies. The Caramel Cookie had the amazing idea to mix frosting into the cookie dough before baking. What Katie's Baking adapted the recipe and added melted white chocolate into the cookie dough, too. I used my favorite homemade Vanilla Buttercream that I use to frost cupcakes, and instead of regular white chocolate melted and mixed into the dough like Katie did, I used Wilton Candy Melts (because that's what I had on hand). The result? Delicious! The husband said these taste just like the sugar cookies you can get at the bakery. I think that's a good reaction! But my favorite thing about these cookies has got to be the adorable-ness created by mixing rainbow sprinkles right into the dough. My slightly adapted recipe is below, but be sure to see both What Katie's Baking's version and The Caramel Cookie's original version too.

Frosting Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon vanilla buttercream frosting
1/2 cup of Wilton white candy melts
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions
Preheat to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the frosting, vanilla and sugar. Then add egg and beat for two minutes on medium speed.
Add frosting mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combined. Once combined, add the melted Candy Melts while mixer is set to low speed. Finally add sprinkles and mix just to incorporate, don't over-beat.
Using a 1 1/2 Tablespoon cookie scoop, make dough balls and place on lined cookie sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Do not remove too early or cookies will sink in the middle and crack.

In other news, May has been a record breaking month for The Smart Baker's Cupcake Tower sales! To celebrate this achievement and the holiday weekend, we have a Memorial Day Sale going on. Go to The Smart Baker now to take advantage of a 10% off site wide Coupon Code! Limited time offer, good until May 30, 2011.

Furbaby Friday!

2011-05-27T08:40:00.000-04:00

It's Friday! Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone! Make sure your volume is on for this edition of Furbaby Friday. :)
I borrowed the idea of Furbaby Friday from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Head over to her blog to see her beautiful Furbabies!

The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches

2011-05-26T09:03:00.000-04:00

Sandwich (n): a food item, typically consisting of two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between them.

Ok, I know you know what a sandwich is. But if you look at the definition of a sandwich, you realize it's pretty impossible for someone to not like sandwiches. The definition leaves room for a lot of creativity: one can use a variety of types of bread, and put an infinite amount of things in between. Even by quickly breezing through Susan Russo's The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches, you see just how endless the combinations of bread + fillings can be. For example, on one page is the traditional Classic Breakfast Sandwich: Eggs, cheese, bacon on an English muffin. On another page, the much less traditional Doughnut Sandwich: Ham, cheese, and fruit spread in between two halves of a glazed doughnut. So no matter how traditional or non-traditional your tastes are, everyone can find a sandwich to enjoy in The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches.

I was recently given the chance to review this book, and, being a sandwich-lover myself, I jumped at the opportunity. I sometimes fall into a Nutella+Fluff+Peanut Butter, or a Buffalo Chicken + American cheese rut, so I'm more than willing to expand my sandwich repertoire. This book reminds me I can stick almost anything between two glorious pieces of carb and enjoy it for any meal.

The first sandwich I made from Russo's book (by the way, Susan Russo also has several other delicious books and a fabulous blog that has been a necessary element in my google reader for some time now) was her Chicken Cutlet Sandwich. I've had Chicken Cutlet sandwiches for years, but never thought to put Crushed Red Pepper infused Rappini on it. What a delightful, spicy edition to a classic sandwich.

So even if you're just looking for a way to spice up your favorite sandwich, The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches can provide some extra spice to your usual sammy routine. Next up... I'm thinking I'll sample one of her sweet sandwich ideas (um, hello Banana Bread sandwich!)