Brownie Sandwiches!

Ok everyone, we're in the home stretch here - Valentine's day is tomorrow and even if you're not really into it, I know you still either make a nice dinner at home, or maybe some cupcakes or cookies. Admit it. You know all the red & pink pulls at you just a little. Here is a super quick, easy, and special dessert - make them tonight!

I will admit that I executed these with a boxed mix and store-bought ice cream, but its the idea that I'm showing here - you can definitely make your own special ice cream and your favorite brownie or blondie (which I hopefully will be doing tomorrow).

Valentine Ice Cream Brownie Sandwiches
Ingredients
Your favorite ice cream (I chose low-fat Edy's slow-churned vanilla)
An uncut pan of your favorite brownies or blondies (I added pink & red m&m's and a little vanilla to this boxed mix)
Heart-shaped cookie cutters

Steps
1. Make your favorite brownies

2. Use your heart cookie cutters and cut out the brownies. Using a sharp knife, cut each heart in half so you have 2 sides for the sandwich.

3. To make an accurate heart sandwich, put one side of the brownie down and put the heart cookie cutter back on top loosely. Use a spoon and fill with about 1/2 - 3/4 inch of ice cream. Push it out of the bottom of the cutter and put the lid on. Place the done sandwiches on a tray in the freezer to get hard (you might need a few hours in there).

Enjoy!
And, just as a small extra - check out this super easy craft. You can totally make these with kids too. I made a bunch to add to a flower bouquet for my mom and my mother-in-law.

Wire hearts

Super easy. Here's what you need:
Scrap paper (a thicker paper or cardstock, or leftover magazine cover works best)
Scissors
Glue
Wire (any stick would work, but only wire will be bendable)

Fold paper in half. Cut out half of a heart so when you open the cut piece, its a whole heart (this will also make a crease for the wire). Use heart as a template to cut another the exact same size. Put a thin layer of glue on the inside of one heart, add a piece of wire on the crease and cover with the second heart. Let dry and thats it! Sometimes, I used paper clips to hold the hearts together while they were drying.

Awesome Gift!

I have a bunch of posts in the queue, but got a little sidetracked this past week as my new baby nephew was born! :). Newborn photos in the coming weeks will be posted on my other blog.

Anyway, I'm so happy to finally get to this post - Check out this super cool individual bar/brownie/cake pan that my mom bought me for Christmas [I'm sure Tim was loving acting like a pan model]! It is perfectly portioned for snacks, lunch, or dinner parties. To give it a whirl, I used my favorite blondie recipe.

Blondies (adapted from Cooking Light)
[note: you can change these up however you like, I often go the toffee route, but for this iteration, I used the larger size, bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips]

Ingredients
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt (or a pinch)
Cooking spray
1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine sugar, butter, egg and vanilla with a whisk until uniform.

3. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; stir just until moist. Fold in chocolate chips [note: if using toffee, I add some to mixture and some on top].

4. If using individual pan, coat lightly with cooking spray and add equal amounts of batter to each square. If using conventional pan, spread batter normally into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 15-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean [time varies significantly with individual pans].

Holiday Leftover

Don't hate me, but I have one more cookie to post. I never got to posting it during the holidays because, well, no excuse - you know how it is. I picked up a Rachael Ray magazine at the airport because of the glossy Christmas cookie section :) and ended up making these cookies for my holiday baskets this year.

But listen - they are really good! Peppermint Chocolate Cookies - definitely bookmark these for next year, or for now, if you like mint year-round. It is an excellent cookie: easy to make, you can top them with anything (doesn't have to be minty-flavored) and they lasted quite a few days so they are perfect for mailing or gift-giving.

For now, I'm only going to post a photograph and a link to the recipe , but when I get a second, I"ll re-write the recipe in case the link moves.

Try them for Valentine's Day with some cute pink M&M's on top!

The Annual Cake...

I'm not sure if I posted it last year, but I started a tradition last year (our first year married) to make Tim a fun homemade cake each year for his birthday. His birthday is in December so it can sometimes get lost in the holiday shuffle, but the last few years we have made it extra fun :) by going away for the weekend and having a family party with a super-cool cake.

It took me forever to figure out what I was going to make this year. I knew I wanted a layer cake and I wanted it to taste really good, but I also wanted something different from the standard buttercream frosting and cute decorations. So, first I went square. Then, instead of vanilla or chocolate, I did both. And finally, for the frosting, instead of buttercream, I went mascarpone. Oh yeah. You know that sounds good. And it was.

Here are the details:

1. Cake layers - I decided on a 3-layer cake, with 2 vanilla layers and 1 chocolate layer. I used this recipe for Golden Vanilla Cake from King Arthur which was so easy and really light and wonderful. For the chocolate layer, I went with the blog-popular Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe. It was good, but definitely not as good as the vanilla cake.
   
   
2. Frosting - so, originally, my idea was to make a tiramisu layer cake with a mascarpone cream on the inside and a light buttercream on the outside. I did make both frostings and fortunately for me, the buttercream recipe didn't make nearly enough and I didn't have time to make more so I went with a changed up version of the filling for the outside layer of frosting and it was so good! Recipe below.



3. Decorations: I went super simple on this as the square design of the cake made it look pretty nice to begin with. I added some cocoa powder to the top to give a tiramisu-type feel. I also added some bittersweet mini-chocolate chips to the top and the layers on the inside.

Mascarpone Cream Filling/Frosting Recipe (adapted from Smitten Kitchen, recipe from Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours)

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Few tablespoons of strong coffee
Whipped topping or whipped cream, about 1 cup or more

It could not be easier to make. Put the mascarpone into a medium bowl and whip with a whisk until creamy. Add sugar and mix until uniform. Add vanilla and coffee. When all is combined, fold in the whipped cream or whipped topping until you have the consistency and taste that you like. Use as filling or as frosting. If you are using it for filling, you might leave it a bit thicker and thin it out with whipped cream for frosting. The frosting should be refrigerated so its good to frost the cake and then chill the entire cake until serving.

I piped the same frosting onto mini-cupcakes for Christmas eve and regular cupcakes for a holiday party this past weekend. Super easy and a nice twist on regular cupcake/cake frosting.

Enjoy!

ps. I do have a few holiday things left to post, as I got a bit behind this year and maybe (just maybe) made my to-do list longer than anyone could ever complete. oops.

A Twist on Pound Cake

This is my first pound cake. Believe it or not, I have never even tried pound cake until a few weeks ago! For some reason, it just never really appealed to me, but in thinking of things that my grandparents might like (I send them baked goods in the mail every few weeks and they tend to usually like things on the plain, more traditional side - here is what I made them last time) pound cake popped into my head. I didn't want to make just a regular plain version so I decided to try to jazz it up by going with a marbled pound cake recipe.

I ended up going with one from Cottage Living- and it came out wonderful. Nice marbling :) and husband said, "good flavor." How's that for a vote of approval? I should also note that as I'm making this pound cake, he informs me that pound cake is his favorite dessert? What??? You think you know someone....

Marbled Pound Cake (adapted from Cottage Living)

Ingredients
4-ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and divided
1 teaspoon instant coffee dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted cake flour

Note: I used Presto cake flour which has baking powder and salt already incorporated, so I omitted these ingredients from the original recipe. This was the only cake flour I could find in my area, so please refer to the original recipe if you are using a different brand (not self-rising).

Steps
1. Place oven rack in lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 2 disposable 8x4 inch pans (I used these because I was mailing my cake; feel free to use one standard-sized loaf pan as original recipe indicates).

2. Microwave chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter in a microwave-safe bowl on high for approximately 30 seconds; stir until smooth. Whisk in coffee and stir until mixture is smooth and glossy.

3. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer 30 seconds or until creamy. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, incorporating each tablespoon before adding next. Beat mixture, scraping down sides of bowl, 3 to 5 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

4. Place sour cream in a small bowl. Add vanilla and stir until blended.

5. Alternate adding the flour and the sour cream mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Transfer 1 cup batter to a medium bowl. Add chocolate mixture, and stir until well blended.

6. Add plain cake batter and chocolate cake batter alternately in prepared pans; smooth tops. Swirl batter gently with knife to create marbling effect. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 50-70 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. I know that this is a very wide time range but my cakes finished at about 54 minutes (likely due to my small pans). To be safe, start to check them as you approach the 50 minute mark. Mine were even a bit dry at the ends so I think I could have taken them out a few minutes earlier and let them carry-over cook for a few minutes instead.

7. Let cake(s) cool in the pan on wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool to room temperature. Store cake, wrapped in waxed paper or plastic wrap up to 1 week.

I foresee more pound cake in my future.

A Heart Tart

When I saw Zorra's "A heart for your Valentine" event - I just had to participate! After all, I did already profess my love for Valentine's Day (and all other holidays, for that matter :).

This event calls for sweet or savory recipes that are either heart-shaped or heart-decorated. I don't have a heart tart pan, so I went the heart-decorated route. The result is a Bittersweet Chocolate & Berry Cheesecake Tartlet - What do you think?

And...get this - its not that fattening! I love to make cheesecake and frequently make all different versions, but have never tried the low-fat cream cheese. I had saved this recipe awhile back and decided to give it a whirl for the filling - but change up the crust and toppings just a bit. I much prefer to make smaller, individual desserts, rather than large cakes or tarts because it is just Tim and myself in the house and we never finish the larger desserts. Plus, individuals look so cute and are perfect for a romantic Valentine's Day Dinner!

Bittersweet Chocolate & Berry Cheesecake Tartlets
(adapted from Everyday Food)

Note: I made 3 tartlets, but had enough batter to make about 3 or 4 more - the original recipe calls for a regular 9-inch tart pan. You could also use a mini-cheesecake pan - I would just make the original amount of batter (or half it) the first time to get a better handle on how much you need for whatever pan you would like to use. Then just watch the oven - the baking time will need to be adjusted.

Ingredients
~ 1 cup chocolate cookies
1/3 cup almonds
3/4 cups sugar, separated
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 bars (8 ounces each) reduced-fat cream cheese @ room temperature
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Berries (for decorating tart tops - I used a combination of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries)
Confectioner's sugar (for dusting)
Bittersweet chocolate, melted (a few ounces should be fine - but that depends on how many tarts you make and how decorative you would like them to be!)

Steps

For the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, grind cookies, almonds, and 1/4 cup sugar until finely ground; add butter, and process until moistened. If you find that your crumbs are too wet or too dry, add either more chocolate cookies/wafers or more butter. Transfer to removable-bottom tart pan(s). Using the base of a dry measuring cup (and your fingers!), press mixture firmly into the bottom and up sides of pan. Freeze at least 15 minutes.

For the filling: Clean food processor. Place cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt in food processor; blend until smooth. Place tart pan(s) on a rimmed baking sheet; fill with cheesecake mixture. Bake until filling is just set, approximately 23 minutes for my little tarts (the original recipe recommends ~30 to 35 minutes for larger tarts). Transfer tart pan(s) to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, refrigerate until cold.

For the decorations! Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and fill a piping bag with melted chocolate. The piping bag should have a very small round tip attached so you can write/draw words, shapes or in this case, HEARTS! Pipe out hearts - I did heart outlines and filled hearts - on the parchment. I cooled mine in the freezer so they would harden quickly.

Use berries (I patted mine dry first with paper towels to remove excess juice [I had to use frozen berries because they are out of season here]) to make two concentric circles around the edge of the tarts. Once the chocolate hearts are hard, use them to decorate the center of the tart - I pushed mine into the cheesecake and left a few around the outside of the plate. Dust the top of the tart with confectioner's sugar and EAT!

The full round-up of entries can be found here!