Goodies! by anna

What dessert says Fourth of July? Strawberry Shortcake! Just about everyone loves fresh sweet juicy red strawberries paired with a delicious flakey buttery biscuit topped with lots and lots of fluffy whipped cream but its not a very portable dessert and it can get kind of messy. Enter the Strawberry Shortcake Cookie with White Chocolate Strawberry Whipped Ganache Filling. All the delicious taste of a strawberry shortcake dessert in one "on-the-go" package! This dough bakes up into a tasty biscuit-like cookie heavily studded throughout with juicy sweet strawberries. Sandwiched in between is a sweet and creamy whipped white chocolate ganache flavored with fresh strawberry juice. This sweet and summery cookie is guaranteed to please all you shortcake lovers. Here is how you make them:

You can find the recipe Here. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash and dry 12 ounces of strawberries (approx. 1 basket) and cut into a small dice to make 2 cups.

Mix in a bowl with fresh lemon juice and two tablespoons sugar. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and the rest of the sugar.

Instead of cutting in the butter with the dry ingredients I transferred everything to a food processor and pulsed in the butter until small crumbs formed.

I poured the cream in thru the top of the food processor to make a nice dough. Transfer the dough to a bowl and mix in the diced strawberry mixture with a wooden spoon. Using a small ice cream scoop drop rounded balls of dough onto a Silpat lined baking sheet about two inches apart. Sprinkle coarse sanding sugar onto each mound and bake for around 20 minutes.
Transfer baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Strawberry Whipped Ganache Recipe:
• 8 ounces White Chocolate
• 1/3 cup Heavy Cream
• 3-4 Tbls. fresh strawberry juice, strained
In a small glass bowl set over simmering water I melted 8 ounces of white chocolate until smooth. Next I heated 1/3 cup of heavy cream in the microwave until very hot, not boiling. I poured the hot cream into the melted chocolate and stirred in about 3-4 Tablespoons of fresh strawberry juice. The bowl went into the fridge for 3-6 hours until cool and very set but not hard.

When the cookies are completely cooled pair up equal sized tops and bottoms. Place the cooled and set white chocolate ganache into a mixer with the wire whip attachment and whip the ganache until light and slightly fluffy. Transfer the whipped ganache into a pastry bag fitted with a medium size round tip and pipe a good sized dollop on the bottom half of each cookie. Place the top cookie over the filling and press down slightly. Enjoy!

A really good peanutty-flavored peanut butter cookie can be hard to find. You can buy a mix from the grocery store but it's usually overly sweet with not enough real peanut flavor, plus have you read all the weird ingredients on the back of the bag?? No thanks.  I like a peanut butter cookie that tastes like peanuts! And I don't want it to be hard or flat or overly crispy. Slightly crunchy with a thicker texture is good for me! This Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe by Alice Medrich is great and covers all the bases! The key to this recipe is letting the dough rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours. This gives the wet ingredients time to be well absorbed by the dry ingredients which, Ms. Medrich says, affects the taste of the finished cookie. The cold dough is definitely easier to dish out into perfectly round balls that hold their shape well in the oven. These cookies do not spread much while baking and keep a fairly thick/dense texture when cooled. And yes, they have a terrific authentic peanut flavor! This is how you make them:

Gather your room temperature ingredients together. Start by whisking together the flour and baking soda, set aside. In an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugars and salt until smooth and creamy.

Add the egg, vanilla and peanut butter until well combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Wrap the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for at least 2 hours, up to 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line your cookie sheets and use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out approximately 1 Tablespoon of dough and place around 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Using a fork, flatten each ball of dough to approximately 3/8 inches thick, pressing the tines in two directions.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes until the tops are colored and the bottoms are golden brown. Cool cookies completely before storing in an airtight container.

I changed up a few things from the original recipe: I used regular old Jiff Chunky Peanut Butter because that's what I had on hand. I am SURE that using freshly ground peanut butter would give an even better fresh peanut flavor so I will try that next time. I also used a medium size ice cream scoop instead of a small scoop cause I like bigger cookies! They took just a little longer to bake. After I flattened my dough with the fork, I topped each cookie off with a tiny sprinkle of Maldon Sea Salt before baking for an extra salty tang! My friend Annette loves peanut butter cookies and she thought these were terrific and my sister Katie loved the addition of the sea salt on top! Enjoy!

This Double Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe is terrific with regular chocolate but i decided to spice things up and use Lindt Chili Chocolate. The Lindt Excellence Dark Chili Chocolate Bar is a luscious dark chocolate infused with spicy chili peppers! I just substituted the 8 oz. of milk chocolate called for in the recipe with 8 oz. of the Lindt Chili Chocolate bars– half was melted with the butter and the other half i broke into small chunks to mix into the finished dough. These cookies bake up flat with a slightly crispy edge and brownie like interior that is amazing! The hint of chili pepper in the chocolate adds a nice spicy-hot accent that is not overwhelming but melds well with the dark chocolate flavor in the cookie. Here is how you make them:

You can find the entire recipe here. Gather all your ingredients together.  I switched out 8oz. of milk chocolate called for in the recipe with 4 oz. melted Lindt Chili Chocolate Bar and 4 oz. broken up chunks of Lindt Chili Chocolate Bar. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and get cookie sheets ready with either parchment paper or silpats.


Melt 4 oz. of chocolate with the butter over a double-boiler until smooth and shiny. Set the bowl of melted chocolate aside to cool slightly. In a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and set aside.


When the chocolate has cooled, pour it and the sugar, eggs and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer  and beat until well combined. Add the flour and beat until combined. Fold in 4 oz. of chocolate chunks.

Use a small ice cream scoop to make balls of dough and space them 2 inches apart on your baking sheet as these cookies will spread while baking. Bake the cookies for approx. 15 minutes, the cookies will be soft, flat and slightly cracked – do not over-bake or the cookies will be hard and dry! The cookies will firm up as they cool. Cool the cookies on wire racks.


These Double Chocolate Chili Chunk Cookie were a gift so I packaged them in a cello bag that i tied with red gingham ribbon that matched the red gingham wax paper used on the bottom of the bag. I made the tag in a simple word processing program on my computer. This type of packaging works for all kinds of round cookies, the ribbon and colors can be switched out for different occasions. Enjoy!

Everyone has their own Pop-Tart stories growing up: I remember getting handed one on those mornings when we were running late for school, grabbing it on the way out the door. What a fun treat! When I came across a recipe for Homemade Pop-Tarts I couldn't resist trying it out! The guy that came up with the recipe (EGullet poster name gfron1) is a terrific baker/restauranteur who frequently posts on EGullet. His pics of his Homemade Pop-Tarts totally sold me– who wouldn't want to recreate their own homemade nostalgia? The recipe did not disappoint! The pastry is a delicious buttery flavorful take on the original- it really tastes like a super fresh pop-tart, no hard cardboard here! The cinnamon-brown sugar filling is right-on and the frosting completes the picture. The only thing is that you cannot put these in your toaster or it might catch fire! You could try warming them slightly in the oven but I gotta tell you, these were SO good at room temperature I never felt the need to heat them up! Here is how you make them:

This is the recipe as gron1 wrote it (you can also find it here on EGullet):

Pop-Tart Dough- Makes approx. five 4"x6" pop-tarts
13 oz Unsalted Butter at room temp
1/3 C. & 1 T. (110 g) Milk at room temp
1 Yolk at room temp
1 t. (6 g)Sugar
1 t. (6 g) Salt
3 1/2 C. (645 g) AP Flour
In food processor, combine butter, milk, yolk, sugar and salt and pulse until roughly blended. Add the flour and pulse until it just starts to come together. Form into a disc and wrap in saran wrap, chill at least 3 hours.

Brown-Sugar Cinnamon Filling
1 Egg White at room temp
3/4 C. Powdered Sugar
1/4 C. Almond slivers or slices
1/4 C. Brown sugar
1 T. Cinnamon
In food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until well combined.

Frosting
milk
powder sugar
cinnamon
Combine until a thick icing is formed. Spread on cooled pop-tart and sprinkle with cinnamon or mix.

Assembly
Roll the dough into a rough square, dusting with flour, until 1/8" thick. Cut dough into 4"x6" rectangles. Pair the rectangles for tops and bottoms. Brush the edges of your bottom with a whisked egg. Place a large dollop of filling on inside the egg wash, then spread it evenly. The amount of filling is up to you, but you can see in the pic below how much I did. Place the top sheet of dough on top and press firmly but gently onto the bottom sheet. Chill your Pop-Tarts for 30 minutes in the freezer before baking.


Oven to 350F. Bake for abut 15 minutes or until just starting to brown. Let sit until room temp. Frost with a milk and powdered sugar frosting with just a bit of cinnamon added.


I changed up a few things in the original recipe. For the filling, I used some ground almonds that I had on hand instead of the almond slivers or slices called for in the recipe. I also added a little vanilla to the Frosting for some extra flavor and chilled the mixture before using.  The dough is very fragile and buttery. I rolled mine out to 1/8" and placed into the freezer before cutting out the squares. After pressing the two pieces together I used a fork to go around the edges to really seal them closed. After spreading the frosting onto the cooled pop-tarts I topped them with some raw sugar crystals for crunch and shine. The frosting will dry firm but not rock-hard like real pop-tarts. The 4"x6" size is HUGE, next time I would make them 2"x3". It also took me a lot longer than 15 minutes to cook these, more like 25 to 30 minutes! I made them all cinnamon-brown sugar flavor except for one strawberry pop-tart filled with some strawberry jam I had on hand. I tinted the icing for the strawberry pop-tart pink and topped with candy sprinkles. You could easily switch up the fillings and frosting with whatever you have on hand! My friends really got a kick out of the Homemade Pop-tarts and thought they tasted awesome! Enjoy!

Aren't these little Cupcake Bites cute? Each one is about 2" tall and twenty-eight fit perfectly onto a twelve inch platter! They are practically "mess-free eating" because the cake and frosting are on the inside and the outside is a mess-proof chocolate shell! Terrific little treats perfect for handing out at a birthday party or even gracing a dessert buffet table. Kids & adults alike won't be able to resist these! The inside is a moist mixture of crumbled cooked cake combined with frosting into a dough. You mold the dough into cupcake shapes and dip in melted chocolate candy melts to make the "Cupcake Bottom" and then dip the top into melted white chocolate melts to make the "Cupcake Frosting". Sprinkle with your favorite candy sprinkles and top with a miniature M&M! These little Cupcake Bites are versatile: you can serve them flat, sitting on a plate or put a lollipop stick into them for instant Cupcake Pops! Here is how you make them:

Bakerella is the mastermind behind the Cupcake Bites & Pops! She is super creative and has a terrific detailed tutorial here on how to make these, so I will just go over the highlights. Since I was making these for seven & eight year olds I decided to go with a tried and true kiddie favorite: Confetti Cake from a box and Confetti Cake Frosting from a can! You will also need some candy sprinkles, candy melts or chocolate bark, and a small flower shaped cookie cutter around 1.25" wide. Make the Confetti Cake as indicated on the box. Set aside baked cake until completely cool. When the cake is completely cooled, break into pieces and put in food processor. Use the pulse button until you get fine crumbs. Place all the crumbs into a large mixing bowl and add canned frosting a little at a time, mixing into the crumbs with a spoon.



Keep adding frosting until you get a "Play Doh" texture. Once you get the right texture, put the bowl into the fridge for 30 minutes to chill. Meanwhile, get your sprinkles and mini M&M's set out into small bowls. Place chocolate candy melts into a microwaveable bowl. Place the white chocolate candy melts into another microwavable bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment or silpat. When the dough has finished chilling, scoop out little balls (I used a small cookie dough scoop) and place the balls onto the lined baking sheet. When you've finished making all your balls, place the baking sheet into the fridge for another 30 minutes to chill. When the balls are finished chilling, roll each one out into a small cigar shape and push one end thru a small flower shaped cookie cutter while rounding out and shaping the top of the cupcake. Push the dough back thru the cookie cutter and place onto baking sheet. After you've shaped all your little cupcakes, place them back into the fridge while you melt the chocolate. Start with the brown chocolate. I melted mine in the microwave in short bursts, stirring each time until completely melted and smooth. Take the chilled cupcakes out of the fridge and careful dip the bottom half of each into the melted chocolate. Place them back onto the cookie sheet and when finished dipping all the cupcakes, place back into the fridge. Go ahead and melt the white chocolate.


Remove cupcakes from fridge and carefully dip the tops of the cupcakes. You can use a toothpick to "fill in" any areas that don't get completely covered with the white chocolate. Quickly top with candy sprinkles and mini M&M. Carefully place back onto baking sheet until completely dry. I placed mine back into the fridge to chill completely before placing them onto a serving platter. Enjoy!

These sweet little Chocolate Whoopie Pies are so fun and delicious. You just can't keep your hands off of 'em! I've made Whoopie Pies before but I used a peanut butter filling. Traditional Whoopie Pies from Maine use a marshmallow cream filling so that's what I filled mine with- lots of fluffy Marshmallow Cream Filling! Each of these pies is around 2 1/2 inches, perfect size for a dessert buffet! The flavor of Whoopie Pies is along the lines of a Hostess Cupcake, but much better! The chocolate cookie is soft and moist, perfect for holding the fluffy sweet cream filling. Here is how you make them:

I used this recipe for the Chocolate Cookies part of the Whoopie Pies. Start by gathering your ingredients together and setting the oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Cream together butter, shortening and sugars until smooth, then add the egg mixing until light and fluffy. Next mix in half the flour mixture and all the milk/vanilla. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until combined. I used a small ice cream scoop to drop the dough, 2 inches apart onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for approximately 12 to 14 minutes until the little cookies have puffed up and spring back when touched. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.


I used this simple recipe for the Whoopie Pie Filling. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy then add the Marshmallow Fluff and vanilla mixing until well combined. I put the filling into a piping bag and squeezed a generous dollop onto the center of the bottom of one cookie then topped it with the another cookie! Voila! Whoopie Pies! Enjoy!

Meyer Lemons with their thin skins and sweet-tart juice are abundant right now! My dad has a small tree and it's covered in beautiful Meyer Lemon I wanted to celebrate the season and create a beautiful and delicious dessert that would be perfect for an afternoon lunch al fresco. Something light and creamy and refreshing: Meyer Lemon Mousse Cups. The actual lemon becomes the perfect serving cup for this luscious lemony mousse! The lemons are hollowed out like a pumpkin. The pulp is then squeezed into juice later used for the Lemon Curd. This recipe is very simple but I think it is easiest prepared the night before serving. Place the filled cups, covered in plastic wrap or in Tupperware, into the fridge to set overnight. The lemon mousse creme is cool, light, creamy and lemony tart. The perfect summer treat. Easy and beautiful. Here is how you make them:

Start by gathering together nine Meyer Lemons that are roughly the same size and shape. (You can use regular lemons but since they are more tart you will probably need to add extra sugar to your lemon curd.) After washing and drying take a sharp knife and slice the little nub off the end so that the lemon will stand on its own. Now cut off the stem top of the lemon, about 1/4" down, leaving an opening big enough to insert a spoon. Keep the little lemon caps and stems to use for decoration later. Carefully run the knife around the inside edge loosening the pulp. Using a melon baller, scoop out all the pulp being careful not to go thru the bottom of the lemon. Set the pulp aside in a bowl to use for juice later. When all the lemons are scooped out, place them on a plate, cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge. Squeeze all the juice from the pulp and set aside. Place mixing bowl and beater into the fridge to chill for whipped cream later.

To make the curd: Start by pushing the egg yolks thru a sieve into a heavy sauce pan.  I like to strain the yolks first so I dont have to do it at the end. (I also save the egg whites in a plastic container in the freezer for future use.) Next, add lemon juice and sugar whisking together over medium heat until combined. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.  Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter pieces until melted and smooth. Add your lemon zest or lemon oil . Transfer curd to large bowl, cover in plastic wrap and place in fridge until completely chilled and firm, about an hour. (Note: Since I had so much extra juice I decided to make 4x the amount of lemon curd called for in this recipe so that I could freeze the extra for future use. It is very easy to increase the curd recipe, just remember that it takes longer to cook.)

To make the mousse: Start whipping the cream (using the chilled beater and bowl) until soft to semi-firm peaks form. The recipe calls for adding raw egg whites to the whipped cream but I chose not to use them for safety reasons. (Raw eggs are not safe for pregnant women or small children.) Instead I added a little vanilla (no sugar) to my whipped cream and folded it into my chilled lemon curd to make the mousse.
Place the lemon mousse back into the fridge to chill. About 30 minutes later fill a piping bag with the chilled mousse and fill the lemon cups. I topped each lemon cup with some extra lemon zest strips that I rolled in granulated sugar.  Prop the lemon cap next to the lemon cup for presentation.  Keep the mousse cups in the fridge until ready to serve. Enjoy!

Update: For Step-By-Step Instructions and Tutorial On How To Make The Flags Go Here: SFappeal

When is a chocolate cupcake not just a chocolate cupcake? When you make it with Double Chocolate Stout Beer! Finding the perfect chocolate cake can be daunting–too dry, too sugary, etc. Complex flavors are much more enjoyable than single notes and this recipe for Chocolate Stout Cake achieves that complex combination I am always striving for. The recipe calls for Guinness Stout but I decided to use a Double Chocolate Stout instead. The Stout beer used in the batter adds a warm rounded flavor that accents the dark Dutch chocolate cocoa nicely. The beer also helps to keep the cake crumb light and moist. This cake is at its peak of flavor a day or two after it's baked when all the flavors come together to create the quintessential chocolate cake. Of course, every delicious cake is incomplete without a delicious frosting. I chose one of my favorites: Kids' Buttercream from the Whimsical Bakehouse and turned it chocolate with the addition of dark chocolate cocoa powder. To top the whole thing off I patted chocolate cake crumbs (made from an extra 8" x 8" cake) all over the frosting to give my cupcakes an almost velvety, flocked appearance. I really think these cupcakes are the edible equivalent of the little black dress–elegant, sophisticated and perfect for any occasion. And since the occasion was Mother's Day, I made some cute flag toppers to honor all moms! Enjoy!

UPDATE: If you would like to see step-by-step instructions and more pics look here: SFappeal
When the going gets tough, the tough apparently eat coffee cake! Just stop by any corner Starbucks for a caffeine jolt and you can't help but notice the two or three different kinds of coffee cake now being offered. Big crumbly cinnamon-y, deliciously golden-looking slices just waiting to be devoured — Sounds like comfort food however the price is anything but comforting ringing in at around $1.75 a slice/4 ounces (which comes to around 44¢ an ounce)! Yikes! I decided to see if I could make my own delicious coffee cake, share some with friends and maybe even save some $$$ in the process. This terrific recipe found on the King Arthur Flour web site fits the bill - Cinnamon Streusel Coffee-Cake. Yum, even the name is drool-inducing! This coffee cake actually promises AND delivers. Lots of moist crumbly golden cake accented with a cinnamon-spicy filling and topped by a sweet and spicy, crunchy and crumbly topping. The emphasis is totally on the cinnamon. There are no nuts or fruit to compete with its sweet spicy aroma and flavor. Speaking of aroma, this cake smells so delicious baking in the oven! And to make your check book feel good too, The King Arthur Bakers state that you can go to a store and purchase a ready-made Boston Coffee Cake weighing 1.5 lbs for around $6.99 or 29¢ an ounce. You can make this Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake that weighs in at a hefty 5.25 lbs. for around $7.22 or 9¢ an ounce. Wow, that's quite a savings! Plus it's delicious and homemade. This recipe makes a humongous cake, plenty to share or at least last you throughout a weeks worth of delicious coffee breaks! I followed the recipe as stated but changed up a few things along the way. I used a non-stick tube pan instead of a 9"x13" pan and sprayed it lightly with Pam. I also lowered the temperature to 325 degrees to compensate for the dark non-stick pan (dark pans heat up quickly resulting in overbrowning) and baked for 60 minutes. For the filling, I decided to change things up a bit by adding a 1/4 tsp. of freshly ground black pepper. I love how freshly ground black pepper enhances ginger spice in many of my baked goods so I wanted to see if it would have a similar effect with the cinnamon. I wasn't disappointed! The pepper adds an extra spicy element without taking away from the overall spicy-sweet cinnamon flavor. Fresh out of the oven this cake has a golden brown color with some slightly caramelized bits where the filling bubbled up to the top. Cutting into this moist delicious fragrant cake is a wonderful experience! Make some for yourself and see. Enjoy!

For Detailed Pics & Step-By-Step Instructions Showing How I Made These Go Here: SFappeal Food Section

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I wanted to send my dear friend Gigi who now lives in Massachusetts something unique! I decided on a fun Homemade S'mores Kit complete with Homemade Graham Crackers, Homemade Marshmallows and a big ol' Chocolate Bar! Gigi can put these together and pop them under the broiler for delicious S'mores! What a treat! These Homemade Graham Crackers and Homemade Marshmallows are nothing like what you had at GirlScout Camp! The Graham Crackers bake up crispy and delicious with a warm nutty-buttery flavor accented with a hint of cinnamon and honey! The kitchen smells amazing while these are baking. The marshmallows are melt-in-your-mouth smooth and creamy goodness with lots of real vanilla flavor. Pair these homemade goodies with some gourmet chocolate and you have an updated old favorite that is sure to bring out the kid in anyone! I made 16 large graham crackers and 8 large marshmallows with the following recipes: Homemade Graham Crackers and Homemade Marshmallows. The original graham cracker recipe calls for 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup untoasted wheat germ. I substituted both of these for 1 and 1/2 cups graham flour. Graham flour adds that slightly sweet-nutty flavor and texture that is found in graham crackers. I made a gift tag indicating what's included in the box and I added instructions on the back for how to make the S'mores. You can see my tags below:
Enjoy!