Mimi's Kitchen

Heart Cakes

2012-02-07T23:43:00.000-08:00

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's time to pack up a box of treats to send to Mini Me. She loves homemade granola, so she always get a big container of that, and this time we threw in some cute Valentine's socks, a box of Tagalogs (her favorite Girl Scout cookie) and some heart cakes.

I've tried several vanilla cake recipes in search of the "perfect one". I wanted a recipe that didn't use cake flour and didn't leave me with too many orphaned egg yolks. After many trials, we finally came up with this recipe; it has a velvety crumb and a delicate vanilla flavor. Be sure and use very good vanilla extract since that is what makes these cakes so tasty.

Vanilla Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 egg whites.

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add vanilla to milk and set both aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until fluffy again. Add egg and then egg whites, mixing until just combined.
4. Add 1/2 the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating until just combined. Slowly add the milk mixture and beat until combined. Add the remaining flour and beat until blended. Scrape the sides of the bowl between each addition and at the end, making sure all the ingredients are mixed in.
5. Divide the mixture evenly among 12 muffin tins and bake in a 350 oven for 22-25 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. Frost when completely cool.

printable recipe

To make the heart cakes, I used a silicone heart shaped muffin pan and even though it says non stick, I greased and floured the muffin wells to ensure easy release from the pan. When they were completely cool I dipped them in Wilton candy melts, making sure to completely cover all sides because when the cake is completely covered it helps to keep them fresh. For these cakes, I decorated them with sugar hearts I had on hand but sometimes I drizzle a contrasting color of candy melts over the top or use food writers and decorate them like conversation hearts.

Link:Foodie Friday

Sprinkle Cookies

2012-01-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

My friend Little E came to visit me recently because he wanted to make some cookies. I am not too sure if he was visiting me or my sprinkle drawer, but we had a fun time regardless. He loves all colored sprinkles and sugars- but can you blame him? They come in so many pretty colors, sizes and shapes that the possibilities for creations are endless.

Obviously, from the size of my sprinkle drawer, I too have a thing for sprinkles, so I'm glad to have a friend who is willing to spend the entire afternoon playing in my sprinkle drawer with me. I knew we would need a cookie where sprinkles would be the star, and Mini Me's chewy sugar cookie recipe was perfect. She got the recipe from her friend T many years ago when they were in grade school and has been making them for any and all occasions since 3rd grade. Although she is back at school and couldn't join our sprinkle party, I borrowed her recipe because I knew they would be the perfect to make with a three year old.

These cookies are super fast to put together, and can be decorated for just about any holiday or theme you can imagine. They bake up soft and chewy in just a few minutes, which is especially important when you have an eager taste tester at the ready.

Mini Me's Sprinkle Cookies

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

sprinkles

1. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. In mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients.

3.Shape into 1 to 1 1/2 inch balls. Moisten the top of the ball with either buttermilk or milk (this helps the sprinkle adhere to the cookie. However, Little E and I skipped this step and went straight to the sprinkles) and dip in sprinkles.

5.Place on cookie sheet lined with a slipat and bake. In a regular oven at 375 for 10 minutes or convection oven at 350 for about 8 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies
printable recipe

Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Lemon Meringue Cake

2012-01-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

The Improv Challenge for this month, hosted by Kristen at the Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker, was to use lemon and sour cream in a recipe. There are so many ways to use these two ingredients, and there are several recipes that I love for cakes, frostings, and doughnuts using lemon and sour cream, but I wanted to make something new. I had a big bowl of egg whites that I needed to use, so I put together a few of our favorite things and ended up with this Lemon Meringue cake. I made discs of crispy meringue, layered them with a lemon curd filling, and finished the whole thing with whipped cream combined with sour cream. I do have to admit that the sour cream is an afterthought in this recipe. It gives the topping a nice tang, but honestly you could omit it.

We liked that this dessert is easy to make ahead, either in its entirety, or just the components. Boy Mimi liked the crispy, just assembled version best, while Mimi Jr. liked it once it had been in the refrigerator for a few hours; it still had a slight meringue crunch, but the lemon filling had begun to soften the layers just a bit.If you are in a jam and you don't have time to make the meringue and lemon curd, you could easily make this with store bought lemon curd and meringue cookies. In that case, I would use a spring form pan to help hold the layers together. Once the cake has chilled for a few hours, release the sides of the pan and cover the the sides and top of the cake as directed in the recipe.

Lemon Meringue Cake

Meringue disks

Lemon curd

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

lemon zest

Meringue disks

4 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease and flour 2 baking sheets or line with silpats.

In a stand mixer whisk the egg white and cream of tarter until frothy. Continue beating and add the sugar one tablespoon at a time. When all the sugar is incorporated, add vanilla and beat for 1 –2 minutes more. When the beater is lifted out the whites should be very stiff with unbending peaks.

Using a pastry bag or spoon and spatula pipe or spread meringue onto prepared pans in three 8 inch circles (I put 2 on one pan and the third on the second pan).

Bake in a 250 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Meringues should be white to pale amber when done. Turn off the heat and leave meringues in the closed oven for 3 to 4 hours. Store cooled disks airtight at room temperature as long as 5 days.

Lemon Curd

Via the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 oz unsalted butter, softened

pinch of salt

2 teaspoons lemon zest

In a heavy (Non-corrodible) sauce pan beat egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Stir in the butter, lemon juice and salt. Cook over medium-low heat without bringing to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened and the mixture coats the back of a spoon (I cooked mine for a total of 10 minutes). The mixture will be opaque. When the curd has thickened, pour through a fine mesh strainer over a bowl, pressing with the back of a spoon until only coarse residue remains. Stir in the lemon zest and cool. Pour into an air tight container and refrigerate until cold. The curd will continue to thicken while it chills.

To assemble:

Beat 1 1/2 cups of the heavy whipping cream with 1/4 cup sugar until stiff peaks form.

Fold 2/3 of the cream into the lemon curd. Set aside 1/2 cup of the lemon curd mixture.

Place one meringue disk on a plate and cover with 1/2 of the lemon curd and cream mixture. Top with a second meringue layer and cover with remaining lemon mixture. Top with the third meringue layer.

Add the reserved lemon curd/cream mixture to the remaining whipped cream. Fold together until fully incorporated. Use this to lightly cover the sides and top of the cake.

Beat together the remaining 1/2 cup of cream with 1/4 cup sour cream and 2 tablespoon sugar until soft to firm peaks form. Cover the top of the cake with this and sprinkle with lemon zest.

Refrigerate cake for 3 hours or overnight to mellow for easy cutting, or serve soon for a crispier (and slightly messier) cake.

printable recipe

Link:Foodie Friday at Design by Gollum

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

2012-01-09T18:27:00.000-08:00

Every year we do a New Year's Eve dinner with a small group of friends. The evening is full of good food, great wine, and lots of laughs. My friend Mrs. C and I get together a few days before the party to flip through cookbooks for recipe inspiration, and when we came across this homemade ricotta, I knew that I had to make it for an appetizer. It looked so simple, but also creamy, rich, and smooth. The cheese was so good that I've made it three times since our party, and every time I get a batch mixed up, it disappears rather quickly. We used the herb mixture listed below, but you can easily adapt it to use any of you favorite herb combinations, or just serve it with a heavy drizzle of olive oil and lots of salt and cracked black pepper.

The ricotta has a fine curd and is easy to spread, and is not grainy like the types you buy in the grocery store. I think it would be perfect for cannoli filling, but it has never lasted long enough for me to give it a try. I haven't baked with it yet so I can't say how it reacts to heat after it is made, but next time I make lasagna I will definitely take the time to make this first and try it out.

Ricotta Cheese
makes about 2 cups
adapted from Ina Garten's How Easy Is That

4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Set a large sieve over a deep bowl. Dampen 2 layers of cheese cloth with water and line the sieve with the cheesecloth.
Pour the milk and cream into a stainless-steel or enameled pot. Stir in salt. Bring to a full boil *Many recipes for ricotta require you to heat the milk only to 180 degrees. Because I did not want my ricotta to taste like cooked milk I did not bring the milk mixture to a full boil, but heated it to about 190 degrees, where you could see the boil was just about to start*. Turn off heat and stir in the vinegar. Allow the mixture to stand for 1 minute until it curdles. It will separate into thick parts (the curds) and milky parts (the whey).
Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth lined sieve and allow it to drain into the bowl at room temperature for 20 to 25 minutes, occasionally discarding the liquid that collects in the bowl. The longer you let the mixture drain, the thicker the ricotta. Transfer the ricotta to a bowl, use immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. The ricotta will keep refrigerated for 4 to 5 days
printable recipe

Herbed Ricotta Bruschettas
adapted from Ina Garten's How Easy Is That
2 cups ricotta
3 tablespoon minced scallions
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 baguette
olive oil
garlic

Combine the ricotta, scallions, dill, chives and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Mix well.
Slice the baguette and drizzle with olive oil,and toast in a 375 degree oven until just beginning to turn golden brown, turning the bread slices over after about 5 minutes (about 10 minutes total). Remove from oven and rub the bread with garlic clove. Serve with the herbed ricotta cheese
printable recipe

Champagne Cupcakes

2011-12-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a wonderful whirl of activities and we were blessed to have all our children at home for the holiday. I really hadn't planned on taking a month long vacation from Mimi's Kitchen, but somehow it happened. Believe me, I was in the kitchen, but I didn't seem to be able to find my way to the computer. We were having a lot of fun baking, eating and laughing with our friends and family.

To make up for our absence, we have these beautiful champagne cupcakes to ring in the New Year. Mimi Jr. made these (she found the recipe on The Curvy Carrot) and they really delivered on the champagne taste. They are a nice moist white cupcake, and the mellow wine taste lingers without being overpowering. These would be a great make ahead New Year's Eve dessert to have with that midnight champagne toast, or if you find you have a little left over champagne the next morning, these are the perfect way to use it up.

Champagne Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream

Makes 22-24

Line muffin tin with liners.

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup champagne *you can use any kind you like, even flat champagne works*

6 egg whites

Mix dry ingredient together, set aside

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Blend the in dry ingredients alternately with champagne.

In a clean bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold 1/3 of egg white into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool before frosting.

Champagne Buttercream:

3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup unsalted butter room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

3 Tablespoons champagne.(If frosting is to stiff add additional champagne one tablespoon at a time)

With an electric mixer beat together sugar, butter and salt. Add champagne and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. (I beat my buttercream for 5-8 minutes)

printable recipe

Wishing you the peace of God in the coming year.

Gift Card Cookies

2011-12-02T11:23:00.001-08:00

One of our most cherished Christmas traditions at Mimi's Kitchen is our Christmas Eve festivities. We are invited to Boy Mimi's God Parents house for an evening of feasting and fun. The evening always starts with an incredible meal, featuring Mrs. A's famous meatballs. It's a secret recipe, which even I don't have, but I do know that the meatballs are browned and then simmered in cream, making them the most delicious meatballs I have ever had. Boy Mimi loves these meatballs and has been known to consume massive quantities, so he has become the official meatball assistant. He heads over the day before the party to help Mrs A. with the meatball production. I always quiz him on what is in the recipe when he gets home, but all he ever says is, "Meat, of course!" So it still remains a secret, but even if we do discover the recipe, they will never be as good as they are at Mrs. A's on Christmas Eve.

Besides our meal, we sing carols, play Christmas trivia games, and have a gift exchange. The evening ends with everyone heading off to church for the midnight Christmas Eve service. As our families have grown and kids have married, our group has expanded to include in-laws, boyfriends and girlfriends, and assorted relatives. We wanted everyone to be able to participate in gift giving, and since it is pretty hard to buy thoughtful gifts for people you don't know all that well, we have modified our gift exchange into a gift card exchange. What makes this a little more special than just handing out cards is the way we "wrap" our gift cards. So not only do you get a gift card, but a fun little gift as well. The packaging is a clue to the store; sometimes the clues are easy to guess, while others leave us stumped, but intrigued as to what is under the exterior. Mrs. A's family is crafty as they come (check out her daughter's own blog in words and pictures if you want proof!) in the past we have had all of these things under the tree: a picture frame with Prince William PhotoShopped into some vineyards, (Williams-Sonoma), a Michael Buble CD (Michael's craft store), an eye patch with a tuning fork (iTunes), a jigsaw puzzle of a barn (Barnes and Noble), and a barrel of monkeys inside a crate (Crate and Barrel).

As soon as we walk in the door, we begin checking out the wrapped cards, trying to figure it out while we eat and sing, waiting for the exchange so we can see if we guessed the gift cards correctly.

Since we express our creativity in the form of baking here at Mimi's Kitchen, we decided to make gift card cookie clues. We have done red glittery stars for Macy's, red and white bull's eyes for Target, Hibiscus flowers for Trader Joe's and biscotti for Starbucks. These make good hints as to what is in the package, and the recipient gets a tasty snack. We haven't decided what gift cards we will be bringing this year, but we do know that our clues will be edible!

sugar cookies

Links: Foodie Friday

Pumpkin Parfait with Brown Sugar Crumble and Bourbon Cream

2011-11-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe, but it's already time for the November Improv cooking challenge. Sheryl at The Lady Behind The Curtain is no longer able to organize this group so Kristen at Frugal Antic of a Harried Homemaker has taken over hosting the challenge. The November ingredients were cream cheese and pumpkin. We choose to make a parfait using pumpkin pie as our inspiration. It has the same flavors as pie, but is super easy to make and there is no pie crust to roll out. A light and creamy pumpkin cream cheese filling is layered with a brown sugar crumble and topped with a bourbon spiked whipped cream. We layered it in small individual serving dishes, starting with some crumble on the bottom of the dish followed by a layer of pumpkin filling, then a spoonful of bourbon cream on top, and more brown sugar crumble sprinkled over the whipped cream. We liked that this dessert was a new twist on a classic, but still had the familiar flavors that everyone expects at a Thanksgiving dinner.

We used both individual small dishes and mini two-bite sized serving dishes but you could easily make it as one big dessert in a pie dish or a small trifle dish. The individual parts can all be made several days ahead, but save assembly for the day before serving so the crumble stays crunchy.

Pumpkin Parfait with Brown Sugar Crumble and Bourbon Whipped Cream

Brown Sugar crumble

1/2 cup flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup melted butter

In a medium bowl mix together dry ingredients. Add melted butter and stir with a fork or your fingers until well mixed.
Crumble mixture on a baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes total. After the initial 8 minutes stir the mixture to break up clumps and continue baking until golden brown. Remove from oven and stir to break up any big clumps. Let cool.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz cream cheese
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 cup whipping cream

Whip cream with 2 tablespoon of the sugar. Set aside Whip the cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining sugar, pumpkin, molasses, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. Beat with paddle for about five minutes, scraping down the side as needed, until light and fluffy. Fold in the whipped cream.

Bourbon Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons bourbon or brandy (or omit and add 1 teaspoon vanilla)

In a chilled bowl beat the cream, sugar and flavoring until semi firm peaks form.

Assembly:

In the bottom of your serving dish(s) sprinkle a layer of brown sugar crumble, follow with a layer of pumpkin filling, and top with whipped cream and sprinkle the top with crumble. You can also make several thinner layers alternating the crumble and filling if you would like. Chill until serving time.

printable recipe

Link: Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Bourbon Balls and Cookbook Review

2011-11-10T10:31:00.001-08:00

When I was a child, Bourbon Balls were the Adults Only dessert craze. We children were not allowed to eat them. My mom would make them just after Thanksgiving and let them age until Christmas. When I did finally taste one, the alcohol flavor was so strong that I spit out my first bite and haven't given them much thought since. When I received the Little Old Lady Recipes-Comfort Food and Kitchen Table Wisdom cookbook to review, I found the recipe for bourbon balls, so I thought this was my opportunity to give them another chance.

The recipe is slightly different that my mom's. It uses honey instead of Karo syrup for the sweetener and I think this is a delicious change. Also, I didn't add the full 1/4 cup of bourbon. I just used enough to make a moist dough and used bourbon that had had a vanilla bean soaking in it. Our balls turned out to be a little drier than the ones Mr. Mimi remembered, but he still liked the flavor and ate several for the sake of an accurate review. If you like a softer cookie, use the entire amount of bourbon.

Little Old Lady Recipes, written by Meg Faverau and published by Quirk Books (quirkbooks.com, available at Amazon.com), is full of comfort food recipes, along with photos and kitchen wisdom of the ladies who contributed recipes to the book. There are plenty of comfort food recipes, including Irish soda bread, chicken and dumplings, meat loaf, fried chicken and rhubarb pie. The recipes are written just as if your grandmother scribbled it on a recipe card, direct and to the point, often assuming that you have some kitchen knowledge (or have watched her make the recipe hundreds of times). Sprinkled in among the recipes are tips from the cooks, ladies with lots of life experience and even more advice. One of our favorites was "There isn't much a good cake won't fix". You can't go wrong with a motto like that!

Bourbon Balls

1 cup toasted chopped pecans

1 1/2 cup crushed vanilla wafer cookies

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup Bourbon

additional powdered sugar for rolling.

1. Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl and then add honey and bourbon; stir. Form into balls with your hands and roll in powdered sugar. Refrigerate before serving. Makes approximately 48 balls. (I got closer to 36 balls)

links: Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum

Thanksgiving Bread

2011-11-03T19:06:00.000-07:00

Traditions abound here at Mimi's Kitchen throughout the year, but some of our favorites come during the fall holidays, and this beautiful braided bread is one of them. Years ago I went to a bread baking class just for fun at a local adult school and the teacher gave us her Thanksgiving bread recipe. It's a lovely golden color, which it gets from either winter squash or pumpkin. The pumpkin/squash keeps it moist, but doesn't impart too much flavor. What I like about the recipe is that it makes one very large loaf for a crowd, or you can make 2 smaller loaves, which would be perfect for sharing with friends or neighbors for their Thanksgiving table.

If you have leftovers this makes excellent french toast, turkey sandwiches or even bread pudding. It is a perfect way to infuse some fall flavor and color into your meal throughout the season.

Squash Bread

makes 2 loaves

2 tablespoons yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1 1/4 cup pumpkin or orange squash puree

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup milk

1/3 cup soft butter

1 egg

5 1/2 cups flour

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add a pinch of sugar and let stand until bubbly.

2. Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, butter, egg and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture and stir to incorporate.You can use your stand mixer for this.

3. Add add 4 3/4 cup flour and stir to make a smooth dough.

4. Turn dough on a lightly floured surface and knead(about 10 minutes by hand or 5-7 minutes in mixer with a dough hook), adding remaining flour as necessary to create a dough that is smooth and silky. Dough should not be tacky.

5. Place dough in a greased bowl (I spray them with PAM) cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size about 1 1/2 hours.

6. Punch dough down and shape.

If making two loaves divide the dough in half. Each half is then divided into thirds. Shape each third into a 14 inch rope. On a baking sheet lined with a silpat braid your 3 ropes into one loaf (I cross them in the center of the ropes and braid to the ends)
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until golden (about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your loaf.
When bread comes out of the oven and is still warm, brush the crust with soft butter.
Cool completely on a wire rack.
printable recipe

links: Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum

Butterfinger Bites

2011-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Mini Me has been away at school for almost two months, so it's time to to get that mid-term care package in the mail. One of our shared loves is peanut butter, so I always try to include a peanut-y treat in her box. I've been seeing home made butterfinger bars all over the internet, and knowing they are a favorite of Mini Me, I thought I'd give them a try. Looking at the simple, and strange, ingredients, I wasn't quite sure what these would be like. I must admit, I was surprised at how good these were. They don't have that hard snap that butterfingers do, but they sure had the flavor and texture of the soft crumbly part. If you are not a candy corn lover, this is the perfect recipe to re-purpose candy corn that finds its way to your house on Halloween!

For these tasty little treats, you only need three ingredients that you probably already have on hand, making these even easier to put together.

Butterfinger Bites

1 lb Brach's candy corn

1 lb peanut butter

1 lb chocolate

Directions:

In a mircowave safe bowl melt the candy corn, stiring every 15 seconds until melted. The melted candy will not be fluid and flow, but be grainy and somewhat lumpy.

Add the peanut butter and stir until completely mixed. Pour into a 9x9 parchment lined pan. Pat down firmly into an even layer. I used an offset spatula to smooth the surface. Allow to cool, cut in to desired size (I cut mine in about 1 inch squares) dip in melted chocolate and let harden on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Enjoy!

Link:Foodie Friday at Deisgns by Gollum

Caramel Apple Cream Cheese Mousse

2011-10-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I started Mimi's Kitchen, I found that joining cooking and baking groups was a good way to get going. I made new friends from some fabulous blogs, found lots of new recipes, and am still learning tips and improving upon my food photography. However, after a while, I realized that I was essentially just looking at hundreds of the same cupcakes, cookies, or ice cream each week as everyone from the group posts the same recipe. It is always interesting to see other peoples' pictures and read about recipe problems/suggestions, but not super exciting as far as variety goes. Sometime in September Sheryl invited me to participate in The Improv Cooking Challenge, which is a monthly ingredient-based challenge created by Sheryl at The Lady Behind the Curtain. Each month, Sheryl selects two ingredients and each participant comes up with a recipe using those ingredients. To learn more about the challenge head on over Sheryl's blog. For October, she challenged everyone to use apples and caramel to create a unique and tasty dish.

We decided to put several things we love into one recipe- apples, caramel, cheesecake, and mousse. Each part of this dessert is easy to make and delicious on its own, but when combined they make a spectacular autumn dessert. We borrowed from several recipes that we enjoy; from the Daring Bakers' Tian recipe, we borrowed both the technique and sable cookie base. From Julia Child's The Way to Cook, we used the baked apples and caramel sauce. The filling was our take on a cream cheese mousse, which was cream cheese whipped until light and fluffy and lightened even further by folding in whipped cream. A swirl of caramel sauce brings it all together. The assembly follows the tian method, by layering the dessert upside down in either a ring mold or 6 wells of a removable bottom muffin tin. This is a great dessert for parties, because it can all be made a day a head of time, and has a beautiful plated presentation.

Sable Cookies

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
6 tablespoons granulated sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3.5 oz unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons All-purpose flour (7 oz)

1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse until the butter is in pea sized chunks.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogeneous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter the same size as your mold, cut out cookies and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cookies are just golden.

Oven Baked Apple Slices

via Julia Child's The Way To Cook

3 pounds apples, any kind that holds their shape when cooked in slices (I use golden delicious, granny smith, and gala)

1 /4 cup sugar blended with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

4 Tablespoons butter, melted.

Pre heat the oven to 375degrees F.

Peel, core, and slice apples. They should be 1/2 inch wide at the outside edge. Toss in a bowl first with the sugar mixture, then with the lemon juice and finally with the melted butter. Let sit 3-4 minutes to render juices and absorb flavor. Taste, and fold in a little more sugar if needed.

Turn apples into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake in the middle level of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, basting occasionally, until the apples slices are thoroughly tender, but hold their shape; they should color lightly and juice should have reduced to a thick syrup.

If the juices have not reduced pour them off in a small saucepan and boil down to a thick syrup and pour back over the apples.

Caramel Sauce
via Julia Child's The Way To Cook

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 cup cream
2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

Blend the sugar and water in a 1 ½ qt sauce pan and bring to a simmer, brushing the sugar from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush and water. Remove from heat and swirl the pan by the handle to make sure all of the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is perfectly clear. Return pan to moderately high heat; cover and boil for several minutes. After a minute or so peek at syrup, when the bubbles are thick uncover the pan.

Continue boiling, swirling the pan by the handle until the syrup begins to color. When it is a light caramel color remove from the heat and continue swirling and the color will darken more. To stop cooking place bottom of the pan in cool water.

Slowly add the cream, which will congeal the caramel. Return pan to low heat and simmer, stirring until the caramel dissolves. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and salt. Use warm or cooled. Refrigerated in a covered jar, the sauce will keep for weeks.

Cream Cheese Mousse

6 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1/3 to 1/2 cup caramel sauce

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium bowl whip the cream to soft peaks with 1 tablespoon sugar and the vanilla. Set aside.
Whip the cream cheese and remaining sugar until light and fluffy. Gently fold in the whipped cream until thoroughly incorporated. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the mixture and fold in, leaving streaks of caramel in the mixture.

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 ring molds onto the parchment paper/silicone. I used a 6 well removable bottom muffin tin.Have the apples, cream cheese mixture, and baked cookies ready to use.

Arrange the apple slices at the bottom of each mold. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of apple slices at the bottom of each mold, add a couple spoonfuls of cream cheese and gently spread it so that it fills the mold in an even layer. Leave about 1/2 inch at the top so there is room for apples and the cookie. Carefully add a layer of apples and place a cookie over each mold . Gently press on the cookie to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for at least 10 minutes, or up to 2 days.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the mold to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the cookie) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the ring mold. When using the tin after running the knife around the edge, just push up from the bottom and invert on to your serving plate.If frozen alllow to come to room temperature before topping with remaining caramel sauce and a dollop of whipped cream.

printable recipe

Thank You Sheryl for putting together The Improv Cooking Challenge. We are looking forward to November's challenge!

Links: Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum

Mummy Cupakes

2011-10-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

In the fall I can't get enough of pumpkin. We make pumpkin bread, cupcakes, mousse, and cheesecakes, to name a few. When a friend needed something for her bake sale, I knew I was going to make pumpkin cupcakes, but I was still searching for a fun decoration idea. While searching for Halloween themes, I saw these mummy cupcakes, and decided to give them a try. I started with a simple pumpkin cupcake, used my favorite white butter cream frosting for the bandages, and red and green gummy worms for the eyes and mouth, with a black non-peril for detail.

The pumpkin cupcakes were soft, moist, and full of the flavors of fall. Make sure not to fill them too full before baking- you want them to bake with a flat top instead of a dome. If it does puff up, just use a serrated knife to cut a flat top, and use a crumb coat to keep everything neat. The assembly of the mummy itself is pretty easy. First, frost the top of the cup cake in a thin layer of white. Cut the red gummy worms in 1/2 or 1/3's and cut the green gummy worm in to 1/2 inch pieces. Place a segment of a red gummy worm on the cupcake for the mouth and place the green gummy worms cut side up where you want the eyes, add the non-peril to the center of the eye. Then have at it creating bandages in random strips all over the top of the cupcake. There is no right or wrong pattern, just layer and cross them as you go. I used a #47 tip (the one used for basket weave). The back side of the tip is smooth so turn the teeth side down and you have smooth even strips for bandages. These were tasty and quick to make, and a big hit at the bake sale. They would make a great addition to any Halloween party, or a fun kid-friendly project for a rainy day!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Makes 9 cupcakes

1 cup All Purpose Four
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch cloves
2.5 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1.In small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside.
2.Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer. 3.Add the egg and continue beating until incorporated. Add pumpkin puree and mix well. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk. Mix well; batter will be fluffy.
4.Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes until golden. Let cool completely before frosting.
Printable Recipe

American Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup milk
pinch of salt
4 cups of sifted powdered sugar
Color as desired

1. Cream the butter and slowly add powdered sugar and beat until fairly well incorporated, mixture will be crumbly.
2.Add milk and vanilla beat at medium-low speed until combined and then up your speed to med-high and beat until light and fluffy.
printable recipe

Links: These Chicks Cook
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Baked Oatmeal

2011-09-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Fall comes to subtly to Southern California. Summer lingers as long as possible, however, come September, our days are warm but the mornings and evenings have a nice chill to the air. While we enjoyed quick bowls of cereal and ice cold smoothies for breakfast during the summer, it is time to shift to warm, hearty fall breakfasts.

This baked oatmeal is a perfect breakfast for the upcoming autumn mornings. Hearty oats, fruit, and nuts combine to make a tasty and pretty healthy start to your day. We like to sprinkle brown sugar on our oatmeal, so we topped ours with a brown sugar streusel before baking so you don't need to add anything but some milk or cream if you like. The leftovers do reheat well for an easy breakfast you can make once and eat all week although we definitely liked the leftovers much better with that drizzle of milk or cream.

Of course, once we hit on a good basic recipe, we start planning all the variations we would like to try. Apples and cinnamon came to mind for an "apple pie" oatmeal, perfect since it's almost apple season. We all like peanut butter on our oats and will definitely try swirling in some peanut butter before baking one morning. Although summer is just about over, a version full of fresh peaches and berries would be delicious, and Boy Mimi (one of the coconut lovers) suggested some toasted coconut, chopped fresh mango and a dollop of vanilla yogurt on top for a tropical version. The choices are endless, and this easy breakfast will be making many appearances on our table year round.

Baked Oatmeal

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped and lightly toasted

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup maple syrup, plus more for serving

1 cup milk

1 large egg

1 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces

¾ to 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

**you can use any combination of fruits that you like, just put some on bottom and some on the top to distribute evenly**

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup flour
generous ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or food processor until it is the texture of coasre meal. Store in the refrigerator so the butter stays cold.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make streusel and put in refrigerator.

2. Grease or spray a 1 and 1/2-quart casserole dish with either butter or cooking spray.

3. In a medium bowl, toss together the oats, half of the nuts, the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

4. In a separate small bowl, mix together the maple syrup, milk, egg, melted butter, and the vanilla.

5. Place the sliced banana pieces in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared casserole dish.

6. Sprinkle about two-thirds of the blueberries over the top of the bananas, then cover the blueberries with the oat mixture.

7. Drizzle the milk mixture over the oats, making sure to distribute the milk as evenly as possible.

8. Sprinkle the remaining blueberries over the top of the oats followed by the streusel topping.

9. Bake the oatmeal for 35-40 min, until the top is golden brown and the oats are almost set, but slightly soft in the center. They will continue to firm up as they cool, and still be creamy.

Printable recipe

Links:
This Chick Cooks
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Candy Corn Cookies

2011-09-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

Candy Corn is one of those things that you love it or you hate it. I am definitely a candy corn lover. It's one of those treats from childhood that I looked forward to each fall, because the only time I got them was in my trick or treat bag. Even though as a kid, we ate all we possibly could in one night, I do have to admit that they are really sweet and a little goes a long way. These Candy Corn cookies have the pretty, layered look of the candies and just the right amount of sweetness. I saw these cookies all over the internet last fall, but got this recipe form Julie at The Sporadic Cook. Since sugar cookies ship pretty well, I know these will be the perfect fall treat to send to Mini Me to help her with her studies.

Candy Corn Cookies

via The Sporadic Cook

1 cup butter softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg

1 to 2 tablespoons orange zest

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Orange and Yellow gel food color

In a large bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar, egg and orange zest with an electric mixer on medium speed. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.

Divide dough into thirds. Tint one portion orange and one portion yellow; leave remaining portion plain. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and press the yellow dough into the bottom of the pan in an even layer. top this with the orange dough followed by the white dough. Chill until firm, about 1 hr.

Heat oven to 375. Using the plastic wrap remove the dough from the pan. Slice the loaf into 1/4 inch slices. Then cut each slice into triangles.(I didn't take any how-to picture so I made the diagram below to illustrate the process. I took the two end pieces (A) and placed them together along the straight edge to form a 4th triangle. I lightly rolled over the seam with a rolling pin). Place triangles on ungreased cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.
printable recipe

Links: Foodies Friday at Designs by Gollum
These Chicks Cooked

Triple Chocolate Cookies

2011-09-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Back to school is cookie time at Mimi's Kitchen. When the kids were younger cookies were a great surprise in their lunch box or a quick after school snack. Although everyone is pretty grown up now, we are still busy baking cookies- some to send to Mini Me when she is away at college and some for Boy Mimi to grab on his way to soccer practice. Eric at Quirk Books was nice enough to offer me a new cookie book to review, and we can never say no to a new cookbook around here, especially one filled with cookies. The Cookiepedia by Stacy Adimando was the perfect book for us here at Mimi's Kitchen since everyone likes to bake cookies (except for Mr. Mimi, who just enjoys his title as official taste-tester).

Stacy sure knows her cookies, The Cookiepedia got thumbs up from all four cookie bakers in the kitchen. Boy Mimi made the chocolate chip cookies and they really were perfect- crispy on the edges and chewy throughout, without being cakey or undercooked in the center. Mini Me made the Cornmeal Cookies with Rosemary. We all love anything made with cornmeal and these were no exception. They were light, buttery and crunchy, and the rosemary garnish complimented the lemon zest without tasting too floral. Mimi Jr. and I made the triple chocolate cookies as the final test recipe. These cookies were a family favorite, fudgy and moist almost like a brownie, with a deliciously crackly top.

What we liked about this book beside the delicious and easy to follow recipes was that it included the required classics, like chocolate chip, as well as some new cookies that we can't wait to try, like the pistachio butter cookies. It was well organized by cookie category, from "buttery" to "fruity" to "fancy", and on the insides of the of front and back cover were helpful conversions and substitutions. All the cookies have a picture, so you know that your matcha cookies are actually supposed to be bright green, and the spiral binding allows the book to lay open flat to your recipe without the pages flopping over.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

The Cookiepedia

1/34 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 Ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup unsalted butter , room temperature

1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (8oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder. baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set it

2. Set a small pot of water on the stove and bring it to a simmer. Place choppe4d chocolate in a metal or heatproof blass bowl and set bowl top the pot. Stir the chocolate until it's fully melted and looks smooth. Remove from the heat. (We melted our chocolate in the microwave)

3. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed for several minutes, until they're light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix to combine. Pour in the melted chocolate and continue beating.

4. Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips half at a time, and mix on low speed, until just incorporated.

5. Cover the dough and refrigerate for about 15 to 20 minutes, until it's firm enough to scoop. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper or siilicone baking mats.

6.Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on the sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. They'll appear soft, but they'll firm up once cooled. Set the sheet on a wire rack for a few minutes, then transfer the cookies directly onto the rack to cool completely.

Makes 5 dozen cookies

printable recipe

We all thought this was a great book to add to our cookbook shelf and would be a great gift for anyone, from a beginning baker to someone who wants to add some new recipes to their collection. You can find this book at http://www.quirkbooks.com/, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Orange Sherbet and Lime Ice Cream

2011-08-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Summer is winding down, some of the local schools are already in session, but in Southern California our hot weather is really just beginning. Late August thru mid September are some of our hottest days so there is still plenty of time to enjoy a cool, fruity treat. If we are lucky we will have warm weather until late October and we can continue swimming and eating on the patio almost until Halloween. This Orange Sherbet comes from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and the Lime Ice Cream is from the blog La Casserole Carree. Vibi has a beautiful blog and I knew that this ice cream would make it to the freezer in record time, since we had a bag full of limes just waiting to be squeezed and zested.

Orange Sherbet

The America's Test Kitchen Family cookbook

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh orange juice

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoon Triple Sec or vodka

2/3 cup heavy cream

1. In a bowl add sugar, salt and orange zest. Rub with your fingers to release the oils in the zest. Your sugar with be moist and orange colored. Add the orange juice, lemon juice and triple Sec and stir until sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

2.In a second chilled bowl whip the cream to soft peaks. While whisking constantly, pour the chilled juice mixture down the side of the bowl into the whipped cream. Once the juice is completely incorporated into the cream transfer the mixture to your ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer's instructions.

All ice cream is welcome around here, especially the ones made with fresh fruit juice. The sherbet was just like all those 50-50 bars that we ate as kids and who can resist the fresh orange/sweet vanilla combo? The lime ice cream quickly became a new favorite, with its perfect balance of sweet, tart, and citrus flavors. The zest is the most flavorful part of these fruits, and that one simple addition makes such a huge flavor impact without adding more ingredients or more work, so don't skip that part! These both have just a few simple ingredients and are a tasty way to cool down as we head into some of our warmest days yet.

Lime Ice Cream

adapted from La Casserole Carree

2 large eggs

⅔ cup sugar

Zest of 2 limes, finely chopped

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

⅓ cup freshly squeezed lime juice

In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar and lime zest until pale and thick, about 5 minutes.

Add milk and cream, beat until well mixed. Transfer the mixture to a heavy saucepan and cook on medium heat to 170 °, stirring regularly.

Remove from heat and let cool .

Add lime juice, mix well. (My mixture looked a little curdled so I pureed it with my immersion blender.)

Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl, cover and refrigerate until well chilled
When properly cooled, pour into ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions.

Dig in!

Ice Cream Sandwich

2011-08-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

The dog days of summer are the time when memories are made. School is out, the kids are free to run and play, and whenever we look back on that stretch of scorching days (or weeks, sometimes) we always remember the things we did trying to stay cool- running through the sprinklers, spending days at the beach, hours in the pool, and eating every kind of popsicle, ice cream and frozen fruit imaginable. Although we haven't had weeks of 100 degree weather here, it is still hot enough to devour our favorite homemade ice cream treats. This time around we made ice cream sandwiches. We used Dorie Greenspan's Carmel Crunch Bars as a buttery brown sugar base for vanilla ice cream.

The tasty shortbread cookie is flavored with espresso, chocolate, and bits of rich toffee, and becomes the perfect portable (and edible) container for our favorite vanilla ice cream. Since there are usually only three of us at home, I halve most recipes, but this time I made the whole thing, and was glad I did. I made a bunch of mini sandwiches and it was nice to have a pre-made stash of cold treats in the freezer that we could snack on for the week. I know we will be making these again this summer, trying lots of other combinations of cookie and ice cream!

Carmel Crunch Bars

Baking:from my home to yours- Dorie Greenspan

Bars

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 sticks unsalted butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ounces bittersweet or milk chocolate, finely chopped

Topping:

6 ounces bittersweet or milk chocolate, finely copped

3/4 cup Heath Toffee Bits

Prepare pan: butter a 9x13 pan, line with foil, butter foil. Pre heat oven to 375degrees F.

Whisk together flour, espresso powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a mixer bowl beat butter for 3 minutes until smooth. Add sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla. Add dry ingredients, and mix until they just disappear into the batter. Add chopped chocolate and mix quickly just to incorporate.

Scrape the dough into your prepared pan and smooth into a thin even layer. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the base is bubbly. Remove pan from oven and turn off the oven.

Scatter the chopped chocolate evenly over the top of the hot base and pop the pan back into the oven for 2-3 minutes, until the chocolate is soft. Remove from oven and immediately spread the chocolate over the bars using an offset spatula. Sprinkle the toffee bits over the chocolate and press them down lightly with your fingertips. Cool to room temperature.

Using the foil edges lift the bars from the pan and place on a cutting board and cut into desired sizes. We made our sandwiches about 2x4

For ice cream bars: Line a 9x13 pan with foil. Spread and even layer of your favorite ice cream over the bottom of the pan. Place in freezer and chill until firm. Using the foil liner lift the ice cream sheet from the pan and cut to match the dimensions of your crunch bars. Layer ice cream between two crunch bars. place bars on a rimmed cookie sheet and return to the freezer until firm.

printable recipe

Stay cool and enjoy the rest of your summer.

White Chocolate Mousse

2011-07-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

When the temperature heats up it is nice to have cool sweet treats to enjoy. We do make a lot of ice cream, but sometimes we want something a little different. Most of all we don't want to spend a lot of time in a warm kitchen.

This simple and deliciously silky mousse fits the bill. It comes from Claire Robinson's Five Ingredient Fix cookbook and couldn't be easier to make. If you dress it up with some fresh fruit you have an easy and elegant dessert in just a few minutes, with no oven required. I am not usually a fan of white chocolate desserts, as I find them too sweet, without much of a flavor other than sugar. This mousse, however, was not to sweet and with some fresh blueberries on top, it was a nice cool dessert we enjoyed on the patio after dinner. It is also nice that this is entirely make ahead, perfect for when you have some guests, and don't want to go back to work in the kitchen after dinner.

White Chocolate Mousse

via Five Ingredient Fix by Claire Robinson

Ingredients:
7 ounces white chocolate chopped into small pieces
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
fruit for garnish

Directions

In a large glass bowl, place the chopped white chocolate and set aside.

Add the egg yolks and sugar to a small bowl and whisk until pale in color.

In a saucepan over low heat, bring 1/4 cup of the cream to a simmer and slowly add the cream into the yolk and sugar mixture to temper. Pour the creamy mixture back into pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of it.

Pour hot mix into a fine mesh sieve placed directly over bowl with the chopped chocolate. Stir until completely smooth.

In another bowl, whip remaining 1 cup of the cream to almost stiff peaks. Fold half the whipped cream into the white chocolate mix to lighten and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spoon the white chocolate mousse into 4 serving cups and refrigerate until set, approximately 1 hour. *We thought you could definitely stretch this to 6 or even 8 small servings with some fruit*

Strawberry and Peach Blender Ice Creams

2011-07-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

In Southern California, it is really ice cream season year round, but it always tastes just a little bit better on a hot summer's day. When we were children it was a special treat to make ice cream. We had to have plenty of ice, rock salt, friends willing to turn the crank, and of course my Dad, who would do the final turns when it was too difficult for our tired arms. After all that work, there was nothing better than that first bite of homemade ice cream. Although making ice cream the old fashioned way is fun, I love my new, no pre-freezing required ice cream machine. The only wait time is chilling the custard, but the great thing about both of these ice creams is that they are made in the blender and do not have a cooked base, so they can be ready to churn in minutes. These kind of desserts are perfect for those summer days when it is too hot to turn on the stove and you can't wait 24 hours for your ice cream.

Nothing is easier to make than this peach ice cream. It is light, delicate and silky smooth, and is really nothing more than peaches and cream. Since we have a large crop of peaches, we did make two versions- one with diced peaches marinated in amaretto and one without. We were split on which was better. Mr. Mimi and I liked the chunks of peaches, while Boy Mimi preferred the smooth one, so it is just a matter of personal ice cream taste.

Peach Ice Cream

This is really just a method and we make it with almost any type of fruit.

Peaches

Lemon

Sugar

Cream

Amaretto, or almond extract

Peel and pit peaches, add to blender with the juice of one lemon. Puree until smooth. To 2 1/2 cups of peach puree we added 1/2 cup sugar, but the amount of sugar depend on the sweetness of the peaches so adjust as necessary, remembering that when frozen it will taste less sweet. We added 1 cup cream and pureed until thick. Taste your ice cream and if the flavor is too mild add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon almond extract or a couple tablespoons amaretto. Freeze in your ice cream maker according the manufacturer's directions. If you like, chop up some additional peaches to add at the ending of churning for a chunky peach ice cream. We let our peaches sit in a tablespoon of amaretto while the ice cream was turning.

printable recipe

The recipe for the Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream comes from my friend Kim at Stirring the Pot. It is also a blender ice cream, creamy and smooth with a fresh strawberry flavor balanced by the slight cream cheese flavor in the background. Next time we might bake a graham cracker crust, and add some crumbled pieces to make it even more like a cheesecake.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Adapted from Food.com and Stirring the Pot
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup fresh pureed strawberry
1 cup half and half or cream

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Chill ingredients for about 1 hour, or until cold, and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

printable recipe

Links: Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum

Double Blueberry Tart

2011-07-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Nothing says summer more than the abundance of fresh fruit available in Southern California. We are spoiled with piles of fragrant strawberries, perfectly ripe peaches, and dark sweet cherries, to name a few. When you can get several baskets of fresh blueberries for just a few dollars, you have the chance to try some new recipes- if you can stay away from the old favorites!

This double blueberry tart is one of our family favorites. Everyone loves the fresh blueberry flavor, and I love that it is one of the fastest desserts to put together. It travels well and is perfect for a BBQ or a picnic at the beach during the long summer evenings.

This tart only has a few simple ingredients and comes together quickly. The filling gets thick and sweet, and is excellent stirred into some Greek yogurt in the morning, and spooned over some ice cream after an afternoon of swimming. The recipe comes from The Best of Sunset published 1987, and I have been making it every summer since then!

Double Blueberry Tart
adapted from The Best of Sunset (1987)

6 cups blueberries
9 tablespoons sugar- you can use a bit less if the berries are super sweet
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tart crust
Slightly sweetened whipped cram

1. Combine 4 1/2 cups of blueberries, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often until the berries are as thick as soft jam, 12-15 minutes. Let cool. When filling has cooled, pour into a fully baked tart crust, spreading evenly over the crust. Top with remaining fresh blueberries to completely cover the surface.
Serve topped with whipped cream.

Sweet Tart Dough
via Baking: from my home to yours

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons butter
1 beaten egg yolk

Combine flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor, pulse until mixture is crumbly. Add the egg yolk and process until dough just comes together. Turn the dough out on your work surface and lightly knead until all the dough comes together. Gently press dough into a 9 inch tart pan. Freeze for 30 minutes. Press a lightly buttered sheet of foil against the crust (the freezing eliminates the need for weighs). Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 5-8 minutes until golden brown.

4th of July Cookies

2011-06-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

The minute my neighbor Mrs. M handed me her latest Martha Stewart magaine, I knew I would make these cookies from the cover. It just so happened that Mini Me was home from school for the week and she wanted to make cookies, so we grabbed our aprons and set to work. These cookies were not only gorgeous to look at, but really fun and easy to make.

We made our favorite sugar cookie recipe and a big batch royal icing, and had an afternoon of fun. Although these are just in time for the 4th of July, we thought they would be a fun and easy idea to tailor to any holiday color scheme with the pretty pattern.

I don't have any how to pictures- we were having so much fun I forgot to pick up my camera. I'm sure you could find them on the Martha Stewart web site. I think the trick is to have your icing very thin to get the fluid motion as the colors flow together.

Steps:

1. Outline and flood your cookies with royal icing. We used white for the background.
2. Pipe a dot of color in the center followed by concentric circles of color. On the cookie below the center dot was navy blue followed by three rings of red and ending with a blue ring. Now drag a toothpick from the outer edge to the center of the cookie. Start in center and drag the tooth pick back to the edge of the icing, making a "V" shape with the toothpick. Repeat the process all the way around the cookie

To get some variety you can vary the width of your colored rings and how close together you drag your toothpick to the center to make different patterns. You might only drag the tooth pick from the center, or only from the edge into the center. You can use several different sized cookies, or make some in only two colors instead of three. There are so many ways to do these and they all turn out beautiful, so have fun!

Happy July 4th!

Links:This Chick Cooks
Cast Party at the Lady Behind the Curtain
Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum

Humming Bird Cupcakes

2011-06-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Mimi Jr. decided to make these yummy tropical cupcake for her friend's birthday. The recipe for these Hummingbird cupcakes is from Martha Stewart Cupcakes. They were kind of a cross between carrot cake and banana bread, with the chunks of pineapple, crunchy walnuts and dash of cinnamon bringing everything together into a unique but delicious cupcake. They were very moist and flavorful without being too sweet. Unfrosted, they would make a great breakfast muffin, but everything is good with a swirl of cream cheese frosting so we definitely couldn't leave that out for these birthday cupcakes.

The sweet, slightly crispy dried pineapple flower was the perfect decoration for these cupcakes. It adds to the tropical feel of these treats, was easy to make, and tasted good! These were great for an early summer birthday, but would also be fun for a luau themed party or barbecue. We think diced mango would be a fun addition to add some more tropical flavor and texture to these delicious cupcakes.

Humming Bird Cupcakes

via Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 large)
1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped walnuts, or pecans
1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut
Cream Cheese Frosting - We did not use Martha's recipe. Our favorite recipe is below.
Dried Pineapple Flowers

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in center. Line cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
2 .In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, vanilla, and sugar until combined, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each before adding the next. Beat at medium speed until mixture is pale yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together banana, pineapple, walnuts, and coconut. Add to egg mixture, mixing until combined. Stir in flour mixture.
4. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 28 minutes. (ours were done closer to 22 minutes)
5. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cupcakes have cooled, frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with dried pineapple flowers, if desired. Serve at room temperature.
printable recipe

Cream Cheese Frosting
via Cooks Illustrated
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

Directions
1.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream cheese, 1 piece at a time, and beat until incorporated.
2.Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add sugar, beating until incorporated.Beat in vanilla and salt.

printable recipe

Pineapple flowers
Martha Stewart
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper.
2.Cut top and bottom off pineapple, and slice off all the skin, but leave pineapple whole. Using a small melon ball-er, remove and discard pineapple "eyes." Using a sharp knife, cut pineapple crosswise into very thin slices. Transfer slices to baking sheets. Bake until tops look dried, about 30 minutes. Flip slices; bake until completely dried, 25 to 30 minutes more. Pinch center of each pineapple slice to shape into a cone, and let cool in a clean egg carton or muffin tin to form flowers. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Ours took forever to dry in the oven and they had a caramelized edges which were delicious, but made them slightly brown, not as yellow as the pictures in the book. Martha's pineapple flowers were very yellow just like the freshly cut pineapple and I think that could be achieved if you used a food dehydrator instead of the oven.

Enjoy!

Link:Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
This Chick Cooks

Busy Bees

2011-06-14T17:43:00.000-07:00

You could say that Mimi Jr. and I have been busy as bees making cookies. Mimi Jr. works with a very creative and talented woman, L, who was planning a bee themed birthday party for her six year old daughter, T. She asked Mimi Jr. if we would help out and make some bee cookies for the party. Never one to turn down an opportunity to make cookies, Mimi Jr. said yes. L sent over some ideas, and based on the pictures she showed us, we created these buzzing bee sugar cookies.

We used our favorite sugar cookie recipe and royal icing to make our cookies. Since we had to make 100 of these, we spread out the work over a few days.

First we searched the internet for a bee that we liked and then used it to make a template for our bees. We printed out a sheet of bees and covered it with a sheet of wax paper that we taped to the kitchen island. Then with royal icing we traced over and flooded the the bees wings. When these were dry, we did the head and body, making sure the colors touched so we could peel them off in one piece. We fit 20 bees on each piece of wax paper, and just moved the printed paper to another space on the island and topped it with more wax paper for each new set of 20. We let these dry completely. When the cookies were baked, we flooded them with a pale yellow color and placed the dried bees on top of the almost dry flood icing. When the flood icing was completely dry we added the final details- we did the eyes and mouth with a food writer, and piped the antena and flight path with royal icing.

This was our first real "cookie order" for someone other than family, and we learned a few things along the way. Wait until your flood is almost dry to attach your detail so the wet icing doesn't make the colors from the bee/detail bleed, and don't press them down too hard or your flood icing will wrinkle around the detail.

L made this gorgeous bee hive cake and matching cupcakes with toppers that coordinated with the party invitation. For the boys she had worker bee hard hats, and she made some cute flower headbands for the girls. Party favors included a yellow beach pail filled with assorted black and yellow candy and toys. No detail was over looked in her party planning, and her daughter's excited face made everything worth it.

The worker bees and a crown, for the birthday queen

Happy Birthday T, and Thank You L for letting us create the cookies for your bee-autiful party!

Link: Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum
Cast Party At the Lady Behind the Curtain

Berry Fool

2011-06-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the foods with the strangest names are the very best. And this fool is no exception. Fools are a great easy, light and refreshing dessert. They are also easily adaptable and can be made with a variety of fruits and berries. Cook's Illustrated had a recipe for berry fool in their Best-Ever Recipes issue and it fit in perfectly with a recent outdoor grilling dinner party. It's a little different from other fools that I've made because it has gelatin in the berry mixture. I was a little unsure about that, since I definitely did not want berry jello, but it really worked out nicely giving just the right amount of body to the berries and allowing the streaks of puree to remain distinct in the cream.

When you have perfectly ripe fruit, you can easily decrease the amount of sugar you use to make this a semi healthy summer dessert. We eliminated the sugar entirely from the berry mixture, and loved the fresh, naturally juicy strawberries just by themselves. We are looking forward to trying it with peaches when our crop comes in, and whatever berries we can find at the farmer's markets around town. The recipe below is our take on the berry fool.

Berry Fool
adapted from Cook Illustrated

Berries:
2 1/2 pounds strawberries, hulled
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons sugar

1. Process half of the berries with 1/2 cup sugar in a food process until mixture is completely smooth. Strain berry puree through a fine mesh strainer. You should have 2 1/2 cups puree. Transfer 1/2 cup of puree to a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top and stir to incorporate. Let stand 5 minutes .

2. Heat the remaining puree in a sauce pan until it bubbles (4-6 minutes). Remove sauce pan from heat and stir in the gelatin puree, mixing until gelatin is dissolved. Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.

3. Chop the remaining strawberries into 1/4 inch pieces and toss with 2 tablespoons sugar set aside for 1 hour. Our berries were sweet, so we did not add the sugar.

4. Whip together, heavy cream, sour cream, vanilla and 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff peaks form. Reserve about 1/3 cup for garnish. To remaining cream, whisk in the 2/3 of chilled berry puree until fully incorporated. Gently fold in remaining puree, leaving thick streaks of puree.

5. Assemble: drain uncooked diced berries to remove juice and divide 2/3 of the berries evenly among 6 individual serving dishes/glasses. Top with the creamy berry mixture, followed by remaining uncooked berries. Top each dish with reserved whipped cream. Chill until serving.

Hamburger Cupcakes

2011-05-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Imagine my surprise when Megan at in words and pictures asked me to do a guest post while she is off in Europe shooting a video on craft photography. My first thought was, she's nuts. But I've know Megan since she was a small girl, and she has a very special place in our hearts, so I knew we could not let her down. Megan is such a talented and creative person. She can put together a perfectly felted peep, then turn around and whip up some mushroom risotto, and just when you think she is done, Megan shows you some amazing gardening ideas. And on top of everything, she writes about it in a way that both makes you laugh and feel like you can do anything she just did! This girl can do it all. Her blog covers food, crafts, gardening, photography and life, so if you want a few details on how to make these fun cupcakes and a chance to meet Megan head on over to in words and pictures.

printable recipes and directions

Link: Foodie Fridays

Monkey Cake

2011-05-17T20:21:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that we like to monkey around here at Mimi's Kitchen, so when Mimi Jr. asked me to help her make a monkey cake for a friend, I was happy to assist. It has been many years since I covered a cake in fondant. The cakes always look beautiful, but my family didn't really go for the taste of the fondant so I stuck to buttercreams and ganaches for our family cakes. For this cake, we decide to try marshmallow fondant. It's super simple to make and it really does taste better than the fondant I remember making in the past. This is a really easy cake to make and we thought the fairly simple shape was a good starting point for us to get back into fondant covered cakes.

Marshmallow Fondant

allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners' sugar, divided

Directions
1. Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.

2. Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners' sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.

3.Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.

4.Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar.
printable recipe

Before we got started, Mimi Jr. sketched out her idea and made a template for the face. She started with an 8 inch chocolate layer cake, then filled and crumb coated it with an espresso buttercream frosting. Color your fondant first, before you start constructing the cake, since the color deepens as it rests. You will need three colors of fondant- tan, dark brown and black. For the dark brown fondant, we used both cocoa powder and brown gel food coloring to get the right color. Be careful with cocoa powder as it does seem to dry out the fondant if you add too much. The tan was colored with a small drop or two of brown gel, and the black was also colored with some gel coloring.

For the ears she made an extra cake layer in an 8 inch square pan, and using a cookie cutter, she cut out four small circles of cake, which she frosted and crumb coated like two mini layer cakes. Using the same cutter she cut out a half circle on the main cake on each side where she wanted the ears to be placed. She then frosted over the cut outs on the main cake and slid the ears into place. The frosting helped to hold everything together. Once it was all frosted and put together, we chilled the cake until every thing was set.

When the caked had firmed up in the fridge, we rolled out the dark chocolate fondant and draped it over the cake smoothing it out and using a pizza cutter to trim around the base of the cake.

Next up was the face and ears in tan fondant. We rolled a thin sheet of the tan fondant and placed the face template on top and cut around it with the tip of a sharp knife. We used the black fondant for the eyes, nose, and mouth. We attached all the pieces on top with a little bit of water.

This was a fun project to do and we liked working with this fondant. It was easy to make and use, and tasted so much better than any other fondant. I know we will definitely be using this again next time we have a fun cake project.

Pomegranates

2011-05-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Ryan at POM Wonderful asked if I would like to try their product. No strings attached. He didn't ask me to write a post about it, he just asked me to enjoy it. And enjoy it we did. We love plain pomegranate juice, so we started by pouring POM and sparkling water over ice to make a really refreshing drink that was fruity but not too sweet. Although delicious as just a juice, we knew there were many more uses for our remaining bottles of POM.

Next we made a pomegranate curd. The egg yolks turned the curd a weird color, but it still tasted great. The curd can be used any way you would use a lemon or orange curd, and we turned it into the filling for some pink French Macaroons that I had made. The color combo is not so pretty, but the tangy curd and sweet chewy macaroons were perfect together.

Pomegranate Curd
adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1 cup pomegranate juice, reduced to 1/2 cup
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt

Heat pomegranate juice in in a small pan over medium heat until reduced to 1/2 cup. In a non reactive sauce pan whisk eggs and sugar until light and lemon colored. Whisking constantly, slowly add the pomegranate reduction to the eggs. Place pan over medium heat and cook, stirring continuously until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon (170 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in cold butter, mix until incorporated; stir in cream, vanilla and salt. Pour curd through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.
printable recipe

Then the curd became a white chocolate pomegranate mousse with a pomegranate reduction. We had made this mousse before without the pomegranate and found it a little too sweet from the white chocolate, but the addition of the curd and pomegranate reduction made it just right.

Pomegranate White Chocolate Mousse

adapted from 5 Ingredient Fix

7 ounces white chocolate, very finely chopped

2 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided

1/2 cup pomegranate curd

1/2 cup pomegranate juice reduced by to 1/4 cup

Place white chocolate in a glass bowl and set aside. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale in color.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, bring 1/4 cup cream to a simmer. While whisking, slowly pour the warm cream into the egg yolk mixture to temper. Pour the creamy mixture back into the pan, return to medium-low heat and stir with a wooden spoon until thickened and it coats the back of the spoon. Pour the hot egg mixture through a fine mesh sieve placed directly over the chopped white chocolate. Let stand a few minutes without disturbing and then stir the chocolate until completely smooth.Stir in the curd.

In another bowl, whip the remaining 1 cup cream until soft peaks form. Fold the half the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to lighten, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spoon into serving dishes and refrigerate at least one hour. Drizzle with pomegranate reduction and shaved dark chocolate prior to serving.

printable recipe

Finally we made some pomegranate sorbet. It is so easy to make and perfectly refreshing for the hot weather ahead.

Pomegranate Sorbet

a method

Mix 2 cups pomegranate juice and the juice of one lime with simple syrup, to taste. Pour into ice cream machine and process according to manufacturer's directions. If you don't have an ice cream machine, just pour the mixture into a shallow pan and place in the freezer. Stir with a fork, breaking up the ice crystal every 15 minutes until frozen.

A big thank you to Ryan from POM for this great product. We enjoyed it in so many ways, and I have already received requests for pomegranate margaritas from Mr. Mimi and some dark chocolate pomegranate truffles from Mimi Jr., so I can see a few more bottles of POM on the grocery list in the near future so we can continue to explore the possibilities of POM!

Flower Power

2011-04-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Mimi Jr. and I spent a fun afternoon making these cookies to cheer up Mini Me during mid term exams. We used our favorite white sugar cut out cookie dough and royal icing tinted with neon colors along with a few nonpareils.

These are easy to do, just outline and flood the cookies with the base color, and when dry, pipe on the petals and the center in a contrasting color. These are bright and perfect for spring. I got the inspiration while browsing blogs. I stopped at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle who has a fun post on Easter Eye Candy. I noticed that a lot of decorators were using string work and I thought, what a great way to embellish your cookies. We have always been sprinkle girls at Mimi's kitchen, so this was a new adventure for us, although we couldn't quite get completely away from the sprinkles.

Sugar Cookies

3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.
Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

printable recipe

Spring Cupcakes

2011-04-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is a fun spring project inspired by Hello Cupcake. It's perfect for kids- even your little ones can do this with an adult handy to cut the marshmallow. It is an easy project, with simple ingredients. Make and frost your favorite cup cakes, and grab some marshmallows and sprinkles. With a scissor, slice large marshmallows horizontally in five slices and coat the sticky sides in the colored sugar. Place slices, slightly overlapping, around the edge of the cupcake. For the sunflowers, fill the center of the cupcake with dark brown jimmies.

For the daisies we used Dots, cut in half horizontally and squished flat for the center. You can use any color combination of candies, sugars, and jimmies to make many different spring flowers!

The butterflies were a bit more complicated. They are also from Hello Cupcake and are made with candy melts.

Draw an antenna and a pair wings on paper, place paper on a baking sheet and cover with baking parchment. Melt candy melts in plastic frosting bottles, or zip lock bags. On your parchment, first outline the wings in one color then fill the center with a contrasting color, rap the pan on a hard surface to smooth the candy melts, and using a tooth pick, drag and swirl some of the edge color with the center color. Let set until hardened. Assemble your butterflies on top of your frosted cupcakes. Place wings in frosting at angles pipe some candy melt dots between them (or use round candy) for the body and add your antenna.

Sounds easy. It is if...your kitchen is warm enough so the candy melts stay liquid for a few minutes. Our kitchen was very cold the day we made these butterflies, and when the liquid candy melts hit the parchment on the cold cookie sheet they hardened almost immediately, and the whole thing became very frustrating. Our solution: once the wings were piped, we slid the pan in the a warm oven for a minute to soften the candy melts. Then proceed with rapping and swirling. Success!

Recipe Round Up

2011-03-31T15:56:00.000-07:00

I really love belonging to cooking groups, but I don't like posting about foods that have no recipes to go with them, since this is a cooking blog. To that end I started doing a monthly roundup of recipes I made for Tuesday's with Dorie and French Fridays with Dorie. Well, this month I decide to combine both of the monthly round ups into one big round up. The recipes for Tuesday's with Dorie can be found on the weekly host's blog, to which I will include a link, but for French Friday's there is no host, so if it is a recipe that intrigues you send me an e-mail and I will give you more information.

Our Tuesday's with Dorie recipes were the Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins and the Chocolate Pots de Creme.

Lauryn of Bella Baker chose Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins. These muffins had a big citrus taste, with a coarse almost chewy texture. We made these three different ways; some plain, some with raisin, and a few with craisins. Everyone liked the craisin version the best. The dried cranberries added a nice sweet/tart taste to an otherwise pretty plain muffin. The raisins were good, adding sweetness, but lacking the balance of the semi-tart craisins.

Christine of Black Cat Cooking chose Chocolate Pots de Creme.

This was an intensely chocolate pudding. Dorie had you cook and cool it in a water bath covered with plastic wrap, but I really don't think this improve the texture of this pudding, and next time I would skip this step. We would make this again for the deep, rich chocolate flavor. As a family we don't usually love chocolate flavored desserts because they tend to be too sweet or completely lacking chocolate taste, but this silky smooth pudding and Dorie's chocolate ice cream have both been winners, so she is definitely on to something with her chocolate treats!

The French Friday recipes we made this month were the salted butter break-ups. The pictures in the book were so fabulous and we were most excited about this recipe, but unfortunately, this was the most disappointing. It was really nothing more than a giant sugar cookie, brushed with egg wash for color. It was fun but nothing special. We were hoping the salt would come through, and even used the higher suggested amount, but it was pretty boring. We even tried dipping pieces in melted chocolate, and when that doesn't save a recipe, you know that it is something you probably won't make again.

Scallops with caramel orange sauce was a quick and tasty way to prepare scallops. Although caramel sounds like s dessert item, this sauce had a nice almost burnt taste that paired nicely with the sweet oranges, and was perfect over mildly sweet scallops. This is definitely a recipe that we will make again. It will be a nice change from a quick pasta or chicken dish on our busy school nights.

Brown butter, dried figs, raisins, pistachios, chives, almonds, Parmesan cheese and orange zest

And finally, the real star of this month's recipes was the Beggar's Linguine. Mimi Jr. and I made this for lunch one day because we were pretty sure that the other Mimi's weren't going to go for this fruity pasta. We even had our doubts as we were putting it together and taking our first few bites. We were really close to just skipping it, but figured that the whole point of the group was to try new things so we went for it. The most surprising thing was that with each bite we liked this strange pasta dish more and more. Somehow, the flavors all come together to create a wonderfully savory pasta that is not the sweet dish we had expected it to be based on the ingredients.What we didn't like were the small bits of fruit and nuts with the long strands of pasta. Mimi Jr. suggested that the fruit and nuts would be good with orzo or couscous as everything would be more similar in size and one forkful could get a little of everything. Since I had all the ingredients we made it the following day with couscous. I used about half the amount of butter, and it was perfect. We loved it at room temperature and think it would also be good served chilled as a salad or a side dish with some well seasoned grilled meats.

This month was full of surprises, with some new favorites, and some disappointments. We are excited to see what April's recipes will bring to the table.

DB: Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

2011-03-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

We had a choice of two version of the recipe- Jamie's or Ria's. We chose Jamie's version filled with cinnamon sugar, chopped nuts, and chopped chocolate. This soft, moist, slightly sweet coffee cake was really more of a bread than a cake. As with most yeast breads, they are best the day they are baked, so we made half the recipe that is below.

Mr. Mimi declared that he doesn't like chocolate in his breakfast foods and suggested that next time we fill the bread with raspberry jam instead of the chocolate and nuts. I think he may be on to something.

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter

The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

For the yeast coffee cake dough:

4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour

¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar

¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt

1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast

¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk

¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn't matter what temperature)

½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue:

3 large egg whites at room temperature

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Prepare the dough:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

2. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.

3. With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

4.Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:

In a clean mixing bowl beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling ingredients evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring. Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. I have a convection oven so I skipped this step. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. For a soft crust rub the crust with butter before cooling. Allow to cool.

Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

printable recipe

For Ria's version, using saffron and garam marsala visit the Daring Baker's web site

Orange Cornmeal Cake

2011-03-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Nothing is more satisfying than stepping into the garden, picking some produce, bringing it into the kitchen, and transforming it into something for our family. So much of what we grow we eat as is, like the fat, juicy peaches we pick and eat right away as we stand looking for another to pluck, and the lettuce that becomes a delicious simple salad for lunch.

However, we almost have more citrus than we know what to do with. Besides the tangerine and the lime trees, we have 2 orange, 2 lemon and a grapefruit tree. We do have oranges almost year round, although by late fall the pickings can be pretty slim.

Since they are plentiful now we have been trying out pretty much anything that calls for oranges. This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, Fresh Flavor Fast. It has some unusaul ingredients for a cake, but we loved the way that the olive oil kept it moist, and complemented the bright flavors of the sweet citrus. The cake is not too sweet, and has a hearty texture from the cornmeal (we used polenta, a coarse cornmeal). It is all topped off with a crunchy, sugar crust that really brings the whole thing together. Even in the fall when our oranges are not so plentiful, we would definitely use some for this cake.

Orange Cornmeal Cake
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cup AP flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
zest of one orange
2 eggs
1 cup suagr, 1/3 cup for topping
1/2 cup dry white wine or orange juice.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Oil an 8 inch round cake pan with additional olive oil.
2. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.
3. Rub orange zest into the sugar and whisk in the oil, eggs, and wine until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk to combine.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with 1/3 cup of sugar. Bake until cake begins to pull away from the sides of pan and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.
5. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Invert cake on to a plate and reinvert on to a wire rack and cool completely.

Serve with fresh orange segments.
printable recipe

Lime Cheese Cake

2011-03-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

We all love cheesecake at our house. In fact, cheesecake was our wedding cake when Mr. Mimi and I tied the knot more than 25 years ago. Back in the day, bakeries were not making wedding cheesecake, so I made the layers and my talented sister decorated the cake. Even now, after all those years, our love (for cheesecake) has not diminished. If you looking for a bit o' green for your St. Patrick's Day menu, this would be the perfect way to end the meal.

This cheesecake has three components- the crust, the cake itself, and the lime curd. It is light, sweet and creamy, and the lime curd on top gives a nice, citrusy tang. The basic recipe for this cheesecake is from Cook's Illustrated, but I made a few changes and my version appears below. We liked that it was a smooth and creamy filling, but it was still light, instead of being heavy and dense. I started with a shortbread crust but you could easily use graham crackers, vanilla wafers or your favorite butter cookie for the crust.

Lime Cheese Cake
Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

Mix together, in a food processor until crumbly and press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. When cool, wrap the outside of the pan in aluminum foil. It needs to be water tight so make sure the foil comes up over the top edge of the pan. If you have to use more than one piece of foil, duck tape works great to seal the over lap.I simply wrap a piece of duck tape around the entire outside of the pan that way water can not seep in between the pieces of foil.

Filling:

1 1/2 lb (24oz) cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon lime zest

1/4 cup lime juice

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

Rub the lime zest in to the sugar until well incorporated. In the bowl of a mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese to smooth out. With mixer running, gradually add sugar and beat until completely smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lime juice, vanilla, and salt, mix to incorporate. Add the cream and mix until incorporated. Pour into prepared crust. Place a larger pan (like a roasting pan) that will hold your cheesecake pan on the middle rack of the oven. Place cheesecake pan in the larger pan and fill larger pan with hot water, coming half way up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake in 325 degree oven for about 1 hour. Temperature in the center of the cake should be 150 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Turn oven off and let cheesecake remain in the oven, with the door ajar for 1 hour. Remove pan from water bath and foil covering and allow to cool on a wire rack, at room temperature for about 2 hours. While cheesecake is baking make lime curd.

Lime Curd:

1/3 cup lime juice*

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

a pinch of salt

Heat lime juice in the microwave or in a small pan over medium heat until hot. In a non reactive sauce pan whisk eggs and sugar until light and lemon colored. Whisking constantly, slowly add the hot lime juice to the eggs. Place pan over medium heat and cook stirring continuously until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon (170 degrees). Remove from heat and stir in cold butter, mix until incorporated; stir in cream, vanilla and salt. Pour curd through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Cover surface directly with plastic wrap refrigerate until needed.

*You can easily change this to another flavor, like lemon or orange, by using that type of juice.

Assembly:

When cheesecake is cooled and still in the pan, spread lime curd evenly on the top of the cake. Cover pan tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Run a butter knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, remove sides of the pan and serve.

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Double Chocolate Tangerine Mousse Cake

2011-03-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

I had to share this recipe before the tangerine season is over. I found it in a December Bon Appetit many years ago, but I can't remember what year. It is a light and creamy white chocolate and tangerine mousse layered over a flourless dark chocolate cake. I usually shy away from mousses that use gelatin, because if you use just a tad too much they loose their soft creamy texture and feel rubbery, like jello. But this has just the right amount to help the mousse to hold its shape when unmolded from the pan, and it still has a smooth, light texture. I love the orange and chocolate combination, and the super sweet, home grown tangerines from our yard make this a winning recipe.

Double Chocolate Tangerine Mousse Cake

via Bon Appetit
Cake
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 9 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1/2 cup ground toasted nuts: hazelnuts or almonds

Mousse
• 3 cups strained fresh tangerine or orange juice
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 14 ounces imported white chocolate (such as Callebaut or Lindt), chopped
• 6 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 cups chilled whipping cream

Garnish: grated white chocolate and candied tangerines

For Cake:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 1/2-inch-high sides. Line bottom with parchment. Butter parchment. Dust pan with flour. Melt butter and chocolate in heavy large saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth and melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs and ground nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with very moist crumbs attached, about 45 minutes. Cool completely on rack (cake will fall and crack).

Release cake pan sides. Turn out cake onto work surface. Peel off parchment. Cut off outer 1/2-inch edge of cake. Clean cake pan. Reattach cake pan sides; brush sides of pan with vegetable oil. Set cake in center of pan (there will be space around cake that will be filled in with mousse). Refrigerate cake.

For Mousse:
Boil tangerine juice and sugar in heavy large saucepan until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over lemon juice in small bowl. Let stand 10 minutes to soften.
Add gelatin mixture to tangerine juice mixture and stir to dissolve. Add 14 ounces white chocolate and whisk over low heat just until melted. Whisk in sour cream. Pour into large bowl. Chill mixture until cool and thickened but not set, whisking occasionally, about 1 hour 45 minutes.
Beat chilled whipping cream to stiff peaks. Fold into white chocolate mixture. Pour mousse over cake in pan, covering top and sides completely. Refrigerate cake overnight.
Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Place cake on platter. Garnish as desired.

To candy tangerines:
2-3 tangerines
powdered egg white or meringue powder
water
granulated sugar

Peel and remove as much of the white membranes as possible from the tangerines, separate into segments. Whisk together 1 tablespoon meringue powder or powdered egg white with 2 tablespoons water.
Dip tangerine segments in meringue mixture wipe excess and roll in granulated sugar put on a wire rack to dry.

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FFWD - February Roundup

2011-03-04T14:06:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that it is March already and time for our roundup of February's French Fridays with Dorie recipes. Below are the recipes that made it to our table. All were easy, delicious recipes that I would make again.
basque potato tortilla

Simply flavored with olive oil and onions, and served with a salad, this made a fantastic light dinner. I did mine a little different than Dorie, since I have a friend from Spain and her tortilla is surperb, I followed her directions. I sliced the potatoes instead of cubing them, and cooked them very slowly in olive oil. If you want that smooth creamy texture this is not a process that can be rushed, but it is definitely worth the time.

short ribs in red wine and port

The brasied shot ribs were easy to make and delicious. I used boneless short ribs because that is what I had, but what makes this dish a stand out is the gremolata of orange peel, parsley and garlic. Don't be tempted to skip this step!

orange-almond tart

Last we made the almond orange tart. Dorie's flakey, good for almost everything crust is perfect for the almond pastry filling. While the oranges were good with the almonds, we all felt that stone fruit would be a better choice for this tart and are waiting for our peaches and nectarines to be ripe so we can make it again.

We are looking forward to the March recipes and hope to like them as much as we did these recipes!

Round Up Week Part Two:TWD

2011-03-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

I've been struggling a little with how to organize this blog. Since the Daring Bakers always post the last part of the month, I've decided to make that date the start of the monthly roundups. Part two of the roundup is Tuesdays with Dorie. This month we had more tasty recipes and we managed to make them all.

First Christine of Happy Tummy chose Great Grains Muffins

These were a nice change from the usual blueberry muffin. We liked the mild sweetness from the corn and raisins, as well as the number of options you have for creative mix-ins. These are something we would make again when we are feeling like a healthy version of the breakfast treat.

– Sharon from Simply Southern chose Bourbon Bread Pudding .

Bread Pudding is one of those warm, comforting desserts that is best at the end of a cold, rainy day, and since that is exactly the weather we've had, we were all looking forward to this. Unfortunately, it was a little bit of a let down. We added some chocolate chips and raisins before baking, and without those, it would have been way too bland. I also made a brown sugar-bourbon sauce to drizzle on top, and that is what took this recipe from boring to tasty.

– Caroline and Claire of Bake With Us chose Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

This was the surprise recipe of the month. Everyone really liked these. They were a good combination of chocolate and oats, with just the right amount of cinnamon. They had an almost brownie-like texture, without being too heavy. We even made a second batch to send back to school with Mini Me after she came home for a quick weekend visit.

Mike of Living Out West chose Toasted Almond Scones

I have been wanting to try these for a long time. Fresh out of the oven, these were really good. However, after that, they were just ok. We all really love the flaky, orange zest infused scones I usually make, and felt that these just didn't have the almond flavor we were looking for. For a scone recipe with an egg, these still had a nice texture, as some I have made have turned out rubbery or too dense. I would make these again, and maybe try a few things to increase the almond flavor.

Daring Bakers:Panna Cotta and Florentines

2011-02-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

We chose to make a cappuccino panna cotta, with coffee flavor on the bottom and a thin layer of vanilla on the top. We love this dessert because it is easy to make and can be adapted in so many ways to suit individual tastes. The Florentine cookies are a fun cookie that look fancy, but are also easy to make. The dark corn syrup gives a better golden color, but either way, they are crispy and tasty. The cookies that we spread the thinnest before baking yielded the better cookie- they were thin and crisp, while the thicker ones ended up too chewy. We found that a very thin layer of chocolate was best, as too much chocolate overpowers the delicate cookie and we wanted the sweet oat taste to shine. As much as we love chocolate, these were also good on their own. We enjoyed our afternoon in the kitchen on this challenge and I would definitely make both of these recipes again!

Cappuccino Panna Cotta
Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (one packet) unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups (720 ml) whipping cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. In a small bowl pour milk and sprinkle with gelatin, let stand for 5 minutes to soften gelatin.
2.Heat cream, salt and sugar until it is hot but not boiling and the sugar is dissolved. Add the milk and gelatin mixture to the hot cream. Continue stirring over the heat (do not boil) for about 5 minutes to dissolve the gelatin.
3.Remove from heat and add vanilla. Reserve 1 cup of the vanilla flavored panna cotta mix at room temperature. To the remaining mixture add the 2 teaspoon instant espresso power and stir to combine.
4. Pour espresso panna cotta into individual bowls and refrigerate about 20 to 30 minutes to set.
5. Carefully add the vanilla flavored panna cotta mix over the espresso base.
5.Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add garnishes and serve.

printable recipe

Nestle's Florentines
Ingredients
2/3 cup butter
2 cups quick oats
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light or dark corn syrup
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (11.5 oz. pkg.) Dark or Milk Chocolate Morsels

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with foil. I used silpats

MELT butter in medium saucepan; and remove from heat (I used the microwave and a medium size bowl). Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla extract and salt; mix well. Drop by level teaspoons, about 3 inches apart, onto lined baking sheets. Spread thinly with rubber spatula. I used a small off set spatula dipped in water to spread them thin.

BAKE for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets on wire racks.

MICROWAVE morsels in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 1 minute; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10 to 15-second intervals, stirring just until morsels are melted. Spread thin layer of melted chocolate onto flat side of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to make sandwiches.
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Rustic Dinner Rolls

2011-02-17T20:48:00.000-08:00

I really don't know where the time goes. It's not that I haven't been working in the kitchen, I have, but getting the recipes to the blog is another matter entirely.
If you are a bread lover you are in for a treat. This recipe comes from the Cook's Illustrated Holiday baking issue and has fast become a family favorite. It's basically an an easy recipe since all the kneading is done with your mixer, but there are a few steps involved. When you need that perfect crusty dinner roll, give these a try- you won't be sorry!

Rustic Dinner Rolls
I find it best to weigh the ingredients.

12 1/2 ounces (1 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) warm water
1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons honey
16 1/2 ounces (3 cups plus 1 tablespoon) bread flour
1 ounce (3 tablespoons) whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon table salt.

1. In you mixer bowl whisk water, honey and yeast until combined. Add flours and mix on low speed with dough hook until dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature 30 minutes.

2. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle the salt over the dough. Knead on low speed (KitchenAid speed 2) for 5 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and continue to knead until dough is smooth and slightly tacky, about 1 minute. If your dough is too sticky, add an additional 1 -2 tablespoons flour and mix 1 more minute. Turn dough into a 2 qt bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray or lightly oiled. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft free, place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. When the dough has doubled, remove plastic wrap and starting at the 12 o'clock position, fold the dough over on it's self. Rotate the bowl a quarter turn and fold again. Rotate bowl and fold again. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Repeat folding, replace plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Because the dough is sticky make sure that your hands are well floured.

4.Pre heat oven to 500 degrees. Spray with non-stick cooking spray (or oil) 2 - 9 inch cake pans. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface, divide in half. Stretch each half into a 16 inch long log, cut each log into 8 pieces. With floured hands put each piece, cut side up in the cake pan with 1 in the center and the others around it with the long side of the roll going from the center to the edge of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rolls rise until doubled in size about 30 minutes. Dough is ready when it springs back slowly when pressed lightly with finger.

5. Spray rolls lightly with water, I use my Misto, and bake for 10 minutes, the tops of the rolls will be light brown. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. Turn the rolls out on to a rimmed baking sheet, turn right side up and separate into individual rolls, space rolls evenly on the pan and return to the oven, bake until a brown crust develops on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Notes: I have used both unbleached flour with white whole wheat flour, and bread flour with white whole wheat flour with excellent results. Additionally, when pinched for time I have shaped the rolls after the first rotate/fold/rise and still got fabulous rolls.
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TWD: January Roundup

2011-02-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick roundup of the January recipes. Margo of Effort to Deliciousness chose Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines. Chocolate madeleines are filled with marshmallow fluff filling and dipped in dark chocolate ganache.The madeleines were good, and the ganache really picked up the chocolate taste, however marshmallow fluff doesn't have a strong flavor and the little bit that made it into the madeleine didn't have much impact. We thought a raspberry jam would make a great filling with the double chocolate flavor in the cookies.

Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness chose Lemon Poppyseed Muffins. We really liked these lemony muffins. They were moist and flavorful, unlike the dry crumbly ones you come across almost everywhere. We made half with lemon curd filling and half without.

The curd disappeared into the muffin as it baked, but we sloved that problem by adding more curd when we ate them. Next time we thought we would put a lemon streusel topping on them to dress them up a bit.

We almost didn't make the Nutty, Chocolatly, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake that Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort chose. I've been making similar sour cream cakes since I was a teenager and I had a recipe that I liked. I'm sure glad that I had a change of heart and that Mimi Jr. had the time to put this extraordinary cake into the oven.

Orange, chocolate, cinnamon, raisins and nuts combine with a velvety textured cake to make this the best sour cream swirl cake I've ever had. I'm not sure if it's Dorie's recipe, or if Mimi Jr. is just an excellent baker, but this is one of my top five recipes from Dorie's book.

printable recipe

We did skip the Midnight Crackles cookies as we were not in much of a cookie mood after our holiday cookies. Recipes can be found by following the link to the recipe host's blog. As always, we are looking forward to the February recipes.

FFWD

2011-01-28T14:41:00.000-08:00

Although it's still January, here in Southern California we have had some fabulous weather. Our days have been in the mid-70's, and our nights have been perfectly cool without being cold. It's a reminder that Spring is just around the corner and now would be a good time to get that new swing set for your children or grandchildren, and have it all set up and ready for the longer, warmer days ahead. CSN is the place to do your shopping. CSN has over 200 websites and they sell everything from swing sets and trampolines to patio furniture and cookware. Drop on over and take a look, they seriously have something for everyone.

For the French Fridays Round Up, I'll start with the Chicken B'Stilla. This was our least favorite January recipe. As you can see I didn't use traditional phyllo dough in this recipe. I had shredded phyllo so I made this as a casserole and topped it with the shredded phyllo. This was not a big hit with my family. Maybe it was the combination of flavors from the ginger, lemon, coriander and cinnamon, or maybe the sweet (honey and cinnamon/sugar) and savory combination was what we didn't love. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that turned us off, but there are so many other chicken dinners we like, and so many others we want to try that I probably won't give this one a second chance.

Next up is the Paris Mushroom Soup. As a family, mushroom soup is a favorite and Dori's soup was good, but it still won't replace our favorite Mushroom Soup, which has a deep woodsy, earthy flavor from dried porcinis. I might try a combination of the two recipes, and see what I can come up with.

Gnocchi. We all love gnocchi, but not only are they calorie laden but they can be time consuming to make and if you don't have the right touch they are heavy and gummy. These gnocchi were quick and easy to make, and light and fluffy (I followed Dori's advice and whipped the last egg white and folded it into the batter). They still had way to many calories for every day consumption, but they were so delicious that I am just waiting for a good excuse to make them again.

Our one thought was to add some cheese to the sauce instead of just topping the dish with it, in hopes of infusing the cheesy flavor throughout the gnocchi.

Saving dessert for last, we have Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake.

The cake was full of rich chocolate flavor without being heavy and dense as many flour less cakes can be. Dori had several variation and we chose Dori's favorite, with the baked then chilled mousse layer. Normally when I make a cake like this we fill the center with fresh ripe berries, but none were readily available, so we went with the classic freshly whipped cream.

For the most part the January recipes are one we will be making again, and we are excited for the recipes ahead!

Chili

2011-01-19T00:02:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite family go to recipes is chili. I have been making this for many years and can't find the original recipe, but I think it came from a very old Sunset magazine. We make it with either ground beef or ground turkey, and like both versions. Like almost every chili recipe, it has a few "secret ingredients". No one has ever been able to guess that the rich, deep flavor comes from cocoa powder and molasses. Although they sound more like ingredients for a cookie rather than chili, the result is a slightly spicy chili with a hint of earthy sweetness that is perfect for a cold winter night, or a big Super Bowl party.

The best thing about chili is that you can adapt it to suit your own taste. I make it less spicy when Mini Me is home, and I set aside some without beans for Boy Mimi. You can make it extra thick and serve it on top of nachos or make southwest chili burgers. The options are endless, and all delicious.

Chili

1-2 tbs oil
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs cumin (3 teaspoons)
1 Tbs chopped chipotle chilies in adobo sauce- more or less to taste
1 Tbs cocoa powder
1 Tbs molasses
salt and pepper.
1 can black bean rinsed and drained

1. In a small bowl mix together chili powder and cumin.

2. In a large sauce pan heat oil, add onions and garlic, cook until soft. Add ground beef or turkey, season with salt and pepper, and the chili powder and cumin. Cook over medium heat until no longer pink.

3. Add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes (or longer).

If you don't have molasses use a tablespoon of brown sugar. Adjust the amounts of chili powder, chipotle chilies and cumin to suite your taste.

Serve with shredded jack cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, avocado, cilantro and salsa on the side.
printable recipe

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-01-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

Banana muffins are a great way to eat fruit. At least that is what my children tell me. I've been making these muffins long before I had children, and they are still the most requested breakfast treat. I'm not sure where the recipe originated, but I think I got it from a co-worker long ago. My original is written on a scratch pad from the office where I worked, and it is just a list of ingredients, no directions. It is an old recipe so don't be surprised at the use of margarine or Crisco. I have made them using all three types of fat and whichever you chose, the muffins will be delicious. Of course, the key to good muffins is not to over mix the batter.

Bananas are so versitile, and they go well with many flavors. For years I made these muffins with chocolate chips, but Mimi Jr. got adventurous one day and used blueberries instead of the chocolate chips, and as they say, the rest is history. Pecans and walnuts are good for a bit of crunch, and adding a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter with a sprinkling of cinnamon chips adds a subtle warmth to the sweetness from the bananas. I haven't tried peanut butter chips, but that might not be a bad idea either. Overall, this is the best banana muffin base, with unlimited possibilities in your own kitchen.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1/2 cup butter, real margarine or Crisco
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3 tablespoons buttermilk, or sour milk*
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare standard muffin cups, either spray with non stick cooking spray or use paper muffin liners.
2. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time followed by bananas and buttermilk, mix until well combined.
3. Add dry ingredients and mix only until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
4. Gently fold in chocolate chips, blueberries, nuts etc.
5. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown around the edges and top springs back when gently touched. Don't over bake.

printable recipe

*If you don't have buttermilk you can make sour milk by adding a 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or vinegar to 1/2 cup whole milk. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to curdle. Alternatively, you can use 3 tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt for the buttermilk.

French Friday Round Up

2011-01-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

I hope to get caught up reading all of your blogs soon, but it does take time to read all those posts, bookmark the recipes and wipe the drool off my chin. There are so many post-holiday recipes that I can't wait to try! I thought that I would finish out this week with a round up of the French Friday's with Dorie December recipes. I made four of the five recipes this month.

First up were the Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts.

We love toasted and spiced nuts to snack on and these were delicious, flavored with chili powder and cinnamon for a sweet and spicy snack. I try to cut out sugar when I can so I made a version substituting splenda for the sugar and they were every bit as good as those with sugar.

Next up is the Leek and Potato soup

This was everything Dorie said, simple to make and full of wonderful flavor. We pureed half of the soup, so it was a combination of smooth and silky with rustic pieces of potatoes throughout. The real treat in this photo is that crusty roll. It's from the Cook's Illustrated Holiday baking issue. I will do a post of this recipe very soon.

Now the Speculoos

I haven't had these cookies in years and for the life of me I can't think of a good reason for that. These crispy cinnamon treats were the perfect addition to our cookie boxes this Christmas. I'm not sure why they have such a wrinkly appearance, but I probably didn't chill the dough long enough. Appearance aside, these cookies disappeared fast.

Finally the Beef Daube

You may have noticed that I don't have a photo for this fabulous recipe. I was behind schedule and no one wanted to wait for a photo shoot, including me. I foolishly thought there would be left overs that I could shoot after dinner. My mistake. If you want to see what it looks like visit Kim over at Stirring the Pot , she has a great post on this recipe. Suffice it to say this red wine beef stew is simple to make and has terrific flavor. All of the the December recipes are ones that I will be making again.

TWD: A December round up

2011-01-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. It's good to be back at Mimi's Kitchen. This month I decided that I would do with Tuesdays with Dorie as I have done with French Fridays, and do a monthly round of the recipes I made. The round up is a nice way to showcase the recipes in the book and I will most likely continue this way for the two baking groups.

First, Hindy of Bubie’s Little Baker chose Translucent Maple Tuiles,

These cute little cookie/candy treats are so easy to make but we thought they were more of a granish than a stand alone treat. We enjoyed their maple brown sugar flavor, but felt they really need some mousse or a flan to go along with them.

Next, Amber of Cobbler du Monde chose Apple-Coconut Family Cake

This was a nice moist cake with plenty of apples. Because we are split on the coconut issue, I added coconut to only half of the cake, but even my coconut lovers did not like the coconut in this cake. They thought it was a distracting texture, and preferred just the rum-laced apple flavor of the plain side.

Jill of Jill’s Blog chose Cardamom Crumb Cake

This is a nice tender coffee cake. I baked it in the 8 inch pan as directed, but as you can see from the depth of the cake it really would have been better in a 9 inch pan.

We thought the flavor was ok, but it did not deliver as much of a flavor punch as we expected. The cardamom/orange/crumb combo sounds wonderful, but we felt it was just too subtle.

Since it was such a plain looking little cake, we decide to dress it up with a little drizzle frosting made with confectioners sugar and orange juice. This was just the perfect adorment for this cake, giving it a flavor boost and a little decoration on top too.

December 28 – Rewind! We took a breather, since we have way too many baked goods crowding our kitchen.

To see what the other bakers made visit our blog roll.

Stollen: Daring Bakers December Recipe

2010-12-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

With a dusting of powdered sugar and looking like a snow capped landscape, stollen is a wonderful holiday treat. Stollen is a rich yeast bread loaded with candied orange peel, cherries, raisins and a thin layer of marzipan is tucked inside. When I was a child, a family friend made stollen for us every Christmas season. My mother tucked it into the freezer, so that we could have it on Christmas morning. Then as an adult, before I had children, I made stollen every Christmas for friends and family, but I haven't made it in years, so this was a fun challenge to do with the kids. Rather than making a stollen wreath, we chose to make the traditional loaf shape.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration. .
Since the recipe is long and detailed, this is the link to the printable Daring Bakers Stollen Recipe.

We decide to make our own candied orange peel for the bread and it really was the highlight of this recipe. We have a large tree in the backyard, and the winter season brings baskets full of the fresh fruit, so we were excited to try these out. The fresh candied peel was soft, sweet and delcious in the bread, a pleasant change from the store bought variety which can be hard and chewy.

Candied Citrus Peel
Ingredients:
Citrus Fruit
Sugar
Water

Remove the peel from 3 or 4 oranges (or lemons,limes or grapefruits) and cut in strips.

Blanch the peel 3 times. Place peel in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil. When the water boils, drain and repeat twice more, for a total of three times.

Make a simple syrup: Put water and sugar in a medium pot stir to dissolve sugar and bring to boil. I used equal parts water and sugar, but I have seen recipes that use 3 parts sugar to 1 part water. You need enough syrup to cover the citrus peel. For 3 oranges I used 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar.

Add citrus peel to the simple syrup and simmer until translucent. This took me about an hour. The time will vary depending on how thick your citrus peel is. When translucent remove from the syrup, drain and place on a wire rack to dry. Once drained,you can roll the peel in additional sugar before drying, but I thought this was just to sugary and we ended up knocking the sugar coating off our peels.

Store in an air tight jar in the refrigerator or freeze.
printable recipe

Christmas Cut Out Cookies

2010-12-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

It's always an afternoon of fun when we decorate our Christmas cookies. We are glitter girls here at Mimi's kitchen and we like our cookies to reflect it. The sprinkle drawer is wide open as we pull out all the stops with our jimmies, sugars, and nonpareils. This is one of my very favorite things to do at Christmas, with one of us mixing and rolling, one of us changing pans in and out of the oven, and all of us having a wonderful afternoon that is fun, without all the stress and rush that so often comes with the holidays. We have been doing this for so long, and I love to remember the days when I was doing all the work and my girls were eating cookies as fast as I could make them, and ended up with more frosting and sprinkles on their faces than anywhere else. We have all grown a little since then, but there still appear to be a few cookies missing every time I turn around- but now it is usually Boy Mimi, or Mr. Mimi who sneak one as they pass by.

These cookies were done in royal icing, but we have done them with butter cream, which tastes better, and when you add all the decorative sugars and jimmies they still dry hard enough to stack.

For our Christmas Cut Outs I use this vanilla sugar cookie recipe.

Sugar Cookies

3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 c sugar
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.
Roll onto a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

printable recipe

For the royal icing I use the recipe on the Wilton's Meringue can. So break out the cookie cutters and kitchen "glitter" and have fun!

Links: Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

2010-12-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Dark chocolate, cripsy refreshing mint and creamy white chocolate combine to make this fantastic cookie. If you are a Girl Scout thin mint lover this cookie is for you. The recipe comes from Martha Stewart, but I found it over at Barbara's blog, Moveable Feasts. Barbara is an incredible blogger dishing up everything from retro 50's and 60's recipes to tomato sorbet, nothing is off limits for her. Every recipe I have tried from her blog has been a hit. Happily encouraging her fellow blogger, she is a great friend. If you haven't visited with her you should definitely drop on by for a visit.

We made them last year at the last minute, not sure how we would like them, but they were gone fast (before I could even get a picture) and they were the first cookie requested by the family to kick off our holiday baking this year. We really love our usual holiday cookie traditions, so for us to find a new treat to add to the mix says a lot. They are great with an afternoon mocha and look very festive on a holiday cookie tray, or bagged up and tied with a cute red ribbon.

I used peppermint oil for these, because that's what I had, and since it is much stronger than extract i just used a few drops. The cookies themselves were perfectly minty, but once covered in the white chocolate, we felt they could have used just a bit more mint flavor. Next time I would err on making the cookies just slightly too minty so when they are all done, they will be the perfect balance of chocolate and mint. So don't be afraid to use slightly more extract if needed to suit your taste.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
(Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, December 2008 via Movable Feasts)

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour plus more for surface
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
8 large candy canes or 30 peppermint candies, crushed
2 pounds white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 325°. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Beat butter and sugar with a mixer for 1 minute. Add egg, then yolk, beating well after each addition. Beat in peppermint extract. Slowly add flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Mold dough into 1 large disk and cut in half. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour (or up to two days).
Roll out 1 disk on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Use a 2" cookie cutter to cut out circles and place them on parchment paper. Freeze until firm, at least 15 minutes.

Repeat with remaining disk.

Bake until cookies are dry to the touch, about 12 minutes. Transfer parchment, with cookies, to wire racks and allow to cool. Make sure that your cookies are complete baked you do not want a soft center.
Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water. Remove from heat and dunk cookies into the melted chocolate. Turn cookies using a fork; let excess drip off and gently scrape the bottom of the cookies against the edge of the bowl. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the crushed candy.
Refrigerate until set, up to 3 hours. Decorated cookies are best served the same day. (I have successfully kept these cookies for 2 weeks stored in an air tight tin and hidden from my family)

Martha says you will get about sixty 2 inch cookies but I only got about 3 1/2 dozen. Next time I will use a 1 3/4 inch cutter since the baked cookies would then be about 2 inches.

printable recipe

Links:Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum