Tag Archive for: dessert

Valentine’s Day Cocktails

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My Valentine’s day presents to Corby have ranged from venison beef jerky to a weird ridiculously toxic old fabric cleaner that his dad used to have and is apparently awesome.  Clearly we are not traditional Valentine’s Day celebrators.  This is mainly because Corby’s birthday is on February 16th, and he likes his birthday a lot more than Valentine’s day, so this year I am just making Valentine’s Day cocktails- Raspberry Chocolate Kiss Cocktails to be exact (found them on www.delish.com- photo from Martha Stewart), and they hopefully they will be a huge hit!  The red color and chocolate garnish really does make them super Valentinesy and fun and delicious!  Happy Valentines Day!!

Raspberry Chocolate Kiss Cocktails

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vodka

2 tbsbs cranberry juice

3 chocolate cookies finely crushed

10 raspberries

ice cubes

Directions:

Fill a shallow dish with enough simple syrup to just cover the bottom. Place crushed cookies into another shallow dish. Invert a martini glass into simple syrup and then immediately into crushed cookies to coat the rim of the glass.
Place raspberries in a cocktail shaker; crush with a muddler. Add simple syrup and muddle again. Add vodka and cranberry juice; fill shaker with ice. Shake well until chilled. Strain into prepared martini glass. Serve immediately.

 

Red Hot Baked Apples

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Valentine’s Day is almost here, which of course means I can eat red hots all day long.  It doesn’t really, but I am using it as an excuse.  I love red hots.  They are in my top five favorite candies, and sometimes they are really hard to find.  Fortunately, they are always in the baking aisle at the grocery store to be used as decorations.  I can eat the whole container in a matter of minutes.  Here is a fantastic recipe from allrecipes.com using red hots, and it is super fun for Valentine’s Day.  There really are enough red-hot recipes out there.  Please share if you have some more!!

Red Hot Baked Apples

Ingredients:

6 apples
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cinnamon red hot candies
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8×8-inch square pan.
Remove and reserve the tops of apples. Core the apples, leaving approximately 1/2 inch at the bottom. Arrange in the baking dish.
In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and red hot candies. Fill each apple with the mixture. Replace apple tops. Sprinkle the remaining mixture over the apples.
Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until apples are tender.

 

Mocha Chiffon Cake

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I was flipping through the channels on Saturday morning and stopped at a cooking show where two women were making a chiffon cake.  Of course I was inspired immediately, so instead of watching the rest of the show or even figuring out what show it was, I started googling chiffon cake recipes.  There are quite a few ways to make a chiffon cake, but the mocha chiffon cake caught my eye.  My mother makes the best chocolate mocha torte (which I will have to put up at some point because it is so good), and the mocha taste is just heavenly.  I love this lighter version where the cake is not as heavy, and the frosting is optional but who opts for no frosting?

Mocha Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup brewed coffee
1/2 cup cooking oil
8 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup white sugar

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour the coffee, oil, and egg yolks into the well; beat well by hand until the batter is smooth with no lumps.
Beat egg whites with the cream of tartar in a large bowl until foamy. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Lift your beater or whisk straight up: the egg whites should form a sharp peak that holds its shape. Fold the batter into the egg whites; pour into a non-stick Bundt® fluted tube pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Loosen the sides with a knife and release the cake onto a serving platter.
Mocha Buttercream Icing:

For the Mocha Buttercream

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons instant coffee, dissolved in a splash of hot water

Directions:

In your mixer, beat the softened butter with the powdered sugar until it is creamy.
Add in the cocoa powder, vanilla extract & coffee.

Beat with the mixer until it’s nice and fluffy (about a minute or 2)
This makes a perfectly spreadable frosting. The nice thing about it is that you can put it in the fridge to make it a little more firm if you would like.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Sometimes there is nothing better than a chocolate chip cookie.  I used to make them all the time when I was little- starting from scratch with the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House yellow bag.  So great.  Of course, eating the dough was my favorite part, but warm chocolate chip cookies are so delicious- there is not much better.  They stand alone well, they go well with a glass of milk, some vanilla ice cream, whip cream- it’s all good.  Some people add walnuts to theirs, and while that is still a great cookie, I prefer no nuts.  Here is a fantastic recipe for truly the perfect chocolate chip cookie!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour and chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

The Manor Born Banana Cake with Coffee Buttercream

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I love bananas in dessert.  They add such a wonderful flavor and creamy texture, and somehow any dessert with bananas evokes some great far-off memory I can never quite put my finger on.  Banana splits, banana pudding, banana bread- they are all delicious.  I came across this recipe in Saveur Magazine, and wow- it is something else.  The coffee flavor in the frosting is so amazing with the banana flavor in the cake.   This one is definitely a crowd pleaser and one to keep on hand!  And it works perfectly as a cake or as mini cupcakes.  The recipe is originally from Serendipity 3 in Manhattan- and according to Saveur, while it has not been on the menu since the 1960’s, it is still one of the owner’s favorite desserts.  Who can argue with that!

The Manor Born Banana Cake with Coffee Buttercream

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4  cups cake flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cups sugarhttps://thesouthwillrise.com/wp-admin/post-new.php
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (from about 2 medium bananas)
2 eggs
Scant 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup coarsely chopped shelled unsalted pecans

For the Frosting:

1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. instant espresso powder
6 egg yolks
1 lb. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and softened

Directions:

For the cake: Preheat oven to 375°. Use 1 tbsp. of the butter to grease three 8″ round cake pans, line each pan with parchment paper, and set aside. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside. Beat remaining 7 tbsp. butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until fluffy, 3–4 minutes. Add bananas and beat on medium speed until well combined. Add eggs and buttermilk and beat until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until just incorporated, then fold in pecans. Divide batter equally between prepared pans, smoothing tops with the spatula. Bake until cakes are golden brown and spring back when touched, 10–15 minutes. Cool cakes in their pans for 5 minutes on a wire rack, then remove them from pans, peel off parchment, and allow cakes to cool completely on the rack.

For the frosting: Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and boil over medium heat until sugar dissolves and syrup reaches 238° on a candy thermometer, 15–20 minutes. Meanwhile, dissolve espresso powder with 1 tsp. boiling water in a small bowl and set aside. Beat egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until pale yellow, 4–5 minutes. Gradually add hot sugar syrup to yolks in a slow steady steam down the side of the bowl, beating constantly on medium speed, and continue beating until mixture cools to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Add butter, one piece at a time, beating thoroughly on medium speed after each addition, and continue beating frosting until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in espresso and set aside.

To assemble the cake, stack cake layers on top of each other on a cake plate, spreading about 1 cup of the frosting between each layer, then ice side and top of assembled cake with remaining frosting. Decorate cake by piping some of the frosting on top and garnishing with coffee beans, if you like. Refrigerate cake until frosting is set. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

Apple Crisp- Always a Winner

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I went to boarding school in Connecticut, and let me tell you, for those of you who don’t know- Connecticut winters are long.  Really long. Especially when you are used to South Carolina weather- that cold will take your breath away.  While I do love the snow, and skiing, and lots of things about winter, I have to say that I am enjoying the mild weather down south so much more.  But back to the cold dark winters of Connecticut.  We had vespers and formal dinner four nights a week- this meant boys in coats and ties and girls in skirts or dresses.  We would run in our nice dress shoes and stockings from our dorms across the very short driveway and yard to the main building where Vespers and dinner were held.  I never thought my legs or hands or face would get as cold as they did on the 20 yard sprint to main building, so of course I never wore a coat or gloves or anything smart.  Anything for fashion right! Well despite all of that torture (but not really because I did love it all), the dining hall would occasional serve apple crisp for dessert.  It was by far and away everyone’s favorite dessert.  My mouth waters just thinking about it.  Apple crisp and a few other things they did well- the rest of the food was typical dining hall food.  But seriously, their apple crisp was worth all the cold and darkness.  Here is my favorite apple crisp recipe- so delicious!!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Whipped cream or Ice cream, if desired

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

Arrange apples in the bottom of the pan. In a bowl, rub together brown sugar, flour, oats, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg until well combined. Sprinkle mixture over apples.

Bake crisp for 30 minutes or until apples are tender. Remove from oven and top with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream to serve.

Best Holiday Gift- Hot Fudge Sauce

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I was looking around for easy fun gift ideas for friends when I saw in Southern Living (www.southernliving.com) the idea of gift jars of hot fudge sauce.  I had a few nights before fixed Corby and Walker ice cream for dessert and had found some hot fudge in the refrigerator.  I heated it up and poured some on Corby’s ice cream.  This is not something that we have very often at all, and I am wondering now why we don’t have it very often because it is awesome.  For some reason, it is just not something I think about adding to ice cream, and it makes ice cream- especially oreo ice cream so much better!  So, this gift idea really appealed to me, and of course they had an awesome recipe to go with it.  Find some mason jars and fill them with hot fudge sauce- which by the way is super easy to make, tie a ribbon around them, and you have become the hero of Christmas!

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:

1 (8-ounce) package unsweetened chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Melt chocolate and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add milk, and cook, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. (Do not boil.) Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and salt. Cover and chill leftover sauce up to 2 weeks.
To reheat: Microwave sauce in a glass bowl at HIGH 1 minute. Stir and microwave at HIGH 1 more minute or until sauce is thoroughly heated.

Lemonade and Gingerbread Angels

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I am trying so hard to get into the Christmas spirit!!  But when it is over 80 degrees, and Walker and two of his buddies have a ragingly successful lemonade stand in the middle of December, it just does not feel like Christmas.  So to combat the feelings of summer, I made gingerbread angels over the weekend.  They are so pretty, and now the house smells like cinnamon and nutmeg and all sorts of Christmasy smells, and it is back in the frigid 70s today, so a little less like summer.  I got a very cute picture of my angels pre decorations and wanted to get one post decorations, but Walker and his friends ate them too quickly.  I love this recipe because it is so easy, but the one trick I think is to make sure you roll out the dough thinly enough because the gingerbread definitely rises in the oven.

Gingerbread Men (or Angels)

Cream:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses

Sift:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to the butter- sugar mixture alternately with about 1/4- 1/2 cup water, or enough to be able to roll out the dough.  Cut into shapes for a house or into gingerbread men and bake on double waxed paper.  Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Christmas Parade and a Cookie Decorating Contest

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The annual Charleston Christmas Parade was yesterday afternoon.  I haven’t been to the parade in maybe twenty years, and it was so much fun.  The parade route runs right in front of the Charleston Library Society where I work, and it is definitely one of the best places to watch the parade.  First, the steps going up to the Library offer seating and a great vantage point for lots of people, and more importantly, we hosted an awesome cookie decorating contest.  We had a category for adults and one for children, and everybody got so into it.  We had four tartlet dishes donated from Le Creuset for our adult winner, and we had two gift certificates to Robot Candy for our kid winners.  I was in charge of making/getting the cookies and all of the decorating items.  I took Walker to the grocery store with me to help me pick out what we would need, and let’s just say we went a touch overboard (which is probably why the cookie were as awesome as they were)!  I had every intention of baking 200 sugar cookies using this great recipe I found on a wonderful blog called Baked Bree (www.bakedbree.com).  They really are delicious cookies, but while at the grocery store, the 12 for $3.00 fresh baked sugar cookies seemed so much easier, so those won out.  However, if you don’t have to make 200 cookies, I highly recommend this recipe.  Judging was very difficult with so many creative cookies- such a fun day!!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups softened unsalted butter
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon butter extract (optional)
7 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cream together the butter and sugar until it is really light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and butter extracts. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3-4 hours or overnight.
Roll the dough out and cut using your favorite cookie cutter.
Bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Do not brown the edges.

 

Not a trick Carrot Cake

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I used to think my mother was trying to trick me into eating vegetables when she would make carrot cake.  I also used think she was not being very sneaky since she called it carrot cake- clearly there were carrots in there.  So, of course I would scrape off the delicious cream cheese icing and not eat the carrot cake.  It wasn’t until actually recently that I ate carrot cake- the actual cake part, and it is freaking delicious.  Who knew!! And it turns out, my mom’s is the best- I might be biased but you can judge for yourself.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups cooking oil

3 cups grated carrots

4 eggs

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Sift first 6 ingredients into a bowl; stir in oil.  Add carrots and then eggs, one at a time.  Fold in nuts and bake at 300 for 45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

Mix with hand mixer 1 package (8oz) cream cheese at room temperature, 2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 stick butter softened and 1 box of powdered sugar. (It is still the best part of the cake!)