Garden Cookie Cutters

Garden Cookie Cutters
It may not be time for spring as far as the flowers in your garden are concerned (even during a mild winter), but with this set of Garden Cookie Cutters you can get spring started in the comfort of your kitchen. These cookie cutters are some of the cutest cutters I’ve seen in a long time because the plastic is shaped just like the finished cookies. The cutters punch out very detailed cookies not just the outlines of cookies – in eight different designs, including a rose, daisy, tulip, dahlia, ladybug, butterfly, bumble bee and dragonfly. They’re easy to grip and kids will have just as much fun with them as adults, especially since the plastic handles are more kid-friendly than you’ll find on some cookie cutters.

Once the cookies have baked, you can serve them as-is and enjoy the look of the plain designs. You can also whip up some colored frosting and fill in the details on the cookies for a more colorful array. As always with cookies like this, I recommend using a homemade butter cookie dough that won’t spread too much so that you preserve as much of the design as possible after baking, rather than using store-bought sugar cookie dough which will still work, but typically spreads enough that you lose some of the finer details from cookie cutters like these.

What does it mean to temper chocolate?

Marbling chocolate
Tempering is a word that means improving the consistency, durability or hardness of a substance by heating and cooling it. Many substances, including metals, are tempered but the most important one might be chocolate. Tempered chocolate is very glossy, has a firm finish and melts smoothly at around body temperature. It is chocolate at its very best, and tempered chocolate is what most good quality chocolate candies, candy bars and bon bons are made out of.

Tempering is done by melting solid chocolate to a temperature high enough that the crystals  in the cocoa butter (yes, there are tiny crystals in your chocolate) break down. This temperature is between 110-120F. Once the chocolate is fully melted, it must be cooled to about 82F, a temperature at which crystals will start to form again so that the chocolate can eventually re-solidify. The chocolate’s temperature is then raised back to about 90F, where it is very fluid and can be poured into chocolate molds and used for other applications. All chocolate – white, milk and dark -  can be tempered.

The crystals that start to form when the chocolate is cool (Beta 5 crystals, if you want to get specific) are stable crystals contained in the cocoa butter of chocolate. They provide the necessary structure for the chocolate to become shiny, smooth and have a good “snap” when it is set.  Chocolate that has not been tempered or that has been improperly tempered will look flat or discolored. It will lack the sharp “snap” of tempered chocolate and will typically not be as smooth as it melts.

Tempered chocolates
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Nordic Ware Sweetheart Rose Cake Pan

Rose Cakelet Pan
What could be better than a bouquet of roses on a holiday like Valentine’s Day? How about a bouquet of edible roses made from cake? The Nordic Ware Sweetheart Rose Cake Pan is a nonstick, cast aluminum pan that bakes cakes into a dozen detailed roses. Each rose looks like a bloom that hasn’t quite opened yet, and while they are very detailed, but the details of the petals are well planned out so it is still easy to get the cakes out of the pan with the design intact.

The cavities of the pan each hold a half cup of batter, which makes them about the same size as your standard muffin cavity. Recipes for muffins and cupcakes will work very well in this pan, although I recommend choosing recipes that don’t have large mix-ins (such as fruit or chocolate chips) because they may obscure the details of the pan’s design. After baking, turn the cakes out of the pan and allow them to cool. If necessary, trim the bases of the flowers so that they sit flat, with upright blooms.

A cake with this much detail is best served plain or with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar so you can see the design clearly. A thin glaze is also a good option, if you want some extra sweetness, or you could pipe a filling into the cupcakes through the base of the cake so that there is a sweet surprise in the center of each rose.

Cinnamon Streusel-Topped Cherry Crisps

Cherry Crisp
A slice of fresh cherry pie that is freshly baked is just about irresistible – especially when you were the one baking it and your kitchen still smells like home-baked pie. Cherry cobbler and cherry crisp are right up there, too, when it comes to tempting cherry desserts. They’re easier to make and they’re always available when they’re hot from the oven (while cherry pies typically need to cool for the filling to thicken).

These Cinnamon Streusel-Topped Cherry Crisps are individual desserts that pack a whole lot of cherry flavor into a very small package. Juicy cherries make up the main part of the dessert, of course, but a crisp and buttery streusel topping is what makes it a winner for me. The topping is made with oatmeal, ground cinnamon and brown sugar, with some chopped pecans tossed in for extra crunch and flavor. A pinch of salt adds just the right amount of contrast to the topping, so you can really taste every element alongside those cherries. Almonds would also work very well in the streusel, as they tend to be a great match with cherries.

Cherries are a fruit that are typically in season late in the spring and summer, but they keep very well and I have them in my kitchen all year round. I keep frozen cherries in the freezer and jars of good-quality cherries (packed in cherry juice) in the pantry for any occasion that I might need them for. They both work just as well as fresh cherries will – and since they seem to release a little more juice than fresh cherries, you can even end up with a slightly saucier cherry crisp. Any kind of cherries will work, from sour cherries to black cherries. I personally tend to go with the sweeter black cherries, but a mix of different types will produce an outstanding dessert.

I like these best when they’re fresh from the oven, but they keep very well and leftovers are terrific for breakfast. I heat up my leftovers for a few seconds in the microwave to warm them up again before re-serving.

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Bites from other Blogs

  • There are so many desserts that you can make with ripe bananas that it can be difficult to narrow down your options when staring at a bunch that is ready to use. The Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes from Annie’s Eats are a good place to start. The cupcakes are a little time intensive compared to some other cupcake recipes, but they are worth every moment of effort. Vanilla bean cupcakes are filled with homemade pastry cream and slices of fresh bananas. The cupcakes are then topped with whipped cream, another banana slice and a piece of crispy pie crust that ensures you remember where the inspiration for these indulgent cakes came from.
  • Pinch of Yum‘s Malted Double Chocolate Chip Cookies have a healthy dose of malted milk powder that works very well in these vanilla-laced chocolate chip cookies. These cookies do use shortening, and this recipe provides a good example of why vegetable shortening can be a great ingredient in cookies: the shortening doesn’t add any extra flavor itself and so the other flavors in the cookie (malt and vanilla) can really come through. These cookies are reminiscent of chocolate malted soda fountain drinks and have that great addictive quality that malty foods do. Be sure to serve these with a big glass of milk. If you want to take them over the top, consider using them to make ice cream sandwiches.
  • Another malty recipe can be found at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody with her Malted Milk Marshmallows. These homemade marshmallows have malted milk powder incorporated right into them, giving them a nice malty flavor to go with the vanilla sweetness of the regular marshmallow. They’re perfect for melting into a big mug of hot chocolate. And be sure to choose a big mug, as homemade marshmallows tend to be a bit on the large side and you’re going to want to fit as many as you can into that hot chocolate!
  • Homemade waffles definitely qualify as comfort food, and when you make the Waffles with Southern Comfort Praline Sauce that Confections’ of a Foodie Bride did, it is even moreso. The waffles themselves are light and fluffy, and can be made in either a regular or Belgian-style waffle maker. The syrup is made with maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and a good splash of Southern Comfort. Toasted pecans are added to the syrup to highlight its nuttiness and to add some crunch to the dish. It’s a great combination for breakfast, but it’s also worth noting that the elements of this recipe can also be used with other dishes and you might find yourself making plain waffles and Southern Comfort Praline ice cream sundaes in the future.
  • The Almond Joy Cookies that Heather Christo Cooks recently baked are inspired by the elements that make up the popular almond joy candy bars: coconut, almond and chocolate. These are chocolate chip cookies that are densely packed with shredded coconut and studded generously with slivered almonds and chocolate chips. Chewy and buttery, these cookies are good for any coconut lover and are probably a lot more satisfying to make and eat than eating one of the candy bars of the same name.