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.
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.
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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.
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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