Filed under Foodies and Chefs, Baking by Nicole | 2 comments
- Sometimes you have to be a little creative when you’re giving a recipe a title, whether you’re embelishing with an adjective or taking care to mention a special ingredient. You can’t just call everything “cake” or “cookie” - not if you want to tempt other people into trying the recipe! A whisk and a spoon had to shorten the name of her Rhubarb-filled yogurt cupcakes with lemon butter icing and pistachios for the purpose of titling her post, but there is more than enough good stuff packed into that one recipe to grab my attention and put it on my “to-try” list!
- Truth for the ages: “My idea of perfect happiness is clarity about that which fulfills me - plus - I fully believe that desserts should be damn free of all damn calories.” I have to agree completely with Velvet Lava - especially on the last bit there. Fortunately, as she also points out, it’s always free to look, so be sure to take a good long one at her Shortbread Tartlets with Mocha Frosting. They’re certainly not calorie free, but one glance of their decadence is definitely satisfying enough to hold you over for a few hours while you make them.
- Strawberry season is in full swing and you can never have too many recipes that really make good use of a seasonal bounty of ripe berries. A fresh fruit tart is always a good idea and the Strawberry Rhubarb Tart that Dessert First posted looks like a winner. The recipe was originally designed by the ever-brilliant Pierre Herme and DF decided to garnish it with some homemade Brown Sugar Ginger Ice Cream, too.
- Somebody tell Aaplemint that there is only one reason to even consider apologizing for the photo accompanying the recipe posted for Dark Chocolate, Mocha and Chocolate Cake Parfaits and that is not because they are oozing chocolaty goodness down the sides of their parfait glasses. It’s because we can’t taste the finished product from the mouthwatering photograph alone. The bit of melting mousse makes it look more appealing than ever.
- The post-Bake-Off glow has worn off and I’ve returned to posting non-Bake-Off recipes here lately, but I’ll always have a soft spot for old contest-winning recipes. Apparently, so does Fruit Tart. This recipe for Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies was a prize-winner in 1990 and has been reprinted many times since. The cookies have a chocolate dough that is wrapped around a chocolate and caramel candy center. They’re similar to this year’s winning recipe, in that the cookies are filled with something delicious. I guess that’s a recipe for a winner no matter what year it is!
- Finally, you won’t find any recipes at Bent Objects, but you will find some fantastic and witty foodie artwork there. Artist Terry Border uses both organic (like food) and inorganic bits and pieces to put together some excellent works, like Prehistoric Citrus were Very Clever Hunters, Aaaarsh-Mallows, the Red Wine Pistachio Bird and, definitely a favorite, Salad is Murder.
Filed under Foodies and Chefs, Baking by Nicole | 0 comments
- Call it a cheesecake theme if you wish, but there are too many cream-cheesy posts to pass up this week. For instance, there is a White Chocolate Cheesecake at Velvet Lava. Tall, creamy and - naturally - very decadent, it’s comfort food at its finest. Eat a slice at the end of a bad day to forget about pesky, mundane things like calories and just enjoy!
- As a fan of salted caramel, I almost feel obligated to share What We’re Eating’s Salted Caramel Spilled All Over Cheesecake. The recipe is for a classic, creamy cheesecake that comes with a rich, salt-spiked caramel sauce to drizzle, well, all over it. This is one of the instances where I’m glad that the internet has put some distance between me and the dessert, because I’m positive that this is one irresistible combination.
- This cheesecake dish doesn’t actually involve cheese at all. Instead it uses vegan cream cheese. I’ve used Tofutti cream cheese with great success in my baked vegan cheesecake recipe and I’m not at all surprised to see that it worked out for Could it be Seitan? in her Vegan Cheesecake Pops. She used tofu and soy creamer to replace the milk and eggs with great success, too. The result is a bite-sized dessert that you can really feel good about eating (although it’s just about as rich as the “real” non-vegan thing, for which the recipe is also included).
- Changing over to less cheesecakey topics, The Accidental Scientist has just relocated to Hawaii and made up a decadent-looking, but healthy, island-inspired breakfast treat of Lemony Fruit and Yogurt Cocktails. The dish is a layered parfait, with a base of whole wheat cous cous topped with vanilla yogurt, lemon, mint and fresh fruit. TAS opted for papaya and pineapple - definitely a taste of Hawaii.
- In spite of the fact that those who do it regularly swear that it’s easy, I don’t make preserves very often beyond the occasional small batch of jam and am always impressed when I see someone else putting in the time and effort to make their own. Big Black Dogs’ creative recipe for Zesty Red Onion Jelly is quite tempting. It sounds simple and the product has a gorgeous color, not to mention a tangy-sweet flavor that would go well with both sweet and savory dishes.
- It’s hard not to have a soft spot for crunchy, dunkable cookies when you consume a lot of coffee and tea. Biscotti top my list, but the Italian Polenta Cookies Joe posted at Culinary in the Country have equal appeal. They’re elegant, as a piped cookie, but have a lovely rustic texture to them from coarsely ground cornmeal in the dough. A hint of lemon gives them a flavor boost, though it seems like a good cup of coffee would do exactly the same.
Filed under Foodies and Chefs, Baking by Nicole | 1 comment
- Butter brickle is a cutesy name for toffee or toffee flavored things. It started out as a trademarked name for some toffee ice cream in the 1920 and gradually got passed to the maker’s of Heat bar and finally on to Hershey’s. Since Heath is still the primary maker of chocolate covered toffee bits - for baking or otherwise - the name pops up with lots of different types of baked goods. Cookie Baker Lynn’s Lynn’s Butter Brickle Munchers use the toffee bits to dress up an already good, moist and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe. The toffee highlighted the dough’s browned butter flavor and added a contrasting texture.
- While we’re on the subject of candy, there is a lot more that can be done with a candy bar than just cutting it up and stirring it into cookies, no matter how good those cookies are. Alpineberry baked a Snicker’s Pie, for instance. The ultra-rich pie has layers of fudge, cream cheese and chocolate ganache on top of a graham cracker crust and looks very like the cross section of a snickers. Some actual candy bars are cut up and added to the pie, too.
- I always enjoy making clafoutis because they are simple and quite elegant. Instead of going for elegant, Bron Marshall decided to opt for fun with his latest clafoutis and made Banana Split Clafoutis. He baked halved bananas in boat-shaped bowls, then topped them with chocolate chips, homemade ice cream, whipped cream and walnuts. All that is missing is the cherry!
- 80 Breakfasts also used a boat-shaped dish for a recipe this week. The dishes were lined with puff pastry, then topped with thick-cut bacon, whole eggs, mustard and cheese, then baked into Breakfast Bacon and Egg Pies. The pastry provides and quick and easy crust, making the classic flavors of the other elements look a lot fancier. It’s fast enough for a weekday, but is a perfect brunch dish.
- Just as a lot can be done with puff pastry, a lot can be done with phyllo. Once Upon a Tart has been playing around with it lately and used it in a great recipe for Potato Strudel with Sage and Ham. It doesn’t take long to slice and cook the potatoes, but this is the kind of dish that is a perfect use for leftovers since all the filings can be easily changed and rearranged. A nice - and good looking - alternative to a sandwich for lunch.
- I’ve always been a vanilla cupcake kind of girl, but even if I preferred chocolate, I wouldn’t hesitate to reach for one of Cupcake Bakeshop’s Three-Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Sea Salt. The light and fluffy cupcakes have three types of vanilla in them to give them a very bold, rich vanilla flavor: vanilla extract, vanilla sugar, and vanilla bean. On top of that (quite literally), the cupcake is finished with a sprinkle of vanilla sea salt. The salt can be found at a few specialty stores, but can easily be made by mixing vanilla bean with sea salt and storing it.
Filed under Foodies and Chefs, Baking by Nicole | 1 comment
- What do you do to celebrate the arrival of a brand new puppy, just home from the animal shelter? Or, perhaps more accurately, what did Gruet Omelet make to celebrate a new puppy going home with her brother? Mud Slide Ice Cream Cake, of course. The rich and creamy dessert is easy to make and has a lovely ice cream filling that makes it perfect for the “dog-days” of summer (and making the connection between dessert making and puppy adoption).
- I’ve had a lot of lemon tarts, but The Way The Cookie Crumbles assures me that The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart is one of the best. The recipe is by Dorie Greenspan and the filling is what makes the tart. It is an extremely rich lemon cream with a whopping 10½ ounces of butter and 4 eggs. Take small bites.
- Pot de creme is a french dessert, a very rich and creamy custard that is served in tiny, single-serving cups. It’s a very elegant dessert, but easy to prepare and, as 64-sq Ft. Kitchen demonstrates, easy to adapt to different flavor variations. Chocolate and Coconut Pot de Creme uses thick coconut cream in place of more traditional heavy cream or whole milk, infusing the custard with a coconut flavor without adding any of the coconut meat - which would add flavor, but take away from the silkiness of the dessert.
- There is something to be said for simplicity in a recipe. Supreme Bisquick Pancakes were mixed up by Nika Culinaria’s daughter, and with a slight variation on the classic mix, they cooked up an incredibly impressive looking stack of pancakes - almost more impressive than the lovely from-scratch pancakes made earlier in the week! Plus, the pancakes tasted great when covered in butter and maple syrup. The pancake mix is a cupboard staple and, with a quick look at the pictures, it’s not hard to see why it’s as popular as ever.
- One thing that I love about bundt cakes is that they don’t need frosting. The cakes themselves are pretty enough to do undecorated. The Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake made by Joy the Baker is not only pretty to look at, but it neatly illustrates another reason why most bundts don’t need frosting: vibrant flavors. The chocolate and orange in this cake pack enough flavor to stand on their own easily, and the moist, tender crumb will keep you coming back for more.
- The recipe for Peanut Biscotti at Treat a Week has an interesting origin. It is also known as Jugu cake, or peanut cake. Jugu is the Swahili word for peanut and these treats - as far as the author is concerned - were originally sold at a store that specializes in Indian sweets (the Nanwalla Mithai shop) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The cookies/cake are similar to Italian biscotti in texture (hence the name), but are not twice-baked.
Filed under Foodies and Chefs, Baking by Nicole | 3 comments
- Perfect for spring, Tartelette’s Ice Cold Lemon Strawberry Fraisier is a lovely dessert for stepping into spring. It uses fresh strawberries, a grand Marnier flavored mousse and a slice of Meyer lemon pound cake to build a molded, frozen dessert that is as refreshing as it is beautiful. It can easily be adapted to work with other flavors of mousse and cake, as well.
- Butter may play a key role in most scone recipes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t turn out a delicious scone without it. Vegan Visitor used shortening - known for making tender baked goods - in batch of Brown Sugar Scones. With the flavors of brown sugar and maple syrup in the scones, it’s unlikely you’ll miss the butter, but if you’re not vegan you can always adapt the recipe to use butter instead of shortening.
- Homey looking Honey and Orange Creams from Apple & Spice fit the description of perfect after-school cookie to a “t.” The sandwich cookies are made with an easy drop cookie dough, flavored with orange zest, honey and walnuts, and are filled with a simple honey-tinged buttercream. All you need is milk and you’re ready to serve.
- When Oh for the love of Food! had a craving for coffee cake, the streusel-topped American variety wasn’t what she had in mind. A coffee-flavored cake was a better fit and the perfect thing turned out to be a batch of Hazelnut Espresso Babycakes. The little cakes have espresso, hazelnuts, Frangelico and Nutella in them and are very rich - and satisfying - in their flavor.
- Have you ever eaten kumquat? The tiny citrus fruit is a mix of sweet and sour and is generally eaten whole. Culinary Concoctions by Peabody candied some thin slices of the fruit and used them to top off some Tangerine Kumquat Rounds. The cookies have a buttery dough flavored with tangerine zest that is rolled out and topped with candied kumquat before baking. They look beautiful and, now that I think about it, very similar to the guava-topped Cuban Shortbread Cookies I make from time to time.
- Alice Medrich is the queen when it comes to chocolate recipe writing, so I wasn’t terribly surprised when I read that the ooey gooey Dark Chocolate Tartlets on Fresh Approach Cooking came from one of her recipes. Adapted slightly, the tarts are very decadent and absolutely packed with a sweet and rich dark chocolate filling. The tarts are easier to make than the look, so are a great choice when you want to trot out a fancy dessert at a dinner or party.
Filed under Foodies and Chefs, Baking by Nicole | 3 comments
- 101 Cookbooks posted a very tempting picture of some fudgy, rich, melt-in-your-mouth brownies. But these aren’t just any brownies. These are Amazing Black Bean Brownies, flourless brownies that are made with all-natural ingredients and sweetened with agave syrup instead of refined sugar. There’s still a lot of butter in the brownies, though this recipe definitely offers a little bit of a healthy twist on a favorite.
- It’s not a big leap from rice pudding to sweet risotto, but it’s not a leap that is regularly made, so far as I can tell. Stephen Cooks took it and turned out a tempting looking dish of Sweet Risotto with Pear Compote and Chocolate Ganache. A very posh-sounding dessert, the risotto is simple enough to make at home and is quite likely to redefine “comfort food” if you decide to eat the batch yourself instead of saving it for a dinner party or special occasion.
- A shortbread cookie base layered with a caramel filling and topped with chocolate. Does that combination sound familiar? According to The Canadian Baker, Dixie Bars are quite similar to the ever-popular Twix candy bar, though the filling is studded with crunchy pecans for a bit of extra texture in this version.
- It’s always a good idea to have a couple of savory baking recipes in your arsenal even i you mostly love to bake batches of cookies. You never know when you’re going to want rolls or something to accompany a dinner. These Cheese Pinwheel Scones from Technicolor Kitchen are exactly the type of recipe you want to have. They versatile and easy to make, with a tender pastry filled with a mixture of goat’s cheese, Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese (sub any cheese combo you like). Great for accompanying dinner or a light lunch.
- An ever so lightly more complex savory recipe is the Cheesy French Braid that Cookie Bake Lynn recently made. The yeast dough is rich with butter and eggs, and it is filled with cheese before its trip into the oven. Actually, since it’s a braid, each “strand” of dough is filled with cheese. Stuffed crust pizza, eat your heart out.
- When I think of filled cupcakes, my first thoughts are of cream filling or of chocolate ganache - not of fruit. That’s no reason to put a limit on the possibilities of what you can put in a cupcake, however. Cupcake Bakeshop’s pear and vanilla bean filled chocolate cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream are an excellent example. The cakes are baked and carefully filled with a tender pear filling, similar to what you might find in a turnover. There certainly aren’t too many cupcakes like this one out there and biting into one is sure to be a very pleasurable surprise.
