Fortune Cookies. Santa hat brownies « daisy's world. Aren’t these Santa Hat Brownies just so cute? Thanks to Erica’s Sweet Tooth for the inspiration. I was looking for a fun and simple holiday treat and I ran across a recipe on her website. They’re so good and easy to make, especially since I bought Trader Joe’s Ready to Bake brownie mix (just pour the ready-made brownie batter in an 8-X 8-inch pan and bake for 22-25 minutes).
You can use ready-made brownie bites or bake a pan of your favorite brownies. I whipped up some vanilla-mascarpone buttercream to simulate the white trim on the hats. Update: November 17, 2013 This year, I plan to bake these Santa Hat Brownies and other holiday treats to give as gifts to friends and co-workers. Note: I have been paying for Picmonkey’s monthly Royale Plan for the past year. Santa Hat Brownies Yields 12-16 brownies Method: Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and mascarpone cheese until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Adapted from this recipe found on Erica’s Sweet Tooth. Marshmallow Fondant. Fondant always looks gorgeous on a cake but it’s not exactly a convenient thing to find. Plus, store bought fondant is pretty expensive and doesn’t taste good. This inexpensive and foolproof marshmallow fondant recipe is a perfect substitute.
Here’s how to make it. Supplies: Bag of mini marshmallowsBag of powdered sugarLarge microwaveable bowlOilRolling Pin Instructions: Step 1: Pour the bag of marshmallows into the microwaveable bowl Step 2: Pour two tablespoons of water into the bowl and microwave it for 45 seconds. Step 3: Stir, and microwave again for another 30 seconds. Step 4: Start pouring powered sugar into the bowl, a few cups at a time. Eventually your marshmallow dough will become this soft, beautiful fondant. Step 5: Add a bit of oil on a table, then add more sugar to your rolling pin and start to roll it out.
Step 6: At this point you can turn the fondant into whatever you want, from cake toppers, to shapes. Have fun with it! More Cake DIYs: Coffee Custard. Whenever I ask men to choose their favorite dessert, they nearly always answer by naming some sort of cream, custard or pudding. I don’t really have a theory about this but I fully understand why custard would be anyone’s favorite. Crème Brûlée has been such a standard on dessert menus for years along with Butterscotch Pudding, Crème Caramel or Flan.
Custards and creams are super satisfying desserts that really deliver on pure flavor and comfort when made from scratch using the best ingredients. This dessert is a very simple and delicious custard with an adult profile. It’s steeped with coffee beans and flavored with a tiny nip of brandy. Bench notes:- Custards are baked in a bain marie or water bath to ensure a soft creamy texture through slow and gentle cooking. Coffee Custard6 servings 1 1/2 C heavy cream1/2 C whole milk1/4 C + 1 T sugarpinch of salt1/2 C coffee beans4 egg yolks1/2 t vanilla2 1/2 t brandy or rum Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Distribute the custard into ramekins. Creamy Custard. The ultimate beauty of custard is found in its simplicity – eggs, dairy, sugar, a bit of flavoring and not much else. But how you work with these ingredients makes all the difference in the world. If you’ve tried baking custard and have been less than thrilled with your results, you’ll want to try these techniques and see if you don’t fall in love with the melt-in-your-mouth texture and sublime flavor of these baked custards. What makes custard such a desirable dessert is its velvety luxuriousness. Because one of the basic ingredients of custard is eggs, the silkiness of baked custard comes from controlling both the temperature of the mixture before it’s baked and during the baking process.
Shuna Lydon is a pastry chef known for her wonderful custards and her engaging personal and work life confessionals at her blog, Eggbeater. And now, lucky for us, she illustrates her method for perfect custard in a series of very short videos she shot with Food52. Creamy Custard Makes 4 servings. Blueberry Buckle. Blueberries are a beautiful and healthy fruit with a very unique flavor. There is really nothing like blueberry pie. That unmistakable deep blue-purple juiciness combined with a tender flaky crust is hard to beat.
But if you fear pie-making or you’re in a hurry and want a pastry that still hums with a bright blueberry buzz, try this Blueberry Buckle. So, what is a buckle anyway? Betty: A baked pudding made of layers of fruit and buttered breadcrumbs.Buckle: A simple, single-layer cake made with berries with a streusel topping.Cobbler: A fruit dessert topped with a thick biscuit crust.Crisp/crumble: Fruit topped with a crispy/crumbly mixture.Grunt/slump: An old-fashioned dessert of fruit topped with biscuit dough and stewed.Pandowdy: A deep-dish dessert made of apples, butter, spices, brown sugar or molasses, topped with a biscuit batter that becomes crisp and crumbly after baking. OK, back to our Blueberry Buckle. Best Blueberry Buckleadapted from Cook's Illustrated Streusel Cake.
Individual Boston Cream Pies. If you’re in the mood for a delicious little treat, you might consider a return to an old-fashioned American classic from the mid-1800s, Boston Cream Pie. You know the one - it’s the pie that is really a cake, picking up its name because it was probably first baked in a pie plate long before the advent of cake pans. It’s such a simple and delicious concoction it’s hard to imagine improving upon it. Delicate yellow cake, luscious vanilla cream and a gooey chocolate glaze make this a really great birthday or special occasion dessert. I’ve chosen to make individual cakes for a more playful presentation. I begin with a perfect yellow butter cake recipe from Flo Braker.
It’s really the best of its kind. It has a nice delicate crumb, it’s very moist and has lots of delicious buttery vanilla flavor. Individual Boston Cream Pies Makes 8 individual cakes 8 baking cups, 2 3/4” in diameter and 2” deep Chocolate Glaze 6 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 3/4 C heavy cream 1 T corn syrup. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I don't like pumpkin foods. It all started when I had my first taste of pumpkin pie and then had the stomach flu the next day. But last Thanksgiving I was in charge of the desserts. I made an apple pie but I felt like I had to make something pumpkin-ish for the holiday. I found this recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. They are SO good. Ingredients: 1 cup canned pumpkin 1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 egg 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon milk 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.
Combine the flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookies sheet. And enjoy! Homemade pop tarts. I never had a Pop-Tart until college. I realize that for some people this may cause a shocked reaction on par with my husband’s the time I told him I’ve never watched Goonies before (or Jacob’s, upon discovering the internet). Obviously I grew up under a rock, right? Thus, given my proximity to concrete-like materials you’d think I have been better prepared for the texture of the one I purchased from the vending machine in the basement of my freshman dorm (not at 4 a.m. or anything, either, nope, not this angel!).
But I was not. It was like particle board, but even particle board has a fresher aroma. It took two hands to break off a piece. I understand that if I had toasted it, my experience might have been better. I can’t believe I waited so long to make these. Most recipes I have come across use a pie dough for the pastry but I was really stuck on getting a crust that was a little more sturdy — one with an egg. One year ago: Black Bread 1 additional large egg (to brush on pastry)
Chocolate whiskey and beer cupcakes. Folklore says that if you order an Irish Car Bomb in an Irish bar, you’ll either be greeted with a smile and a drink or a black eye, so proceed at your own risk. The way the drink is made (I figure the black eye is self-explanatory) is that a shot glass with a mix of Baileys Irish Cream and Jameson’s Irish whiskey is dropped into a three-quarters full pint of Guinness and the insane person who brought this upon themselves it must chug this whole foaming mess down quickly.
Before it curdles. Hey, don’t look at me — I don’t think I have ever been wasted enough to invent something so utterly brilliant. How exactly this cocktail came to pass in baked good form was that I was finally going to get to meet my friend Jocelyn’s cross-country fiance at her New Year’s Eve party last month and to give him a proper introduction to the Smitten Kitchen, I asked her what he liked. Yes, I made these on New Years Eve. Two years ago: Asparagus, Artichoke and Shiitake Risotto Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes. Skeleton Gingerbread Men Cookies.
Who says gingerbread men are just for Christmas? (Really, who does say that? I’m assuming someone does) It’s time to rip off the lederhosen and get ready for a Halloween edition. First we’ll need our little cookie people. I’m calling these gingerbread men because that seems appropriate, but they are not gingerbread at at all. This is what I started making when I whipped up the cookie dough I posted on Monday. You certainly could use our Gingerbread Cookie recipe, but I’m going for Chocolate. With one little twist. Cinnamon and Orange give these chocolate cookies a warm, spiciness that seems fitting for spooky little Halloweeny people. I’m also using royal icing. You want to start with your icing at a nice piping consistency. I switched to a larger tip for my bones (a #5) so I just started using that one for my faces as well. I know that after looking at these cookies you will all be shocked to know that I am not an expert in human anatomy. I know; I’m getting too attached.
Royal Icing. Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes. If you enjoy cheesecake, then you will love these cupcakes. They consist of cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, a layer of homemade raspberry jelly, and are topped with cream cheese whipped cream. Can you say yum?
Ingredients: Cheesecake (3) 8 Ounce Packages Cream Cheese 4 Eggs 1 Cup Sugar 1/3 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream 1 Tablespoon and 1 Teaspoon Flour 1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract Fresh Raspberries for Garnish Cream Cheese Whipped Cream 2 and 2/3 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream, liquid not already whipped 3 Tablespoons Cream Cheese, softened Raspberry Jelly 1 and 1/3 Cups Raspberries, fresh or frozen 3/4 Cup Sugar 1/4 Cup Water Graham Cracker Crust 1 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs 1/3 Cup Butter, melted 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar 1 Teaspoon Brown Sugar 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon.
Green apple sorbet. I first made green apple sorbet was about a year and a half ago and it wasn't anything to write home about. I'd just received a stand mixer and an ice cream bowl attachment and I was super excited about using it. I picked a recipe and started making it. Not knowing anything about making ice cream and sorbet I didn't realise just how smooth a puree needs to be to make creamy ice cream. I neither pureed the apples enough nor strained them.
The result was a gritty sorbet with a weird, weird texture. One and a half years later, with fond memories of the taste of my ill-fated sorbet, I've given it another shot. There are a few things I liked about the original recipe that, unfortunately, didn't carry over into the second attempt. Essentially this recipe is much better than my first attempt and I'm just being picky.
If you make this, don't freak out if your apple mixture is super bright green prior to it being frozen in the ice cream machine - it's perfectly normal. Green apple sorbet. Cappuccino-Fudge Cheesecake | Handle the Heat. How to Make Chocolate Ice-cream Cups Using Balloons - Funny Mike.
Rubik's Battenburg Cake. Foolproof Holiday Fudge. Your Cup of Cake: Andes Mint Cupcakes. New photo from my cookbook “Your Cup of Cake” I was introduced to Andes Mints at a very young age. Though, my strongest memory was not of eating them, it was of being attacked by them. My family commonly went to a little Mexican restaurant in town, and when we finished eating we would get these mints with the check. My two older brothers would make a sort of blow dart from the wrapper, and choose their target. Ingredients Chocolate Cakes: 1 cup sour cream ½ cup oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 eggs ¼ cup water ½ cup buttermilk Devil’s Food Cake Mix Chocolate Mint Filling: 1/3 cup chocolate chips 2 tablespoons heavy cream 1 teaspoon peppermint extract ¼ cup powdered sugar Mint Buttercream: 8 oz cream cheese 6 tablespoons butter 3-4 cups powdered sugar 1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk green food coloring Directions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
Copyright © YourCupofCake I used the Ateco #855 piping tip. The Pastry Affair - Home - Butterbeer. This is part III in a mini-series of Harry Potter snacks from the books brought to life (part I is on Honeydukes treats, part II is all about the cauldron cakes, and part IV showcases decadent butterbeer cupcakes). Last August, my family made the two thousand mile journey to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Orlando has always been one of my family's favorite vacation destinations. Add in my love (and obsession) with Harry Potter and we all knew that once the park officially opened I couldn't be kept away for long. On the big day, we woke up at an obscene hour to a bright dawn. While the rest of my family was dragging their feet and speaking in yawns, I was too excited to dwell on my lack of sleep and tired eyes.
I had been waiting for this day for years. This was my moment. When I entered the park, I was immediately swept away by the architecture and the detail. I'm pretty sure I had a grin on my face a mile wide. These Butterbeers are rich, fun, and fizzy. Cheapest/Easiest Last min gift ever-Chocolate Toffee Pieces; "Christmas Crack!" - COOKING. 11/13/11 Note: Over the years since I posted this, there has been lots of talk on the thread. I've gone through and tried to add in as many alternatives & suggestions as possible, as well as answer some candy trouble-shooting questions down below at the bottom of the post!
I know there are probably lot of you out there who either need a really simple last minute gift, or who with the terrible economy want to make INEXPENSIVE gifts this year. This is one of the easiest, cheapest, and yet most impressive gourmet-ish gifts I've ever found. The friend who gave me the recipe called it Christmas Crack because it is addictive, it contains crackers, and you 'crack' it apart, but I've found this doesn't tell people much about it, so call it whatever you wish. It's basically chocolate covered toffee pieces, and it's made with things that are probably already in your kitchen. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and line a 10" x 15" cookie sheet with foil (the kind of sheet that has raised edges!). Cupcakes. Frappuccino on a Stick. Ring in a Sweet New Year with Cosmopolitan Cupcakes.
Homemade Marshmallows. Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial (Pastry Dough) *PICS ACTUALLY WORK! - CRAFTSTER CRAFT CHALLENGES. Cobbler baked in jars. How to make hard candy jewels | Chica and Jo. Presentation. Rec. Cooking In A Mug | Taste of Home Community. HowTo: Deliciously Sweet Pie Crust French Fries « Wonderment Blog. Fruit Tart.