Macaron Making - Take 3

Macaron Recipe -

• 200 grams powdered sugar

• 110 grams almond flour

• ¾ teaspoon instant espresso powder

• 90 grams egg whites (about 3 eggs)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 25 grams granulated sugar

Frosting Recipe -

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee, cooled.

** This frosting was absolutely amazing -- but definitely made way to much for the number of macarons yielded from the recipe. We had left over frosting that we squished between mini nilla wafers and make "mock-arons" for Thanksgiving with Josh's family. They were amazing!

the cookies were definitely better on height and look, but they ran together too much. Overall a GREAT product.


Our batter was definitely thinner than last time, when my assumption was I made Josh whip the meringue too "stiff". Overall, I do think this consistency was better, it just took us a bit to figure out how full to pipe them. 

FFET!!!!

Our giant "caterpillar" cookie: 

Finished Product: 

Homemade Ice Cream

Without an ice cream maker, non the less. 

This was my first time making ice cream, and it was a sinch! Literally took 12-15 minutes, and then obviously freezer time; this recipe called for 6 hours. 

I mixed these two recipes: 

http://pinterest.com/pin/153263193546061699/

And

http://pinterest.com/pin/250442429254387518/

And being the greedy little piggy I am, I doubled the 2nd one. So...

- 2 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream

- a can of sweetened condensed milk

- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 2 tablespoons of extra dark chocolate powder

- 5 tablespoons of instant coffee. I went with the Starbucks Via medium roast I had on hand. 

Whip your cream:

Till you have "stiff peaks"...I did 10 minutes on high speed.

Mix in other ingredients and put in container to be frozen in. Cover in plastic wrap. 

As my mom said, "It's very decadent" so be warned, you won't be able to eat a very large bowl. 

It definitely tastes like dark, rich, black, amazing coffee, so if you like your coffee like my Morher-in-law, light cream colored roughly the shade of my skin, you might want to ease up on the coffee and chocolate (as the chocolate is added to highlight the coffee flavor). 

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

Josh requested these as the small group dessert the week of his birthday. They are to die for -- seriously, the frosting is amazing.

CUPCAKE: (Modified from Once Upon My Life)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla.
4. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
5. Place three tablespoons of batter in each prepared baking cup.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

FROSTING: (borrowed from Mele Cotte)
5 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
~ ¼ cup cream or milk

1. Whisk together powdered sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. Mix butter until fluffy and pale. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce speed on low and gradually add cinnamon sugar one cup at a time alternating with a tablespoon of milk. (The amount of milk needed may vary.) Beat until smooth.

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake

I'm usually not a baker. Hate cookies because you have to do so many batches. Make cake instead of cupcakes because pouring into cupcake liners is too annoying. You get the picture.

So, I'll blame this baking undertaking on too much time on Pinterest of late.

I saw this post, and well basically, it looked amazing. 

I've never made a cake from scratch. I've never made cheesecake before. I've never made ganache or caramel sauce. This called for all 4, and homemade buttercream frosting to boot. 

Here is my finished cake: 

**In the future I'll remove the cheesecake layer. It was yummy but with every flavor being so awesome, I thought the cheesecake got lost -- and it was a lot of work to go unnoticed!**

I started with the caramel sauce - easy enough - done in 10 minutes. I did not use a candy thermonitor, just followed the times in her blog post. I did end up with double what is required for the cake (and she says to use within two weeks, so I recommend cutting in half). 

This is the sauce just starting to bubble. 

The end result: 2 medium sized mason jars full of Heaven sauce! 

Then I made the chocolate cake. This definitely was more work than a boxed mix but with the dark brewed coffee and dark chocolate cocoa powder it was worth the effort. 

Yum! This cake batter was wonderful! I contained myself and saved some for Josh. 

While the cake baked I made the frosting (you do need the caramel sauce for this, so definitely do the sauce prior to this). The frosting is to die for. 

Next mission: frost a cake without side crumbles contaminating the white frosting :(

Then I made the cheesecake in my brand new springform pan. Her directions were very clear (but tedious prep with tinfoil, parchment, roasting pan and kettle of boiling water) and the result was great. In the future I'll cook a few extra minutes (50-55) and then let sit for 30 in the oven off. 

Springform pan wrapped in two sheets of foil, a circle of parchment paper inside the pan, non stick spray. Inside a roasting pan with an inch of boiling water (ugh). 

Ingredients & directions:

Caramel sauce: 

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter on medium heat. Add sugars and 1/2 cup heavy cream. Continue whisking on medium heat until mixture comes to a boil (this process takes about 6-8 minutes). Reduce heat to medium low, whisking continuously, boil for about 3 more minutes, until temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees. Add remaining 1/4 cup of heavy cream and whisk until blended. Cook on medium low an additional two minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Pour mixture into a pint sized mason jar and allow to cool at room temperature. Sauce will thicken as it cools. Refrigerate for up to two weeks. the sugars may crystalize when cold. You can reheat it in the microwave or bring it to room temperature.

Cheesecake: 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a large roasting pan on the lower 2/3 of the oven, preheat the pan too!
2. Prepare springform pan by wrapping bottom of pan (outside) with double layer of foil. Spray pan with nonstick baking spray and line bottom (inside) with a circle of parchment paper. Meanwhile, boil a kettle of water to use later.
3. Beat cream cheese with granulate sugar for 2-3 minutes until creamy. Add in salt and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in sour cream, heavy cream and vanilla. Pour into prepared 9inch springform pan. Place pan in center of preheated roasting pan in the oven. Pour boiling water slowly into the roasting pan, until there is about an inch of water coming up the sides of the springform pan.
4. Bake cheesecake for 45 minutes. [For my oven, I'll do 50-55 minutes in the future]. Turn oven off and let cheesecake sit in oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove and cool completely on counter.
5. When cooled, transfer entire springform pan into the freezer for several hours or overnight. I put it in freezer for about 2 hours. **If using within 24 hours, feel free to just refrigerate cheesecake!

Ganache:

1. In a microwave safe bowl, combine dark chocolate with heavy cream. Heat 30 seconds. Stir and heat an additional 30 seconds. Whisk for several minutes until smooth. Allow to cool slightly.
2. Once cooled. Spread over top of chilled cake. Drizzle with remaining 2 Tbsp of caramel sauce and sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve!

Chocolate Cake: 

1. In a bowl, mix flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a measuring cup, mix together cooled coffee and milk. Set aside.
3. In an electric mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar for 5 minutes, until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Slowly add in dry ingredients alternating with the coffee/milk mixture (about 3 additions of each).
4. Pour cake batter into two prepared pans (2-9inch round cake pans, lined with parchment paper and greased and floured). Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting: 

Beat butter in a large mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy. Add caramel sauce, powdered sugar, milk and kosher salt. Beat for 4-5 minutes until soft and creamy.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze 

I know this recipe isn't in season right now, but I've been late in sharing with my Uncle Jeff, so posting it now before I forget again! :)  Hold onto this - it is sure to be a fall crowd pleaser! 

Ingredients:

Cake: 

⅓ cups water
1 can pureed pumpkin (15 Oz)
2 whole eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 box yellow cake mix (18 Ounce Box) [I could only find 16 ounce boxes, and mine turned out well]
1 teaspoon baking soda

Topping:

1 cup brown sugar, Divided
½ cups flour
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cups heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl mix together the water, pumpkin, eggs, 1 tablespoon of vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined. Add the cake mix and baking soda and mix until just combined. 
3. Grease a 9×13 pan with butter and pour batter into pan.
4. In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour and melted butter. Use your fingers to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. For the glaze, combine the other 1/2 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved. 6. When cake is finished baking, poke holes in the top with a toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake, making sure to cover all surfaces. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

No Bake Cheesecake

This recipe is super easy and sure to please! It does have a slight lemon taste and is not as dense as your typical cheesecake, but considering how much time you save - it is a good trade-off in my opinion. Light - perfect for summer! 

Ingredients:
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 8 ounce tub of cool whip
1/3 cup of lemon or lime juice

Directions:
1. Set cream cheese on counter for about an hour to soften.
2. Add together your cream cheese, condensed milk, and cool whip until smooth.
3. Add your citrus juice last, as it will start to harden your mixture almost immediately.
4. On the low speed of you hand mixer, blend well. Around 2 minutes of so is plenty, just make sure all ingredients are incorporated.
5. Immediately pour mixture into a waiting graham crust. I put into muffin tins with graham cracker crumbs in them - it made 24 muffins. 
6. Refrigerate for an hour and serve.

Here is the original recipe.

Twice Dipped Butterscotch Sugar Cookies

I made these cookies for the Super Bowl - they were my favorite of my new recipes - I highly recommend them!

Ingredients:

    Sugar Cookie dough–for faster cookies use a pre-made store bought.
    1 bag butterscotch chips (for 22 cookies, I used about 1/2 of the bag)
    1 bag milk chocolate chips (for 22 cookies, I used about 1/2 of the bag)
    1 bag Heath bar bits (or a crushed Heath bar) (i used about 1/4 of the bag)


Instructions:

1. Make your sugar cookies. I used the store-bought Sugar Cookies and baked per the instructions. Let them cool completely.
2. Once they are ready, melt your chocolate chips. I melt them in a bowl in boiling water on the stove. 
3. Take one cookie and dip one side of it. You will dip about 2/5ths of the cookie.
4. Place all the dipped cookies on a tray lined with wax paper or parchment paper and then place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
5. Get your butterscotch ready for dipping the same way you did the chocolate chips. (Butterscotch takes a little more coaxing).
6. Dip the other section of the cookie in the butterscotch so that the chocolate and the butterscotch overlap to create a "v". Immediately after, sprinkle the heath bar on top. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes before eating.

Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies

I got a little too excited about bringing dessert to our Super Bowl party. I started looking through my dessert board on Pinterest, and somehow, I was making 3 different types of dessert!


These Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies were the most experimental, but well worth the try! They taste like a fabulous blueberry pancake.

In the original recipe, they said that they had receive comments that people had a hard time replicating the recipe, so I'd follow the directions exactly, and don't make any substitutions or changes to the ingredients.

Ingredients: 
1 stick “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”
4 oz. cream cheese
½ C. light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
2 boxes Jiffy Blueberry Muffin mix
1 ½ C. white chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream together butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar. Add eggs one at a time until blended. Combine muffin mix with the butter mixture and mix well. Fold in white chocolate chips. Chill for at least one hour.

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 14-15 minutes or until just turning brown around the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to wire rack until completely cooled.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I love all things peanut butter, add in a little chocolate, and I'm in heaven...but what woman isn't? I made this recipe yesterday for our small group snack.  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

1 (18.25) package plain yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1 (12 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter (I recommend melting this prior to adding it to the mix)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) Combine cake mix, melted 1/2 cup of butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl using a mixer or spoon. Press this into a 9X13 pan reserving 1 1/2 cup of the mixture to crumble on top.
3) In a small pot, melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
4) Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 cups of reserved cake mixture on top evenly. (The original recipe tells you to "crumble" - my mix was too dense there really was no "crumbling" possible, so I just placed small circles of the batter.)
5) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars. (I cooked mine for the 20 minutes, my toothpick came out clean, but when I cut it later, I thought it was too "brownie-like" so I baked it for another 10 minutes.