Spicy Drinking Chocolate

A few weeks ago I was in Charleston for a work conference.  I hit up Market Street one day after the meetings were done  - I had to pick up some stuff for The Husband's birthday.  While down there, I caved and bought a few things for myself, including a packet of habenero sugar.  Being a complete chili-head, I figured this was right up my alley.  Of course, then I needed ways to use this spicy-sweet delicacy.  Stacey to the rescue!  "You could make drinking chocolate and sweeten it with that," she said.  This is why we are friends.  Drinking chocolate!  She even sent me her favorite recipe: John Scharffenberger's Drinking Chocolate.  Here it is, edited slightly for the habenero sugar.  Don't be afraid, this doesn't kick all that much more than the version with cayenne powder, but the heat does linger more.  Yummy!

Ingredients

1/2 c milk
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 T habenero sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t vanilla

Heat the milk in a saucepan until lukewarm.  Stir in the chocolate and sugar, whisking until fully combined.  Add the cinnamon and vanilla, and whisk another 2 minutes.  Serve warm!

Chocolate Cups with Bailey's Mousse

A few weeks ago, my mom sent me this link for Easter Egg Balloon Cups.  I thought they were pretty cool looking and wanted to try them out.  But there was so much more potential here than to just fill them with little chocolate eggs.  What to use...

Bailey's Mousse.  It's perfect.  Light and fluffy, combined with the crunch of the chocolate, and Irish creme goes so well with chocolate in any setting.

I did have some trouble with my balloons being too large.  I just pulled them out of the junk drawer, but you'll be better off going to get the little water balloons, I think.

For the bowls...

Ingredients

1 lb semi-sweet and milk chocolate
small water balloons

Temper your chocolate. Pay close attention to the temperature of the chocolate, this is important!

Cool chocolate slightly, then dip in balloons.  Two dips should be plenty.  Put balloons on parchment lined tray until set, then refrigerate.

For the mousse...

Ingredients

1 c whipping cream, divided
1/4 c chocolate shavings
1/4 c Bailey's

In a double boiler, stir 2 T whipping cream with the chocolate shavings until melted and smooth.  Cool to room temperature and whisk in the Baileys.  Whip the remaining cream until soft peaks form.  Gently fold the whipped cream into the Bailey's mix, then refrigerate to set, about an hour.  Spoon into chocolate cups and enjoy!

Marsala Risotto, Crispy Roasted Veggies, and the Holy Grail of Chocolate Cake

February's HH6 (as a side note, I really need to update my HH6 blogs tab) (side note two, I'm also a few days early with this) cooking challenge:

In celebration of Valentine's Day, create a dish that represents your relationship with your significant other. (example: the meal you had on your first date, on a vacation together, what you ate before you got engaged, the meal you had at your wedding etc.)

I have changed a lot over the course of my relationship with my husband.  I count myself as very fortunate that he has changed along with me.  Those who knew me in high school are continually amazed at the person I've become and I owe much of that to my husband who has always encouraged me to be a stronger, better person (even if he doesn't realize he's doing it!).

When we got married, I couldn't really cook.  I was student teaching right before we tied the knot and I'm pretty sure I lived on Kraft mac and cheese, Hamburger Helper, and frozen bagged stew mix.  The problem with this?  My husband hates cheese.  Insanity!  So there went the mac and cheese and most of the Hamburger Helpers!  What's a girl to do?  Why, learn to cook real food, of course.

One of the first real dishes I learned to cook was Chicken Marsala.  I've blogged this recipe before, so just follow the link to see.  I chose to use it for this challenge because it is pretty much the only thing that I cooked during our first year of marriage that survived my transition into a crazed foodie - and The Husband absolutely adores it.  The fact that he's been begging for it lately also might have played a part in my decision.

Back when we first got married, I'd serve the chicken with bagged instant rice and frozen veggies.  No more!  Now my chicken is accompanied with a creamy risotto flavored with marsala wine (no cheese, dear), and crispy roasted broccoli and brussel sprouts, both of which we would be content to eat like popcorn.  You never knew brussel sprouts could taste this good!

Marsala Risotto

Ingredients

1 c white rice
2 T butter
1 c marsala wine, divided in half
1 quart chicken stock (preferably home made!)

Always stir risotto CONSTANTLY!  This means if you need to cook something else at the same time, make sure that everything is mis en placed and within arms reach.

Heat the chicken stock until simmering.  Reduce heat and continue to simmer.  In a separate pot or saucepan, melt the butter until bubbly.  Add the rice and stir constantly until just toasted, not browned.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add in 1/2 c marsala wine.  Stir constantly.  Once the liquid is mostly gone, add a ladle of chicken stock.  Again, stir constantly.  Once the liquid is mostly gone, add another ladle of chicken stock.  Getting the picture?  Keep going until the stock is gone and/or the rice is creamy and fully cooked (if you run out of stock and it's not cooked, use hot water).  When the rice is cooked, add in the last 1/2 c marsala and keep on stirring.  Serve immediately.

Crispy Roasted Veggies

Ingredients

1 broccoli head, sliced into bite-sized pieces
4 brussel sprouts, quartered
EVOO
Pepper
Garlic salt

Preheat oven to 500.  Toss veggies onto a tray, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with pepper and garlic salt.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Now, about the cake.  Valentines Day also happens to be The Husband's birthday, so I like to go all-out.  Last year was strawberry tartlets.  The two years before, though, he was deployed and got cake-in-a-jar (I should blog that sometime).  This year is all about the chocolate.

When I was in college, I went around making giant chocolate layer cakes for Christmas.  Of course, I used box mixes and what have you, but I think this tendency is part of the reason The Husband fell in love with me.  He comes from a family of chocoholics, and has been occasionally dropping hints that I have failed in providing him with Epic Layer Cake Goodness.  I needed to fix that.  So here we go, the Holy Grail of Chocolate Cake: chocolate fudge cake layered with cream cheese filling, chocolate-caramel butter cream and caramel cream drizzle.  You will never need another cake again.

*with the exception of the cake, which makes a full 13x9 sheet cake, the other recipes have been reduced because I only wanted to layer and frost a mini-cake, there being only two of us here.  If you are making a full-sized layer cake I recommend doubling the filling and the frosting.

Holy Grail of Chocolate Cake

Cake (Adapted from Alton Brown's Devil's Food Cake)

Ingredients

1 c boiling water
4 oz cocoa powder
1 1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c sugar
4 c flour
1 t baking soda
pinch salt
1 c vegetable oil
4 oz sour cream
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 325.  Line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper and grease the paper.

Combine water and cocoa powder until smooth.

Mix sugars, flour, baking soda and salt in your stand mixer.  In a separate bowl, whisk oil, sour cream, eggs, yolks, and vanilla.  Carefully add the chocolate mix to the wet ingredients, stirring well.  Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry, blending until smooth.  Pour into pan and bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool completely before removing cake from pan.

Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients

6 oz reduced fat cream cheese
2 T butter, room temperature
1/2 T vanilla
2-3 c powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until well mixed.  Add vanilla, then carefully add powdered sugar. Taste and add the final cup of sugar if you feel it necessary (I like my filling a bit tart).

Chocolate-Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients

1/2 c butter, room temperature
2 oz cocoa powder
3-4 c powdered sugar
1/3 c milk
2 t vanilla
2 t caramel coffee syrup

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa.  In a different bowl, beat butter for a minute.  Carefully add the sugar and cocoa, then the milk, vanilla and syrup.  Beat until fluffy.

Caramel Cream Drizzle

Ingredients

1/2 c brown sugar
2 T butter
2 T milk
powdered sugar to taste (2 T-1/3 c)

Melt the butter and sugar together in a saucepan, stirring constantly.  Cook until the mixture is quite bubbly, then whisk in milk.  Keep stirring and cook two more minutes, then set aside to cool.  Whisk in powdered sugar to taste (more if you want to use as frosting, less if you want to drizzle).

Building the Cake

Chill your cake layers (covered in plastic wrap) for at least an hour before building the cake.  Use a knife to level each layer if necessary.  Place first layer on a sheet of parchment paper.  Spread thickly with cream cheese filling, but leave a margin of 1/4 to 1/2 inch around the edge.  Place second layer on top and press down gently.  Spread the second layer with filling, again leaving a margin.  Top with third layer.  Spread cake thinly with buttercream - this is a crumb coating, don't make it perfect or thick.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before continuing.

Remove cake from fridge.  Spread with final layer of buttercream, then carefully transfer to the serving plate. Drizzle with caramel cream and enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Cake

Dear blog, I have been neglecting you!  I am very sorry and will try to remedy this.  I have, in fact, been cooking, but just haven't gotten around to posting everything I've cooked!

It's fall (I think - it's hard to tell by looking out the window here!), and that means some of my favorite foods.  Pumpkins and apples just scream autumn to me and they work so well together that I just HAD to mix them up in a cake!

Ingredients

• 2 c flour
• 1 t ginger
• 1 t baking soda
• 3/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground allspice
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 1/3 c oil
• 1/3 c molasses
• 1/2 c apple cider
• 1/2 large apple, diced
• 1/2 large apple, sliced thinly
• 2 T brown sugar
• dash cinnamon

 Preheat oven to 350.  Mix everything but the last four ingredients in a bowl until the batter is smooth.  Stir in diced apples.  In a small bowl, toss sliced apples with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Grease a 9x9 pan and pour in half of the batter.  Spread the sliced apples over top, then cover with the remaining batter.  Bake 40-50 minutes.

Berrymisu

Who doesn't love tiramisu?  Well, my mom for one.  And many people who do not like the taste of espresso.  Now, I'm actually one of those espresso-haters, so I was a tiramisu-hater for the longest time.  Until my friend made tiramisu using the Best Recipe Ever.  Seriously, if you make tiramisu any other way... well, you shouldn't.

However, sometimes I'm in the mood for some mascarpone-cream goodness, but not for the traditional espresso and chocolate.  So I took tiramisu and gave it a fruity twist.  This is a great change for a hot summer and the sweet cream and tart raspberries complement each other perfectly.

Ingredients

1 c peach nectar or other sweet fruit juice

6 T brandy

6 large egg yolks

3/4 c granulated sugar

Pinch of table salt

1/2 c heavy cream

16 oz mascarpone cheese

6 oz raspberries

2 sleeves ladyfingers (more if you get the smaller kind)

Combine 2 T brandy with the fruit nectar in a shallow bowl.  Set aside.  Put egg yolks, sugar and salt in the mixer.  Beat at medium-high for four minutes.  Egg mixture should be pale yellow and frothy.  Add the cream, stirring well.  Hold bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for five minutes or until the mixture reaches 160.  Pour into another bowl and cool to room temperature.  Back in the mixer, add the mascarpone and 1/4 c brandy to the egg and cream mixture.  Beat at medium or medium high for about 3-4 minutes, until smooth and thick.  Puree 4 oz of the raspberries and stir them into the mascarpone mixture gently.

Dip the ladyfingers one at a time into the fruit juice, rolling quickly (2 second total!).  Line the bottom of the pan with dipped cookies.  Spread 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture over top.  Sprinkle on the rest of the raspberries, pushing them gently down into the cream.  Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers and another layer of cream.

Cover and refrigerate.

No Guilt Peach "Cheese"cake

If you're anything like me, you love to eat.  Delicious, delicious things.  And, if you're anything like me, you also wouldn't mind losing a few pounds.  But the real question is can you do both?  Well, this dessert can help!  It doesn't taste quite like "real" cheesecake, but it's certainly close enough to satisfy the craving.  At about 1/3 the calories and practically no fat, it's a great trade off!

Ingredients

32 oz fat-free Dannon yogurt (don't use Yoplait!)
Coffee filters or cheesecloth
Grahm cracker crumbs
1 can peaches
2 T quick-cooking tapioca
1/2 c honey
1 t vanilla
2 T arrowroot powder
1 1/2 t cinnamon
6 T egg white beaters (or two eggs)

The day before, strain the yogurt using either coffee filters or cheesecloth.  Put in the refrigerator for 24 hours to completely strain.  Discard liquid.

Mix the grahm cracker crumbs with a bit of water and press them into the bottom and sides of your cheesecake pan.  Chill the pan.

Preheat oven to 325.

Drain the peaches, reserving juice.  Mix juice and tapioca in a saucepan, cooking over low until just thickened (3-5 minutes).

In a large bowl, begin mixing together the strained yogurt, honey, vanilla, arrowroot and cinnamon.  Carefully stir in the tapioca mixture and finally the egg mixture.

Pour half the batter into the pan.  Layer half the peaches, sliced thinly, on the batter, then top with the remaining batter and peaches.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake for 60 minutes, then chill for several hours.

Summer Trifle

This is a fantastic, healthier dessert for as the weather starts warming up.  As an added benefit, it's incredibly simple as well.  I think my mom and I first found this recipe when I was in high school - it's been a favorite ever since!  I make it a little differently every time, by using fruits that are in season, or just whatever fruits I want!  Using different amounts of fruit also changes the dish in enjoyable ways.  I prefer to err on the side of more, but if you like a little less that works too!

Ingredients

2 angel food cakes
4-8 c mixed fruit
1/4 c fruit juice or fruit flavored liquor

Simmer the fruit and the juice until the fruit is quite soft and has released its juices.  Mash the fruit coarsely and set aside.

Tear the angel food cakes into bite sized pieces.  Places one layer over the bottom of a medium bowl or trifle bowl.  Ladle some of the fruit over top.  Add another layer of cake, then another layer of fruit.  Continue until you run out of cake and fruit, but make sure to end with cake on the top.

Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Using another bowl (or pretty much anything else), place weights on top of the cake.  The plastic wrap should be loose enough to allow the weight to compress the cake.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.  Remove weight and serve with fat-free whipped cream.

Mascarpone-Berry Turnovers

We're looking at a PCS in the near future and part of getting ready to move means eating your way through your freezer.  I had a sheet of puff pastry there and almost two gallons of frozen berries, so turnovers it was!  The berries were mostly blueberries, but with a fair amount of crowberries mixed in.  Yum!  Make sure to taste the filling and adjust the sugar based on the tartness of your berries.

We enjoyed our dessert with a white port.  White ports are made from a different grape than tawnies and rubies.  Most of them are not worth the glass they are bottled in, but this particular one is absolutely fantastic.  To my mind, it has the flavor of a tawny, but is much lighter, less syrupy.  Open it early, perhaps even a full day, to let it breathe.

Ingredients

1/4 c berries
2 T sugar
1 T flour

1 t vanilla
1/2 c berries
2 T mascarpone cheese
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

Bring the berries, sugar, flour and vanilla to a boil.  Mash the berries to release their juices.  Remove from heat and stir in the remaining berries and mascarpone.  Set aside to cool.

Roll the puff pastry until it is about 12x12.  Slice in half (or in quarters for smaller turnovers).  Place a 3T (3t for smaller turnovers) filling on each piece of pastry.  Fold in a triangle, like a flag, and seal the edges.

Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve hot, with ice cream!

Pecan Pie Cookies and Bananas Foster Pastry

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, each month the HH6 club puts out a cooking challenge.  The challenge for March was to come up with a concept dish for an MRE.  For those of you who do not hail from the military world, an MRE (meal ready to eat) is a box of portable, lightweight rations designed to support military members in locations where chow halls aren't readily available. 

MREs are not (despite some misconceptions) dehydrated or freeze dried.  They are actually preserved using a variation on the canning technique.  The pouch containing the food is not plastic, but more thin layers of aluminum which can be sealed airtight and processed the same way you would process canned fruits or veggies.  While this yields a significantly heavier ration (due to water content) than dehydrated or freeze-dried food, it is quicker to prepare and can even be eaten with no preparation at all if time is an issue (and in combat, it certainly could be!).

Since MREs are more canned food than backpacking food, there are actually a lot fewer restrictions in the food composition than you might otherwise have.  For example, you can have larger pieces of meat than if you were dehydrating the food first.  Still, canning tends to work best with "saucy" type things.  Rice is notoriously difficult, though apparently the military has figured that one out already!

MREs used to be, to put it plainly, awful.  In recent years as the preservative technology has advanced, they've become quite edible - though the menu choices are still fairly boring.  Click here to see the 2011 entree list.

See why we want to spice it up?

Here's a picture of the contents of a Beef Ravioli MRE.

Included:

Beef Ravioli
Beef Snack Stick
Vegetable Crackers
Jalapeno Cheese Spread
Toffee Cookies
Chocolate Chip Toaster Pastry
Orange Flavored Electrolyte drink mix
Acessory Pack
          o Xylitol chewing gum
          o Water-resistant matchbook
          o Napkin / toilet paper
          o Moist towelette
          o Seasonings, including salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, and/or Tabasco sauce

A common complaint about MREs stems from a very significant lack of fiber.  Most MREs are lucky to contain less than half the fiber that they ought to.  I plan to address this with my concept MRE.

Concept MRE: Mardi Gras Edition!

Chicken Etouffe
Whole-grain Cajun Rice
Wheat Crackers with Maple Pepper
Hard Aged Cheddar slices
Pecan Pie Cookies
Bananas Foster Pastry
Hurricane Flavored Electrolyte drink mix

Yes, we're going with the Mardi Gras theme here!  Let's break it down a bit.

Chicken Etouffe

I already blogged this recipe here.  It's fantastic and flavorful (unlike most MREs!), but not overly spicy.  I don't know anyone who doesn't like etouffe!  Traditionally you would see shrimp etouffe.  Apart from my undying hatred of shrimp, I went with chicken because eating canned meat is moderately less pleasant than eating fresh meat, but eating canned seafood is just plain nasty.


Whole-grain Cajun Rice

It's not etouffe if you aren't eating it over rice.  Plus, it's a great way to sneak a few veggies in, not to mention the fiber from whole grains.  I mentioned earlier that canning rice is very difficult, but since the MRE gods have already figured this one out, I'll leave the logistics to them.


Wheat Crackers with Maple Pepper

MREs already feature crackers quite regularly.  Seems like it would be pretty easy to just use wheat instead of white (with more fiber to boot!), and maple pepper sounds odd but is to die for on crackers.  See a fancier version here.


Hard Aged Cheddar Slices

Away with that nasty faux-cheese spread!  Dairy products are not recommended for canning by the FDA, but a good hard cheddar can (and is!) aged for years in parafin.  It'll last as long as the MRE will, and will just get better as time goes by.

Pecan Pie Cookies:

These tasty little treats are hand-held, durable versions of the traditional southern dessert.  A little chocolate brings out the flavor and you'll never notice the wheat flour - but you'll get the fiber!  Hat-tip to allrecipes for the base.

Ingredients (makes 6-8 cookies)

Cookie

3/4 c flour
1/4 c wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 c brown sugar
6 T butter
1/2 egg
1 t vanilla

Filling

2 T butter
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 T honey
1/2 t vanilla
1 t dark rum
1 t cocoa powder
1/4 c chopped pecans

Melt the butter.  Stir in the sugar, honey, vanilla, rum, and cocoa.  Once all the ingredients are blended, mix in the pecans.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Whip the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla, then slowly beat in the flours and baking powder until dough forms.

Spoon dough into cupcake tins.  Use your fingers to form the dough into a "cup" running about 1/4 to 1/2 inch up the walls of the tin.  Fill each cup with 1 t filling.  Bake 13 minutes.

Bananas Foster Pastry
This recipe is the only one that would need to be significantly altered before being incorporated into an MRE.  However, since they already include various flavors of toaster pastry, it should be easy for them to make a bananas foster version.

Ingredients (makes 3)

1 sheet puff pastry
2 bananas
1/4 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c tuaca or other fruit-flavored liquor
1/4 c dark rum

Cut the pastry sheet into nine squares.  Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the brown sugar and cinnamon, stirring until well dissolved.  Add the liquor and carefully flambee until the alcohol is burned off.  Add in the bananas and cook for 5-10 minutes.  Remove bananas and slice thinly.

Grease a sheet pan.  Lay out three squares of puff pastry.  Place 3-5 (depending on thickness) slices on each sheet of puff pastry.  Spoon over some sauce, then cover each with another sheet of pastry.  Add bananas and sauce again, then cover with the final slices of puff pastry.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.  You may have to turn the tray to ensure even browning.

Serve with icecream, drizzle with any remaining sauce.

Hurricane Flavored Electrolyte drink mix

Come on, if they can make orange and lime flavors, they can make hurricane flavors!  Heck, I'm pretty sure Jello had a hurricane flavored mix a few years back.

Strawberry Tartlets

Yesterday was, of course, Valentine's Day.  It was also the Husband's birthday, so I went all-out cooking.  Last fall, Husband had requested that I learn how to make pie crusts.  With that request in mind, I decided that these strawberry tartlets (based off of this recipe at Epicurious) would be the perfect dessert.

This was my first venture into crust-making, and it was a good thing I started the crusts a day early because my first attempt was a complete and utter failure!  I made some adjustments, and the second time worked like a charm.

We paired the tart with a vintage character port - fantabulous!

Recipe makes four tartlets or one full-size tart.

Ingredients

4 mini tart pans or one large tart pan with removeable bottom

Crust

1 1/4 c flour
3 T sugar
1/4 t salt
7 T butter
1 egg yolk
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon juice
3 T ice-cold water

Slice the butter into small pieces.  Put flour, sugar, salt and butter into the bowl of a food processor.  Process until well blended, with butter being no larger than pea sized.  Mix together the yolk, vanilla, lemon and water, then slowly add to the flour mixture, processing just enough to form a dough.

Gently knead for a minute or two.  Press to fill greased tart pans, then place in the freezer for an hour or until completely frozen.

Preheat to 375.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Add greased pie weights and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned.  Cool for at least 20 minutes.


Filling

8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/4 c powdered sugar (or a little less)
1 t vanilla
3 T ruby port
1 T milk (or more)

Using a hand-held mixer, whip the first three ingredients until smooth.  Add the port until a light purple color is achieved.  Add milk as needed to smooth and thin out the filling.


Strawberries and glaze

1 pint strawberries
2 T sugar
3/4 c ruby port

Thinly slice the strawberries and toss with the sugar.  Let sit for 30 minutes.  Drain, reserving the liquid.  Mix the strawberry juice with the port in a small saucepan and simmer until reduced by half.'

Spread the mascarpone filling in the tart shells.  Layer the sliced strawberries on top, pressing gently.  Spoon glaze over top and refrigerate 20 minutes before serving.

Apple-Peach Cream Cheese Bites

This is one of the gems in the Double Musky cookbook.  Prefacing the recipe, they mention that few guests at the Double Musky have actually tasted this - whenever they make it, the staff eats it before it can be served!  I can certainly see why!  This is, without a doubt, the most delicious AND the easiest cheesecake I have ever made.  It takes all the best parts of a fruit pie and a cheesecake, melding them into one sinfully delicious bite.

The mini-cheesecake is an optional format.  This works equally well in a traditional springform or a pie tin.

Ingredients

Crust

1 package grahm crackers
1/2 c sugar
3 T butter, room temperature

Fruit layer

3 c fruit of your choice, diced and sliced
1/2 c sugar
2 T flour
cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste

Cream Cheese layer

1 8oz tub of cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c cream
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 400.

Crush the grahm crackers with your hand, then place in food processor with the sugar and butter.  Process until completely blended.  Press into pan.  If using a pie tin, do not extend the crust all the way out.  If using springform, make sure to press the crust up the side of the pan.

In a bowl, mix together sugar, flour and spices.  Gently stir in the fruit until well coated.  Spread evenly in the pan.

Bake the fruit and crust for 10-15 minutes.  Reduce oven to 350.

Meanwhile, blend the sugar and cream cheese well.  Beat in the eggs, then add the cream and vanilla, just until completely mixed.  Pour on top of fruit and bake 20-40 minutes, or until center is firm and the outsides are just starting to brown.  Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Caramel Apple-Cranberry Gingerbread

Excuse the horrible picture.  I'm using the little point and shoot and it came out bad so I had to fudge it a bit, but it was too tasty not to post!  Thanks to Bay Area Bites for the idea!

Tip: if your apple slices are too big, a round cookie cutter will fix them!

Ingredients

Gingerbread - use a mix or mix your own!

1 apple, minced
a dozen cranberries, minced

1 dozen apple slices

2 T butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 dozen cranberries

Mix up your gingerbread.  Stir in the minced apples and cranberries.  Grease or line your muffin tins and preheat the oven.  Fill the muffin tins.  DO NOT OVERFILL!

In a skillet, melt the butter.  Add in the brown sugar and cranberries, stirring until a caramel is formed.  Dip each apple slice in the caramel, then lay on top of each muffin.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean!

Apple Crisp Cupcakes

A while back I was complaining about how we can't go apple picking up here and how difficult it is to find good apples.  My mom, being a most excellent mother, went out to an apple stand and mailed me a box full of crunchy, fruity goodness.  In fact, she mailed me so many that I could scarcely eat them all!  I need another use for apples.  I considered a pie, but didn't feel like making a crust.  So, apple crisp cupcakes it was!

Ingredients

Two apples, diced
1 T butter
cinnamon and sugar to taste

1 c sugar
1/2 c melted butter, cooled to room temperature
2 eggs
3/4 t vanilla

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder

2/3 c milk

1/2 c brown sugar
3 T butter, room temperature
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c oats


To start, make the filling.  Combine apples, butter, cinnamon and sugar in a small saucepan.  Simmer over medium heat until the apple soften and the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and cool.


Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream the sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla.  Set aside.  In a small bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.  Slowly add the flour mix to the sugar mix, alternating with the milk.  Blend well.


Grease your muffin tin, or use liners.  Put one small scoop of batter into each cup, just enough to cover the bottom.  Spoon in some of the apple mixture, then top with more batter.


In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and oats until they are well mixed.  Sprinkle atop the cupcakes.


Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Fireweed Custard

This time of year, fireweed is everywhere.  It's a gorgeous plant, one of my favorites.  As it turns out, it's perfectly edible as well.  Pretty flowers, edible... I had to get in on this game.  I've got a few more things to experiment with, but the first thing I did was a fireweed custard.  I adapted the recipe from the fireweed ice cream recipe at livefromalaska.

I gathered my fireweed from Arctic Valley.  I didn't really know how much I needed, so I just picked several dozen stems.  Now, the custard recipe calls for petals only, so once I'd laboriously de-flowered my flowers I ended up with about three quarters of a cup.

Next, I added the cleaned petals to 1/4 sugar and processed them for a few seconds.

The resulting mixture was a rather gorgeous purple, instead of the magenta of the petals.  I added this mixture to 1 cup of heavy cream, 1/2 cup skim milk and 1 tablespoon of honey.  Over medium heat, I kept stirring until the sugar was fully dissolved, then removed to cool.  Meanwhile, I whipped up an egg yolk, then carefully stirred the egg into the cream mixture.  This was then returned to heat, just long enough to thicken, and finally, refrigerated.

Somewhere along the way I lost the nice purple color, but I tried to get it back with some judicious food coloring.

I served this custard layered with chocolate cake.  I wasn't sure how the flavors would work together, so I used a less-chocolatey chocolate cake, but actually I think it would have been even better with a dark chocolate cake - just a hint of bitterness to accentuate the sweetness of the fireweed custard.  The custard cake still won rave reviews from the family, though!

Shortcake Roll

This is a great dessert that I got from a coworker a year or so ago.  I tried to make it last summer, but I made the mistake of leaving it on the counter to cool while I ran some errands - who would have thought that cats liked angel food cake?  Mine apparently does!

Use any fruits you'd like for this roll.  The chocolate topping is optional, but my husband's side of the family doesn't consider anything dessert unless it has chocolate in it!

Ingredients
1 package angel food cake
2-3 cups sliced strawberries (or other fruit!)
2 c whipping cream
2 t vanilla
2 T powdered sugar
powdered sugar for dusting
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a large rectangular pan (I use the 18x15 disposable oven trays... it needs to be big!).  Mix the angel food cake according to package directions.  Pour onto pan and spread evenly over the whole pan.  Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sprinkle a cotton towel with powdered sugar.  Place the cake onto the towel.  Remove the pan and roll the cake up in the towel.  Cool on a rack while rolled up.

In a large bowl, combine the whipping cream, vanilla and powdered sugar.  Whip with a mixer until light and fluffy.

Carefully unroll the cake.  Spread with whipped cream and top with berries, then roll it back up.

Top with powdered sugar or melt chocolate chips and drizzle over top.

Candied Mango

I've been on a bit of a mango kick ever since Guam. Unfortunately, it's hard to get good mangoes up here. I bought a not-so-good one though, and have been playing around with it. I mentioned in my Proa review that we had a fantastic candied pineapple in Guam. So I figured I'd try something similar with my mango. The result isn't perfect, but is tasty!

Ingredients

1/2 mango, sliced evenly
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T butter

Preheat oven to 350. Layer the mango in a pan with the brown sugar. Dot with butter and bake for 45 minutes.

Mini Cheesecakes

During my retail therapy expedition to the kitchen store, I also picked up a mini cheesecake pan that I've been drooling over for some time. Basically, it looks like a muffin tin with 12 wells, but the bottom of each is removable - making for painless extraction of the little cheesecakes. Since Civic Orchestra is having a little dessert social tonight, I set out on the cheesecake quest. I made two kinds, cookies and cream and blackberry. Both recipes are here, with thanks to Bake or Break for the first.

PS: Don't worry if you don't have a nifty little pan like mine - use a regular muffin tin with liners.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Ingredients

8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c sour cream
pinch salt
6 oreos, crushed
12 oreos, whole

Preheat oven to 325. Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth, then blend in the sugar. Still mixing, add in the vanilla, eggs, sour cream and salt. Stir in the crushed oreos. Place a whole oreo in the bottom of each well of the cheesecake pan. Spoon in cheesecake mixture nearly to the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Chill before removing from pan.

Blackberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

8oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1 eggs
pinch salt
1 T blackberry jam
12 nilla wafers

Preheat oven to 325. Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth, then blend in the sugar. Still mixing, add in the vanilla, egg, salt and jam. Place a nilla wafer in the bottom of each well of the cheesecake pan. Spoon in cheesecake mixture nearly to the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Chill before removing from pan.

Tiramisu Cheesecake

I've recently discovered the deliciousness of cheesecake. So this weekend, with the craving full on me, I decided to make one. A few weeks ago we'd had a fantastic mascarpone cheesecake at Crush. Since I have such a love affair with mascarpone anyway, I decided to go that route. This recipe isn't quite perfect, I've still got a few kinks to work out. Despite that, it's quite tasty!

Ingredients

8 oz mascarpone
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 T brandy

12 ladyfingers, crushed
2 T melted butter
1 T espresso
2 T sugar
2 T cocoa powder

Chocolate shavings

Take the cheeses out of the fridge so that the can warm to room temperature. Meanwhile, mix the ladyfingers with the butter, espresso, sugar, and cocoa powder. Take this mixture and press it firmly into the bottom of a 6-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, whip the cheeses and sugar together until smooth. Add in the port and egg yolks, reserving the whites. Whip the egg whites and fold into the cheese mixture. Pour into the pan and bake at 350 until done, roughly 1 hour. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly. Allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for another hour. Once it has cooled, top with shaved chocolate and refrigerate at least overnight.

Pear Compote

It's Christmastime again! The Husband and I were alone for Christmas this year. We're still in the process of modifying and creating our own traditions for Christmas, especially when it comes to food. So we had a bunch of experiments and this was dessert.

Now, The Husband is a very dedicated chocolate fan. His desserts are chocolate desserts. As you can see, this clearly does not have any chocolate in it. Well - he scarfed this stuff down so fast, I thought the world must be coming to an end!

Really, this is a fantastic dessert. The flavors are perfect, the colors are pretty and best of all, there is leftover syrup to drizzle on ice cream the next day!

Ingredients

1/4 c red wine (I used a pinot noir)
1/3 c water
1/2 c sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 slices lemon
2 pears, peeled, cored and quartered

Combine the wine, water and sugar in a saucepan until well blended. Add the cinnamon, lemon, and pears. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until pears are tender. Remove pears and chill. Strain and reserve the sauce, also refrigerate. Serve chilled, with vanilla ice cream.

Pumpkin Cookies

It's the holidays, and cookie time is here! I'm sure that some of you heard about my Great Cookie Catastrophe, wherein I spent one evening baking four types of cookies with expired baking soda. This, of course, resulted in Epic Cookie Failure. With one exception.

The pumpkin cookie.

By fortunate coincidence, I happened to misread the recipe and used only baking powder instead of both powder and soda - resulting in my one success of the night (although the Husband's coworkers did enjoy eating the cookie crumbles). I found the basic recipe from Libby's.

Ingredients

2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
1/2 t ginger
dash salt
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c pumpkin
1 egg
1 1/2 t vanilla

Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in medium bowl. Cream sugar and butter in another bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla, then slowly beat in dry ingredients. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto greased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool complete before serving.