LESSON LEARNED: Holidays are a good excuse to use themed cookie cutters!
Recipe for My Favorite Cutout Sugar Cookies
Monday, October 31, 2011
Lesson #35: Ghost Cookies
Happy Halloween! I've been working on my royal icing skills...here's my latest creation. Purple ghost cookies! I've found that rolling out the cookies a little thicker is the way to go. Sometimes when they are too thin, the cookies don't break apart as easy when you remove them from the cookie sheets (one of my ghosts only had one arm...oops!). I also think that thicker cookies hold up a little better to the icing - which you have to layer on pretty thick to get a matte finish on the cookies.
LESSON LEARNED: Holidays are a good excuse to use themed cookie cutters!
Recipe for My Favorite Cutout Sugar Cookies
LESSON LEARNED: Holidays are a good excuse to use themed cookie cutters!
Recipe for My Favorite Cutout Sugar Cookies
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Lesson #34: Homemade Oreos
I've never been a big fan of Oreos (surprising, isn't it?). I was pleasantly surprised that the homemade version taste WAY better than the store bought version. I've made these cookies 3 or 4 times now and they are go over very well. Last week, I donated them to the bake sale on our campus which benefited the United Way.
The chocolatey cookies have just the right amount of crunch and chewiness. The cream filling is ADDICTIVE! It tastes even better than regular Oreo cream. I could eat this by itself. :) Since it was around Halloween, I tinted the cream filling orange and packaged them for the bake sale. Enjoy!
LESSON LEARNED: Sometimes the homemade version tastes better than the storebought one!
Recipe for Homemade Oreos
The chocolatey cookies have just the right amount of crunch and chewiness. The cream filling is ADDICTIVE! It tastes even better than regular Oreo cream. I could eat this by itself. :) Since it was around Halloween, I tinted the cream filling orange and packaged them for the bake sale. Enjoy!
Recipe for Homemade Oreos
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Lesson #33: Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies
If you like peanut butter and chocolate, you'll LOVE these brownies! The bottom layer is a chocolate brownie which is topped with chopped peanuts, peanut butter cups, and a layer of chocolate-peanut Rice Krispies. The texture of the brownies is AMAZING - the brownies are soft & chewy while the peanuts and Rice Krispies add crunch!
LESSON LEARNED: Peanut butter and chocolate are a delicious combination!
Recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies
Recipe for Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies
Monday, October 24, 2011
Lesson #32: Marshmallow Filled Caramels
Let me start this post by telling you that this baking project involves a large time commitment. If you have a free afternoon and are up to the challenge of making two types of candy - this is a perfect project! Even with this caveat, these candies are AMAZING and are worth the effort!
The first step is to make homemade marshmallows. They are a lot easier to make than what you would think and taste SO much better than the store bought version. While the marshmallows are setting up, the second step is make a batch of homemade caramels. Both of these things take relatively less time than the next steps. Once the caramel is set, it should be rolled out as thin as you can make it. This might take a bit of elbow grease! Next, you cut the caramel into squares and roll out the caramel even thinner by flattening it with the palm of your hand. Then, place a small amount of marshmallow in the center of each caramel and roll the caramel around the marshmallow. This recipe makes a few dozen pieces of candy, so that's why this process takes so long!
These candies are definitely worth the effort! The caramel is CREAMY and the marshmallow is FLUFFY & SWEET.
LESSON LEARNED: Lots of effort pays off in delicious results!
Recipe for Marshmallow Filled Caramels
The first step is to make homemade marshmallows. They are a lot easier to make than what you would think and taste SO much better than the store bought version. While the marshmallows are setting up, the second step is make a batch of homemade caramels. Both of these things take relatively less time than the next steps. Once the caramel is set, it should be rolled out as thin as you can make it. This might take a bit of elbow grease! Next, you cut the caramel into squares and roll out the caramel even thinner by flattening it with the palm of your hand. Then, place a small amount of marshmallow in the center of each caramel and roll the caramel around the marshmallow. This recipe makes a few dozen pieces of candy, so that's why this process takes so long!
These candies are definitely worth the effort! The caramel is CREAMY and the marshmallow is FLUFFY & SWEET.
LESSON LEARNED: Lots of effort pays off in delicious results!
Recipe for Marshmallow Filled Caramels
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Lesson #31: Maple Acorn Squash Pie
As much as I love pumpkin desserts, I decided to switch up a typical pumpkin pie recipe and use acorn squash instead. I've never had an acorn squash pie, so I was excited to try it (I was also excited to use my new mini pie dish too!).
The first step is to make a fresh acorn squash puree since it's not accessible like a canned pumpkin puree. I simply pierced the squash a few times, placed it in the microwave for a few minutes until soft, cut it in half & scooped out the seeded, and returned it to the microwave until it was cooked though. You could roast it in the oven, but I was too impatient to wait the hour it would take to cook. :) After the squash is cooked, food process the flesh it until smooth and - viola - you have acorn squash puree!
The maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice in the pie provide a touch of both SWEET and SPICE. The acorn squash has the same texture as pumpkin, and tastes like, well, acorn squash. This makes a WONDERFUL substitution in the pie! To finish the pie, I decorated the crust with little acorn cookie cutters.
LESSON LEARNED: Making acorn squash puree is super easy!
Recipe for Maple Acorn Squash Pie
The first step is to make a fresh acorn squash puree since it's not accessible like a canned pumpkin puree. I simply pierced the squash a few times, placed it in the microwave for a few minutes until soft, cut it in half & scooped out the seeded, and returned it to the microwave until it was cooked though. You could roast it in the oven, but I was too impatient to wait the hour it would take to cook. :) After the squash is cooked, food process the flesh it until smooth and - viola - you have acorn squash puree!
The maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice in the pie provide a touch of both SWEET and SPICE. The acorn squash has the same texture as pumpkin, and tastes like, well, acorn squash. This makes a WONDERFUL substitution in the pie! To finish the pie, I decorated the crust with little acorn cookie cutters.
LESSON LEARNED: Making acorn squash puree is super easy!
Recipe for Maple Acorn Squash Pie
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Lesson #30: Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls
I've been making my own bread and rolls with various levels of success for the past 2 years. Sometimes the bread is very dense and dry, other times it's very doughy and undercooked. However, it's very rewarding to take to take a few simple ingredients and turn them into a wonderful loaf of bread, so I keep trying to improve my technique. Besides - fresh baked bread is an amazing smell to have in your house!
If you never ventured into bread making, this recipe is a good place to start. It uses instant yeast (sometimes called bread machine yeast) which you don't have to proof (or let "bloom" which is where the yeast is activated by a warm liquid and a bit of sugar). If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, it's even easier because you don't have to knead it by hand. Of course, you can knead it by hand - some people find this therapeutic :)
This bread has a WONDERFUL nutty flavor from the whole wheat flour and a touch of sweetness from the honey. It has an AMAZING fluffy texture which resembles the store bought version. Happy bread making!
LESSON LEARNED: Using instant yeast and a stand mixer to knead is an easy way to get started making your own bread!
Recipe for Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls
If you never ventured into bread making, this recipe is a good place to start. It uses instant yeast (sometimes called bread machine yeast) which you don't have to proof (or let "bloom" which is where the yeast is activated by a warm liquid and a bit of sugar). If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, it's even easier because you don't have to knead it by hand. Of course, you can knead it by hand - some people find this therapeutic :)
This bread has a WONDERFUL nutty flavor from the whole wheat flour and a touch of sweetness from the honey. It has an AMAZING fluffy texture which resembles the store bought version. Happy bread making!
LESSON LEARNED: Using instant yeast and a stand mixer to knead is an easy way to get started making your own bread!
Recipe for Honey-Wheat Dinner Rolls
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Lesson #29: Chocolate Marshmallow Moon Pies
I learned two new techniques for this recipe: making homemade graham crackers and homemade marshmallows. I was pretty exciting to learn both! I saw this recipe on another food blog and it looked very good (really, how could chocolate, marshmallow, and graham crackers sound bad?).
Making graham crackers wasn't any more difficult than making any other rolled out sugar cookie. I thought that they tasted SO much better than the store bought variety. I was more nervous to make the marshmallows. You have to soften some gelatin, cook sugar and a few other things to the correct temperature, and then let a stand mixer do the rest of the work. It was really very simple and the result was an amazingly fluffy marshmallow that set up perfectly. This recipe makes a ton of marshmallow, so I re-purposed the leftovers into another recipe (which I'll share in a few days!).
Overall, these moon pies ROCKED! The graham crackers were crunchy and had an INCREDIBLE nutty flavor from the wheat flour. The marshmallow filling was fluffy, light, and provided sweetness to offset the chocolate covering. Enjoy!
LESSON LEARNED: Don't be scared to try new techniques!
Recipe for Chocolate Marshmallow Moon Pies
Making graham crackers wasn't any more difficult than making any other rolled out sugar cookie. I thought that they tasted SO much better than the store bought variety. I was more nervous to make the marshmallows. You have to soften some gelatin, cook sugar and a few other things to the correct temperature, and then let a stand mixer do the rest of the work. It was really very simple and the result was an amazingly fluffy marshmallow that set up perfectly. This recipe makes a ton of marshmallow, so I re-purposed the leftovers into another recipe (which I'll share in a few days!).
Overall, these moon pies ROCKED! The graham crackers were crunchy and had an INCREDIBLE nutty flavor from the wheat flour. The marshmallow filling was fluffy, light, and provided sweetness to offset the chocolate covering. Enjoy!
LESSON LEARNED: Don't be scared to try new techniques!
Recipe for Chocolate Marshmallow Moon Pies
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