You are here: Home / Archives for Recipes / Desserts

Ada and Anna’s Maple Sandwich Cookies

March 20, 2012 by 20 Comments

Ada and Anna are my secret weapons. They are an Amish mother and daughter who I am so glad to have as friends. They live just up the road from us with Ada’s husband (Anna’s father), Henry. Those three have to be some of the most fun-loving, joyful people I’ve ever met.

Ada’s my ace in the hole for baking supplies. She runs a small bulk-foods store in a room of their workshop (Henry makes custom landscaping and building stones for a living) and I’m a frequent customer. Fifty pound bags of my favourite flours? No problem. She’ll get them for me by next week. Fifty pounds of dark chocolate chunks for Christmas baking? They’ll be in in about five days. I buy yeast, spices, candy, barley, cornstarch, baking soda and powder, and noodles by the pound at her store. I cannot even begin to calculate just how much money I’ve saved buying ingredients from her over the past two years.

Even if she wasn’t such a great resource, I’d still find excuses to get up there and visit. Almost every time I stop by, I’m offered a bite to eat and Ada and Anna are no slouches in the baking department. In fact, their donuts are the only ones I ever actually crave… Those plate sized, maple glazed, lard fried donuts are just the things to bring a non-donut lover into the fold. And by into the fold, I mean give me folds in my chin because I can’t stop eating them.

Last Friday I scooted up the hill to pick up a fifty pound bag of semolina flour that I was going to split with a friend. As I pulled into their driveway on that warm and glorious day, I could see them bustling around the kitchen with doors and windows open. “Hey Rebecca! Come on in and pull up a chair,” they called. I sat down long enough to see that they were rolling out what looked to be a quintuple batch of cookie dough (and turned out to be a sextuple batch. I was close!) and the flour was flying. There was no way I was going to skip being part of that action. I rolled up my sweater sleeves and asked them to put me to work.

They did.

We rolled out, cut, transferred to pans and baked (in their wood-fired outdoor oven) one hundred and ninety two cookies, then made maple frosting to fill those cookies. In the final summation, we turned out eighty six maple sandwich cookies. While I was still using a flour coated spatula to transfer cookie dough rounds to the pans, Ada mixed the frosting with her hands and Anna started assembling the cookies. Anna padded over behind me and slid a finished cookie next to me on the flour covered table. She said, “I thought we’d better try a couple of these just to make sure we stay motivated.” I’m fairly certain she twinkled as she said that and I’m more than certain I sparkled while I ate it.

You may have had a whoopie pie or a sandwich cookie before, but you’ve never REALLY had one until you have maple cookies with maple filling made by dear friends.

Ada saw us snitching cookies and said, “Well? Don’t you think you need my opinion? I’m the oldest one here.” so we brought one to her, too.

After we finished putting together the cookies, slid three pies into the wood oven, and plopped down at the now-clean table with three mugs of mint tea and a three-high-stack of sandwich cookies in front of each of us (don’t look at me like that, Ada did the stack of three cookies in front of me. I had to eat it. It was the polite thing to do. The tasty, tasty polite thing.), I asked what the occasion was; why so many cookies?

“Well, Henry hinted around that he might like a batch of these. They’re his favourite.”

I asked whether they planned on selling some of them since they were making so many.

“Oh no. We just like to have them around in case of visitors. And Dad really likes them.”

I plan on hinting around about these cookies on a regular basis. Henry is no fool.

Nor are my boys. The cookies I brought home to them disappeared in a flash.

A Couple of Notes: Ada and Anna’s recipe was vague in instructions, assuming that the reader will have baked cookies before and know what to do. I’ve embellished the instructions a bit for the sake of those who don’t have all that experience on which to draw. Additionally, their recipe calls for mixing everything by hand, obviously- since the Amish in our area don’t hold with ‘gadgets’ in the kitchen- so I’ve added instructions in case you’d like to make use of modern amenities (like stand or hand mixers.)The frosting -as they made it that day- makes use of shortening and butter flavour. You can skip the combo and just use softened butter, or make it as they do. While I don’t usually go for butter flavour, these cookies were outstanding. I’d eat them again and again! The same holds true for the maple flavouring. Normally, I’m a maple syrup only gal. Some of this stems from the time my little sister dabbed a bit of maple flavour inside each nostril because she liked the smell so much. After the first 10 minutes, she had had enough, but she didn’t stop smelling it for a week or so. Ah, the miracle of the mucous membranes. The point is that in these cookies, somehow it is just perfect. If you object to maple flavouring, try real extract. But do try them!

Print
Ada and Anna

Ada and Anna

These soft, brown sugar maple cookie sandwiches are filled with a fluffy maple flavoured frosting that stays nice and soft and doesn't harden like most frosting recipes. Make more than you think you'll need. Company is guaranteed if people know you've made these!

Recipe courtesy of Ada and Anna Stutzman

Ingredients

    For the Cookies:
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon maple flavour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 3/4 cup sifted flour
    • For "Fluffy Frosting":
  • 2 cups softened butter (or 2 cups shortening and 2 teaspoons butter flavouring, as Ada makes it.)
  • 2 cups marshmallow fluff, store bought or homemade.
  • 2 teaspoons maple flavouring
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup whole or evaporated milk (or more as needed)

Instructions

To Make the Cookies:

Ada says to mix the ingredients together in the order given. In other words, use a sturdy spoon or stand mixer or hand mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until well combined and even. Then beat in the eggs and flavourings, soda, salt, cream then flour. Cover the bowl and chill for at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Roll the dough out on a generously floured surface. Use a 2-3 inch diameter round cookie cutter to cut as many cookies from the dough as possible. Use a floured spatula to transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets (or parchment lined sheets) about 2 inches apart. Re-roll the scraps of dough until you have used all the dough.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until they are just set and slightly springy. Ada advises not to overcook the cookies or they'll be too hard. Immediately after taking the pans from the oven, use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a towel lined counter. Let cool completely while you make the frosting.

To Make the Fluffy Frosting:

Ada uses her hands, so that is certainly an option, but you can also use a spoon, stand mixer or hand mixer to beat together the butter or shortening (and butter flavour), marshmallow fluff and vanilla. When that is smooth, stir in the powdered sugar and the milk. If more milk is necessary to reach a spreadable consistency, add it 1 teaspoon at a time. The finished frosting should be thick, but spread easily on a cooled cookie.

To Assemble the Cookie Sandwiches:

Spread about 1/4-inch of frosting on the back of a cooled cookie. Sandwich another cookie on top of the frosting, back to back. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container. If you use butter, you should store them in the refrigerator. These are best when brought to room temperature before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/20/ada-and-annas-maple-sandwich-cookies/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Cookies, Desserts, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oreo Whippy Dips

March 13, 2012 by 15 Comments

 

Before we go one step further, I’m going to need you all to raise your right hand, put your left hand on the Bible and repeat after me:

I solemly promise not to hold Rebecca responsible for the calories I am about to consume when I make this recipe, because I WILL make this recipe. I will not even peek at the calorie count on the back of the ice cream container or the Oreo box or the heavy whipping cream carton or the chocolate syrup bottle. I certainly will not do the math and add up the total.

In exchange for the oath you just swore, I promise to do another installment of tasty penance this week.

Alright. Are we good? Good. Let’s proceed.

You see, I used to work in an ice cream place. I know I’ve mentioned this. I was a pale, scrawny whip of a girl with Sally Jessy Raphael glasses and a long chestnut ponytail. I manned the counter at a walk-up joint called ‘The Whippy Dip’. It was a sweltering summer and even though the tiny ice cream shack was situated on a rural route, the place kept pretty busy. In between rushes, I swept. I swept the counters, floors, sidewalks and walls.

Yes.

I said I swept the walls.

There was a gypsy moth invasion that year. It seemed like the cottony tents stretched over the branches on every tree and everywhere you looked there were caterpillars. They were gross.

Each time I opened the screen door to go out with my broom, about fifty of those nasty little critters bit the dust courtesy of the screen door of doom.

I sat on the stool at the counter after chores were done and between rushes, book on my lap, daydreaming of caterpillar-free living and eating hot dog rolls stuffed with mustard, pickles and onions*.

*I’m sure I had delightful breath.

We served the usuals; regular or sugar cones, bowls, soft-serve, dipped cones, sundaes, shakes, franks or sausages cooked on metal rollers under hot lights, and the like. There was something that was still pretty new on the ice cream scene the summer I worked there, too: Blizzards. Dairy Queen had introduced Blizzards just two years before and our little Whippy Dip crew (the owner, his daughter and I) was eager to cash in on the bonanza. My boss was savvy enough to know that he couldn’t call them Blizzards because it was a trademarked name, so he decided to call our version of the treat Flurries. Kind of a mild term comparatively, but it got the point across effectively. They sold hand over caterpillar over fist.

Our most popular choice was cookies and cream; vanilla ice cream, a splash of milk and crushed Oreos. Boy, those were good. In the years I’ve spanned between the caterpillar fighting, ice-cream flinging late eighties and now, I have to admit I haven’t given much thought to the Whippy Dip’s confections. Then yesterday, I saw a Shamrock Blizzard by Three Many Cooks over on Tasty Kitchen and it was all over but the crying. And the eating. The eating more than the crying. Have you ever tried crying over ice cream? It’s pretty darned near impossible.

I decided to do an extreme version, in honour of my caterpillar sweeping, onion and pickle chomping youth and my former boss, Mr. Worley. Into my blender went a big scoop of crunchy peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream, and crumbled peanut butter Oreos. (Am I alone in not having known these dangerous things existed? Oh the humanity!) Zap! went the blender. The result was a hybrid of soft and hard ice creams- thick enough to stay in the cup when flipped upside down- flecked with broken cookie bits. I scraped the contents into two waiting jars, capped them with a solid two inches of whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate syrup and -oh dear- more crumbled Oreos.

THUD. (That was the sound of me passing out from the incredible indulgence of this not-at-all-quiescently frozen happy bomb.)

Honestly, though, I couldn’t call it a Blizzard. See, Mr. Worley? I paid attention. Blizzard? We’ve already covered that. It’s trademarked. And Flurry? Just too tame. I decided to call it a -as if there could be any other name- Whippy Dip. God bless you, Mr. Worley, wherever you are.

Print
Chocolate Peanut Butter Whippy Dips

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Calories per serving: I said do not look at this!

Fat per serving: You do not want to know.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whippy Dips

This indulgent hybrid of soft and hard ice creams- thick enough to stay in the cup when flipped upside down- is flecked with crumbled peanut butter chocolate cookie bits,capped with a solid two inches of whipped cream, a drizzle of chocolate syrup and -oh dear- more crumbled Oreos.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup crunchy or creamy peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 4 cups, packed, chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream
  • 6 peanut butter Oreos (or regular chocolate cream sandwich cookies)
  • whipped cream
  • chocolate syrup

Instructions

Add the peanut butter and milk to the carafe of a blender. Add the lid and blend until completely combined. Remove the lid, add the ice cream and 4 of the Oreos (lightly crumbling with your hands as you add them to the blender.) Once again, add the lid to the blender and blend on high, stopping to stir the contents occasionally, if necessary, until you have a very thick smooth ice cream mixture (somewhere in the thickness neighborhood of very cold soft-serve ice cream) flecked with crumbled cookie bits. Do not be tempted to add more milk. It will make your Whippy Dip into a milkshake!

Divide the Whippy Dip between two serving glasses, top with a generous amount of whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. Crumble one of the remaining cookies over each Whippy Dip before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/13/chocolate-peanut-butter-oreo-whippy-dips/

 

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Desserts, Ice Cream, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian, Vitamix Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Almond Joy or Mounds Cookies

March 2, 2012 by 9 Comments

By a show of hands, who out there is going to be angry with me if I post two dessert recipes in one week? Anyone? No? We’re good? Good. Because this one? Phew. This cookie recipe is the ne plus ultra of cookies.

This is like a combination of a Twix bar with an Almond Joy or Mounds bar. The anatomy of the cookie is thus:

  1. Crispy chocolate butter cookie base. It is what it sounds to be. It’s a little shortbready and carries a little snap to it. It’s the perfect place to put your…
  2. Honey caramel coconut chew. Yes. Just yes. Have you had honey coconut caramels? Maybe not. It’s an old one (and I blush to see the photo of it, but ever onward, right?) And if you’ve parked a honey caramel coconut chew on top of a crispy chocolate cookie, you might as well add a…
  3. Big, fat toasted almond. Sigh. There are very few things I like better than a handful of still warm aromatic, toasted almonds.  Well, maybe there’s one thing I like better than that. It’s when I cover them with…
  4. Melted dark chocolate. This doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation, but I’ll do it anyway because I add a little coconut oil (you could sub in butter if coconut oil is hard to find where you live) to the melted chocolate for added flavour and to make it a little softer once it’s set up. All this would be plenty fine, but if you’re going to the trouble you might as well gild the lily, right? Top the whole thing off with a sprinkle of…
  5. Flaked sea salt. Have you had sea salt with dark chocolate? When you add just a touch of sea salt to chocolate you taste chocolate like you never have before. The salt actually performs in this role. It suppresses some of the bitter flavours and amplifies the sweet and sour flavours.

Can you use regular old table salt here? Negatory. Table salt has iodine added to it which is great if you have goiter issues, but not so great taste wise. You know those bitter flavours you were suppressing with the salt? Yep. The iodine adds it right back in along with a pronounced metallic taste. Don’t go there. If you can’t get my favourite Maldon Sea Salt*, use a nice coarse sea salt or kosher salt (church of the last resort, but still acceptable.)

*I collect different salts. Crazy salts are my impulse buy weakness. Maldon Sea Salt is one of my all time favourites, though. It is harvested in Great Britain and is sold in the most impossibly beautiful irregular flakes. Some of them are pyramid like, some are flat and clear, some of them look like tiny gemstones. You usually grind them together in your fingers while sprinkling over food (or your tongue) and it’s generally used as a finishing salt rather than one you cook into foods.

The cookies, despite all their components, are deceptively simple to make. The dough can be made and frozen ahead of time. In fact, freezing the dough is necessary, so make it up to three months ahead of when you’d like to make it if you feel like it! The honey caramel coconut chew takes only one and a half minutes to make then five minutes to cool before scooping onto the cookie bases. Toasting almonds is a piece of cake and then you melt chocolate and coconut oil together for dunking. It doesn’t get much easier than that. And cookies can’t taste much better than this.

Print
Almond Joy or Mounds Cookies

Almond Joy or Mounds Cookies

These dreamy crispy chocolate butter cookies topped with honey coconut caramel chew and a toasted almond are enrobed in a subtly coconut flavoured dark chocolate.

To make these into Mounds rather than Almond Joy cookies, simply omit the toasted almonds.

Ingredients

    For the Cookie Base:
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour
  • 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • For the Honey Coconut Caramel Chews:
  • 1 cup pure honey
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar or granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups unsweetened medium flake coconut
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • Also needed:
  • 24-30 whole almonds, toasted (If you can only find raw almonds, see instructions below the recipe to learn how to toast almonds.)
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chunks (or chopped chocolate)
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil or butter
  • flakey sea salt or kosher salt

Instructions

To Make the Cookie Dough:

Whisk together the flour, cornstarch (or rice flour), cocoa powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or using a hand mixer, beat together the butter and granulated sugar until smooth and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add in the milk and vanilla extract and beat on low speed until combined. (It will not look smooth, but that is okay.) Add the flour to the butter mixture about 1/3 at a time, beating after each addition to combine. When all the flour mixture has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and split into two equal amounts. Form the dough into logs and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Place cookie dough logs in the freezer until ready to bake.

To Bake the Cookies:

Preheat oven to 375°F and line cookie sheets with parchment or silpats.

Slice 24 rounds of frozen cookie dough no thicker than 1/4 of an inch.

Arrange the dough rounds on the lined cookie sheets. These cookies do not spread much while baking, so you don't have to worry about leaving more than 1/2 of an inch between them.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are firm all the way around on the edges. You can cool the cookies on the sheets on which they were baked.

While the cookies cool, make the honey coconut caramel chews.

To Make the Honey Coconut Caramel Chews:

In a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the honey and sugar to a boil over medium high heat. Boil hard for exactly 1 minute then turn off the heat. Immediately stir in the coconut and salt. Remove from the burner and let cool 5 minutes before portioning onto the cookie bases.

To Make the Chocolate Coating:

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chunks (or chopped chocolate) and coconut oil or butter. Microwave on high for 45 seconds, stir, and continue microwaving in 15 second increments, stirring well after each burst, until the chocolate is smooth and glossy and completely melted.

To Assemble the Cookies:

Scoop generous tablespoons full of the honey caramel coconut chew mixture on top of each cookie base. Gently press 1 toasted almond onto the coconut chews.

Let the mixture cool completely. Stir the chocolate mixture, which by this time should have thickened just slightly. Lift a cookie by the base, invert it and dunk the coconut/almond part of the mixture into the melted chocolate. When you lift it and turn it back right side up, swirl it around a bit to get the chocolate to coat the coconut and drizzle onto the cookie base. Set the cookie back on the pan and repeat with the remaining cookies.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with salt to taste. Let stand until the chocolate has cooled completely.

Store leftover cookies in a tightly covered container at room temperature.

To Toast Almonds:

Stir almonds in a heavy, ungreased skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Turn them out of the pan immediately when they reach this stage or they will scorch.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/02/almond-joy-or-mounds-cookies/

P.S. If you run out of coconut to make the honey coconut caramel chews (like I did), you can make something remarkably similar to a Thin Mint by adding a little peppermint extract or oil to the same chocolate coating and dunking plain old (HA! Plain old chocolate cookies. I should be thrashed with a wet noodle for saying that!) into it with the remaining cookies.

Filed Under: Chocolate, Comfort Food, Cookies, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Mini Fruit Hand Pies | Make Ahead Mondays

February 27, 2012 by 16 Comments

 

You had to know this was coming.

I made it through three whole Make Ahead Mondays without even so much as a mention of dessert. I’d say that’s pretty close to a record for me. With all those make ahead meals in your freezer, you need a make ahead dessert, right? RIGHT? Besides, this is still February, after all, and February is National Snack Food Month. After soft pretzels, what’s snackier than pretty little pies? Nothing, I tell you!!! Absolutely nothing!*

*If you could read the preceeding two sentences in the voice of the “Wheel of Fish” host, I’d be greatly obliged.

It’s little food, friends. I die. This is off the fun charts, cute charts, and convenience charts!

Wait.

Pie off the convenience charts?

Yes, indeedy!

This is one of those occasions where front-loading the work -getting it all done ahead of time- really does make all the difference. It’s kind of like childbirth. You forget the pain. Well, okay. Bad example. I never did understand folks who say they forgot it. I remember it. It hurt a lot.

Never mind.

We were talking about pie which is a far more relaxing subject than breathing through contractions, which reminds me… who can do that? Not this girl.

Pie.

Yes.

The point is that you get all the work done on the pies, stick them in the freezer (a la Make Ahead Mondays) and then forget about it until you want a pie. Then ‘hey, Presto!’ you pull out the frozen pie, brush it with egg and sprinkle it with sugar, then bake it. Ta da! How do you like that? Nearly Instant Pie.

Don’t even think this is in the same category as those twenty-five cent thingies that get stashed in lunch boxes all over the country. These are unbelievably good. Crunchy sugar coating on a buttery, crumbly crust wrapped around real fruit filling is good enough all by itself, but if you serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream or freshly whipped cream on top, you’re heading into nirvana territory.

I start with a good, old-fashioned butter tart crust.

Please don’t panic at the homemade pie crust (I say this because homemade pie crust panics my mother, and being the good daughter that I am, I asked for homemade blueberry pie for nearly every birthday. I’m sorry, Mom.) This butter tart crust recipe I give you doesn’t require any special pie crust handling skills (it’s made in the food processor) and it’s nearly impossible to overwork. If the idea of making a pie crust still gives you the pip, feel free to substitute in your favourite purchased pie crust. I’ll be here for you when you’re ready to cross that bridge. In the meantime, make these pies and freeze them. Pie in the freezer is always a good thing. And hey, with a stash of this in the freezer you’ll be ready for all those last minute wild March 14th Pi/Pie Day celebrations you’re planning.

You are planning them, right?

I can’t be the only one.

Someone?

Anyone?

Print
Mini Fruit Hand Pies | Make Ahead Mondays

Yield: 8 mini pies

Mini Fruit Hand Pies | Make Ahead Mondays

Crunchy sugar coating on a buttery, crumbly crust wrapped around real fruit filling is good enough all by itself, but if you serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream or freshly whipped cream on top, you're heading into nirvana territory.

You can simplify this recipe further by using purchased pie crusts and pie filling. It goes without saying that homemade filling and crust will make it taste that much better, but all pie is good pie!

Ingredients

    For the Crust (Can substitute 2 purchased pie crust rounds):
  • 2 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold butter, in small pieces
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 4 tablespoons ice water
    • For the Pies:
  • 4 cups pie filling (whichever flavour you prefer, I like to use a variety of homemade pie fillings.)
    • Also needed to bake the pies:
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 teaspoon raw sugar (can substitute granulated sugar) per pie

Instructions

To Make the Crust:

Pulse the flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Open the food processor and add in the butter. Replace the lid and pulse until the butter and flour resemble small peas. Pour the ice water and egg yolks in through the feed tube and process until a coarse dough forms. Turn the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press together with your hands until it holds together well. Divide into two equal pieces and form into 1/2-inch thick rectangles. Wrap each rectangle in plastic wrap and chill for at least twenty minutes (but up to 2 days) before rolling.

To Make the Pies:

Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Lightly flour your work surface and place an unwrapped rectangle of pie crust dough on the counter. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough.

Roll it into a larger rectangle that is about 12-inches by 10-inches. Use a bench knife, pastry wheel or pizza cutter to divide the dough in half vertically. Score the dough lengthwise also, dividing the dough into 4 smaller rectangles, to help you visualize where to put the pie filling.

Spoon about half a cup of pie filling near either side of the split on the dough.

Fold the outside edges (using a bench knife to help lift the dough, if needed) toward the center and drape it over the pie filling, pressing down and crimping the seams to keep the filling from leaking.

Use your bench knife or cutter to split between the pies again (just to be sure nothing is sticking!). Use a spatula or bench knife to transfer the pies to the parchment lined pans. Don't worry about leaving too much space between them, because you'll be freezing them.

Repeat with remaining pie dough and filling. Cover the pans lightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until frozen solid, about 4 hours.

When firm, carefully transfer the frozen pies to a resealable freezer bag and keep frozen for up to 3 months.

To Bake Pies:

Place desired amount of pies 2-3 inches apart on a rimmed parchment lined pan. Preheat oven to 425°F. Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg and sprinkle each pie with a teaspoon of raw sugar. Cut two small vent holes in the tops of the pies.

Bake for 15 minutes, lower the heat to 350°F, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until pies are deep golden brown and filling is bubbly.

Let cool on the pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Serve warm or room temperature. Leftovers can be stored, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to three days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/02/27/mini-fruit-hand-pies-make-ahead-mondays/

 

 

Filed Under: Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Recipes, Vegetarian

Peanutty Crispy Bars | Dark Chocolate Covered Peanutty Crispy Bars

January 30, 2012 by 7 Comments

A note to those with peanut allergies in the house. You can easily prepare these with sunflower or cashew or almond butter. They’ll be every bit as good!

*Cough cough*

In general I’m an annoyingly healthy person. I chalk this up to my lifelong practice of germophobia. I’m a poster child for the efficacy of excessive handwashing and hermit-like behaviour in flu and cold season. Who am I kidding? I aspire to being a recluse. I am what I am.

Hence, when I actually get sick, I turn into a big baby; for instance, right now. I sit in my chair in front of the woodstove and sit a wastebasket by my feet for tissues and slurp hot tea like a sump pump in a storm. Proper meals? Bah. I want treats. I want my mom to show up at my doorstep with a can of spaghettios and a chocolate malt cup.* But there’s that snowstorm we just had and that wicked winding mountain road between us and the fact that my mom has *gasp* a life! And I am, after all, a grown up, so I make my own treats.

*That was our default treat when we were sick as kids. On the drive home from the doctor’s office, with a bottle of the pink stuff safely in our possession, we’d stop at the corner gas station and grab spaghettios and chocolate malt  ice cream cups. I still think those did the job as much as the day-glo amoxicillin.

The criteria for “sick treats” are pretty cut and dried.

  1. It has to be easy. No sifting/sieving/fancy knife work allowed.
  2. It has to be made entirely of things in the pantry or fridge.
  3. It has to be tasty.
  4. It has to make a lot.

…And if it happens to hearken back to my youth, so much the better. What screams kid more than rice krispie treats? Not a whole lot. My favourite crispy rice bars are a wee bit different than the traditional variety in that they don’t use marshmallows and they’re decidedly peanutty. It just doesn’t get much easier than these treats. I’m willing to bet you have everything you  need in the cabinets right now. Best yet, you can choose to leave them nekkid or scatter a bunch of chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips over the bars while still hot. The chocolate melts and few flicks of the wrist with a silicone or offset spatula renders the chocolate coating complete.

Look at that chocolate getting all glossy and melty. You know that’s going to be good.

Some advice about working with the bars, whether you use the chocolate coating or not…

  • When spreading the hot crisped rice mixture into the pans, use a silicone or rubber spatula that is lightly oiled. The mixture likes to stick to wooden spoons and is far too hot to spread with your bare hands.
  • Line your pan with parchment paper that either completely covers the inside of the pan or extends up two opposite sides to make removing the bars from the pan easier. This, in turn, makes cutting the bars easier since you can lay them out on a cutting board and whack ‘em clean instead of fighting to get a knife to the edges inside a pan.
  • After refrigerating the bars to help them firm up, allow them to sit on the counter at room temperature for at least thirty minutes before attempting to cut them. Trust me. If you don’t, you’ll be cursing my name while trying to hack these things apart. I like you. I don’t want you to curse me.
  • As long as you keep them in an airtight container (think: Gladware, Ziploc containers, Rubbermaid, etc…) you can store them at room temperature for up to a week although I seriously doubt they’ll stick around that long as they have an alarming tendency to leap into your mouth when you’re walking past them.
  • The recipe, as given, makes a very large amount. The reason for this is that it uses an entire twelve ounce box of crispy rice cereal. You can definitely halve it if you’d like, it just means you’re going to use about six and a half cups rather than the whole box. On the other hand, if you make the entire batch as written, you can make your family happy and give away the extras (ha) and thereby make the postal carrier, UPS guy, school bus driver, or veterinarian very, VERY happy. Unless you’re ill, in which case you should probably eat them all to keep up your strength. Your call.

Now, I’m going to go sit down after I put a log on the fire and eat a few more of these. In the name of health, of course. What excuse I have for the ponytail and ugly sweat pants I don’t know…

*sniffle*

Print
Peanutty Crispy Bars | Dark Chocolate Covered Peanutty Crispy Bars

Yield: 48 bars

Serving Size: 2 bars

Peanutty Crispy Bars | Dark Chocolate Covered Peanutty Crispy Bars

These chewy, crispy, peanutty crispy rice bars give the traditional Rice Krispie Treats a fun make-over. We like the texture and flavour better than the originals!

Ingredients

  • 1 (12 ounce box) crispy rice cereal or 12 1/2 cups (like Rice Krispies)
  • 2 cups honey or light corn syrup
  • 2 cups granulated or raw sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
    • Optional:
  • 3 cups well-chopped dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Line a 13"x18" half sheet pan with parchment paper being sure that the parchment paper extends up at least two of the opposite sides so you can use the parchment paper to remove the uncut bars from the pan more easily. Set aside.

In a large, heavy-bottomed stockpot, melt together the butter, honey or corn syrup, and sugar over medium low heat. When the butter is fully melted, raise the heat to medium high and bring to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter quickly until the mixture is smooth. Immediately add in all of the crispy rice cereal and gently but quickly combine until the cereal is all coated evenly and there are no pockets of liquid. Turn the mixture out onto the prepared pan and use a lightly oiled spatula to evenly distribute then press the mixture into the pan. Be sure to push it into the corners, too, before smoothing the top.

Optional:

If you'd like your bars to be chocolate covered, scatter the chopped chocolate or chocolate chips evenly over the top as soon as you have it pressed into the pan. Let stand at room temperature until all of the chocolate is glossy and melted looking (about 5-10 minutes) then use an offset spatula or a silicone spatula to spread the chocolate evenly.

Put the pan into the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the hot bars set up. Before cutting into squares or whichever shapes you prefer, let the bars set at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Store bars in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to a week.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/01/30/peanutty-crispy-bars-dark-chocolate-covered-peanutty-crispy-bars/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Desserts, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

Layered Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake with Salted Caramel

January 18, 2012 by 12 Comments

This cake has two layers and this post has two purposes. One is a no-brainer: to share the recipe. The other? Well the other reason is a serious case of Mama pride. This cake is what my pickle in the middle son requested for his birthday but that’s not why I’m proud. I’m busting my buttons because he came up with the idea for the cake.

Let me backtrack a bit and introduce you to my guy.

This is Ty.

Not Tyler, not Tyrone, not Tyson. He’s Ty. It’s a Welsh word that means “House”: as in strong like one. And Ty is. He’s the strong, silent type. He has a fast wit, but you have to listen for it. Believe me, it’s worth listening.

Ty is a sports and outdoors nut.

He’d just as soon be hitting home-runs, throwing balls,  climbing trees, running laps, slap-shotting, or bicycling at warp speed as he would anything else. Don’t let his elven appearance fool you. He is made of stern stuff. He taught himself to ride his own bike in one afternoon.  It didn’t matter that he fell of about fifty times. He was determined to learn it and no gravity was going to stand in his way.

He zigs when others zag. (Note the upturned corners of the mouth during the obligatory Sturgeon Faces at the Sturgeon River pose. He’s the happy sturgeon next to the Grandpa Sturgeon.)

Sports, admiring cats, and reading Harry Potter are three of his favourite past times, but there’s one bigger than anything else. The boy loves to cook.

It gets better, though, because he’s darned good at it. He loves traditional British food (think treacle tarts, shepherd’s pie, toad-in-a-hole, etc…) but he’s an innovator, too. Proof of this came with his birthday dessert request; he wanted me to whip up a gingersnap crusted pumpkin pie with a thick cheesecake layer on top, thus combining all of his best-loved desserts. And here’s the kicker; he wanted to help make it.

Ty and I made gingersnaps together.

We snuck a couple, shared a few with the rest of the family and turned the remaining cookies into crumbs for our crust. He tossed in melted butter and sugar and pressed it into the bottom of a parchment lined springform pan.

We whipped up a small batch of pumpkin pie filling and a medium batch of cheesecake batter.

We did a very convoluted method of pouring both into the pan (which you can skip since it formed its own layers), put the pan in the oven, then sat down with a cup of tea (any Welsh readers will recognize the seriously appropriate nature and wondrous pun of Ty’s love of tea) to wait for the cake to finish baking.

After it was set up, all that was left was the long overnight wait for the cake to chill through and birthday proper to begin. Showing much more patience than his Mum, Ty insisted on waiting until after dinner (shepherd’s pie) to cut into the cheesecake pie. And like Ty’s humour, it was more than worth the wait.

The spicy, deep molasses of the gingersnap crust was the perfect foil to the custardy pumpkin pie and silky cheesecake. The slight hint of orange in the cheesecake amplified the nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon in the pumpkin pie. The just-this-side-of-burnt sugar salted caramel drizzled over the cloud of whipped cream pushed the entire dessert into the stratosphere.

Can you see why I’m about ready to pop with the pride?

Oh, these boys of mine. I think I’ll keep them. Happy Birthday, my Ty guy. You are very loved.

Print
Layered Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake with Salted Caramel

Layered Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake with Salted Caramel

The spicy, deep molasses of the gingersnap crust is the perfect foil to the custardy pumpkin pie and silky cheesecake. The slight hint of orange in the cheesecake amplifies the nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon in the pumpkin pie. Then, the just-this-side-of-burnt sugar salted caramel drizzled over the cloud of whipped cream pushes the entire dessert into the stratosphere.

Ingredients

    For the Crust:
  • 2 cups fine gingersnap crumbs
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 a stick) butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup raw or granulated sugar
    • For the Pumpkin Pie Layer:
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 can (15 oz.) canned pumpkin (NOT canned pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
    • For the Cheesecake Layer:
  • 3 (8 ounce each) bricks cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons Grand Marnier ~or~ 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
    • For the Salted Caramel Sauce:
  • 1 cup (7 ounces by weight) sugar
  • 1 2/3 cups (13 ounces by weight) heavy cream
  • Sea salt or kosher salt to taste

Instructions

Grease and line a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper. Position the springform pan in the center of a rimmed baking sheet. Toss together all of the ingredients for the crust with a fork and press evenly and firmly onto the base of the prepared pan. The crumbs may extend up to 1/4-inch up the sides, but no higher. Set aside.

Position your oven racks so there is one in the center and one far enough below it to hold a bread or cake pan that will be filled with boiling water. Preheat the oven to 300°F and put a kettle of water on to boil.

To Prepare the Pumpkin Pie Layer:

Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, use a fork or whisk to combine the sugar and spices. Add those along with the pumpkin puree to the eggs and whisk until smooth. Stir in the evaporated milk and pour carefully into the prepared crust.

To Prepare the Cheesecake Layer:

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade (or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk), blend the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Scrape down the sides, add the eggs and blend until smooth again. Scrape down, add remaining cheesecake ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour carefully into the center of the pumpkin pie filling.

Place the baking sheet with the sprinform pan on the center rack in the preheated oven and pour boiling water from the kettle into the loaf or cake pan. Bake for 60-80 minutes, or until the outer 2/3 of the cake is set but the center is still a little jiggly. Turn off the oven and insert a wooden spoon in between the oven and the door to hold it slightly ajar. Let cool, along with the oven, to room temperature.

Lay plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cheesecake and refrigerate overnight before serving.

To Prepare the Salted Caramel Sauce:

Melt the sugar (with just a couple drops of water to help it along, if you're uncomfortable melting it dry.) over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot until it is a nice, deep-caramel colour. Do not stir as this causes crystallizing in the caramel. When it reaches the caramel colour you want, pour in the heavy cream (taking care as this will bubble up massively), whisk it and remove from the heat. Add sea salt (a couple good pinches usually does the job) to taste, whisk and set aside to cool to a comfortable temperature.

To Serve the Cheesecake:

Slice the cheesecake into thin wedges. On each wedge, dollop a hearty amount of whipped cream and drizzle the salted caramel sauce.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/01/18/layered-pumpkin-pie-cheesecake-with-salted-caramel/

 

 

 

Filed Under: Desserts, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Boston Cream Pie

January 11, 2012 by 12 Comments

Phew. I made it through birthday season! I cooked, I decorated, I celebrated, I cooked some more and I found the perfect gift for each child. Thankfully, three-fifths of the kids chose their dad’s extra wonderful specialty (extra crispy fried chicken) for dinner, but that didn’t leave me off the hook. Oh, no no no it didn’t.

There were still pig tails (my kids’ name for these), French fries, coleslaw, and various other side dishes to make with those meals. Above all else, though, there were the cakes to be made. Yes, those cakes.

Last year, my studiously wacky second born asked for a three-dimensional Tardis cake. My policy to is to deliver whatever the requested cake is no. matter. what. So I toiled with fondant (blech!), and cake sticks and printable edible transfers and what not. And after the kids went on a three day food colouring induced nutso bender, I prayed that there would be no more Ace of Cakes style requests.

When Aidan approached me this year announcing he’d decided on his cake, I held my breath. “I want a Boston Cream Pie!” Not only was there zero required food dye, he’d chosen one of my all time favourite desserts. Woo to the hoo, people.

I asked the birthday boy why he wanted a Boston Cream Pie (file this question under the “Mom Trying to Understand Male Children” category) and as he ran out of the room he yelled, “Because it’s called a pie but it isn’t one. Isn’t that great?”

Yes.

Yes, it is.

Boston Cream Pie is no pie. It is a cake. It is a darned good rich butter cake filled with vanilla flecked pastry cream and topped with a gooey chocolate glaze and it is also the perfect metaphor for my boy. Playful and silly,

deep,

irresistible, surprising, charming, and easy on the eyes.

Aidan and Boston Cream Pie, two great things that go great together.

 

Happy Birthday, little fire. You are strong, loyal, hilarious and loving. You keep my life full of joy!

 

Print
Boston Cream Pie

Boston Cream Pie

Layers of tender, buttery cake and rich, custardy pastry cream with a bittersweet chocolate glaze are irresistible for any occasion. This is well worth the little bit of effort required to produce it.

Used with thanks from the King Arthur Flour's The Baker's Companion.

Ingredients

    For the Cake:
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons softened butter
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ cup milk
    • For the Vanilla Pastry Cream:
  • 3 cups whole milk
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 4 tablespoons cold butter plus 1 tablespoon
  • 1 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
    • For the Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze:
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the pastry cream:

In a heavy-bottomed medium or large saucepan, stir together 2 ½ cups of the milk, the sugar, salt and split vanilla bean with its scrapings. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil.

While the mixture is coming to a boil, whisk together the cornstarch, flour and egg yolks with the remaining ½ cup of milk in a separate bowl.

Carefully ladle some of the boiling milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the boiling milk, again, whisking constantly. Return to a boil for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat immediately and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of butter to the custard (and the vanilla extract if using) and stir until completely melted and combined. Smooth the top of the custard, rub the remaining piece of butter over the surface of the custard and place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard. Refrigerate until completely chilled.

While the custard is chilling, prepare the cake:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Beat together the sugar, butter, salt and vanilla extract in a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer until the mixture is fluffy. Beat in the oil, scrape down the sides, and then add the eggs, one at a time, beating until the mixture is even fluffier.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and baking powder.

Alternate adding about 1/3 of the dry mixture and 1/3 of the milk, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, until the batter is even and smooth.

Grease and flour an 8”x8” square baking pan or a 9” round baking pan and spoon the batter into the pan. Bake for 38-45 minutes, or until the cake tests clean with a skewer or tooth pick and the edges pull away from the pan. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool completely.

While the cake is chilling, prepare the chocolate ganache:

Pour the heavy cream into a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium high heat and bring it to a boil. Pour over the chopped chocolate, corn syrup, vanilla extract and salt and let rest for 5 minutes, undisturbed. When the 5 minutes have elapsed, stir slowly in one direction until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy. Add the pinch of salt and stir in gently. Set aside for 10 minutes at room temperature.

To finish the pastry cream and assemble the cake:

Fold the whipped cream into the chilled pastry custard and set aside.

Level the top of the cake using a serrated knife if necessary then split the cooled cake in half horizontally and carefully transfer the top layer, cut side down, to a cake plate or serving platter. Pile the pastry cream onto the cake layer to within 1/2-inch of the edges. Carefully invert the remaining cake half cut side down onto the pastry cream. This will leave the smoothest surface of the cake on top to be covered with glaze.

Refrigerate the cake without glaze if you do not plan to serve it immediately as the glaze hardens into an almost taffy-like consistency in the refrigerator.

Shortly before you're ready to serve the cake, pour the glaze down onto the center of the cake. This will allow the glaze to spread over the top and drip down the sides of the cake. Slice and serve.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/01/11/boston-cream-pie/

We have one more birthday post coming up, even though Aidan’s birthday wrapped up our birthday season. Even though it’s coming out of order, it’s such a spectacular dessert that it’s worth saving for last. Stay tuned for a tale of Mama pride and a gorgeous dessert.

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake with Ganache

November 28, 2011 by 11 Comments

It’s birthday season around here, as I may have already mentioned once (or twice)… With the exception of the one child who requested shepherd’s pie for his birthday dessert until I informed him he could have it for dinner AND have a proper cake or pie, everyone has asked for something spectacular. Last week was no different, but the pressure was amped up a bit. My eldest and youngest were born on the same day, eight years apart. Birthday feasts and desserts take on a special level of crazy when two people are egging each other on in the brainstorming process.

Mercifully, the eldest wanted fried chicken and the youngest wanted fried chicken nuggets. (Bless you child. Your nuggets were boneless, skinless chicken thighs dredged in the same coating as your elder brother’s fried chicken. And it was good.) The youngest deigned to allow the eldest to have a fruit salad even though, as he has repeatedly informed us he does not “wike fwoot.” And then came the negotiations on the cake.

Cake, for crying out loud.

How complicated does it need to be*? The answer to that, evidently, is extremely complicated. Eldest wanted a vanilla cake with strawberry layers. Youngest, again, informed us he doesn’t “wike fwoot”. Youngest wanted chocolate. Eldest didn’t want plain chocolate. Eldest suggested combining chocolate and mint. Youngest now decided he didn’t “wike mint”.  Eldest suggested I make two cakes. Youngest agreed. And then one of them, can’t quite remember which since my head was spinning on its axis, said, “Why don’t you just make a huge chocolate and vanilla swirl cake? Then you can put ganache** over the whole thing!”

*This is a question I should be past asking considering one year they wanted a realistically shaped/decorated globe cake, another year someone wanted a 3-D Tardis, and so on and so forth. But I am an optimist. Some day someone will ask me for a sheet cake with nothing on it. Then I’ll probably cry.

**Because my children do say things like, “Put ganache over the whole thing!” I suppose this means I’ve spoiled them.

Phew. It’s the lead-up to the cake request that stresses me out the most. Swirls I can do. Swirls I have done. But my previous swirly cakes were a bit more on the dry side (intentionally) since they were to be layered with ice cream. This cake was to be a moist, stand-alone (if you count being smothered with ganache as standing alone) birthday beauty. Enter butter… and quite a bit of it.

 

Let’s talk about ganache just for a moment. If you’re not familiar with it I’ll break it down for you. Ganache is equal parts heavy cream and chocolate, melted together and gently stirred until it magically turns into a thick, glossy, chocolate spread. And oh, what a chocolate spread. When refrigerated, it is thick enough to roll into balls  to nibble,  drop into hot milk for hot chocolate, or coat with cocoa powder or chopped nuts or more melted chocolate for homemade truffles, or, or, or… to frost or sandwich between cookies, or CAKES.

So, to recap, we have a big layer cake made with lots of butter covered with dark chocolate and heavy cream. Very diet friendly. But diets have no place in a home with five sons. This is my justification and I’m sticking with it. Would anyone else like to join me here on Delusional Island? We have cake. And ganache.

Print
Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake

Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake

Birthdays (or any occasions, for that matter) get a delicious boost when you serve this moist Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake frosted with dark chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

    For the Cake:
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons, separated
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups fine or superfine sugar
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk, warmed to room temperature plus 4 tablespoons, separated
  • 2 level tablespoons dark cocoa powder
    • For the ganache:
  • 16 ounces (2 cups) heavy cream
  • 16 ounces chopped dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate
    • Optional for garnish:
  • Melted white chocolate for drizzling

Instructions

To Bake the Cake:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Butter and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in colour.

Beat the eggs in one at a time, fully incorporating each egg and scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Add about 1/3 of the milk, beat to incorporate, then 1/3 of the flour, again beating to incorporate.

Repeat this process, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until all of the milk and flour are added and mixed in evenly.

Divide the batter equally between two mixing bowls. In one, add 2 tablespoons of milk and the additional 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Whisk until smooth.

In the other bowl, whisk in the cocoa powder and remaining 2 tablespoons of milk until smooth.

To create the swirls, scoop 1/3 of a cup of the white batter into the center of each prepared pan. Follow this with 1/3 of a cup of the chocolate batter directly into the center of the white batter in each pan. Repeat the process -white batter, chocolate batter, white batter, chocolate batter- each time, pouring the batter directly into the center of the contrasting batter. This will form concentric circles (and when baked, the stripey swirls) of contrasting colour. Repeat until you run out of batter.

Bake, rotating midway through, for about 35 minutes or until the cake tests done.

Let the cakes cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes before turning out onto the racks to finish cooling.

To Make the Ganache:

Heat heavy cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan just until it is about to boil. Pour immediately over the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and let stand undisturbed for 5 minutes. Using a wire whisk, gently stir in one direction until the ganache becomes glossy and evenly dark. Let stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until thick.

To Assemble and Frost the Cake:

Level out your completely, 100% cooled cakes and cut each into two even layers.

Place one layer on a cake plate then add a layer of ganache, spreading to the edges and evening out as you go. Repeat with the remaining layers.

Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining ganache. If you have uneven areas, you can put the cake into the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so, then use ganache to fill in the spaces.

If desired, drizzle melted white chocolate over the top of the cake to garnish.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing.

Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/11/28/chocolate-vanilla-swirl-layer-cake-with-ganache/

 

Happy Birthday to my sweet bookends.

My Chocolate and my Vanilla…

Am I the luckiest mom in the world or what?

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Holiday Food, Instructional, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,
«Older Posts
Newer Posts»