Most delicious richness ever: Snickers Tart

I was invited to attend a Halloween carnival with my friend Stephanie this past weekend and there happened to be a dessert contest following for the 'young adults' of her church. Now, I love me some competition and Halloween AND baking so this was going to be money. The contest indicated that the dessert had to be Halloween-ish and I had this recipe from the last Martha Stewart Living that I was waiting for a reason to try. The dessert was called a Peanut, Caramel, and Chocolate Tart but I call it the Snickers-inspired Tart. This is not for the faint of heart, I can barely finish a sliver per sitting. It's uber decadent and somewhat time consuming. Here are some of my pictures of the final product (*note: they do not do it justice, see pictures from Martha's website):
Assembly Line of Ingredients:

The Mangled first slice (there were only plastic knives at the event):

Clean slice:




Snickers-Inspired Tart (from Martha Stewart Living)

Cookie Crust:
1 (9oz) box chocolate wafer cookies, finely ground (for this I bought a package of store brand oreos and scraped the cream off the center and blended the cookies in my blender)
1 T sugar
1/4t salt
1 stick butter, melted (perhaps less because my crust was rock hard)

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine cookie crumbs, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Stir in butter. Press mixture into bottom and up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake until dry and firm, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.


Caramel Sauce:
1 1/4c sugar
1/4c water
1c heavy cream
1/3c creme fraiche (I used crema mexicana)
1c roasted salted peanuts

Heat sugar and water in a medium saucepan over med-high heat until a dark amber color (about 12 minutes). Carefully add heavy cream (it will bubble and hiss). Bring mixture to a boil and melt any caramel that seized when cream was added. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in creme fraiche. Refrigerate until cool. I actually froze mine for about an hour to speed the process up. fold in peanuts.


Peanut Butter Mousse:
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2c powdered sugar
1/2t salt
1 1/4c smooth peanut butter (I used reduced fat JIF)
1/2t vanilla
1c heavy cream

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. Beat in salt. Add peanut butter and vanilla, beat until well combined. In a separate bowl, whisk heavy cream until medium stiffness peaks form. Fold whipped cream into peanut butter mixture in 3 additions, making sure whipped cream is fully incorporated for each addition.


**Here you should assemble the parts of the tart that you have. Pour the caramel into the crust and then carefully spread peanut butter mousse over the caramel, ensuring that the layers don't mix. You can also refrigerate the crust with the caramel sauce for 30 minutes to ensure no mixing of layers. After you add the peanut butter, refrigerate for 30 minutes.


Chocolate Ganache:
8oz semisweet chocolate
1c heavy cream

In small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer over med-high heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate to the cream and let sit for 1 minute. Whisk until completely combined. Pour ganache over peanut butter mousse layer. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Really involved process, but totally worth it! Enjoy!

P.S. I won a $10 gift card for winning the dessert contest!

Halloween Baking

For the Halloween party I attended, I baked a few goodies to share. First was a round Spiderweb version of the King Arthur Fudgy Brownie (recipe HERE). I made the brownie recipe and poured it into a greased 9" springform pan. I then made a mixture of the following:

4oz cream cheese
1 egg yolk
1T flour
2T powdered sugar

I put the mixture in a Ziplock sandwich bag and snipped a very small part of the corner off (about 3mm). I piped the cream cheese mixture first into the center and then in concentric circles out from the center. I then took a knife and dragged lines radiating out from the center. I used the remaining cream cheese mixture to draw lines over the knife drags. Baked for 35 minutes at 350F. The result was this:


The second treat I decided to try was the pumpkin whoopie pie. I've been noticing that whoopie pies are all the rage on blogs lately so I made some for the party. They were pretty delicious, I must admit. Next time I will use a smaller cookie scoop, though, because these were ginormous:



Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (from King Arthur Flour):

Cookie:
1/2c butter, softened
1/2c vegetable oil
2c firmly packed brown sugar
2T molasses (I used honey because I didn't have molasses)
1t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1t salt
2t cinnamon
1t ground ginger
1/2t ground nutmeg
1/4t ground cloves
2lg eggs
1 1/2c (one 15oz can) pumpkin
2 1/4c flour

Preheat to 375F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, oil, sugar, molasses, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Scrap side and bottom of bowl to ensure all ingredients are fully incorporated. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in the pumpkin. Add the flour in 2 additions, mixing well after each one. Scoop batter onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet and space about 2 in apart. Bake about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

Filling:
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
4T butter, softened
1t vanilla
2c powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Once cookies are cool, pipe filling onto a cookie and then press another cookie on top. To store, wrap in plastic wrap and keep in an airtight container.

King Arthur Flour Purchase and Fudge Brownies

I recently placed an order at the King Arthur Flour company- where all great ingredients come from. I've been miffed by this 'espresso powder' I see in tons of recipes but can never find in the grocery so I purchased some off KAF as well as some of their Double Dutch Dark Cocoa to make their Fudgy Brownie Recipe. I also browsed the site while I was there and picked out some cappuccino chips, a chocolate spatula thermometer, and a cube sponge for cleaning my cupcake pans. Here is my collective loot:


If you can't tell the cappuccino chips were completely melted into a blob when they arrived so that was a HUGE disappointment. No cute cappuccino chip cookies with those. I decided to chop up part of the blob and add it to the Fudgy Brownies I made last night. Here's the blob when I pulled it out of the bag:
Needless to say, very disappointed here. Always order meltables in winter, even if you're having a chilly fall, not everyone is apparently.

The Fudgy brownie recipe by King Arthur Flour has been popping up on a few blogs so as a self-professed box mix brownie lover I felt I had to try it out. Once I got the major ingredients in the mail (i.e. espresso powder and double dutch dark cocoa) I was ready to bake. The recipe was super easy and the end result was... AMAZING! I totally dropped the ball and had no ice cream in my apartment when they were hot and delicious, but they went fabulously with some skim milk mmmm. Here is a picture of them out of the pan:

Definitely try this recipe!

King Arthur Fudgy Brownies:

1c (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4c sugar
4 lg eggs
1 1/4c Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa
1t salt
1t baking powder
1t espresso powder
1t vanilla
1 1/2c King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I used regular flour)
2c chocolate chips (I used half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half cappuccino chips)

Preheat to 350F.

In a medium bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, cocoa, salt, espresso powder, and vanilla. Add in butter mixture. Add in flour and mix until well combined. Stir in chips. Pour batter into a greased 13"x9" pan and bake for about 30 minutes. If you cut this recipe in half and use an 8"x8" pan bake for about 20 minutes (that's what I did).

You can pretty much add whatever chips/nuts/dried fruits you want at the end but if you don't want them to melt, make sure the batter is cool before you add them. Enjoy!

Baking Frenzy Weekend

My hands hurt. Seriously, I made meringue by hand and beat down bread dough and zested lemons and now my hands are killing me! Only a crazy baller weekend of test driving 4 new recipes could lead to such awesome injuries. On Saturday my friend Ali had a ladies night wine tasting and sleepover (I went home so Baloo wouldn't be lonely but the other ladies stayed the night). For the evening munchies I made white chocolate champagne cupcakes to go with the wine tasting theme. I forgot to take pictures of these though, whoopsies. And for the ladies in the morning I made pumpkin cinnamon buns because I'm on a pumpkin/fall kick. I think I bought the wrong kind of champagne for this recipe. Is said to buy a sweet variety, but I just grabbed one with a pretty label (my usual wine purchasing method). The cupcakes turned out a little more bitter than I would have liked but the white chocolate chips in the cupcake paired with the super sweet icing worked out well. The pumpkin cinnamon buns were really good right out of the oven and after having been reheated in the microwave the next day. Some of the edges were a little dry, so I guess I need to work on my bread making technique! Here is the pumpkin dough being cut before the last rising:



And the finished product:


For my own dinner Saturday night I made healthified stuffed shells from a recipe off of the eat better America website. These were delicious, probably could use more cheese, but I am a cheese fiend so maybe that's just me. Here is my dinner from Saturday night:


On Sunday I made Apple Pie Cupcakes, a twist on the all American favorite to go with another all American favorite: Sunday football! I brought these babies over to Kristine and Loi's house for some football watching munchies. Too bad the Giants lost horribly and I forgot to enter my pick for Survival Fantasy Football this week so I'm already out in week 2. At least the cupcakes were fun to make and yummy! Here are the cupcakes on their way into the oven:


And after baking:


Finished product:


Recipes!

Champagne White Chocolate Cupcakes (recipe altered from Gimme Some Oven):

2 3/4c flour
3t baking powder
1t salt
2/3c butter
1 1/2c sugar
3/4c champagne (sweeter the better)
6 egg whites
1c chopped white chocolate chips

Icing:

Powdered sugar
1c + 1T butter softened
1/2t vanilla
3T champagne
1c melted white chocolate

Preheat to 350F. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding flour and champagne until all ingredients have been added and the mixture is smooth. In another bowl beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Then fold in the remaining egg whites. Stir in white chocolate. fill the cupcake liners to about 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes.

For the icing, beat 2/3c butter until smooth. Melt white chocolate with 1T butter. Add melted white chocolate to the butter and beat until smooth. Mix in champagne and vanilla. Add powdered sugar until the icing reaches desired consistency.


Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns (recipe from Back to the Cutting Board):

Dough:
1 pkg dry yeast
1/4c warm water (~100F)
3c + 1c flour
3/4c canned pumpkin puree
1/2c milk
1/4c butter, melted
1T sugar
1 1/4t salt
1/4t nutmeg

Filling:
5T sugar
5T brown sugar
3T flour
2 1/2t cinnamon
3T chilled butter, cut in small pieces

Glaze:
3/4c powdered sugar
1T milk
1/4t vanilla

Dissolve yeast in warm water, let stand for 5 minutes. Add 3c flour, pumpkin, milk, butter, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Beat until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes for until the dough is smooth and elastic,adding the 1c of remaining flour as you go. (Next time I'm using my dough hook attachment to my mixer and just adding the 1c of flour while it kneads for me.) Place the dough inside a large bowl that was sprayed with cooking spray and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm (85F) place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down and let rest for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl combine the filling ingredients until nice and mealy. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a 12x10 inch rectangle. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough. Starting at the long edge, roll up tightly avoiding air pockets. Pinch the ends to seal. Cut the roll into 1 inch slices. Place the slices in a 9in baking pan coated with cooking spray. cover and let rise for 25 minutes or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 375F and then bake for about 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. In a small bowl stir powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle glaze over buns. Serve warm.


Healtified Stuffed Shells (recipe from Eat Better America):

16 jumbo pasta shells
1 lb lean ground turkey
Italian seasoning
1/2t fennel seed
1/4t salt
1/4t pepper
1 med onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1c fat-free cottage cheese
1/4c fat-free egg product
2c pasta sauce
1/4c Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Cook and drain pasta according to package (cook extra shells in case of breakage). Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook turkey with Italian seasoning, fennel, salt, and pepper over medium heat for 8-10 minutes stirring continuously until turkey is browned through. In same skillet, cook onion and garlic over medium heat for 6-8 minutes stirring occasionally until onions are tender. Stir turkey, cottage cheese and egg product into the onions. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon about 1T of mixture into each shell to fill. Place in baking dish. Spoon pasta sauce over shells. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake 20-25 minutes or until hot.


Apple Pie Cupcakes (recipe adaped from Alpineberry):

2 1/4c flour
2 1/4t baking powder
1t cinnamon
1/4t salt
18T unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2c sugar
4 lg eggs
1/2t vanilla
1/2t lemon zest
1c whole milk

Apples:
3T butter
1/3c sugar
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

Icing:
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1 stick of butter, softened
1/2t cinnamon
1t vanilla
powdered sugar

To cook the apples, place butter and sugar in a a large fry pan over low-med heat. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add apple slices and cook for 8-10 minutes or until apples are slightly caramelized. Remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat to 325F. Sift flour, baking powder, and slat into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides and beat in vanilla and lemon zest. On low speed, add the flour mixture until barely incorporated. Add the milk and mix until just smooth.

Add the batter to the cupcake liners, filling to about 2/3 full. Top with the apples. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

For icing, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in vanilla and cinnamon. Add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Ice cooled cupcakes.


Phew, sorry for the huuuuge post, hope you enjoy the recipes!

Super Bored= Cooking Yummy Meals

Lately I've been pretty bored without a whole lot of soccer and no more roomie (seriously, what do you all who live alone do with your time?!?!), I've been spending a lot of time going through my 'recipes to try' pile. Last week I made some delicious summer pasta. It was suuuper delicious and lasted forever (love leftovers!). Here is a pic of the delicious dinner I enjoyed all last week:


I also finally tried the recipe I had for, quite possible, my favorite dessert from a restaurant: the Applebee's blondie. Now, I'm not really a fan of Applebee's food, but the blondie they serve sizzling on a cast-iron skillet has been quite possibly the best dessert I've ever eaten in a restaurant. Here is a naked blondie:


And here is the blondie with the delicious sauce and Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla ice cream:



Sooooo delicious, it was exactly as I remember it, such a great recipe find!

Summer Pasta

4 medium ripe tomatoes
1/4c thinly diced red onion
1T balsamic vinegar
6T extra virgin olive oil
1/4c chopped fresh basil
s&p freshly ground
1 lb curly pasta (I used girelle)
1pkg mozzarella pearls (or chopped ball of fresh mozzarella)

Chop tomatoes, red onion, and basil. Throw into a large bowl with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and s&p. allow to marinate at room temperature for about an hour.

Add the mozzarella to the bowl. Cook the pasta according to the package. Drain pasta fully and add to bowl. Toss pasta until it is entirely covered. Serve!


Applebee's Blondie Dessert

Blondie:
1c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/8 t salt
1/2c chopped walnuts
1/3c butter
1c packed light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 T vanilla
1/2c white chocolate chips
Sauce:
3/8c maple syrup
1/4c butter
3/8c brown sugar
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 t vanilla

Preheat to 325F

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add chopped nuts, mix well.

Melt butter, add brown sugar and mix well in a large bowl. Add egg and vanilla, mix until completely incorporated. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well. Stir in white chocolate chips. Spread into an 8" square pan. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Sauce:
Combine syrup and butter, cook over low heat until butter is melted. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Heat until desired consistency is achieved.

Serve blondies with sauce and ice cream. Enjoy!

New Recipes!

Lately I've been completely obsessed with the recipes found on Baked Perfection. All 4 that I've tried so far have been delicious and well received by the taste testers. I just found this entirely cupcake devoted list of imaginative recipes and I have to try some ASAP! The site is called Ming Makes Cupcakes. I'm baking for Bake for Hope this weekend so I might try one of these for that event. I'm leaning towards the Espresso fudge cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing (bottom of the linked page). Let me know which one you think is delicious!

P.S. The Bake for Hope bake sale will be held at the Perry Family YMCA located at 1700 League City Pkwy, League City, TX 77573 on Sunday May 2nd from 2-4pm. I'll be posting about what I'm making so be sure to check it out for some yummy treats!