20 December 2016 Chocolate Butterscotch Bars

Chocolate Butterscotch Bars

December 20, 2016 By

Chocolate Butterscotch BarsDay 7 of my 12 Days of Christmas Baking compilation.

When my friend Lisa comes over, I try to make desserts that are butterscotch/caramel-based as she’s a fan (so am I). While I adore my Chocolate Crumb Bars for similar flavors, this recipe only has four ingredients that I always have on hand and it’s a breeze to make!  

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup plus ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup plus 1/3 cup butter (I use salted)
  • ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Coat an 8×8 glass pan with cooking spray.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, ½ cup of brown sugar and the ¼ cup of butter. Use a pastry cutter or two better knives to combine, until mixture is crumbly and butter is the size of peas – i finish the job with my hands, working quickly not to melt all the butter. Press the mixture into bottom of the prepared pan.
  4. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 1/3 cup of butter. Add in the remaining ¼ cup of brown sugar and stir. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and pour over the crust – this mixture will not look very caramely, but hang in there, the taste sure will!
  5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes – don’t overbake or the caramel will harden too much.
  6. Remove from oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the caramel, wait 2 minutes then spread gently with an offset spatula or a thin knife. Allow to cool completely then cut into bars.

Makes 12 to 16 bars, depending on how large you cut them. I get 16 out of this recipe as I find the bars rich, thus a smaller piece is just fine.

Filed Under: American, Chocolate, Desserts Tagged With: , ,
19 December 2016 Magic Vanilla Lemon Custard Cake

Magic Vanilla Lemon Custard Cake

December 19, 2016 By

lemon-magic-cakeDay 6 of my 12 Days of Christmas Baking compilation! I’ve been seeing a million Magic Cake recipes on Pinterest lately and had to see for myself if this craze was for real or not.

The food blogger whose recipe seems to ‘feed’ all the variations is Jo Cooks, so I used Jo’s recipe as the base for my personal trial.

I was skeptical but this is a pretty fab recipe and will please your fans of cakey cake and custardy cake.

Ingredients

  • 4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 stick or ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • ¾ cup of all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups of whole milk, microwaved for a minute to lukewarm temperature
  • Zest of 1 lemon.
  • Powdered sugar for dusting, optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line then grease (or lightly coat in cooking spray) an 8” x 8” baking dish with parchment paper, allowing for overhang, so it’s easier to get the cake out once baked.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  3. Add the butter and the vanilla extract and beat for an additional minute.
  4. Add the flour and beat until just incorporated.
  5. Slowly add the milk and zest and beat until everything is just combined.
  6. In the clean bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, about 4 minutes.
  7. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter without overworking them – it’s okay to still see a few clumps of egg whites in the batter.
  8. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 40 to 70 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Start checking the color texture after 40 minutes – the cake is done when it jiggles slightly in the center but feels firm to touch. Mine took just under 50 minutes.
  9. Dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar, if using.

Makes 12-16 servings, depending on how small/large the portions are cut.

Filed Under: American, Desserts Tagged With: , , ,
18 December 2016 Maple Syrup Sugared Almonds

Maple Syrup Sugared Almonds

December 18, 2016 By

sugared-almondsDay 5 of my 12 Days of Christmas Baking compilation.

Warning – these nuts are uber addicting!!

I took an old recipe and gave it a Quebec twist by adding maple syrup. Double or triple the recipe for holiday gift giving or host(ess) presents. You could also double the recipe and eat them all yourself while lying on the couch watching Netflix…not that I’d know anything about that.

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • 2 cups of skin-on almonds, not salted (could use other nuts)

Directions:

  1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and the maple syrup and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Shut off the heat, add the almonds and stir to coat them in the maple mixture.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Pour the almond mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow the almonds to cool completely prior to storing in an air-tight container.
  4. The almonds can be stored for up to a week at room temperature, in an air-tight container (not that they’ll last that long).

Makes 2 cups of nuts.

Filed Under: American, Appetizers, Desserts, Other Neat Things Tagged With: , , ,
17 December 2016 Homemade Pop Tarts

Homemade Pop Tarts

December 17, 2016 By

pop-tartsDay 4 of my 12 Days of Baking compilation.

I’m testing new recipes in anticipation of being with my pre-teen nieces over the holidays and pop tarts for breakfast seemed like a good idea! These are easy to make and pretty darn tasty, although I’m more of a savory breakfast fan.

These would be super for a holiday brunch decorated with holiday sprinkles.

Pastry Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. granulated sugar
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into small cubes
  • 5 Tbsp. iced water
  • ½ cup plus 2 tsp. homemade or good quality jam
  • 1 large egg, beaten with a Tbsp. of water

Icing Ingredients:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 5 Tbsp. heavy cream
  • Sprinkles, optional

unbaked-pop-tarts

Pastry Directions:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the flour, sugar and salt until combined.
  2. Add the butter and mix just until crumbly with pieces of butter the size of peas – don’t overmix.
  3. Add the iced water, 2 tablespoons at a time, and beat until the pastry forms a ball – again, don’t overmix which could cause a tough pastry. It’s possible you’ll only need 4 tablespoons to get the right consistency – a ball of dough. Chill the dough for 15 minutes.
  4. Place the dough on a floured work surface and roll using a rolling pin to a 24” by 14” rectangle. Using a sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut the edges of the dough to get an even rectangle of 21” by 13”. Cutting from the short edge, cut the dough into three 4-inch wide strips. Now cutting from the wide edge, cut the three strips into six 3 ½-inch rectangles creating 18 rectangles.
  5. Add a tablespoon of jam to the center of half of the rectangles.
  6. Using the egg wash, wet the edges of the pastry with the jam on it. Place a pastry with no jam on top of the 9 pastries with jam. Using the tines of a fork, seal the edges of all the pop tarts to seal the jam inside during baking. Prick each pop tart three times with the times of a fork to allow steam to escape during baking.
  7. Place the pop tarts on a lightly greased or sprayed baking sheet and place in the fridge for an hour.
  8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  9. Using the remaining egg wash, brush the top of the pop tarts. Bake the pop tarts for 23-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before icing.

Icing Directions:

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and the cream until completely smooth.
  2. Divide the icing between the nine pop tarts. Garnish with sprinkles, if using.

Makes 9 pop tarts.

Filed Under: American, Breakfast, Desserts Tagged With: ,

Hot Chocolate Cookies

December 16, 2016 By

hot-chocolate-cookiesDay 3 of my 12 Days of Christmas Baking compilation!

We had our first snow of the season this week and as I was sipping a cup of hot cocoa, I thought of how great a cookie with these flavors would be. Who doesn’t like mini marshmallows anyways – nobody!

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups/2 ½ sticks butter, softened
  • ⅔ cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup Dutch-processed cocoa
  • 4 – 0.73 ounce packets of milk chocolate hot cocoa mix, I used Swiss Miss Classics Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix
  • 1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • ½ cup mini marshmallows

Directions:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, brown and granulated sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla and beat an additional minute.
  3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, Dutch-processed cocoa, the hot cocoa mixes, the baking soda and the baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat just to combine.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips and the mini marshmallows. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  6. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto greased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart.
  7. Bake for 9-10 minutes until the edges of the cookies are set. Cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes then place the cookies on cooling racks.

Yields 2 dozens.

Filed Under: American, Chocolate, Desserts Tagged With: , ,
15 December 2016 Reese’s Pieces Cookies

Reese’s Pieces Cookies

December 15, 2016 By

reeses-pieces-cookiesDay 2 of my 12 Days of Christmas Baking.

I must admit, I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies. Why did I create this recipe, you might ask? Because I’m doing a 12 days of cookies compilation and don’t want to devour dozens upon dozens of cookies…..with this recipe, I, of course, tasted my final product – but, didn’t feel like having 2 dozens…genius!  

These would be even more PB-tasting by replacing ½ cup of the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips. Up to you how PB-fanatic your entourage is.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup/1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups Reese’s Pieces
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  2. Add the granulated and brown sugar and beat an additional minute.
  3. Add the oil, the eggs and the vanilla and beat for another minute.
  4. In a medium bowl, sift the baking powder, the soda, the salt and the flour. Add the flour mixture to the batter and beat just enough to incorporate.
  5. Fold in the Reese’s Pieces and the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  7. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto greased cookie sheets.
  8. Bake for 7­-8 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes then place the cookies on cooling racks.

Yields about 2 dozen cookies.

Filed Under: American, Chocolate, Desserts Tagged With: ,
14 December 2016 Mom’s Icebox Cookies

Mom’s Icebox Cookies

December 14, 2016 By

icebox-cookies-bakedDay 1 of My 12 Days of Christmas Baking compilation. 

Every year, I do this 12 days of cookies compilation on this blog and this year, I asked my mom to send in her icebox cookies recipe. Typically, she agrees, but then I don’t actually get the recipe, or pictures. To my surprise, mom came through with the recipe AND three photos she took while making/baking the cookies! How about that cool shot of the cookies with the well-positioned glass of milk – yeah mom!!

When I was growing up, I loved eating the raw dough from this recipe. Of course, nowadays that would likely be considered child endangerment but I’m so glad I have that memory seared in my brain.

The best thing about these cookies is that you can freeze one (or more) or the logs for about a month and just slide off what you’re ready to bake and eat – perfect for those holidays unannounced visitors or for the kids and their friends after school!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and the egg until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
  2. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and the salt.
  3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three additions just until incorporated – don’t overbeat or you’ll end up with tough cookies.
  4. Add the vanilla.
  5. Lay two long pieces of cling wrap on your counter and divide the dough onto them. Using the cling wrap, form long, uniform logs about 2 inches in diameter. Tie the ends or make a knot with the cling wrap. At this point, the logs can be refrigerated for an hour before baking or frozen for up to a month.
  6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the cookies and bake on greased cookie sheets for 8 – 10 minutes.

Yields 2 dozen cookies.

Filed Under: American, Desserts Tagged With: ,
9 December 2016 Cranberry Cooler

Cranberry Cooler

December 9, 2016 By

cranberry-cooler_img_5888What a fun idea around the holidays – a cranberry drink! Definitely adding this neat cocktail from the fine folks at Spuntino Wine Bar & Italian Tapas to my repertoire for the holidays. 

Ingredients

  • 1 fl. oz. Van Gogh Citron (or any other citron flavored vodka)
  • 1/2 fl. oz. Limoncello
  • 1/2 fl. oz. Prosecco
  • 2.5 fl. oz. White Cranberry Juice
  • 1/2 fl. oz. Simple Syrup
  • 4 Cranberries
  • 1 Lemon Wheel

Preparation

1.       Combine vodka, limoncello, white cranberry juice, and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well.

2.       Empty contents of shaker and cranberries into desired glass – we usually use a highball glass.

3.       Top with prosecco and a lemon wheel. Enjoy!

Makes 1 cocktail.

Filed Under: Cocktails Tagged With: , , ,
5 December 2016 Going Formal for the Holidays

Going Formal for the Holidays

December 5, 2016 By

I love really dressing up my table around the holidays. If you’re thinking of pulling out grandma’s silver or unpacking those formal dishes you received at your wedding, here’s how the table should be set for a formal meal:

place-setting

Want a very VIP dinner menu for that special meal? Here’s one I love for the holidays:

Sweet Potato Gnocchi in Sage Brown Butter.

Simple & Festive Prime Rib.

Make-Ahead Twice Baked Potatoes.

Fail-Proof Yorkshire Puddings.

Elegant Key Lime Tart.

Enjoy!

Veronique

Filed Under: American, Beef, Cheese, Desserts, Entrees, Other Neat Things, Pasta, Potatoes, Starters Tagged With: , , , ,
29 November 2016 Pink Grapefruit Slammer

Pink Grapefruit Slammer

November 29, 2016 By

tequila-slammerI’m trying out some cocktails flavor combinations in anticipation of the holidays in just a few weeks. I love grapefruit in my drinks so mixing it with silver tequila just makes sense to me. Plus, it’s a snap to put together when your guests arrive.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces of silver/blanco tequila, I used Patron
  • 4 ounces of freshly-squeezed pink grapefruit juice
  • 2 ounces of lemon lime soda
  • Pink Grapefruit segment/slice for garnish

Instructions:

Add all ingredients except the segment/slice of grapefruit to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake for about 15 seconds, then ‘slam’ the shaker on a counter and pour immediately in a tall glass filled with ice. Garnish with the grapefruit segment/slice. The ‘slamming’ will create additional fizz, so be sure to serve immediately after that slam!

Makes one cocktail.

Filed Under: Cocktails Tagged With: , , ,
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