Week 7 (Baking) - Valentine's Day Treats

Week seven's theme was Valentine's Day and since I am not a lovey dovey Valentine's Day celebrating sort of gal I used this theme to share some love for strangers.

The Setup from one of the happy couples

Seriously, how cute are they?

As I believe I've mentioned in previous posts, I like to send out treats to strangers over on reddit. This month instead of giving out treats through RandomActsofCookies I decided to offer up Valentine's Day care packages to couples with the best/most interesting story. This opened the flood gates and when I thought I'd send out one, maybe two packages, I wound up fighting just to narrow down my selections to three deserving candidates.

My selection included; the most adorable high school couple I have ever seen, a young couple with a baby who's expenses were obviously tied up with thing less frivolous than the Hallmark holiday, and a college student who was down on her luck and solo for the holiday of love.

Each package was a little different based on my whims, but the goodies were as follows:

• Dark Chocolate Espresso Truffles
• Crunchy Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Truffles
• Cake Batter Truffles
• White Chocolate Covered Pretzels 
• Red Velvet Cookies
• Crunchy Pink Heart Sugar Cookies 

Alone on Valentine's Day? More treats for you!

Dark Chocolate Espresso Truffles 

I've actually posted this recipe once before, for my Halloween 2011 post.  However, since that was when the blog was just starting to get off the ground and few people actually were reading at that time, I'll re-share the recipe here. 

• 8 oz Ghiradelli Intense Dark Espresso Escape
• 1/4 c heacy cream
• 1 tsp coffee powder (use a heaping teaspoon if you really love coffee flavoring, which I do)
• Approx. 1/2 c cocoa powder for rolling the truffles

1. Finely chop the chocolate, either by hand or in a food processor.
2. Combine the chocolate, cream, and coffee powder over a low flame, stirring often. Do not whip/over-stir this, just gently continue to mix as the chocolate melts. 
3. Once the mixture is fully melted and smooth, remove from heat. 
4. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 4+ hours, or freeze for 2. 
5. Remove from fridge/freezer, let stand at room temperatire until pliable, 20-40 minutes.
6. Pour cocoa powder into a bowl.
7. Dip hands in cocoa powder.
8. Scoop by generous teaspoon and roll into balls.
9. Roll ball cocoa powder until coated. Set on a baking sheet or flat plate.
10. Repeat for the remaining ganache*.



I forgot to take picture of the truffles,
so here's a pic of one of the happy couples instead. 

11. Refrigerate until ready to use, allow truffles to sit for 15 minutes at room temperature prior to serving.

Yields approximately 20 truffles.

*Ganache is any frosting, filling, etc. created from a mixture of cream and chocolate. 

Crunchy Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Truffles

• 8 oz milk chocolate
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• Approx. 1 c crunchy peanut butter
• Approx. 1 1/2 c salted peanuts, ground up
• Approx. 1/4 c cocoa powder, for your hands

Notice how the truffles doubles in size?

1. Finely chop the chocolate, either by hand or in a food processor.
2. Combine the chocolate and cream over a low flame, stirring often. Do not whip/over-stir this, just gently continue to mix as the chocolate melts. 
3. Once the mixture is fully melted and smooth, remove from heat. 
4. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 4+ hours, or freeze for 2. 
5. Remove from fridge/freezer, let stand at room temperatire until pliable, 20-40 minutes.
6. Pour cocoa powder into a bowl.
7. Place crunchy peanut butter in microwave safe container and cook in 30 seconds intervals until soft and liquidy. Do NOT let the mixture get hot, otherwise the truffles will start melting. Eek!
8. Dip hands in cocoa powder.
9. Scoop by generous teaspoon and roll into balls.
10. Dip the truffle in the melted peanut butter, allow to drip for a few seconds.
11. Place the truffle in the ground up peanuts and roll around until coated. Set on a baking sheet for flat plate. 
12. Repeat for the remaining ganache*.
13. Refrigerate until ready to use, allow truffles to sit for 15 minutes at room temperature prior to serving.

Should yield approximately 20 truffles.

Cake Batter Truffles

Recipe from chef-in-training

Sadly for the time being I cannot access this recipe, the site is listed as fraudulent and my work computer is just not having it. They were delicious and very cute and I hope to rectify this in the near future, but for now I'll have to settle for some pictures.

The "truffles" before coating

Sprinkled and dipped

The delicate inside

White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

You don't really need a recipe for this, right? Well, just in case...

• White Chocolate 
• Pretzels
• Sprinkles

1. Melt the white chocolate. 
2. Dip the pretzels in the white chocolate, allowing to drip for a few seconds. 
3. Place on a grid cooling wrack over paper towels or wax paper.
4. Sprinkle.
5. Allow chocolate to set before removing. Store in an airtight container - if you can resist the urge to eat them right away.

This is the chocolatey sprinkled aftermath of the pretzels.

Red Velvet Cookies
Recipe from food.com

I'm sharing this recipe in hopes that someone else may find a way to tweak it/make it more delicious. These cookies were kind of a bust, at least in my opinion; they managed to be simultaneously dry and moist, and were quite lacking in the flavor department. Oh well, we can't win 'em all.

• 1 box red velvet cake mix
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• Approx. 1 c confectioner's sugar

Attractive looking batter, isn't it?

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Combine the cake mix, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Dough will be very thick and heavy.
3. Stir by hand just until combined.
4. Dust hands with confectioner's sugar and pinch off roughly 1" balls from the dough.
5. Roll each ball in the confectioner's sugar.
6. Place on ungreased baking sheet.
7. Repeat for remaining dough.
8. Bake 8-10 minutes. 
9. Remove from oven, allow to rest on cookie sheet around 2 minutes. 
10. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling wrack.
11. Allow to cool to room temperature, and store in an airtight container. 

Crunchy Sugar Cookies 
Recipe from bhg.com

This is a crispy delicious cookie that can be made in any shape using a cookie gun/press.

• 1 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract






• 3 1/2 c all purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
2. Beat butter until fluffy.
3. Add in sugar and baking powder, beat until combined. 
4. Beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extract until combined. 
5. Mix in the flour slowly. 
6. Scoop dough into cookie gun with desired shape inserted. 
7. Follow the directions for your cookie gun to make shapes.
8. Bake 7-10 minutes, until a light golden brown.
9. Cool on the pan for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling wrack to cool completely.
10. Finish with sprinkles or icing. 

In addition to the treats, my besty over at ThunderCrafts donated a handmade card and some spare PartyLite tealight candles to really romance up the care packages. I threw in some red streamers,, $1 heart table clothes, and heart shaped plates and Presto! Valentine's Day in a box.

In my excitement to pack the perfect Valentine's Day date box, I forgot to take pictures of most of the items. Luckily the receivers picked up my slack and sent me adorable pictures of their Valentine's Day festivities.

To see the entire Valentine's Day Album, click here!

Big Bang Bars

Big Bang Bars (noun) - Cookie bars which contain the ingredients from which all other cookies are derived.

I wish I could claim credit for the name of these delicious beasts, but in fact the name came from a fellow redditor (kanthropology) who came to the rescue when I was looking to replace the name Garbage cookies, with something a bit more appetizing. To reward her efforts I shipped her a batch of these yummy newly named treats. The name is perfect because it's nerdy - much like their maker - and because these delectable treats do provide a BIG BANG with each bite.

Not pictured: Coconut

When I was a kid my father cooked precisely 3 things: chili that was way too spicy for consumption by children, mac n' cheese, and these cookies. He always called them garbage cookies and made them from whatever garbage was sitting in the cabinets that looked appealing at the time. Each batch come out a little different because you never knew what he was going to throw in them. They also are always made in bar form because he was far too lazy to be bothered with drop cookies.

These have always been my favorite cookies because they have a little bit of everything, all mixed into one. I have taken my father's not so scientific approach to cookie making and refined the process down to a simple recipe that can be shared and re-created. Perhaps some of the magic is lost now that the recipe is committed in written form, but I like to think the memory lingers and perhaps gains momentum now that others can share in the joy.

I know that "everything" cookies aren't anything unique or original for most families, but I choose to believe there's something unique here. If for no other reason than the small memory of childhood that comes rushing back when the warm gooey joy hits my lips.

So readers I give to you: Garbage Cookies 2.0 → Big Bang Bites

Ingredients

• 1 stick of butter, softened
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/4 c peanut butter
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup/6 oz/ 1/2 bag chocolate chips
• 1 c raisins
• 3 cups uncooked oatmeal
  
  

I make a note, for posterity's sake of mixing these cookies by hand. The only reason I do this is because we didn't own a mixer when I was a kid, so I feel like I'm cheating the memory by bustin' out the Kitchenaid.

The Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. Line a 9x9 pan with aluminum foil (optional).
3. Spray pan/aluminum foil with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Combine the butter & sugars and mix until creamy.
5. Add the egg and vanilla, mix until incorporated.
   
   
6. Add in the peanut butter, stirring again until fully incorporated.
7. Add in the coconut, stir, incorporate, etc.
8. Add the baking soda & flour and mix well.
9. Fold in the chocolate chips & raisins.
   
   
10. Add the oatmeal slowly, mixing completely with each addition.
11. Press the dough into the greased pan.
    
    
12. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Bars should appear mostly cooked but slightly soft in the center.
    A tooth pick should come out clean, but doesn't always if you end up hitting a cash of chocolate chips. I always hit chocolate chips.
    The bars are slightly drier than normal cookies, but that's part of their charm in my opinion. You can always play with the recipe and find out what works best for your tastes. 
13. Remove from oven, allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Optional Drizzle

• 1 cup chocolate
• 1/4 c shortening

1. Melt the chocolate.
2. Stir in shortening, mix until completely smooth.
3. Drizzle over bars.
   
   

...and there you have it. I hope people try this recipe and enjoy these cookies as much as I do. I'd love to hear what other variations people add into their everything cookies.

Happy noming.

Crimes Against Humanity Cakes

The name pretty much says it all. I set out to make some über delicious terrifyingly sweet cupcakes for a last minute birthday party invite. The catch, I had very little in the house, and even less desire to do heavy grocery shopping on an early Sunday afternoon when the stores were packed. Couple this with the birthday girl's insatiable love of chocolate and Crimes Against Humanity Cakes are born. The idea came from a series of random things I've found spread over the zillion cooking/baking forums I frequent. The basis came from an instructables post that I then tweaked a bit to clog the arteries  please the palate of the cake eaters. This recipe was perfect because all I needed (or so I thought...) was to pick up some Oreos.

A glimpse at the chaos inside.

What You'll Need

• Box of brownie mix + the ingredients it calls for OR the ingredients and your favorite brownie recipe
• Oreos regular or Double Stuf 
• Smooth/creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 c vegetable shortening
• 1/2 c butter softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (clear if you want the frosting to be really white)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp milk or water (I use water so the frosting is safe to sit out at a party/gathering all night)
• Patience
• Dishwasher

Assembling the (Cup)Cakes

• Preheat oven to 350°   
• Line a standard cupcake pan with 12 cupcake papers.  
• Place one Oreo (I used Double Stuf because the BF insisted that the party guests would thank me) in the center of each cupcake paper.

  

  Single layer of Oreos

• Pipe about 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter onto the top of the Oreo. It doesn't need to be measured, just eyeball it.Try to spread it across the whole cookie, leaving just a small ring of cookie showing underneath. Seriously, don't try to spoon it onto the cookie. Even with warmed peanut butter this was really messy and kept pulling the cookie up every time I tried to lift the spoon away.

  

  First round of peanut butter

• Put another Oreo on top of this monster in the making. Try to keep your stack centered in the cupcake hole.
•  Pipe a second layer 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter on to that sucker.

  

  Second round of peanut butter.

• Mix up your brownie mix per the directions on the box/recipe you are using.

  

  Mmmm, brownie batter.

• Scoop about 2 tbsp of brownie batter carefully on top of the peanut butter.
  Try to hit as close to the center as possible and let it slide down the sides of your cookie/peanut butter mountain. I used a medium cookie scoop and this worked beautifully. Especially compared to my efforts to cleanly transfer the batter using a regular table spoon. 

  

  Scooping the brownie batter.

• Bake those suckers for 20-25 minutes, this varies depending on the mix you used. 
• Insert a toothpick slightly off to the side to test for doneness. Obviously you can't poke straight down the  center as you usually would since the center is fully of still-fairly-hard-cookie. I pulled my brownies when the toothpick was mostly clean, but the brownies still appeared a bit tender. I wanted that gooey-ish texture to contract the crunch of the cookies.
• Let rest in the pan, on a cooling wrack, until completely cooled. Trying to pull these from the pan while they are even slightly warm still results in the brownie tops separating from their cookie counterparts. 

A bit ugly, but that's what frosting is for!

Making the Frosting

Quick confession, I used gasp store-bought buttercream, but I promise I can explain! I had a giant tub of store-bought, though delicious, buttercream that was given to me by an aunt who had bought waaaay too many supplies to make her son's birthday cake. She wound up with a full extra tub of unopened frosting that she sent my way figuring I would use it up before her. It's now been kicking around my house for several months, so it needed to find a home. I also happened to have run out of powdered sugar, well I had about a cups worth which isn't enough to do anything of value with, so the tub saved me from a second trip to the store. All I had to do was crush up the Oreos (which was also a disaster because my food processor is no more) and mix them in. Had I made the frosting from scratch, this is what I would have done.

Crushing the cookies barbarian style.

1. Cream the butter and shortening with an electric mixer on low-medium. 
2. Add the vanilla and stir until combined.
3. Sift in the powdered sugar slowly, scraping the sides down as necessary. Mix until thoroughly combined. 
4. Add in the milk/water and beat until fluffy. Add more milk/water as necessary if the frosting appears too thick.
5. Crush/grind up about 1 cup of Oreos. 
6. Stir in the crushed Oreos.
7. Use a butter knife or small spatula to spread the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.
8. Design/decorate as you see fit.
9. Eat. 

The finished product

This was one of the messiest and most enjoyable recipes I have made in quite sometime. The calories are sky-high to match the joy level attained from whipping up a batch of these. The party guests, and most importantly, the birthday girl, were quite pleased with the results. I was too. We spent the night dancing, singing karaoke, and drinking cheap beer. Did I mention it was a Sunday night? Work the next day was...interesting. I'm very clearly not 18 anymore. I mean, 21, umm, cuz you know, that's the legal drinking age. ;)

Happy Baking!

Candy fueled chaos

This is kind of a long one. Better bust out the reading glasses.
I started this blog a little over a month ago and managed one measly post. I know, I know, sheesh.


Life has been comprised mostly of chaos and Halloween candy as of late (one most likely fueling the other), so there has been very little serious cooking/baking on the table. 


I did however manage to throw a somewhat successful Halloween party in the midst of my madness, Yes, I am still missing food pictures (I am terrible at this bit, but I'm working on it) I figured I could at least share some of the recipes, stories and adventures from my kitchen. 

And, since I don't have pictures of the food, here's my new favorite party picture of all time; Barack Obama, Eccentrica Gallumbits, and the gay cowboy. 

My life is actually pretty awesome sometimes, I need to remember that. And also to stop making stupid faces.

So gettin' down to business, party food. I had to repeatedly scale back the menu as people's yeses started turning into maybes. Even after that I wound up with way to much food. 


The Menu (in no particular order):

• Hummus
• Sugar cookies w/ royal icing
• Cheesy mashed potato bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers
• Vanilla & chocolate cupcakes
• Back bone pinwheels
• Queso bean dip
• Spooky booze punch
• Dark chocolate espresso truffles
• Dark chocolate peanut butter crunch truffles
• ...and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting (since I'm writing this post a little over a week late. *whoops*)

Naturally, not all of this deliciousness was from my own concoctions; a girl's gotta rest sometimes. I broke the recipes out below with links for what I borrowed, and recipes for what I didn't. 


Hummus


 Hummus from one of my new favorite blogs; Budget Bytes. Seriously, that woman is amazing, she puts me to all sorts of kitchen-related shame. 


Sugar Cookies w/ Royal Icing


Sugar cookie recipe came conveniently from the back of the pan I used to bake them in. The recipe is one from Wilton, and pretty much everything they do is awesome. These were the sweetest, butteriest sugar cookies I have ever had, yum! The royal icing is from Wilton as well; what can I say, I'm loyal.


Jalapeno Poppers


The jalapeno poppers were a mixture of a few recipes I had found. Basically what I did was take this recipe, and wrap it in bacon instead of croissant dough. I also eliminated the bacon crumbles inside on account of the full on bacon toga they were sporting on the outside. So, really, I guess I only used ingredients 1-4 and then hoped into DIY mode. In the future, I'll probably make these puppies with homemade mashed, but for a place to begin the recipe was a hit. Only about 4 pieces out of 2 dozen managed to make it to the food table; they were devoured by hungry party guests on the way.


The rest of the recipe I more or less slung together myself. I had a variety of sources I used for inspiration, but in the end it was kind of a play-it-by-ear(mouth) adventure. 


Cupcakes


The cupcakes were box mix, Duncan Hines knows where it's at for quick cupcakes anytime anywhere...that uh, has an oven. 
Some were frosted with canned chocolate frosting. (I looooove canned chocolate frosting. I know there's no real food in there, but it's delicious none the less.) The rest were covered with basic buttercream. The only differences: I use water instead of milk, and all shortening, not butter. I'm a decorating instructor and that's our go-to shelf stable frosting. (I know we're missing both the butter and the cream; so it goes.) I decorated the cupcakes using a a small portion of my epic sprinkle collection. I'm boarding on hoarder territory at this point. They were cute, nothing fancy, but delicious fun treats. Seriously, who doesn't like cupcakes?


A lot of fancy bakers out there file grievous complaints against boxed cakes, but in a pinch they were great and guests never seem to complain.  


Pinweels recipe(ish)

• 2 - 10 in. tortillas
• Approx. 1/2 lb. turkey lunch meat sliced thin
• Shredded lettuce
• Neufchatel veggie spread (recipe below)
• Wax paper

Backbone pinwheels were just basic pinwheel sandwiches pieces, stacked vertically to resemble a backbone. It was a cute idea I read somewhere, but in the end, I think I'm the only one who knew why they were setup that way. 

1. Lay tortillas on a flat surface, make sure they are good and pliable so they don't break/split when you're rolling.
2. Smear veggie spread across entire tortilla, being sure to hit the outer edges so you can seal up the wraps.
3. Add turkey across the surface, leaving about 1" - 1 1/2" on the outer edge, again so we can seal these puppies up.
4. Sprinkle lettuce over the top of turkey.
5. Roll 'em up good and tight. This is a skill I still need to work on. The tighter they are the prettier I think they look.
6. Wrap the rolled log in wax paper tightly to keep it all together, and let rest in the fridge for 30+ minutes.
7. Take out, remove wax paper, cut in 1" sections; this is tricky as well, the looser the roll, the bigger the sections will need to be so you don't just crush them.
8. Stack vertically if you're going for the backbone look, or put them on some sort of fancy dinnerware, whatever your heart/stomach desires.

Neufchatel veggie spread

• 1 8oz pkg Neufchatel softened
• 1 pkg Italian seasoning dressing mix
• 1 medium to large carrot
• Additional spices to taste

1. Grate carrot.
2. Stir together the Neufchatel, dressing mix, and carrot shavings.
3. Mix.
4. Taste.
5. Add spices until delicious.
6. Enjoy.

Queso Bean Dip


Now I really feel ridiculous calling this one a recipe as this is something I've been mixing together since I was a kid, but for those of you not in the know, here goes:

• 1 can refried beans, (I prefer the ones with jalapeno, yum.)
• Some Velveeta cheese. Let's pretend I measure things in my kitchen and say...umm... 1/2 pound.
• Some salsa. 1/2 cup to 1 cup depending on taste.

1. Seriously, just put the ingridients in a microwaveable bowl. 
2. Nuke it for 1 1/2 minutes. 
3. Stir.
4. Repeat until cheese is melted.
5. Add more salsa to taste.
6. Dip it with some multigrain tortilla chips and feel the love. Cheesy cheesy love.

Spooky Booze Punch

The name came from nowhere, I just like to make stuff up sometimes. The basic recipe came from here. My changes were as follows:

• 4 cups water/4 cups vodka. We're making grown up punch, no pussy-footin' around
• 4 cups ginger ale = 4 cups Fresca on account of that's what I had in the house

The punch was a huge success. It was neon green and the taste was fruity but not crazy over the top sweet. Success for certain, and one to be repeated.

Getting into the good stuff, truffles.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Truffles

• 1 lb. Ghiradelli Intense Dark Espresso Escape
• 1/2 c heavy cream
• 2 tsps coffee powder (I use the Mexican Nestlé powder, it is by far the best instant coffee I have ever had.)
• 1 cup give or take, cocoa powder

1. Finely chop the chocolate. If you choose to attempt this with your food processor, do at your own risk. Apparently chocolate is too viscous even solid for mine, and I burned out the motor. #$!*$!%*$#%&$
2. Combine the chocolate, cream, and coffee powder over a low heat flame or double boiler, stirring often.
3. Remove from heat as soon as chocolate is completely melted and ingredients are combined. Do not over stir.
4. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for 4+ hours, or freeze for 2.
5. Remove from fridge, let stand at room temperature until pliable, 20-40 minutes.
6. Scoop by generous teaspoon, or be lazy and do what I do.
7. Dip your (clean & dry) hands in cocoa powder and roll, forming a ball, adding more cocoa powder  to your hands as needed.
8. Set in lined pan, or place in small fluted baking cups for decoration. 
9. Repeat. 
10. Refrigerate until approximately 15 minutes prior to serving. Though they'll keep fine if left out for the evening's festivities.

This should yield about 40 truffles.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

Credit where credit is due, this is where I got the original idea for these truffles, and I tweaked accordingly. I added sugar because these were too dark/bitter without it. Perhaps with the semi-sweet the original recipe called for this would not be an issue. I also omitted the salt since the butter, peanut butter, and peanut coating provide more than enough of that.

• 12 oz dark chocolate -your choice here
• 1/2 c heavy cream
• 2 tbsp salted butter cut up into tiny pieces
• 3/4 c chunky peanut butter
• 1/4 c  sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c approximately chopped peanuts

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients over low heat or double boiler, stirring as needed, just until chocolate is melted and chocolate/peanut-butter is mixed well.
2. Remove from heat. 
3. Add vanilla.
4. Transfer to bowl and refrigerate for 4+ hours, or freeze for 2.
5. Scoop by generous teaspoon, or be lazy and do what I do.
6. Make sure your hands are clean and very very dry. Roll into ball, these will be slightly sticky but that's a good thing here.
7. Drop into chopped peanuts and roll/push about until completely coated.
8. Set in lined pan, or place in small fluted baking cups for decoration.
9. Repeat. 
10. Refrigerate until approximately 15 minutes prior to serving. Though they'll keep fine if left out for the evening's festivities.

This should yield about 40 truffles as well. These recipes are easily halved for more manageable consumption.

Whew, well there you have it, the good the bad, the not so inventive: Halloween 2011. Next stop, Thanksgiving!