Nutella Butter Cream

I had to make cupcakes the other day on sort of short notice with little time to do anything really fancy. I settled on the old go to - vanilla bean cupcakes and chocolate frosting - but decided to throw the chocolate icing a little twist.

I added nutella.

Is your mouth watering now?

There was enough of the stuff left over after piping it onto my cupcakes that I saved it in the fridge.  And, lucky for me, a little low blood sugar later and I was able to dive right into that frosting for a quick boost of glucose.

It tasted like fudge.  On ecstasy.

Absolutely divine I tell you.

Go ahead and make some for yourself today.  Just make a basic chocolate butter cream but add 1/2-3/4 nutella into the mix.

Super Fast and Fancy Treat

Oreo cookies.

I only like them two ways.

Dunked in milk or covered in chocolate.

I ate dinner with the family a couple weeks ago at Zupas and they were selling a box of 8 chocolate covered oreo cookies for $10.  That's more than a dollar an oreo.  Now, I'm sure they used more expensive chocolate than me but come on - $10?

I made these the other day for a couple of neighbor and teacher treats.  They are super yummy.  Half dipped in red vanilla flavored candy melts and the other half in milk chocolate.

Maybe if I decided to sell them, I could make a pretty penny.  I decided to eat them instead.

Cherry dump cake

In our family, we love us some good cherry dump cake.  It's one of the richest, yummiest things to eat and oh so easy to make.

Here's what you'll need for a 9x13 size pan:

2 cans cherry pie filling

2 teaspoon almond extract

1 yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter

Spray your 9x13 pan with a cooking spray.  Open the cans of cherry pie filling and add 1 teaspoon of almond extract to each can.  Dump both cans of cherry pie filling into the prepared pan.  Open the yellow cake mix and dump the mix on top of the cherry pie filling, covering it evenly.  Melt 1/2 cup butter and pour over the cake mix.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and then check on the cake.  The top needs to be browned and a little crusty.  If it's not quite ready, bake in additional 5 minute increments until it's ready to eat. 

It's best served with a cold scoop of ice cream on top, but would also be great with some home made whipped cream.

Fast and easy puff pastry dessert

Though I love to eat stuff that is decadent and insanely caloric, sometimes a treat that is a little bit lighter is in order.  That's where this puff pastry treat comes in.

Here's what you'll need:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
nutella
egg wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp water)

First, thaw out the puff pastry sheets and cut each sheet into 6 equal rectangles.  On each square, add about a tablespoon of nutella.



Next, wet the edges of each square of pastry, fold it over and press the edges together with a fork.  Once ever rectangle has been folded and pressed and placed on a cookie sheet, pierce each piece a couple of times with a fork and brush on your egg wash.



Place in a 400 degree oven for about 16 minutes (start watching them at 10 minutes just incase your oven is a bit hotter than mine). Once golden brown on the top, take them out of the oven, dust with powdered sugar and eat.



I of course chose to fill my pastry with nutella, but I'm sure you could substitute a little bit of chocolate heaven for something else - jam, fruit, even something savory might be fun to try.

Moon Cake

MOON CAKE - (Best Eclaire Dessert, and easy, too!)

1 1/4 C. Water

1/2 C. + 2 T. Butter

1 1/4 C. Flour

5 eggs

Bring water and butter to a boil; take from stove, add flour and stir with a whisk til smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Spread on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool.

2, 8 oz. Cream Cheese

2 Lg Instant Vanilla pudding

5 1/2 C. Milk

Mix 1/2 at a time in the blender. (I usually put the cream cheese in the microwave for 30 sec. to soften--my friend has broken 2 blenders making this dessert!) Cream cheese is lumpy if not combined in blender. Combine all in a large mixing bowl. Spread over crust. Cover with Cool Whip and drizzle with Hershey's chocolate syrup. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

Root Beer Cupcakes

(Image courtesy of confessions of a cookbook queen)

I have fixed these cupcakes (mine did not look like this, I've lost all my pictures because I am a lazy food photographer) for several parties and they are a hit.  And a bit divine. Particularly the icing. Oh my heavens, the icing.

The recipe is courtesy of one of my new favorite treat blogs, Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. The stuff she whips up is pretty yummy.  Yes, its as easy as the recipe says and yes the cupcakes will end up absolutely soft and fluffy with only a cake mix and some root beer.

Note 1:  Do not try and turn this recipe into a full size cake.  The cake has no eggs - no "binder" and it will crumble into oblivion.  Trust me....I learned from my mistake).

Note 1:  I used an entire 12 oz. bottle of root beer, not just 8 oz.   If you have a tablespoon, a heaping tablespoon of batter in each cup will be perfect.

Note 2:  I double the amount of root beer extract in the icing and added some to the cake batter as well.

INGREDIENTS

1 box white cake mix
1 cup of your favorite root beer
1 recipe butter cream
1 teaspoon root beer extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

Mix together root beer and cake mix (yes, just those two ingredients). Pour into paper liners and fill 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool.

In a separate bowl, mix the butter cream frosting and root beer flavoring. Frost cooled cupcakes.

Butter Cream
Butter, softened to room temperature
Powdered sugar
Root Beer extract
Milk

Put 2 sticks of butter, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Whip them all together.  Slowly add powdered sugar (4 cups) and root beer extract, a couple of cap fulls to the butter.  Add a little more milk if it's too thick, a little more powdered sugar if it's too thin.

Enjoy.

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Icing and Chocolate Ganache

This recipe called for a made from scratch chocolate cake that was sort of a mousse/souffle type thing.  I made that version and it didn't work so I ended up with just a basic chocolate cake.  No worries though because the joy of this cake is in the frosting.

Salted Caramel Butter cream Icing

1/2 cup sugar

4 tablespoons water

1/2 heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 sticks room temperature butter

3 + cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon good sea salt (or kosher salt, whatever you've got on hand)

First, you've got to make the caramel.  In a good and sturdy small sauce pot put the sugar and water over medium heat.  This is the base for your caramel.  You'll want to leave it alone (do not stir under penalty of law) and let it boil and bubble away until it is a nice medium amber color.  Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the cream and vanilla.  Set the caramel aside and let it sit and cool at leas 30 minutes.

Once the caramel is cooled, you can make the icing.  Cream two sticks of butter with a hand mixer.  Next add the sea salt and half of the powdered sugar.  Mix until combined and then add the caramel and the rest of the powdered sugar.  Depending on the consistency you're going for you might need to add a little milk or some more powdered sugar.

Chocolate Ganache

6 oz bittersweet/milk chocolate combination (mix it however you'd like.  I went 4 oz bittersweet and 2 oz milk)

6 oz heavy cream

dash of vanilla

While the caramel is cooling, make your ganache.  Heat the heavy cream over the stove on medium low heat.  As soon as the cream starts to boil pour it over the chocolate (made sure your chocolate is in a heat proof container).  Let stand about three minutes and then whisk the mixture until the chocolate is all melted.  Set the ganache aside.  If it doesn't thicken up enough on the counter top then put it in the fridge for five minutes at a time.  Check it because you don't want it to thicken up into a truffle consistency.

**

When you put the cake together, layer some butter cream and ganache between the two layers of the cake and add another layer of ganache to the top of the cake once you do your basic icing job.  Then drizzle some remaining ganache over the cake once it's all iced and ready to serve.

You'll have enough ganache to eat out of the bowl in your fridge a spoonful at a time for about three days after the cake is devoured.  That is my present to you.

S'more on a stick

So easy and yummy and mess free, this might be one of my more brilliant food inventions.

You'll need:
popsicle sticks
giant marshmallows
melting chocolate
crushed up graham crackers

Put the marshmallows on the stick. Dip in melted chocoate. Coat in graham crackers.

Eat.

Key Lime Cheesecake

I love, love, love the Keylime Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. I found the recipe several years ago and have made it as much as my waist can afford to ever since.

Key Lime Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup sugar3

8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (about 5 limes)

3 eggs

Whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with the butter in a medium bowl. Stir well enough to coat all of the crumbs with the butter. Keep it crumbly. Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about one half of the way up the sides of an 8-inch spring form pan. You don't want the crust to form all the way up the back of each slice of cheesecake. Bake the crust for 5 minutes, then set it aside until you are ready to fill it.

In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the lime juice and eggs and continue to beat until smooth and creamy. Pour the filling into the pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes. If the top of the cheesecake is turning light brown, it's done. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.

When the cheesecake has come to room temperature, put it into the refrigerator. When the cheesecake has chilled, remove the pan sides and cut the cake into 8 equal pieces. Serve with a generous dollop of whipped cream on top. YUM!

Caramel Popcorn by Richelle

3 bags microwave popcorn
1 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 c sugar
1 c corn syrup
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

Pop popcorn and place in bowl. I sift through my popcorn first to avoid biting into a kernel. Melt butter in saucepan. Add corn syrup, brown sugar and sugar. When boiling begins, boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk. Mix.