IS•LY | I Still Love you

I’ve noticed something about myself. . . If I find a recipe somewhere other than in my three recipe books and I don’t blog about it, I lose it. I’m terrible at organizing my recipes. Lazy me. This recipe was, at one point, in the cookbook my mom compiled for us kids, but I lost it. I’ve called my sister twice now for the recipe. In my attempt to avoid calling my sister at awkward times (like 2am, perhaps?) I’m posting the recipe here.

I love spritz cookies. I have very fond memories of my mom making a million of these little cookies in assorted Christmas colors and in the cutest, petite shapes. They’re incredibly addicting and easy to make. I can’t tell you the excitement I felt when my mom gave me a cookie press for Christmas. There may have been an audible squeal. These cookies are divine when dipped in chocolate, topped with a melt-in-your-mouth lemon icing or just by themselves. Without any further Ado, here’s the recipe:

Spritz Cookies

no idea where this recipe came from– my mom?
makes about 70 cookies

• 1 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Cream butter, sugar and egg until smooth. Add milk, vanilla and almond. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Gradually add flour mixture to wet ingredients. Mix until flour is incorporated. Use cookie press to form cookie shapes. Bake at 400º farenheit for 8 minutes. Cool and serve.

I LOVE Monday holidays. They’re such a great way to start out the week. Since I’ve been working partly full-time it was so great for a little R&R. I’m soin love with wedding blogs and party planning blogs I’ve been DYING to have a few festivities of my own. Monday provided the perfect opportunity to par-tay.

Our decorations were simple and cheap. Cheap as in practically zero dollars. Here’s how I decorated:

• I refinished the green table (more on that later)
• drilled some holes in the fence
• draped some old curtains over the fence
• hung some old cabinets
• put up the bunting (in reverse) from Penelope’s birthday
• draped a yellow table cloth over my craft desk

All these things I had just lying around. I think what made it all unique was that I brought the inside, out. I think it worked really well. Dinner was really simple, too. We don’t have a grill (yet), so we did buffet-style burritos. I took care of the black beans (recipe courtesy of Cafe Johnsonia–Thank you!!), meat, drinks and dessert while everyone else chipped in with the rest. I cooked the black beans overnight and the chicken cooked all day in the crockpot. Basically, my work was all done for me. I also made Fraiche frozen yogurt with fresh peaches and Blackberry Lemon water (recipe to come). All of the fresh food was delicious and very easy to make.

In addition to dying to throw a party, I’d been wanting to use my new stainless steel vintage lunch trays. They were perfect for eating outside and on the ground. Did I mention each tray weighs as much as a toddler? They’re only for serious eaters.

We had a lot of fun. It was so great to socialize with my new friends Alma & Allison and their families. Blog stalking is the new way to make friends these days. Serious.

My motivation for making the cupcake box was fueled largely because I was dying to experiment with a cupcake recipe I had floating around in my head. Despite my doubts at various times in the process, the cupcakes turned out mind-blowingly yummy. It took some effort, but not as much as a Christmas Yule log.

I had seen a blog post somewhere (it’s really too bad I don’t remember which blog I saw it on) about how Baskin Robbins serves ice cream in chocolate molded into cupcake cups. My mouth started salivating, I’m really on a chocolate kick right now. However, as much as I like chocolate, though, I really, REALLY hate eating chocolate chunks cold. THEN, my head started thinking about how easy it would be to use that idea for cupcakes.

Here’s what I did (I made 18 cupcakes):

1. melt chocolate (dark) with a tablespoon or two of butter in a double boiler
2. spoon chocolate into silicone cupcake cups and swirled it around until the cupcake cup was evenly coated
3. refrigerate cups for a couple of hours
4. make chocolate cake batter (from a box)
5. spoon batter into a mini cupcake pan and bake according to box directions (all while chocolate cupcake cups are still in the fridge)
6. boil a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pan for an hour and 15 minutes (directions on how to do this HERE)
7. allow the caramelized milk and mini cupcakes to cool (overnight or in the fridge for a few hours)

Here’s how I assembled it:

1. spoon the caramelized milk into a ziplock or pastry bag and pipe a tablespoon or two of caramel mixture into each cup
2. place mini cupcakes inside and push down to spread caramel around
3. frost with frosting
4. place in the refrigerator to cool before serving
5. eat at room temperature

How to make the Frosting:

1. whip cream (1-2 cups) to stiff peak
2. blend in blender or food processor a cup or two of coconut (to taste)
3. fold coconut and 3-4 tablespoons of powdered sugar into whipped cream and pipe on top of cupcakes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the cupcakes (so did the rest of the Esplin clan). This cupcake was kind of a mash-up of three desserts that remind me of my childhood. The chocolate, caramel and coconut flavors remind me of my mother’s German Chocolate cake that she’d make for me every year for my birthday (my favorite), the whip cream, chocolate and caramel flavors remind me of my dad’s score cake (or better-than-sex cake). Yup, my dad cooks. He’s cool. The coconut and whip cream frosting reminds me of a Sunday dessert that my grandma Scott used to make often (oh how I miss her). So really, this cupcake is heaven for me because it reminds me of some of my favorite people and how much I love them.

I had some extra cake left over so I sliced some banana on top of the cake, frosted it and served it with a caramel sauce. This disappeared just as fast as the cupcakes did. I’ll definitely be repeating this in the future. MMM!

I was a big wuss last month and failed to do the challenge for lasagna. No time. Moving and Venison? no thanks. This month I was a little more enthused about the challenge because it included my favorite dessert and didn’t take 12 hours. It was also very handy that Penelope had a birthday this month, thus giving me an excuse to make Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake.

Since I wanted to give Penelope her own cake, I made the cheesecakes in cupcake form using silicone cupcake cups (genius!). This happened to make doing the water bath much easier to do and removing the cakes a snap. The recipe conveniently makes exactly enough crust and cheesecake for two dozen cupcakes. I think I ate 9 or 10 out of the 24 I made.

Penelope had fun playing around with the cupcake. It looks here like she was going to eat the whole thing, but she ended up dropping it on the floor. Molly the dog ended up eating it. The dog liked it at first but her intestines didn’t. Poor dog.

The cheesecake was subtly flavored with fresh lemon, served up side down with whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and chocolate covered pomegranates. It was a very tasty combination. I really liked presenting the cheesecake upside down. It just looks more fun to eat.

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake:

Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake:

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
*1 extra tbsp. lemon juice
*zest of lemon
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

*My Notes: I added more lemon to mine (yum) and since I did it in silicone cupcake cups, I only cooked it for 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cooled using the cake directions.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

3 Cheers for Saint Patrick’s Day and BANOFFEE!! My brother, Jake Scott, picked this recipe up while living in Ireland, it’s an Irish and English favorite. Jake has modified the recipe over the years, so he’s made this UK favorite one of his own. It’s literally banana and toffee with a cookie crust. It’s rich, it’s over-the-top, and everyone seems to like it. My one suggestion is to keep the serving size small, because this might overpower a lesser sweet tooth.

Banoffee Pie

From the kitchen of Jake “the great” Scott
Makes 12-16 servings
Prep: 2 (incredibly low-key) hours  Chill: 1
14 ounces crunchy chocolate chip cookies
1/2 cup Butter, softened
2 -14 ounce cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk
3-4 Bananas
1 pint of heavy whipped cream
1/2 cup of confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)
1 bar of chocolate

Filling:

Place two cans of sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan deeper than the height of the cans. Fill the sauce pan about 3/4 full of water. Cover and place over medium heat. Boil the sweetened condensed milk for 1 and 1/2 hours. Periodically add water to the saucepan to maintain the water between 1/2 and 3/4 full. The sweetened condensed milk will cook to a toffee state. Remove from heat.

Pie:

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, smash the cookies into pea-sized crumbs, and mix thoroughly with butter. Press mixture into the bottom of the 9×13 pan (or 2 standard pie pans) to form the cookie crust. Bake at 350ºF for 8 minutes. Cool. Whip cream and add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Remove the sweetened condensed milk cans from the saucepan and open. Be sure to place a tea towel over the top of the can opener while opening to prevent spills and/or burns. Pour most of the toffee over the cookie crust and spread evenly. Chill. Just before serving: slice bananas and distribute evenly over top of the toffee, spread whipped cream on top and serve. Garnish with grated chocolate and remaining toffee and bananas.

Jake’s notes: I used the Chips Ahoy cookies that have chocolate and peanut butter chips.
My notes: I opted out of adding the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla to the whipped cream, since the toffee filling is so sweet. I halved the recipe and it all fit perfectly into a standard pie pan. I also used the Peanut Chunky Chips Ahoy cookies, and it was delicious.

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The savory (while a huge favorite) wasn’t nearly as exciting to make as the Banoffee, but a great way to spruce up dinner vegetables. Nearly a year ago, I came across an article in Cook’s Illustrated magazine that has revolutionized my dinner plate. Roasting vegetables brings out a richer flavor by caramelizing them and revitalizes fridge-old produce.

Roasted Veggies

4 servings
Prep time: 5 min Cook time: 30 min

2 generous cups of vegetables, sliced or julienned*
1-2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
garlic salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. In a large bowl, toss vegetables with oil and garlic salt. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet and place in the middle rack of the oven. Cook for 30 minutes turning the vegetables every 10 minutes or so. Cook until slightly shriveled and browned.

*green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and sunchokes are fabulous in the oven. Even Romaine hearts can be roasted!

For some reason this month has gone by SO slowly. I originally wasn’t going to do this month’s challenge, but the end of the month came so slowly I had enough time to do it. Weird. That will never happen again. I’m very glad I did it. Although I think I messed up a little. I may or may not have whisked the egg whites too much, and may have cooked the cake too long. I used Trader Joe’s Pound plus Dark Chocolate, next time I’m going to use milk chocolate for a sweeter cake.

I love how this recipe only has 3 ingredients, and no flour or additional sugar. Genius. I served my cake like an over sized Oreo; sandwiched with chocolate whipped cream and chocolate ice cream on top. This is the chocolate triple threat. Delicious.

Chocolate Valentino

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C

9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Chris and I had a great time eating the oversized flourless Oreo, but we couldn’t quite finish it. Too rich. MMmmmMMMM.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.