Chocolate decorations

I didn't think it would be that easy. I simply melted chocolate in a Ziploc bag in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, cut the tip and started drawing on a parchment paper.

For Valentine's day, I made chocolate rings by making full hearts, putting silver candy balls in it and half circle on a parchment paper. I put those in the freezer for about an hour and with more melted chocolate assembled the rings.






Hubby said he would marry all over again for a chocolate ring.

But he keeps eating it...

Bon Appetit!

Maple Cheesecake cupcakes

I have a friend that is trying to cut process sugar from her diet and baking for her was not easy but I was able to make cupcakes that only the cookie crumbs has process sugar. It was a hit.

Maple Cheesecake cupcakes

Crust

1 1/2 cup of Oreo cookie crumbs
1/3 cup of melted butter
2 tablespoon of maple sugar

Cake

375g of cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup of Maple syrup
4 eggs
1/2 cup of 35% cream

Preheat the oven at 350

In a bowl mix all the crust ingredient and lighy press in your cupcake liners

Bake for 15 minutes and then put aside.

In another bowl beat the cheese and maple syrup. Add the eggs and cream and mix everything together. Pour the mixture in your cupcake lines and bake in the middle of the oven for about 1 hour. Let it cool down then refregirate for about 4 to 8 hours before serving.

I made a special one for hubby :)





Bon Appetit!

PBJ and banana bread pudding

Once more I wanted to use a product Scott brought me back from Newfoundland in another recipe then what it was intended to and I also promised the hubby some bread pudding. I have never liked bread pudding... till now!

PBJ and banana Bread Pudding

4-5 Cups of bread (I used Purity hard bread, hard to find outside Newfoundland but any bread will do) cut in pieces of about 1 inches each
4 cups of milk
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of Vanilla
1/2 cup of strawberries
1 banana
1/2 of peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 350
Butter a 8x10 dish and put the bread in it. Add the strawberries and bananas
Beat the eggs and add the sugar while beating.
In a medium pot, heat milk, butter and vanilla, don't boil.
Pour milk mixture on the bread and fruits and add peanut butter chips.
Bake until the center is bake, about 45-60 minutes.

Ginger Shrimps and carrots couscous

We have, at our house, our occasional evening where it's "make your own dinner" night. In other words we don't feel like cooking and hubby makes himself a sandwich and I, usually, have cheese and fruits.

Well since hubby doesn't like couscous, this is something I made Friday for our "make your own dinner" night.

Ginger Shrimps and carrots couscous

1 sachet of instant couscous (flavor of your choice)
1 cup of small shrimps
1/4 cup of shredded carrots
1/4 cup of chopped onions
1 tablespoon of ginger (less if you don't like it the way I do)
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
Olive oil
pepper and salt

Prepare the instant couscous following the instruction on the box.

In a pan, heat olive oil with the garlic. Add the onions and carrots and sauté together. Add Shrimps and ginger, pepper and salt. Sauté until the Shrimps are pink.

Put on couscous and eat!

Bon Appétit!

Bakeapple Macarons

When my good buddy Scott came back from a visit to Newfoundland, he had in his luggage a jar of bakeapple jam for me. Commonly known as cloudberry, before living in Newfoundland, I never heard of such berries but I was hooked. I wanted to bake with it for a while but never took the opportunity when I was back there. Scott changed that :)

Bakeapple Macarons

1 Cup of almond powder
3/4 cup of powder sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of bakeapple jam (or any other preserve you like)

Put parchement paper on a baking sheet.

Mix together the alomd powder and powder sugar, set aside.

Beat the egg whites with the vanilla extract until they are foamy. Gradualy add the sugar until you have a meringue. Fold in the almond/sugar mixture until smooth. Be careful not to fold too much, you don't want the mixture to fall. Put the batter in a pastry bag and make 1 inches dots on the parchement paper.


Let it dry at room temperature for about an hour.

Preheat the oven at 350.

Place in the middle of the oven. Bake for about 12-15 minutes with the oven door open a litte bit. I used a wooden spoon to open the door (oh and put curious pets out of the kitchen).

Let it cool down completely. Spread the jam on the flat side of the cookie and close it with another one.

Bon Appetit!

TNT Brownies

I made those around Christmas time, originally named Chocolate chip cookie dough brownies, after hubby served a regular cake size piece, with whipped cream, we were bouncing off the walls and it was renamed TNT brownies.

My nephews did not complain on the amount of sugar they put in their mouth eating this however, my brother was ready to shoot me. Be careful with the size you serve, bite size is more then enough!!!

TNT Brownies

You can use any brownies recipe you prefer. I made it simple, I used a boxed mix.

Cookie Dough:

1 cup of butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 Tablespoon of milk
2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cup of flour
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugar, milk and vanilla extract together. Add flower and mix until smooth then add the chips and stir together. Spread the mix over your cooled down brownies and refrigerate for an hour or 2.

Chocolate glaze:

1 cup of chocolate chips (I used dark)
1 table spoon of shortening

Melt the chocolate slowly with the shortening, stir constantly. Spread over the cookie dough layer and refrigerate again for a few hours.

Bon Appetit!

Pan fried bread

My husband is not crazy about bread but when it comes to my pan fried bread, seems I can never make enough.

Pan Fried Bread

2 cups of flour
1 cup of warm water
1 sachet of yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 teaspoon of green onion flakes
1/4 cup of Parmesan

1 clove of garlic, chopped

Olive oil

In a bowl mix the water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. In a separate bowl mix flour and salt. Add the water/yeast/sugar mix and green onion flakes and Parmesan. Mix together until you have a smooth dough.

Add flour to the bowl so the dough won't stick once it rise. Cover with a clean cloth and let it sit, for about 30 minutes in a warm and dark place. (I put my bowl in the micro-wave)

Put flour on your work area and roll the dough until you obtain a good 1/2 inch thick circle.





Cut in 2-3 inches slices. Put oil and garlic in a pan and heat it. Put slices in the pan, cook on medium-high for about 2 minutes each side.



I added more Parmesan while cooking it, cause I am cheese-crazy like that!

It can be served with pretty much anything but I find it goes best with stew and soups.



You can use the spices and herbs you want instead of onion flakes. I made a rosemary version for a stew and again, hubby stuffed his face!

I should try a sweet version of these eventually!

Bon Appetit!

Neapolitan Cupcakes

When I was a child, Mum would buy Neapolitan ice cream and being the chocolate lover that I am, even back then, I would eat the chocolate part and leave the vanilla and strawberry in the box. Yes I did get yelled at a lot for that but I never stopped.

Well on these cupcakes, I didn't leave anything behind! (Even the leftover pudding didn't last long!)

Neapolitan Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes:

3 eggs
1 cup of softened butter
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven at 325.

In a bowl, beat the eggs, add the butter and sugar then mix until a light and smooth texture. Add the milk, flour, baking powder and the vanilla. Mix for about 2 minutes until it's creamy.

Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes.

Let it cool down completely.

In the meantime, prepare filling and icing.


Filling:

For the filling I used Jell-o chocolate pudding. After following the instruction on the box, I poured it in a pastry bag and put it in the fridge to cool.

Strawberry Icing:

1 Cup of softened butter
1 Cup of powder sugar
1 Shirriff Strawberry Mousse

Cream everything together.


Cut a a hole in the middle of the cupcake and fill it with Pudding and then cover with icing and decorate as you wish.








As my hubby said, mine looks like boobies...




I also melted a bit of chocolate in a small plastic bag, cut a tiny hole and drew hearts on a wax paper. Once the chocolate was hard I was able to remove it from the paper and put it on the cupcakes.

Bon appetit!

Champagne cupcakes

Thanks to Sprinkle Bakes For this delicious recipe!


We have a monthly poker tournament at our place and while we took a few months off, we celebrated the return and the first tournament of 2011 with Champagne cupcakes! Not only did my guest loved it, they also left with some for their spouses (so they said...).

Champagne Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup champagne

While preparing the cupcakes, preheat oven at 350 degrees.

In the bowl cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating between each eggs. Add vanilla. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this mix aside. In another bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup champagne and 1/2 cup sour cream until smooth. Add flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour.

Now as it was indicated by Sparkle Bakes, it will be very thick. I used a ice cream scooper to fill my cupcake papers halfway and it works wonders! I usually makes a mess but this technique helped a lot!

I baked the cupcakes for about 20 minutes. Once it cooled down, I cut a hole in the middle and filled it with a custard/party filling:


Custard:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup champagne
2 tbsp cornstarch
5 tbsp granulated sugar
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

In a bowl I whisked the cornstarch in 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Then beat the egg and yolks in.
I then used the remaining heavy cream with sugar and 1/2 cup champagne in a small saucepan and brought to a boil. Once it boil, I removed from the heat.

Slowly pour 1/3 of boiling champagne mixture into the egg/cream mixture, whisking non stop so the eggs do not cook. Return the remaining champagne/heavy cream mixture to a boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

This was quite the workout lol

I let it cool down before putting the mix in a pastry bag and filling in the cupcakes. I am eating the leftover custard as we speak... I mean write this...YUM!

Champagne Frosting:

1 cup plus 1 tbsp. champagne
1/2 cup of soft butter
2 cups powder sugar

Pour 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 3 tablespoons. Let it cool down. I put mine in a glass bowl so it would cool down faster.

I creamed the butter and powdered sugar together and then added the reduced champagne while beating it until smooth.

I separated the frosting in 2 equal parts (or at least tried) and colored one in pink with 2 drops of red food coloring. I placed a big scoop of the white frosting in a pastry bag then a pink one. When you frost the cakes, it gives a pink and white frosting. (not shown in the picture because I took a picture once all the good one were gone but do have a few friends that can testified I did such an exploit lol)




Bon appetit!