Dessert | I Can Cook That

Raspberry Creme Brulee

Last week, I was contacted by Walkers Shortbread about a recipe photo challenge they are hosting. Walkers asked a bunch of bloggers to make one of the recipes off their site and photograph the end result. They even offered to send me the Walkers ingredient needed to make the recipe. I came across their Raspberry Creme Brulee recipe and I knew I had to make it. It’s a traditional creme brulee, with a Walkers Shortbread crust and raspberries. How fantastic does that sound?

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 pint Raspberries (fresh)
1 pkg. (5.3 oz) Walkers Shortbread Fingers

light brown sugar, to taste

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Add the milk to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. While waiting for the milk to boil, add the egg yolks, sugar and heavy cream to a medium sized bowl. Whisk to combine.

Add 3/4 cup of the boiled milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This tempers the eggs so that they don’t cook when you add the rest of the milk. Once incorporated, add the rest of the milk in a steady stream.

Take a box of Walkers Shortbread Fingers. Using a metal spoon, break the shortbread (while still in the plastic package) into fine crumbs.

Add the shortbread crumbs to the bottom of four ramekins. Add the raspberries to the ramekins.

Pour the custard (the egg and milk mixture) into the ramekins. Be sure to leave some room at the top.

Bake for 40 minutes at 300 degrees, or until a knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean.

Transfer to a rack and cool to room temperature. Chill the custard for at least two hours (I chilled mine overnight).

When ready to caramelize preheat your broiler to high. Sprinkle a thin coating of light brown sugar on each chilled custard. Place under the broiler for 2 minutes or until the sugar is melted and golden brown. (Check on the custard after 1 minute, the broiler works quickly!)

Remove and serve.

So. I hated it.

Hehe. Of course I’m kidding. This dessert was absolutely awesome. I can’t stop thinking about it. Plus look how pretty it is!

This has everything that attracts you to a traditional creme brulee: creamy, sweet, and a nice crunch from the crust and the broiled top.

But it also has little delicious bursts of raspberry. Yum!

I loved the incorporation of the Walkers shortbread crust. I think every creme brulee needs to have one of these delicious cookie crusts.

This could easily be changed to incorporate other berries as well. What a great recipe!

Note: I was provided no compensation other than samples of Walkers Shortbread fingers. All opinions are my own.

Black and Tan Brownies

I mentioned these delicious brownies in my “A Taste of Ireland” post over the weekend. They were so yummy that I thought they deserved their own post. Also, because it’s technically two brownie recipes together, I thought step-by-step photos might prove helpful. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Tan Brownies:

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Cooking spray

Black Brownies:

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Guinness Stout
4 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

There are some people who are in your life that just make your days a little bit better. I’m talking about the people you see for maybe just one minute a day: a person at a coffee shop, someone you pass in the hall, or in my case, one of the guys who works at my SEPTA station. I always look forward to a smile and a wave from him. So I was pretty bummed when he told me he was moving to another station. Sigh.

I wanted to find a way to thank him for making my day a little bit better, and I honestly don’t know any other way to thank someone besides with food (this is something I may need to work on…) So I decided to make him cupcakes! And who doesn’t like chocolate peanut butter cupcakes?

I found this recipe on Food Network and thought it was perfect. It even incorporated coffee into the recipe (one of my favorite tricks) to heighten the chocolately flavor. I decided to try to make my own peanut butter icing though, to make it more my own.

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Icing:

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 package (8 oz) low fat cream cheese

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup (or 1/2 a container) of smooth peanut butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the butter, granulated and brown sugars to a large bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla, mixing well each time.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee.

In a third bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.

Add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately to the large bowl, mixing with a hand mixer in between the addition of each mixture, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. (I poured half of the buttermilk mixture in, beat the mixture on medium, adding half the flour mixture, and beating on medium. I then repeated this until just combined).

Add the mixture to a cupcake pan lined with paper liners. The recipe randomly made 18 cupcakes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans.

To make the icing, combine all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl using a hand mixer.

Add the frosting to the cupcakes once completely cooled.

If desired, top with crushed peanuts.

Was there even a chance that these would be so-so?

Peanut butter and chocolate are two of the most fantastic, decadent paired ingredients.

I hope he likes them!

Sauteed Spiced Pears with Pecans Over Ice Cream

This recipe is a result of having all of the ingredients in my kitchen, and my endless sweet tooth. Pears hold up really well to being cooked so I thought they would be great with traditional baking spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves) and some pecans for crunch. I also had a bit of ice cream left in my freezer so I used the pears and pecans as a topping.

Ingredients:

1 bosc pear, peel, cored, and cut into slices

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

A pinch of cloves

1/4 cup pecans

1 scoop French vanilla ice cream

Continue reading Sauteed Spiced Pears with Pecans Over Ice Cream

Rose Water Sugar Cookies

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I figured February 14 was the perfect holiday to use rose water again. (I originally used it for a Rose Scented Berry Prosecco, which would also be lovely for Valentine’s Day). What better way to incorporate rose water but in sugar cookies? I adapted a traditional sugar cookie recipe from Allrecipes.com, and then also added a drizzled rose water icing to make these Rose Water Sugar Cookies.

Ingredients:

Rose Water Sugar Cookies:

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rose water

Rose Water Icing:

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/8 teaspoon rose water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 drop of food coloring, if desired

Homemade Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow Hearts

The simplest actions can really make your day. Sometimes all you need to turn a day around is a simple pick me up. This hot chocolate is a really easy way to put a smile on your, or your loved ones, face(s). It’s also a perfect Valentine’s Day drink! I found this cute recipe on Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:

(this makes 2 cups)

4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
4 tablespoons finely chopped dark chocolate
2 marshmallows

Continue reading Homemade Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow Hearts

Chilled Raspberry Shooters

I fell in love with this recipe for Chilled Raspberry Shooters initially just on the photo; they are so pretty! The original recipe from Taste of Home is actually more of a savory dish but one of the comments mentioned using vanilla yogurt instead of sour cream so I decided to take their suggestion. This take some preparation, so if you plan on using this to impress guests with a slightly different but amazing dessert, be sure to give yourself a few hours before the event.

Ingredients (makes 6):

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cranberry juice
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
3 pints plus 6 fresh raspberries, divided
2/3 cups french vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon whipped topping, divided

Continue reading Chilled Raspberry Shooters

Strawberries with Chocolate Cream

Valentines Day has come early to I Can Cook That! Ok, not really. I made them for a party recently, but they would be perfect for a Valentines Day dessert, or with your coffee in the morning! I found this recipe on Taste of Home. After reading the reviews, a few people suggested adding some powdered sugar to sweeten up the chocolate cream. I love anything sweet, so I took their suggestion!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 ounces dark chocolate, grated, divided

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup whipped topping

2 containers of fresh strawberries, halved

I used dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s. They come in 1.75 oz little bars so I used two of those 1.75 oz bars. Take the first bar and melt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, add the cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar and whipped topping. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth.

Add the melted chocolate and beat until combined. Add the mixture to a plastic zip lock bag.

Cut off the lower corner and pipe onto the strawberries, with the cut side up.

Using a grater, grate the remaining chocolate over the strawberries.

These are really simple, and really tasty too!

I think the addition of the powdered sugar was a good idea. Fresh strawberries can be a bit tart, so it was nice to add some extra sweetness within the chocolate cream.

The cream cheese adds a nice smoothness to the chocolate cream. They are so pretty too, aren’t they?

You can make these ahead of time and then pop them in the refrigerator until needed.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

We recently had a baby shower for one of my co-workers. She’s a big chocolate fan, so I went in search of a super chocolately cupcake that I could make for the shower. Lauren’s Latest had a great recipe that incorporated dark chocolate and cocoa powder, perfect! I used an altered buttercream recipe from my Guinness Cupcakes so that I could have a white icing that I could dye blue. She is having a boy so I went with a duck theme!

Cupcake ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

12 oz dark chocolate

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used light)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cup flour

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup low fat sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream ingredients:

1 stick of butter, softened
3 cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Milk, as needed to get to desired consistency

4-5 drops blue food dye

So I did something that is typically a big no-no in baking. I took Lauren’s recipe and multiplied it by three to make 24 cupcakes. And (thankfully) it turned out a-ok! So feel free to use my multiplied version. Be sure to check out Lauren’s page though to see how beautiful hers came out, especially with that chocolate icing, yum!

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a small pot, melt the butter and chocolate over medium low heat, stirring until smooth. When combined, remove from heat and allow to cool.

While the butter and chocolate are melting / cooling, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and flour in a large bowl.

Mix to combine.

In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sour cream and vanilla.

Make a well in the dry mixture.

Pour the wet ingredients into the well.

Mine overflowed. Oops@

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients as well as the cooled butter-chocolate mixture until just combined.

Add half of the mixture to the cupcake tins (the recipe makes 24 so you will have enough batter for 24 cupcakes). I use an ice cream scoop to at least attempt to divide the batter evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a middle cupcake comes out clean.

Allow to completely cool before decorating.

To make the icing, use a hand mixer to beat butter until smooth. Add half of the sugar and beat until smooth. Add other half of the sugar and repeat. If the mixture is too thick, add a bit of milk to thin and beat until smooth. (Note: be careful to not add too much, a little bit of milk goes a very long way!)

I added 4-5 drops of blue food coloring to get a light blue color. The icing became water for my ducks.

How cute are these?

I used a pastry bag to add the icing, but you can also put the icing into a plastic zip lock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to squeeze the icing out. It doesn’t have to be perfect (mine definitely aren’t!), the ducks splashing makes ripples in the water 🙂

I ordered the ducks and the sprinkles from The Bakers Confections, which you can buy on Etsy.

You’re probably thinking, super, they are adorable. But are they tasty?

They sure are! The double chocolate makes it a really nice dense cupcake, fully of chocolately flavor. The sour cream keeps them nice and moist.

My cupcakes were snatched up in minutes, so I think they were a hit!

Thanks to Lauren for posting such a fantastic cupcake recipe!

English Blackberry Pudding

Recipes can tell you a lot about the time period in which they were written. I have always been interested in how recipes change over time to meet tastes, availability and personal income. A few months ago, I went to an event at the Historical Society of Philadelphia about a Civil War era cookbook they found within their documents. The cookbook, written by Ellen Emlenwas written around 1865 and is really well organized, especially for the time. Mrs. Emlen, a Philadelphia housewife, put a lot of time into the cookbook, organizing it into thirteen categories including over 200 recipes.

Some of the fun facts that I learned:

If you think Americans have a sugar problem now, you should see some of the amounts of sugar that used to go into recipes! Most recipes would have to be altered to include less sugar to make palatable to us today.
Despite their not so wallet-friendly prices now, oysters used to be “poor man’s food” in nineteenth century Philadelphia. The Delaware River used to be teeming with them! Because of that, there are some ridiculous-sounding recipes for things like “how to pickle 1,000 oysters”
It’s quite amazing how some things haven’t really changed. There is a recipe for eggnog in the book that is comparable to today’s recipe.
The affluent families of Philadelphia (Mrs. Emlen included) really had a thing for saffron. So many dishes include it in the ingredients!

The event was really interesting and we all were given a copy to take home with us! (Expect some posts including adaptations of her recipes in the future). I also picked up another book while I was there, 35 Recipes from “The Larder Invaded”, which also included historical recipes from local Philadelphians. I used a recipe from that book for this Blackberry Pudding, with a few slight changes.

I’m sure some of you just looked at that photo and thought to yourself “that is NOT pudding.” It’s actually an English pudding. Although in the U.S., pudding is usually a milk-based custard type dessert, pudding in the United Kingdom can be used for any sweet dish after dinner (think: Christmas pudding or “figgy pudding”). So, this recipe is actually more of a bread or cake.

Ingredients:

1 pint almond milk, plus more for glaze

3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

1 pint blackberries

powdered sugar

To make this recipe a bit more my own, and bring it into the 21^st century, I decided to try this with Vanilla Almond Milk. I thought it might add a nice extra flavor to the whole dessert. Feel free to use normal milk.

Beat the eggs together until light.

Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine. Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.

Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.

Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.

The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours. Yep. Not happening.

Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.

Because I have a ridiculous sweet tooth, I decided to add a little bit of a glaze to the top of the dessert. Combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk. (I made 1 tablespoon powdered sugar to 1.5 teaspoons almond milk).

So how was it? Delicious of course! Look at that beauty!

I was a bit afraid of how this would turn out because I messed with the method of preparation. But it looks fine to me! I enjoyed the glaze on top to give it an extra pop of sugary goodness. The blackberries were nice and tart, so it was a good contrast. I was really happy with the almond milk in it as well!

Best thing about this recipe is that it can easily be adapted to include any kind of berry you choose. It’s a wonderful base recipe to let your creativity run wild.

I actually had a really hard time taking these photos; I kept trying to eat the pudding!

English Blackberry Pudding

A traditional English pudding made with blackberries and drizzled with a simple glaze

Course Dessert

Cuisine United Kingdom

Keyword Blackberry, Cake, Dessert, English, Pudding

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 5

Servings 6

Author Kaitlin @ I Can Cook That

Ingredients

1 pint almond milk plus more for glaze
3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1 pint blackberries
powdered sugar

Instructions

Beat the eggs together until light.
Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine.
Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.
Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.
Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.
The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours.
Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.
Let cool.
To make the glaze, combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk and drizzle over the pudding while it cools.

Sugar Cookies

I am always so excited to make sugar cookies. To be more precise, I’m actually really excited to decorate the cookies. (Mind you, I’m awful at it. A 6 year old would beat me by a mile in a cookie decorating contest). But it is so fun to see the cookies transform from flour, sugar, and butter into cute little Christmas trees, snowmen, and candy canes. I used a traditional sugar cookie recipe from Cooking Light.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decorations:
Cookie cutters
Sprinkles
Other edible decorations

Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl, stir with a whisk.

Add sugar and butter in a large bowl, beating with a mixer until combined.

Add vanilla and eggs.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mine looked very very crumbly. So if yours looks like this, don’t panic.

Add the mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.

Refrigerate for an hour. Unwrap the ball after an hour. Preheat the over to 375. Split the dough in half, rolling out out half of the dough on a floured surface.

Using any cookie cutter you have, cut out shapes and place on a cookie sheet two inches apart lined with parchment paper.

Repeat with remaining dough. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until lightly browned along the edges. Cool on pans for 5 minutes then remove and place on wire racks.

When completely cooled, prepare the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk stirring until smooth. I added the icing to a squeeze bottle (like a ketchup bottle) but you can also add it to a ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to make piping easier. Decorate the cookies however you like.

Allow to dry overnight.

Hehe. Aren’t they fun? You can use whatever you want. I happened to be a bit, well, sprinkle happy.

Oh yeah, they taste pretty darn good too 🙂

Snickerdoodles

I am back in cookie baking mode. This time around, I’m going the more traditional route. First on my list, classic snickerdoodles.

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Continue reading Snickerdoodles

Double Chocolate Soufflés

As I’ve mentioned before, I cannot help myself from making a million desserts in December. There is something about the last month of the year that makes me want to bake my little heart out. Oxo has decided to help my cause by asking me to check out their new and improved Egg Beater. I am a huge fan of Oxo products (bowls, containers, apple corers; you name it, I have it). So I knew that their egg beater would find a happy home in my kitchen. Oxo also sent me an extra egg beater to give away to one of lucky reader. Details will be below!

The egg beater has a non-slip grip handle for ease of use. The beaters are removable and then entire base can be detached and is dishwasher-safe (a must in my kitchen. I’m way too lazy to clean dishes after cooking). The beater itself has managed to improve upon its predecessors by adding a steel bridge at the bottom that can rest on the bottom of the bowl. This allows the beaters to be slightly in the air without causing arm strain.Note: This contest is now closed. Congratulations to Jill J;you have won! Check your e-mail 🙂

Photo courtesy of oxo.com

Their website had a great video that shows all the features so I wanted to include that hereas well.

So I really wanted to test this bad boy. I decided to not only test it’s ease of use, but it’s ease of cleaning by making a recipe that uses the egg beater in more than one step of the process. How about a chocolate souffle topped with a warm fudge sauce and some freshly made whipped cream? (Not going to lie, the whipped cream was an afterthought because my souffle collapsed. Sigh. Still learning…)

Ingredients:

Souffle:

Cooking spray
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups fat-free milk

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

6 large egg whites

Sauce:

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fat-free milk

1/2 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon powered sugar

This recipe requires a bit of oven preparation. Take out the top rack of your oven. Position the other rack as low as possible. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Spray six 8-ounce souffle dishes (or ramekins) with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 2 tablespoons (or 1 teaspoon per ramekin) of sugar and set aside.

In a large saute pan, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons cocoa, and the salt over medium-high heat, stirring with a whisk or the Oxo egg beater. Add 1 1/4 cups milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes or until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add 3 ounces chocolate, stirring until smooth. Add to a large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, add the egg whites (reserve one egg yolk!) and beat using your egg beater until stiff peaks form. This took a good 5 minutes for me.

Once the egg whites are beaten, the chocolate mixture should have cooled. Add the vanilla and egg yolk to the chocolate mixture and stir.Fold in 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture.

Once combined, gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Spoon the mixture into the ramekins. Sharply tap the dishes two or three times on counter to even out each mixture in the ramekin. You want them to be about 3/4 full so that they can puff over the top of the ramekin. If you are making these ahead of time, you can cover the ramekins at this stage and freeze until you’re ready to bake them.

When ready to bake, place them on a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven (which is at 425) on the bottom rack. Immediately reduce the temperature to 350 degrees (keep the souffles in the oven and don’t open the door, the temperature will slowly lower over time). Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the side comes out clean.

The sauce can also be made ahead of time if you so wish. Melt the butter in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons cocoa, and 1 tablespoon flour, stirring well with a whisk.

Gradually add 1/2 cup milk stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute, continuing to stir. Remove from heat, add 1/2 ounce chocolate and stir until smooth. Spoon over warm souffles.

To make the whipped cream, add the heavy cream to a bowl. Using the egg beater, beat the cream until peaks are just about to form. Add the vanilla and the powdered sugar and beat until peaks form. Add a dollop of the fresh whipped cream to the souffle and serve.

So my souffle came out puffy and happy and I was so excited!

But as I started adding the chocolate sauce, it began to deflate. Sigh.

So I topped it off with the fresh whipped cream and called it even.

Souffles are notoriously difficult to make, but I wanted to at least give it a shot. Who honestly cares if it deflated though? It still tasted wonderful! I think even a collapsed souffle still looks pretty darn nice as well, no?

So if you’re still with me, you can win your very own Oxo egg beater to beat and whip until your heart’s content.

How to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and feel free to leave me a comment below with any questions, comments, or complaints 🙂

Note: I received both a free egg beater for myself and for the giveaway through Oxo’s Blogger outreach program. All opinions and photos with the exception of the egg beater photo are mine.

It’s My Birthday & I’ll Make Cake Pops If I Want To

This year has flown by. I can’t believe we are about two weeks away from Christmas already! Which means I have a weekend of celebrations upon me, it’s my birthday!

I have been intrigued by cake pops for a while now. I have no idea how a little ball of cake could keep my interest, but I have been looking for an excuse to try these out. I wanted to focus on making the actual cake pop so I used the best from-the-box cake mix there is: Funfetti of course!

Ingredients:

Cake Mix

Eggs

Water

Vegetable oil

12 oz frosting

Assorted candy coatings

Wax paper

Lollipop sticks

Styrofoam, or a pop stand

Assorted sprinkles

Bake the cake according to box directions. Allow to cool. While its cooling, prepare to make the cake pops. Set out two cookie sheets lined with wax paper. Gather the lollipop sticks and place near the cookie sheets. Set out a large mixing bowl.

Finely crumble the cake in a large mixing bowl.

Add the frosting to the crumbled cake and mix to combine (This gets realllly messy, which is why I don’t have a photo). Roll the cake into balls and place on the wax paper. I got I think 28 cake balls from one box of candy, but I think I made them a bit big. Oops.

Pop in the refrigerator overnight, or for a few hours. To decorate, melt the candy coating according to directions in the microwave. (This was surprisingly more difficult than I expected. I managed to burn one of the batches!) Be sure to use somewhat deep bowls. You want enough melted candies so that you can completely submerge each cake pop in it.

When the candies are smooth, take out a few cake pops. Dip the tip of a lollipop stick into the candy coating.

This will work as a glue to keep the cake pop in place. Stick the lollipop stick into a cake ball Repeat with remaining cake balls. Allow to set (I left mine overnight, but if you return it to the fridge for maybe 30 minutes I think that would be just fine).

Take a cake pop and submerge in the melted candy coating. Do not swirl the cake pop, or they might fall off!

boooooo

Be sure to coat the entire cake ball. Remove from the candy coating by pulling straight up.

To remove excess candy coating, hold the cake pop over the bowl and tap the wrist holding the cake pop gently until some of the coating falls off. Place the completed cake pop into a cake pop stand or into some Styrofoam to set.

You now have a cake pop! If you want, you can add sprinkles or other decorations.

Soo… mine turned out so lumpy; and drippy. They are more like cake lumps, not cake balls. Who cares? They were delicious!

Here’s some of my “birthday-themed” cake pops:

and here’s some of my Christmas-y cake pops.

These cake pops take quite a bit of time, but I was pretty giddy with the results!

I made these over three days because I was making them during the week, so you can most certainly make these ahead of time. Just place the dried and finished cake pops in an air tight container or back in the fridge.

I hope all my friends like them!

Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies

I promise I’ll stop my cookie binge after this post. I was looking for a somewhat “adult” cookie for a bake sale at work and I came across this recipe for Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies. Ginger and lemon cookies? Hmm. This recipe takes a long time (a lot of refrigerating, freezing, etc.) so if you plan on making these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, make sure you have a good chunk of time, around 2 hours.

but they are so pretty it’s worth it!

Ingredients

Ginger dough:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice

Lemon dough:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

To make the Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.

Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.

You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.

Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.

Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.

Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.

Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.

Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.

Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices (I got 39 out of mine, so close!)

Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

So I can’t lie, this Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies recipe has to be one of the most time consuming and difficult cookie recipes I’ve ever made. But the result is pretty awesome. I was so proud of myself when they turned out looking like pinwheels!

You primarily taste the gingerbread, but the aftertaste is a light lemony flavor.

I thought these two flavors might compete with each other, but they end up being quite complimentary. Who knew?

Also, these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are pretty snazzy looking aren’t they? 🙂

These Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are not soft chewy cookies (like a chocolate chip), they are more firm than that. They would probably be awesome dipped into some tea. Yum!

Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies

Two cookie recipes rolled together to create these yummy ginger and lemon pinwheel cookies!

Course Dessert

Keyword Cookies, Ginger, Lemon, Pinwheel

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Chill Time 1 20

Total Time 2

Servings 40 cookies

Ingredients

Ginger dough:

1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice

Lemon dough:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.
Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.
You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.
Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.
Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.
Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.
Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.
Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices.
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Notes

If you make this recipe, share a photo on Instagram and tag me @icancookthat!