Cookies 'n' Crème with a Twist

I love anything that has the name cookies 'n’ crème in it. This includes, but is not limited to ice cream, cheesecake and candy bars. You name it and I will probably eat it if it has cookies 'n’ crème in the name. Since brownies and cookies n’ crème rank high on my list of favorite desserts, I thought it would be fun to make cookies 'n’ crème brownies.

I started off with a basic brownies recipe that I always use. Instead of adding my normal chocolate chips or walnuts, I added about seven broken Oreos to the batter. You can add more or less depending on how much you want in your batter. I also add another four or five broken Oreos on top of the brownie batter. I love Oreos so the more the better.

Preparing the cookies 'n’ crème brownie batter.

Cookies 'n’ crème batter ready to be put into the pan.

Once the brownies came out of the oven and were cooled, I topped it off with vanilla frosting. I tried making a pretty drizzle on top of the brownies, but it turned into a mess so I frosted the whole top instead. The brownies were coated with a thin layer of vanilla frosting, but again it is up to you how much frosting you want on the brownies. I am actually glad I frosted the whole top. It tasted much more like cookies n crème then if I just put a drizzle on it. Funny how things work out sometimes, isn’t it?

The cookies 'n’ crème brownies assembled, cooked and ready to be eaten.

My family enjoyed the brownies with my brother saying these are my best brownies yet. 

Starbucks Petite Desserts

www.starbucks.com

After a rough day at the office, I decided to stop at Starbucks for one of my favorite coffee treats – an iced peppermint mocha. As I was waiting on line, I noticed their petite desserts. I decided to try the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting to see what they taste like.

I’ve read several articles about Starbucks baking petite desserts, which are all supposed to be less than 200 calories. I figured I had nothing lose with such a small calorie count.  After all, chocolate makes everything better.

Biting into the cupcakes, I was a little disappointed. Both cupcakes were dry and tasted more like a dark chocolate and red velvet muffin respectively. The frosting on both cupcakes was good, but also tasted a little dried out. The quarter of a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup on top of the frosting was my favorite part of eating the cupcakes.

Two causes of dried out cupcakes are over baking and improper storage. I feel that if more attention was paid to the ingredients put into the cupcake and the cupcakes were stored properly, they would taste a lot better. Properly stored cupcakes should be in airtight containers, not sitting in a display cabinet and then served to customers. They should also not be refrigerated since this can also dry out the cupcakes.

www.starbucks.com

After my experience with the cupcakes, I am a little hesitant to try the Birthday Cake Pops, Sweet Squares and Red Velvet Whoopie Pie. Buying a single dessert is on the expensive side and I’m not sure it’s worth the money to try the other petite desserts. I would love to hear your opinions of the petite desserts, so please feel free to leave a comment.

As a side note, I cannot speak for Starbucks about what the baking process is or how the cupcakes stored. This is based on my personal opinion and my knowledge of cupcake baking based on my personal experiences.

Brownies With a Twist

In my house, brownies are the top dessert. I was ecstatic when I finally found a brownie recipe my dad loved, but I quickly became bored making the same brownie recipe. I wanted to create brownies with a twist; combining ingredients you wouldn’t think go well with brownies. Knowing that baking marble cake can be a challenge, I choose to bake black and white brownies. I thought it could give me a little more of a challenge then throwing together dark chocolate and white chocolate cocoa powder.

After doing a lot of research about black, and white brownies and what ingredients you can use, I put together my own recipe. Using coconut and oatmeal for the white layer of the brownie, I was able to use ingredients not normally found in brownies, as well as challenging myself to think outside of the box.

I started with a typical brownie recipe using butter, eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla. The twist on this recipe is using oatmeal, coconut flakes and cream. As part of the white brownie batter, the oatmeal, coconut flakes, butter, sugar, baking powder salt and cream were cooked for about 11 minutes prior to putting the chocolate brownie batter on top. Once the white brownie batter comes out of the oven, you can need to work quickly in spreading out the chocolate brownie batter since it starts to cook once is placed on top.

Overall, this brownie recipe turned out great. Everyone enjoyed the contrast of flavors between the coconut, oatmeal and soft, chewy chocolate brownie. It was something most people have not experienced when eating a brownie. I’m glad this baking experiment turned out to be a success.

Cake Decorating: An Art Form or Baking?

Picture from www.wilton.com

Watching shows like Cake Boss, Amazing Wedding Cakes and Ace of Cakes has always made me wonder if I could actually bake and decorate a fancy cake. A lot of the cake designs and shapes seem more like an art form than actual baking. I myself do not have a culinary degree and enjoy baking as a hobby. These shows made me question if I could actually bake and decorate cakes like these. I decided to do some research to see if regular bakers like use can make cakes like these and what tools we need to make them.

Sugar sheets are colorful, flexible and edible baking paper. All you have to do is peel, punch out or cut the design you want and position it on the cake. Individually packaged, sugar sheets come in reusable airtight containers. When exposed to air, sugar sheets start to dry so you need to work quickly with the designs you are creating. The one problem I have with these is they run about $4.00 for one sheet, which is costly.

Edible frosting sheets can be placed in your printer and print just like paper. Once printed, you place the paper on your cake and watch it absorb into your frosting.  It should leave a flawless image. They come in a pack of 24 and cost about $28.00, but may run a little higher for the larger sizes. You will also need to buy an edible ink cartridge that has a $90.00 fee.

Calculating in tax and a shipping and handling fee to your purchase, I think the sugar sheets may be a better option. The ink cartridges are not compatible with all printers and with a lot more frosting sheets than you need, it could end up going to waste. 

Fondant, an icing like substance, is often used to decorate and sculpt designs like figurines, musical instruments and buildings. Due to the rise in television cake shows that use fondant, it has become an increasingly popular way to decorate cakes. It is also viewed as easier to use and allows the baker to be more imaginative than using regular icing. There are several recipes to make fondant, or you can buy it or order it from your local craft store or home goods store (see below for links).

A rose made of fondant

To put figurines musical instruments and buildings on your cake, you will need to use small amounts of edible glue. You can make your own edible glue, but it needs to be prepared the day before to allow the glue to chill over night.

A trip to your local craft store or home goods store will have a variety of tools, such as decorating bags, decorating tips and stencils, and books about cake decorating to guide you in creating a unique cake.

Below are a few websites that provide cake decorating supplies. You can always type what you are looking for into one of the numerous search engines and see what comes up.

http://www.wilton.com/store/site/department.cfm?dc=4&killnav=1

http://www.cakedecoratingforless.com

www.michaels.com

http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/category.asp?c=100000&sid=GOOGLE&TID=GL9120009&ne_ppc_id=1099&ne_key_id=11179529&ne_sadid=5901952694&gclid=CKae88LrmakCFUiA5QodUxAlvg

Using Food as Art

When we were in nursery school, we all made projects with different shaped and colored macaroni. My dog ate the macaroni, glue and all off of my macaroni art projects so they didn't last very long in my house. These simple art projects got me thinking about art projects to keep the little ones I babysit for busy. I'm always looking for new and fun ideas to keep the occupied. Food art projects can involve almost any non-perishable food – candy, cereal and goldfish.

The kids I babysat for loved the idea. I grabbed some macaroni, left over Halloween candy like Tootsie Roles, Twizzlers and Starburst, glue, crayons and paper. Everyone, including myself, began to make our food creations. Both of the kids really enjoyed getting creative and playing with the food, something they normally aren’t allowed to do. One of the children drew a person with crayon and used the candy to design the face and clothes. When everyone was finished we all hung our projects on the fridge.

Another baking project I like to do with the children is to make something out of a baking mix. Baking mixes are great when kids are looking to bake, but you don’t want to deal with the hassle of making homemade food. They only require a few ingredients, which the kids can easily add in and mix, as well as making clean up a lot easier. I've made banana bread, brownies and white cake all of which the kids enjoyed baking, frosting and eating. These are also great bonding times with them. That is what I enjoy the most about these projects. 

Jellybean Ideas

Jellybeans are one of my favorite candies. I love the bubble gum flavored and pineapple flavored jellybeans. I was watching a television show were someone was eating a bag of jellybeans and it got me thinking. I know jellybeans making great toppings, but can you actually bake with jellybeans? I decided the answer was yes. It is a great and simple way to get a variety of colors and flavor into your baking without using a variety of candies.

So how can you utilize jellybeans in your baking? Here are a few of my ideas:

• Put approximately one cup of mixed jellybeans (or one flavor if you prefer) and stir them into your cookie batter. They go great with peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies.
• Makes Rice Krispie treats more flavorful and colorful. Add one to 1-½ cups to your Rice Krispie treats recipe.
• Cakes, especially plain cakes, can always use some spicing up. Add some jellybeans for an interesting twist. I recommend using ¾ to one cup of jellybeans.

I’m sure there are several more ideas that I have not mentioned. If you think of any, feel free to post a comment with your thoughts or ideas.

What is Biscotti?

Biscotti have become a staple in my house. We have so many different flavors it’s hard to pick just one to eat. So what exactly are biscotti? Similar to large biscuits, biscotti are twice baked cakes made dry and crunchy by cutting the dough while it’s still hot and put back in the oven to bake. Coming in a variety of flavors, these treats make a great snack or dessert. They are best served with coffee or tea to soften the cakes if dipped in, making it easier to eat. My personal favorite is a chocolate biscotti served with green tea and honey.

Depending on the recipe you decide to use, the complexity of making biscotti can vary. I have found recipes that call for mixers or can take well over an hour to bake and prepare.  Looking for a simple recipe that did not require too much time or effort and still had great taste was harder than I thought. After much research, I manage to come across a great recipe. It takes 40 minutes to prepare, and bake and does not require a mixer.

Ingredients

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

1 cup white sugar

3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 table spoon anise extract or 3 drops of anise oil (or ½ teaspoon almond extract and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, sugar and anise (or almond and vanilla extract) flavoring until well blended. Combine the flour and baking powder. Stir into the egg mixture to form a heavy dough. Divide dough into two pieces. Form each piece into a roll as long as your cookie sheet. Place roll onto the prepared cookie sheet, and press down to 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. When the cookies are cool enough to handle, slice each one crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Place the slices cut side up back onto the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 6 to 10 minutes on each side. Slices should be lightly toasted.

This recipe came from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=17241&origin=detail&&Servings=42