Homemade Vanilla Bean Agave Marshmallows What can be better than warming up to a hot cup of cocoa on a chilly night topped with homemade marshmallows cut out in the shape of a snowflake! Making homemade marshmallows from scratch with agave has been on my list of things to try for a very long time. I modified the Barefoot Contessa's recipe and replaced the corn syrup with agave and added some fresh vanilla bean and I just loved how these turned out! What a fun project, not very difficult to make as long as you have the right tools; a candy thermometer and a stand mixer are a must. These are perfect to add to your hot cocoa, to make awesome homemade smores, and even turn into a really pretty hand-made gifts for the holidays! I really loved this project! Tomorrow I plan on posting a cute idea we came up with using these marshmallows to create adorable holiday gifts, if you are crafty the possibilities are endless! But these are just as pretty cut into squares and stored in an airtight container. Have fun!!! Skinnytaste.com
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pistachio Tartlets To be frank with you, I'd really rather skip January and move on to February if I can have it my way. After the Christmas mayhem topped by a full on four course dinner the night before New Years Eve, I looked at the calendar, blinked twice, almost had a panic attack and sighed. Chinese New Year tickets home are booked and I have two weeks to get the house - including a rather unsightly room - in order before I can board my flight in peace. I'm not sure there will be time for Lunar New Year cookies this time. In any case, I think I'll play safe and not make you any promises. In the meantime though, let's forget about the pressure of the impending Gong Xi and dwell a bit more in the first few days of 2012 by talking about these little dark, dainty things filled with some of the best flavors in my books. If you've been hanging out here for awhile, you'd know that I'm not very good in keeping things light. When Meesh came to dinner last week, I made these again.
Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes & The Craving Chronicles It seems like once the weather cools down everyone wants to jump right into pumpkin season. Don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin as much as anyone else, but to me September is apple season. I was thinking about how often apples get overshadowed by pumpkin a few weeks ago when my husband asked me if I wanted to attend a dinner party with some of his coworkers. “Hrmmm. Maybe…”, I said. It took me a while to decide on an approach for these cupcakes. Ultimately, I decided the best way to pack that punch of apple flavor into a cupcake was to use apple pie filling. I was apprehensive while putting these cupcakes together. In the end, they didn’t. They tasted approximately a million times better than I had imagined. I was hoping for good cupcakes, but these were amazing. Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes Printable Recipe (Includes all sub-recipes) Makes about 24 cupcakes There are several steps to complete before assembling the cupcakes, but some can be done a day ahead to speed things up. Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge Yes, really. If that doesn't stop you dead in your tracks, then I don't think you're human. This is serious stuff. I have a family recipe that I use for standard fudge, but I like making fun and unique variations as well - peanut butter, pumpkin pie, and white chocolate have all been well-received in the past. This comes together pretty easily, and honestly the hardest part is waiting for it to set up! So head into your kitchen and make these now. 1 3/4 c. sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar1/2 cup heavy cream 1/4 c. milk1 Tbs corn syrup3/4 tsp kosher salt2 Tbs unsalted butter1 tsp vanilla extract1/2 cup flour1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chipsSpray an 8x8 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. In a 3-quart saucepan, combine the sugars, cream, milk, corn syrup and salt. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 inch casserole dish, and allow to cool until it reaches 110 degrees, 10 to 20 minutes. Allow to set at least 2 hours.
Chocolate Pancake Cake This is a very healthy dessert with nearly no calories at all. It’s almost like a tic tac. Okay, that’s not true… but wouldn’t it be awesome if it was? You know what? Around this time of year people often ask me: “Petra, why each year in February you die and then come to life again in March? And I say to those people: “I dunno, but do you have some chocolate for me?” That’s exactly what happens. So yes, it’s chocolate that makes me crawl through the end of winter each year. Like, for example these chocolate pancakes with lovely whipped cream filling that I had for breakfast today. Let’s just hope that our door frame will have mercy on me and will still keep me letting out of the flat. Let’s hope… Here’s what you need if you want to commit this sweet sin too. 1. 2. Beat until just combined. 3. Cook on the first side until the edges are set and bubbles form on the surface. 4. Repeat until you’ve used all the batter. 5. 6. 7. 8. Then make yourself some lovely steaming coffee. With love, Petra
Sourdough Beer Pretzels September 14, 2011 | Print | E-mail | Filed under bread Have you made your sourdough starter yet? In case you have, I wanted to have a sourdough recipe ready for you today so that you can get started with making your own sourdough bread. Recipe adapted from here. For the dough: 1/2 cup lukewarm water1/4 cup of your favorite beer1 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the refrigerator3 1/4 cups flour1 Tbsp sugar1 Tbsp butter1 1/2 tsp salt2 tsp instant yeast For the topping: 1 Tbsp sugar2 Tbsp waterKosher or coarse-grain salt In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Shape the dough into a ball, and then place it in a lightly greased bowl. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface. Roll each piece into an 18″ long rope.
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars These caramel apple cheesecake bars made their way around the food blogging sphere not to long ago and they certainly caught my attention! Even just by reading the title, they sound amazing but that is just the start! If you dig a little deeper you will see that they start with a base of butter shortbread which is topped with the cheesecake followed by the apples and then a layer of rolled oat crumbs only finally be topped with the caramel sauce. These bars are like combining shortbread, cheesecake, apple crisp and caramel sauce all into one truly spectacular treat! Given all of the components, these bars require a bit of effort to make but overall everything is pretty straight forward and it so worth it! This recipe calls for lining the baking dish with aluminum foil which I had never done before and it turned out great! When I got up this morning my patience had run its course and I could not resist pulling the caramel apple cheesecake bars out after a night of chilling. Ingredients
Chocolate cups Uncategorized “There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with Chocolate” Linda Grayson This is my take on ‘Hot Chocolate’. Instead of the typical cup of steaming hot chocolate, these cups are made 100% out of chocolate. Perfect for a party to entertain your guests. They’ll get a kick out of the velvety smooth mousse and edible cup that holds it. You get a cold creaminess from whipped cream, sweetness and crunch from chocolate cup, and heat from the cayenne pepper. Prepare to have your taste buds dancing to a sweet and spicy tune! I seem to be doing more social media now a days but I still enjoy baking up a storm in the kitchen. Chocolate cups. To make these chocolate cups, melt about 4 ounces to make 3 cups. I suggest using a high quality melting chocolate. Place the chocolate covered balloons on a pan covered with parchment paper. You can either let the balloon sit for 30 minutes or stick them into the fridge to harden up faster. Fill first with chocolate mousse Enjoy!
Salt River&Bars We are all about no-bake this week. In fact, ovens are for dorks. Not that it's really that hot this week (we obvy had to mention weather since it's kinda our thang) but we've decided only dorks are using their ovens this week. And we are not dorks. (Well, yes. That is debatable. In the meantime, until Friday or so when we decide we want brownies or chocolate chunk cookies (oooo, cookies), this week we are declaring ovens totally out. Rather, we're following in the footsteps of the totally cool and totally in Bakergirl (hi, Bakergirl, we think you're fab) and making these Salt River Bars. What is a Salt River Bar, you ask? Beats the pants off of us. Yes, we just said that. And, she did not lie. What did we tell you? Salt River BarsMakes 16 squaresAdapted from Bakergirl Print Recipe Line 8 x 8" glass or metal baking pan with foil so that it's hanging over the edges of the pan. Place the pan in the fridge to let the chocolate start to set. We stored these bars in the fridge as well.
Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread — Joy the Baker - StumbleUpon I’m sorry. I know it’s Monday morning and you probably came here for some pretty pictures of food that you could glance at, and then move on with your day… and here I go thrusting warm, soft cinnamon sugar bread in your face. It’s not fair. I know it’s not fair. I know that now you’re craving cinnamon rolls, and cream cheese frosting and chili fries and hot dogs. You don’t deserve this sort of torture. This bread hits all the comfort spots in my soul. I’m sorry and you’re welcome and I love you. Let’s start at the beginning. I did this all without the use of a stand mixer and dough hook. This dough can be made and left to rise , then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning. This is the dough just before it’s left to rise. After the dough has rested and risen for an hour, I knead it in a few tablespoons of flour. This is the part in the bread process where you can wrap the dough and place it in the fridge to rest overnight. I worked with my dough right away. I can’t even deal.
Vegan Hot Chocolate DIY Chocolate Cups Chocolate Cups Tutorial Labels: DIY - Do It Yourself, et cetera, Gluten Free Recipes Newer Posts »« Older Posts French Onion Mac & Cheese | Cake, Batter, and Bowl | Cake, Batter, and Bowl Umm, so if you’re watching your weight, you may want to click back to the last page you viewed right about now…. I tend to cook healthy dishes most of the time, but decided to go all in on this one and it was so worth it! I was in the mood for some comfort food this week, and my cute little French Onion Soup bowls were begging to be used again, so I dreamed up this French Onion Mac & Cheese! Uh huh, cavatappi pasta mixed with a creamy fontina, asiago, and mascarpone cheese sauce and a healthy dose of caramelized onions (which just make everything better!). French Onion Mac & Cheese Printable Recipe Ingredients: 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 large yellow onions, sliced (9 cups) 1 pound cavatappi pasta 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 2 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%) 2 cups shredded fontina cheese 2 cups shredded asiago cheese 8 ounces mascarpone cheese 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups croutons 3 cups shredded gruyere cheese Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions.