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
Lavender Cream & Strawberry Popsicles There’s a certain elegance that lavender brings to almost any dish. I displayed this before with my Honey-Lavender Stuffed Strawberries and had been wanting to rework that combo for a while. Well, I did. Check out these amazing popsicles! And trust me, you are gonna wanna get these in your mouth now! Ingredients 2 Cups Strawberries, sliced 1 Cup Sugar 1 Cup Milk 1 Cup Greek Yogurt 1 Tablespoon Lavender Printable View Yield: 10 popsicles Total Time 10 hours, 20 minutes Main Ingredients: Lavender, Strawberry Diet: Vegetarian 1. Please make sure you are using culinary lavender. 2. 3. 4. 5. You don’t have to do this but I topped mine with a bit of lavender before putting them in the freezer just to add some texture.
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.
Favorite Recipes from 2011 Can you believe 2011 is almost over? Where did the year go? 2011 was a pretty great year, especially for this little blog of mine. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.No Bake Nutter Butter Nutella Pie–this pie is amazing. Hope you all had a great year! Trackbacks/Pingbacks Pingback: Favorite Recipes from 2011 « Capppo Leave a Comment 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
Watermelon-Coconut-Lime Popsicles My kids looovvveee popsicles and at some point during the day someone always has a Big Stick or a red-white-and-blue Rocket Pop in hand. While I can be happy with a cherry-pineapple flavored Big Stick, I prefer more of a tropical taste when it comes to popsicles. Last week I was working away at my desk and I literally jumped up to make these. The idea of watermelon, coconut and lime came over me like a wave. Before I knew it these were headed to the freezer. Have you made popsicles at home? I think the coconut cream I use in this recipe gives this a more “adult” taste. Print Recipe Ingredients 3-1/2 cups cubed watermelon1/2 cup coconut cream zest and juice of one lime1 teaspoon chopped mint Directions Add all ingredients to a blender and puree. I’m imagining enjoying these by a pool somewhere in the Caribbean…..I wish. Three Years Ago: Classic Blueberry Pie
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.
Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries. What? Yes! Um... ok. Why didn't I think of this?!?!?! Of course you can hollow out a strawberry and stuff it full of cheesecake. Of course you can!!! And just in time for Valentine's Day... perfect excuse to make them! Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries Here's what you need: About 20 strawberries... this was a little over one carton for me. 8 oz pkg softened cream cheese 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 sleeve of graham crackers 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional) First you will want to wash the strawberries and cut off the tops. Now core them! A thin ended apple peeler.... And a small knife.... I liked the knife better! The easiest way to core the strawberries is to hold the entire berry in your hand (wrap your fingers around it) and literally just core out the center. Um... Now to make the filling.... Beat the cream cheese. Now to fill the strawberries!!! I didn't want to hurt my zip lock baggies feelings so I used one to crush the graham crackers in. Oh man.... these are so cute. So......
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.