Hazelnut Kisses

I'd love to go on vacation. Somewhere nice and warm. With palm trees and fruity drinks. And a beach, of course. Instead, I'm stuck working in an office all day every day this summer...I miss the days when it was acceptable to do nothing all summer. However, while I'm not vacationing this summer, my parents were. On a trip to Cozumel, they purchased me two Mexican recipe books, one with cookies and one with ice cream. With a big jar of Pralinutta (Belgian knock-off brand Nutella) in my cabinet, I decided to make the first recipe in the cookie book for hazlenut cookies.

The recipe definitely didn't have enough butter in it, so I had to add a lot extra and I cut down on the hazelnuts a little, simply because they're expensive and I didn't want to buy another bag. If you take these cookies out of the oven too soon, they will crumble to the touch so make sure they're ready before you take them out of the oven.



Hazelnut Kisses, slightly adapted from "Besos de Avellana" from Galletas by Delicias

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup hazelnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut cream (Nutella)
1/3 heavy cream

1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease three pans.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour and salt.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer at high speed to combine the butter and sugar until you get a pale and creamy mixture. Change the mixer to low speed and add the hazelnuts and flour mixture.

4. Make 40 small balls of dough and place on pans to bake.

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until they start to brown and harden. Take out of oven and let cool completely.

6. Melt chocolate hazelnut cream and mix with the heavy cream. Let cool completely, until very similar to the consistency the chocolate cream was before mixing.

7. Stick two cookies together with the cream to obtain your hazelnut kisses!

Strawberry Jam Sponge Cake

Finding a dessert that is plain and relatively healthy is generally not an easy endeavor. However, when I bake at home, it is often a must if anyone but me is actually going to eat the dessert. So I decided to be magnanimous and actually make something other people will eat. I'm someone who loves really sweet, decadent desserts, but I chose this plain sponge cake because I figured my dad would eat it. In the end, I was right because it was gone within 24 hours with the two of us eating it. While it wasn't the most fabulous dessert I've ever had, it was a good recipe for a plain dessert. Also, I had huge slices because I figure its lack of frosting was saving me a lot of calories :)



Strawberry Jam Sponge Cake, very slightly adapted from Sponge Layer Cake from I Love Sugar by Love Food

3/4 unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
Scant 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp strawberry jelly
1 tbsp confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 9-inch round layer cake pans.

2. Use an electric mixer to combine the sugar and the butter until pale and light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat after you add each one.

3. Mix the flour and salt in a separate bowl and slowly add the butter/sugar mixture with a metal spoon or spatula.

4. Divide the mixture between the two pans and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden brown. It also should be shrinking from the sides of the pan a bit when it's done.

5. Take out of the oven and let stand for 1 minute. Then use a butter knife to loosen the cakes around the edges. Take out of pans (be careful here...my bottom layer stuck to the bottom a little and got a crack in it!).

6. Once cool, sandwich together with the jelly and sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar.

Condensed Milk Reeses Cookies

Condensed milk tastes pretty good. I could eat it straight out of the can. I considered just eating it straight after I made my caramel and chocolate bars, but I decided that wasn't the best idea. However, what to do with a little over a half cup of condensed milk? I rifled through my recipe books and came up with nothing, except maybe one recipe that needed a full can. So I decided to do a food blog search and came up with Madhuram's Eggless Cooking's Eggless crispy chocolate chip cookies using condensed milk.

Not really in the mood for plain old chocolate chip cookies, I went to the supermarket in search of a different filling. I decided on Reese's, as I hadn't had any in the longest time nor had I ever had any in a cookie. They turned out really weird looking...I think I should have flattened them out a bit before I put them in the oven since they had no eggs to help them spread. They tasted pretty amazing though, crispy on the outside and super soft on the inside. They were definitely different than your typical chocolate chip cookies, but they were also definitely really, really good.



Condensed Milk Reeses Cookies, slightly adapted from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking 's Eggless crispy chocolate chip cookies
(Makes about 30 cookies)

1 1/2 sticks softened butter
3/8 cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups and 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
8 Reeses cups, crushed into medium to small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease baking sheets.
2. Beat butter and sugar together in large bowl until pale and creamy (about 5 minutes).
3. Pour in condensed milk and vanilla and beat until combined.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder until combined.
5. Stir flour mixture in and add the Reeses cups. Don't use the electric mixer on this part.
6. Make each cookie using a tablespoon of dough and MAKE SURE TO FLATTEN IT (which I forgot).
7. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Let cookies stand 5 minutes on baking sheet so they can harden. Then let cool completely on a plate or wire rack, depending on your preference.

Caramel and Chocolate Bars

I've always preferred caramel over chocolate. I seem to be in the minority on that one. Caramel is sweeter and has this slightly burnt taste, and I love things toasted to the point where they start to burn a bit. So anything with that kind of taste is sure to be a hit with me. I bought a new recipe book last week on my lunch break one day, but I decided to make something out of my Belgian recipe book, as I had only made one recipe from it so far anyway. And I've had my eye on these caramel and chocolate bars for awhile...

Overall, they're pretty good...some people might consider them sickeningly sweet though, depends on your level of enjoyment of very sweet desserts. When I first tasted it, I thought it was way too sweet, but I had been eating the ingredients as I made it and also had a bowl of Cookie Crisp with Sprinkles and vanilla soymilk before I tried it, so I think my tastebuds had already had their share of sweetness for the night.



Caramel and Chocolate Bars, slightly adapted from "Sablé au caramel et au chocolat" from Desserts au Chocolat by Les Simplissimes

Bottom layer:
1 stick butter
10 tbsp brown cane sugar (Sugar in the Raw or something of the like)
1 cup flour
1 packet regular oatmeal (or 40 g oats...whatever is easier for you)
Middle caramel layer:
1 1/2 tbsp butter
5 tbsp brown cane sugar
10 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
Top chocolate layer:
100 g milk chocolate
25 g white chocolate

1. Line an 8 inch pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. With your hands, mix the stick of butter and 10 tbsp brown can sugar until combined. Then add the flour and the oats until a dough forms (not sticky but you don't want it really hard either...it should be a little less sticky that chocolate chip cookie dough generally is).

3. Place the prepared dough into the pan, trying to make it as even as possible, and bake for 25 minutes (my oven took about 40). The mixture should start to brown before you take it out of the oven. Make sure you let it cool for a bit before you put the other layers on.

4. To make the middle layer, heat the middle layer ingredients in a pan on the stove until the mixture starts to boil. Then mix for 5 or 6 minutes, until mixture starts to harden a little bit. Then, you can pour it onto the cookie layer.



5. Then heat the milk chocolate and place over the caramel layer. Heat the white chocolate and use to decorate the top milk chocolate layer. Enjoy.

Chocolate Chip and Banana Cupcakes

I feel like half the time, I pick a particular recipe solely because I have some ingredient I need to use for whatever reason. Like some corn syrup I bought ages ago for one recipe and never used again. Or that milk in the fridge that's going to go bad tomorrow if I don't use it up today. This time, it was some overly ripe bananas sitting in the fruit bowl on my kitchen counter.

After rifling through my recipe books, I came up with chocolate chip and banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. They were really easy to make, and pretty tasty as well. I wasn't crazy about the cream cheese frosting at first because I usually prefer a sweeter frosting. It went well with the banana and chocolate chip flavor though, and it grew on me as I ate pretty much the whole batch :)



Chocolate Chip and Banana Cupcakes, slightly adapted from Chocolate Chip and Banana Cupcakes in 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly.

Makes 12 small cupcakes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
2 eggs
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 cuo confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
sprinkles or whatever you like to garnish (the book suggests banana slices, but that would only be a good idea if you plan on eating them right away, as the banana slices would get nasty sitting around...)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put 12 paper baking cups in a muffin pan.

2. Use an electric mixer to combine the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, and nutmeg in a large bowl until smooth (about 1 1/2 minutes).

3. Stir in the mashed bananas and chocolate chips until well combined.

4. Spoon the batter into the cups and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pans from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then take cupcakes out of pan and cool.

5. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft and smooth.

6. Add the confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Beat quickly until smooth and well combined.

7. Frost the cupcakes and decorate however you like!

European Rice Krispie Treats

I'm a vanilla person. I think it's because vanilla flavored things are generally sweeter than their chocolate counterparts. I loove anything really, really sugary and sweet. However, once in awhile, I get a craving for chocolate. And when that craving can be satisfied by something chocolately AND overly sweet, now that is the perfect scenario. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened with the rice krispie treats I made out of my European chocolate cookbook, Desserts au chocolat. They're totally different from your typical marshmallowy treats and I even think they're better tasting.

The recipe was pretty simple, no baking required...perfect for a hot summer night. I changed the recipe a little bit, just to adapt my lack of a scale,my family's cereal preferences (my brother said he would only eat the leftover Rice Krispies if I bought chocolate flavored ones), and my chocolate preferences (milk instead of dark) and they turned out really well the way I made them.

If you want something healthy, these probably aren't for you. However, if you're not crazy health conscious with your desserts, I definitely recommend these yummy Rice Krispie treats.

Bonus: You don't have to translate the recipe from French like I did, as a non-French speaker :)

Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats, adapted from Rochers de riz souffle au chocolat from Desserts au chocolat by Les Simplissimes

White Chocolate Layer:

1/2 stick butter

1 tbsp molasses

150 g white chocolate

2 cups chocolate Rice Krispies

Milk Chocolate Layer:

1/2 stick butter

2 tbsp molasses

125 g milk chocolate

3 cups chocolate Rice Krispies

1. Butter an 8 inch square pan or line the pan with wax paper (I sprayed the wax paper with Pam).

2. Melt the butter, molasses, and chocolate for the white chocolate layer in a saucepan or the microwave. Then mix thoroughly. You have to wait for the chocolate to cool for the ingredients to really mix well together. It should look pretty even (doesn't have to be perfect though) when you are done mixing.

3. Mix the 2 cups Rice Krispies with the white chocolate mixture until the cereal is fully covered.

4. Spoon the mixture into the pan, making it as even as possible.

5. Melt and mix the butter, molasses, and chocolate for the milk chocolate layer. Again, you will need to wait a bit for the chocolate to cool for it to fully mix.

6. Then add this mixture to 3 cups Rice Krispies and layer evenly on top of the white chocolate layer.

7. Let harden in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or until fully hardened.

Note: Sorry for the quality of the pictures. My Mac computer is having some issues and I don't really know how to crop photos on the computer I'm using. I also don't want to upload my photos to this computer so I'm just uploading them to the Blogger through my memory card reader.

English Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I was very intrigued when I first began reading about this dessert, as I had never heard of one before. As people tend to say about the Daring Bakers' challenges, it definitely wasn't something I ever would have made before, but it was really good and I'm glad I made it. I had a lot of trouble with the dough...it was really difficult for me to make and mine was really sticky even after it had been in the fridge for the recommended time. I realized a little too late that maybe it should have stayed in the fridge a bit longer than suggested...it was already stuck to my pie plate and covered in flour.


I decided to use a simple strawberry jelly from the supermarket as it was my first Daring Bakers' challenge, and I thought the tart would be challenge enough; I didn't want to have to deal with making a jelly too since I've never made one before.

I ended up with way too much frangipane. I ate a ton of it from the bowl and it was still leaking out of my tart all over the oven (and all over the pie plate, as you can see in the pictures). I ended up having to put a cookie sheet beneath the pie plate so it would be easier to clean when the tart was fully baked.

Mine also took a ridiculously long time to bake, more than twice the normal baking time. It was a frustrating experience, but it was still fun and it tasted delicious when it came out of the oven.


Here is the recipe:

Bakewell Tart

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)

Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)

Resting time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.