Category Archives: Recipes

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars with Chocolate Ganache

September 26, 2011 Keep It Sweet 74 Comments

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I had a hard time deciding what to make. I got picked to make a recipe from Authentic Suburban Gourmet and Lisa had a lot of tempting recipes. My list of options included an Apple & Fig Tart, her Toffee & Caramel Cheesecake and these Fig Muffins with Brown Sugar Topping. Ultimately, though, my inner-peanut butter loving self decided to make an adaptation of her Mini Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies. To save a little time, I made the cookies into bars and was very happy with the result. I may or may not have eaten a few scoops of the peanut butter cookie dough while baking.

Speaking of eating something delicious, last night I got back from an amazing weekend in Atlanta that included a ton of delicious food. I’ll definitely be sharing some photos of my reunion-weekend eats.

In the meantime, I have to say, it was a bit of a surreal experience visiting Emory after five years away. It was enough time to feel like college was forever ago, but when I stepped on campus and traced the familiar routes around Decatur, Buckhead, the Highlands and more, it was as if I never left.

I’m a Northeast girl at heart, but Atlanta will always hold a special piece of it. There are great restaurants, lots of good shopping, and a friendly culture. I had to get to some of my favorite food places while I was there, but there is a reason that these places mean so much to me.

College was such an amazing time in my life, truly some of the best four years. I met some of my lifelong best friends, including my husband. Matt and I have so many memories that built the foreground of our relationship. My girlfriends and I have an uncountable number of stories that brought us together but also those that just make me laugh so hard my stomach hurts and tears roll down my cheeks. Being back in this place where I grew out of my insecure high school self and into a young woman who knew how to walk with a bit of confidence makes me feel so content. It was hard to say goodbye to my friends and a former home.

Luckily these were tucked away in my freezer Winking smile

[print_this]Peanut Butter Cookie Bars with Chocolate Ganache

Makes 24 bars

Adapted from Lisa’s Mini Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup salted creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy Natural)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

Whisk flour and baking soda, set aside
Beat butter on high until light and creamy
Add peanut butter and continue to beat until creamy
Add sugar and beat into batter until light and fluffy
Add egg and vanilla, beat on medium speed until combined
Stir in flour and baking soda mixture
Refrigerate batter for at least 1 hour or overnight
When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees line a 13×9 pan with parchment paper
Once oven is hot, press dough evenly into prepared pan
Bake for 20-23 minutes or until firm in the center; set aside to cool

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

While cookie bars are baking, prepare ganache
Set up your double boiler; bring water to a simmer in medium pot over low-medium heat
Place heat-proof bowl of chocolate over the pot
Pour the cream over your chocolate
Whisk until chocolate mixture is melted and smooth
Place ganache in refrigerator until thick, about one hour
When ganache is thick enough that it won’t drip off a spoon, spread evenly over cookie bars
Store cookie bars in refrigerator until ready to serve

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Did you live somewhere else that has special memories?

Blog, Recipes

Double Crumble Hot Apple Pie

September 21, 2011 Keep It Sweet 1 Comment

As soon as we made plans to go apple picking, Matt asked if I would make an apple pie. With all of those farm-fresh apples how could I say no?

The thing is, I don’t really love pie. Scratch that, I love pie filling, I just don’t care much about the crust. On the other hand, I love apple crisp. I find any form of crumb toppings to be irresistible. As a result, this apple pie topped with an extra thick layer of crumb topping was the perfect dessert for us.

The last time I made this pie, I use a store-bought crust (shh, don’t tell!). This time around I went all out and made the crust from scratch. I used a recipe from the The Art & Soul of Baking, a great resource for anything you could want to know about baking.

[print_this]Double Crumble Hot Apple Pie

Makes 2 pies; Serves ~16

For Crust

Ingredients

1 sticks (1/2 cup) unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces and frozen
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus additional for rolling the dough)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water*

Cooking Directions

Place all ingredients except for water in the large bowl of an electric mixer
Using paddle attachment, put mixer on low and mix ingredients until they form a coarse mixture of large crumbs (about the size of a peanut)
Add 1/4 cup water and put mixer on low for about a minute, add additional water (1 tablespoon at a time) just until dough is moist enough to hold together
When dough is ready, form into two large disks and wrap each in seran wrap; refrigerate dough for at least one hour
Once dough has been chilled, you can roll it into a thin layer; flour a large flat surface and place dough on top of that with an additional couple of tablespoons of flour on the dough; roll dough with a rolling pin into a large round layer about 1/4 inch thick**
When ready, gently place the dough in a 9-inch pie dish and press down so that the dough is snug; trim any excess dough that comes over the edges

Note:

Make sure your butter and water are very cold to keep the dough from getting too warm while working

*Amount of water could vary depending on humidity levels

**I heard that you can skip the flour and roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper

Source for pie crust: The Art & Soul of Baking

Crumb Topping:

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, melted

Cooking Directions

While dough is chilling, prepare crumb topping
In a large bowl, use a fork to stir together all dry ingredients; mix in butter until topping fills large clumps
Place bowl in refrigerator to chill while preparing filling

Apple Filling:

Ingredients

1 dozen medium baking apples (I used cortland)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cooking Directions

When ready to bake your pies, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
To prepare filling, peel and thinly slice apples (~1/4 inch thick)
Place apple slices in large bowl; add remaining ingredients and stir into apple mixture
Pour half of apple mixture into each prepared pie crust
With your hands, crumble topping over apples and press firmly to form a entirely cover pies
Place pies in center of oven and bake for half hour; at this point, cover top of each pie lightly with tin foil to prevent topping from burning
Continue baking pies for additional 45 minutes or until filling is bubbling and apples on the inside are tender
Serve warm, preferably with vanilla ice cream

Source for filling and topping: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

Note:

Dough for pie crust and mixture for crumb topping can be prepared up to 1 day in advance; store in refrigerator until ready to make pie

Since this recipe makes two pies, you can bake one now and save one for another time. To freeze pie, prepare as directed without baking. Once put together, wrap tightly with tin foil and freeze for up to one month

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Do you prefer apple crisp or apple pie?

Blog, Recipes

Gooey Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bars (Gluten-Free)

September 20, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

My busy schedule these days has been keeping me from as much time in the kitchen as I would like. There are so many recipes that I’ve been dying to try, but they keep getting put on the back-burner. Luckily, I found a really easy but tasty dessert to make this past weekend.

These bars actually are derived from the back of my gluten-free oatmeal package. They are on the bag as cookies, but baking them in bar form just seemed so much easier at the time. I’m glad I did because they baked up to be the perfect chewy, gooey bars! You would never know that there is no butter or flour in these babies!

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Gooey Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Bars (Gluten-Free)

Yield: Serves 24

Ingredients

3 cups gluten-free rolled oats (oatmeal is naturally gluten-free but may be processed with other gluten foods; check the package if serving anyone who has a gluten allergy)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup smooth natural salted peanut butter
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray
Whisk together oatmeal and baking soda; set aside
Beat peanut butter on high speed until light and creamy
Beat in applesauce
Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy
Add egg whites and vanilla; beat on medium speed until combined
Stir in oatmeal mixture
Stir in chocolate
Pour batter into prepared pan
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until knife comes out clean
Allow to cool before slicing
Store at room temperature in a covered container up to 2 days or freeze up to 1 month

Note: Adapted from Trader Joe’s oatmeal package.[/print_this]

Do you have any good gluten-free recipes?

Blog, Recipes

The Best Homemade Applesauce

September 15, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

Before coming back from our weekend away, I had to take advantage of the apple picking available!

We went to Windy Hill Farm which had a decent selection of apples to choose from. I was really excited to see they had my favorite variety ready to go.

Besides the beloved Honey Crisp, we got a selection of Cortlands, Paula Reds and Macintosh. Macintosh apples remind me of being a kid. My family used to go to Lambertville and New Hope every fall to pick pumpkins, buy apples and run around the scarecrow maze. We always loaded up on the Macintosh apples.

This was my first time actually picking the apples from trees. They gave us a map and had very clear signs that made it easy to navigate through all the apple trees. Other than the bug bites all over my feet (note to self: don’t wear flip flops to go apple picking on a warm day), it was so much fun. I would have taken home bushels and bushels of apples if I could have.

We went with 1/2 bushel, maybe 7 pounds of apples?

Check out this slideshow to to see Matt’s favorite part of the apple picking!

View Full Album

I’ve never had a Paula Red before, but when the woman at the farm said they make great sauce our ears perked up. I like jarred applesauce in small doses, but there really is nothing like homemade applesauce.

Monday night as soon as we got home, Matt got to cooking! With a little bit of my input, he basically made the applesauce himself. Let me tell you, it was amazing! I tried to save some to take photos in daylight but the applesauce was too good. We finished the whole batch for dessert. Oh and yes, this happened to be Matt’s birthday dessert… what kind of baking blogger am I?

Seriously, homemade applesauce with vanilla frozen yogurt was the perfect end to the weekend! You know, since I hadn’t had quite enough dessert yet.

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The Best Homemade Applesauce

Yield: Makes ~2 cups of applesauce, serves 2-4

Ingredients

7 medium apples, peeled and chopped (we used a combination of Paula Reds and Macintosh)
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
the juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

Cooking Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large pot
Cover pot and let cook over low heat for 10 minutes
Remove cover and stir
Allow mixture to simmer over low heat for additional 10-15 minutes stirring on occasion
Remove from heat when sauce has reached desired consistency (for a more chunky sauce cook for less time)

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Adapted from Heather’s Dish

What apples would you pick? Monica at the Yummy Life has a great list of apples that tells you what kinds are best for eating, cooking and baking.

Recipes, Uncategorized

Whole Wheat Maple Walnut Spice Cookies

September 7, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

Along with pumpkin muffins the other night, I had these cookies going in and out of the oven. I have to admit, I don’t usually like walnuts in my desserts (keep them away from my fudgey brownies, please), but these Whole Wheat Maple Walnut Spice Cookies just sounded so appealing. Maybe it is the fact that whole wheat flour = healthy, walnuts = healthy, whole wheat flour + walnuts = super healthy cookies! That logic works, right?

And you know what happens when you make healthy cookies? You can eat as many as you want guilt-free! It is a good thing, too, because when you smell these in the oven, you will not be able to resist. A hint of maple syrup and the warm fall flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger will wake up your senses. Warm and chewy right out of the oven, instant comfort.

I’d like to say that you can unwind, grab a book and enjoy a cookie with a warm cup of tea, but who are we kidding? I’ve never eaten A cookie in my life. Grab 6 3 and enjoy.

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Whole Wheat Maple Walnut Spice Cookies

Yield: Makes 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened at room temperature
2 large eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup walnut pieces

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt; set aside
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy
Add eggs, maple syrup and vanilla; beat until combined
Stir in walnut pieces
Use a cookie dough scoop or tablespoon to lay cookie dough balls out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper 1-2 inches apart
Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes or until color changes slightly and cookies are almost firm
Allow to cool on cooling rack before serving

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Adapted from Cooking Light

Walnuts in your cookies? Yay or nay?

Recipes, Uncategorized

Pumpkin S’more Muffins

September 6, 2011 Keep It Sweet 3 Comments

So the Northeast kind of got slapped in the face by the end of summer. We were welcomed back to work on the day after Labor Day with grey skies and non-stop rain. Well hello, real life!

Despite the unofficial end of a quick but wonderful summer, today actually wasn’t too bad. Starting work on a Tuesday instead of Monday is always a plus and next week will be the same! Matt and I have a weekend trip planned for just the two of us. I like to think of it as a little belated anniversary celebration, but it also overlaps with his birthday on Monday! It should be a fun few days.

The second thing that kept today’s mood up is that the next few weeks are going to continue to be crazy but also really great. After this weekend, I can still look forward to the WifeStyle Conference, my 5-year reunion in Atlanta with my best friends (!!!), the excuse to eat copious amounts of food High Holidays and an exciting opportunity that (hopefully) has come my way. Cross your fingers for me.

And finally, what made today even better was the smell of some amazing fall baked goods in my apartment. Yesterday when we got home, Matt and I both spent some time in the kitchen. He made a huge pot of turkey chili (so perfect for this dreary weather) and I had a mini baking marathon. I know I’ve said this before, but spending time in the kitchen is the best therapy. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been a little busier than usual and haven’t had much time to bake. Just a few hours of quality time with my mixer reminded me of that sense of joy I get when I make something that I know will put a smile on someone’s face.

One of my favorite things about fall is pumpkin. To be honest, I eat pumpkin all year long, but it isn’t until the fall that most people are ready to celebrate the flavor with me. Since I love pumpkin muffins and the entire world is obsessed with s’mores, I figured I should combine the two into Pumpkin S’more Muffins.

This recipe is so easy thanks to the help of a cake mix, but if you want to make your muffin batter from scratch and have a couple of extra minutes, this is my favorite recipe.

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Pumpkin S’more Muffins

Yield: Makes 2 dozen muffins

Ingredients

5 or 6 graham cracker sheets
1 15.25 ounce box yellow cake mix
1 small can (15 ounces) pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup (~3) egg whites
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups mini marshmallows

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 muffin tins by greasing or spraying with cooking spray
Break graham cracker sheets into pieces and fit them into muffin tins to act as a crust; set aside remaining graham crackers and crumbs for topping
Combine cake mix, pumpkin, water, egg whites and pumpkin pie spice with an electric mixer on low speed just until combined
Stir in chocolate chips
When batter is ready, fill each prepared cup with about 1/2 cup of batter
Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean
Remove muffins from oven and press 4-5 marshmallows into top center of each and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs
Place back in oven for 1-2 or until marshmallows have puffed
Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing muffins from pans

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Adapted from these brownies

What made today a good day for you?

Blog, Recipes

Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and More Birthday Desserts

August 29, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

On gushing about the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Surprise (otherwise know as the “Best Dessert Ever”), I forgot to tell you about all the other birthday desserts! You know my mom couldn’t stop at just one;-)

We had:

Chocolate and Banana Three Layer Cake with Mocha Buttercream
Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing
Ice Cream “Pie” with a Chocolate Krispie Treat Crust

I was so excited to go back to the shore this weekend and eat leftovers (we froze the desserts for the week), but thanks to a little thing called Irene, we stayed home.

Now, onto the cookies! For my second month of the Secret Recipe Club, I got Wives with Knives. Cathy has a great variety of recipes on her blog, but the Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies caught my eye.

Tate’s cookies are famous for the crispness. Originally I thought this would be the perfect cookie for my dad, a lover of crispy cookies.

However, like Cathy, the cookies didn’t come out very crisp. They did get a nice crunch on the outside, though, and had great flavor. I actually think these are the perfect cookies to dip in milk, but I’ll have to find another perfect cookie for my dad! Definitely try the recipe if you are a crunchy cookie fan.

I hope everyone stayed safe from the storm this weekend!

Blog, Recipes

Chocolate Glazed Cookie Cheesecake Pie

August 25, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago, Jennie of In Jennie’s kitchen lost her husband, Mikey suddenly to a heart attack. While I don’t know her personally, I’ve visited her blog a couple of times and my heart broke for her. She invited us to celebrate Mikey’s life with his favorite peanut butter pie.

Hearing about such a tragedy only reminded me of how lucky I am for each day I get to enjoy with my loved ones. Whether it is via email, facebook, phone or in person, I’m thankful for each “touch” I get with them. Too often I get wrapped up in the busy days, stressful moments and minute problems to appreciate all of the good things.

When I finally got some time in the kitchen this week, I wanted to support Jennie, even if I was little late. Since she was talking about her husband’s favorite pie, I thought I should make something with love for my husband (who, we all know, dislikes peanut butter). I know that the combination of chocolate chip cookie and cheesecake is one of his favorite things, so I created a spin on that in pie form. The chocolate chip cookie crust, creamy cheesecake filling and rich chocolate glaze were all made with love.

In light of Jennie’s loss, the blogging community has come together in an incredible way. As she is now left with two young children, she will need more than just emotional support. A fund was started by Bloggers Without Borders to help raise money for Jennie and her family. Bloggers throughout the community are offering cookbooks, photos, baked goods, site redesigns… anything to auction and raise money towards the fund. Some auctions that I have found:

Madison is currently offering an amazing baked good basket that you could get any time between now and the end of the year
Jen is auctioning an incredible gift basket
Julie is auctioning adorable decorated cookies
Katie is auctioning a doTerra Pure Essential Oil Beginner’s Trio Kit
Deb’s brownies or cookies (your choice)
Deb’s print (your choice)

Chocolate Glazed Cookie Cheesecake Pie

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups chocolate chip cookie dough

Cheesecake filling:
1 8-ounce package reduced fat cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup fat free sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze:
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9-inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray
Press cookie dough into bottom and around sides of prepared pie plate; bake for 10 minutes
While crust is baking, beat cream cheese with whisk attachment of electric mixer for several minutes or until light and creamy
Add sweetened condensed milk, egg and vanilla and beat until well combined
When crust is ready, pour cheesecake mixture into pie crust
Bake 15-20 minutes or until filling is firm; set aside
Combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup in a small pot over low-medium heat and stir constantly until mixture is completely melted
Stir in vanilla and remove pot from heat; pour glaze over pie
Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight
Cheesecake from All Recipes
Glaze from All Recipes

Are you hosting an auction? If so, leave your link in the comments below!

Blog, Recipes

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Surprise

August 23, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

Since my birthday dessert (ie the Best Dessert Ever) was such a hit and there were so many requests, I got my mom to share a little bit more about her creation and tell us how to make it!

It appears that my love-inspired dessert, has sent quite a buzz through the world of creative sweet lovers! This cake was a process. And I couldn’t have gotten “to the top” without my other daughter Jessica. To say we went back and forth 1,000 times, with 1,000 or more ideas, would be putting it mildly. For those of you who know my Lauren, you know that she has more than one true love, of desserts, that is!

My objective was to incorporate as many of her favorite desserts into one flowing masterpiece. The ones that I couldn’t actually incorporate, well, I simply made as separate desserts as well! This is how the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Surprise was created…
I already knew I was making one three layer cake. But when I saw a 10″ pan and a 6″ pan, (and knowing that I already had an 8″ pan), I thought how fun it would be to make a 3-layer cake, this one of varying sizes. Along with varying sizes, I decided on different layer components too.

I think I knew from the start that the bottom layer would be brownie. That’s the strongest of the bunch and capable of holding up the other two layers very well. My brownie recipe comes from a well-used Taste of Home’s Chocolate Lover’s Cookbook Magazine. (I used a brownie recipe I, of course, was already familiar with that calls for a 13 x 9 pan.) I knew it would fit the 10″ perfectly. When it had already been baked and cooled, I spread chocolate cool whip over it, and put that in the freezer. I like putting a little something in between my layers to help distinguish the different tastes and textures.

I decided not to do anything crunchy in between these three layers because I felt it would somehow be too much or overwhelm the creamy textures of the top two layers especially.

The next layer was the cheesecake. I have SO many cheesecake recipes!!! No doubt you do as well! But in one of Lauren’s latest blogs, she had a Peanut Butter Party, and that is where I found my latest cheesecake recipe! That came from Erin’s Food Files! So thank you, Erin! baked the cheesecake as directed, wrapped it in seran wrap, and placed into the freezer.

My chocolate ganache recipe came from All Recipes. The choice of chocolate ganache was Jessica’s; she thought of it while we walked together on the beach, wondering how in the world we would complete this dessert!

Next was the peanut butter mousse. This very old recipe comes from my very dear friend Gayle, who incidentally, could not remember this recipe at all! I lined the pan with seran wrap, poured in the peanut butter mousse, and placed it in the freezer to mold.

Finally, my peanut butter ganache. I don’t know how I thought of doing that. I really don’t. But I can tell you that the recipe itself, comes from Gourmet.LovetoKnow. I thought about shaving a bit of chocolate on top to finish the look. Clearly, we decided against that in the end.

The entire thing was put together once it was good and frozen. I knew it would be much easier to assemble. Finally, while Jessica held the cake for me, I sprinkled it with chopped dark chocolate peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips. I think the next time I make this……… I would use less ganache. It’s not that it seemed too much while eating, but appearance wise, maybe it’s a bit much? In the end though, it has as much to do with whom you share your eating experiences, as with the food itself. Sharing with my girls, for me, is always the “icing on the cake”!

[print_this]Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Surprise

You will need:

1 of each: 10-inch round cake pan, 8-inch round spring-form pan, 6-inch round cake pan

1 batch brownies prepared in a 10-inch round cake pan (any 9×13 brownie recipe or box-mix would do) Note from Lauren: Baker’s brownies would work

1 8-ounce container chocolate cool whip

1 cheesecake prepared in an 8-inch spring-form pan as directed

1 cup chocolate ganache

1 batch of peanut butter mousse (any of these recipes would work)

1 batch peanut butter ganache

optional: chopped peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips for garnish

Construction:

Prepare each layer the day before serving (layers can be frozen up to one week); you can build your dessert a couple of hours prior to serving and store in refrigerator

Prepare brownie in 10-inch round pan; once cooled, wrap brownie layer tightly in foil and freeze

Bake cheesecake as directed and allow to cool and set in refrigerator as directed; remove from spring-form pan; wrap tightly in seran wrap and foil and freeze

For the peanut butter mousse layer, line a 6-inch pan with seran wrap; pour prepared mousse into pan; cover with additional seran wrap and freeze

Once each layer is frozen, unwrap them and you can build the dessert

Place brownie layer on large plate; spread layer of chocolate cool whip over top

Place cheesecake on top of that layer

Spread chocolate ganache over cheesecake (may not need entire batch of ganache)

Top with peanut butter mouse

Drizzle peanut butter ganache over top layer and sides as desired

Store in refrigerator and sprinkle with peanut butter cups and peanut butter chips prior to serving

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What layers would you put in your fantasy birthday cake?

Blog, Recipes

Cookies ‘n Cream Almond Butter Spread

August 18, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

I like to have a variety of nut butters available to eat at any given time. As of last night, there were six open jars in my kitchen. I’m not going to tell you how many unopened jars are in the cabinets. Let’s just say that I invest in peanut butter like some people invest in the stock market. At the rate the market is going these days, I think I’m the smart one.

Some time between last night and this morning, I decided that six jars of nut butter just weren’t going to cut it. Time to make a new one! And of course a dessert-y nut butter would be appropriate.

Have you ever dipped an Oreo into peanut butter? No? Okay, go try it, now. And then buy bigger pants. Have you ever dipped an Oreo into almond butter? I hadn’t either, but it seemed like a good idea. It seemed like an even better idea to merge the two foods though. Oreo cookies in my almond butter? That’s right.

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Cookies ‘n Cream Almond Butter Spread

Yield: Makes ~1 cup or 16 tablespoons

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups roasted salted almonds
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons almond milk
2 Oreos (can use gluten-free)

Cooking Directions

Grind almonds in food processor until creamy, stopping to scrape the sides every minute or so
Once creamy and wet, add vanilla and almond milk
Blend until completely combined
Add Oreos and blend for another minute
Store in a jar or tupperware in refrigerator up to 10 days

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A couple off topic items:

Jackie from La Casa de Sweets organized a way for all of us to help raise money in Africa to help with the food crisis. Click here to help.

Steve’s race is this weekend! Help him get to his new goal of $10,000 and raise money for cancer research!!

We are getting closer to the sweet and salty blog party. Email me to include your recipes (up to two per person)! keepitsweetlcl at gmail dot com.

How many jars of nut butter do you have on hand?

Blog, Recipes

Jackie’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup Cookies {Guest Post}

August 11, 2011 Keep It Sweet Leave a comment

While I’m taking a few days off, Jackie from La Casa de Sweets was kind enough to offer to guest post! Since she made a delicious chocolate and peanut butter dessert for her post, I wanted to point out some other amazing looking chocolate and peanut butter recipes on her blog: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes, Crunchy Peanut Butter Brownies and Mini Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. I think I need to get back to the kitchen!

Hello, Keep It Sweet readers! I am very excited to be sharing a recipe with you today while sweet Lauren is away having a fun time on vacation.

When I asked Lauren what some of her favorite foods are, one of the things she mentioned was peanut butter cups. I’ve been raving about the new Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for a while now, and even made some ice cream with them, so I knew I had to use them for Lauren! I decided to make a chocolate pudding cookie with chunks of mini Peanut Butter cups in every bite. Never had a pudding cookie? Believe me, they’re delicious. Every bite of this cookie is moist (that’s what the pudding is for!), and bursting with chocolate and peanut butter flavor. Reese’s fans, beware, these cookies will have you buying mini Peanut Butter Cups every week. Enjoy!

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Jackie’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup sugar
1 small (3.4 oz.) package of Jello Chocolate Instant Pudding Mix 2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
8-oz. package Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (whole or cut in half)
1 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Cooking Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
On medium speed, beat in the pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla extract.
On low speed, mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Be careful to mix only until combined (do not over-mix!).
Stir in the mini peanut butter cups (or pieces, if you cut them in half).
Use a measuring tablespoon to scoop out the cookie dough onto the lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the centers of the cookies are just set.
Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, before cooling completely on cooling racks.
After the cookies have cooled, microwave the white chocolate chips at 30 second intervals until melted. Use a fork to drizzle the white chocolate onto the cookies. Let cool slightly.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

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Enjoy!

For more of my recipes, head on over to La Casa de Sweets, and you can also follow me on twitter and facebook!

Don’t forget to enter the Keep It Sweet birthday giveaway!

Blog, Recipes

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Pretzel Pops

August 3, 2011 Keep It Sweet 55 Comments

I told you I’d come back with these cookie dough balls. Actually, the only thing that kept me from eating the entire batch at once was all of the ideas brewing in my head. Some of the ideas that you all suggested were kabobs, frozen yogurt/ice cream topping and mix-in, cheesecake, and cupcakes. I can’t wait to try them! This week, I wanted to keep it simple. Between apartment hunting, preparing for a week away from the office, and just the normal summer craziness I didn’t have a ton of time in the kitchen.

Hence, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Pretzel Pops were formed! So easy, but so delicious. The hard chocolate shell on the outside and chewy cookie dough on the inside compliment a salty crunchy pretzel stick. How fun would these be at a party?

Speaking of party, I’m going to start a monthly blog party! The next one will be on Tuesday, August 30th with sweet and salty desserts. Send your favorite links to me by Sunday, August 28th (keepitsweetlcl at gmail dot com).

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Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Pretzel Pops

Ingredients (Makes 16 pops)

1 batch Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls
2 cups semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
16 salted pretzel sticks
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup salted natural creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Prepare cookie dough balls as directed without freezing
Push each pretzel halfway into a cookie dough ball
Freeze pops for about thirty minutes or until cookie dough is firm
Once pops are frozen, melt chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments
Dip cookie dough pops into chocolate and place on a jelly roll pan covered with wax paper
Chill pops in freezer until ready to serve
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls:
Line a jelly roll pan with wax paper and set aside
Whisk together flour and oats in a medium bowl and set aside
Use an electric mixer to beat together all of the wet ingredients until well-combined
Stir in flour mixture until just combined
Stir in chocolate chips
Use a cookie dough scoop or spoon to scoop about two tablespoons of dough; roll dough into a ball with hands; repeat
Freeze or refrigerate until balls are firm

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Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls can be found here.

Any exciting weekend plans?

Blog, Recipes

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls

July 28, 2011 Keep It Sweet 68 Comments

I had a couple options for tonight’s post, but it seems my Facebook fans and Twitter followers are huge peanut butter lovers like I am. For all the years before my blog, I thought I was alone in my peanut butter addiction. What a relief to know there is a support group! So, in honor of peanut butter lovers and addicts around the world, I’ll be holding a peanut butter party on the blog Sunday night. Email me (KeepItSweetLCL at gmail dot com) your links and I’ll include them in the post. And for those of you who don’t love peanut butter, who are you? I have a delicious frozen mocha dessert coming soon.

Now onto tonight’s recipe: A recipe that brings my love of peanut butter, cookie dough and chocolate all into one dessert. A recipe that is easy to make and relatively healthy enough to sub in for a mid-day snack (don’t you love sweets like that?). A recipe that I almost shouldn’t have because I’m officially addicted.

These may just become your favorite food. I’ve been eating dough balls individually straight out of the freezer but I can’t stop thinking about ways to incorporate them into other desserts. This could get dangerous.

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Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls

Makes 16 dough balls

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup salted natural creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Line a jelly roll pan with wax paper and set aside
Whisk together flour and oats in a medium bowl and set aside
Use an electric mixer to beat together all of the wet ingredients until well-combined
Stir in flour mixture until just combined
Stir in chocolate chips
Use a cookie dough scoop or spoon to scoop about two tablespoons of dough; roll dough into a ball with hands; repeat
Freeze or refrigerate until balls are firm

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Adapted from Never Home Maker

What kind of dessert should I make with these cookie dough balls?

Blog, Recipes

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones {Guest Post}

July 26, 2011 Keep It Sweet 31 Comments

One of the best things about this blog is all of you. Thanks for letting me vent on Thursday and thank you for all of the stomach tips. It sounds like I was not alone with stomach pains and A/C problems. Hopefully all of you are keeping cool and pain-free now!

Since last week was full of whining, I thought I’d switch things up with some fantastic news and what I’m thankful for:

Last night was the second night in a row that I was stomach-ache freeand the source of my pains doesn’t seem to be anything serious!
Last night was the first night we slept in an air conditioned bedroom!
The rain yesterday brought us a couple humidity-freedays.
I have a delicious guest post for you today and an exciting new recipe for Thursday

Can you tell I am a different person? I knew that my stomach aches were getting to me, but I didn’t realize how much they were affecting my mentality on a daily basis. As it turns out, it was my breakfast that was the culprit. Ever since summer started, I’ve switched my daily hot oatmeal to a yogurt/oatmeal mix. The thing is, I just mix the oatmeal and yogurt (kind of like muesli) without cooking the oats. Apparently my stomach does NOT like that. And evidently, I’m not alone. The fact that I am not allergic to gluten, dairy or anything else is a huge relief. I also feel very lucky that there is nothing seriously wrong with me.

Now, onto today’s post! Brandi from BranAppetit offered to share a delicious recipe with all of you. I only found Brandi’s blog a couple of months ago, but I am so glad I did. She is a fabulous self-taught cook and baker that posts various delicious recipes and peaks into her life. She focuses mostly on healthier dishes but also shares my love of indulgent desserts. A few recipes I need to make are her Vanilla Confetti Pound Cake, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Oat Muffins, S’mores Dip (!!!), and Vegan Frozen Chocolate Dipped Cookie Dough. Of course I chose the indulgent sweets.

Hi everyone! My name is Brandi and I’m the recipe maker, tester, and eater over at BranAppetit! I’m so happy to be guest posting for Lauren – her recipes are so fun and I’m excited to be sharing one of my own.

After years of thinking I didn’t like scones, I’ve completely changed my mind. My husband and I found these incredible chocolate chip scones at a local bakery, so I made it my mission to make scones at home that were just as good and a tad healthier.

In the past couple of years, Nick’s dad has been teaching me how to make biscuits from scratch (without using a recipe) and all the biscuit baking has definitely paid off!

Making scones isn’t very different from biscuits, except that you should definitely (and always) add in chocolate chips.

The basic process is really similar – cutting the butter into the flour, adding the liquid, and mixing just until the dough comes together and no more.

I definitely could have patted the dough out and cut into wedges, but I’m lazy and didn’t want to clean off my kitchen counter. I just divided the dough into 6 equal sections, formed them into rounds with my hands and plopped them on the parchment lined baking sheet.

Easy, less clean up, and – bonus – they look a little like chocolate chip-filled biscuits.

No wonder we like them so much.

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Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones

Yield: Makes 6 scones

Ingredients

1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all purpose if you donâ€™t have this)
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons butter, chilled and diced
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup fat free buttermilk (plus 2 tablespoon for brushing)

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Cut the butter into the dough (with pastry blender, forks, or hands) until mixture feels like (and looks like) cornmeal.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Pour in buttermilk and mix, just until dough comes together.
Form into 6 rounds and place on baking sheet.
Brush the top of each scone with a little buttermilk and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Bake 17-20 minutes until golden.

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You can also find Brandi’s original post here.

Blog, Recipes

Chewy Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bars

July 20, 2011 Keep It Sweet 86 Comments

This has been one of those weeks so far:

Our bedroom A/C has been broken since last Monday but won’t be fixed until next Monday, never mind the 100 degree weather
I thought I figured out the source of my daily stomach pains but was proved wrong, the mystery continues
As a result of the two items listed above, I’ve barely been sleeping and my stress-relieving gym trips are suffering/barely happening

Okay, is my whining enough already?

On the other hand, I found a delicious and easy no-bake (ie no hot oven) treat to make! These Chewy Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bars are kind of perfect for drowning my summer sorrows. They are chewy and crunchy at the same time with more of that salty and sweet combo that we all seem to know and love. The bars are actually quite addicting if you ask me!

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Chewy Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bars

Yield: Serves 24

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 10.5-ounce bag mini marshmallows
1 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
6 cups salted pretzel pieces

Cooking Directions

Melting butter over low-medium heat in a large pot
Add the marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted
Remove pot from heat, and stir in chocolate
Add pretzels to the mixture and stir
Once everything is combined, press the ingredients into a 13X9 pan lined with foil and allow to cool
Once cool, remove bars from the pan; the easiest way to do this is to flip the pan upside down and peel off the foil
Cut the bars in to large pieces (I made slices in a 6X4 matrix) and serve or store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days

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What are you whining about this week? Vent in the comments!

Blog, Recipes

Cajun Brownies with Potato Chips

July 19, 2011 Keep It Sweet 36 Comments

I’m so excited to share a guest post from Lynn at The Actor’s Diet. I like to think of her as a celebrity blog friend:-) Lynn documents her daily eats and her life in LA so well that readers feel like they know her. Although she enjoys dessert, she doesn’t normally do a ton of baking. However, these brownies looked so interesting and delicious that I wanted her to share them with you.

Hello “Keep it Sweet” Readers! My name is Lynn Chen, and I’m an actress. My blog, “The Actor’s Diet,” follows my life in Hollywood, meal by meal. For years, I struggled with binge eating and anorexia, and took time off to come to terms with my body image and eating disorders. The blog has really helped me forge a new relationship with food that I never imagined was possible.

These days, I often get asked how I stay looking camera ready, and the truth is – I don’t diet. I don’t exercise. I don’t count calories. And I eat dessert, every single day. So of course, I love Lauren’s blog and her sweet creations.

Unfortunately, I’m not much of a baker. I don’t like measuring, mixing, waiting, or cleaning up. But recently I did come up with a recipe for Cajun Brownies with Potato Chips that I’m pretty proud of. It combines a lot of my favorite flavors – sweet, salty, and spicy – with a unique texture. You can read more about my thought process behind the creation on my blog, but here’s the recipe!

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Cajun Brownies with Potato Chips

Ingredients

10 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup egg whites
1/2 cup white flour
1 cup Cajun-flavored Potato Chips, crushed

Cooking Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees
In a bowl, combine the cocoa powder, salt, and flour
Melt the butter, and add it to the dry ingredients, along with the vanilla and egg whites; stir until combined (40-ish strokes, I’m only guessing, Alice!) then fold in the potato chips
Pour into a greased 8×8 Pyrex and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges slightly moist (20 was all I needed)

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(adapted from Alice Medrich’s Best Cocoa Brownies)

Blog, Recipes

Strawberry Banana Bread and Childhood Friends

July 18, 2011 Keep It Sweet 62 Comments

Another summer weekend has come and gone and I feel like time is really flying. I spent this past weekend in Philly for a bachelorette party and bridal shower for one of my best friends since fourth grade. One of my favorite things about weddings is the series of events where you get to be with a group of friends who wouldn’t normally be in one place. Seeing a half dozen girls that I’ve known since elementary school and catching up on life was so nice. The most amazing part is that we can all do such different things with our lives but still come back to the same place and connect. The group of girls (or women I guess I should say now!) included a lawyer, a doctor, two teachers, a marketing coordinator and an assignment editor at a local news station. We live in different cities along the east coast and are a range of single, engaged and married but still we have that same place in our hearts for where we grew up.

This Strawberry Banana Bread is a post for the Secret Recipe Club. If you haven’t heard about it before, the Secret Recipe Club is a community of bloggers that, once a month, picks a recipe from a selected blog to make and share on his or her blog. It is a great way to find new blogs to read and see what different types of things people are making. For this month, I was able to choose a recipe from Katherine Martinelli. She has a wonderful blog with a ton of delicious looking recipes. There are a lot of savory dishes I want to try, but for Keep It Sweet, I obviously went with a baked good.

Thanks to several overripe bananas, I chose to make Katherine’s Banana-Walnut Bread. The changes I made were to replace the butter with fat free plain greek yogurt, reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup, use all whole wheat flour, skip the walnuts and add about a cup of chopped strawberries as she suggested. The bread was moist and flavorful. It was a great way to use up some produce on the end of its life! Check out Katherine’s blog and go here for the original recipe.

Do you keep in touch with any childhood friends? How often do you see them?

Blog, Recipes

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mini S’mores Pies

July 14, 2011 Keep It Sweet 24 Comments

This will be the first in a series of guest posts throughout the summer. I have some great bloggers joining us to share some of their favorite desserts! I’m excited to start with Erin from The Spiffy Cookie. She has a wonderful blog with creative and delicious recipes and this one is amazing! Some of my favorite sweets that she posted include these Blueberry Blondie Cheesecake Bars, Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Ice Cream, and this Cookies and Cream Peanut Butter Pie. I want all of it! She has some great savory dishes too, but you know me and desserts:-)

Why hello there! My name is Erin and I’m guest posting here today from The Spiffy Cookie. I had the pleasure of Lauren guest posting on my blog last month with her Cream Cheese & Jelly Pound Cake, and am just as excited to now guest post on Keep It Sweet. Especially since I have some killer mini s’mores pies to share.

The blogosphere is overflowing with all kinds of s’mores recipes this summer and I cannot get enough of it. But I wanted to enhance this traditional treat by either incorporating chocolate chip cookie dough, or peanut butter cupsinstead of plain old (boring) chocolate. Like Lauren, I am a huge peanut butter fan but cookie dough in a s’more is something I don’t think I have seen yet. But again, peanut butter is so good! Dilemma.

I’ve never been good at big decisions, and yes dessert is exactly that, so I put up a poll-tweet to help the decision process. Most followers said “both”, so what the heck, I decided to do both in combination! What could possibly go wrong? Oh no it’s too much I cannot bear it… not possible. Prepare yourself for deliciousness.

A chewy and soft nugget of cookie dough is hidden underneath a peanut butter-chocolate mousse mixed with little bits of peanut butter cups and topped by toasted marshmallows. Do you have your spoon ready yet? Because you’re going to need it.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mini S’mores Pies

Yield: Makes 6 mini pies

Ingredients

1 package Keebler â€œReady Crustâ€ Mini Graham Cracker Pie Crusts
6 tablespoons marshmallow creme
3 large chocolate chip cookie dough balls*, cut in half
4 oz (1/2 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
3 oz (1/3 heaping cup) peanut butter
2 oz reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup chopped miniature peanut butter cups
2 cups mini marshmallows

Cooking Directions

Begin by spreading 1 tablespoon of marshmallow creme in each of the mini crusts. Do this gently so the crusts don’t break. Then place 1 cookie dough half, cut side down, on the creme. Set aside.
Melt chocolate over a double boiler. Set aside. Whip cream to soft peaks. Set aside.
In a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar. Slowly add melted chocolate and continue to cream until smooth and softened. Gently fold whipped cream into chocolate â€“ peanut butter mixture by hand, followed by the chopped peanut butter cups.
Evenly spread the mousse into the prepared graham cracker crusts (you will have leftover mousse) and refrigerate pie until ready to serve, or at least a couple of hours.
Before serving, top the pies with a handful of mini marshmallows, about 1/3 cup each.
Place them on a baking sheet and put under the preheated broiler for 30 seconds (watch closely because they will burn fast), or toast marshmallows with a kitchen torch.

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*chocolate chip cookie dough balls

Source: Adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and Serious Eats.

If you want more s’mores inspiration, check out my peanut butter s’mores ice cream.

Blog, Recipes

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

July 12, 2011 Keep It Sweet 62 Comments

Sometimes you just want a chocolate chip cookie. There are very few things that smell as good warm out of the oven and even fewer things that will illicit a memory as wonderful as dunking a homemade chocolate chip cookie into a cold glass of cold milk.

My fond memories of eating the cookies standing up in the kitchen with my mom, before they even made it to the cooling rack, are some of my favorites. I think memories like that are the reason that after a long day at work or a rainy day on the couch, all I want is a batch of couple chocolate chip cookies.

These cookies are chewy (sorry, Dad), melt in your mouth and have that slight caramel flavor resulting from a higher portion of brown sugar to white. Just a warning: they are dangerously addictive if you are trying to show some sign of portion control.

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Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: Makes ~2 ½ dozen cookies

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
In a medium bowl. whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla
Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined
Stir in the chocolate chips
Refrigerate dough for 2 hours (or up to 24 hours)
Use a cookie dough scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to lay out dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart
Bake cookies until golden brown, 12-14 minutes
Cool cookies on cooling rack and enjoy

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Source: The Brown Eyed Baker and Serious Eats, originally from Baking Illustrated

What is your favorite way to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie?

Blog, Recipes

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

July 6, 2011 Keep It Sweet 73 Comments

Who doesn’t like chocolate covered strawberries?

And what is good in fruit form, has to be better in cupcake form. Am I right?

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes? Yes please!

These dense little cupcakes have a lovely hint of strawberry that pairs so well with a generous spread of chocolate frosting! If you are looking for a stronger strawberry flavor and pinker cake, I’d go with this strawberry cake recipe instead. This cake recipe would alternatively lend itself well to a strawberry frosting.

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Strawberry Cupcakes

Yield: Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup strawberry puree (made from ~2/3 cup fresh or frozen strawberries)
1/4 cup whole milk at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
2 large egg whites at room temperature

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare a 12-cup cupcake tin, spray with non-stick cooking spray or fill with cupcake liners
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside
In a separate bowl, whisk together strawberry puree, milk and vanilla extract and set aside
Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl on high speed until light and creamy
Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy
Reduce the speed to medium and add eggs until combined
Reduce speed to low and slowly add half of flour mixture
Add strawberry mixture and then remaining flour mixture mixing just until combined, do not overbeat
Pour cupcake batter into cupcake tin, filling each cup about 2/3 of the way
Bake in oven for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients

4 ounces light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups confectionersâ€™ sugar

Cooking Directions

Set cupcakes aside and prepare chocolate frosting
In a large bowl beat cream cheese with an the whisk attachment on an electric mixer until creamy
Beat in butter until mixture is light and creamy
Stir in cocoa, milk and salt
Stir in 1 cup of sugar and then the other
Beat mixture on high until well combined and creamy
Once icing is ready and cupcakes are cool, remove cupcakes from pan and ice each cupcake with desired amount of frosting

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Cupcake recipe source: Martha Steward

Icing adapted from Cooking Light

What is your favorite cupcake flavor? I love red velvet with cream cheese icing!

Blog, Recipes

Cookie Bottomed Cupcakes

June 23, 2011 Keep It Sweet 21 Comments

I’m guest posting over at the lovely Frosting for a Cause today.

Head over there to get the recipe for my Cookie Bottomed Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing and support the women with cancer in your life.

Blog, Recipes

Cream Cheese & Jelly Pound Cake {Guest Post}

June 12, 2011 Keep It Sweet 23 Comments

In honor of celebrating my first anniversary on Monday, I wanted to make something reminiscent of one of my husband’s favorite snacks, cream cheese and jelly sandwiches! Head over to the Spiffy Cookie to see my guest post and get the recipe!

Blog, Recipes

Chocolate Chip Mandelbread

June 8, 2011 Keep It Sweet 35 Comments

Matt’s grandma is turning 90 years old on Monday! A few months ago we were talking and she told me that all she wanted for her big birthday this year was Mandelbread. Lucky for her, I don’t forget any food-related requests.

And even luckier for her, I have the most amazing mandelbread recipe that my mom’s been making for as long as I can remember. She doesn’t remember the source but it was someone who had a good taste in desserts.

Mandelbread, otherwise known as Mandelbrodt or kamishbrot, is not so far off from biscotti. Baking this type of cookie requires a few more steps than usual as the dough is baked in loaf form and then cut up and baked again. These extra steps are worth it because you end up with a wonderful crunch, although I do like the middle-of-the-loaf pieces that are a little thicker and usually have a little chewiness to them.

While many variations include some sort of nuts, I like to stick with the chocolate chips only. The semi-sweet chips along with a light cinnamon-sugar coating is a perfect flavor combination for me. Plus, given that these are crunchy to begin with, nuts don’t add much value from a texture standpoint.

Chocolate Chip Mandelbread
Yield: Makes ~2 dozen slices

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, separated
3 large eggs
½ cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside
Beat 1 cup of sugar with all wet ingredients (eggs through orange juice)
Stir in dry ingredients until combined
Stir in chocolate chips
Form dough into two separate loaves on baking sheets lined with parchment paper
Bake in oven for 25 minutes or until light brown
While loaves begin to bake, combine remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with cinnamon
Remove baked loaves from oven and immediately cut into slices while hot
Turn each slice onto a side and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture
Re-bake for 12 minutes
Remove from oven, immediately turn each slice onto opposite side and sprinkle them with remaining cinnamon sugar
Continue to bake for another 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown

Do you have any baking requests for the blog?

Blog, Recipes

It’s Margarita Time

June 6, 2011 Keep It Sweet 33 Comments

This is one of those recipes that I came up with accidentally. Sometimes I have bakers block and can’t think of anything new or interesting to make. I was inspired by Victoria’s cookies and wanted to do something with lime and salt. Then I remembered the cream cheese in my refrigerator and eventually these Margarita Cheesecake Bars were born.

Thanks to a combination of Vienna fingers and pretzels, they have a wonderfully balanced sweet and salty crust. Topped with a layer of light but creamy lime cheesecake they become a perfect summer treat. The lime and the salt reminiscent of a margarita and who doesn’t like that?

Ok, I’ll be honest- I’m not the biggest margarita fan. I prefer to save my sugar calories for more important things like dessert. Cheesecake and a Vodka Soda with lime juice for me, please.

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Margarita Cheesecake Bars

Yield: Serves 16

Ingredients

3/4 cup Vienna Finger (or vanilla sandwich cookie of choice) crumbs (about 6 cookies)
3/4 cup salted pretzel crumbs (about 1 1/2 cups of small pretzels)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 8-ounce blocks light cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free)
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (~2 limes)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Grease a 9×9 baking pan and set aside
In a medium bowl, combine cookies, pretzel crumbs, butter, sugar and salt
Press crust mixture into prepared baking pan and bake for ~7 minutes or until lightly browned; set aside
Using an electric mixer and the whisk attachment, beat cream cheese on high for a few minutes until creamy
Add sweetened condensed milk and beat into cream cheese
Beat in eggs, lime juice and vanilla
Stir in flour
Pour cheesecake mixture over crust and bake for 25 minutes or until firm and edges are separating from pan

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Adapted from Eagle Brand

Do you drink margaritas? If not, do you have a go-to drink?

Blog, Recipes

PB&J Meets PB & Chocolate

June 5, 2011 Keep It Sweet 54 Comments

I love peanut butter. I love peanut butter with chocolate, I love peanut butter and jelly, I love peanut butter by the spoonful. You already know this, but I just had to get it off my chest.

I expressed my love of blueberries and peanut butter before, and then I combined chocolate and blueberries. And of course there were all the times I put together peanut butter and chocolate. It was only a matter of time before the three collided.

Over the weekend I put three of my favorite flavors into one and made Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Bars. These aren’t the prettiest bars I’ve ever made, but oh boy are they delicious! This was one of those times where I could have eaten the whole batch out of the oven! They smelled amazing and the melted dark chocolate, juicy blueberries and flavorful peanut butter cookie base had an amazing balance. It was a good thing I had a birthday barbecue to bring these to because otherwise my waistline would have been in big trouble!

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Blueberry Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Bars

Note: The dough may be very crumbly. Press it down tightly into pan before baking to prevent the bars from being too crumbly once they are done.

Yield: Makes 24 bars

Ingredients

1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups salted natural creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 1/2 cup blueberries

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda, set aside
Using a mixer, in a large bowl beat peanut butter and sugars on high until light and fluffy
Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined
Reduce speed to low and stir in flour mixture just until combined
Stir in blueberries and chocolate chunks
Press dough into a 13×9 baking pan lined with ungreased parchment paper
Bake for 20 or until firm and a knife comes out clean

[/print_this]

Have you ever eaten a dessert by yourself that you were supposed to share with friends?

Blog, Recipes

Dark Chocolate Kissed Almond Butter

June 2, 2011 Keep It Sweet 37 Comments

I had big baking plans for last night, but with the temperature around 90 degrees, turning on the oven just seemed wrong. A no-bake dessert probably would have been a good solution, but Matt has been asking me to make chocolate almond butter for a few weeks now. It shouldn’t have taken so long to get to it because homemade nut butter is so easy to make, but I get lazy sometimes!

Not sure if I mentioned this on the blog, but we have a never-ending stock of Hershey’s Kisses in the apartment. Dark chocolate kisses and milk chocolate kisses with almonds to be exact. I use them every chance I get and probably will continue to do so until they are gone.

By the way, do you know how good a 10-pound bag of Hershey Kisses smells? I wish we had a hiding place for the chocolate because it is haunting my senses!

Anyway, I put a handful of Kisses to good use in this Dark Chocolate Kissed Almond Butter. It worked out well because the nut butter is creamy and chocolaty, but not overly sweet. I love using it on sliced banana, over ice cream or even by the spoonful. Now that I think about it, Matt better act fast or I may eat the jar before he gets a chance!

To make the nut butter, grind almonds in food processor until creamy, stopping to scrape the sides every minute or so

Once creamy and wet, add vanilla and melted chocolate

Blend until completely combined

Store in an old nut butter jar or tupperwear

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Dark Chocolate Kissed Almond Butter

Yield: Makes ~1 cup or 16 tablespoons of almond butter

Ingredients

2 cups salted roasted almonds
12 dark chocolate Hershey Kisses, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions

Grind almonds in food processor until creamy, stopping to scrape the sides every minute or so
Once creamy and wet, add vanilla and melted chocolate
Blend until completely combined
Store in a jar or tupperware at room temperature for up to a month

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Inspired by Oh She Glows

What do you think I should do with all these Hershey’s Kisses?

Blog, Recipes

Double Chocolate Mint Krispie Treats

May 17, 2011 Keep It Sweet 34 Comments

First of all, a huge thank you for all of your inspiring comments on Sunday’s post! I was actually a little nervous to hit publish but I’m so glad I did. I love this community:-)

Now, let’s get back to the desserts! For the shower, I made some of my old favorites and a couple of new recipes. Additionally, I made cookie brownie layer bars, a strawberry birthday cake (recipe to come!) and these Double Chocolate Minty Treats.

Coming up with the menu for an event like this is so much fun. Just like with my Thanksgiving dinner party, I wanted to have a variety of delicious and fun pick-up desserts. After accounting for chocolate, caramel, peanut butter and sweet and salty, I knew I needed to fill the hole for Sara’s love of chocolate with mint. Madison’s rice krispie treat pops immediately caught my eye, but I knew I didn’t have time to make individual pops for a big crowd. Instead, I made the rice krispie treats in their regular form and dipped them in chocolate to keep them special, fun and delicious. It turns out these were the favorite for quite a few people so I think the recipe was definitely a success!

Start by melting butter in a large pot

Add the marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted

Remove pot from heat, and stir in Andes

Add rice krispies to the mixture and stir

Once everything is combined, press the ingredients into a 13X9 pan lined with foil and allow to cool

Once cool, remove the rice krispie treats from the pan; the easiest way to do this is to flip the pan upside down and peel off the foil

Cut the treats in to small cubes (I made slices in a 9X7 matrix)

Now set up a space to dip your treats in chocolate; I suggest lining 2 jelly roll pans with wax paper for the chocolate to harden

Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in-between each until chocolate is smooth

One at a time, dip rice krispie treats in the chocolate to cover half of each bar

Allow to cool for 1-2 hours[print_this]

Double Chocolate Mint Krispie Treats

Adapted from Espresso and Cream

Makes ~60 rice krispie bites

Ingredients:

½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 10.5-ounce bag mini marshmallows
1 heaping cup Andes (or mint chocolate candy of choice)
7 cups rice krispies
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate for melting

Directions:

Melting butter over low-medium heat in a large pot
Add the marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted
Remove pot from heat, and stir in Andes
Add rice krispies to the mixture and stir
Once everything is combined, press the ingredients into a 13X9 pan lined with foil and allow to cool
Once cool, remove the rice krispie treats from the pan; the easiest way to do this is to flip the pan upside down and peel off the foil
Cut the treats in to small cubes (I made slices in a 9X7 matrix)
Now set up a space to dip your treats in chocolate; I suggest lining 2 jelly roll pans with wax paper for the chocolate to harden
Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in-between each until chocolate is smooth
One at a time, dip rice krispie treats in the chocolate to cover half of each bar
Allow to cool for 1-2 hours

[/print_this]

Have you taken any big risks in your career? Are there risks you wish you had taken?

Blog, Recipes

Healthy Muffins and a DSLR

May 12, 2011 Keep It Sweet 41 Comments

These cute little banana corn muffins are low fat, easy to make, and the perfect healthy breakfast treat.

Earlier this week I had an agenda:

1. Start experimenting with my NEW camera (!!!)

2. Bake something healthy enough to eat on a daily basis

3. Use up the extremely brown bananas on my counter

Based on the above list, I decided to make Banana Corn Muffin Bites.

1. New camera experimenting, check

2. Low fat whole grain baked good, check*

3. Brown bananas in muffin form, check

These mini muffins are moist and grainy with a wonderful sweetness from the ripe bananas. I snacked on them alone, topped with peanut butter (obviously) and mixed into ice cream. Matt cut his in half and topped them with jelly.

The best part? Muffins like these are easy to make and don’t require a mixer. Plus, mini muffins bake so quickly that it shouldn’t take you an hour from start to finish.

*Don’t worry, I’ll be back with something decadent and extra delicious shortly.

Start by combining the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside

In a large bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients except for sliced banana

Whisk the dry ingredients into wet until just combined

Spoon batter into prepared mini-muffin pan; top each muffin with a slice of banana

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean

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Banana Corn Muffin Bites

Yield: Makes 24 mini muffins

Ingredients

1 cup corn meal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup mashed ripe banana (~2 large bananas)
3/4 cup skim milk (or any light milk of choice)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 large banana, sliced

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray or fill with cupcake liners
Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside
Whisk all remaining ingredients, excluding sliced banana, in a large bowl
Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until combined
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin
Top each muffin with a slice of banana
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean

Adapted from All Recipes

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[Note: I recommend serving these soon after baking because the bananas on top brown by the next day. They are still edible but not all that pretty for company]

On another note, Mila at Lofty Appetite has some great tips for beginner DSLR users. What is the most useful photography tip you use?

Blog, Recipes

Brownie Cheesecake Insanity

May 10, 2011 Keep It Sweet 29 Comments

Let’s talk about this dessert.

Let’s talk about how many emails my mom and I exchanged regarding the details of this dessert.

Ok, let’s not, because it is a little embarrassing. Let’s just say I started craving cheesecake around 7am every day over the course of a week or so. No big deal.

We can’t help ourselves. What is more fun to talk about than how you are about to gain 10 pounds your next dessert creation?

Cheesecake. Caramel. Brownie. Ganache. Cashews. This is my life. Sorry I’m not sorry.

After salivating over seeing this masterpiece on Sprinkle Bakes, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So many delicious components in one place, her recipe is genius!

But I do want my pants to fit, and trust me that isn’t easy these days. So we brainstormed and we emailed and we emailed some more until we found our perfect balance of insane decadence and self-control. I’m talking self-control with ingredients, not eating. One step at a time.

What my mom ended up creating was almost perfection. I may have to recreate it soon because I don’t have step-by-step photos or even a full photo for you. Ok, or I just want to eat it again.

[print_this]Brownie Cheesecake Insanity

Inspired by Sprinkle Bakes

Ingredients:

1 batch of brownies baked in an 9-inch cake pan (we used No Pudge)

½ batch of Low Fat Banana Cheesecake without the crust prepared in an 9-inch cake pan

1/3 cup caramel sauce of choice

½ cup chopped cashews or cashew clusters

1 batch Chocolate Ganache & Gananche Frosting

Directions:

Remove cooled cheesecake from pan and freeze for 1-2 hours

When cheesecake is ready, remove cooled prepared brownie from pan and place on a serving plate

Drizzle caramel sauce over brownie and top with chopped cashews

Top that layer with cheesecake and put dessert in freezer

While dessert is freezing, prepare Ganache as directed.

Remove dessert from freezer and top the cheesecake with ganache; ice entire dessert with the Ganache Frosting

Store dessert in refrigerator before serving

Notes:

The Cheesecake Brownie may be easier to slice if frozen

I recommend lining your cake tins with wax paper for easy removal of brownie and cheesecake[/print_this]

Is there a dessert that you can’t stop thinking about?

Blog, Recipes

Sweet & Salty White Chocolate Blondies

May 5, 2011 Keep It Sweet 48 Comments

Can you believe it is May now?! Memorial Day is only a few weeks away and summer is so close I can taste it! This winter was pretty brutal in the Northeast and I am just now feeling like myself again. The cold and the snow tends to put me in complete hermit mode. Good for my baking blog, not so good for my real life. Now I am ready for longer days, dates with friends, flip-flops and spending all of my money on frozen yogurt. I’m also ready to plan my summer calendar and travel schedule.

Living in New York, I’ve found that we spend most of our summer weekends out of the city and as a result away from my kitchen. This is pretty normal for Manhattanites. Come to the city for the 4^th of July and you should be able to get almost any dinner reservation you could imagine. You also will sweat your way from place to place and especially waiting for a subway. While I’m a homebody at heart, I have a definite preference for the beach or a pool during those days.

All of this means that most of my cooking and baking from May through the end of August takes place at night after work. On a good day, I’ll be home by 7. Given that I am 8626 years old and get into bed before 10pm, that means only three real hours of kitchen time. I’ve gotten pretty good at coming up with quick dinners for these nights (when in doubt, make eggs), but baking in that time span as well can be a bit more challenging. Baking is like therapy for me, not something I like to rush. This means planning ahead, making desserts that aren’t overly complicated, and making desserts that don’t require an insane amount of oven time (air conditioning isn’t NYC’s best quality). Think cookies, brownies, and ice cream desserts.

These Sweet and Salty White Chocolate Blondies are the perfect dessert for baking under a time constraint. They are pretty easy to make and take only 30 minutes to bake. Plus, they are easy to wrap up and bring to a summer barbeque or gathering. The texture has a wonderful chew to it and there is a lovely sweetness and caramel-like flavor from the white chocolate melted in the batter. Some chocolate chips and pretzel pieces add crunch and my favorite salty sweet taste combo.

Start by melting butter and some of your white chocolate chips over low-medium heat

Stir occasionally; Don’t worry if your butter and chocolate separate, you can fold them together to combine

Once completely melted, set white chocolate mixture aside

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside

In a large bowl, beat together sugars, eggs and vanilla until well-combined

Reduce speed of mixer to medium and add white chocolate mixture

Stir in the dry ingredients until well-combined

Stir in white and semi-sweet chocolate chips and pretzels

Pour batter into pan lined with wax paper and greased

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a knife comes out clean; allow to cool before slicing

[print_this]

Sweet & Salty White Chocolate Blondies

Yield: Serves 24-36 depending on size

Ingredients

6 ounces white chocolate (any form, to melt)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup salted pretzel pieces
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (for mix-in)

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Line a 9×13 pan with wax paper and grease; set aside
Melting butter and white chocolate over low-medium heat
Stir occasionally; donâ€™t worry if your butter and chocolate separate, you can fold them together to combine
Once completely melted, set white chocolate mixture aside
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside
In a large bowl, beat together sugars, eggs and vanilla until well-combined
Reduce mixer speed to medium and add melted white chocolate mixture
Stir in the dry ingredients until well-combined
Stir in white and semi-sweet chocolate chips and pretzels
Pour batter into prepared baking pan
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and a knife comes out clean; allow to cool before slicing

[/print_this]

Are you taking any weekend trips this summer?

Blog, Recipes

Light-as-Air Banana Cheesecake

April 24, 2011 Keep It Sweet 55 Comments

When I saw these sitting on my counter the yesterday, I knew something needed to be done.

You know how I feel about wasting precious ingredients.

Since I had plans last night to go to a Passover dinner at my sister’s, I wanted to make something that would be kosher-friendly. Then I realized cheesecake is almost entirely flour-free. The only real issue is the typical cookie crust.

My mom made a non-fat banana cheesecake a few years ago that was really delicious. I remember being so impressed by the creaminess despite using fat-free cream cheese. This time around, I used light cream cheese for half to prevent the cheesecake from being too dense.

Instead of using graham crackers, I made an almond crust. So not only is this cheesecake Passover friendly, but it is also gluten-free.

Start by making your crust; grind almonds in a food processor until nuts are in very small pieces with some crumbs

Mix almonds with granulated sugar and then add melted butter

When crust ingredients are combined, press them down in a spring-form pan sprayed with cooking spray and wrapped tightly with tin foil

Bake crust for ~7 minutes or until nuts are lightly browned

While crust is cooling, make cheesecake batter; beat cream cheese at high speed with the mixer whisk attachment for several minutes or until it is light and creamy

Add non-fat greek yogurt and mix well

Mix in the banana, sugar and vanilla at medium-high speed

Then, add your eggs, one at a time, mixing at medium speed

When batter is creamy and all ingredients are combined, pour into prepared pan; place uncooked cheesecake in a roasting pan and fill the pan with water to ~1/3 the height of the cheesecake

Bake in center of oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until top is firm

Chill cheesecake in refrigerator for 12 hours or until set; when ready to serve, carefully use a knife to skim the edge of the cheesecake and separate from the pan

[print_this]

Almond Crust

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole almonds (if using unsalted, add a dash of salt to crust ingredients)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Grind almonds in a food processor until nuts are in very small pieces with some fine crumbs
Mix almonds with granulated sugar and salt (if needed); stir in melted butter
When crust ingredients are combined, press them down in a 9-inch spring-form pan sprayed with cooking spray and wrapped tightly with tin foil
Bake crust for ~7 minutes or until nuts are lightly browned

Low Fat Banana Cheesecake

Ingredients

2 8-ounce blocks fat free cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2 8-ounce blocks light cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1 cup fat free greek yogurt, plain
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (~3 medium)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Cooking Directions

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees once crust is finished baking
While crust is cooling, make cheesecake batter; beat cream cheese at high speed with the mixer whisk attachment for several minutes or until it is light and creamy
Add non-fat greek yogurt and mix well
Mix in the banana, sugar and vanilla at medium-high speed
Then, add your eggs, one at a time, mixing at medium speed
When batter is creamy and all ingredients are combined, pour into prepared pan; place uncooked cheesecake in a roasting pan and fill the pan with water to ~1/3 the height of the cheesecake
Bake in center of oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until top is firm
Chill cheesecake in refrigerator for 12 hours or until set; when ready to serve, carefully use a knife to skim the edge of the cheesecake and separate from the pan
Serve topped with mixed berry sauce (recipe coming) or fresh whipped cream

[/print_this]

Adapted from Cooking Light

What is your favorite light dessert?

Blog, Recipes

Chocolate Chip Toffee Oatmeal Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting

April 14, 2011 Keep It Sweet 48 Comments

Yes, I’m still making cookies. I just can’t help myself, though! And believe me, you should be happy about this.

A few months ago I made some oatmeal cookies with toffee and chocolate that were delicious. The cookie wasn’t exciting enough, though so I stepped them up.

This time I made Chocolate Chip Toffee Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches with Peanut Butter Frosting. Chocolate. Toffee. Peanut Butter. Love it.

These mini cookie sandwiches are perfect for a plate sampler. If your name was Matt, I’d say these were 2-bite cookies. For the rest of us, however, it is more like 3 or 4 bites.

The cookies are soft and chewy and the peanut butter frosting is sweet, salty, and thick. It is the perfect consistency for holding the the sandwiches together.

Each component is easy to make, it is just a matter of taking the time for both recipes as well as making them into sandwiches. Matt actually helped with that part so it didn’t take long at all. Peanut butter recipes are the best ones for my husband to help with since I won’t have to worry about him eating most of the work!

I recommend making your cookies the day before the frosting so that you can freeze them before icing them. Otherwise, the soft cookies can be a little too fragile and might break during the sandwich making. I didn’t include cookie-making photos, but for sizing the dough balls refer to this post

Beat butter and peanut butter on high until creamy

Reduce speed to low and gradually add in Half & Half and then vanilla

Gradually add sugar until completely combined

When frosting is done, gently spread on bottom half of cookie and cover with another cookie to make sandwich

[print_this]

Chocolate Chip Toffee Oatmeal Cookies

Yield: Makes 120 mini cookies or 60 cookie sandwiches

Ingredients

1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt
3 cups quick or old-fashioned dry oatmeal
1 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup toffee bits

Cooking Directions

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, and baking soda; set aside
Beat butter and sugars in an electric mixer on high until light and fluffy
Mix in eggs and vanilla
Reduce speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture
Once combined, stir in the oatmeal; then stir in chips and toffee bits
Chill dough in refrigerator for 2 hours (or up to 24 hours)
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Place dough balls of about Â½ tablespoon 1 inch apart from one another on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
Bake 9-10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown

Peanut Butter Frosting

Yield: Makes ~3 cups of frosting

Ingredients

1 cup smooth salted peanut butter (I used natural)
Â¼ cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
10 tablespoons Half & Half (can substitute cream) (plus more as needed)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Â½ cups confectionersâ€™ sugar (plus more as needed)

Cooking Directions

Beat butter and peanut butter on high until creamy
Reduce speed to low and gradually add in Half & Half
Mix in vanilla
Gradually add sugar until completely combined

To make the sandwiches:

Spread a layer of frosting onto the bottom of a cookie

Top with a second cookie and lightly press down

Repeat until all of your cookie sandwiches are complete

Notes:

Cookie recipe adapted from here this recipe, originally adapted from Quaker

Frosting recipe adapted from Cooks.com

I recommend making your cookies the day before the frosting so that you can freeze them before icing; this will keep them from breaking while putting sandwiches together

If frosting is too thick, add half & half, 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency

If frosting is not thick enough, add confectioners’ sugar, ¼ cup at a time until frosting reaches desired consistency

[/print_this]

Chocolate Chip Toffee Oatmeal Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting

Are you sick of my cookie baking? What would you like to see more of on the blog?

Blog, Recipes

Blueberry Pretzel Clusters

April 10, 2011 Keep It Sweet 71 Comments

There is a place at the Jersey Shore (not that Jersey Shore) that sells the most amazing chocolates. Every summer I look forward to a few trips for chocolate clusters filled with high quality fillings like caramel, nuts and marshmallows. On a good day, my grandfather will leave a box of them out in the kitchen with a knife. (Calories don’t count when you cut off a little piece each time you walk by) Without a doubt, by the end of the day, the box would be empty.

Jagielky’s has an incredible variety of chocolates with unique items like Double Dip Mints, essentially peppermint patties dipped in ANOTHER layer of chocolate – milk on dark or dark on milk. A couple of summers ago they started selling chocolate covered blueberries. These were large clusters of blueberries coated with a wonderful rich dark chocolate. It is heaven biting into the creamy dark chocolate and then having a huge blueberry burst in your mouth. Unfortunately, the chocolate covered blueberries are so popular that they are often sold out by the afternoon.

A few times I considered making my own but didn’t get around to it until now. And rather than stick with just the basic chocolate and blueberry mix, I added pretzel pieces to mine. These Blueberry Pretzel Clusters have a wonderful balance of sweet and salty flavors in addition to the contrast in textures from the crunchy pretzels, the juicy berries and the creamy chocolate. With the right dark chocolate, you can create a rich high quality candy.

Put these clusters out for your friends but make a secret stash for yourself because you will crave them once they disappear. Just be sure to refrigerate the chocolates so that the berries don’t spoil.

Start with some of your favorite dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl (I used Trader Joe’s 72%)

Gently melt the chocolate in 30 second increments, stirring in-between; once chocolate is completely melted, add blueberries and pretzel pieces

Stir to coat berries and pretzels completely

Use a tablespoon to drop large clusters of the mix on a baking sheet lined with wax paper

Chill chocolates in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until candy is completely firm

[print_this]

Blueberry Pretzel Clusters

Makes 14 clusters

Ingredients:

9 ounces high-quality dark chocolate
3/4 cup salted pretzel pieces
1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

Instructions

Gently melt the chocolate in 30 second increments in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring in-between
Once chocolate is completely melted, add blueberries and pretzel pieces and stir until completely coated
Use a tablespoon to drop large clusters of the mix on a baking sheet lined with wax paper
Chill chocolates in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until candy is completely firm

Notes:
Store chocolates in refrigerator for up to 3 days[/print_this]

What is your favorite chocolate candy?

Blog, Recipes

Ooey Gooey Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Crunch

April 5, 2011 Keep It Sweet 69 Comments

You know I have a weakness for holiday candy.

These weren’t even on sale but I had to buy them. My sister pointed out how pretty the color was and I agreed. Plus, when was the last time I had a Peep? Trust me, it’s been too long. Never mind the fact that I don’t celebrate Easter. Details. Candy is candy and when it comes in pretty colors it doesn’t matter what religion you are.

So after picking up a few packages of Peeps, I realized I didn’t actually want to eat them. I wanted to take advantage of the innocent marshmallow candies and use them in something so gooey and delicious you would forget that you were deprived of baskets full of chocolates, jelly beans and stuffed animals every spring as a child.

But I digress. After buying these lovely little Peeps, I decided I wanted to put them inside of a cookie. Jenny has already showed us that there are no limits when it comes to stuffing cookies, so why not? And what would go well with warm chocolate chip cookies filled with gooey melty marshmallows? A crunchy salty pretzel of course. That is how I came up with these Ooey Gooey Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Crunch.

I was so excited about this cookie idea that I didn’t even bother to make my own cookie dough. There is a time and a place for Nestle pre-made cookie dough and this is one of those times. Using the pre-made dough makes these so easy that within 25 minutes you will find yourself licking melted chocolate and sticky melted Peeps off of your fingers. When was the last time you ate a chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven? If you can’t remember, do it now. And stuff it with a Peep and a pretzel.

To make these cookies, start with a layer of cookie dough (about an ice cream scoop’s worth)

Top that dough with a mini salted pretzel and push it into the dough

Top the pretzel with a Peep

Take a heaping scoop of cookie dough and top the Peep

Use your hands to mold the dough around the Peep and pretzel, making sure the filling is completely covered with dough; It will look like a large egg-shaped cookie

Place cookies at about 3 inches apart (further than as seen here!) on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 13-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges

Allow to cool for a couple minutes and dig in

[print_this]

Ooey Gooey Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Crunch

Ingredients (Makes 1 dozen X-large cookies)

2 packages chocolate chip cookie dough (16.5 ounces each)
1 package Peeps (should have 12 peeps)
1 dozen mini salted pretzels

Instructions

Start with a layer of cookie dough (about an ice cream scoop’s worth)
Top that dough with a mini salted pretzel and push it into the dough
Top the pretzel with a Peep
Take a heaping scoop of cookie dough and top the Peep
Use your hands to mold the dough around the peep and pretzel, making sure the filling is completely covered with dough; It will look like a large egg-shaped cookie
Place cookies at about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 13-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges
Allow to cool for a couple minutes and dig in

Notes:

Make sure the dough is very cold; it will be easier to handle this way

These would be amazing topped with ice cream when they are straight out of the oven

Don’t be afraid to make a mess; it is SO worth it

I ate 2 cookies when they were still melting and barely ready to come off of the pan. They may be the size of my head, but hey, 2 cookies is still 2 cookies;-)[/print_this]

What is your favorite Easter candy? I love the big milk chocolate Hershey’s eggs with the candy shell.

*The Hot Blondies Giveaway is open through Wednesday (4/6) at midnight (est)*

Blog, Recipes

Accidentally Scuffins

March 24, 2011 Keep It Sweet 40 Comments

Sometimes recipe experiments don’t work out. Sometimes they work, just a little differently than you expect.

I set out to make scones, but I ended up with scuffins! A scuffin is basically the hybrid of a scone and a muffin. These Cinnamon Apple Chunk Scuffins are hearty, chewy, and flavorful. Like scones, they aren’t too sweet, but like muffins, they are nice and moist. Even better than both, they are low in fat and added sugars.

I got my inspiration from a bakery in Philadelphia. Every time I am in the area, I buy a few of their delicious scones. They supposedly are low in fat, high in fiber, etc., but they are also the size of my head. My strategy is to buy a few different flavors and eat pieces of each one. That way I never eat an entire scone, right?

My favorite flavors are the apple and cinnamon varieties, so I decided to make my baked good a combination of the two. These scuffins are full of delicious cinnamon chips and big apple chunks. I hate when you get an apple dessert and can barely find the apple pieces! They are also made with whole grains. I’m telling you, these are healthy!

They taste wonderful right out of the oven, but also taste good at room temperature. I ate them alone or crumbled over greek yogurt with fruit and peanut butter. You can also store them in the freezer and defrost for a healthy last minute snack.

A note on the cinnamon chips: I was lucky enough to win a bag of cinnamon chips from Amy at Very Culinary, but you can check the Hershey’s website to see where they are sold near you.

The recipe was loosely adapted from Cooking Light

Whisk together flours and oatmeal in a large bowl

Add the remaining dry ingredients (through cinnamon) and whisk; set aside

Combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until combined

Stir wet ingredients into dry

Add the chopped apple and cinnamon chips; knead them in with your hands

Shape dough into two round disks and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice each round into 8 pieces; do not separate the dough

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until scuffins are firm and lightly browned

[print_this]

Cinnamon Apple Chunk Scuffins

Loosely adapted from Cooking Light

Yield: 16 scuffins

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Dash salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup fat free greek yogurt
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chopped apple (~1 large apple)
1/3 cup cinnamon chips

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Whisk together flours and oatmeal in a large bowl
Add the remaining dry ingredients (through cinnamon) and whisk; set aside
Combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until combined
Stir wet ingredients into dry
Add the chopped apple and cinnamon chips; knead them in with your hands
Shape dough into two round disks and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice each round into 8 pieces; do not separate the dough
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until scuffins are firm and lightly browned

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Have you ever had a scuffin?

Blog, Recipes

Lemon Blackberry Cheesecake Bars

March 20, 2011 Keep It Sweet 45 Comments

In case you didn’t know, Julie at Willow Bird Baking is hosting a cheesecake challenge. This girl has made some unbelievable looking cheesecakes and has a hilarious video with some delicious results. I don’t know how she came up with so many wonderful flavor combinations but I’m glad she did!

You all know I have mixed feelings about lemon, so I wouldn’t have normally chosen the Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Squares with Shortbread Crust However, the husband requested it so why not? Besides, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge if I used the same flavors I usually do.

I forgot to pick up blueberries yesterday, so I went with blackberries instead. The texture adds a nice component to the creamy cheesecake and they are just a little tart when you bite into them. It actually works very well with the lemon.

And as for the lemon cheesecake? I’ll give it to Julie, it is perfectly balanced. I wasn’t overwhelmed by the flavor but it was extremely refreshing. This would actually be a perfect dessert for a summer barbeque.

I used Julie’s recipe with the just a few changes: white whole wheat flour in the crust, light cream cheese rather than regular, I added a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter and obviously blackberries instead of blueberries.

Start by making the crust; place flour and confectioners’ sugar in a food processor

Add chilled butter and pulse

Allow the butter and dry ingredients to combine, but don’t over mix

Press crust into a pan lined with parchment paper

Bake until lightly browned

While crust is cooling, beat softened cream cheese on high speed until fluffy

Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice and combine

Then add your sugar

add sugar

When batter is creamy, ,pour over crust

Top with berries

Bake until cheesecake is firm

Chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving

Are you participating in Julie’s cheesecake challenge? If so, which one are you making? If not, which one would you like to eat?

Blog, Recipes

Mixed Fruit & Nut Butter

March 17, 2011 Keep It Sweet 37 Comments

I love nut butter. Peanut butter, almond butter, mixed nuts, you name it. Just leave the coconut out and I am a happy girl.

There are a few standard jars that I like to have on hand, but lately I’m enjoying making my own nut butter. It’s fun and easy to make, and the taste from freshness is unbeatable. The best part is that when you do it yourself, there are so many ways you can customize the mix. Seasonings like salt, cinnamon and vanilla are basic additions to enhance the flavor of the nuts. Want to use peanuts or pecans, almonds or cashews? The selection is up to your discretion and there is no limit to how many you can use. While you are at it, why not add some mix-ins like raisins or chocolate chips?

I’ve seen a lot of nut butter inspiration on blogs:

Homemade Nut Butter (Perfect for a basic nut butter)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Almond Butter (Cookie dough and almond butter in one? Yes, please!)

Pumpkin Spiced Almond Butter (I love the flavor of pumpkin all year round)

Cinnamon Vanilla Peanut Butter (Perfect spin on a classic)

4-Ingredient Dark Chocolate Almond Butter (I’ve made a variation of this, leaving out the oil, and it was delicious!)

Homemade White Chocolate Peanut Butter (Even for a white chocolate hater this looks heavenly)

This weekend I decided to make something different with what I had on hand, a Mixed Fruit and Nut Butter. Since I had 3 bags of nuts already open, I decided to combine them: Honey Roasted Peanuts, Roasted Almonds, and Roasted Cashews

I also wanted to add texture to the spread with some dried fruit. The dried blueberries and bing cherries add a wonderful chew and aren’t too sweet

The entire process took about 10 minutes from start to finish. Completely worth it!

Start by combining the nuts in a food processor for about 5 minutes; scrape the sides every minute or two

When nuts are fully ground and the texture is drippy, add the cinnamon and salt if needed; run food processor for another 30 seconds

Finally, add dried fruit and run through food processor for about 3 minutes or until the fruit is as small as you’d like (run for less time if you want bigger dried fruit chunks)

Store in a leftover nut butter jar or tupperware at room temperature for up to a month

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Mixed Fruit & Nut Butter

I didn’t t add any salt because the nuts I used were salted enough. The nut butter comes out to ~100 calories / tablespoon which is similar to most natural peanut butters.

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 1 cup + 2 tablespoons

Serving Size: 1 tablespoon

Calories per serving: 100

Ingredients

1 cup roasted cashews
2/3 cup honey roasted peanuts
1/2 cup roasted almonds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
up to 1 teaspoon salt to taste
3 tablespoons dried bing cherries (unsweetened)
1/4 cup dried blueberries (unsweetened)

Cooking Directions

Start by combining the nuts in a food processor for about 5 minutes; scrape the sides every minute or two
When nuts are fully ground and the texture is drippy, add the cinnamon and salt if needed; run food processor for another 30 seconds
Finally, add dried fruit and run through food processor for about 3 minutes or until the fruit is as small as youâ€™d like (run for less time if you want bigger dried fruit chunks)
Store in a leftover nut butter jar or tupperware at room temperature for up to a month

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I have been eating the nut butter by the spoonful or spreading it on english muffins. How would you eat homemade nut butter?

Blog, Recipes

Pear and Cheese Pockets

March 7, 2011 Keep It Sweet 32 Comments

I have a few weaknesses in life:

1) Post-holiday candy sales at CVS

2) Ice cream on sale at the market*

3) Bulk anything at Costco

*Who can blame me when it costs $7.99 / half gallon in NYC!

It must be in my blood to love Costco. My Dad is a walking advertisement for the store. He won’t make a purchase anywhere else until he knows Costco doesn’t have that particular item (that includes clothing, kitchen appliances, tools, etc.). Actually, for someone who isn’t a big shopper, the man can easily get sucked into buying almost anything there. If they sold drum sets in the store, he’d probably sleep there. So, it is no surprise that although I live in a tiny apartment with limited storage space, I insist on having a membership and grabbing whatever I can because it is such a good deal. Never mind the fact that we store toilet paper under the bed and canned chickpeas in several different cabinets. I even bought Kirkland brand Uggs this year for such a good price that I could throw them away when it warms up if I can’t find a place to keep them.

On our most recent trip to Costco we purchased so much fruit (bananas, pears, asian pears, mangos, nectarines, strawberries, and blueberries) that the husband started to get stressed out about eating it all. He clearly underestimates my daily produce consumption. To make him feel better, though, I promised to use some for baking. The berries and bananas were already gone and some of the other fruit had dwindled down, but we still had a lot of just-ripened juicy pears.

I wanted to make something tasty that could be eaten for breakfast, snacks or dessert and wouldn’t weigh you down. At the same time, I didn’t want to make it “diet-like.” These Pear and Cheese Pockets are a perfect compromise. They are somewhere in-between a danish, poptart, and toaster strudel with a combination of fresh and packaged ingredients.

I used these crescent roll sheets for the pockets and filled them with some cooked pears and a lightly sweetened cream cheese filling. They are best served fresh out of the oven when the filling is warm and gooey and the outside is crisp but soft in the middle. However, leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and re-heated via toaster.

Start by making the pear filling

Melt butter over low heat

Add brown sugar and combine

Once brown sugar and butter are melted, add pears and stir to coat

Add cinnamon to mixture and stir

Cook pears over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes; remove from heat and set aside

For cream cheese filling, beat cream cheese in a mixer until creamy

Add vanilla and greek yogurt

Once combined, stir in confectioners’ sugar

Once fillings are ready, lay out the dough

Cut each package into 8 rectangles

Stretch rectangles out on foil sprayed with cooking spray; top one side of dough with about a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture

Then add a couple tablespoons of pear filling

Fold the other half of the dough over and press down around the edges to seal; take a fork and press down around the edges fancy them up

Bake for 12 –13 minutes or until top is golden brown

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Pear and Cheese Pockets

Yield: 16 pockets

Ingredients

3 large pears, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 8-ounce package light cream cheese, softened at room temperature
2 tablespoons fat free greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup confectionersâ€™ sugar
2 8-ounce packages crescent roll dough

Cooking Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees
To make the pear filling, melt butter over low heat
Add brown sugar and combine; once brown sugar and butter are melted, add pears and stir to coat
Add cinnamon to mixture and stir
Cook pears over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes; remove from heat and set aside
For cream cheese filling, beat cream cheese on high speed until creamy
Add vanilla and greek yogurt and beat on high
Once combined, stir in confectionersâ€™ sugar
Once fillings are ready, lay out the dough
Cut each package into 8 rectangles
Stretch rectangles out on foil sprayed with cooking spray; top one side of dough with about a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture without coating the edges
Top cream cheese with about 2 tablespoons of pear filling
Fold the other half of the dough over and press down around the edges to seal; take a fork and press down around the to add a design
Bake for 12-13 minutes or until top is golden brown

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What are your shopping weaknesses?

Blog, Recipes

Salted Caramel Buttercream

February 13, 2011 Keep It Sweet 56 Comments

I’m kind of obsessed with caramel lately, especially when there is salt involved.

Ever since I made these bars a few months ago, caramel has been on the top of my list for delicious dessert ingredients. There is something about the rich flavor and silkiness that keeps you going back for more. After seeing this Caramel Sauce at Trader Joes so many times, I finally gave in and bought a jar. In order to keep myself from eating the entire thing with a spoon, I figured I should use it in a recipe.

What better way to use the sauce than in buttercream? It creates a delicious icing that has the perfect hint of salt and caramel flavors, but not in an overwhelming way. To keep the buttercream from being too sweet, I used cream cheese as a thickening agent. That way, I didn’t have to use too much extra sugar.

This Salted Caramel Buttercream would go well on top chocolate or vanilla cake, maybe with some sort of peanut butter filling. I used it to ice some low fat vegan chocolate cupcakes. It’s all about balance;-)

Start with room temperature butter and cream cheese

Beat them in a mixer on high for a few minutes, until light and fluffy

Add confectioners’ sugar carefully, when mixed in turn mixer back to high speed

Beat in vanilla

Then add the caramel sauce

Beat on high speed until all ingredients are well combined; if frosting is too liquidly, add extra sugar

Use to top cake, cupcakes or eat with a spoon

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Salted Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup salted caramel sauce

Cooking Directions

Beat butter and cream cheese in a mixer on high for a few minutes, until light and fluffy
Add powdered sugar carefully, when mixed in turn mixer back to high speed
Beat in vanilla
Then add the caramel sauce; beat on high speed until all ingredients are well combined
*If frosting is not firm enough at this point, add more powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time

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Have you found any new products for baking recently?

Blog, Recipes

Chocolate Cherry Maple Cookies

January 30, 2011 Keep It Sweet 37 Comments

*Check out the ask me anything post, good questions coming in so far

**Check out the discussion on my Vegan Challenge in the Comments section

After the successful Lemon Pound Cake, I figured I should try a few other desserts with different flavor profiles. Don’t worry, I’ll always come back to my true love peanut butter and chocolate, but in the mean time, I’ll entertain the idea that other combinations can taste good too!

Recently I was in search for something that would be easy enough to make on a weeknight and freeze well so that I wouldn’t eat waste all of the leftovers. I found a recipe in this cookbook and adapted it to make Chocolate Cherry Maple Cookies. I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks to get a big blast of flavor, but not too much chocolate because I didn’t want to overpower the cookie. The dried cherries add a slightly tart contrast to the cookie as well.

The cookie dough isn’t overly sweet but it has a nice hint of maple flavor. Their texture is in-between shortbread and butter cookies and they are a little bit addicting as a result. These cookies would make a great addition any dessert platter.

To begin, combine butter, sugar and syrup in a mixer

Beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes

Then, add the egg and vanilla; beat well

Once well-combined, slowly add the flour while mixer is on low speed

Then stir in chocolate and cherries

Once dough is mixed, split dough into two sections and roll each up in saran wrap

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight

Slice logs of dough into cookies about 1/4 inch thick

Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 10-12 minutes

Cookies will be just slightly darker and firm to the touch when done

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Chocolate Cherry Maple Cookies

Makes ~30 cookies

Adapted from the Lindt Chocolate Passion Recipe Book

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 heaping tablespoons maple syrup

1 large egg at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

1/3 cup dried cherries

Directions:

Combine butter, sugar and syrup in a mixer; beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes

Add the egg and vanilla; beat well

Once well-combined, slowly add the flour while mixer is on low speed

Stir in chocolate and cherries

Once dough is mixed, split it into two sections and form logs with diameters of about 2 1/2 inches; wrap each tightly with saran wrap

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight

Once ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Slice logs of dough into cookies about 1/4 inch thick

Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 10-12 minutes

Cookies will be just slightly darker than dough and firm to the touch when done

Notes:

I made the dough one night and baked the cookies the next. You could easily freeze the dough for several weeks prior to baking if needed.

You may want to consider chopping the cherries into smaller pieces to get them more spread-out through the dough. That would work well if you want cherry in every bite.

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What new flavors have you tried lately?

Blog, Recipes

Lighter Lemon Pound Cake

January 14, 2011 Keep It Sweet 54 Comments

I used to have an aversion to lemon desserts. Lemon meringue pie? No thank you. Lemon bars? Don’t tease me with that powdered sugar topping. Lemon cake? Eh. Truthfully, I have an initial reaction to any dessert lacking chocolate that involves a little bit of apprehension. Even though I adore ice cream, plain vanilla will provokes the same reaction. It better be REALLY good if there is no chocolate involved. Warm fruit desserts and anything involving peanut butter generally passes the test, but it isn’t easy.

So when my in-laws raved about Del Frisco’s Lemon Cake a couple of years ago, I kind of smiled and nodded. First of all, restaurant desserts in general are almost never as good as you think they will be. And it is lemon cake! Really, what would even be the point? But through it all, I am a dessert lover and it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give the cake a chance. So when I found myself with them at Del Frisco’s and everyone insisted on ordering Lemon Cake, I suggested we also order the chocolate banana bread pudding (um, yum!), but was willing to give this infamous dessert a try. That was the Lemon Cake that turned me around.

Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like lemon meringue pie or lemon bars, but a rich moist cake with a very light lemon flavor is actually refreshing without being over the top. So when the husband requested a lemon dessert last weekend, I willingly made my first ever Lemon Cake.

This is actually a simple Lemon Pound Cake that is very easy and comes out extremely moist and flavorful. If I were to serve it at a dinner party, I’d make a glaze or top it with fresh whipped cream and berries. Don’t worry, there would be some sort of chocolate alternative as well.

To begin, whisk your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt), and set aside

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter on high speed for several minutes until mixture is light and creamy

Use a microplane to lightly grate the skin of a lemon

Be careful not to scrape too deep, the white of the skin is more bitter

On high speed, beat the lemon zest and greek yogurt into butter and cream cheese mixture for about a minute

Add sugar and beat on high speed until batter is smooth and creamy

Now add the eggs, one at a time, putting the mixer on high for about a minute or two between each

Add in the vanilla on high speed for a minute; scrape the sides of the bowl and turn mixer on high again until well combined

Reduce speed to low and gradually add in your dry ingredients

Before it is fully combined, remove bowl from mixer and lightly fold batter to get all of the dry ingredients mixed in; this will prevent overbeating and a cake with the density of a rock

Pour batter into a 9×5 loaf pan

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean

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Lighter Lemon Pound Cake

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 8-ounce block of low fat cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup fat free plain greek yogurt

1 TB fresh lemon zest (about 1 lemon’s worth)

1 cup granulated sugar

4 eggs brought to room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt), and set aside

In a large mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter on high speed for several minutes until mixture is light and creamy

Use a microplane to lightly grate the skin of a lemon

On high speed, beat the lemon zest and greek yogurt into butter and cream cheese mixture for about a minute

Add sugar and beat on high speed until batter is smooth and creamy

Add the eggs, one at a time, putting the mixer on high for about a minute or two between each

Add in the vanilla on high speed for a minute; scrape the sides of the bowl and turn mixer on high again until well combined

Reduce speed to low and gradually add in dry ingredients

Before batter is fully combined, remove bowl from mixer and lightly fold batter to get all of the dry ingredients mixed in

Pour batter into a 9×5 loaf pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean

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Sidenote: We actually had our rehearsal dinner at Del Frisco’s! No lemon cake for me that night, I was too excited to eat (and let me tell you, that never happens).

How do you feel about lemon desserts?

Blog, Recipes

Topped with Marshmallows

December 16, 2010 Keep It Sweet 24 Comments

It seems that there are two types of people when it comes to a Sweet Potato Casserole: Those who cover theirs with toasty melty marshmallows, and those who don’t. Do you think I am biased?

You already know I love to sneak dessert-like side dishes onto my table. Why wouldn’t I top my Sweet Potato Casserole with candy? To be honest, this is the way I grew up eating sweet potatoes. Each time I see a recipe for a casserole topped with something delicious like a pecan streusel or turned savory I’m tempted to try it, but why mess with something that is just right?

This recipe is actually a lot healthier than you might think. It is filled with nutrient-dense sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin (yes, pumpkin!), spices and and a secret ingredient:

I got the idea of using pumpkin butter in a Food and Wine recipe a couple of years ago. I haven’t turned back since.

The other secret to this recipe is the roasted sweet potatoes. Yes, you can microwave them to cut down on time, but roasting them adds so much flavor.

To begin, line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with foil and non-stick spray. Top with your sweet potatoes and poke holes in them to prevent any oven explosions

Roast them for an hour or so, or until they are nice and tender to the touch

The softer they are, the easier they will be to peel. I usually roast the sweet potatoes the night before so that I can peel them easily when they are cool, no burnt fingers required

Place them in a mixer with a can of pumpkin and combine until most of the mixture is pureed but some chunks still exist (you can also mash by hand if you don’t have a mixer)

Add in your pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin butter, a dash of salt and a bit of vanilla

Once well-combined, place in a large greased baking dish

Cover with foil and bake until hot

Remove the baking dish from the oven and top with marshmallows

Broil for a minute or two, until your marshmallows are lightly browned. I recommend putting foil or a sheet pan below the baking dish in case you have any drippings

Sweet Potato Casserole
Serves 12

Ingredients:
8-10 medium sweet potatoes, about 5 pounds
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin, (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup pumpkin butter
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1-lb bag of mini marshmallows

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
Line jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with foil and non-stick cooking spray
Poke sweet potatoes with a fork and spread out on baking sheet; roast in oven for about an hour or until they are tender
Once sweet potatoes are cool, peel them; cut a slit in the skin of each sweet potato and then peel with fingers
Place them in a mixer with pumpkin and combine until most of the mixture is pureed but some chunks still exist (you can also mash by hand if you don’t have a mixer)
Add pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin butter, salt and vanilla
Once well-combined, place in a large baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray
Cover with foil and bake about 30 minutes or until hot
Remove the baking dish from the oven and top with marshmallows
Put oven on broil and bake casserole for 1-2 minutes, or until marshmallows are lightly browned

Which camp are you in? With marshmallows or without?

Blog, Recipes

Banana Cake with Mocha Ganache

October 17, 2010 Keep It Sweet 38 Comments

I usually really like the desserts I bake. Sometimes I love them. And then, every once and a while, I make something new that automatically climbs to my list of top desserts. If this cake isn’t one of those, it sure is close. And without a doubt, I WILL be making the ganache again, and soon!

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. Coffee and banana together? That was a flavor combination I had yet to try but was very intrigued. I’ll tell you right now, I was not disappointed! Make this Banana Cake with Mocha Ganache and you will not be either.

This recipe is time consuming, but not very difficult if you have some baking experience. I actually thought the ganache was much easier than the last time I made one (that could be because I was relaxed and not rushed, though).

This banana cake is worth trying, even if you already have a favorite go-to recipe. The flavors are a little different with a richness from the coffee and the delicious scent of cinnamon. This is what you need:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Spray your cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper

You then need to sift your dry ingredients; I don’t have a sifter, so I improvised!

This worked out perfectly- goes to show you that you don’t need fancy tools to make delicious desserts

Sift all of your dry ingredients together

Flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt

Then whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside

Next up, cream together the butter and sugar

Do it for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy

Then add the coffee grinds and vanilla

I’m telling you, this makes an excellent addition to the banana cake

Add in your eggs, one at a time

Then add in the half the dry ingredients, banana, and sour cream, mixing between each addition

Mix in the remaining dry ingredients just until combined; don’t overbeat

Divide batter evenly between two 8 or 9-inch cake pans

Bake for ~30 minutes, or until lightly browned and a knife comes out clean

Meanwhile, your ganache is made up of 3 simple ingredients:

You can get started on this while your cake is in the oven

Chop up the chocolate, coarsely, and prepare extra-strong coffee

Slice up your butter and set aside

Now set up your double boiler; bring water to a simmer

Place heat-proof bowl over the pot

Pour the coffee over your chocolate

Continuously stir until chocolate is melted and smooth

Remove bowl from heat and whisk in the butter

Your ganache will get very creamy

Then allow ganache to cool, stirring occasionally

You know it is ready when the mixture gets nice and thick

Time to put together your cake!

Run a knife along the edges of each layer to loosen cake from the pans

Take your serving platter and put it over your bottom layer

Hold pan and platter together as you turn over the pan; the cake layer should come right out

Remove parchment paper; notice that the bottom of the cake is nice and flat which will work nicely for layering

Use a large spatula to spread the ganache

Cover the entire layer

Use the same methodology to flip your top layer onto a separate plate

This way you will have the top layer right-side-up on the cake

To ice the rest of the cake, pour generous amounts of ganache on top and then spread

Be careful not to spread to thin, this will keep you from collecting crumbs on the outside of your frosting

Use up all the ganache, because you can never have too much frosting on a cake

Run the spatula gently around the sides of the cake to smooth out the edges

Store cake at room temperature for up to three days

Banana Cake with Mocha Ganache
Recipe from La Mia Vita Dolce, and originally from David Lebovitz
Serves 12-16

Ingredients:

Banana Cake
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon instant coffee grinds
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons sour cream (I used reduced fat)
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (~5 medium bananas)

Ganache
10 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup extra-strong brewed coffee
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions:
Banana Cake
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
Spray your cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper
Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt)
Then whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside
Cream together the butter and sugar for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy
Then add the coffee grinds and vanilla and mix
Add in your eggs, one at a time
Then add in the half the dry ingredients, banana, and sour cream, mixing between each addition
Mix in the remaining dry ingredients at low speed, just until combined; don’t overbeat
Divide batter evenly between two 8 or 9-inch cake pans
Bake for ~30 minutes, or until lightly browned and a knife comes out clean

Ganache
Make ganache while cake is in oven
Chop up the chocolate, coarsely, and prepare extra-strong coffee
Slice up your butter and set aside
Now set up your double boiler; bring water to a simmer in medium pot over low-medium heat
Place heat-proof bowl of chocolate over the pot
Pour the coffee over your chocolate
Continuously stir until chocolate is melted and smooth
Remove bowl from heat and whisk in the butter until creamy
Then allow ganache to cool, stirring occasionally
Ganache is ready when the mixture gets nice and thick

Build Your Cake
Run a knife along the edges of each layer to loosen cake from the pans
Take your serving platter and put it over your bottom cake layer
Hold pan and platter together as you turn over the pan; the cake layer should come right out
Remove parchment paper from cake
Put just under a cup of ganache onto the cake layer
Use a large spatula to spread the ganache, covering the entire layer
Use the same methodology to flip your top layer onto a separate plate
Then place layer gently over frosted cake
To ice the rest of the cake, pour generous amounts of ganache on top and then spread
Run the spatula gently around the sides and top of the cake to smooth out the edges
Store cake at room temperature for up to three days

Do you have any new favorite recipes?

Cookie cakes, dessert platters, pop-ups and more!

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