My New Boyfriend ... True, true, love

Meet Maxx ...

 Maxx (with the double "x" 'cause he's soooooo extream) is a KitchenAid Professional HD standing mixer.  Our match maker was a little place called Cayne's, they're a lovely group of people who knew that Maxx and I were meant to be together and so offered him at a price I could not refuse.  If you're in Canada ... CHECK THEM OUT ... I can't stress this enough.

I was off work today so Maxx and I had a play date ... we made Salted Caramel Tarts with Chocolate Sugar Cookie Shells.

 It's really a recipe in 3 chapters, you're going to want to scroll down to start the mousse and then do the shells and then come back to the mousse.

For the Shells ~ Chocolate Sugar Cookie Dough:

2 ¾ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ¾ cups granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350^oF and place rack in the center of the oven.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.

I used a mini muffing pan and a tart tamper … if you don’t have one, get one, they are a great tool for stuff like this!  Mine looks like this:

and is a perfect fit for regular and mini muffin pans.

Roll dough into two inch balls and drop them into the muffin wells and then squish them into shape with the tamper.  Bake for 7 – 9 minutes, until firm. When I pulled them from the oven I pressed them with the tamper again just to put the shape back into them and then let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before pulling them out.

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For the Salted Caramel Mousse:

1/3 cup sugar

3 Tbsp. water

1/3 cup heavy (whipping) cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. sea salt (or more, to taste)

4 oz. PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

Briefly stir together granulated sugar in a small saucepan and let it melt in the pan, stirring constantly.  Watch it carefully as sugar will burn quickly.  When it becomes a nice caramel colour, add the water slowly; being careful, as the mixture will definitely bubble up and possibly splatter a bit.  Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat.

Remove from heat and slowly add in cream (just start with a tablespoon or two), stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth. Stir in vanilla and salt.  Set aside until it reaches room temperature, or refrigerate to speed up the process.

(Now’s a good time to go back and do the tart shells)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese on medium-high speed for 1 minute until very smooth.  Add in the room-temperature caramel and powdered sugar, and beat on medium-low speed until combined.  If the mousse is too thick, add in a tablespoon or two of heavy cream.  Then increase speed to medium-high and beat for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.  

Use the mousse to fill the tart shells and dust with Cinnamon.

Keep tarts in the fridge to chill until you serve them up.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

I made these a while back but never got to posting the recipe.  I baked them for a co-workers birthday and they were exceedingly popular!

From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 30

• Ingredients:
• 30 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, left whole, and a large bag of Oreo Minis (if you can’t get the minis then just chop up some of the large ones)
• 4  8oz. packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed; then beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in about 1 ½ cups of the Oreo minis by hand  (save at least 30 to decorate the top)

4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, for about 15 minutes then add one mini to the top of each cupcake and rotate the pan.  Bake another 10 minutes, until filling is set. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

 Happy Feasting!

Banana Crumble Muffins

Ingredients

Muffins Batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil/canola oil

1/2 c chopped walnuts (if you like)

Crumble Topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375^o F

In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; lightly whisk together to mix dry ingredients.

In large bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and the oil. Slowly add the dry mixture in and beat on low.

In yet another bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.

Lightly grease, or line, muffin pan with muffin papers.

½ fill with batter and then sprinkle with crumble mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 Good Sized Muffins 

Happy Feasting!

Two for one ...

I haven’t done anything for a while so I'll treat it up with double cookies.

The first, Ginger Creams, the softest cookies you will ever taste.

 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup water

2 cups All-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 2 pinches of Cayenne Pepper (you can leave this out if you want, I just think it gives them a nice snap)

Cream the butter, sugar, egg, molasses together then add water and mix well.

Mix in the flour a little at a time then add in the salt, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and the cayenne.

Cover and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 8 minutes; until no indentation remains when touched.

You can frost with a cream-cheese frosting or, as I did, dip them in melted white chocolate.

Super Easy ~ super yummie …

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Cookie number 2 ....

Oatmeal Shortbread

 

Ingredients

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

3/4 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour, oats and salt.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Roll and cut as you like; obviously, I chose hearts.

Bake at 325oF for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Once the cookies cooled, I melted a bag of milk chocolate chips with 2 squares of bakers semi-sweet chocolate and a Tbl of cinnamon in a double boiler for dipping and rolled them in crushed Almond slices – a very simple way to make them extraordinary.

Happy Feasting!

Cream cheese filled Carrot muffins

I found this recipe on line ages ago and wrote it down.  I've since lost the link so I can't give credit where credit is fully due but here it is none-the-less.

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together 1½ c. all-purpose flour, 1½ tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp.baking powder, ½ tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cardamom, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. nutmeg, and 1 c. sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat 3 eggs and 2/3 cup vegetable oil until lightened. Stir in 1½ c. shredded carrots, ½ c. chopped walnuts, and ½ c. raisins that have been soaked for 10 minutes in hot water (or warmed rum, if you’d like).

In another bowl, cream 4 oz. softened cream cheese with 1 egg yolk (add the egg white to the carrot cake batter to make it really moist) , ½ c. sugar, and ½ tsp. vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg/oil mixture. Stir until just combined.

Fill mini-muffin cups about 1/2 full, add a spoon of the cream cheese, and then another spoon of the carrot cake batter.


Bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake part comes out clean.

Happy Feasting!

Kitchen Basics

Do you ever get a thought in your head that there's something you need to get, you pick it up, and then when you get home you realize you actually do have it?

I obviously need to make a mental note that I do not need to buy muffin cups FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR.

I'm getting ready to make some muffins to take to work tomorrow (recipe to follow) but not 300 (insert Gerard Butler joke here ... "Tonight we dine on MUFFINS")

Happy Feasting!

Caramel Apple Pie

Not your Grandma's Apple pie (or maybe it is ... if she's really, REALLY cool)  Found this recipe kicking around and it's the only way I make them now.  Easily made Vegan friendly by subbing margarine for the butter.   Pastry dough is made with Vegetable shortening so no worries there.

It's a weird way to construct the pie but the results are wonderful with a nice crunchy candied top latice.

Ingredients:

6 large apples, sliced (I like to mix it up - 2 Grannies, 2 Fujis, and 2 Spartans)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter (roughly 3/8 cup)

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp powdered ginger

1/4 cup water

Double Pie Crust.

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Instructions

1 - Core and peel the apples, let them soak in a cold bath of water and lemon (or lime) juice so that the don't brown.

2 - In a sauce pan combine the sugars, spices, butter, salt, and water.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Let the mix boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat and let stand

3 - Pre-heat oven to 425 F

4 - Make the pie crust -

Combine:

3 Tbl of white vinager

4 Tbl of cold water

2 tsp of vanilla

2 tsp of almond extract

1 Tbl of sugar (or sweetener)

Mix them together in a dish and stick in the Freezer to chill (the vinager and the shortening make a chemical reaction for very flaky crust and the vinager burns off in the baking so there's no taste - the vanilla and almond extra add a really nice flavour)

Cut together the below ingredients until fine:

3 c of flour

1/4 tsp salt

1c + Tbl of Vegetable shortning (I use Tenderflake - I've always found it the best)

add chilled liquid and mix together lightly.  You never want to knead or really work pastry, that's what makes it tough.

Roll out dough and line a 9", ungreased pie place. Trim and save the remainder dough (this will be used to make the latice work)

6 - Add the sliced apples to the pie

7 - Roll out the remainder of the dough and cut into strips, create the latice work over the apples.

8 - Laddle cooled caramel mix over latice work to fill the pie.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 425 F then cover with Tin Foil (so the crust doesn't burn), reduce the heat to 350 F and bake another 30 - 40 minutes

Cool completely before serving so that the caramel can thicken again.

I'll also use this caramel/apple mix for making apple crumble when I don't want to deal with pastry.