Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Leftover Frosting? Make Cookies.

The best part of any cake, in my opinion, has to be the frosting. As a baker if I make a cake or cupcakes I always have frosting leftover and I never really know what to do with it. My usual thing to do is to put it in a small container and put it in the freezer for a later project but I usually end up being sneaky and put it on cookies or the random craving for frosting on a graham cracker. Who would have thought I could have to best of both worlds and use that extra frosting to make cookies!!!

Yeah yummy!!!

I found this recipe at a very cool website, The Caramel Cookie

I am definitely going to try this, maybe next week after I finish the wedding cake I am making for my Little Brothers wedding this Saturday. I will be documenting it here in my blog.

Fondant Daisies, A sneak peek!!


Saturday, March 26, 2011

Homemade Pop Tarts

I have never been a big fan of the "cardboard" version you find on the grocery store shelves. The flavor of various ice cream "delights" and "over" frosted chocolate, always turned my tummy a bit. I have always wanted to try a homemade version but never found a great tasting recipe or I have been so busy with school or something, that I thought now would be a great a time as ever to look for and try making some.As I was checking out some the wonderful and talented fellow food bloggers' out there,I stumbled on the following recipe from Her recipe for Apple Cinnamon Pop tarts looks amazing but sine I am fresh out of apples at the moment, I thought I would just test it out with Raspberry jam. I followed the recipe exactly but used margarine instead of butter but it was very salty,but the texture was still very flaky and tender, it was just too salty for my taste. Please, feel free to use it if it is to your liking, I just prefer using unsalted cold butter.


Pop Tart Crust
◦1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
◦1 tbsp sugar
◦1 tsp kosher salt
◦2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into about 12 pieces
◦2 egg yolks
◦3 tbsp cold milk

In a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt for about 10-15 seconds until combined. Add the butter to the bowl and mix on low speed for about 1 minute, until it holds together and there are still chunks of butter in the batter.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and milk until blended and then add to the flour mixture. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until the dough just comes together.

Empty onto a floured surface and gather into a tight mound. Kneed the dough till it comes together in a soft dough. Do this a couple of times until most of the butter is incorporated and the dough comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a 1″ disk. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I did overnight)



Assemble the Pop Tarts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Take the dough out of the fridge and divide in half. Roll out each half on a floured surface to about a 11×14″ rectangle. I think mine rolled out a little smaller but I just rolled the extra dough together to form extra pop tarts. Using a paring knife, lightly score one rectangle into 8 3.5×5.5″ rectangles or about the size of an index card. Lightly beat one egg and brush the top of the dough with the egg. Spoon 2 big tbsp of filling on each. Lay the second layer on top of the first. I used a fork to seal the pop tarts and brushed it again with the remaining egg and sprinkle with a little raw sugar. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Let them cool for at least 30 minutes.







Fresh out of the oven!!!





These turned out so flaky and tender.If you don't want the dough to "puff" up, pierce the top a few times before you put it over the filling.

Enjoy these for breakfast with your coffee, I did and it was perfect!

The Pastry Diva

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Spring is Here!!

Spring is here and I have been waking up to the birds chirping outside my window and falling asleep to the frogs croaking. Browsing the food blogs and noticing everyone is using all the fresh fruit that spring has to offer, got me scouring my recipe books to find more goodies made with more fresh fruit. I know it's a good excuse to get me to eat more fruit, not necessarily more desserts with fruit in them. Here are a few berries and fruits I am going to try to incorporate in my dessert blog.


A Strawberry Shortcake with Real Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream.

Strawberry Freezer Jam


A Blueberry "slump"

Blueberry Lemon Tart


The Classic Peach Cobbler

Fresh Peach Ice Cream


Mixed Berry Tarts

Mixed Berry Cheesecake with Raspberry curd

I hope you enjoyed this little "hint" of spring. I am excited to get started and I will be picking up some fruit tonight.

Visit your local Farmers market and get some of your own ideas for using your favorite Spring fruit, they have a lot to offer.

Happy Spring, everyone!
The Pastry Diva

Monday, March 21, 2011

My Chicken Vegetable Soup

I have dedicated this blog to my love of baking and introducing you to the world of some very creative bakers and people with a love desserts and their amazing creations. I love using my blog to share my love of baking and the recipes I create. I thought I would share with you one of my favorite recipes that I go to when it's cold and rainy out and I want a big bowl of warm soup. During my time culinary school days we made some really great soups and I learned a lot from the recipes I prepared for service that day. This soup I had learned how to make from my grandma years before but going to Culinary school helped me "tweak" it and refine the flavor.


Chicken Vegetable Soup
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2in cubes
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped fine
3 carrots, chopped 1/4 dice
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
4 Tablespoons Butter
6 or so cups of water or stock
sea salt/pepper

Add onions, celery,garlic and butter to the hot pot, cook till translucent.
add carrots.
Add water or stock
let it all come to a boil and add chicken
salt and pepper to taste

I let it come to a boil then add chicken, turn down to let simmer till chicken is done.
check after 1hr.taste to see if you need more salt and pepper.


Feel free to add a variety of veggies to this soup, I just wanted something simple the day I made this, but be creative!

I hope you have enjoyed my little break for all the goodies, because a girls gotta eat,it's so good!!

The Pastry Diva

Friday, March 18, 2011

Mocha Brownie Cupcake with Irish Cream Frosting


As I looked around the verious food blogs and website that I follow to get inspiration or just see what you all are cooking and baking up in your kitchens. Well, for the St. Patty's Day celebrations, I saw alot of people cooking up the traditional cabbage and slabs of corned beef,not really my favorite but their recipes and pictures were really moutwatering.One of my favorite places to find tasty recipes and some really nice food pictures is If you arent hungary you will be after looking at the site.

So, I decided after my looking and searching that I would make my version of the perfect St. Paddy's Day treat!
This is a really easy brownie that I adapted from the Hershey website. I did modify it a bit with coffee instead of water, which gave it a more deep and rich chocolate flavor. I also like that I could just put this in ONE bowl and mix it all together.


Next, I lined the cupcake pans with papers and poured my brownie/cupcake batter in a measuring cup to pour it a little easier.

The Frosting was a little a little trickier but I managed to come up with a frosting that was smooth, very tasty and easy to pipe. I did use cream cheese and butter and it turned out very well. I used Irish Cream Whiskey to give it a smooth taste perfect for celebreating the "irish in you"

Irish Cream Frosting

12oz. Cream cheese
1 Stick or butter
1/3c granualted sugar
1/4c Irish cream whiskey (use your favorite brand, I used Knickers brand)
Add all abouve ingredience in a mixer and beat till smooth.
Add 3 cups powdered sugar, one cup at a time,till desired consistancy. If its too thin add 1/2 cup more
Scrape down mixer bowl and continue mixing till smooth and mix together. Taste!!!! (my favorite part)
Let the cupcakes cool, fit a pastry bag with a 1/2in round tip and swirl on the frosting! Decorate with any kind of decoration, I used colored sugar sprinkels.





You can always just make brownies and use the above frosting and cut into squares.

Enjoy,
THe Pastry Diva

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

My Favorite Sandwich!

GRILLED PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY SANDWICH

It's even better with a glass of cold milk.


Try one, I made mine with wheat bread which is a good choice for any sanwich but I like to use white for this or any grilled sandwich, it just tasted better to me.I also spread mine with real butter and grill it on a low setting, letting the heat melt the honey and peanut butter.

Enjoy!

The Pastry Diva

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jelly Muffins


Peanut butter is one of my "go to" ingredience when I am looking to bake anything sweet. PBj sandwiches is up there as one of the things I really love to use peanut butter , especially toasted, like a grilled cheese sandwich. I know crazy huh? But trust me they are heavenly. The other day I was looking for a muffin recipe that I could have with my coffee on Saturday morning. I found this recipe and added a few different ingredience and used raspberry jam, MY FAVORITE!!! Try it for breakfast tomorrow.

■1-3/4 cups flour
■2/3 cup brown sugar
■2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
■1/4 tsp. salt
■3/4 cup milk
■2/3 cup peanut butter
■1/4 cup vegetable oil
■1 egg
■1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
*1 tsp Lemon flavor
■jam or jelly, any flavor, raspberry is my favorite!!!
Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In a mixer bowl, beat together the milk, peanut butter, vegetable oil, egg and Lemon, vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spoon. (I needed to add another splash of milk at this point, because the batter was too dry and stiff.)

Grease a muffin tin. Put a tablespoon or two of the batter into each cup. Add a teaspoon of jam to the top. Put more batter over the jam to cover it. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Ready for the oven.I sprinkled a little raw sugar on top before baking

Fresh out of the oven, the kitchen smells so good.


Enjoy them warm out of the oven, the raspberry jelly is especially good then.
P.S Try the grilled peanut butter and jelly!! It's devine!

Muffin on Foodista

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Infused Sugar: Vanilla Bean Sugar

There are few things that I always have in my kitchen at all times to make verious recipes and good things from my kitchen. Infused sugar is one of those things that is easy to make and easy to store and use.My favorite has to be vanilla sugar using one of the most expensive spices second to safron. I have even used vanilla sugar in my coffee from time to time for something a little different.


It is very easy to make,all you need is 2 ingredience.

Vanilla Beans
Sugar
Mason jar for other air tight container

Fill you jar with sugar
Split your vanilla bean and scrape out the seads and place them in the jar.
close the lid and shake to distriblute the seeds and the sugar.
cut the remaining beans and place in the jar.
seal the lid and place in a dark place, a cupboard will be fine.
let sit for week or so to infuse the flavors
Now its ready to use!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Pound Cake and Three Ways to Dress it up!

I recently found an article in Real Living magazine that uses kitchen staples to give pound cake a new twist by adding different ingredients to spice it up.I don't have a recipe that I use all the time for pound cake but I did find this one on a site called Sophistimom, and it looks like it will be a good one to try for these suggestions below.



Philly Pound Cake

2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter, softened, but not quite room temperature
1 8 ounce (225g) package of cream cheese, softened slightly
1 1/2 (285g) cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (250g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (165 degrees celsius). Spray four mini loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray, and place on a cookie sheet.
2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Pour in sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated.
3. While ingredients are mixing, whisk together four, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients
4. Distribute batter evenly among the four pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Wrap any extras tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to one month.



Pound cake with oranges,honey and Rosemary.
Cut away the peel and the pith of the oranges and cut out the segments. In a medium bowl, gently combine the orange segments, 2Tbs Honey,and 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary. Slice cake and top with orange mixture. Enjoy. Whip cream would be nice on the top.

Glazed pound cake with crystallized ginger
in a small bowl,whisk 1 cup of powder sugar 1 tablespoon milk to form a thick but pourable glaze(add more milk if necessary)Spread glaze over the cake letting it drip down the sides.Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger. Let the glaze set for 20 min. before serving.

Toasted pound cake with whip cream and almonds
Heat oven to 375* Spread 1/2 cup of sliced almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until golden. 5 to 7 min. Heat broiler.Slice the cake into 1 inch thick pieces and broil till golden brown,about 1 min. per side. In a medium bowl,beat 1 cup of heavy cream and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.Top cake with whip cream and top with the toasted almonds.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Recently I decided to make cupcakes for my soon-to-be Sister,Melissas' Bridal shower.I really havn't made cupcakes in a while, but since thay are all the rage and I wanted to try out a new Vanilla bean cake recipe I found,I thought it would be a great idea and something a little different.



Please look past the bad picture and the foil covered platter. It was a long week and I was recovering from a very nasty cold that knocked me out for a few day before.
The next picture is of the cupcakes at the shower. I really wished the picture had turned out better and that they were properly displayed, but they were a real hit.


The recipe I found for the cupcakes was a homemade recipe that uses ingredience you may already have in your kitchen. The frosting was the frosting I used in the previous post for the Mocha Chocolate cake and the little pink flowers are made of fondant that I left from a Birthday cake I made a few weeks ago.

Vanilla Bean Cake
Dry Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cups Vanilla bean sugar (vanilla bean infused sugar)or regular is fine

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

5 egg whites

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond ( I didn't have Almond extract,so I used Lemon)

Cream Butter.
Add eggs(whites) one at a time till combined
add milk~vanilla~almond or Lemon flavoring
Fill two 8 in rounds, greased and floured
325 deg. to 350
bake 20~30 min

*Fill cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers
bake for aprox. 25 min till lightly browned and if you touch the tops it will be firm.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Chocolate Mocha Cake with Vanilla frosting

This Moist chocolate cake is a Birthday favorite.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup baking cocoa
2 cups raw sugar (just my preference but you can use regular sugar)
1 cup of canola oil
1 cup of brewed coffee(i used instant coffee,made it strong)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1tsp Vanilla (use good quality vanilla)


FAVORITE FROSTING:
1 cup milk
5 Tablespoons flour( I know, but trust me,it's so good)
1 cup butter(use butter, it won't taste right if it's margerine)
1 cup granualted sugar, NOT powdered sugar!!!
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium speed for 1 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat 2 more minutes. (Batter will be thin.)
Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans (or two 8-in. round baking pans and six muffin cups).
Bake at 325° for 25-30 minutes. Cool cakes for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool on wire racks.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature but I perfer it cold. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

. Yield: 12 servings.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Cinnamon Rolls


Ingredients
■1 quart Whole Milk
■1 cup Vegetable Oil
■1 cup Sugar
■2 packages Active Dry Yeast
■8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
■1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
■1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
■1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
■ Melted Butter
■2 cups Sugar
■Lots and Lots of cinnamon
Preparation Instructions
Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.


I frosted mine with the most tasty and unusual frosting.I will post this recipe soon along with the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted.

adapted from: The Pioneer Woman

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Leftover Frosting? Make Cookies.

The best part of any cake, in my opinion, has to be the frosting. As a baker if I make a cake or cupcakes I always have frosting leftover and I never really know what to do with it. My usual thing to do is to put it in a small container and put it in the freezer for a later project but I usually end up being sneaky and put it on cookies or the random craving for frosting on a graham cracker. Who would have thought I could have to best of both worlds and use that extra frosting to make cookies!!!

Yeah yummy!!!

I found this recipe at a very cool website, The Caramel Cookie

I am definitely going to try this, maybe next week after I finish the wedding cake I am making for my Little Brothers wedding this Saturday. I will be documenting it here in my blog.

Fondant Daisies, A sneak peek!!


Saturday, March 26, 2011

Homemade Pop Tarts

I have never been a big fan of the "cardboard" version you find on the grocery store shelves. The flavor of various ice cream "delights" and "over" frosted chocolate, always turned my tummy a bit. I have always wanted to try a homemade version but never found a great tasting recipe or I have been so busy with school or something, that I thought now would be a great a time as ever to look for and try making some.As I was checking out some the wonderful and talented fellow food bloggers' out there,I stumbled on the following recipe from Her recipe for Apple Cinnamon Pop tarts looks amazing but sine I am fresh out of apples at the moment, I thought I would just test it out with Raspberry jam. I followed the recipe exactly but used margarine instead of butter but it was very salty,but the texture was still very flaky and tender, it was just too salty for my taste. Please, feel free to use it if it is to your liking, I just prefer using unsalted cold butter.


Pop Tart Crust
◦1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
◦1 tbsp sugar
◦1 tsp kosher salt
◦2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into about 12 pieces
◦2 egg yolks
◦3 tbsp cold milk

In a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt for about 10-15 seconds until combined. Add the butter to the bowl and mix on low speed for about 1 minute, until it holds together and there are still chunks of butter in the batter.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and milk until blended and then add to the flour mixture. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until the dough just comes together.

Empty onto a floured surface and gather into a tight mound. Kneed the dough till it comes together in a soft dough. Do this a couple of times until most of the butter is incorporated and the dough comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a 1″ disk. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (I did overnight)



Assemble the Pop Tarts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Take the dough out of the fridge and divide in half. Roll out each half on a floured surface to about a 11×14″ rectangle. I think mine rolled out a little smaller but I just rolled the extra dough together to form extra pop tarts. Using a paring knife, lightly score one rectangle into 8 3.5×5.5″ rectangles or about the size of an index card. Lightly beat one egg and brush the top of the dough with the egg. Spoon 2 big tbsp of filling on each. Lay the second layer on top of the first. I used a fork to seal the pop tarts and brushed it again with the remaining egg and sprinkle with a little raw sugar. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Let them cool for at least 30 minutes.







Fresh out of the oven!!!





These turned out so flaky and tender.If you don't want the dough to "puff" up, pierce the top a few times before you put it over the filling.

Enjoy these for breakfast with your coffee, I did and it was perfect!

The Pastry Diva

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Spring is Here!!

Spring is here and I have been waking up to the birds chirping outside my window and falling asleep to the frogs croaking. Browsing the food blogs and noticing everyone is using all the fresh fruit that spring has to offer, got me scouring my recipe books to find more goodies made with more fresh fruit. I know it's a good excuse to get me to eat more fruit, not necessarily more desserts with fruit in them. Here are a few berries and fruits I am going to try to incorporate in my dessert blog.


A Strawberry Shortcake with Real Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream.

Strawberry Freezer Jam


A Blueberry "slump"

Blueberry Lemon Tart


The Classic Peach Cobbler

Fresh Peach Ice Cream


Mixed Berry Tarts

Mixed Berry Cheesecake with Raspberry curd

I hope you enjoyed this little "hint" of spring. I am excited to get started and I will be picking up some fruit tonight.

Visit your local Farmers market and get some of your own ideas for using your favorite Spring fruit, they have a lot to offer.

Happy Spring, everyone!
The Pastry Diva

Monday, March 21, 2011

My Chicken Vegetable Soup

I have dedicated this blog to my love of baking and introducing you to the world of some very creative bakers and people with a love desserts and their amazing creations. I love using my blog to share my love of baking and the recipes I create. I thought I would share with you one of my favorite recipes that I go to when it's cold and rainy out and I want a big bowl of warm soup. During my time culinary school days we made some really great soups and I learned a lot from the recipes I prepared for service that day. This soup I had learned how to make from my grandma years before but going to Culinary school helped me "tweak" it and refine the flavor.


Chicken Vegetable Soup
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2in cubes
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped fine
3 carrots, chopped 1/4 dice
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
4 Tablespoons Butter
6 or so cups of water or stock
sea salt/pepper

Add onions, celery,garlic and butter to the hot pot, cook till translucent.
add carrots.
Add water or stock
let it all come to a boil and add chicken
salt and pepper to taste

I let it come to a boil then add chicken, turn down to let simmer till chicken is done.
check after 1hr.taste to see if you need more salt and pepper.


Feel free to add a variety of veggies to this soup, I just wanted something simple the day I made this, but be creative!

I hope you have enjoyed my little break for all the goodies, because a girls gotta eat,it's so good!!

The Pastry Diva

Friday, March 18, 2011

Mocha Brownie Cupcake with Irish Cream Frosting


As I looked around the verious food blogs and website that I follow to get inspiration or just see what you all are cooking and baking up in your kitchens. Well, for the St. Patty's Day celebrations, I saw alot of people cooking up the traditional cabbage and slabs of corned beef,not really my favorite but their recipes and pictures were really moutwatering.One of my favorite places to find tasty recipes and some really nice food pictures is If you arent hungary you will be after looking at the site.

So, I decided after my looking and searching that I would make my version of the perfect St. Paddy's Day treat!
This is a really easy brownie that I adapted from the Hershey website. I did modify it a bit with coffee instead of water, which gave it a more deep and rich chocolate flavor. I also like that I could just put this in ONE bowl and mix it all together.


Next, I lined the cupcake pans with papers and poured my brownie/cupcake batter in a measuring cup to pour it a little easier.

The Frosting was a little a little trickier but I managed to come up with a frosting that was smooth, very tasty and easy to pipe. I did use cream cheese and butter and it turned out very well. I used Irish Cream Whiskey to give it a smooth taste perfect for celebreating the "irish in you"

Irish Cream Frosting

12oz. Cream cheese
1 Stick or butter
1/3c granualted sugar
1/4c Irish cream whiskey (use your favorite brand, I used Knickers brand)
Add all abouve ingredience in a mixer and beat till smooth.
Add 3 cups powdered sugar, one cup at a time,till desired consistancy. If its too thin add 1/2 cup more
Scrape down mixer bowl and continue mixing till smooth and mix together. Taste!!!! (my favorite part)
Let the cupcakes cool, fit a pastry bag with a 1/2in round tip and swirl on the frosting! Decorate with any kind of decoration, I used colored sugar sprinkels.





You can always just make brownies and use the above frosting and cut into squares.

Enjoy,
THe Pastry Diva

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

My Favorite Sandwich!

GRILLED PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY SANDWICH

It's even better with a glass of cold milk.


Try one, I made mine with wheat bread which is a good choice for any sanwich but I like to use white for this or any grilled sandwich, it just tasted better to me.I also spread mine with real butter and grill it on a low setting, letting the heat melt the honey and peanut butter.

Enjoy!

The Pastry Diva

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jelly Muffins


Peanut butter is one of my "go to" ingredience when I am looking to bake anything sweet. PBj sandwiches is up there as one of the things I really love to use peanut butter , especially toasted, like a grilled cheese sandwich. I know crazy huh? But trust me they are heavenly. The other day I was looking for a muffin recipe that I could have with my coffee on Saturday morning. I found this recipe and added a few different ingredience and used raspberry jam, MY FAVORITE!!! Try it for breakfast tomorrow.

■1-3/4 cups flour
■2/3 cup brown sugar
■2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
■1/4 tsp. salt
■3/4 cup milk
■2/3 cup peanut butter
■1/4 cup vegetable oil
■1 egg
■1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
*1 tsp Lemon flavor
■jam or jelly, any flavor, raspberry is my favorite!!!
Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In a mixer bowl, beat together the milk, peanut butter, vegetable oil, egg and Lemon, vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spoon. (I needed to add another splash of milk at this point, because the batter was too dry and stiff.)

Grease a muffin tin. Put a tablespoon or two of the batter into each cup. Add a teaspoon of jam to the top. Put more batter over the jam to cover it. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Ready for the oven.I sprinkled a little raw sugar on top before baking

Fresh out of the oven, the kitchen smells so good.


Enjoy them warm out of the oven, the raspberry jelly is especially good then.
P.S Try the grilled peanut butter and jelly!! It's devine!

Muffin on Foodista

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Infused Sugar: Vanilla Bean Sugar

There are few things that I always have in my kitchen at all times to make verious recipes and good things from my kitchen. Infused sugar is one of those things that is easy to make and easy to store and use.My favorite has to be vanilla sugar using one of the most expensive spices second to safron. I have even used vanilla sugar in my coffee from time to time for something a little different.


It is very easy to make,all you need is 2 ingredience.

Vanilla Beans
Sugar
Mason jar for other air tight container

Fill you jar with sugar
Split your vanilla bean and scrape out the seads and place them in the jar.
close the lid and shake to distriblute the seeds and the sugar.
cut the remaining beans and place in the jar.
seal the lid and place in a dark place, a cupboard will be fine.
let sit for week or so to infuse the flavors
Now its ready to use!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Pound Cake and Three Ways to Dress it up!

I recently found an article in Real Living magazine that uses kitchen staples to give pound cake a new twist by adding different ingredients to spice it up.I don't have a recipe that I use all the time for pound cake but I did find this one on a site called Sophistimom, and it looks like it will be a good one to try for these suggestions below.



Philly Pound Cake

2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter, softened, but not quite room temperature
1 8 ounce (225g) package of cream cheese, softened slightly
1 1/2 (285g) cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (250g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (165 degrees celsius). Spray four mini loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray, and place on a cookie sheet.
2. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese. Pour in sugar and mix until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well until each is incorporated.
3. While ingredients are mixing, whisk together four, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients
4. Distribute batter evenly among the four pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Wrap any extras tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to one month.



Pound cake with oranges,honey and Rosemary.
Cut away the peel and the pith of the oranges and cut out the segments. In a medium bowl, gently combine the orange segments, 2Tbs Honey,and 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary. Slice cake and top with orange mixture. Enjoy. Whip cream would be nice on the top.

Glazed pound cake with crystallized ginger
in a small bowl,whisk 1 cup of powder sugar 1 tablespoon milk to form a thick but pourable glaze(add more milk if necessary)Spread glaze over the cake letting it drip down the sides.Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger. Let the glaze set for 20 min. before serving.

Toasted pound cake with whip cream and almonds
Heat oven to 375* Spread 1/2 cup of sliced almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast, tossing occasionally, until golden. 5 to 7 min. Heat broiler.Slice the cake into 1 inch thick pieces and broil till golden brown,about 1 min. per side. In a medium bowl,beat 1 cup of heavy cream and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.Top cake with whip cream and top with the toasted almonds.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Recently I decided to make cupcakes for my soon-to-be Sister,Melissas' Bridal shower.I really havn't made cupcakes in a while, but since thay are all the rage and I wanted to try out a new Vanilla bean cake recipe I found,I thought it would be a great idea and something a little different.



Please look past the bad picture and the foil covered platter. It was a long week and I was recovering from a very nasty cold that knocked me out for a few day before.
The next picture is of the cupcakes at the shower. I really wished the picture had turned out better and that they were properly displayed, but they were a real hit.


The recipe I found for the cupcakes was a homemade recipe that uses ingredience you may already have in your kitchen. The frosting was the frosting I used in the previous post for the Mocha Chocolate cake and the little pink flowers are made of fondant that I left from a Birthday cake I made a few weeks ago.

Vanilla Bean Cake
Dry Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cups Vanilla bean sugar (vanilla bean infused sugar)or regular is fine

2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter

5 egg whites

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond ( I didn't have Almond extract,so I used Lemon)

Cream Butter.
Add eggs(whites) one at a time till combined
add milk~vanilla~almond or Lemon flavoring
Fill two 8 in rounds, greased and floured
325 deg. to 350
bake 20~30 min

*Fill cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers
bake for aprox. 25 min till lightly browned and if you touch the tops it will be firm.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Chocolate Mocha Cake with Vanilla frosting

This Moist chocolate cake is a Birthday favorite.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup baking cocoa
2 cups raw sugar (just my preference but you can use regular sugar)
1 cup of canola oil
1 cup of brewed coffee(i used instant coffee,made it strong)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1tsp Vanilla (use good quality vanilla)


FAVORITE FROSTING:
1 cup milk
5 Tablespoons flour( I know, but trust me,it's so good)
1 cup butter(use butter, it won't taste right if it's margerine)
1 cup granualted sugar, NOT powdered sugar!!!
1 tsp vanilla
Directions
Sift together dry ingredients in a bowl. Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium speed for 1 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat 2 more minutes. (Batter will be thin.)
Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans (or two 8-in. round baking pans and six muffin cups).
Bake at 325° for 25-30 minutes. Cool cakes for 10 minutes before removing from pans. Cool on wire racks.

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature but I perfer it cold. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

. Yield: 12 servings.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Cinnamon Rolls


Ingredients
■1 quart Whole Milk
■1 cup Vegetable Oil
■1 cup Sugar
■2 packages Active Dry Yeast
■8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
■1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
■1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
■1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
■ Melted Butter
■2 cups Sugar
■Lots and Lots of cinnamon
Preparation Instructions
Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).

When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.

Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.

Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.

Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.


I frosted mine with the most tasty and unusual frosting.I will post this recipe soon along with the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted.

adapted from: The Pioneer Woman

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...