*Sweet Indulgence

On the rare occasions I have to cook I’m always searching for a recipe that is easy, but appears that you’ve slaved for hours.  When I bake I never really mind spending endless time in the kitchen.  About the only thing that intimidates me in the bakery is yeast. Otherwise I’ll take on just about anything. There are times when I just come across a sweets recipe that is easy and people rave.  This is one of these recipes…

In the original recipe it called for layering graham crackers, but I was at Trader Joe’s and they didn’t have any so I made do.  I don’t know if they have these buttery waffle cookies at your local Joe’s, but don’t buy them.  It’s nearly impossible to not eat the entire box in one sitting!

serves 6

• 2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed
• 3 1/4 cups whipping cream, divided
• 1/3 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 box of butter waffle cookie from Trader Joe’s
• 2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped

Take out a few of the best-looking strawberries and set them aside for the garnish. Hull the remainder of the strawberries and slice each berry into thin slices.

With a hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip 3 cups of cream until it just holds stiff peaks. Add the confectioners sugar, vanilla, and whip to combine.

Spread a small spoonful of whipped cream on the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking pan, or a similarly-sized platter. Lay down six waffle cookies. Lightly cover the top of the graham crackers with more whipped cream, and then a single layer of strawberries. Repeat three times, until you have four layers of waffle cookies. Spread the last of the whipped cream over the top and swirl it lightly with a spoon. Add a few more strawberries.

To make the ganache, heat the cream until bubbles form around the edges, then pour over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand for a few minutes, then whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy. Drizzle this over the layered dessert with a spoon, or transfer to a squeeze bottle and use that to drizzle.

Refrigerate for at least four hours, or until the cookies have softened completely. Garnish with additional berries.

I’ve been hunting out cupcakerys to taste test for the last couple years.  From Seattle to Southern California.  It was always my intention to share my reviews on here with you, I’ve even been taking pictures!  Just never quite got around to putting pen to paper as they say.

I was just in San Francisco, but made the stop at Teacake on the way home in Emeryville.  My Dad had gotten me their menus from a coworker and if their is one thing they are doing right it’s marketing.  Their menus are super cute!  They show you the everyday flavors and their day of the week flavors with their cute logo. 

Usually when I visit a bakery I like to get my favorite - vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and then I throw in a wild card.  Red velvet or chocolate mint.  Something that catches my eye in the case.

To be honest I was a bit disappointed with the cupcake overall.  The frosting was a classic buttercream - my favorite!  That’s where the praise ends.  I thought the cake was dry and flavorless.  I won’t be visiting their again unfortunately.  

If you’re a big fan of cupcakes and you scour the blogs like me then you’ve probably come across Ming’s site.  I love how clean looking her site is.  It really makes me want to start numbering my cupcakes too or something equally clever.  

Out of all her gorgeous cupcakes I was drawn to the key lime.  I usually prefer lime to lemon and I had key lime juice in the fridge from William Sonoma.  I had been hanging onto it for too long anyways.  Unfortunately as pretty as they look, the taste did not blow me away.  The graham cracker cupcake was delicious to me, but it got mixed reviews from my coworkers.  Not everyone was a fan of the flavor or the texture.  I personally was disappointed in the frosting.  I used double the key lime and it was almost impossible to taste.  Maybe that’s the downside of fresh vs. packaged?

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk

Mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt.  Beat butter and sugar together thoroughly. Add eggs, one at a time.  Then add vanilla.  Add half the dry ingredients, followed by the half cup of milk and then the last of the dry ingredients. Bake at 400 for 18 minutes or until the toothpick comes out almost clean.

Frosting

• 4 oz. of cream cheese
• 1/2 stick of butter 
• 4 cups of confectioners sugar
• 4 tbs. key lime juice

Mix ingredients together with your paddle attachment until you reach your desired consistency.  Decorate with graham crackers crumbs.

My Mom emailed me this morning about this up and coming blog that’s supposed to be better than Food Network. *gasp*  I see that they’re boasting over 506 cupcake recipes so it might just be worth checking out ;)  

What I was initially drawn to was their Challenges section.  The featured challenge right now is the ‘Mexican Standoff’.  Who doesn’t love mexican food?!  Although I’m not very competitive, I’d like to think I could hold my own in a bakers challenge.  I mean, that IS what got me started on the whole cupcake craze - a tiny competitive streak I didn’t know I had!

I’ll be checking it out further in the weeks to come.  If you come across anything amazing please do share with the rest of us.

♥ K

My beautiful friend Nicolina is back in California this month for a visit!  I bet you can’t guess where she’s visiting from can you?  It was so nice of her to bring me a little gift, but now I need all of your help.  I’m looking for suggestions or recipes of yummy ways to use this gift.  Help!

*UPDATE*

I decided to check TasteSpotting for some ideas and once I sifted through almost 6 pages of gourmet pancakes I found these:

• Maple Blondies with Butterscotch and Cocoa Nibs
• Banana Nutella and Maple Syrup Bread
• Maple Walnut White Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipes come from Martha Stewart and I’d have to agree that they are near perfect. They make a very large cookie which for me, a large cookie is a superior cookie :) Like MS describes these cookies are crispy on the outside and softer in the middle.  I think something that makes them so great is the long time whipping the batter.  I’ve never heard of doing that before with cookie batter.

Makes 24 cookies.

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture just until incorporated; fold in chocolate chips and chunks.
3. Using a 1/4-cup ice-cream scoop or a large spoon, drop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (you should have 24) and refrigerate 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Arrange 6 unbaked cookies, 3 inches apart, on each of two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges are light golden brown, 17 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Bake remaining dough using new parchment.