Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Oh yes, you read the title right. Cinnamon toast crunch covered in chocolate? These can become addicting. I found myself going back into the kitchen and grabbing for more. They would make a great party snack too!

These were part of Matt's early Valentine's Day present. I made the chocolate for some chocolate covered strawberries. Had some chocolate left over so I threw in some sliced bananas. Still had about half a cup of chocolate left over so I threw in a couple cups of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. Which led me to discover these addicting treats.

The chocolate has been spiked with some orange liqueur too bringing another depth of flavor to the chocolate. Tossed with that cinnamon sugar cereal, it made a sweet and crunchy snack. I also tossed some mini M&Ms in there. Why not? You could throw in marshmallow, pretzels, whatever else your heart desires!

Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Toast Crunch

6 tbsp heavy cream

1/2 tsp orange extract

7 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

3 tbsp Grand Marnier liqueur

2 tbsp light corn syrup

Cinnamon toast crunch cereal

Optional mix-ins 

Set a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, careful to not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water. You're basically creating a double boiler. Heat the cream and orange extract in the bowl. Add the chocolate, coffee, Grand Marnier, and corn syrup and stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Toss some of the cereal into the chocolate, adding as much cereal as needed to use up all of the chocolate and coat the cereal. You can also mix in any mix-ins of your choosing (I chose mini M&Ms). Transfer to a baking sheet lined with wax paper and chill in the fridge until set. It won't take long for the chocolate to set. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Icebox Cake

I've got a backlog of posts that you're about to get. This dessert was obviously made back in the Fall. I know, ages ago! But who says you can't enjoy pumpkin outside of the Fall season?

Pumpkin Icebox Cake

4 Graham cracker sheets
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/4 c heavy whipping cream
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c pumpkin purée
1/2 c cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

Crush the graham crackers and mix with the melted butter. Split the mixture among 6 cupcake molds, pressing it to the bottom of the cupcake pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 mins. When the graham cracker crust is done baking, set aside to cool.
Whip the cream, sugar, pumpkin, cream cheese, and vanilla together. Pour the filling into each of the cupcake molds. Freeze for about an hr or overnight. When ready to eat, just run a knife around the outside of the cake to loosen it out.

*Note, this recipe is lighter on the pumpkin flavor than I would like. I didn't have anymore puree sitting in the fridge though! So feel free to adjust to your liking.

Mini Rolo Cupcakes

Rolo in the center, Rolo in the buttercream. What's not to love? And if that wasn't enough, a bit of salt was added to the buttercream giving it that slightly salted caramel taste.

This recipe made about 4 dozen mini cupcakes. We didn't know how we were gonna eat all of them so we sent my parents home with a dozen. But by the time we reached our last cupcake, we had wished we didn't give that last dozen away. It was that good...

Mini Rolo Cupcakes

For the cupcakes you’ll need:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 c. sugar + 1 c. vanilla sugar (or 2 c. sugar)
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1 c. flour

48 Rolos (2  12-oz. bags of Rolos will suffice for the cupcakes and buttercream)

For the buttercream you’ll need:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

20 Rolos
2 T. heavy cream
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. + 1/8 t. salt

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F).

To make the cupcakes, melt together the butter and unsweetened chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl on high heat for 90 seconds. Remove it from the microwave and stir until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Add in the sugar, and stir until it is well combined. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla and salt. Finally, stir in the flour.

Put a teaspoon of the batter into paper-lined mini cupcake tins. They should be about half full. Put one Rolo in each tin, then cover with another teaspoon of batter so the tins are about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cupcakes have set. They will give a little when you gently press your finger into the top of them, but they should not be too soft.

Allow to cool, then make the buttercream!

First, melt the Rolos with the heavy cream. You can pop it in the microwave for 30 second increments, until the caramel is smooth. Allow it to cool in the fridge for a few minutes.

Whip the butter for about 30 seconds on med-high speed, so it gets fluffy. Add in about one cup of powdered sugar, and mix until it's all combined. Once the caramel is cool to the touch, turn the mixer on medium speed and then drizzle the caramel into the frosting. If it's too hot, it'll melt the buttercream, so be patient.

Beat until fluffy. Then add in the other cup of powdered sugar and 1/2 t. of the salt. Mix and taste to see if the last 1/8 t. of salt is needed. A little goes a long way with the salt and everyone's taste preference differs, but I added the last salt addition. Lastly, frost the cupcakes and grate a few chocolate shavings over the top.

A little note: The batter is dense like a brownie, so some of the cupcakes stuck to the cupcake liners. Next time, and there will be a next time, I would try using non-stick cooking spray instead of paper liners. Update: If u do, bake them for a little less about 15 mins. It seems to bake more without the wrapper. 

recipe adapted from Bake It in a Cake

 

Brown Butter Cupcakes with Brown Buttercream Frosting

There's this local bakery near us called Gimme Some Suga that makes these delicious browned butter cupcakes. Ever since I tried them last summer, browned butter has been on my to-do list. I came across a browned butter cupcake recipe on Foodbuzz and had to give it a try, hoping they'd taste just like the one in the bakery. It wasn't as heavenly, but they were still good. These cupcakes were so light and fluffy. You can taste the nutty browned butter aroma in the cupcake for sure, but not so much in the frosting (which was pretty sweet by the way). Either I didn't brown the butter enough for the frosting (since it called for twice as much) or maybe my substitution of milk masked the browned butter? Either way these cupcakes were still really good.

Browned Butter Cake Ingredients

1 cup browned Butter, cooled

2 & 1/2 cups Sugar

5 – Eggs, separated

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 cup Buttermilk

3 cups sifted Cake Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

pinch of Salt

Browned Butter Directions:
To make 1 cup of browned butter: Slice the unsalted butter stick into 1 tbsp sized slices. Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced butter (sliced so that the butter melts more evenly) whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter. Once melted the butter will foam up a bit, then subside. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. (About 7 mins total cooking time.) Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and place on a cool surface to help stop the butter from cooking further and perhaps burning.

Cake Directions:
Allow ingredients to come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, beat cooled brown butter with sugar for 3 minutes.

Add egg yolks one at a time and vanilla and beat for another 3 minutes.

Sift dry ingredients and add to butter/egg mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Mix just till combined.

In another bowl and clean beaters, beat egg whites till stiff and add in an increment of 3 to cake batter, being sure to fold in thoroughly but gently.

Bake for 18 or so minutes for cupcakes and 20-25 minutes for 9 inch round cake pans.

Makes 3 dozen cupcakes or 3, 9 inch round cake pans.

Browned Buttercream Frosting

2 cups browned Butter, cooled and solidified

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/3 cup whole milk, plus another 1/3 cup

2 lb. Powdered Sugar, sifted

Directions

In a medium bowl, add butter and whip till light and creamy, about 3 minutes.

Add vanilla extract and 1/3 cup milk and blend.

Slowly add powdered sugar while mixing.

At this point you may need to add more liquid. I added another 1/3 cup to achieve a spreadable and fluffy consistency. Whip for several minutes.

Adapted from Apron of Grace and Simply Recipes

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Pomegranate Tangerine Sorbet

Pomegranate sorbet made with real pomegranates taste SO much better! Yes it's easier to just buy pomegranate juice, but it really doesn't taste the same. Try extracting your own pomegranate juice and make this sorbet. You'll get a sorbet that's much fruitier and the flavors really shine through. First, start by making the simple syrup. To make the simple syrup, bring 1 cup each sugar and water to a boil, stirring until dissolved. Let it cool while you extract juices from 2 pomegranates and 3 tangerines. Mix the pomegranate juice, tangerine juice, and simple syrup together and freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction. Simple as that! The tangerine juice really complimented the pomegranate, adding a sweet citrusy flavor to the sorbet. Mint would also be great with this as well.

Now, I experimented with two different ways in extracting the juice from a pomegranate fruit. I saw Giada on Food Network once recommending us to roll the pomegranate around on a surface. This will cause the seeds to burst inside the pomegranate. After rolling the pomegranate around for a while, until you don't hear much popping inside, you stab a hole into the pomegranate and then squeeze out the juice. I tried this. The rolling part wasn't hard, the squeezing part was. I even called Matt down to help me finish squeezing. Unless you have some serious muscle, doing it this way will not allow you to extract all the juice you could from the pomegranate. And when you poke a hole into the pomegranate, the juice squirts out causing an upsetting mess!

I also tried another way with this lemon juicer I had. It's similar to this apparatus:

I was able to extract more juice this way, but there was still a huge mess. Juice would squirt up, so I had to work carefully to limit the mess. If you had a juicer that had a lid to it, that would definitely eliminate such mess, and allow good extraction as well. Maybe something like this apparatus:

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

These caramel apple cheesecake bars are perfect for the Fall. I have been waiting to make these for Thanksgiving and they turned out really yummy! It's not rich at all like it sounds. You really taste the apple and there's not a lot of cheesecake to it. It's more like a tasty bar with tons of delicious crumble topping. But the best part of this dessert is the homemade caramel sauce I drizzled over the crumble topping. So good!!

Now I know what you're thinking when you hear "homemade caramel" - too difficult. I understand. Making your own caramel is intimidating. Matt and I have burnt a couple before. You'll probably burn your first-ever caramel too, but just get over it and try again. And once you get used to it, you'll be rewarded with a delicious caramel that will knock those store-bought ones out of the ballpark.

I was even nervous about making my own caramel sauce for this dessert (since I was taking it to our family), that I even bought some caramel candy as backup. But I was able to nail down on the secret of perfect caramel-making. It's the timing. If you follow my instructions precisely below, you will nail it too. And man was it worth it.

Ingredients:Adapted from My Fiance Likes It

Crust:1 cup flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly chilled and cubed

Filling:

16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping:

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, slightly chilled and cubed
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.

To make the crust, combine flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl.  Cut the butter into the mixture with your fingers or a fork until the mixture is crumbly.

Press the dough into a 9x13 inch pan in an even and flat layer.  Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned.  Set aside.

Make the filling by beating cream cheese and 1/2 cup of sugar in a large bowl.  Add eggs, one at a time, until just incorporated.  Stir in vanilla until just combined.

In a small bowl, combine the apples with the cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of sugar.  Let sit for about 1-2 minutes, then gently fold into cream cheese mixture.

Pour the batter over top of the warm crust.

Make the topping by combining the oats, flour, and brown sugar.  Cut the butter into the mixture until it is chunky and crumbly.

Top the cream cheese mixture with an even layer of the topping.  There's a lot of it. Don't be afraid, you'll want it all on there, trust me.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until cream cheese mixture is set and topping is a nice golden brown.

Make your caramel sauce by simmering the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat, swirling the pan but not stirring, until dark amber, exactly 12 mins. Take off the heat, and then whisk in the cream and vanilla. (It will bubble and sputter when you add the cream. Don't worry just whisk.) Let it cool. (The caramel sauce will look like the consistency of hot chocolate at first, but as you set it aside to cool it will thicken, darken in color, and become more like the caramel sauce pictured above.)

Drizzle caramel sauce over cheesecake and enjoy!

I wish I could take better food pictures, but I probably need to stop using my phone then and invest in a good camera. Oh well, as long as I deliver food that is tasty, right? :)

Cookies 'n Cream Icebox Cake

My favorite type of cake is probably ice cream cake. It's not too sweet but still satisfies your sweet tooth. That's why it's the only type of cake my family can all agree on. This icebox cake really reminds me of an ice cream cake, and it's so easy to make too. I know what I'll be making my family for their next dinner visit!

First I made the Oreo crust by crushing up enough Oreos to cover a 9" springform pan. Mix in about 2-3 tbsp of melted butter to the crushed Oreos, and then press it into the bottom of the springform pan. Bake it at 350 degrees F for about 10 mins. While that's cooling I start on the filling. With a hand mixer, I beat 2 c heavy cream, 1 c sugar, 8 oz mascarpone cheese, and 2 tsp vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Then I mix in more crushed Oreos. Add the filling to the pan with the cooled Oreo crust. Spread the filling out evenly in the pan, and then cover the pan tightly with saran wrap. Chill overnight. When you take it out of the freezer, run a knife under some water and then along the edge of the cake. This will help it come out cleanly. Last step is to just serve you up a slice!

Meyer Lemon Creme Brulee

Creme brulee - it's so easy to make and seems so fancy. My mom had her first one during our rehearsal dinner and she loved it. When my family came up to dinner, I knew I had to make some. I made them a vanilla creme brulee. I enjoyed it so much I whipped up another batch of creme brulee lol! This time I added half a Meyer Lemon I had leftover from making a blueberry crisp. The citrus flavor was very subtle, along with the vanilla flavor. I made it in some big, normal-sized ramekins, and also in these tiny thin ramekins for small servings of creme brulee. The smaller ramekins worked better for this creme brulee - you get the right ratio of citrus in the creme brulee and sweet from the sugar coating. When eating it in the bigger ramekin, you were wanting more of that sugar coating to pair with the citrusy creme.

Meyer Lemon Creme Brulee

1 qt heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
6 egg yolks
1/2 c vanilla sugar, plus more for topping
1/2 a Meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a saucepan over medium high heat, add the heavy cream and the vanilla bean and its seeds. Bring to a boil. Then remove from heat, cover, and let it sit for 15 mins. In a mixing bowl, add the egg yolks, 1/2 c vanilla sugar or plain sugar, and the zest and juice of half a Meyer lemon. (To get vanilla sugar, add a vanilla bean to 2 c of sugar in an airtight container. Leave for a wk before using. Great way to put used vanilla beans to use!) Whisk the eggs until light in color. Then slowly add the cream to the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour the liquid into the ramekins. Put the ramekins in a baking dish or roasting pan. Add enough hot water to the pan until it comes halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake for 40 mins. Then refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. Before serving, sprinkle sugar on top of the creme brulee, and using a torch melt the sugar. Enjoy!

Nutella Cheesecake Cup

Oh Nutella, what can I say...it's just yummy. Pair it with mascarpone cheese and oh my gosh.

This dessert is a phyllo dough cup, filled with a rich nutella mascarpone filling, and topped with some homemade whipped cream. Don't be intimidated by its look. It was incredibly easy and fast to make. And did I say delicious? I really enjoyed creating this recipe. Now I wanna go make some more just thinking about it, mmmmm :)

Nutella Cheesecake Cup
makes 6 cups
cooking time: 10-12 mins

Ingredients:
tbsp of melted butter
6 sheets phyllo dough 
1 c. nutella
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3/4 c. sugar
chocolate for shaving

To prepare the phyllo cup:
Grease a cupcake pan with the melted butter. Take one sheet of the thawed phyllo dough and fold it so it will fit in the cupcake mold. Repeat with the remaining phyllo dough. With a small pastry brush butter the phyllo cups. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 mins until golden brown.

To prepare the filling:
Whip the nutella and mascarpone cheese with an electric mixer until well blended.
Chill for at least an hr for the cheesecake texture. If you don't have time to chill that's fine. The dessert will be more like a pie and is still yummy (pictured). I enjoyed it chilled more because I love cheesecake more.

To prepare the whipped cream:
Whip the cream and sugar on medium high speed until stiff peaks form. About 5 mins.

 Fill each phyllo cup with the nutella filling. Then top with the whipped cream. Zest some chocolate over the dessert cups and enjoy!

Easter cupcakes

Aren't they cute?! They turned out so good. I got the decorating idea from FN. For the egg cutouts I used Airheads! I cut one of the of Airheads in half. Then shaped each half into an oval. Your hands are perfect for this job. The heat from your hands helps flatten and mold it. (I tried a rolling pin before that and it didn't work quite as well.) Then I used a paring knife to cut the eggs into shape. If you have time, place the egg cutouts on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and stick it in the fridge for a little bit - to help the eggs harden back up. I needed to get to bed and didn't do that, so I came back downstairs this morning to find some of the edges pointing down a little. Plus it's because my house is so hot right now with no AC on. :P They are still cute though! I thought about melting some white chocolate and letting that harden and then cutting out egg shapes that way instead, but I didn't have time. I love how cute they turned out and hope everyone enjoys them. Happy Easter!

Giada's Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet

Pomegranate and Mint Sorbet

I love Giada - one of my favorite FN chefs. A lot of her recipes are so healthy. And this one definitely lived up to her style. When I saw her make this on tv I had to try it with the ice cream maker my mother-in-law got us. The sorbet was so light and refreshing. And extremely quick and easy to make. I'd recommend it for the upcoming summer gathering. Personally, I would use less mint, maybe half a cup. It really came out strong. So did the orange juice. To combat that, I would probably use a 3:1 ratio of pomegranate juice to orange juice. And I would recommend freezing the sorbet after it comes out of the ice cream maker before eating it. I didn't add chocolate chips to mine, personal preference. I did top it with some white chocolate chips to see, and still think the sorbet is just better alone. Other ideas I had in mixing up this recipe is adding some blueberries as a topper or in place of the mint in the simple syrup. I wonder how apple juice in place of orange juice could be too. Might try it since I have all of this in the fridge, and will let you know!