Banana Oat Bundles

I've been craving these little bundles (cross between a cookie and a muffin) for about two weeks and finally got around to making them tonight so I thought I'd share the recipe while I'm waiting for the last batch to come out of the oven. They're wheat and dairy free for those with allergies and very easy to make for those who need a little sweet and salty fix. The recipe is from Vive Le Vegan by Dreena Burton.

1 c. quick oats
1 c. ground quick oats (in a blender or food processor)
1/4 c. unrefined sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon or ground cardamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. overripe bananas (about 2 large ones), pureed (blender or food processor)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-3 1/2 tbsp canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In large bowl, combine the oats, ground oats, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, and sift in the baking powder. Stir through until well combined.
3. In another bowl, combine the pureed banana, vanilla and canola oil, stirring through.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry, stir through until just well combined.
5. Drop large spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden.
7. Remove from oven and let cool on pan for 1 minute, then transfer to cooling rack.

Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie

This past Thursday a few friends and I got together with the plan to practice some Spanish. In true Spanish-style, we all showed up late at Jenn's house and enjoyed music and sangria while we helped put the finishing touches on the wonderful spread that Jenn had put together. While not much Spanish was practiced, we had a wonderful evening sharing stories about our experiences abroad, nicknames and language slip-ups. We topped the evening off with a sopapilla cheesecake pie that Jenn had whipped up earlier in the day. It was so delicious that I asked her to pass on the recipe for me to share. She got it from AllRecipes.com and it can be found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sopapilla-Cheesecake-Pie/Detail.aspx. I've copied it directly below, though, so you don't have to go searching!

Espero que puedan disfrutarlo como nosostros con amigos y risas! Buen Provecho!

Ingredients:

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract
• 2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
3. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough. Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares.

Oreo Bon Bons

With Valentine's around the corner, I wanted to share this recipe for making the most delicious oreo bon bons that are sure to satisfy the chocolate lovers our there. They are quite easy to make and look pretty dashing! They're constantly a hit, but be careful, they've even resulted in marriage proposals.

Ingredients:
1 package oreos (don’t do double stuffed, it's too moist and the batter won't hold up)
1 package regular cream cheese, softened (8 oz - I get the box of Philadelphia)
1 package chocolate chips (I use 60% dark chocolate, you can also use semisweet)
Optional Toppings: shredded coconut, white chocolate (melted or shaved), nuts, sprinkles, etc

- Put the oreos in a food processor or blender and blend until pretty fine (if there are some coarse pieces left, that’s just fine)
- Pour the oreo mix into a medium size bowl
- Mix the cream cheese into the mix with a spoon until mixed well combined, I usually use my hands in the end
- Cover and chill for 15-30 minutes
- Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper
- Roll the oreo & cream cheese mix into small balls and place on the lined cookie sheet
- Cover and chill for 30 minutes
- Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler (or glass bowl over pan with simmering water), stirring frequently
- Dip the oreo balls into the melted chocolate to coat and return to the cookie sheet
- Sprinkle on the toppings as desired
- Return to fridge to chill (I wouldn’t cover them while they’re still wet)
- ENJOY!

Bob Dylan Fudge Bars

Patrick- These are for you.

After watching that 2 part Bob Dylan documentary( which was fabulous). I couldn't help but try this recipe when I saw it in the paper this morning. The frosting recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. The fudge bars were alitte dry- I think I would bake them no longer than the 25 minutes they suggest and see if that helps.( I was working on my computer at the same time and think I may have baked them a bit too long. The frosting is just as easy as they say and wonderful- tastes like the frosting that is used on the chocolate chocolate cake at Cafe Latte. I used semi-sweet chocolate and really like it. Recipe for the frosting is enough to frost a whole cake so make 1/3 of recipe for top of bars.

From Duluth News Tribune- Feb 2008

What was comfort food for Bob Dylan growing up in Hibbing? Since we often connect comfort food to what mom made when we were children, Aaron Brown of Bovey figures these fudge bars were comfort food for Dylan. Brown said the recipe comes from Dylan's mother,Beatty Zimmerman, who died in 2000. He contributed it to "C is for Comfort Foods" as an emissary of Hibbing's Dylan Days, which he co-chairs. "We presume these fudge bars are the very bars he ate as a boy, " Brown says. "We have no reason to believe otherwise."

Bob Dylan Fudge Bars

1/3 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cocoa or 2 packages cocoa bake
1 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder '
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped nuts, optional
Chocolate frosting

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until fluffy. Add cocoa to the well-creamed mixture. Hand·mix the flour, baking powder and milk to the creamed mixture. !fusing nuts,
add them to the mixture. Pour mixture into a greased and floured 9·inch·by-9-inch or 8·inch·
by·lQ·inch pan. Place in a 350·degree oven. Bake about 25minutes, until sides shrink from
sides; remove from oven and cool. When cool, frost with chocolate frosting.

Yield 16 Bars

Foolproof Chocolate Frosting-

From Cook's Illustrated

makes bout 3 cups, enough to frost on 9 inch 2 layer cake

This frosting may be made with milk, semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate. For our Fluffy Yellow LayerCake, we prefer a frosting made with milk chocolate. Cool the chocolate to between 85 and 100 degrees before adding it to the butter mixture. The frosting can be made 3 hours in advance. For longer storage, refrigerate tlle fi'osting, covered, and let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour before using.

20 tablespoons (21/2 sticks) unsalted butter,
softened (60 to 65 degrees)
cup (4 ounces) confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
Pinch table salt
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces chocolate, melted and cooled slightly( see note)

In food processor, process butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt until smooth, about 30 seconds, scraping
sides of bowl as needed. Add corn syrup and vanilla and process until just combined,S to 10 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl, then add chocolate and pulse until smooth and creamy, 10 to 15 seconds. Frosting can be used immediately or held (see note).

Scavengers lunch time dessert & Vanilla Pudding

So, I had random left overs in my fridge:

- too soupy homemade vanilla pudding (I tried to cook it long enough for it to firm up, but it just got foamy. I blame it on the fact that I was making the pudding as a craving at midnight)

- week old rice from an old take out order ( forgotten at the back of the fridge)

I thought why not make rice pudding? Much like Dad's, except using actual pudding vs. milk.

Rice Pudding

1.  I fried the left over rice in a pan with some butter until it was softened up and warm.

2.  Added a small bowl of pudding that was the consistence of Kefir, I mean really soupy.

3.  Threw in a little cinnamon and a bit of sugar to taste.

4.   Waited for it to get bubbly and thicken up.

Viola! Tasty rice pudding!

Now, dad's old recipe and grandma busche's for that matter, add raisins.

I hate raisins. With a terrible and fierce passion.

But if you want to ruin your tasty rice pudding with raisins, be my guest.

Vanilla Pudding ( Grandma Busche's Recipe, i think )

5 cups milk

3 eggs

4 tbsp cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

sprinkle of salt

In a double boiler bring milk to a boil ( i don't own this double boiler thing, so I just use a regular pot and make sure to stir it a lot so the milk doesn't scald on the bottom.  If it does scald, just don't scrape the bottom of the pan and you should be fine)

While your waiting for the milk to boil mix together eggs, cornstarch, sugar, and salt.  I found that if I just mix everything together all at once my cornstarch gets lumpy, and then my pudding gets lumpy.  So I mixed the sugar, salt, and cornstarch with a fork first.  That way the cornstarch is totally incorporated before you add the eggs.  Make sure its well mixed ( a nice butter yellow color ).

When the milk comes to a boil ( it looks like its foaming ), SLOWLY add the egg mixture, stirring constantly.  If your not slow or stirring constantly, you'll get lumps, which aren't so tasty.

Keep stirring over a medium heat until the pudding has thickened to the consistence you like. Keep in mind that it will firm a little bit as it cools.

This makes a lot of pudding, so I usually make a big bowl for myself to eat when it cools slightly ( though I usually can't wait and burn my mouth ).  The rest I put into bowls and put those in the fridge for the week.  And by week I mean the following day.

Enjoy!

Ora

Macaroons

My first attempt at macaroons - they tasted wonderful and completely gluten-free, however since it was my first time ever having a macaroon, its hard to say whether they came out "correctly". I made them with almonds because I was unable to find hazelnuts, but I would like to track down some hazelnuts and compare.

Hazelnut Macaroon Sandwiches

Ingredients:

4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup toasted, skinned and ground hazelnuts ( I used almond flour and toasted it in a frying pan on the stove)
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
About 2/3 cup ganache filling ( refrigerate until cool and thick enough to spread

Directions:

Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper. Have ready a third rimless baking sheet, unlined.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat on medium speed until the whites begin to thicken. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat just until soft peaks form. Slowly add the superfine sugar and continue to beat until stiff, shiny peaks form. Beat in the vanilla until blended. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the hazelnuts and confectioners sugar until incorporated.

Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe mounds 1 1/2 inches in diameter onto the prepared baking sheets spacing the mounds 1 inch apart ( I made them in all different sizes to test; the ones where the dough was the size of a quarter going in were the best.) With a damp fingertip, gently smooth any pointy tips. Let the stand, uncovered, at room temperature for 35 to 45 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 350F.

Bake the cookies, 1 sheet at a time, putting the cookie-filled baking sheet on opt of the unlined baking sheet. (This insulates the top baking sheet so the cookie bottoms do not darken too much.) Bake until the tops and bottoms are firm and golden, 10 to 13 minutes.

Remove the baking sheet form the oven, carefully lift the parchment, one end at a time, and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons water under the paper. Be careful that the steam does not burn you and that the water does not splash on the cookies. (The steam loosens the cookies form the paper.) After 3 minutes, slide the parchment paper off the baking sheet, peel the cookies from the paper and transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Turn half of the cookies bottom side up. Spread a tin layer of the ganache filling ( about 1 rounded tsp.) over the cookie bottoms, Press a plain cookie, bottoms side down, onto the ganache. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Makes about 24 cookies.

Ganache Filling

Ingredients:

6oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate finely chopped- I used semisweet baking chocolate
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

In a heat proof bowl, combine the chocolate and butter.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cream just to a boil. Remove from the heat and immediately pour the cream over the chocolate and butter. Using a hand held whisk, stir the mixture until the chocolate and butter melt and are smooth. Let cool until spreadable.

Makes about 1 1/3 cups.

Lemon Cake

Ok guys I thought I'd start this out. I tried this Lemon Cake a couple of weeks ago and I really liked it, though I changed the frosting a bit. I made only 1/2 of the cake recipe and then cut it into 2 peices so that I could try 2 different frosting recipes.

The first one was the one below that was included with this recipe- only change was that I added extra lemon juice a total of 4 1/2 TBs, which made it very lemony- a bit tart, but perfect for anyone longing for lemon cake. The second frosting I made with whipping cream( whipped with lots of powder sugar and a little lemon juice) so that it makes a light frosting. I liked the whipped cream frosting best, but Frank liked the tart lemon frosting.

Triple-Lemon Layer Cake Adapted from Fine Cooking( I found it on Chowhound.com- blogg ideas form readers)

For the Cake:
9 1/4 ounces (2 1/3 cups) cake flour;more for the pans
2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
6 ounces (3/4 cup) unsalted buttercompletely softened
1 cup whole milkroom temperature
5 large egg whitesroom temperature
1/4 teaspoon creme of tarter

Filling*-
3 ounces unsalted butterroom temperature1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Frosting-8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter,completely softened
2 tablespoon lightly packed finelygrated lemon zest
3 ½ cups sifted confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Make the lemon curd first so it can chill.*This lemon curd is actually from an earlier Fine Cooking. It is in firstplace in e-gullets lemon curd bake-off.
I like to use my mixer bowl as a double boiler when making it. That way when its done I can put it back on my mixer and whip it until cool. I think it gives it a creamier , fluffier, texture.Don’t omit the unusual creaming of ingredients at the beginning. Fine Cooking found it eliminated the curdled bits of egg you usually have to strain out.
Beat the butter with the sugar until it’s light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 minute more, then stir in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled. Do not panic.
Cook the mixture over low heat until it becomes smooth, then increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, without letting it boil, until it thickens enough to leave a path on the back of the spoon when you drag your finger through it. If you want to go by temperature, you’re looking for 170 F.
Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest. Press plastic wrap on surface to prevent a skin from forming and chill in the refrigerate.
Make the Cake:
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8 by 2 inch round cake pans. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Pulse 1/4 cup of the sugar with the zest in a food processor until well combined.In a large bowl, beat the butter and lemon sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 1 ½ minutes). Add the remaining sugar and beat until smooth (about 1 ½ minutes). Beat in a quarter of the milk just until blended. On low speed, add the flour mixture alternatively with the milk in three batches, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula; beat just until blended.In another bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer (with clean beaters or a whisk attachment) on medium speed just until foamy. Add the creme of tarter, increase the speed to medium high, and beat until the whites form stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted. Add a quarter of the whites to the batter and gently fold them in with a rubber spatula; continue to gently fold tin the whites, a quarter at a time , being careful not to deflate the mixture.Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake until a pick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Let cool in the pans 10 minutes. Run a table knife along the sides of the pans and carefully invert each cake out onto the rack. Flip them right side up and let them cool completely.With the palm of one hand pressed on top of a cake layer, cut each in half horizontally, using a long serrated knife. Put one of the cake layers on a serving plate, cut side up. With an offset spatula or a table knife, spread a generous 1/3 a cup on top of the cake layer. Lay another cake layer on top, spread it with another generous 1/3 a cup, and repeat with third cake layer. (You will have extra curd, enjoy!) Top with the fourth cake layer.

Make the Frosting:
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and lemon zest with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners sugar in batches and beat until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice and beat for one minute. (You can make the frosting a couple of hours early and keep it, covered, at cool room temperature.)

Frost the Cake:
Up to a few hours ahead, spread a thin layer of frosting on the cake, filling in any gaps as you go. Chill until the frosting firms up a bit, about ½ hour. Spread the remaining frosting decoratively over the top and sides of cake. Scatter with bits of lemon zest and silver dragees, or garnish as you like.