Tuesday 31 July 2012

Sour Cream Brownie Bricks

Again, I found this recipe on pinterest. It looks really interesting and looks absolutely amazing! Here's the recipe:
  • 10 1/2 oz. high-quality bittersweet chocolate (in the 70% range), chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 14 oz. unsalted butter, chopped into 1-inch pieces
  • 7 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche), at room temperature
  • 2 3/4 cups sugar
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 (F). Butter a 9" x 13" baking pan and dust it with cocoa, making sure to shake out the excess cocoa. Set aside.

  • Melt 10 1/2 oz. chocolate and 14 oz. butter in a double boiler, making sure to stir constantly so the chocolate doesn't burn. Set aside to cool slightly.

  • Use a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) to whisk 7 eggs with 2/3 cup sour cream, 2 3/4 cups sugar, and 3 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Whisk for at least 5 minutes until you get a nice, light, airy mixture.

  • When your egg mixture is nice and airy, add the chocolate/butter mixture from the first step and usea rubber spatula to mix together until just combined.

  • In a large mixing bowl, sift and mix 1 2/3 cups flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and 1 1/4 salt. Use a measuring cup to form a deep well in the center. You should be able to see the bottom of the bowl.

  • Pour the wet ingredients (your egg/chocolate/butter mixture from step 3) into the well in the center of the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to gradually incorporate all of the dry ingredients, mixing as little as possible. Be careful not to overmix the batter, or you will have tough brownies and I will cry for you! Just keep mixing until you see one or two flour streaks in the batter, then stop.

  • Fill the cocoa-dusted pan with the brownie batter, and sprinkle the entire surface evenly with big pinches of granulated sugar.

  • Bake for 24 - 30 minutes. Check for doneness every few minutes thereafter, being careful not to overcook. The goal is for the middle to be a bit fudgy, so if you insert a toothpick into the brownies, it should come out a little dirty, but not with any liquid batter on it.

  • Cool on a wire rack completely before slicing into squares.

  • Tuesday 24 July 2012

    Shamerock Protein Shake

    I found this recipe on pinterest and it looks SOOOO good. I think I should try it some time over the summer for my family. Any objections? Not coming from me! Here's what you need:
     1/2 low fat Cottage Cheese
    1/4 cup Vanilla or Plain protein powder
    1/8 teaspoon Mint Extract (Sometimes it's called Peppermint Extract. If your  grocery store doesn't have Mint, than go with the peppermint.)
    2-3 packets of sweetener
    5-10 ice cubes
    4 oz water
    2-3 drops of green food colouring or a handful of spinach to make it green (You won't taste the spinach. It gives it some more protein)
    1-2 tablespoons Sugar Free Instant Pistachio Pudding Mix
    Pinch Guar or xanthan gum

    Directions:
    Put all the base ingredients in the blender, and blend away until desired consistency! Swirl in one drop of green food coloring just before serving, and top with whipped cream if desired!

    Sunday 22 July 2012

    Wonton Soup

    I took a fifth year of high school to take a culinary course. I met a lot of people and there was this one guy that I met and we all called him Wonton. He has to be the most awesome Asian that I have ever met in my life. There have been so many inside jokes that were created that some how involve him. He has requested me to put a recipe up for Wonton Soup. So, here it is:

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 pound boneless pork loin, coarsely chopped
    • 2 ounces peeled shrimp, finely chopped
    • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine
    • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
    • 1 teaspoon finely chopped green onion
    • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root
    • 24 (3.5 inch square) wonton wrappers
    • 3 cups chicken stock
    • 1/8 cup finely chopped green onion

    Directions

    1. In a large bowl, combine pork, shrimp, sugar, wine, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon chopped green onion and ginger. Blend well, and let stand for 25 to 30 minutes.
    2. Place about one teaspoon of the filling at the center of each wonton skin. Moisten all 4 edges of wonton wrapper with water, then pull the top corner down to the bottom, folding the wrapper over the filling to make a triangle. Press edges firmly to make a seal. Bring left and right corners together above the filling. Overlap the tips of these corners, moisten with water and press together. Continue until all wrappers are used.
    3. FOR SOUP: Bring the chicken stock to a rolling boil. Drop wontons in, and cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped green onion, and serve.

    Chocolate Chip Cookies

    As a kid, my dad made chocolate chip cookies with my brother, sister and I after dinner. It was probably my first memory of being in the kitchen. My mom would let us have the cookies right after the first batch would be made. Unfortunately, it all came to an end when my brother and sister went into the higher grades in their education. I didn't mind. I would make them with my sister on occasion as I was still to young to use the oven by myself.

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup butter, softened
    • 1 cup white sugar
    • 1 cup packed brown sugar
    • 2 eggs
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 3 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 2 teaspoons hot water
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
    • 1 cup chopped walnuts (Optional)

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
    2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
    3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

    Saturday 21 July 2012

    I am now on Facebook!

    Easy Rolled Fondant

    The first time I made this was a few weeks ago. After I made it, it was VERY sticky and wasn't what fondant should look like. I decided to put it in the fridge for a few hours for it to set properly. As my luck would have it, it set properly. If I did not need it that day, I would have let it set over night for better results. I used this for sugar cookies for Canada Day. It didn't really stick to the cookie by it's self. So I decided to use something call Simple Syrup. It's mostly sugar with water. You use 1/4 cup of sugar and two tablespoons of water and heat it over low heat on your stove. You let it cool and when you're ready to use it, brush it over what your going to use it on. Simple Syrup is pretty much used as a glue. Anyways, as promised, here's the Fondant recipe you are hoping for:


    INGREDIENTS:
    2½ cups sugar
    2/3 cups water
    1 cup vegetable shortening
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    5 cups confectioner’s sugar

    DIRECTIONS:
    1. Combine the 2 ½ cups of sugar and 2/3 cups of water in a sauce pan on the stove. Boil the mixture until syrup is formed.
    2. In a large bowl, combine sugar syrup and the shortening and mix well.
    *3. Add the vanilla flavoring to the sugar and shortening mix.
    **4. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar, mixing continuously until a thick dough begins to form.
    5. Knead dough by hand until stiff.
    6. Lay the dough on a cool, flat area dusted with confectioner’s sugar and roll out with a rolling pin coated with confectioner’s sugar to 1/8 inch. Drape over cake.
    * Instead of vanilla extract, you can use peppermint extract, lemon extract, or almond extract for holidays.
    ** You can add food colouring to the dough at this stage
    ~Try putting a layer of buttercream frosting on the cake first. It will help eliminate the crumbs in the final appearance

    Friday 20 July 2012

    Mint Chocolate Cookies

    This is one of my favorite cookie recipes. I found it online weeks ago online while my parents were away on vacation and I made a batch for my brother, sister, and I. The batch went in about a week. Unfortunately I couldn't find the mint chocolate chips that it called for so I decided to use butterscotch chips. It tasted really good none-the-less. I made a batch when my parents came home with butterscotch chips again. A few days later, my mom came home with mint chocolate chips. And where did she get them? Walmart. Any who. Here's the recipe for the mint chocolate cookies:

    Ingredients

    • 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
    • 2/3 cup Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening or Crisco® Baking Sticks All-Vegetable Shortening*
    • 1 tablespoon water
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
    • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
    • 1 1/2 cups Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
    • 2 cups mint chocolate chips

    Directions

    1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
    2. Combine brown sugar, shortening, water, vanilla and peppermint extracts in large bowl; beat at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix well.
    3. Combine flour, salt, cocoa and baking soda in medium bowl; add to shortening mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended. Stir in mint chocolate chips.
    4. Drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
    5. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are set. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheets; transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

    Hi All!

    This is the first post of my baking blog! Welcome! I think you should know a little bit about me first before I start posting some things about baking on here. Well. My name is Natalie and I will be starting college in the fall. I will be going into gerontology. For those who think that it's just a long word that no one can pronounce, I'm going to say what I always say to people who don't know the definition. I'm basically going to school to learn how to work with senior citizens. I love working with the elderly and it will be a growing field within the next ten years. I have an older brother and sister. So that makes me the youngest of three. I got my first baking cookbook at the age of 11 from my grandmother and my late grandfather, who unfortunately passed away that summer. It was definitely the most memorable present that I got from them. My earliest memory of baking would be when I was about 5, my sister was 9, and my brother at 11 and we would be baking chocolate chip cookies with our dad on a Friday night after we all had our dinner. Ever since, I loved to bake and I would do it every day of my life if I had a passion strong enough for it. Anyways. I have to get ready for work. I'll keep you posted with favorite recipes and recipes that I want to try out! Stay frosty!