White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake

Here's a last minute idea for Christmas dessert. White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake. Oh Boy! Cheesecake is one of my all time favorite desserts. Any kind really. As long as its cheesecake and this one fits the bill for the holidays. A smooth mellow white chocolate batter, spiked with peppermint extract, sprinkled with crushed candy canes and sitting atop a chocolate Oreo crust. This will last a few days so making it now is a good option. It also freezes beautifully. I actually froze it, cut it into serving sizes, wrapped those tightly in plastic wrap, and popped them back in the freezer. Single servings of cheesecake anytime I want. It IS Christmas. 

I've adapted this recipe from my current blog crush "The Woodland Bakery Blog". Go check out Gretchen's tips for cheesecakes, they are invaluable. Although this recipe is step intensive it doesn't really have any fancy technique. It's pretty hard to mess it up. So in the interest of time, let's get to it. . .

White Texas Sheet Cake

Seems like "Texas Sheet Cakes" are all the rage on the internet these days. Almost every cooking blog has one and they're all over Pinterest. There are about a million versions, I'm not kidding, a million. There's chocolate, white, pumpkin, peanut butter, red velvet, lemon, and even a "turtle" version. Seriously, if you can think up a flavor combination, there's a Texas Sheet Cake recipe out there for it. One thing all these cakes seem to have in common is that they are big and flat (baked in a jelly roll pan) and all have some sort of icing. They also all use a melted butter method which is foreign to me as I've always made cakes by creaming the butter first. Hmmmm? Well, I like cake. I like icing. And, my Moms is from Texas so I figured I'd find out what all the fuss is about.

Chocolate Sheet Cake with fudge icing seems to be the most popular recipe out there. And, I've heard raves about Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake, it has pecans! But, believe it or not, I wasn't really in the mood to make a chocolate cake. I know, cray cray, you say. But as much as I love chocolate I also love all things vanilla. So I decided to go with this White Texas Sheet Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting. Check it out. . .

Fudge Drops

OK, again, another Pinterest recipe. Sorry folks, don't mean to be repetitive but Pinterest is just my "go to" when I'm looking for a recipe. And who can pass up a recipe for Brownie Cookies. Not me, that's fo show! This "Fudge Drops" recipe promised a lot. But, it came from the King Arthur web site and thus far, King Arthur recipes haven't let me down so I was willing to plunk down the serious bucks for some serious chocolate and give this recipe a try. Expectations were high to say the lest. See how it turned out. . .

3-2-1 Cake

So when I came across this recipe it was called "1-2-3 Cake". Which is kinda an accurate name for it, but kinda backwards to me. (You'll see why later.) So I'm renaming it "3-2-1 Cake". A subtile difference yes, but it makes sense. At least in my mind. A mind that craves rules and order, and there must be order. Opps, didn't mean to let some of my crazy slip out. Just ignore. Anywho. . .

My co-worker recently had a child leave home for college. Although "T" will be a dorm dweller, she'd still like to occasionally cook. Unfortunately her kitchen resources are limited. As my co-worker doesn't "Pinterest", smart lady, "Pinterest" is web heroin, I hipped her to all the "mug/microwave" dessert recipes on Pinterest, for her dorm residing child. As we looked over them the one stumbling block was always the list of ingredients. Sure, all the dry ingredients could be assembled in packets and shipped with "care packages" but the egg and oil seemed to be the problem. Then I came across this recipe which just uses a couple of cake mixes and water. Huzzah! Problem solved.

Peppermint Patties

I love Peppermint Patties. So creamy, cool and snappy. They're a nice finish when you're looking for a little something sweet after dinner but not wanting to go for a big dessert. I usually have some around, hidden in the pantry or out in a candy dish, depends on my mood. When I saw some recipes on the old interweb for a home made version, my mind was swimming with possibilities. I usually don't go in for "copycat" candy recipes because, seriously, they are a lot of work and have a lot of components. I can spend all day in the kitchen or just run down to 7-11 a grab a Snicker's. A lot of work for not much payoff, no thanks. On the other hand, the peppermint patty recipes looked pretty simple and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. I decided I'd give 'em a try.

Chocolate Dipped Espresso Shortbread

Shortbread cookies are yummy!

Coffee flavored anything is yummy!

Chocolate dipped anything is yummy! (Well, within reason.)

So Chocolate Dipped Espresso Shortbread is YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!

Did I mention these cookies are yummy?

I absolutely adore shortbread cookies, all varieties, all variations. They're just so buttery and tender and simple and delicious. This recipe used to be in my regular Christmas Cookie list (minus the chocolate dipping) and I made them every year. I really don't know when they got dropped from the list and why I forgot about them. Maybe it has something to do with getting married, having kids, and loosing my mind. Maybe? Maybe not. Anywho, I was trying to organize a sloppy folder of recipes last week and this gem fell out of the pile. Couldn't believe I'd forgotten about them so I had to make them immediately to redeem myself. Would they be as good as I remembered? Uh, YEAH!

Giant Cornflake Crunch Cookies

It's funny how things start to "trend" on the old world wide web. One person "Pins it" or "Blogs it", or "Tweets it" or "Posts it" or  "Instagrams it" or simply mentions it in an email and suddenly its "Trending". On Monday no one has heard of it and by the time you mention it to a friend on Friday, it's old news. And when I say "it" I mean anything. Celebrity gossip, world news, recipes, crafts, you name it. So what seemed to be trending the last week or so was recipes from the Momofuku Milk Bar. Which apparently is a very popular restaurant/bakery in New York. I'd never heard of it before. But it's no secret that, on trending web topics (and popular New York eateries for that matter), I'm often the last one to the party. But at least I got to the party. And what I found was a interesting, eclectic bunch of recipes. Ones with all kinds of wierdo ingredients that I couldn't help but want to try. So I did. I started with the Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies, and next on my list is the Compost Cookies (I can't resist a cookie recipe that calls for potato chips). Check out the cornflake cookies:

Fudgey Chocolate Almond Torte

Don't let the simple look of this torte deceive you. It is a textural delight. Dense, fudgey* and moist. The perfect end to a meal. Simple yet satisfying. I hadn't made this in a long long time. And now I'm kicking myself. It's so good. And so simple to make. But don't let on. It has all the qualities of a gourmet dessert, just none of the hassle. You could totes whip this up next time you have company for dinner and everyone will be impressed. Let them. No one has to know how easy it was to make. Except you, because you're headed to the kitchen right now to make it. . .

(*OK, so. . .is it "fudgy" or "fudgey"?? Actually neither word is a word. A least not according to Merriam-Webster. Google it and they both seem to pop up equally. So I say, who cares! Toe-may-toe,? Ta-maw-toe?)

Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

Hello, long time, no blog. Sorry, lots of summer activities and vacation and no time to cook. No cooking = no blogging = unhappy me. But, I'm back and firing up the oven and stove again and ready to try a bunch of new recipes that I've collected over the summer. So get ready, here we go. . .

I realized that it had been quite a while since I made homemade cookies and that it was time to fill the cookie jar. So, I headed to my fist internet stop for recipes, Pinterest, clicked through a dozen or so cookie recipes and decided to make Chocolate Cherry Shortbread. Partly because they looked different and mostly because I love cherries and chocolate. As I was gathering the ingredients the recipe seemed oddly familiar. And why? Probably because I've made a similar cookie on this blog. HA! You may have seen it here. I decided to go ahead and share this recipe because it is somewhat different. No almond flavor and no two flavors of dough. This cookie is basically a similar flavor combination but the texture is more dense and shortbread like. It's is also a LOT easier to make, fewer steps. The only tweaks I made to the original recipe was to skip the chocolate drizzle and add sprinkles to the outside of the cookie. It was mostly and aesthetic choice, because I liked the look of these cookies. Sprinkles or not, give these cookies a try. . .

Neapolitan Pound Cake

A couple of months ago I copied this recipe for Sour Cream Pound Cake off the internet. I adore southern cooking and southern tradition and this recipe and accompanying story seemed rife with it. I stashed the hand written copy I'd made into my "to make" binder and waited for the opportune moment. Then months later, I stumbled across a picture on Pinterest and followed the link to Neapolitan Pound Cake. Hmmm. . .the gears started cranking. And soon enough, my mind was filled with visions of strawberry pink, vanilla and chocolate brown pound cake. 

I linked on over to the recipe from Pinterest but it had all kinds of ingredients that I'd have to go and buy (cake flour, mascarpone cheese, etc., etc.). Blech, too complicated. But the sour cream pound cake was simple. With just a few tweaks here and there, I could draw inspiration from both recipes and create one all my own. Or kinda. . .sorta. . .seriously, I'm not quite sure when I stops being "their" recipe and becomes "mine". So I'm linking over to all the recipes, trying, in good faith, to give credit where credit is due and keep my fingers crossed that no one sues me. Anywho. . .see how it turned out:

Gluten Free Brownies

If you read my post for Cauliflower Pizza Crust then you read my rant about gluten free recipes. How they never deliver on their promises. How the finished product tastes awful and usually has a weird texture. How they use a bunch of totally obscure, expensive ingredients. How I don't generally like them. Well this recipe fails beautifully to fit that norm. It may be gluten free but that's all it's free of. The taste and texture are great. The ingredients are pretty simple. Except for the coconut flour, which is pretty affordable, you probably already have most of the ingredients. The best part is that you'll never be able to tell they're gluten free. I'm totes serious. I originally tried this recipe as a treat for my dear friend that needs a gluten free diet but I'll be making them again for sure.

I kind of cobbled this recipe together from a few I found on the web and then added the step to separate the eggs and beat the whites to lighten things up. (Gluten free baked goods always tend to be a bit heavy and I assumed this step would help.) Then I flipped over the bag of coconut flour which had a brownie recipe on the back and found my recipe to be pretty darn close to that one. Hmmmm? Funny coincidence. You can find that recipe here. I changed up the technique and temperature which I totally recommend you do. If you make then just like I have below, you'll love them.

Chocolate Pecan Florentine Cookies

This recipe has been floating around in my "To Try" recipe binder, well actually its a pile, shoved into a folder that falls out of my binder every time I pick it up. None the less, I've  hung on to this recipe, a photocopy of what looks to be torn out of a magazine, for about 15 years. Seriously 15 years. It's always looked interesting but I've never had the guts to try it. You know, make it for a friend or bring it to a pot luck untested. I've always passed it over for something more "safe". But with the most recent purge of the "To Try" binder/folder/pile I decided I needed to either try it or toss it. So, I tried it. . .

Toffee Sticks

I was going to title this post "Valentine's Day Quickie." Then I re-thought that. Hmmmm, no double entendres for this family friendly blog. So, I went with Toffee Sticks. Which, by the by, are super duper easy. And, quick. If for you, like me, Valentine's Day has crept up on you and you're totally unprepared, you can whip up a batch of these in no time. If you followed the Oreo Cookie Pops post and/or the Chocolate Caramel Pretzel post, then you totally know what you are doing here. Just dippin' stuff in Chocolate. . .

A Semi-Success

In a perfect world I'd cook and blog full time. I'd have a team of assistants and an awesome professional kitchen. We'd come up with out of this world ideas for fantastic foods then test and retest and tweak until it was the most wonderful thing ever made. It would be paradise and everything on this blog would be a culinary home run. I'd have a book deal and my own Food Network show. In a perfect world.
But. . .
It isn't a perfect world. . .
And I don't have a team of assistants. . .
Or a professional kitchen. . .
Or a book deal. . .
Or my own show on the Food Network. . .
Or the time or resources to test and retest and tweak. . .
Or blog full time. . .
What I am is a full time wife and mother, a part time bank teller, sometime helper for the Little League, owner of two cute mini dachshunds and hobby blogger. So, unfortunately I don't have the time and resources to make a recipe 5 or 6 times until it's just right. I barely have time to make them once. For the most part, the recipes I post here, I've made before. Or it's someone else's recipe that I'm reasonably sure will turn out. And they do. But every now and again, I have a flop, or a semi-flop, like this week. Remember Mandelhoernchen Melancholy?  I call this week's recipe a semi-flop because I tried two new recipes, one worked and the other didn't.

I had this cockamamie idea for my husbands birthday cake. Every year, when I ask him what kind of birthday cake he wants he always says: "I don't need a cake, why don't you make me some chocolate chip cookies." Seriously dude, no cake on your birthday? Not on my watch. So I decided to make a Chocolate Roll Cake (or Swiss Roll) with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Swiss Meringue Buttercream filling. My friend Dina and I had made a Pumpkin Roll Cake back in November with great success and I was reasonably sure I could pull it off again. I chose to go with the cake part of this recipe from Martha Stewart. As for the filling, I've seen TONS of recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Buttercream all over the web lately but they ALL are powdered sugar based buttercreams. I am a steadfast believer in Swiss Meringue Buttercream. It's my totes favorite. So I took a leap and replaced some of the sugar in my favorite buttercream recipe with brown sugar. Added vanilla flavor and then stirred mini chocolate chips in at the end. Wanna know how it all turned out?

Best of 2012 & A Gift

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I've missed you. It was a crazy holiday season and I'm just now getting back to "regular life". Whatever that is. My apologies for neglecting the blog. It's been crazy. 

First, Thanksgiving. . .

then the break in. . .

then my husband was gone for two weeks. . .

then it was Christmas. . .

then my dad visited. . .

then it was New Year's. . .

then I got sick. . .

then I got a sinus infection. . .

then I pulled jury duty. 

Whew, so glad that it's all over. I have just about two weeks to relax (ha ha ha ha) until it's birthday season around here. So, until then, I'm just going to try and take it easy. Not dive into too many projects and just slow it all down for a while. What that means is that I haven't done a lot of cooking this last week and I've decided, for my first post of the New Year, to post a "Best Of". I've also got a surprise for you. See those super cute holiday measuring spoons at the top of the post. To my delight, someone slipped those into my stocking this year. Impractical? Yep, you betcha. Adorably cute, Rightey-O! I thought they were so cute in fact that I'm going to give some away to two lucky blog readers. Check the bottom of the post for more info. In the meantime, check out the most popular posts of 2012:

English Toffee

When I was a kid, my mom's favorite candy was Almond Rocha. The distinctive pink round tin, the little gems of butter, almonds, chocolate and sugar wrapped in gold foil. They were so fancy to this suburban kid. Any it was expensive, or so my mom said. So every once in a while, she'd splurge and buy some, and stash it somewhere to be enjoyed solo. A private moment of indulgence, just for her. And then. . . one day. . . I found her stash. And as much as I'd like to say "I didn't", I did; I pilfered one and scarfed it up. Then expertly disposed of the damning gold foil evidence. So tender, so buttery, so forbidden. I was hooked. I was instantly an "English Toffee Junkie". But to feed my new desire, I would have to be careful. If I pinched it all, I'd be caught. So I waited, and waited before pilfering another piece. Never letting on that I'd found the stash. Oh the cleverness of me. Eventually I quit lifting from mom's stash. A little maturity and a lot of guilt bettering my addiction. I wonder if my Mom every knew. She may have and never let on. We'll never know. Mom was like that. I miss her!

Imagine my delight when my friend Amy shared her grandma's family recipe for English Toffee. I could now make this once forbidden treat for myself. What I love about this recipe is it's simplicity. Just a few ingredients and some patients and you'll have English Toffee for yourself. It's getting close to Christmas but it's not too late to whip up one last batch of treats. . .

Chocolate Caramel Pretzels

I love sweet things. . .

I love salty things. . .

I love chocolate things. . .

I love caramel things. . .

I love salty, sweet, chocolaty, caramely things that are super easy to make and festive.

I love this recipe/project.

These Chocolate Caramel Pretzels fall into the same category as the Oreo Cookie Pops. Super duper easy to make but impressive. I call it a project as much as a recipe because you're really just putting stuff together. There are a lot of chocolate dipped _________ (fill in the blank) projects out there on the web but I like to take these pretzels a step further and add caramel. Sure I like chocolate, who doesn't? And a Chocolate Dipped Pretzel is the perfect marriage of chocolate, salty and bread. But . . . add caramel and they are out of this world. As far as I'm concerned, you could put caramel on just about anything and I'd eat it. It amazing how you just apply heat to regular old sugar and it becomes caramel. A true miracle. Well actually it's science, but I prefer "miracle". 

You can customize these with any combination of chocolate (or colored Wilton Candy Melts) and sprinkles for any occasion. Since it's October, I went with Halloween. Change it up and make it your own.

All Scratch Yellow Cake

When making cakes I've always used cake mix for the actual cake spending more of my time on making the fillings, buttercreams and glazes from scratch. Seriously, cake is just a delivery medium for frosting and filling as far as I'm concerned. Duncan Hines mixes are my favorite. I've tried other brands but I just don't like them as much. And when you have some elaborate decorating to do, mixes just save time. I also think they taste pretty good. I've had no complaints. All that being said, I've always felt that I should migrate towards making the cakes from scratch as well. 

After the success of the Blue Velvet cupcakes (the cake was so moist and flavorful) I though I'd give another scratch cake recipe a try. I had seen Bakerella's post about the perfect moist yellow cake and decided that was as good a place as any to get started. Because I wanted the whole cake to be "from scratch"* I paired it with a fudgy homemade chocolate icing. A classic All American Cake. Not a fancy schmancy bakery cake but one like your grandma might have made back in the day. See what you think.

*My son quickly pointed out that it wasn't ALL from scratch because I didn't make the sprinkles. Can you forgive me?

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Waffles

. . . And An Appliance Review

If you've been reading this blog, then you know that I'm not a fan of appliances that only serve one function. The "One Trick Ponies" of the appliance world if you will. And, no offense to "Babycakes" but they seem to have a whole line of these "One Trick Ponies". Cake Pop Makers, Pie Pop Makers, Mini Donut Makers, Mini Cupcake Makers, the list goes on and on. Now I'm not faulting you if you have, use and like these machines. They do make light work of these treats. So if you have the counter, cabinet and/or wallet resources for these, and you enjoy them, knock yourself out. They just aren't for me. All that being said, you just can't make waffles without a waffle iron. So I concede my aversion to appliance single taskers in the case of the waffle iron. And . . . as Kohl's just happened to put all their "Babycakes" appliances on sale for $19.99, and . . . as I just so happened to have a 30% off coupon for  Kohl's, I embraced my hypocrisy and purchased the "Waffle Stick Maker". 

And . . . 

I . . . 

LOVE . . . 

IT! 

It's the 4th waffle iron I've owned and for whatever reason, it seems to work best out of them all. I've used it about 5 or 6 times now and am still loving it. First, I like that it makes the individual "sticks". They are easier for the kids, no knife and fork needed, just a quick dip in syrup and breakfast is a go. Also the turn around seems to be quicker. Less time waiting around for the next waffle, more waffle eating. It has a great non-stick surface*; I've not once oiled or sprayed it and not once have the waffles stuck. A quick wipe with a dry paper towel and it's clean. Lastly, it cooks evenly and the "ready" light actually indicates that the waffles are done. It doesn't have a temperature adjustment and it's orange (not my favorite color), but I don't mind. It works and that's what really matters. 

*I'm also not a big fan of non-stick cookware. I've read too many reputable articles that talk about the toxic off-gassing that can occur when non-stick gets too hot. No thank you, I'll stick to cast iron and stainless steel. But, since those surface temperatures are well above 400°F (which has been proven to happen on cooktops and in ovens) and the waffle stick maker's surface doesn't get nearly that hot, I'm ok with it in this scenario. You'll have to decide for yourself.

So enough about waffle irons, let's get to making some waffles. Up until this weekend I've been using the waffle recipe on the box of "Trader Joe's Buttermilk Pancake All Purpose Baking Mix" with a splash of almond extract (my secret ingredient, shhhh don't tell.) We love 'em. But this saturday was my baby girl's 15th birthday so I wanted it to be a little extra special. What's more special than Chocolate Chocolate Chip Waffles. YUM! I chose Alton Brown's recipe from the Food Network web site. I've had really good luck with many of Alton's recipes so I figured it was a good choice. It got good reviews but many said the cocoa was too overwhelming and they added extra sugar. Not so in my opinion. I made them just like the recipe except for the buttermilk substitution (see below). The whole fam loved these. Five stars all around. A quick dusting of powdered sugar was all they needed.

Chocolate Chip Cookies 101

Chocolate Chip Cookies. The standard by which all cookies are judged. Everyone has their favorite: thin and crunchy, chewy, thick and caky. You probably like what you grew up with. What your mom made, the first cookie you learned to make. Over the years I've tweaked and fiddled until I came up with what I think is the best chocolate chip cookie ever. Period, end of story. (See this post for more background.) I like a thick caky cookie with just a bit of crunch on the edges. And while most of the time my recipe turns out this way, sometimes it doesn't. They also have great texture the day they are baked but tend to "dry out" and aren't so caky on the second and third day. Hmmmm, I needed to fix this. I did a bit of research on the web which led me to this series of posts by Joe Pastry. (He does a great job breaking down the different cookie versions.) A bit more searching and I arrived here and learned all about Ruth Wakefield's original recipe. It seemed as though I found the fix and as much as it pained me to do so, I set aside my recipe and went with Ruth's.