Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Molten Chocolate Cake -Warm Gooey Center- March 2010

I can’t believe how easy this was to make. The end result is a delicious treat that will make your dinner guests think you know what you’re doing.

Here are the ingredients:
I used the basic recipe from here: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Molten-Chocolate-Cake-Super-Easy-92910

Pretty easy really. Melt your butter and chocolate.
Cream the sugar, eggs, and salt.
Fold the eggs into the chocolate with the flour.

Pour into greased, floured ramekins.
 And Bake.
I baked mine just a little too long. Next time I’ll check them at 8mins.

Let cool a few minutes.
 Run a knife around the edge and turn onto a plate.

I think next time I'll add some cocoa powder to the flouring of the ramekins.  That might make the final product look better. 

Enjoy.

Molten Chocolate Cake -Warm Gooey Center- March 2010

I can’t believe how easy this was to make. The end result is a delicious treat that will make your dinner guests think you know what you’re doing.

Here are the ingredients:
I used the basic recipe from here: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Molten-Chocolate-Cake-Super-Easy-92910

Pretty easy really. Melt your butter and chocolate.
Cream the sugar, eggs, and salt.
Fold the eggs into the chocolate with the flour.

Pour into greased, floured ramekins.
 And Bake.
I baked mine just a little too long. Next time I’ll check them at 8mins.

Let cool a few minutes.
 Run a knife around the edge and turn onto a plate.

I think next time I'll add some cocoa powder to the flouring of the ramekins.  That might make the final product look better. 

Enjoy.

Cordial Cherries – Sara - March 2010 Gooey Center

I’m a fan of Cordial Cherries! This was the perfect time to try them out.





What you’ll need to make 10:

Powdered Sugar – 1/3 cup

Butter – 1 ½ tsp

Corn Syrup – 1 ½ tsp

Marachino Cherries - 10

Chocolate Coating

Here’s the recipe¨ http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Covered-Cherries-2/Detail.aspx - you can adjust your serving size





Dry the cherries out on a paper towel.



Knead the butter, powdered sugar, and corn syrup together into a little ball.



I didn’t have the cherries with the stems on them, so I stuck toothpicks in them so it would be easier to dip them after they cooled. Then you kind of wrap about a tsp of the dough around each cherry.



Let them cool for about an hour in the fridge or freezer. Then dip them in melted chocolate coating. After the initial dip, I let them cool for a bit and then took out toothpicks and dipped the hole back into melted chocolate to camouflage the hole.



Finally, I drizzled them with white chocolate and then sat them aside for about a week. I KNOW! A whole week to wait until the get nice and gooey. But, it was worth it :)





Cordial Cherries – Sara - March 2010 Gooey Center

I’m a fan of Cordial Cherries! This was the perfect time to try them out.


What you’ll need to make 10:

Powdered Sugar – 1/3 cup

Butter – 1 ½ tsp

Corn Syrup – 1 ½ tsp

Marachino Cherries - 10

Chocolate Coating

Here’s the recipe¨ http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Covered-Cherries-2/Detail.aspx - you can adjust your serving size


Dry the cherries out on a paper towel.

Knead the butter, powdered sugar, and corn syrup together into a little ball.

I didn’t have the cherries with the stems on them, so I stuck toothpicks in them so it would be easier to dip them after they cooled. Then you kind of wrap about a tsp of the dough around each cherry.

Let them cool for about an hour in the fridge or freezer. Then dip them in melted chocolate coating. After the initial dip, I let them cool for a bit and then took out toothpicks and dipped the hole back into melted chocolate to camouflage the hole.

Finally, I drizzled them with white chocolate and then sat them aside for about a week. I KNOW! A whole week to wait until the get nice and gooey. But, it was worth it :)


Biscuit & Gravy Bites- Brooke

Messy, gooey gravy. Soggy biscuits. Old-fashioned plates and forks. There's got to be a better way! And so, introducing a revolution in biscuit and gravy eating...

Biscuit and Gravy Bites

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper
3 cups milk
1 package of 8 large refrigerated biscuits
1 lb. package country sausage

Sausage gravy directions:
Cook sausage over medium heat until browned. Drain on paper towels. Remove excess grease from pan and discard, but leave crusty meat bits. Add butter to pan. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Turn off heat and add sausage.


(At this point, it's a good idea to have some extra, cooked biscuits on hand and go ahead and feed your hungry family. Then you can go back to the test kitchen.)

Assembly instructions:
Flatten a refrigerated biscuit with your hands, and spread it out a bit. Place a small scoop of sausage gravy on the round. Fold the other half over, sealing in the gravy, and flatten the edges with a fork. Gently place them on a cookie tray and bake according to biscuit package directions until browned.

Eat them with your hands and enjoy the freedom of plate-less, fork-less biscuits and gravy. I have to say, ours came out perfect! We were concerned that there might be too much biscuit and not enough gravy, but they were yummy.

According to the package directions, the biscuit dough should not be frozen. So these could be prepared in advance, but could only be stored in the refrigerator.

Reviews:

Lee: "Appropriately bite-size. Still biscuit-and-gravy-like. Good for the bus stop, I'd think."

Alex: "Yeah, I could definitely eat this at the bus stop."

Emma: (sounding surprised) "It's good! Good job, Mama."




















Biscuit & Gravy Bites- Brooke

Messy, gooey gravy. Soggy biscuits. Old-fashioned plates and forks. There's got to be a better way! And so, introducing a revolution in biscuit and gravy eating...

Biscuit and Gravy Bites

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Pepper
3 cups milk
1 package of 8 large refrigerated biscuits
1 lb. package country sausage

Sausage gravy directions:
Cook sausage over medium heat until browned. Drain on paper towels. Remove excess grease from pan and discard, but leave crusty meat bits. Add butter to pan. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Turn off heat and add sausage.


(At this point, it's a good idea to have some extra, cooked biscuits on hand and go ahead and feed your hungry family. Then you can go back to the test kitchen.)

Assembly instructions:
Flatten a refrigerated biscuit with your hands, and spread it out a bit. Place a small scoop of sausage gravy on the round. Fold the other half over, sealing in the gravy, and flatten the edges with a fork. Gently place them on a cookie tray and bake according to biscuit package directions until browned.

Eat them with your hands and enjoy the freedom of plate-less, fork-less biscuits and gravy. I have to say, ours came out perfect! We were concerned that there might be too much biscuit and not enough gravy, but they were yummy.

According to the package directions, the biscuit dough should not be frozen. So these could be prepared in advance, but could only be stored in the refrigerator.

Reviews:

Lee: "Appropriately bite-size. Still biscuit-and-gravy-like. Good for the bus stop, I'd think."

Alex: "Yeah, I could definitely eat this at the bus stop."

Emma: (sounding surprised) "It's good! Good job, Mama."




















Sunday, March 21, 2010

Warm Gooey Center - Cinnamon rolls

The dough recipe is my grandma's and the filling is a BHG. These are a perfectly gooey breakfast or afternoon snack.

Sweet Roll Dough
1 pkg. yeast, 1/4 C warm water, 1 TBSP sugar - mix together in a bowl and cover. Let sit while you are mixing up the other ingredients.









yeast mix just after mixed
yeast mix after sitting, bubbles on surface of mixture

In a liquid measuring cup, place 1 C milk and 1/2 C butter. Microwave until butter melts.

In a large mixing bowl combine 2 eggs, 1/4 C sugar, 1 tsp salt (I omit this because I buy salted butter) once mixed, slowly stir in milk-butter mixture then add yeast mixture. Add 4 C of flour, stir until well mixed. I used 2 C whole wheat and 2 C all-purpose unbleached white flour. You may need to add approximately 1/4 C of additional flour to reach a non-sticky dough. Cover dough and let rise until double in size (~1 hour).
Dough prior to rising

Dough has risen!

Make filling while dough is rising.
Filling ingredients:
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
combine filling ingredients. Melt butter (sorry I don't remember how much probably a 1/4 C to 1/3 C) and spread on rolled dough. Evenly sprinkle sugar mixture over dough and top with raisins. The amount of raisin depends on taste but I usually use around a 1/2 C. Also, omit raisins if you don't want them in the rolls.
Roll dough, starting at long edge, trying to keep fairly tight. Can brush a little milk or butter on edge of dough to seal. Cut roll into (~1/2 in) buns. Lay buns into a greased 9x13 in pan. Bake on 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 min.
cinnamon-sugar mix
with raisins!

Rolled and cut
rolls in pan ready to bake
While cinnamon rolls are baking and filling your home with its wonderful aroma, whip up some cream cheese frosting.
Bear with me here because I made up a frosting recipe by combining aspects of a couple of recipes. I wanted cream cheese frosting but I didn't want it heavy like the cc frosting you would put on a carrot cake. So, this is what I did - mixed 3 oz softened light cream cheese with 1 or 2 tsp. vanilla until smooth. I added powdered sugar (maybe 1 C) and some milk (1 TBSP) to make it a nice creamy consistency.Frost lightly cooled rolls and enjoy the warm gooey goodness!