Nutella Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3 tbsp. unsalted butter

¼ cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup NUTELLA®

2 tbsp. cocoa powder

½ cup milk

a pinch of salt

Cream Filling:

1 1/2 cups shortening

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/3 cups marshmallow topping
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

Fall colored sugar/sprinkles (optional)

 Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the marshmallow cream filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. Set aside.

Make the whoopee pies: Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, NUTELLA®, cocoa powder and milk. Mix well then add the flour and baking powder mixture.

Place 30 small spoonfuls of the mixture on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool on a cooling rack, then sandwich together with the cream filling. Dip in colored sugar, if desired.

Whoopie!

Irish Pub Cupcakes

These cupcakes incorporate the 3 Irish libations that everyone thinks of on St. Patrick's Day > Guinness Stout, Jameson's Irish Whiskey & Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur.  Together it's a party in your mouth.  The Guinness accentuates the chocolate and the sour cream makes the cake desirably moist.  Then the Jameson's in the chocolate ganache makes for a wonderfully tasty surprise, while the Irish Cream frosting brings with it a bit of Irish heaven.

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Irish stout beer (such as Guinness®)
• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon Irish whiskey, or more to taste
• 
  
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar, or more as needed
• 3 tablespoons Irish cream liqueur (such as Baileys®), or more to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Bring Irish stout beer and 1 cup butter to a boil in a saucepan and set aside until butter has melted, stirring occasionally. 

Mix in cocoa powder until smooth.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until thoroughly combined.

Beat eggs with sour cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low until well combined. Slowly beat in the beer mixture, then the flour mixture; beat until the batter is smooth.

Divide batter between the prepared cupcake cups, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 17 minutes.

Cool the cupcakes completely. Cut cores out of the center of each cupcake with a sharp paring knife. Discard cores.

Bring cream to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat; stir in bittersweet chocolate until melted.

Mix in 2 tablespoons butter and Irish whiskey until butter is melted; let mixture cool to room temperature. Filling will thicken as it cools.

Spoon the filling into the cored cupcakes.

For frosting, whip 1/2 cup butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

Set mixer to low speed and slowly beat in confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, until frosting is smooth and spreadable. Beat in the Irish cream liqueur; adjust thickness of frosting with more confectioners' sugar if needed.

Spread frosting on filled cupcakes or apply using a piping bag.

Decorate as desired.  I sprinkled on a variety of St. Patrick's Day appropriate on decos and made shamrocks using green Candy Melts. Since I was making these for a friend for her Dad's 75th Birthday, I also made 75s from the Candy Melts and decorated half with those.

Slainte'!

Hazelnut Cocoa Tuile Cups Filled With Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

Tuiles are thin, crispy wafers that can be sweet or savory.  Tuile is French for "tile".  In this case, we are talking about sweet, crunchy, chocolately wafers with toasted hazelnuts as the star.  These wafers are delicious just as they are, but I can never just stop there.  I have made them into cups and filled them with a wondrous bittersweet chocolate mousse, topped it with a white chocolate doodle and dusted it with powdered sugar (although the sugar melts into it and you cannot really see it except for a bit around the edges).  I am a huge fan of The Chew, and Carla Hall, one of the 5 co-hosts, made these and I knew I had to too!  The difference is, she made them look easy, and I'm here to tell it to you straight. They are not that easy! She has a TV crew to help her. I have taken Carla's recipe and added my own notes in bold.  There is a link to the original recipe at the end if you would like to compare.  I do not want to discourage you from trying this recipe.  Although somewhat difficult, it's fun and if you are comfortable in the kitchen, you'll have no problems.  It may take you a couple attempts, but then you'll get the hang of it.

Ingredients

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups almonds or hazelnuts (toasted & finely ground)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large sauce pot, stir together the butter, sugar and corn syrup over a low heat. When the butter has melted and thoroughly combined, add the nuts, cocoa, flour, salt and vanilla and stir to combine.

Transfer batter to a heatproof bowl allow to cool to room temperature. This can be made up to 2 months in advance and stored and refrigerated in an airtight container.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper (very important - do not skip). Form 4 - 1" balls of batter and place on the baking sheet leaving about 3 inches between each. Dampen a spatula or finger with water and flatten the balls into thin 3" discs. Bake for 6 minutes.  They spread a lot. When working in batches, the cook time may decrease slightly if the pan does not cool completely before starting the next batch. (I used 2 baking sheets and swapped them out)

To shape Tuiles, use an offset spatula to transfer the hot cookies immediately to a small glass bowl or drape over a rolling pin. (You cannot do it immediately - they are gooey and hot as the dickens. You have to wait about 10/15 seconds. See my note below) Gently press to shape then allow the cookies to cool completely. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. The offset spatula did not work for me as it tore up the wafer.  I used a silicon mat and picked up the mat on either side, lifted it from the baking sheet and laid it down on the counter.  I then curled back the silicon underneath the wafer in order to grab the edge, picked it up and draped it over a cup.  YOU MUST WORK QUICKLY!  YOU HAVE LESS THAN 20 SECONDS TO COMPLETE THIS BEFORE THE WAFER HARDENS.  You can still use them, they just won't be cups.

Make the Chocolate Mousse. (Since I used hazelnuts instead of almonds, I substituted Frangelico for the Almond Liqueur.)

Once the mousse is set and ready to use, fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (you can also use a scoop or a spoon).  Pipe some chocolate mousse inside each cup.  You can add a white chocolate doodle if you wish and/or dust with powdered sugar.  If not serving immediately, wait until you do before adding the powdered sugar as it tends to melt and disappear.

Carla Hall's original recipe.

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

For my girlfriend's 60th birthday party, she asked if I could do a caramel cupcake.  Caramel is what she got!  This is a brown sugar cupcake, with a soft caramel center, dulce de leche and cream cheese frosting, drizzled with heated dulce de leche.  Can I do caramel?  You betcha!

Here is the link to recipe I used for these outrageous cupcakes: Dulce de Leche Cupcakes.  These are not filled, so following my directions below to add the soft caramel center.

To make the soft caramel center, place 3/4 c caramel chips and 1/4 c heavy cream in a medium sauce pan.  Heat on low, stirring until caramel is melted.  Remove a 1" center from each cupcake using a paring knife.  Set aside.  Spoon caramel into each cupcake and replace with the center you removed.  Frost according to recipe.

Creme of Coconut Poke Cake

Super moist and flavorful, this luscious cake is a must when you are craving the richness and sweetness of coconut.  It's simple to put together.  Waiting for it to chill thoroughly is the hardest part of this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix, prepared according to instructions on box
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can Creme of Coconut NOT coconut milk
1 12 oz. container of non-dairy topping
1 8 oz. pkg, sweetened coconut

Prepare cake mix and bake in a greased and floured 9x12 dish.
While cake is baking combine the sweetened condensed milk and the Creme of Coconut in a bowl and whisk until smooth.
Immediately after cake is removed from the oven, poke holes all over the top (I used a chop stick) and pour the milk mixture over the top.
Allow to cool completely before placing it in the fridge to chill.  Once the cake is thoroughly chilled, spread non-dairy topping over the top and sprinkle coconut evenly over it.  Return to the fridge and

Enjoy!

Tangerine Poppy Seed Bread

I wanted to keep this recipe simple.  The lending of tangerine zest and juice along with the oil and the poppy seeds is such a good marriage, nothing else is necessary.  Therefore, I didn't adapt this recipe to be my own, I'm sharing it with you directly from the BH&G Fall Baking 2013 magazine as is.

Before you get out your ingredients to delve in, I must warn you that there is a tangerine syrup that you brush on once it's cooled in the pan for a bit.  Then, if you follow the recipe exactly, once completely cooled, you wrap it up well and store it overnight before making the first slice.  I did indeed do that and all I can say is MOIST AND REFRESHING!!!!!  This one earned a place on my "favorites" list as well.

Ingredients:
2 c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 c milk
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 T finely shredded tangerine peel
2 T tangerine juice
1 T poppy seeds
2 T sugar
2 T tangerine juice
1 T butter

Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a loaf pan; set aside. In a large bowl stir together flour, 1 c sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center; set aside.

In a medium bowl combine egg, milk, oil, tangerine peel, 2 T tangerine juice and poppy seeds. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Spoon into prepared pan, spreading evenly.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make the glaze.  I a small saucepan combine the 2 T sugar, 2 T tangerine juice and the butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

Remove bread from pan. Poke holes in the top of warm loaf with a fork; slowly brush with glaze on wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.  Makes 16 servings.



Recipe featured in BH&G Fall Baking 2013 magazine.

Nutella Cheesecake & Oreo Brownies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C butter, melted & cooled
2 C flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
10 Oreo cookies, crushed
1 C sugar
8 eggs, divided
1 13oz. jar Nutella, divided
2 8 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 C sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 pan with aluminum foil large enough to hang over the sides and spray with nonstick baking spray. Set aside.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool.  In a medium bowl add flour, cocoa & crushed Oreos. Set aside.  In a large bowl of an electric mixer beat sugar, eggs, butter & 1/2 C Nutella on low until well blended.  Add the dry ingredients. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

In a separate bowl beat cream cheese, 1/2 C sugar, 4 eggs & remaining Nutella until smooth. Pour over brownie batter and smooth carefully.

Bake 40-50 minutes or until cream cheese layer is set & firm to the touch.

Cool completely and remove from pan using foil overhang as handles.  Cut into squares.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

24 Oreo cookies, crushed fine
5 T butter, melted

5 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, room temperature
3 T flour
1-3/4 C sugar
5 large eggs
1/3 C heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 C peanut butter chips, melted
2/3 C semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

Preheat oven to 500.
Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of a 10" springform pan. Wrap the pan well with heavy duty aluminum foil.  Set aside.

For the crust, in the bowl of a food processor, process the cookies into small crumbs. In a medium bowl, add the processed cookie crumbs and the melted butter.  Stir until well combined. Pat into the bottom of springform pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and flour until creamy.  Slowly add sugar, alternating with an egg, mixing until well combined. Continue until you've added all the sugar and all 5 eggs.  Beat in heavy cream and vanilla.

Divide batter evenly into 2 bowls. Melt the peanut butter chips for 30 seconds in the microwave.  Stir and continue to microwave up to 60 seconds total. Stir the chips until there are no lumps.  Whisk into half the cheesecake batter in one bowl.  Do the same for the chocolate chips and add to the second bowl.

Carefully place the springform pan into a baking pan about the same height as the springform pan.  Place on center rack in oven, and fill halfway up the sides with hot water.

Bake for 10 minutes; lower heat to 325 and continue baking for 1 hour or until center of cheesecake is slightly wobbly.  Turn off oven and with the door closed, let cheesecake sit in oven for an hour.  Crack oven door and leave cheesecake for another hour.  Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Remove from springform pan and place on serving platter.  If desired, decorate with mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

Say Cheese...cake!