Archives for February 2013

Gone to Heaven Dark Chocolate Pie

February 13, 2013

Some something magical happened at Christmas…

My mom got me a 12-cup food processor. Oh, the joy! I have wanted a food processor for so long. I’ve managed to make pestos and sauces in our blender but it is just the same. So I knew having a food processor would making pesto, sauces, mayo, grated cheese, and ground meat so super easy. But best of all I was looking forward to making pie dough in it.

I’ve been pinning different pies like crazy on Pinterst. My “Sweets-Pie” board is filing up. I have some plans to start to tackle the pins this spring. So, well, you’ve been warned. The first thing that jumped out to me was a Dark Chocolate Pie from One Ordinary Day and I knew I had to make it asap. But guess what… no need to use the food processor as it has a graham cracker crust. Well, go figure! ha!

Making a graham cracker crust is so easy so I felt I should make my own instead of buying one. Plus this was when we were snowed in last week so going out for a pie crust was not an option. Just 3 ingredients and a bit of mixing and you’re already half way done to a homemade graham cracker pie crust. The one disadvantage of making the crust is that is thicker than a store-bought crust, which meant I could not get all of the pie filling in the pie. Oh the horror! A bowl of just chocolately pie goodness. noms!

The pie is basically a cooked pudding so it is quick and easy to make. You really need to keep stirring the mixture while it is heating up since you don’t want clumps or for it to burn to the pan. My mixture didn’t come to a boil as I have the tendency to burn milk to pans (and then subsequently swear at them or throw them out) so I cooked the filling on a medium-low heat. This meant the overall process took 25 minutes. The most important thing is for it to cook and thicken so I don’t really think boiling is key.

Try this pie. You can whip it up easily. Perfect for Valentine’s day to show the person you love that they deserve something sweet (besides you). Or make these at any time to show yourself that you deserve the best chocolate pie.

Gone to Heaven Dark Chocolate Pie

Servings 12 slices

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Pie Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sugar

Chocolate Pie

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 egg yolks
3 cup milk, any fat content (I used 2% milk)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips
whipped cream nad chocolate shavings, optional for garnish

Process

To create the pie crust:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie plate non-stick cooking spray.
Combine all of the ingredients.
Evenly press the crust into the bottom and up sides of the pie plate.
Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool completely.

To make the pie:

Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a 2 quart saucepan.
In a medium sized bowl, cmbine egg yolks and milk. Slowly pour milk mixture into sugar mixture and stir to mix.
Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Boil while continually stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Add the chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and the mixture is well blended.
Pour into the graham cracker pie shell. Lightly lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of pie filling before refrigerating for several hours until chilled.
Garnish with whipped cream and shaved chocolate before serving.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cups

February 12, 2013

When I was in High School I used to make chocolate pops and candies. We won’t even talk about the number of molds I have! But one of my favorite things I used to make where peanut butter cups. I used to make tiny ones using a mold and bigger ones using a cupcake tin with wrappers. Well I was thinking about all the recently and was thinking about how much fun it was to make the peanut butter cups and decided I’d make a batch. And then I got to thinking…

I was thinking about how I often use Oreos at the bottom of mini cheesecakes (another new recipe next week!) so it got me thinking into using a peanut butter Oreo at the bottom of the peanut butter cup. I’d start the process like normal with some chocolate in the wrapper and then slip an Oreo in before the peanut butter. This would make some some great layers in the peanut butter cup. Plus more chocolate and peanut butter can’t go wrong!

If you love peanut butter or Oreos or chocolate you will love these. I’ve already had requests to make more.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cups

Makes 9

Ingredients

9 peanut butter Oreos
11.5 oz bag of milk chocolate, such as Ghirardelli’s Milk Chocolate Baking Chips
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
pinch of kosher salt

Process

Line a muffin tin with 9 cupcake wrappers
Melt the milk chocolate. Put a 1 1/2 tablespoons of chocolate in each wrapper. Pull the chocolate half way up the wrapper.
Put an Oreo cookie in each wrapper, pushing it down into the chocolate.
Microwave the peanut butter until warm and easy to mix, approximately 30 seconds. Mix the powdered sugar and talk into the peanut butter. Spray your hands with no stick spray then divide the peanut butter mixture into 9 even balls and then work into disks the size of Oreos.
Press the peanut butter disk on top of the Oreo cookie. Then cover the peanut butter completely with the remaining chocolate.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

February 11, 2013

One of the first blogs I started to consistently started to read and drool over was Kim’s blog Lovin’ from the Oven. I was always craving one thing from the next. Go over and just look at her recipe index… seriously, drool worthy. I made Oreo Chocolate Chips Cookies from her blog before and they were a huge hit with everyone.

For ages I had been thinking about making the Snickerdoodle Blondies that I had pinned. After making some blondies last year I have been craving them every now and then. Well the time finally presented itself this weekend since we were snowed in because of Blizzard Nemo (really, does The Weather Channel have to name them??) Having the oven on make our house extra toasty which was perfect.

These were good good!! I loved the signature snickerdoodle flavor in these blondies. Plus it helps that they were super easy to mix up. Kim did mention that they were sweet and these really are so I think a small bar is more than enough. One other thing to mention is that this is a really, really thick dough so I think that reducing the flour from the 2 2/3 cups that is called for to 2 1/2 it could help making this dough a bit softer and in the end have a softer texture. Lastly, just be sure not to overcook them, like brownies I think they are best a bit ooey gooey.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Makes 20-24 bars

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan.
Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar for 3-5 minutes. Add in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract, and beat until smooth.
Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.
Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool before cutting.

Blizzard 2013: Nemo

February 10, 2013

snow snow snow and some more snow. That is what the blizzard named Nemo dumped on the northeast this Friday and Saturday. It was the 5th largest snow storm in Boston’s recorded history dumping 24.9 inches of snow at Logan Airport.

What does that snow look like?

Before:

Pricer took these pictures at 2.30pm on Friday afternoon

Nemo 2013_Before_02 Nemo 2013_Before_03

After:

Pictures taken on Saturday starting at 11.15am

Our front door on the left, our kitchen door to back steps on the right. Since we couldn’t get out the front door and didn’t want to dump snow on the hardwood floors we went out the basement.

Which still had a lot of snow in front of it.

Looking up and then down our street.

Kemper was not too thrilled by the snow since he coudn’t get to the yard where he has been going to the bathroom. (Sure to take a back step in house-training him. Oh well, just gotta deal with it)

Sunday:

We spent some time shoveling more snow to the car could get out of the driveway now. We did have Kemper out with us for a bit and I got home pictures of him running on our front walkway. SQUEE!!!

Can’t wait for it to thaw!!!

Project Life 2013: Week 2

February 9, 2013

So it’s snowing. In fact there is a lot of snow coming down now. Nemo has set up shop here and is dumping a ton of snow on us. A TON OF SNOW.

The best thing about the snow is getting to stay in and scrapbook. I’ve really been enjoying standing at my desk pulling out different papers and embellishments working on Project Life and creating new layouts. Unforgettably I did not plan well and have no photos. Crazy right!?!?

Well, either way. Lots of scrapbooking and baking going on this weekend and I love it.

This 2 page layout for Week 2 was fun to put together. Well, everything Project Life related is great but this was really great because I took some more time to create some more embellished inserts.

Week 2, Left Side:

Week 2, Right Side:

The Hurricane Cocktail

February 7, 2013

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Mardi Gras is next week so that is why Amanda and I picked a Mardi Gras inspired drink and treat to share this week. And of course I had to make a Hurricane!

Pricer was down in Biloxi in ’07 to work on designing and building houses destroyed from Hurricane Katrina. He left in August and came back in December, and the only time we saw each other was for his birthday in September when we met in New Orleans. It was such a great weekend since we got to see each other, celebrate his birthday and fall in love with New Orleans. We stayed at Le Pavillon Hotel and wandered around the French Quarter finding great bars, fun restaurants, and great shopping. All of it was fantastic from the beignets to the gem & lapidary shop but best was that we could walk around with a bevie in hand. Stark comparison from Boston where you’ll get carded in your 50’s. So we really enjoyed getting to wander around with a drink in hand, most often a Hurricane.

Once we decided to have a Mardi Gras theme I thought of making a Hurricane. It’s really a great drink to enjoy in the hot summer but I just had to make it now in February (on the eve of a massive blizzard) since it reminded me to much of my visit to The Big Easy.

I hope you enjoy a Hurricane and a King Cake Cupcake to celebrate Mardi Gras no matter where you are. I think Amanda should send me some King Cake Cupcakes, right? They look so cute!!

The Hurricane Cocktail

Makes 1 drink

Ingredients

2 oz light rum
2 oz dark rum
2 oz passion fruit juice
1 oz orange juice
½ oz fresh lime juice
1 Tablespoon simple syrup
1 Tablespoon grenadine
Garnish: orange slice and cherry

Process

Shake all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Strain into a Hurricane glass filled with ice.
Garnish with a cherry and an orange slice.

Mango Yogurt Cake

February 6, 2013

Every 4-6 weeks, I get on crazy food shopping trips where it takes me 2 hours since I bring all our coupons and go up and down each aisle looking for the best deals. We supplement our fridge and pantry between marathon shopping trips with weekly trips to Haymarket to get produce for us and the rabbits and occasional trips for eggs, milk, and bread. I like this system since I get the best deal and have a well-stocked pantry allowing me to make almost anything at any point. Only trick is to remember to defrost the meat before going work- which I’m awful at remembering… le sigh.

During one of my recent stock-ups I got a crazy amount of yogurt. My eyes were bigger than our stomachs situation. I knew we would go a bit bonkers just eating yogurt for B, L, D so I began to look around for some recipes to creatively use up all that cultured goodness. Well, since I know that plain Greek yogurt can be a great substitute for sour cream I decided to focus on using up some of the fruit flavored yogurts first. I grabbed a mango yogurt and dove on into the internets to find a recipe. While I enjoy Mango Lassi I quickly ruled that off as an option since I wanted to bake. My persistence paid off and I found a recipe for a Low Fat Mango Yogurt Cake.

I used the recipe for the Mango Yogurt Cake as a jumping off point as the recipe called for yogurt and mango puree so I did some adjustments and used the fruit flavored yogurt instead of the 2 separate ingredients. Our house filled with such a lovely smell while it was baking. The resulting cake was light, sweet, and very fragrant.

It is so cold now that this would be a nice cake to make. It will warm up your house and the tropical smells will take you away, far away. Maybe your imagination will take you the beach so you can work on your imaginary tan. Wouldn’t it be fun to imagine a sunny, hot beach with turquoise waters while you enjoy a slice of this cake?

Mango Yogurt Cake

Serves 10-12

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
Zest of 1 small lemon
1” fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 egg whites
1 cup Mango Greek Yogurt, such as Chobani
1 tsp vanilla extract

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bundt pan and place on a baking sheet.
In a medium sized bowl, sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Mix together the zest and freshly grated ginger with sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Beat the egg whites and vanilla extract separately until frothy with small peaks.
Cream the butter, oil and sugar in a large bowl. Then gently mix the egg whites into the creamed butter mixture. In this mixture, slowly fold the yogurt and flour mixture in 3 batches each.
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden brown and the tester comes out clean.

Meet Kemper

February 4, 2013

Normally, I’d have a Monday Munchies post today but I wanted to share all about Kemper instead. I could not resist!!

Kemper is our new Boston Terrier puppy. I am over the moon in love with him. Seriously, too sweet, too cute, and just so adorable.

We picked up our little 8 week old from the breeder on Saturday afternoon.

We finalized last week’s decision when we picked him out when he came over to Pricer sitting on the floor when the other 2 were so determined on going wherever they pleased. While the other 2 had great spirit we picked mister mellow.

I snuggled up with him on the ride to Petsmart. We got him some little things like a shirt and coat to keep him warm.

He loves being wrapped up or covered up in the blanket that Emily made him.

He got settled quickly and was playful in the afternoon.

Squee!!!

And then did a good job sleeping.

A really good job.

He slept well at night as well. We did a last trip out at night and made him run around like crazy so he would get tired out. Now, ‘run around like crazy’ means runs about 80′ total in the little yard in the front. ha! He slept from 12.15- 6.45. Yeah, he was really tired from an excited first day!

Price had Kemper all to himself yesterday as I was at work so I could get some work done as I’m out most of this week with the pup. He did well and moved around a lot, even making it up and down our driveway “hill”, ate well, and took plenty of naps.

He also slept well last night only getting up once at 12.35. Even then he calmed down quickly after I tucked him back in and gave him some pats on the back.

Well, so far so good. He met the rabbits and Jack seemed more welcoming than Bunny as Jack smelled him and Bunny thumped to show she was not happy with his presence. Kemper just had no idea what was going on as he never saw rabbits before, esp ones bigger than him. ha!

He is dozing in his crate now so I think I might get some scrapbooking done before taking him out again, and again.