Creme Brulee

Yes that is right I got a blow torch for the kitchen. Am I crazy? Maybe...ok probably! This is something I have wanted to attempt for a while but honestly thought the process would be A LOT harder then what it was. Seriously this is simple. Since this was my first time I did some recipe research meshed a few recipes and techniques together and I came up with this silky smooth custard.

The following recipe makes about 4 4oz Ramekins (one will be not so full)

1 cup Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons + 3  tbsp sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh blueberry

1. Preheat oven 300 degrees F. Fill your tea pot and boil her away

2. In a ssaucepan over medium heat combine heavy cream with the 2tbsp sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally until small bubbles start to appear. Take off the heat and set aside.

3. In a bowl, beat egg yolks and vanilla until smooth and light.

4. Pour hot cream mixture into egg yolks 1tbsp at a time. DO NOT RUSH THIS!! You need to do this slowly. While incorporating the cream constantly wisk the eggs. Do this so the eggs don't scramble. Beat until well blended and cream is incorporated into eggs, the color of the eggs will lighten.

5. Strain blended egg and cream mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup with a spout. This will make it easier to eye how much to put in each ramekin and easier to pour through the spout.

6.  Place a small handful of Berries in the bottom of each ramekin and top with custard.

7. Arrange ramekins in a baking pan and place on the middle shelf of the preheated oven. Fill pan with boiling water from your teapot bringing water halfway up the sides of your ramekins. Be very careful not to burn yourself or to get water in your custards. Cover with foil. Bake until custard is just set. About 25-30minutes. I also turned off the oven and let the custards sit in the closed oven for about 20 more minutes.

8. Remove from oven and from pan, cover each Ramekin with plastic wrap. Place the plastic wrap directly ontop of the custard. Chill for 2-3 hours

9. Right before serving sprinkle sugar evenly over top of cooled custards. With your torch move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins, in a circular motion until sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly. Serve immediately garnish with a few fresh blueberries.

Tip: if you don't have a kitchen torch or are intimidated by one you can use the broiler. crank it up to high pop the ramekins under but keep a very close eye on them as the sugar does burn quickly.

Glossy Glassy top with a silky smooth custard underneath topped with fresh fruit...does it get any better then that?

I have several ideas for some different flavors since I do have a blow torch to use.

Enjoy!!
<3 Laura ^.^

this $h*t is Bananas! and nuts!

HAHA I know I'm a dork but considering this is my blog and only maybe 3 people read it I can be a dork. Moving on since last Saturday I made blueberry muffins I had to make banana nut muffins this week.

4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 cup melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

1/4 cup of turbanado sugar

No need for a mixer with this recipe.
1. In a bowl smash bananas, I used a potato masher
2 Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
3 Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.
4 Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.
5 Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
6 Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin, and top with a sprinkle of turbanado sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, it's done. Cool on a rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

This is a very easy go to recipe and family members ask me to make them constantly! I get random over ripe banana's left on my porch from time to time.

Enjoy
<3 Laura ^.^

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

Warm, Cakey, Sugary, Crumbness. Saturday morning I got up went to the store grabbed ingredients and made these gems.
This batter is incredibly thick but that's OK don't freak out this only makes like 6-8 muffins depending on your tin size.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line with muffin tin with  liners. 

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups *right to the top* 

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.Really pack this on the tops. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.  


The butter in the crumb mixture melts and caramelizes and browns the sugar. They were a big hit right out of the oven, some people couldn't wait to try them!!

Enjoy :)
<3 Laura ^.^

Oh you know you want some of this...

 White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake...

So I told a friend of mine that I'd make him a cheesecake for his birthday. I decided on making a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. So I was playing around with my basic cheese cake recipe and came up with this one. It is currently sitting in the fridge and I'm surprised no one has cut into it yet, everyone says its to pretty to eat. Now when I remake this in a few weeks I'll be shocked if they actually let's me take it out of the house.


Ingredients:
2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (I got chocolate teddy grams and crushed them myself)
6 TBSP sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (10oz) package frozen raspberries
2 TBSP sugar
2 TSP corn starch
2 TBSP Chambord (optional)
1/2 cup water
2  cups (16oz bag) white chocolate chips
1/2 cup half and half
3 (8oz) packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 TSP good vanilla extract
9 inch spring form pan

Tip: Before starting anything wrap the bottom and up the sides of your spring form pan with foil. This will insure that no water leaks into your cake during the baking process in the water bath.

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, 6 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. You can pulse the cookies in a processor but I found it to be more fun to just beat them with a rolling pin or meat mallet :) this would also be a good job for a child helping you out.

2. In a saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, chambord (optional) and water. Bring to boil, and continue boiling 5 minutes, or until sauce is thick. The sauce will thicken more as it cools do not over boil it. At this point you could strain the sauce but I like the look of the seeds so I left them

 (Pre cooking)

( After thickening)

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, stirring occasionally until smooth. OR in a microwave safe bowl place the chips and the half and half nuke till melted stirring occasionally until smooth.

4. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate.

5. Pour half of batter over crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over batter. Swirl with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect. 

6.  Carefully place cake inside a jelly roll pan or roasting pan. Place in oven then fill roasting pan with warm water from a tea kettle. Fill halfway up the sides of the cake. 

7. Bake @ 325 degrees for 60minutes. 

8. At the end of 60 minutes DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN!! simply turn it off and leave the cheesecake standing in the oven for another 60minutes. I know its hard but do not peek!!! This will ensure that your cake is fully cooked and set. 

Tip: If you are to impatient to do this you could make sure your cake is done by inserting an instant read thermometer into the center of the cake. The internal temp of the cake should be 160-165 degrees F. You can also do the old insert a knife in the center if it comes out clean it's done. But really just leave the cake in the turned off oven for the extra 60min it really is fool proof.

9. After the second hour take cake cake out careful not to spill the hot water. Take cake out of roasting pan remove foil and let cake stand on a cooking rack in the spring form pan till cool.

10. Once cooled cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from pan.

11. Cover top of cake with remaining raspberry sauce. I also topped with fresh raspberries and white chocolate curles. Can also serve with fresh whipped cream.

Enjoy!

<3 Laura ^.^

Sausage Roll

Today I am feeling a bit better then I have been the past few days. I still skipped the family affair today and just stayed home. It was a nice day, I did my own thing in the kitchen and didn't have to worry about a thing. I have been working on a few recipes and posts for this week. Up first..the monster sausage roll.

Ingredients:

1lb ground Sausage
1 cup tomato sauce
8oz mozzarella cheese
1 tube crescent rolls
*Pre-heat oven 350 degrees*

1. Brown Sausage in a skillet. I just put the sausage in the skillet, it has enough fat in it that you dont need to spray/oil/butter the skillet first. Once its browned take sausage out of skillet with a slotted spoon to drain grease. Wipe out skillet with a paper towel, replace sausage in skillet.

2. While sausage is browning unroll the crescent dough onto a cookie sheet and pinch together at the seams. Try not to handle the dough to much and keep it cold until needed. Keeping it cold and handled as little as possible will keep it from becoming tough and falling apart when you are rolling.

3. Once sausage is returned to the skillet turn heat down to med-med/low mix in 1 cup of tomato sauce and all of the cheese except a small handful. Warm till bubbly melty and creamy.

4. Carefully and Evenly spread filling on top of dough. Leave about 1/2in boarder so it doesn't squish out when you roll it.

5. Start from one side and roll to the other.

6. Top with the left over cheese and Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25minutes

7. Let stand for 5min before you slice and serve.

This thing is a monster! Next time I make this I think I will try to make it with making my own dough. This is flaky and good but being a crescent dough it's a bit on the sweet side for me.

Other ideas or variations: I think this would be good as an appetizer rolled in the individual crescent slices. I think that would be prettier for entertaining.

Sneak peak coming up this week:
Banana nut muffins topped with turbinado sugar
Cinnamon Sugar Crumb topped blueberry muffins
White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

Enjoy!
<3 Laura ^.^

Simple Goodness.

In need of a quick mid-week dessert? I was in Wal-mart picking up a few things tonight and was asked to make banana pudding, I sighed gave them a hard time and told him to go get the ingredients. He came back with Jello instant vanilla pudding, bananas, nilla wafers and *gasp!* cool whip. Really? If I'm going to take a page out of the Semi-Homemade cook book I'm at least going to make my own whipped cream!!

Nilla Wafer Banana Pudding Topped with fresh Whipped Cream
Ingredients:
* Vanilla Pudding- I used Jello Vanilla the big box.
* 3 cups milk
* 1 cup Heavy Cream
* 1tsp Good Vanilla Extract
* 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
* 1 Banana
* Nilla Wafer cookies

*Before you start place a metal bowl and whisk attachment for your mixer in the fridge so its cold when you need it for making the whipped cream*

1. Mix the Vanilla Pudding. Simply follow the directions right on the box. No need to use a mixer just use some muscle! (1 packet of dry mix + 3 cups of COLD milk)
2. You will see the pudding thicken as you mix. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to set up. When topping with plastic wrap place the wrap on top of the pudding to avoid the pudding from forming a skin.

3. In a chilled small mixing bowl and with chilled beaters, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until soft peaks form.

Now isnt that better than out of a tub? No oil, or artificial preservatives. YUM!

4. Grab two glasses, I used tall wine glasses. Place a small dollop of whip on the bottom of each glass top with Nilla wafers. I used 4 wafers broken in half in each glass. Top with a layer of pudding, 6 slices of banana, whip, pudding, banana, whip. Garnish the top with crushed wafer a banana slice and a full cookie. 

With the size glasses I used this made about 3 desserts, but could easily be made smaller to feed more if you are entertaining. 

**To make WLS friendly use SF pudding, and use splenda or truvia in the whip instead**

Happy Hump-Day...Enjoy :)

<3 Laura

First Post!

Ok so starting a blog is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I just never thought I had a good reason to, but recently with all cooking and baking I have been doing so many people have been asking me for recipes, pictures, ideas, inspirations. So here I sit, starting a new experience. I turn out some yummy stuff, I won't lie, but it's not always the prettiest, but I'm getting better :)

One of my recent hobbies, ok not so recent about the past year has been surfing online food blogs. I love the recipes, ideas, inspirations. I came across a blog right before Christmas and fell in love with the cupcakes that were featured. Chocolate + Peppermint who can resits that? Glorious Treats is the blog where I found the recipe. Mine didn't turn out to be *as* pretty and I really need to work on my photography but here are some pics and variations I made over the past week

Glorious Treats tells you how to do the red striping when icing the cup cakes. Mine definitely need help lol I topped mine with a Peppermint candy and a cupcake topper on a tooth pick they were cute..

This is the variation I made for my family for Christmas Day. I did the same batter recipe but baked them as two cakes. Colored some of the icing green and layered it between the cakes. The red around the top is just red sugar again I used a few peppermints and cake toppers that were left over from the previous cupcakes. Please excuse the lousy photography this was taken with my cell phone.

From making the cake I had a *TON* of icing left over.

So I bought new icing tips today, as I stated earlier I am pretty much a beginner in the making things look pretty department...these I topped with red and green colored sugars.

when dividing out the batter between each lined cup I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to keep each one the same size. This batter made 27 cupcakes. I know my family won't eat all 27...I'm debating driving down the road and giving them away to random people.

Recipe for Batter and this amazing icing can be found here:
Glorious Treats

<3 Laura ^.^