My Blog has moved

http://sassyspastry.wordpress.com

Bittersweet Chocolate and Cointreau Mousse

I got this recipe from my Le Cordon Bleu book. I used bitter sweet chocolate instead of semi sweet; I prefer the bitter sweet chocolate but any chocolate can be used.

Ingredients:

4 oz Bitter sweet chocolate (I used the E.Guittard 72% cacao)
3 Tb unsaulted butter
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tb cocoa butter
3 eggs, separated
2 tb Cointreau
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 egg white
2 tb sugar

Directions:
1. Place chocolate butter and oj in a double boiler to melt, in a simmering water
2. When melted, stir in cocoa powder. Remove from water and whisk in egg yolk and cointreau. Let cool.
3. Beat the cream until soft peaks.
4. Beat all the egg whites until soft peaks. Add sugar until smooth.
5. Using a large spoon, gently fold egg whites into the cooled chocolate mixture. Before they are completely incorporated, fold in the whipped cream.
6. Spoon into individual serving dishes.

Linzer Cookies

I made this for a Christmas party. They were simple to make and delicious.

Recipe:

1 cup blanched or sliced almonds

2 cups (280 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (227 grams) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar, divided

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large egg yolks

Zest of 1 lemon

Confectioners' (Icing or Powdered) Sugar for dusting

I used the recipe from here.

Christmas Cookies

This recipe makes a Christmas-size (large) batch of cookies. It can be cut in half if you like.

5 cups King Arthur’s unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups unsalted butter, cool room temperature (15 minutes out of the refrigerator)

2 cups superfine sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon orange oil (or 1 teaspoon orange extract)

finely grated zest of 2 large oranges

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Decoration

I used colored sanding sugar and colored icing that comes in a tube. I also tried a royal icing recipe.

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk thoroughly to distribute the baking powder. Reserve.
2. Using a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, orange zest, vanilla extract, and orange oil until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, a little at a time, and continue beating until very light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl several times, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix very briefly in short bursts, just until incorporated.
5. Divide the dough into four equal portions and flatten each portion to a ½-inch thick disk on a sheet of plastic wrap. Seal the plastic wrap around each portion of the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. (The sealed dough can be refrigerated for 2-3 days if necessary.)
6. On a lightly floured pastry cloth, using a covered rolling pin, roll out the dough to 3/16- to ¼-inch thickness. Use a little flour to keep the dough from sticking if necessary, but try not to work too much additional flour into the dough.
7. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet.
8. If desired, sprinkle with sanding sugar.
9. Bake at 375° for 7-10 minutes, until edges are just beginning to lightly brown.
10. Using a thin, flexible offset spatula, remove cookies from the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
11. After cooling, cookies can be decorated with icing if desired.

Mexican Flan

This was given by my coworker. It tasted really good, no picture yet.

Ingredients and tools:
1. 1 can of condensed milk
2. 1 can of evaporated milk
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 teaspoon of vanilla
5. 4 tablespoons of sugar
6. Pan to melt sugar
7. Glass or aluminum container
8. Aluminum foil to cover #7
9. Glass container bigger than #7

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 deg
Fill bigger glass container (#9) with water to about half and place inside oven
Mix ingredients 1 to 4 above in blender
Place sugar on hot pan until it melts and turns dark brown.
Pour melted sugar on container (#7), spread on bottom of container
Pour mixed ingredients from blender on container (#7)
Place container on bigger container (waterbath). Make sure water level covers about half of the container with ingredients.
Bake for 30 - 45 minutes. Stick a knife in the middle of the flan to check if it is fully cooked. It will be dry when cooked.

Doubletree Chocolate Chip Cookies

After trying the doubletree cookies from my coworker I insisted on finding a recipe online, they make the best cookies! So I decided to look for a recipe online and I found this recipe that they claimed to be "double tree cookies" so i decided to give it a try. I love these cookies! they came out pretty good, even when I tried this recipe for the first time. Although the shape didn't look the same (probably because i didn't chill the do (The only think i changed was using bitter sweet chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet) it was really good. I think for my personal taste, i would put less chocolate chips next time.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oats
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 eggs
3 cups semi-sweet, chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions:
Grind oats in a food processor or blender until fine. Combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and lemon juice in another medium bowl with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture and blend well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts to the dough and mix by hand until ingredients are well blended.

For the best results, chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking the cookies.

Spoon rounded 1/4 cup portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place the scoops about 2 inches apart. Bake in a 350°F oven for 16-18 minutes or until cookies are light brown and soft in the middle. Store in a sealed container when cool to keep soft.

Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are easy to make, and they're so good! I got this recipe from allrecipe.com, the only variation I made was using 2/3 cups of lemon juice and 1 tb more flour). This recipe came out pretty easy and good; the only thing is i prefer it very tart so I will have to try again next time with more lemon juice or less sugar. :)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 lemons, juiced

READ REVIEWS (185)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, blend together softened butter, 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup sugar. Press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm and golden. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/12 cups sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice. Pour over the baked crust.
4. Bake for an additional 20 minutes in the preheated oven. The bars will firm up as they cool. For a festive tray, make another pan using limes instead of lemons and adding a drop of green food coloring to give a very pale green. After both pans have cooled, cut into uniform 2 inch squares and arrange in a checker board fashion.