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Posts Tagged ‘Dessert’

Lavender Cupcakes with Honey Lemon Lavender Frosting

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »

The dentist ruined my face.  Yes loyal readers, I have disappeared from my blog, left you all waiting to hear about my wonderful trip to Spain and my recent frolickings and kitchen musings, all the while I was trying to put my face back together.  Well, my lip mostly to be exact, but yes, my face.  I’d like to say that I was thinking about you all every day I didn’t write, but to be honest, I was really spending every minute inspecting my stitches to be sure I wouldn’t permanently look like the Joker.  What happened you ask?

Well, a routine loose filling fix went awry.  Not enough Novocaine caused me to wretch away from the dentist, allowing his drill to pull through my lip and cheek, leaving me Jokerified.  Well at least I thought I was fully Jokerified until the swelling went down and the messy bleeding stopped and I only needed 1/4 inch of my cheek stictched up.  Now that my face is back to normal, I promise to stop being the vain human I am and give back to you, my readers.  Enjoy these cupcakes.  However, make sure you brush your teeth after eating–no cavity is worth it anymore…

Rawr.

Ingredients:

  • Box of super moist yellow cake mix, butter recipe
  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons (or more to taste) lavender extract

For the frosting

  • 1 8 ounce package cream cheese
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or more to taste)
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon lavender extract

Prepare the cake mix according directions on the box, mixing in the lavender. Spread over 24 muffin tins, with liners.  Bake according to the package.

For the cream cheese frosting, beat together everything but the honey.  Then beat in the honey and beat until fluffy.   Keep cupcakes refrigerated.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

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Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch

Posted in Sides (For the High Cal Right Brain, tagged , , on February 8, 2011 | 1 Comment »

First, Happy Birthday Little Mommies!  You be old :) .

Alright kids, it’s story time.  One cold, rainy, ice stormy, day in February, seemingly like all the others in 2011, a young Twofacedchef set out to make a Cap’n Crunch-laden cookies at the request of her compatriots for a Super Bowl party.  She measured, she poured, and mixed to her heart’s content.  She found herself tasting the wonderful peanuttery batter and oohing and aahing over the flavor and texture.  She put the cookies in the oven and they baked and browned and were removed and then something terrible happened…they tasted awful!  This young broad was overcome with sorrow, knowing that many were waiting for said cookie and that they would be sorely disappointed.  She let the cookies cool and wrapped them up to bring anyways  to share as a flop or maybe become cat food.  The next morning said “chef” was woken by a squeal of delight!  Her roommate thought the cookies were delicious and did not understand the Twofacedchef’s dismay.  The cautious chef reached out and tasted a cookie and cried in success!  The cookies were eaten and quickly became a favorite at the Super Bowl party.

The moral of this story?  Do not judge a cookie before it cools.  And like world peace or something.

Due to my upset nature over the cookie, I violently deleted the photos.  Here is the recipe and some wonderful pictures if you would like to try the recipe.  http://picky-palate.com/2010/06/10/capn-crunch-peanut-butter-cookie-stackers/

Oh, and I doubled the amount of Cap’n Crunch because I’m a lush.  So sue me.

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New Year’s!

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , on December 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Need some last minute New Year’s recipes?

How about some Chocolate Truffles?

Or a Caramel Nut Tart?

Feeling fruity?  We do have an apricot tart…

There are always chewy chocolate coconut cookies.

And lastly some candy bar cookies, if you’ve got a little nugget or two running around that wants to help you out.

Whatever you fancy, I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year’s Eve.  Have a drink or five for me :) .

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Chocolate Arabians

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , on November 14, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Hey, so remember that time that Little Mommies wanted brownies and she made some low-cal butterless kinds?  Well, here is the original version that she was going for.  These are one pot magic and pretty quick to throw together.  I very strongly suggest drinking a cup of coffee while making these, it curbs the cravings and keeps you from eating the “ugly ones” when they are hot out from the oven.  They are also great to make while watching Hannah Montana Forever, so you have something to depress eat when you realize an era has come to an end.  Not speaking from experience, obviously…

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 3 ounce block semisweet chocolate
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur (optional)
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped pecans
  • Confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with 42, 1 1/4 by 3/4 inch, mini paper muffin cups; set aside.

In medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat.

Stir while cooking until smooth; cool slightly.

Whisk in eggs and liqueur.

Stir in flour, sugar and coffee granules.

Stir in pecans.

Spoon batter into prepared cups filling them 1/2 way full.

Bake until batter is set and toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Dust with Confectioners’ sugar.  Can be stored in an airtight container for 3 days.  Makes 42.

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Entenmann’s Butter Loaf

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , on September 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

So the stupid fuse in our kitchen blew which means we have no light.  None. It’s like a scene from a M. Night Shyamalan movie when you are waiting for someone to jump out and try to kill you every time you are in the kitchen at night.  It also means I have picture taking issues again, so I apologize.  Alas, I promised a co-worker I would try to recreate an Entenmann’s butter loaf for her birthday and here is my attempt.  It is basically a classic pound cake recipe, but halved–with half a pound of everything and ten pounds on your muffin top. Wrap very tightly after cooling to keep moist and enjoy…preferably on a treadmill.

Borrowed From Recipe Secrets

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound Butter
  • 2 cups Powdered sugar
  • 3 large Eggs
  • 1 2/3 cups All Purpose Flour
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or lemon extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray an 8-1/2″  loaf pan with Pam cooking spray. Cream butter with sugar on high speed of mixer for 5 minutes. Add 1 egg and then a little flour, continue beating for 2 minutes. Add 2nd egg and half of remaining flour and beat 2 minutes. Add 3rd egg, rest of flour and extract, beating 2 minutes. Spread batter evenly in prepared loaf pan. Bake 65 minutes or until tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in baking dish on wire rack for 30 minutes.

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Death Bars

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , , on August 14, 2010 | 1 Comment »

When I was perusing around the blog world recently and I ran into this recipe, I knew I was in trouble.  Cookie bars that taste like Kit Kats?  Oh Jesus.  Then when I saw that the 9×13 tray has over 8,000 calories in it, I was afraid.  Very afraid.  I promised myself I wouldn’t take pictures of the recipe because I first, did not think it would work (How the hell do butter crackers turn into cookies when covered with a butter and sugar mixture and not taste like you just put sugar on butter crackers?) and second, did not find it fair, if it did work. It is not nice of me to give you a recipe that will pull at your heart strings so that it makes you whip out pans and overflow a bubbling sugar mixture all over your new clean stove.  A recipe that completely disappeared at work before lunch time and resulted in everyone yelling at me for making them.  A recipe that is crispy, chewy, sweet, and salty with a buttery, chocolatey hint of a peanut buttery topping.  A recipe that you will run on the treadmill before work in preparation for eating and run AFTER work as well because you realize how much you just ate.  I’m so sorry.  So very sorry.

Stolen directly from  A Tree Called Life

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks Butter
  • ½ cup Milk
  • 1 cup Brown Sugar
  • ½ cup White Sugar
  • 2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
  • 1 box (16 Oz. Box) Club Crackers
  • 1 cup Chocolate Chips
  • 1 cup Butterscotch Chips
  • ⅔ cup Peanut Butter

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add milk, brown sugar, and white sugar. Bring that to a boil and add graham cracker crumbs. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Put a layer of Club crackers on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Pour half of the graham cracker mixture over that. Add another layer of crackers, then the other half of the graham cracker mix, followed by a third layer of crackers.

Melt chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and peanut butter. Use to frost the bars by spreading it evenly over the top layer. Chill. Cut. Enjoy!

I guess this is the best apology I can give you.  JonBenet wannabe?  Maybe.  Need therapy?  I just might.

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Peanut Butter M&M Explosions

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , , on July 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

So Rachel and I are moving in a week (yay!) and we are trying to use up everything in our kitchen.  I have lots of baking materials that I don’t really want to bring with me, so some experimenting had to take place.  Halfway through making this dough–sugar and butter creamed, eggs added–I remembered that not only did I not have chocolate chips, but I only had cake flour.  I ran to Duane Reade and bought some Peanut Butter M&Ms (my absolute favorite) on sale.  If these things are bad, I don’t want to be right, and then replaced the flour in my normal cookie recipe with cake flour.  The result is a slightly chewier cookie, that puffs up a little bit more in the oven.  The recipe made around 48 cookies, if they make it out of your kitchen.

Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 medium bag (about 12 ounces) Peanut Butter M&Ms.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


I know, it’s a little blurry.  It’s just butter and sugar anyways; so shoot me.

Beat together the butter, sugars, and vanilla.  Once lightened and well combined, mix in the two eggs.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and combine well.

Stir in the bag of M&Ms.  It’s okay to let some break.

Scoop rounded teaspoon sized balls onto a Silpat-lined or greased cookie sheet.  I found the cookies took about 10 minutes to bake, but I would check after 9 to see if they are done.

Let cool, or enjoy while they are melty.

Slightly chewy, and perfect.

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Butterscotch Graham Cracker Cookies

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , , on June 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I have a confession to make.  Today, I went full girl.  During my 23 years of old age, I’ve become quite the tomboy and devote most of my emotional energy to the singular emotion of anger.  However, today that mold was broken.  After getting to work at 4am for two days straight, then working until around 6pm, plus being super busy apartment hunting because one of my roommates finally decided to stop gracing us with his UnderArmour half shirt and moved out–so we need to move at the end of July, thus, I needed cookies.  Was that too ranty?  Make these cookies and you’ll forgive me.  They are crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside and absolutely addicting.  And ready for this?  They are only about 100 calories each.  BEAT THAT.
Borrowed  from Very Best Baking
 
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 package (11 ounces) butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Set aside.

Beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Beat in eggs and vanilla extract; gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in chips.  Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.  TRUST ME.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.  Keep the batch of dough cool until right before it goes into the oven.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 48 delicious cookies.

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Mandel Bread

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , , , , , , on May 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Gather children, I would like to tell you the story of my discovery of how easy it is to bake biscotti and/or mandel bread.  It was a Sunday after the girlfriend had stayed over all weekend.  Say hi to the girlfriend:

This is basically what every day was like when we worked together.  They said we were annoying, but we knew they didn’t mean it.

To relieve myself of the depression of her returning to the dark depths of Jersey, I had to bake.  I needed something I could make with whatever I had in the house, and would stay stable until the next morning to bring to work.  Searching around Tasty Kitchen, I came across something so very surprising–another person with knowledge on Jewish cooking on the website!  (I should comment on this remark with the understanding that most of Tasty Kitchen are southern and midwestern dishes, so it’s exciting to find someone else who breaks that mold.)  She suggested Bubbie Ruth’s Mandel Bread and I readily obliged.  Mandel Bread is a softer, Jewish version of biscotti.

But alas fair readers, I was afraid.  Something about baking biscotti has always scared me–that delectable crust with a crunchy, yet flaky texture could not be so easy.  Give in to temptation with me…

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 3 whole Eggs
  • 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 3 cups All-purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
  • Cinnamon Sugar

Mix together oil and sugar until combined,

and then add eggs one at a time.

After the eggs are combined, add vanilla.

Sift together all the dry ingredients and add them slowly to the sugar/egg mixture.

Once the dough is smooth and sticky, pour the chocolate chips in and mix. Put the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours (at least 2) or overnight.

Lightly oil your hands and form 4-5 long rows with the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet (I should have totally taken a picture of this and I would apologize, but it would have been a bad picture anyway, let’s just be honest).  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Take the mandel bread out and turn the oven down to 250 degrees.

Slice the mandel bread into biscotti-sized pieces and carefully roll each one into the cinn/sugar mixture.  Put the pieces back on the cookie sheet, on their sides, and bake for another 15 minutes at 250 degrees.

I thought this was a pretty classic biscotti/mandel bread set up for a picture.  I’m relatively proud of myself.

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Chocolate Truffles

Posted in Desserts (For The High Cal Right Brain), tagged , , on January 3, 2010 | 1 Comment »

When I was little, my mom used to always make these in her cooking classes.  I’m very surprised that she had the stomach for it, because the kids would always keep the chocolate in their hands too long, which lead to melted chocolate on their hands, faces, clothes and then onto my mom’s hands, face, etc.  This recipe is very simple, foolproof, and always a favorite.  They are extremely rich, extremely delicious and were a perfect bite-sized dessert for my New Years Eve spread.  I rolled them in unsweetened cocoa powder and chopped almonds because that’s what I had.  However, roll them in whatever makes your little holiday overeating heart happy.

This was my dessert platter for New Years.  I was watching a Martha Stewart episode about apps for New Years and all she spoke about were stuffed mushrooms.  Am I crazy for hating stuffed mushrooms?  The filling is always too hot, it burns your mouth, and then it hurts too much to eat anything else.  But I digress.  Oh, and the other stuff on the dessert platter?  Chocolate Cranberry Cookies and White Chocolate Suprise Bark.  You might get the Chocolate Cranberry recipe.  If you’re lucky.

Ingredients:

  • 12 ounces semisweet chocolate morsels, melted
  • 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup Nestle’s Quick or sweetened or unsweetened cocoa powder, ground walnuts, peanuts, confectioner’s sugar, sprinkles, toffee bits, etc.

In medium bowl, combine melted chocolate and sweetened condensed milk. Stir until very smooth.  Refrigerate 1 hour (or freeze 10 to 15 minutes) or until firm enough to shape.  With hands, roll about 1 heaping teaspoon of chocolate mixture at a time into 1-inch-balls.  Roll balls in desired topping(s).  If desired, place truffles in small paper candy cups. Store in refrigerator.  Allow truffles to stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving.  Makes about 36 truffles.

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