teacher by day - chef by night
These S’mores Bar Cookies are a mix between a Blondie & a Chocolate Chip Bar Cookie. The flavors are right on, the cinnamon in the batter is perfect & they are nice any chewy (even a week later – I stored them in the fridge and then just let them come to room temperature).
These cupcakes go out to all the Harry Potter Fans out there! More than a decade is coming to a close. In June of 1997 the first Harry Potter book [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone] was released and a Nation (world) was hooked.. we read …
“We just finished up Blue’s Clues – We just finished up Blue’s Clues – We just finished up Blue’s Clues – because its a really fun show!”
The local theater group that I’m part of (Black Sheep Productions at the Sherman Theater) just finished our production of BLUE’S CLUES LIVE – BLUE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!
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Growing up, I was not part of the “Blue’s Generation” but still had seen enough Blue’s Clues to be excited – especially since we know I am really just a kid at heart!.
I was Magenta (who only showed up at the end of Blue’s party). Although at first I was bummed to not have Magenta be a larger part of the show – showing up 2/3 of the way through had its good side: it gave me less time in that costume! These costumes were awesome, but hot and big and they took a lot outta me!
In order to celebrate Blue’s Clues I made BLUE VELVET CUPCAKES! Warning: these take a lot of food coloring and unlike Red Velvet: these are made with vanilla cake. I did cheat a little on these and used a box of Betty Crocker Mix (but I did make my own frosting since I’m not a fan of can frosting at all – that is why I thought I hated frosting growing up actually).
Since this just used vanilla cake mix – I bet that you could take this recipe with your Wilton food colorings and make whatever color cakes/cupcakes you wanted – that would be very very cool for a kid’s party (or graduation party or the possibilities are endless). Get your Velvet Cake groove-on!
And I leave you with this, a quote from another classic show: the Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum, “Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true”
This is the make at home, do it yourself, whatever, whenever, whoever, version of those ‘instant’ cakes and they are just TOO GOOD! You are now just 10 minutes from warm Chocolate Cake
To sum up these chocolate cups with peanut butter mousse: my dad (my most honest and pickiest critc) said [mumbled] “you can make these whenever you want” through his full mouth, to which my mom responded with just a really extreme head nod since her mouth was full and she’s a lady! So what are you waiting for!?! Get off the computer and start making these (or pencil these in for the next event on your calendar where you want to impress)
Yet another Birthday Celebration this month (and we wonder why I have trouble not keeping a consistant weight!). My Grandmother (Hi Grandma!) loves to read my blog and always whines that she doesn’t get to taste more of what I make, so I wanted to make her something really tasty for her birthday. We started off with White Bean [Hummus] Soup (post coming at a later date), then did 40 Garlic Chicken with parmesan roasted red potatoes and roasted green beans.
The problem was dessert because Grandma loves everything, so I turned to the men (Dad & Rich) in my life to see what they wanted (Mom wasn’t much help either). They both still had visions of Rich’s Chocolate Cake Cheesecake dancing in their head and decided they wanted Cheesecake. I then decided I wanted to try a different cheesecake recipe (thank you FoodGawker Posters for giving me so many awesome cheesecakes to have to look through). I wanted something with a fruit (and had some raspberry filling in the freezer) so that narrowed down my search. When I found THIS amazing White Chocolate Raspberry [Chocolate Crust] Cheesecake on Sherman Post Food’s Blog, I knew I had a winner!
It was the perfect choice! The cooking method is great, high temp for a short time, low and slow, and then keep in oven to cool for a bit – such great texture and really easy! Feel free to make this with or without the fruit, change different fruits, or even melt in dark chocolate (I’ll let you know how that goes: think we might end up with a lightly flavored chocolate cheesecake – sounds good to me!)
White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl & Chocolate Graham Crust
Raspberry Sauce
OR…
Press raspberries with a rubber spatula through a fine strainer set over a small saucepan; discard pulp and seeds. Stir in sugar. Heat over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Stir cornstarch mixture into raspberry mixture and bring to a boil, stirring just until thickened. Cool and keep aside to use later.
Crust
Coat an 8 x 3-in. springform pan with nonstick spray.
Break graham crackers into food processor. Process until fine crumbs form. Measure crumbs (you’ll need 1 1/2 cups), processing more if necessary. Add butter; process until crumbs are evenly moistened. Transfer to prepared pan; pat firmly over bottom and a scant 2 in. up sides (no need to be even).
Filling
Heat oven to 350°F.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed, scraping down sides occasionally, until smooth. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, just until blended. Beat in sour cream and vanilla, then white chocolate until blended. Pour into crust.
To Decorate (from For the Love of Food – her method, I’m not artistic)
Starting 1 in. from edge of pan drop 12 evenly spaced 1/2-in. round puddles of raspberry sauce in a circle on cake batter. Make a second circle of 1/4-in. puddles 1 in. from first circle and a third ring of very small puddles 1 in. from second circle. Starting with outer circle, pull tip of a toothpick through each puddle to form hearts. Pull pick through puddles in second circle in opposite direction. Repeat direction used in first circle in inside ring of puddles. Refrigerate remaining sauce to serve with cheesecake. OR – do like I did & just drop your raspberry and swirl around to make it look freehanded artistic!
BAKE Bake cake 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 250°F and bake 1 1/4 hours or until center just barely jiggles when shaken. Turn off oven (leave door closed); cool cake in oven 1 hour, then remove pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
Carefully run a thin knife around edge of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides; place cake on a serving plate. Place in cake keeper or cover with a bowl or pot. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
About 1/2 hour before serving: Remove cake and sauce (if you want extra with your cake) to room temperature.
This cake was the end of Grandma’s Birthday-Eve Celebration. For her actual birthday I took a Personal Day & we hopped into NYC to see Wonderland on Broadway. Awesome costumes, fun characters, & a message to never grow up – what more can you ask for!?
A day in the city, lunch @ Juniors, and a show with my grandma (after her awesome birthday dinner) – I think it was a good 2 days!