Reptar Bars!

If you grew up in the 90s, it was pretty much a given that you watched Nickelodeon and every show from All That to Rockos Modern Life. I pretty much lived for all of those shows as a child and the Rugrats were one of my favorites [ I always wanted to be a nicer & sweeter version of Angelica].

I was watching Rugrat repeats recently on "the 90s are all that" & then I stumbled upon this blog, and found the most awesome thing ever..REPTAR BARS! Of course I had to make them, but a little more refined. I swapped out the jarred marshmallow fluff for a scratch-made Italian meringue, a homemade salted caramel sauce, & I even tempered the chocolate, for some practice. You could of course always use store bought caramel,  fluff and non-temper [Nestles] chocolate to make your life easier, but that's just not me.

They definitely do turn your tongue green.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is one of those things I never grew up eating because its such a southern staple- I live in LA, and I'm Jewish I grew up eating noodle kugel, and more boring pies like apple. I honestly think the first time I tasted it was when I made it a few weeks ago. I came across these bars a while ago, and I absolutely love them and they reminded me what a pecan pie would be like in bar form.

Also, because I love chocolate, it couldn't hurt to add some the pie, and it didn't. The chocolate just adds an even richer quality to the already insanely gooey and delicious filling of this pie. Its suc h a simple recipe, basically everything goes in one bowl. You can always substitute the crust with a store-bought one, but if you are going to take the time to make the pie, you might as well just make the crust too- its always well worth that little extra step. I pretty much followed this recipe straight-forward, since being a novice I didn't want to change anything. I'd say this one is definitely a winner.

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

Biscotti are such lovely little crunchy cookies that can easily be turned into an elegant homemade gift. For the person who enjoys  'not so sweet' desserts, these are be the perfect treat for them. Biscotti can be left plain, but are most commonly found chock full of dried fruits or nuts.

 
Cranberries & pistachios are the perfect green and red representation for the holiday season in a dessert. To dress these cookies up even more, you can dip them in white and dark chocolate and coat them in red & green sanding sugar.

Candy Cane Macarons

I know for some making macarons can be quite the daunting task, but once you get the hang of it you can make them in a snap and for any occasion. For the holiday season, I took these delicate little almond cookies and sandwiched them with a delicious chocolate french buttercream. Because chocolate and mint are a match made in heaven I rolled them in crushed candycanes for a little extra festive touch. 

Since I've made them in the past, here is the recipe for the cookies & the buttercream, and a little how-to. These are a quick little cookie to serve at your holiday get-together

Chocolate Cake Trifles

I made this cake in my last post, and everyone should take note that when you make a cake and you have left over trimmings, you should always make a trifle! Forget the cake balls, and go with something a little more sophisticated. They are delicious, so versatile, making them individual sizes is all the better.

 

Every since I first made a french pastry cream in my first baking class its been one of my favorites because its basically pudding, and who doesn't love pudding? Also, the flavor combinations you can add this simple vanilla-based custard are endless. I decided to go with a salted caramel and a spiced Mexican hot chocolate flavored pastry creams.

Giraffe Birthday Cake

Last week was my best friend's birthday and she asked for a giraffe cake, because she is a giraffe :)

I haven't worked with fondant too much and this was my first time molding it and I was pretty happy with the results. I used this picture and used it as a guide for molding my giraffes and put them on top of a milk chocolate cake, filled with cherry Italian buttercream, and iced with Italian buttercream.

A few roses, and some grass and voilà! its now a giraffe in a rose garden cake.

Happy Birthday Yoohoo! <3

Mocha Macarons

Yes, I'm still alive. No, I haven't forgotten about my blog and now that I finally have my beautiful new kitchen, I am baking more and definitely updating more. I also started a new baking class at school "Advanced Patisserie Techniques" aka fancy plated desserts and candy making. Exciting, but also intimidating.

For my one of my final desserts in my last class (last week), we had to once again make the dreaded french macaron. One misstep or extra fold and these stubborn little cookies will crack, break, and just not achieve their coveted "feet". These are the most finicky cookies you will ever come across and you will cry as you make them over and over and not understand why they didn't turn out "just right". Until now that is, because I finally found a recipe that I absolutely love love love. I thought my recipe from school was good, but when the success rate only turns out to be 70%, it becomes frustrating.

My favorite macarons are Francois Payard's and I was beyond ecstatic when I found his recipe on food & wine's website. This recipe has the same ingredients as a typical macaron, just made with a different technique which I believe guarantees success. I filled these little cuties with the most delicious chocolate-coffee french buttercream. Pure decadence.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Everybody loves cupcakes. They are fun, cute, and endlessly customizable. Cupcakes with beer and hard liquor = even better. Although I  do love a good cupcake like the next person, they are truly the remedial treat of the patisserie world. If you can make cake batter, you can make cupcakes. So it irks me that so many classically trained pastry chefs have settled by just making cupcakes, and only cupcakes day in and day out. We don't even make cupcakes in my patisserie program because they are so simple and many of my chefs have mocked said cupcake makers. So since cupcakes are so simple in nature, but so fun to make, one should thrive for perfection and come up with creative flavor combinations that really can outshine a plain chocolate, vanilla, or red velvet cupcake.

Adam's birthday was on Monday, I offered to make him a birthday treat. I wanted to try something I don't bake often, and then a light switch went off. I thought about chocolate stout and how its used in baking and then remembered Adam's obsession with Guinness and it was settled, my birthday treat was born.

A Guinness cupcake with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream. And it was delightful.

'Spaghetti & Meatballs' Cake

I was skimming through an issue of Food Network Magazine a few months back and I saw a tutorial on this cake. Immediately I knew I wanted to make it for my boyfriend's mom, because she is an Italian New Yorker and I didn't think anyone could appreciate it more. Well her birthday was about two weeks ago and I finally had the chance.

I was a little apprehensive at first because I haven't decorated too many cakes, but it really isn't hard at all. First, I found delicious chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream recipes and swapped them out for the boxed cake & canned frosting recommended in the magazine. I took my time with it and I was very happy with the results. Her jaw dropped, she smiled & loved it and thats all I was hoping for!

Salted Toffee Matzo aka Matzo Crack

Every year for Passover my mom buys the giant 5 lb box of matzo and every year we are left with 2-3 boxes at the end of the holiday that goes to waste. Lets be real, its not the most tasty item in the world and after being force fed it for a week straight, no one wants to eat anymore of it then they have to.

I was originally going to make this at the beginning of the holiday but time got away from me and I ended up making it last night [Passover ends tomorrow night], but it is so delicious that I am going to just turn the rest of the matzo in this toffee candy. Completely covered in butter, sugar, & chocolate..problem solved!

Vanilla Bean Macaroons

It's Passover again and the seder was hosted and prepared by yours truly. In between the brisket, matzo ball soup and side dishes, I really wanted to bake a few Passover sweet treats. So, instead of eating those dreadful canned coconut macaroons I thought why not make my own? It can't be that hard right?

Actually, its pretty simple. It is a three-step process and in no time you can enjoy delicious Passover cookies. They came out so much better than I could have imagined and I would definitely bake these even if it wasn't Passover.

Simplicity- giant chocolate chip cookies

The last time I was in NYC was in 2007, and I desperately wanted to go to Levain bakery. Sadly, I did not and have never had one of their remarkable giant chocolate chip cookies. This week I am on spring break and typical me, I caught a cold and have been at home sniffling. Well in between the hot cups of tea, and movies I watched to pass the time, I had a craving for simple chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies are probably my favorite thing to bake because: 1) they literally take no brain power or effort to make them 2) you can have warm, gooey, fresh cookies in about 30 minutes, start to finish 3) when they are good, they are really good 4) even when they are bad, they are still kinda good

I found this copycat recipe for Levain's on their actual website and since I've never had them it was hard to compare. Whether or not its an accurate recipe, these are so devine. Much much better than the recipe on the back of the tollhouse chocolate chip package. I added my little touch with three types of chocolate and omitted the walnuts because they took up too much room where chocolate could be instead.

Hamantaschen

In honor of Purim yesterday, I baked some hamantaschen which I typically do every year. You know, those funny triangular-shaped cookies usually filled with jam. I used to make these with my grandma, and I remember the first time I made them on my own- I was 15 and I was in a cooking class at school and we had a project to cook/bake and present a dish. I made these Hamantaschen and instead of the traditional jam fillings, I made a marshmallow chocolate one.

 
 I stuck to my grandma's dough recipe that I use every year and made some with apricot and raspberry jam. I tried something new this time though and made some with a chocolate filling, almost a brownie-like batter. Delicious, but many of them lost their pretty triangular shape because they were over-filled.

I found the filling recipe in Jewish Home Cooking by Arthur Schwartz, and although the recipe says to fill each with 2 tsp of chocolate, I only used 1 tsp and next time would probably use about half that.

They are pretty simple cookie to make, sometimes they get a little misshapen, but its okay because they always taste great!

Girl Scout Cookies: Thin Mints Edition

Thin Mints are my second favorite type of girl scout cookie which is surprising since I am not the biggest fan of mint-flavored things. There is something special about these little cookies that makes them so good- especially once they are frozen like everyone and their mother does, so classic. I even added a little more mint to the coating for a more minty icy pop.

They are pretty simple to make. Its basically a chocolate short-bread dough, and it doesn't even require rolling or shaping. Just form into a log and slice, what can be easier than that? . Now I can bake and freeze these little cuties any time of year I want. I really like the recipe I found, because it was one of the few that didn't use a boxed cake mix (eww) but next time I would definitely bake these a minute or two less than the recipe called for.

Oh, and p.s. they are even better when you crush them up and mix them in with vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

Valentines Day Truffle Box

Everyone loves getting a box of chocolates on Valentines Day and biting into each piece hoping its your favorite kind. They typically are the store-bought kind and I thought it would be a fun challenge to make an assorted box of truffles for Josh as my gift to him. This was my first time making truffles and I thought it would be creative to play with different flavors and make more than just a basic chocolate truffle. So I came up with these flavors: cookie dough, peanut butter [with a white chocolate base], chocolate strawberry, white chocolate raspberry, and chewy salted caramels. All dipped in chocolate of course& then decorated with all things red, pink, sparkly and heart shaped! 

cookie dough!

It isn't difficult to make these truffle, its just time consuming because there is much down time waiting for every step to set up and cool properly, which requires a great deal of patience. I would definitely give yourself at least a day in advance to make these.

Decorating these was the most fun part because  each truffle really is a blank canvas. They can be decorated for any holiday, with any design, and in any color- the possibilities are endless. The best part is- they do not have to be perfect because you want that homemade look.  Put your own little touches on these, they can be as personalized as you want. Pipping out the recipients initials on some of the chocolates adds a nice little touch.

I also found a cute red tin box and some adhesive glitter hearts that I used to present the chocolate in. Pink mini muffin papers were used to hold each truffle and a piece of pretty heart tissue paper was draped over the chocolates.

 

More pictures, recipes, and how-to's after the jump!

Girl Scout Cookies: Tagalongs Edition

It's girl scout cookie season and I can't wait to start seeing the little girls in front of supermarkets. I used to be a girl scout and remember selling them with my troop and dressing up in a giant cookie box.

I've already ordered my cookies but since I probably won't be receiving them for at least a few weeks I figured why not try and make my own? I've never thought to do that more and now when I'm craving some in 6 months I can just make my own!

These cookies are actually really simple to make, they just take a little time because you need to wait for the filing to set, and then the chocolate coating to set. I used a semi-sweet chocolate instead of the traditional milk chocolate to have a little balance between the sweet creamy peanut butter filling and the slightly bitter semi-sweet chocolate.

Experimented with white chocolate on a few, yum!

I'm going to dedicate the next few posts to recreating as many girl scout cookie recipes as I can. Next on my list, thin mints!