Nutella Mousse

This is hands down my favorite mousse.  Why? Here’s my one worded answer: Nutella.

I’ve had Nutella before, but never baked with it.  And, guess what you will be seeing a few more recipes of? Yep, it’s my new found addiction.

I imagine it’s like what crazy peanut butter lovers are like. You imagine it with everything and anything. I had it the other day with just some waffles for breakfast, then that breakfast was repeated for lunch and then again for dinner. See the pattern here?

Matt will tell you I’m OCD. I’m not arguing it anymore. I tell him call it what he wants just don’t forget to buy it.

A few notes:

• You can leave your mousse plain or try some of these finishes: whip cream with some shaved or curled chocolate, sliced bananas and caramel sauce with  raspberries (as seen in the picture), or even better—brulee the  bananas slices first for the latter.
• I used Chicago Metallic’s Mini Cheesecake pan to make these mini mousse servings. If you do not have this pan, use ramekins.
• The recipe be prepared and covered two days in advance.

Nutella Mousse

Makes 4cups

• 9 oz. Nutella
• 1 ½ heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

INTSRUCTIONS
1. Place Nutella and espresso powder in microwave safe bowl. Heat until mixture is the melted. Stir melted mixture to incorporate the espresso powder. Set aside and cool mixture to room temperature.

2. Whip cream until soft peaks form-not stiff. Gently fold whipped cream into Nutella mixture. The mousse will be soft. Fill pan and cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Blueberry Nectarine Crosata

If you have been reading, you know nectarines are one of my favorite summer fruits. As the summer nears the end I get a little panicked and start buying them like crazy.

I’ll take them raw or baked. For this post they are baked and paired with some blueberries and, oh my, are the two good together.

Since this was a fruit filled recipe, I didn’t feel guilty serving it for breakfast.  A funny bit—my son told me he loves having my giant sized fruit cookies for breakfast. I didn’t correct him and instead I granted his wish for another portion. Yes, I am sucker and easily manipulated with compliments. Flattery will get you everywhere with me.

This is an easy recipe to throw together. For the filling use any fruit you prefer or have on hand. A favorite combination of mine is blackberries and cherries.  

A few notes:

• You can make the crust up to a month in advance and freeze it. Since I’m not real keen on making pastry dough of any sort, I always make a double batch to freeze. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator the night before use.
• For the Pate Brisee I adapted John Barricelli’s recipe, but I have used Alton Brown’s pie crust recipe and it works just as well.
• The raw sugar on the outer crust is not necessary, I added it for extra sweetness and because I like the added embellishment.
• These are best enjoyed on the same day.

Blueberry Nectarine Crosata

Yields on 5 six inches crosatas

Step-by-step

Pate Brisee

• 2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
• ¼ ice water
• 2 tablespoons apple juice

Instructions:

1. In a food processor bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse 3 times with 2 second bursts. Add butter and pulse until mixture looks like dry lumpy sand, about 10 seconds. Mix water and apple juice together. With the machine still running, slowly pour liquid through feed tube until the dough starts to come together and collect around the blade. The dough should not be too wet or too dry. Keep in mind the dough along the wall will remain crumbly. 
2. Turn dough onto counter top and roll into two flat disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  

Filling

• 4 large white nectarines, sliced
• 1 ½ cups frozen blueberries
• 1/8 teaspoon of allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients in a bowl and toss to coat. 

Egg Wash

• One egg lightly beaten

Assembly:

1. Roll dough into 8-9 inch round disk that is a 1/8in thick. Patch any holes or cracks. Place fruit filling on in center leaving 2 inches border all the way around. Fold border to center, brush with an egg wash and sprinkle raw sugar on the crust.
2. Place crosatas on silpats NOT parchment or it will stick to the paper. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. Let cool and serve. 

Lemon Drop Jello-O Shots

Lemon Drop Jell-O Shots

Pre-season has started and with that comes the ever popular football potluck and sometimes tailgate parties amongst my group of friends. I’m not a football die-hard; in fact I don’t even watch football. I hardly know the teams and I certainly don’t know the stats. What I do know is, aside from the company the food is always good at our Sunday gatherings.

I must admit, I don’t get to them like I once did since having Cole. But Matt and I will definitely be at the annual kick off.

That being said, I will be bringing these fun Lemon Drop Jell-O Shots. I debuted these a few years back and it’s been tradition that I bring them every year for kick off. Which is fine by me since they are incredibly easy to make and are always a huge hit.

I also made limes and oranges, but they didn’t make it in the final picture. The limes were too mangled from my dull knife and oranges for some reason  took on a glowing effect when photographed.

No recipe, just a few notes and the step-by step pictures (using a lime) to making these Jell-O shots. 

• Empty out the citrus of your choice to create a vessel.
• Juice the citrus first as it makes for easier pulp removal. Save extracted juice for later recipes.
• Use either a grapefruit knife to hollow out the citrus, or the easier way,  is to turn them inside out like the picture and dig deeply in to the pith until you catch the thin membrane holding the pulp and then peel back.
• Make sure to completely clean out your citrus or the pulp will show in the wedges.
• Make the Jell-O according to the instructions on the box and then reduce the cold water portion by ¼ cup and replace with your chilled drink mix. Place emptied citrus into muffin pan holes. Pour mixture into emptied citrus and chill overnight.
• Use a straight edge knife to cut into wedges. Do not use a serrated knife or it will leave track marks.
• Make sure to use a sharp knife or you will end up with mangled wedges.

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll

A mash up of favorites, I decided to combine two flavors I love, chocolate and cinnamon into one favorite breakfast treat.    

The basis of the recipe is an adaptation of Fine Cooking’s Cinnamon Roll that I made previously, but with a few more tweaks this time around. I wasn’t sure if all the spices along with the chocolate would be too busy, so I decided to omit the cloves and allspice. I did add a little nutmeg to the cinnamon and then traded in the springform pan for a muffin pan. I didn’t have any unsalted butter, so I used regular butter and omitted the salt.    

The result . . . this is now the only way my family wants their cinnamon roll. 

A few notes:    

• For a fluffier cinnamon roll, let your rolls rest in the muffin holes for twenty minutes prior to baking.
• For a less spiced flavor, omit the nutmeg.
• Click here for the how-to pictures to making the dough for this cinnamon roll.
• These Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls will keep for up to three days in an airtight container on the counter.
• Random Note: Don’t  forget to enter my Zoku Quick Pop Maker Give-away!

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls   

Yields 14 rolls   Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffins holes or a 9 inch springform pan with bake spray.   

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Roll Assemby

Dough   

• ¾ cups cottage cheese
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• ¼ sugar
• 4 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 9 oz unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder

Instructions :
1. Combine cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Process until smooth, approximately 10 seconds.
2. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together.
3. Lightly flour your surface and place dough on top. Knead with the heel of your hand 4-5 times. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into 12×15 inch rectangle.   

Filling 

• 1 ½ tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 ground nutmeg
• ¾ cups chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving ½ inch border unbuttered around the edges.
2. In a bowl combine all filling ingredients.
3.  Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area. Pat flat and chocolate chips on top. 4.  Starting at a long edge roll up the dough jelly roll style. Pinch the seams and leave the ends open.
5. Cut 12 equal pieces. Set pieces cut side up, in the prepared pan. Don’t worry about the small gaps.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes.   

Glaze  

• ½ cup powder sugar
• 5 tablespoon whole milk
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or vanilla extract
   

Instructions:
1. In a bowl whisk all ingredients until smooth and pouring consistency.
2. Drizzle over Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls and serve.

Strawberry Fruit Cups

I know seriously, what is with me and fruit? Matt keeps saying it all looks nice, but doesn’t it all taste the same?

Hmmm . . . I say pretty food makes everything better? Although I don’t know if this is so much pretty, as it is fun and unique. Since my friends got such a kick out of them, I thought I would share these fun little Strawberry Fruit Cups.

Besides,  I have this thing about saving fruit salad from the depths of a boring glass bowl. Why? I’m not really sure other than, like Cole, my 3-year-old son, we love to play with food, especially fruit.  

No recipe, just a few notes:

• Use the largest strawberries you can find.
• Your filling, your preference. My fruit cups have chopped cherries, nectarines and a very interesting (and very good) fruit hybrid called a Mango Nectarine.  
• Hull your strawberries, then use a grapefruit knife and carve a hole in the center, then fill it with your preferred fruit.
• Cut the bottoms flat to stand your Strawberry Fruit Cups upright.
• A few other fun fruit presentation ideas you may like, include my Fruit Pops and Fruit Salad Ice Cream Cone.

Mini Black Forest Cheesecake

Ah, yes, my mini cheesecake craze continues. Okay, lets just agree I have a tendency for OCD-like behavior. The more I blog the more it becomes apparent to me that there just might be a connection between me and that three letter acronym.

Either way I’ve decided to own it, embrace it and love it. That being said, I’ve have about another dozen of these little mini cheesecakes recipes to work out and many that are getting a little bit crazy in design (more on the latter to come).

For now, this latest one combines one of my favorite cake flavors. And since I wasn’t able to add a frosting layer with cherries tossed in Kirsch, I added the Kirsch to the cherry cheesecake portion. Then I threw a large cherry on top for a fun look.

A few notes:

• You can skip the Kirsch all together for a non-alcoholic version.
• Add the cherries on top just prior to serving or else the wieght of them causes the cheesecakes to slightly buckle.
• If you do not have a mini cheesecake pan, a 6 inch springform pan will work just as well. 
• Completely unrelated, but don’t forget to enter the Zoku Quick Pop Maker.

Mini Black Forest Cheesecakes

Yields 10 Mini Cheesecakes or one 6 inch springform pan

• 1/2 cup(s) of boiling water
• 1 tablespoon of gelatin
• 1/3 cup(s) of sugar
• 2 cups of Oreo cookies, crushed
• 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream
• 8 ounces of cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup(s) of semi-sweet chocolate, melted
• 1/4 cup(s) cherry reduction sauce*

Instructions:

1. Mix gelatin and sugar in a bowl; add boiling water and stir until gelatin completely dissolves, about 5 minutes.
2. Press crushed Oreos to bottom of pan.
3. Beat heavy cream to medium peaks. Add cream cheese, lemon, salt, beat on medium-high speed unitl mixture is smooth, about 3 minutes.
4. Add a large dollop of cream cheese to to the gelatin and fold to blend. Add remaining cream cheese mixture to gelatin and slowly fold until well incorporated.
5. Divide batter into thirds and separate into three bowls. Add semi-sweet chocolate to two bowls and fold to blend. Repeat with third bowl with cherry sauce sauce.
6. Layer pan with chocolate  filling, cherry filling and then chocolate filling once more.
7.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Release from springform pan or mini cheesecake pan and garnish with whip cream and cherry.

* Homemade cherry sauce:

• 1 cup cherries
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Add cherries, water, sugar, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice in a pot over low medium heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stir frequently until mixture is reduced by half. Push mixture through a strainer to remove any skin. Pour mixture into a shallow bowl to cool.

Chocolate Ginger Cheesecake Cups

These are fantastically easy to make and I love the way they present themselves in cupcake liner. Elegant and warm, these are perfect for any family gathering or holiday dinner.

I know I’m jumping way ahead, but if you know me you know I start Christmas shopping in June and I begin to panic when I see Halloween decorations out in August. Panic as in, I’m not even half way through Christmas shopping and the holidays are here.

Yes, those near and dear to me think I’m crazy. But I love being fully done with all my shopping and holiday crafting by the end of September; so that I can of course, do my holiday baking without anxiety.

Besides, holiday cookie madness officially starts in October when I kick off with decorative Halloween sugar cookies and move right into holiday cookie boxes. Every year by the end of it January I’m pretty sure I have mixed and rolled enough cookie dough that if stretched out it could patch and re-pave  Route 66.

That being said, this recipe is a little warm-up run into my holiday baking with its ginger flavoring.

A few notes:

You can make this as in one large springform pan. If you do, increase the bake time to 45 minutes and bake the cheesecake in a water bath.

This can be kept refrigerated and covered for three days.

To make the chocolate curls, drag a vegetable peeler along the edge of a warm chocolate bar.

Chocolate Ginger Cheesecake Cups

Yields 8 cheesecake cups. Bake at 325 degrees F for 15-20 minutes

Crust

• 1 ½ cups graham crackers, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Cheesecake

• 1 cup cream cheese
• 1/3 light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 ½ oz bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons brandy or flavored liqueur
• 1 tablespoon water
• Whip Cream
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ tablespoon granulated sugar
• Chocolate curls or chocolate shards for garnish

Instructions:

1. Place crackers in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin or food processor until. Mix with the ginger and melted butter. Divide the racer mixture between 6 paper muffin liners and press down firmly with a flat bottom of a glass.
2. Place the cream cheese, sugar and eggs in a bowl and beat until smooth. Place the chocolate and the brandy or liqueur and water water in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Let stand until melted stirring frequently until smooth.  Stir in cream  cheese mixture and divide between the liners.
3. Bake in oven heated to 325 degrees F. Start checking for doness at 12-15 minutes. Cheesecakes are ready the center of the surface slightly gives when the pan is jiggled.  Leave the cheesecake cups to cool in the oven with the oven door open. During this time the cheesecakes will cool to completion For the whip cream, place heavy cream and sugar in a bowl and beat until medium stiff peaks form. Allow cheesecakes to completely cool before adding whip cream. To finish, garnish with chocolate shards or curls.

Now you can see why I was so excited to get this pan for my birthday, of course so were my boys.

These mini donuts are fun and easy to make. And since this was my first time making donuts I followed the recipe on the pan. I have to admit, the recipe didn’t impress me enough that I would follow it next time. But when I’m trying something for the first time, I generally like to stick to the recipe then doctor it up after I tried it once.

Having said that, you will most likely see a few more donut recipes from me, since I love this pan and love making them.

A few notes:

• Follow the bake and cool instructions explicitly. I didn’t the first time around because they looked under baked—uh,wrong. I ended with darkened bottoms and uneven tops.
• These are best eaten the day of, as they become hard by the next day.
• Use a pastry bag fitted with a #12 tip to fill the pan. Pipe one layer all the way around. Do not overfill.

Baked Mini Cake Donuts

Makes 24 mini donuts.  Prepare pan with baking spray. Heat oven to 425 degrees F.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups cake flour, sifted
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1¼ tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1½ tbsp. butter, melted

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Add buttermilk, egg and butter and stir until just combined. Fill each donut cup approximately one-half full.
2. Bake 4–6 minutes or until the top of the donuts spring back when touched. Let cool in pan for 4–5 minutes before removing. Finish the donuts with glaze, sprinkles, or cinnamon sugar.

Chocolate and Strawberry Baked Alaska

I am thrilled to be guest posting for a blog that I absolutely love. Lil Luna features everything from food to crafts, DIY, tutorials, holiday and gift ideas.

If you are not familiar with the site, hit the jump where you will find the remainder of this post with the recipe and leave yourself plenty of time to look around.

I personally can’t wait to use some of the awesome Halloween printables that Kristyn already has featured.

Coconut Macaroons

The name of this cookie doesn’t quite have the story, the Blueberry Bait Boy Bars, but it did catch one boy, or man I should say in particular.  

Yes, this was the first cookie I made for my husband, Matt. I’m pretty sure he ate almost half the batch. Now whether or not the cookies captivated him by taste or he acquiesced from overindulgences, I was able to convince him to watch The Break Up, (a movie he had previously mentioned a disinterest in watching) for one of our first dates.

I like to think it’s the former. To this day, it’s still one of his favorite cookies I make. Unfortunately it is also mine, so they don’t last too long in our house.

If you love coconut macaroons, trust me when I say, this is the best recipe you will ever come across. Aside from Matt, anytime I make this cookie for a coconut macaroon lover they agree that this is the best recipe as well.

A few notes:

• Fast and easy, this is a one bowl cookie.
• Be sure the mixture is heated to proper temperature.
• Use parchment over silpats for best results.
• This recipe does not double well, so make two batches.
• Use high quality coconut, less expensive brands tend to be too dry.

Captivating Coconut Macaroon Cookies

Yields 22 2 1/2 inch cookies. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 

• 4 large egg whites
• 3 cups of sweetened shredded coconuts
• 2/3cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients into one heat proof bowl and set it over 2 inches of barely simmering water. Stir mixture, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to prevent any burning. Continue heating until the mixture is hot the touch and egg whites have thickened, about 6-7 minutes. Mixture is ready when a scoop can hold its shape without a puddle of syrup forming around it.
2. Scoop 2 tablespoons of the mixture and place it 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until edges of cooking and protruding parts are golden brown. Cool cookies completely before removing from paper.

Adapted from Alice Medrich