Easy Peasy

I needed a super quick and easy dessert that people could just pick up with their hands. Here is a variation on a treat my mom used to make for us.

 All you need for this is a tube of biscuits, bowl of cinnamon and sugar mixed together and a bowl of melted butter.   I took the biscuits and ripped them in half and rolled them into balls.

Roll them in butter and then the cinnamon and sugar.   That's it!   place them in a pan and bake until cooked all of the way through.  This is a super yummy crowd pleaser...  You don't have to tell them it only took you 7 mins to prep : )

DE LUshious

So I've been working on the house and reading....  so I've been neglecting my posts...  Ummm..  The new Stephanie Plum book came out!

 One thing I did create was a new brownie trifle version of my Chocolate Haze Cake.

This is super simple and de lushious!!  not just delicious : ) 

Take 2 boxes of Betty Crocker Brownie mix ( i mixed one milk chocolate with one dark chocolate)  Follow directions on the box  EXCEPT: Replace the water with Hazelnut Coffee Creamer.  Spread the chocolaty goodness on a cookie (hotel) pan (with sides)  and sprinkle with Honey Almond (Almond Accents)  these are for salad but they are sweet almond slivers that taste delicious!

Bake until  chewy : )  Allow to cool completely.  When they have cooled.  Break them into little clumps and line a trifle dish or bowl.  You wont use all of the brownies but extra chocolate in our house is never turned down : )

Make your chocolate Hazelnut Mousse    1 pint of Whipping Cream with several heaping spoonfuls of nutella while blending.   Once light and fluffy spoon mixture over brownie layer.  Pour over one box of fresh raspberries and cover with another layer of brownies.   Spoon onto a plate or bowl and eat your heart out! 

This was a huge hit!  It was eaten up very quickly!!  So quickly I forgot to take a before picture!

Happy Birthday to You.. or Yppah if you prefer.

So...  For my girlies at work I like to make sure they get something super yummy for their birthdays.  We had two ladies this week with birthdays so I also wanted to make a cute bunting that I've been seeing all over the place.

 I got a killer groupon for fabric..  so I stocked up and used this fabric to make the bunting.  I found a template at Eventful Party Planning to use to cut the fabric.  I then glued on Letters that I had just printed off of the computer and cut out.  Then each pennant was glued onto ribbon.

Here's the problem... I sometimes stretch myself too thin... and do projects very late at night...  Here's what happens.....

Notice the spelling?????

Needless to say they thought it was cuter this way so we left it..  Not to bad for being misspelled and all...

YPPAH BIRTHDAY GIRLS!!

So...  something that came out better was the birthday cake.   I wanted to make something summery..  I reused the white cake recipe from 2 posts ago and filled the middle with a recipe from HERE.   Strawberry Mousse.

Remember when putting a gooey filling in between 2 round cakes it is best to use your pastry bag to make a barrier with icing to hold the filling in the middle.  Once that was done I lightly frosted the entire cake.  I used a large 1M star tip to zig zag up and down the sides of the cake.

Once that was complete around the whole cake I did little stars around the top border to clean up the look..  

I found a demo on how to make fondant flowers Here and then changed it up to be a little simpler...

I mixed red food gel into a ball of fondant and rolled it all out.  Using a round cookie cutters I cut out circles.

starting in the middle of the circle... Push down and pull with a spoon to soften edges and create a ruffled effect.

grabbing underneath pinch the middle and push up to create the look of a flower.

I made slight variations in the colors and covered the top of the cake with the flowers.

Enjoy!

Squisito supplementare! That's Extra Delicious in Italian

One of my new fav recipes is Panna Cotta.  An Italian Custard Dessert.  I made it for someone that loves Creme Brulee but I wanted to have them try a new summery dessert.

This is a great recipe from CHERYLA33 @ all recipes.com 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Panna-Cotta/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Pour milk into a small bowl, and stir in the gelatin powder. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, stir together the heavy cream and sugar, and set over medium heat. Bring to a full boil, watching carefully, as the cream will quickly rise to the top of the pan. Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and pour into six individual ramekin dishes.
3. Cool the ramekins uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving. 
4.  I also added one vanilla bean.  Make sure you slice in half and scrap beans into milk mixture with the pod.  Allow to steep(come up to the boil in the milk)  and remove the pod after mixture is boiled. 

Instead of Ramekins I use these Ball Jars.  They make cute gifts or just a fun presentation.

To top the panna cotta because it if a very light sweet flavor.. I made a tangy lime, raspeberry, ginger compote for the top.

12 oz of frozen raspberries

3 Tablespoons of Sugar

1 teaspoon of Karo syrup (just for a glossy look)

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger (powder)

Zest of 1 lime

Juice of 1/2 of a lime

Mix ingredients together in a small pot and bring to a simmer.  cook until sugar is dissolved completely.   Allow to cool completely and then pour a small amount over the panna cotta in each jar.  It will be really tart but it goes very well with the sweetness of the custard.

It is super easy and delicious and People will be soo impressed!