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Inspired by Smitten Kitchen who was inspired by Heidi Swanson, I made this for Easter 2013 dessert.
I made these a few days after Vivian was born and brought them into our OB’s office to thank our nurses. The paper cups are from Paper Eskimo and worked beautifully.
Servings: 12
Fresh
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups hulled and chopped strawberries, divided, approximately 1-1/2 quarts of whole strawberries
Pantry
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1-1/2 tsp. vanila extract
Mix dry ingredients
Preheat oven to 400 degrees-F. In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
Prepare strawberries
Place 1/2 cup chopped strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a small pot over medium heat. Cook until strawberries are broken down and sauce is thick, approximately 8 minutes. Pass sauce through a fine sieve and discard the seeds, set the sauce aside. Place the remaining strawberries in a small mixing bowl and toss with the remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
Mix wet ingredients
In a small mixing bowl, beat egg with a fork. Add buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
Make batter
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with a fork just until combined. Add the chopped strawberries and sugar mixture and stir until distributed throughout batter. Add reserved strawberry sauce and stir until just incorporated.
Bake muffins
Fill 12 muffin cups with liners or spray with cooking spray. Drop batter into muffin liners by the spoonful evenly among the cups, filling to the brim. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool and serve
Remove muffin pan from oven and let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool completely on a cooling rack. Serve immediately or store in airtight container for several days.
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I saw this beautiful cupcakes on Cooking Classy and couldn’t get them out of my mind until I finally made them. This was also my first use of these baking cups instead of liners. The cupcake is a little narrower and taller than a standard cupcake tin, and the cup doesn’t stick to the cupcake so it is easy to eat.
Servings: 24 cupcake
Fresh
3 cups strawberries
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, divided
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
Pantry
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
This is my first shortbread cookie and I was surprised how easy it was – I will be making this again. It was a perfect accompaniment to a rich chocolate peanut butter ice cream Jim made. Cooks Illustrated provided the base recipe and I made a few adjustments.
Servings: 16
Fresh
14 Tbsp. (1-3/4 sticks) butter, cold
Pantry
1/2 cup rolled oats
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
Make dough
Preheat oven to 450 degrees-F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the collar of a spring-form pan upside-down with the collar fully open and the ridge at the top. Grind the rolled oats into a flour use a blender. Combine oat flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cut the cold butter into 1/2-Tbsp. pieces and add to the mixer. On the low speed, combine the ingredients until a dough forms, approximately 5 minutes – be patient, the dough will come together. Press the dough into the spring-form collar, using a spoon to smooth the dough into approximately 1/2-thick disk inside the collar. With a metal cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, approximately 2-inches in diameter, cut out the center of the cookie and place the cut-out on the outside of the spring-form collar.
Bake and cool
Bake cookie at 450 degrees-F for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees-F without open the oven door. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Score the cookie with a knife into 16 equal slices, approximately one-half way deep, and pierce with a toothpick, approximately 8 holes per slice. Return to the oven and turn off the heat. Prop the oven door open with a long-handled spoon. Let the cookie dry in the oven for 1 hour. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely, approximately another hour.
Serve
Break cookies apart on the scored lines when ready to serve. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for several days.
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Inspired by a photo from Cooking Classy and always in search of an improved cheesecake recipe, I put together the following recipe with beautiful and delicious results.
Servings: 16 slices
Fresh
6 oz. raspberries
5 Tbsp. butter, additional for greasing the pan
1-1/2 lbs. cream cheese, softened
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream
Pantry
1-1/4 cups plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar, divided
25 Oreo cookies
1/8 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. white chocolate
Make cookie crust
Melt 5 Tbsp. butter and set aside. Use additional butter to grease bottom and sides of a 9-inch spring form pan and place pan in the refrigerator while making the crust. Separate the Oreo cookies and scrap off the white icing filling, discard the filling. Place the cookies in a large, sealed Ziplock bag. Use a rolling pin to crush the cookies to fine crumbs, should yield approximately 1-1/2 cups crumbs. Combine cookie crumbs, 1/4 granulated sugar, salt, and melted butter in a small bowl and mix to combine. Pour cookie mixture into the chilled greased pan. Press crumbs into the bottom and half-way up the sides of the pan. Cover the outside of the pan with two layers of aluminum foil in preparation for the water bath during baking. Place the pan in the refrigerator to chill while preparing the cheesecake.
Make raspberry sauce
Dissolve 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar and cornstarch in 1/3 cup water in a small pot. Add raspberries to the pot and heat over medium heat, bringing to a boil and reduce heat. Stir constantly while mixture simmers and thickens, approximately five minutes. Push raspberry sauce through a fine sieve and discard seeds. Set mixture aside to cool.
Make cheesecake filling
Preheat oven to 325 degrees-F. Beat cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. Reduce mixer speed to low and add melted chocolate, mixing for an additional 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 cup granulated sugar and beat mixture for 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each eggs. Add vanilla, heavy cream, lemon zest, and sour cream, and mix on low until incorporate.
Assemble cake and bake
Transfer 2 Tbsp. of raspberry sauce to a container that can be used to drop raspberry sauce on top of cake such as a medicine dropper or frosting decorator and set aside. Place spring form pan in a roasting pan and start a kettle of water to boil on the stove. Pour one-third of cream cheese filling into the filled cookie crust. Pour remaining raspberry mixture on top of cream cheese layer. Pour another one-third of cream cheese filling top of raspberry layer. Use a toothpick to swirl the mixtures together. Carefully pour the final one-third of cream cheese filling to completely cover the raspberry mixture so the top of the cake is cream cheese only. Use the raspberry sauce set aside for decoration to drop circles on top of the cake in a spiral, starting in the center and gradually increasing or decreasing the size of the circles as desired. Use a clean toothpick and start just above the the circle and drag through the center of the circles in a continuous line through the spiral. Transfer roasting pan to the preheated oven and carefully pour boiling water into the roasting pan for the water bath.
Bake
Bake for 60 minutes or until sides are set and center jiggles slightly. Turn off oven and prop oven door open with a long-handled spoon. Leave cake in the oven for an additional 60 minutes. Transfer cake to a cooling rack to cool to room temperature in the pan, about 2 hours.
Chill and serve
Cover cake with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to set overnight. When ready to serve, slice and serve immediately. Store cake in the refrigerator.
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Inspired by Smitten Kitchen, these are possibly the best brownies I have made or eaten. I will definitely make these again.
Servings: 72 brownies, 1-1/2-inch squares
Fresh
6 Tbsp. heavy cream
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, divided, additional for greasing pans
4 eggs
Pantry
6 oz. unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate
3 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 tsp. sea salt flakes, divided
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all purpose flour
Make caramels
Cover a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray, set aside. In a large pan, melt 1 cup sugar until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, stir until butter is melted. Stir in the heavy cream and 1/2 tsp. sea salt flakes, and return to heat to remelt the sugar and darken the color slightly for 1 to 2 minutes. Pour the caramel onto the parchment paper and freeze or refrigerate until firm, approximately 2 hours in the refrigerator or 45 minutes in the freezer. Remove caramels sheet from the pan and peel off parchment. Cut into pieces, approximately 1-inch by 1/2-inch. Place piece back on parchment and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Make brownie batter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees-F. Using a large mixing bowl as the top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt chocolate and remaining 1 cup (2 sticks) butter. Removing bowl from heat and add remaining 2 cups sugar and whisk until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula in between each egg. Add vanilla extract and remaining 1/2 tsp. sea salt flakes, and stir until combined. Add flour and stir until incorporated.
Assemble brownies
Line two 8-inch x 8-inch cake pans or one 9-inch x 13-inch pan (the one pan method will make thicker brownies) with parchment and butter the top of the parchment with the additional butter. Pour approximately one-third of the brownie batter into the bottom of the pan, spread out with a spatula to be sure the is an even layer. Place one-half of caramels on top of batter evenly. Pour the next one-third of brown batter over the caramels. Place remaining one-half of caramels on top of batter. Pour remaining batter over caramels, it is okay if the caramels are not covered completely.
Bake and chill
Bake brownies for 15 minutes, then rotate pan 180-degrees and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes. Transfer pan to a cooling rack and leaving in the pan until room temperature, about 1 hour. Turn brownies out and peel off parchment, and place on a cutting board or cookie sheet. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour.
Cut and serve
Cut brownies until 1-1/2-inch squares and serve at room temperature. Store in the refrigerator to keep the caramel firm.
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