Happy Boss's Day

This recipe is based on the one found here.  I made these for my boss on Boss's Day.  They are one of the easier things I've baked.  Here's how I made them.

INGREDIENTS

For the Cupcakes:

• Duncan Hines cake mix (devil's food cake)

For the Frosting:

• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup butter
• 6 ounces cream cheese
• 4 tablespoons raspberry puree (Mash up about ½ cup fresh or frozen raspberries)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For Ganache:

• 6 ounces finely chopped Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate
• 3/4 cup whipping cream

For Garnish:

• 24 raspberries

INSTRUCTIONS

For the Cupcakes:

1. Make cupcakes by following directions on box.
2. Leave cupcakes in tin for 5 minutes before removing onto a cooling rack.
3. Meanwhile, make the frosting and ganache.

For the Ganache:

1. Bring whipping cream to simmer.
2. Place chocolate in a bowl and pour hot whipping cream on top. 
3. Let it sit for two minutes and then stir until smooth. Let the ganache come to room temperature before applying to cupcakes.  It will become almost the consistency of pudding.

For the Frosting:

1. Puree the ½ cup raspberries in a food process, blender, or with a hand blender.  You should be left with 4 tablespoons raspberry puree. 
2. Beat butter and cream cheese together until smooth. 
3. Add powdered sugar a little at a time then beat and cream for 2-3 minutes. 
4. Add 4 tablespoons raspberry puree and the vanilla and beat until completely combined. Place frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a piping tip.

To Assemble:

1. Once the cupcakes have cooled, spoon 1-2 teaspoons ganache onto each cupcake, spreading it to almost the edge of the cupcake. 
2. Pipe frosting on top of each cupcake.
3. Spoon 1 teaspoon ganache over the top and press a berry in.

Cupcakes with berries on that are not eaten within a few hours should be refrigerated. Another option is to store the cupcakes at room temperature in an air tight container and add the raspberries just before serving.

Steven, my boss, on Boss's Day

Mr. Boss Man

L to R: Julie and Ed.

Amazing Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

Happy Belated Birthday Bobby!  Bobby delayed the birthday baking I was doing last year until this weekend.  He loves chocolate and peanut butter so what I made was based off of this recipe.

Equipment
Stand mixer
7-3/4 " x 12" pan

Brownie Layer
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chips or chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup roasted salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Peanut Butter Layer
1 cup peanut butter (not natural or old-fashioned)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk

Topping
1 package Peanut Butter Cups, cut into quarters



Directions

MAKING BROWNIE LAYER
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 9 X 9 inch baking pan with foil and butter the foil. Melt butter and chocolate in a double-boiler.  Stir until chocolate is melted.

Then beat in the sugar followed by the eggs, vanilla extract and kosher salt. Gradually add the flour and stir until combined. Then add the salted peanuts.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan.

Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 25-30 minutes. Take care not over bake. Cool the brownies to room temperature.  While you are waiting for them to cool, make the other layers.


MAKING PEANUT BUTTER LAYER
Using an electric mixer, beat together the peanut butter and 1/4 cup softened unsalted butter in medium bowl. Then, beat in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. The mixture should be very spreadable. If, for some reason, it isn't, incorporate a little more milk.

MAKING THE CHOCOLATE FROSTING
To make the chocolate frosting, beat together all of the ingredients in a medium size bowl.

PEANUT BUTTER CUP DECORATION
Sprinkle the top of all this decadence with quartered Peanut Butter Cups. Cut into squares and serve.

ASSEMBLY
Spread the peanut butter mixture over the cooled brownies.  Place in refrigerator until chilled.  Spread the chocolate mixture over the peanut butter layer.  Sprinkle with quartered peanut butter cups.

STORAGE:
The brownies can be stored covered at room temperature for 24-36 hours. In fact, they were just as good, if not better, the next day.

Happy Birthday Bobby!

Beach Cookies

For these cute beach themed cookies, I used the Favorite Sugar Cookies recipe.  Making the sand, water, waves, and flip-flops is easy.  I will show how to do the shells in a later post.  Make the icing with the Making Royal Icing recipe.  You will need

• Brown: piping and flood consistency
• Sky Blue: piping and flood consistency
• White: piping consistency
• Yellow: piping consistency
• Pink: *bead consistency
• Brown sanding sugar (You can buy this or make your own with white sanding sugar and food coloring.)
• Two paint brushes (One to brush off the sanding sugar, and one to make the waves.)
• Piping tips: #1, #4, and 2-#3s.

*Bead consistency is between piping and flood consistency.  When you pipe a dot and lift the piping tip, the icing creates a smooth surface.  If it is too thick you will see a point where the icing left off.


1) Start by piping the outline for your sand.

2) Flood with brown.

3) While still wet, dust with brown sanding sugar.

4) Brush off excess sanding sugar with a soft paint brush.

5) Pipe the outer edge of the water.

6) Flood with blue and allow to dry several hours or over night.

7)  With a #4 piping tip, make some squiggles where you want the wave.

8) With a dry paint brush, pull the icing back.

9) Waves can overlap or not, and additional waves can be added as shown here.

10) Draw parallel lines, the width of how long your flip-flops will be, on a piece of paper.  Cover with wax paper and pipe ovals with bead consistency icing.  Allow them to dry for several hours.  When dry, pipe a V shape on top to make the straps of the flip-flops.

11) Peel flip-flops off of wax paper and glue on to sand with brown icing.  How to make shells will be shown in a later post.

Flower Box Bouquet

This cute little flower box was made with the cookie recipe Jill's Best Sugar Cookies.  The icing recipe can be found at Making Royal Icing.  And the cutter was made with an upside-down strawberry design on a 3D printer using the tutorial at 3-D Printer Cookie Cutters Simplified.  

Decorating the design was done with some simple piping lines using a #3 piping tip.

Use leaf tip #67 to add a little green around the stem.  You can make a variety of colors for your flower box or have a theme like red and gold for the 49ers.  

You will need a box like this and something heavy so that it doesn't tip over.  I used some heavy magnets in a ziplock bag.  Add styrofoam on top and cover with moss, which can be found at a craft store like Michael's, Jo Ann Fabrics, or Hobby Lobby.  

Insert the flowers from the back to the front, tall to short, using a pair of pliers to push them into the styrofoam.  Enjoy!

Jill's Best Sugar Cookies!

This post is a combination of two previous posts.  I love the flavor of the cookies in Favorite Sugar Cookie *Dough*, but prefer the techniques for baking them in Favorite Sugar Cookies.  Now I won't have to flip back and forth, and I can direct friends to one place.  

There is some minor spreading with this recipe, so if shape is more important that taste, stick with Favorite Sugar Cookies, which has virtually no changes when baking.  See the Santa Moons in Tip 5 at the bottom of this post to see a detailed cookie shape.

This recipe makes about about 24 cookies which is not a lot.  You may want to double it.  

Warning: the techniques that help the cookies keep their shape can take a lot of time, but the results are worth it.  Today I made a double batch of rose cookies on sticks.  Starting the clock after all my ingredients were measured, the last cookies came out of the oven 3 1/2 hours later. 

Ingredients (single batch):

2 sticks salted butter, softened

3 oz (85 g) creamed cheese

3/4 (170 g) cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

3 cups (375 g) all purpose flower

Ingredients (double batch):

4 sticks salted butter, softened

6 oz (170 g) creamed cheese

1 1/2 (340 g) cup sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 egg

6 cups (750 g) all purpose flower

Important Note: For best results, use a small kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients.

Equipment:

Cutting board (2 if doubling recipe)

Stand mixer

Parchment paper

Cookie sheets

Rolling pin

2-1/4" square dowels

1) Gather and measure your ingredients.  Also make enough room in your fridge for the board, and in the freezer for a fairly level cookie sheet.  Note the board that will be used to move the dough from fridge to counter top.  If you're doubling this recipe, you will need two.  They can be cutting boards or cookie sheets that you won't need for baking.  Also note the 1/4 inch square dowels.  These are really important.  They are available at craft stores and are the secret to getting an even thickness.

2) Mix butter and creamed cheese on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until blended.  Scrape the bowl.

3) Add the sugar.  Blend on medium for a full 5 minutes to make it light and fluffy like in this picture.  Then mix in the vanilla.  Add the egg and mix on low.  When the egg is mixed in, add the flour about 1 cup at a time on low.  Over mixing the dough will make it tough.  

4) Turn the dough out on to the counter top for a final mix by hand.  Put some flour on your hands if you need to.  It will be sticky.  You can use a bench scraper if you have one.

5) If you are doubling the recipe, divide the dough in half and work with one half at a time.  Slightly dampen your counter top then put down a piece of parchment.  This will prevent the parchment from sliding.  Pat down the dough into a rectangular shape on the parchment.  Make it almost as wide as the parchment.  Lay the square dowels on each side.  Cover with another sheet of parchment.

6) Roll the dough with your rolling pin until it is flush with the dowels. Try to get it as close to a rectangle as possible.

7) Slide the dough, still between the parchment sheets, onto one of your boards and put it in the fridge for a minimum of an hour.  If you have doubled the recipe, roll out and refrigerate the other half of the dough.  Time to clean up the mess in your kitchen.  You're going to need that stand mixer bowl for making Royal Icing.

8) Remove the dough from the fridge and slide it off the board onto the counter top.  Loosen the bottom parchment paper by flipping the whole thing upside-down and peeling off what was the bottom paper.  Now put it back and flip the whole thing right side up.  Then remove the top piece of parchment paper to begin cutting your cookies.  Try to place them at least an inch apart on a parchment lined cookie tray.  (Don't worry if their not placed exactly right.  They can be moved easily after being in the freezer.)

9) If you want to make cookies on sticks, like these balloons, lay them on the cookie sheet like this so that you can fit several on one tray.  Inserting sticks can be tricky.  The dough must be cold enough so that they keep their shape while you handle them.  Put the dough between your finger and thumb as you slide the stick in about 1 - 1 1/2 inches.

10) Place the cookie tray in freezer for 15 minutes.  Preheat your oven to 375° F during this time.

11) After 15 minutes in the freezer, put them directly in the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown.  (If you need to adjust placement on the tray, do it between the freezer and the oven.)  The more golden brown, the crisper the cookie.  I have found most people like them less crisp so I take them out at the first sign of golden around the edges.

12) Let the cookies cool in the tray for 5 - 10 minutes.  Then using a spatula gently place them on wire racks to finish cooling.

Miscellaneous Tips

Tip 1) It is important to only have one tray in the oven at a time.  This slows down the process, especially when you are doubling the recipe, but you can always make a single recipe if you are short on time.

Tip 2) When you fill a tray with cookies and there is uncut dough left, just put it back in the fridge to keep it firm.  When most of the dough has been cut, roll it out with the dowels again.

Tip 3) As the dough warms up to room temperature you will see rough edges and the dough doesn't pull away from the cutter cleanly.  Smooth the edges with your finger, and use a corsage pin to clean up tight corners like in this picture.  Then pop the dough back in the fridge until it is firm enough to cut cleanly.

Tip 4) Since you will be needing a timer for the oven and for the freezer, it is best to have two timers going.  Sometimes I can cut a set of cookies and pop them in the freezer while another tray is cooking.  Then I only need one timer.  I suggest keeping it simple and using two.

Tip 5) It may seem like a lot of work but this process gives you all the details from a nice cutter like on this moon cookie,  

and help you avoid disasters like this teddy bear.  This cookie was actually the inspiration that set me on the quest for the perfect sugar cookie recipe, and this is it.

Note: When I bake I'm always trying out new things.  This time I made some 3D printer cookie cutters shaped like strawberries.  See how to make your own cookie cutters in my post here.  After cutting out the shapes, I cut off what would be the bottom of the strawberry, turned them upside-down and suddenly I have a rose.  These are great when baked with a lollipop stick.