Pops De Milk » Dessert

Another Pampered Chef Success

Pops De Milk — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:53:02 +0000

Meatloaf is something I very rarely make – by rarely I mean twice in my life – and I have no explanation for this. Seriously, why don’t I make meatloaf more often? The last time I made meatloaf was when I made chicken loaf. I’ve finally realized that this kind of dish is incredibly versatile, there is so much room to play around with the ingredients and it’s definitely worth experimenting.

Tonight’s dinner came from The Pampered Chef website because I seem to have a new found obsession with their products and recipes. For the BBQ sauce I simply Googled “BBQ sauce recipe” and I came across one on chow.com. Recipe is here and it is super tasty. The meatloaf recipe can be found here.

Even though I didn’t make the full amount of BBQ as shown on the recipe I still have plenty left over. I’m hoping to use the rest this week…perhaps some succulent ribs?

I absolutely love this loaf pan – I didn’t have to spray or coat it with oil, just shaped the meat into a loaf and baked.

This meatloaf was incredible – full of flavour and juicy. I paired it with pesto mashed potatoes from a previous entry.

For dessert I made a Chocolate Almond Cheesecake, as well, from The Pampered Chef website and the recipe can be found here. The spring form pan is awesome. The pans I had before were of much lesser quality but this one was so worth getting. My cheesecakes don’t stick and I don’t need to grease the sides.

This cheesecake was rich and silky. The almond extract is such a good combination with chocolate. In this recipe it says to use semi-sweet chocolate but I may try it with dark chocolate next time. I’m not a big fan of decorating cheesecake with whipped cream so I left it naked – it’s that good on its own. But you can also sprinkle some almond slices for a nice crunchy texture.

Ginger Spice Cookies

Pops De Milk — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:40:00 +0000

I have a blue hardcover notebook, which was empty up until early this year when I started to cut out recipes and health tips and pasted into the notebook. The cut outs aren’t organized in any way so sometimes I’ll just flip through everything I’ve collected so far until I find something that piques my interest.

Today has been perfectly gloomy and rainy. I say perfectly because it’s exactly the kind of weather that makes me crave something warm and comforting and I found just the thing inside my blue notebook – Ginger Spice Cookies.

Some times I have no idea where I got the recipe cut out from but in this case I owe my gratification to a Karla Cogghe of Chatham, Ontario, who submitted her grandmother’s recipe for these cookies to Chatelaine magazine.

These cookies are incredibly easy and quick to make and are ready in a flash – or it seemed that way to me because before I knew it I was popping a warm and soft cookie into my mouth. The outer layer has a delicate crunch and inside is soft and almost chewy. Once the cookies have cooled they are little more crunchy. The cut out explains that Karla found her grandmother’s version of these cookies to be a bit too spicy for her (cloves and ginger) so she played around with the ingredients until she found the right formula. There was enough spice in the cookies but I think next time I make these I may add a bit more to give it an extra kick.

Makes about 30 to 35 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 cup vegetable oil – I used safflower

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt and set aside. In a large bowl whisk the egg. Mix in the oil and molasses and then mix in the brown sugar until smooth. Add the flour mixture bit by bit until you have a nice sturdy dough. Put the granulated sugar in a bowl. Form tbsp sized balls with the dough and roll them in the granulated sugar. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350F for 7 to 10 minutes, rotating halfway through baking, until cookies start to crack.

Perfectly Creamy Cheesecake with Apple Topping

Pops De Milk — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:29:22 +0000

Remember that shipment of Pampered Chef products we ordered? Well, last night I decided to try out the spring form cake pan to make a cheesecake. I was originally going to use a recipe I found in my recipe box (I recently put the box together because I had all these little scraps of paper and magazine cut outs with random recipes that were stuffed inside a torn envelope, very annoying) but then I also found the recipe that came with the spring form cake pan and it happened to be for cheesecake. Joy! After the success of my Apple Oat Muffins I knew I had to try this Pampered Chef recipe.

And wow! I am never using another recipe for (baked) cheesecake again. That is how good it is.

The recipe can be found here. My slight modification was that I added about a tea spoon of my own pumpkin pie spice mix as I used the leftover apples from my Mini Apple Pies for the cheesecake topping. The combination of spiced apples and cheesecake was divine. I’m now remembering a while back I made a lemon bars recipe that came with my old Pampered Chef stone baker and if I remember correctly those turned out quite amazing as well. If all their recipes are this awesome I need to try them all out! Of course, I will let you all know how the recipes turn out.

I better not step on a scale though.

Mini Apple Pies

Pops De Milk — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:25:45 +0000

It was a certain someone’s birthday yesterday but instead of making an entire birthday cake (that two people would have to eat entirely) I decided to make mini apple pies.

I used to feel that making apple pie was extremely difficult and delicate work. Difficult because you have to thinly slice a billion apples, and delicate because you absolutely cannot let the butter get warm. I’ve made really good apple pies in the past and also ones that come out with a crust that feels like wet sand.

Yesterday I was close to getting that wet sand texture but luckily the crust turned out well if a tad too soft on the sides. The filling was perfect and the apple sauce delectably sweet and gooey.

For the crust I used Julia Child’s recipe for sweet short paste from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. For the filling I used royal gala apples of varying sizes (they were organic and a bit on the small side). Most recipes will say to use tart apples like granny smith but I’ve used all kinds of apple varieties and they’ve all worked.

For the filling:

6 apples of your choice

the juice of half a lemon – about 2 tbsp

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon – I used a pumpkin pie spice mixture, which I found here.

Peel and core the apples and then thinly slice. In a bowl toss the apples with the lemon juice. In a separate bowl combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add the dry mix to the apples and toss until everything is coated. I let this mixture sit in the fridge overnight but it’s also good to use after an hour or two. See my note about a sauce at the bottom of this post.

For the crust:

2/3 cup flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

4 tbsp chilled butter and 1 1/2 tbsp chilled vegetable shortening (I didn’t have shortening so I used butter). The butter should be cut into 1/2 inch bits.

2 1/2 to 3 tbsp cold water.

This recipe is good for an 8 inch tart shell.

After cutting the butter I would strongly suggest placing the cut pieces back in the fridge for several minutes as the warmth from your hands may cause the butter to soften too much.

Mix together all ingredients except the water. Quickly break apart the butter with the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like tiny peas. Add the water little by little (make sure it’s ice cold) and rapidly blend together until you have a mass of dough. Add more water if the dough is too dry. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Next, place the dough on a lightly floured counter to knead. Use the heel of your hand (not the palm, as Julia explains is too warm) and rapidly press the dough down in small amounts and away from you, making streaks across the counter. With a spatula or scraper gather the dough into a mass and quickly form into a ball. Wrap in wax paper and place it in the fridge for about 2 hours or overnight.

Another thing I’m not entirely fond of is rolling dough. I always seem to break the dough or it’s too sticky and most of it ends up smeared everywhere. When I brought out my ball of dough it felt almost rock hard but I followed Julia’s suggestion to hammer it with the rolling pin to soften it a bit. Next knead it into a fairly flat circle making sure it’s just soft enough that it won’t crack when you roll it out. Sprinkle flour over the dough and on your rolling pin then start from the centre and roll out away from you until it’s a circle about an 1/8 of an inch thick. At this point you can press the dough into your baking shell. Fill with the apple mixture and cover with dough. I used 6oz ramekins and I had enough dough for three ramekins but I now have leftover apple filling, which I’ll be using for something else.

The baking part of this project is what I’m a little unsure of. My oven isn’t very accurate – it seems to be 15 or 20 degrees hotter than what’s on the dial. Anyway, I set the temperature to 400F and throughout the baking I turned it down to 350F and near the end to 400F again. I also checked on the pies first after 15 minutes and then every 10 minutes until the crust was golden and not soft.

If you want to make a sauce you can place the apple mixture in a strainer and collect the juices in a pan. I got about half a cup of juices out of my batch of apples. In a sauce pan I combined the juices with about a tablespoon or two of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar. Over medium heat I cooked the sauce until it was reduced and very thick.

With a scoop of ice cream on top and a drizzle of apple caramel sauce the pies were like a little taste of heaven that the birthday boy devoured in an instant.

Pampered Chef Goodness

Pops De Milk — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:05:29 +0000

Yesterday our shipment of bakeware from The Pampered Chef arrived. To say that Jay and I were excited would be an understatement. We squealed and giggled as we gently pulled out a rectangle stoneware baking sheet, muffin pan, stoneware loaf pan, and spring form cake pan.

About ten years ago I purchased a square stoneware baking pan from The Pampered Chef. It was my absolute favourite pan until yesterday when we welcomed the new additions. If you’ve never baked with stoneware, I strongly suggest you do as these baking pans and sheets absorb the heat and distribute it for even baking. What I also love about this product is that because you only wash it with hot water (no soap) after several uses it begins to form a somewhat greasy coating. After a while the baking pan doesn’t need to be greased prior to baking.

Once we had our bakeware out on the kitchen table I decided to immediately make use of at least one item. I chose the baking sheet to make Halloween-themed sugar cookies. The recipe comes from Joy of Baking and I recommend watching the video for some tips on making the cookies.

I baked one batch on the baking stone and one batch on my non-stick baking sheet using a Silpat. The cookies on the stone were baked to near perfection while some of the cookies on the other sheet came out half burnt on the bottom. Some were golden and some not so much. The recipe, by the way, is awesome. I left my cookies sans icing sugar as they are subtly sweet on their own.

Of course I couldn’t just stop there. We have a basket-sized amount of apples on our counter, which I’ve been wanting to use for a pie but I still haven’t replaced my broken pie plate. Luckily The Pampered Chef products each came with recipes and one of them was for Apple Oat Muffins. The recipe can be found here. Not only were the muffins fast and easy to make but they turned out amazing. The sweet cinnamon crumble on top gives each bite a little spicy crunch and the apple bits lend their natural sweetness to the mix.

Really lumpy meringue cookies

Pops De Milk — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:18:47 +0000

This was my first time making meringue cookies so I’m not surprised that they look like little misshapen turds. But don’t let their appearance keep you from trying this recipe. I purposely only made a dozen, counting on the fact that they would be yummy. I was right, sort of. They are way more than just yummy.

These cookies are crispy on the outside but soft on the inside. Filled with chewy dried cranberries and crunchy pecans, each bite is an absolute delight.

I’m not sure where I found this recipe as it was cut out from a magazine but here’s how to make one dozen cookies:

2 egg whites

1/3 cup plus 2 tsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup plus a sprinkle more of semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 tbsp pecan pieces

3 tbsp dried sweetened cranberries

In a metal bowl placed over a pot of simmering water whisk together the sugar and egg whites until warm and thickened – about 5 to 10 minutes whisking often. Remove from heat and beat on high with an electric mixer until shiny and very thick. Add the cornstarch and vanilla and beat for about a minute. Gently add the chocolate chips, cranberries, and pecans. (Unceremoniously) drop tbsp measures of the mixture onto a lined cookie sheet (I used a Silpat sheet) and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes or until the cookies are dry and golden. I got a bit worried that my cookies would burn and I took them out a little early so they didn’t turn out as golden or as dry. Don’t worry, they won’t burn. Once out of the oven let cool completely.

Quick sugar craving solution

Pops De Milk — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:10:32 +0000

Don’t worry, no one will judge you if you eat this sandwich:

Nutella

Peanut butter

Banana, sliced

Sandwich bread

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Pops De Milk — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:01:14 +0000

Pound cake. When I hear those two words I think of moist, sweet bread with a delicious brown crust. Pound cake takes me back to the days when I’d break off pieces and squeeze them in my hand to make tiny pound cake balls. I’ve often wondered why it’s called pound cake. My first thought is that there’s a pound of butter in it but in this recipe there is only (ha-ha) 3/4 pounds of butter. I did some research and the reason it’s called pound cake is because traditionally there is a pound each of butter, sugar, flour, and eggs.

The pound cake I made comes from, wait for it, Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.
I used 3 sticks of butter, one package of cream cheese, 2 and a half cups of sugar, 6 large eggs, salt, vanilla, baking powder, and 3 cups of flour. I divided the dough into a loaf pan and a square baking and at 330F it took less than an hour to bake.

I may have beat the dough a bit too much, causing it to turn a little airy. I also didn’t use eggs at room temperature and the coldness from the eggs made the butter (also at room temperature) temporarily curdle. No worries though because the cake is fantastically moist and perfectly sweet. It’s a brilliant choice for breakfast with a cup of coffee.

Heart of Darkness Brownies

Pops De Milk — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:29:38 +0000

Some days you just feel like your body can’t continue to hold and support all the day’s worries, late lunches, mistakes, and over-all fatigue. All you really want to do after work is curl up on the couch and watch re-runs of Family Guy.

A few days ago at work, I volunteered to bake brownies for a co-worker’s birthday and it was the night before his birthday and I felt the way I just described above. I wanted to hop in my pjs and veg out in front of the TV but instead I pulled out all the necessary ingredients to make Heart of Darkness Brownies from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth. All the recipes I’ve tried from this book are incredibly amazing and so I trust this book so much that I made these brownies for my co-workers despite the fact I’d never made them before. I had no idea if the brownies would turn out but I had (and have) faith in the book.

Upon reluctantly rolling up my sleeves and unwrapping the block of butter the knowledge that I would soon bake something somehow lifted my spirits and I felt more peppy. I felt even happier seeing that these brownies were nothing more than a cup and a half of butter, 6 squares of unsweetened chocolate, 6 eggs, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar, chocolate bars, chocolate chips, nuts, and of course flour, and salt. In the book it says to use muffin tins but as I mentioned already I was feeling lazy so I split the batter and poured it into two square pans. That meant, of course, that I had to bake them longer for 30 minutes or so.

My goodness, these brownies could have mended any broken heart (as Jill says in the book) or in my case, scared away all the lethargy taking refuge in my body. They were thick and disgustingly rich in the middle with a firm layer on top. Each bite was slightly different because you didn’t know if you’d get a chunk of pecan or a piece from a Snickers bar. To make it even more messy to eat, I topped the brownies with multi-coloured mini marshmallows, which perfectly puffed and melted in the oven giving the brownies a nice fruity goo on top.

I’ll be making these brownies again but next time, I’ll listen to Jill and use muffin cups because cutting melted, chewy marshmallow and gooey brownie is a bitch.

Recipe can be found here.

Lemon Squares

Pops De Milk — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:54:15 +0000

Several weeks ago, after embarking on the ludicrous writing adventure, I found myself stuck. Writer’s block. So what did I do? I baked. I procrastinate by baking. And thanks to the lovely AsiaJo over at Frock and Fork, I found exactly what I needed to make on that day of mental stuckness. Lemon Squares (recipe here). Let them cool completely as they are quite soft when they come out of the oven. These easy to make squares were so delicious and perfectly sweet. Addictive too. I had to hide them so I wouldn’t eat them all in one sitting.