Posts Tagged ‘sugar’
Hazelnut Praline Paste
October 4, 2012 | 
Author Have you ever heard of hazelnut praline paste? I know I didn’t until a recipe I wanted to make called for it. When I looked into buying some, it definitely was not a inexpensive item to purchase. So I sought out ways to make my own and sure enough found a recipe out there on the internet. It’s kind of like making your own Nutella but without the chocolate. Some of you may be saying “No chocolate? Why bother ?” – I say, why not? Although I am not a chocoholic (unless it is paired with peanut butter), I still think that those who are would enjoy this spread. Afterall, it’s hazelnut praline ground into a spread! I am not sure there is any way to say no to that. And actually, I ended up using it in combination with chocolate in a recipe which will be shared tomorrow.
One year ago: Pumpkin Danish
HAZELNUT PRALINE PASTE
Makes approximately 1-1/2 cups
Ingredients:
2 cups raw, whole hazelnuts
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp hazelnut or walnut oil
Directions:
- Line a baking sheet with greased parchment paper, set aside.
- Toast two cups of hazelnuts at 325 degrees until the skins have darkened and the hazelnuts are giving off a wonderful toasty smell. Then wrap them in a dishtowel and let them steam for about 10 minutes (don’t skip this step!)
- After steaming, use the dishtowel to remove the hazelnut skins.
- When the hazelnuts are skinned, mix 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a heavy saucepan. After you’ve stirred the sugar and water, leave on medium high heat, and DON’T TOUCH. After about 10 minutes, it will reach a lovely golden brown in its darkest part, and that’s when you add the hazelnuts. Immediately pour the hazelnut pralines onto prepared baking sheet.
- To make the praline butter, break the caramel into pieces that will fit into your food processor. Start running your food processor, and add the pieces of broken caramel one or two at a time, and process until they’re ground. The ground mixture will look like graham cracker crumbs, but keep processing. It will start to get smooth, like thick peanut butter. At this point add a teaspoon of kosher salt, and keep processing. Start adding oil. Add a tablespoon at a time, and process until the mixture reaches your desired consistency.
Source: Savour Fare
Homemade Yellow Cake Mix
Boxed cake mix comes in handy for more things than just making cupcakes for a last minute party. Cake mix can also be used as the base of bars (such as the ones I posted yesterday), as an ingredient in pies, frosting, ice cream, and most popularly on my blog in different kinds of cake batter dips.
To use this homemade mix, I measured out 18.25 oz (about 2-1/2 cups) to use in place of a box of yellow cake mix indicated in yesterday’s bar recipe. And it worked great! Although I haven’t tried making an actual cake with it yet, at least I know it can work for recipes that call for it as one of their ingredients. I constantly have half-used boxes of cake mix from the creations that pop up in my kitchen.
This would likely also work to make gluten-free cake mixes since I know they make gluten-free all-purpose flour and cake flour. Just be sure to add some xanthan gum. To take it a step further, if you could find a lactose-free nonfat dry milk powder you could even make a lactose-free cake mix (using margarine instead of butter of course).
HOMEMADE YELLOW CAKE MIX
Makes 5 cups mix (equal to about 2 boxes of store bought mix)
Ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut in 1/2-inch cubes and cold
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Directions:
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the sugar, both flours, milk powder, baking powder and salt. Process for 15 seconds. Add the pieces of butter and lightly toss with a fork so they are coated with the flour mixture. Sprinkle the vanilla over the top. Pulse until the mixture is fine and crumbly, about 10 one-second pulses. Use immediately or store in an airtight bag or container in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Note: For instructions on how to make an actual cake with this mix, please visit Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.
Source: Brown Eyed Baker
Review: G.H. Cretors’ Popped Corn & Peanut Butter and Chocolate Popcorn
Popcorn is everywhere. At the movies, sporting events, parties – you name it. Along with it’s frequency, it is no surprise that there are a variety of flavors to satisfy everyone’s cravings. G.H. Cretors has taken it a step further by introducing a sweet and salty combination of caramel corn and cheese corn in the same bag, called the Chicago Mix. (G.H. Cretors also makes Kettle Corn, Caramel Nut Crunch with fresh roasted cashews and almonds, as well as “Just the Cheese Corn” and “Just the Carmel Corn” for those who do not agree with the combination of sweet and salty.)
This new mix is made using a special, “mushroom” variety popping corn, contains only all-natural ingredients, is free of GMOs and certified Kosher. The caramel corn is made the old fashioned way: by hand, in copper kettles. Cane sugar, brown rice syrup (a non-GMO alternative to corn syrup with a lower glycemic impact) and real butter is heated over a flame and then stirred slowly by hand to develop its rich complex flavor and crunch. For the cheese corn, real cheddar cheese is melted in special kettles and then gently mixed with locally-grown, air-popped corn.
But the real question is, does it taste good? Cheesey popcorn is wonderful, as is caramel, but together? I wasn’t sure what I would think of this particular sweet and salty combo. When told that I would be sent the caramel and white cheddar popcorn separately in addition to the Chicago Mix, I was convinced that I would end up preferring it that way. But I am here to tell you that those segregated bags are just plain wrong. These two kinds of popcorn were meant to be together in one bag.
To continue the pairing of sweet and salty, I decided to make my own version using their Kettle Corn and adding my favorite sweet and salty combo ever – peanut butter and chocolate! We are only at week 2 of football season so I truly hope you are not tired of having your Saturdays filled with this pairing. I myself find it difficult to imagine ever growing tired of it. This popcorn involves a caramel-ly peanut butter coating with a drizzle of melted chocolate. You could even add in peanuts or miniature Reese’s cups.
Find out more about G.H Cretors on their Facebook page, and be sure to check out their current sweepstakes!
P.S. This week a #14 Ohio State plays at home vs. UCF.
One year ago: Buffalo Chicken Meatball Subs
PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE POPCORN
Makes 8 cups
Ingredients:
8 cups plain popcorn (I used G.H. Cretors’ Kettle Corn)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Directions:
- Place popcorn in a large bowl and line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a medium pan over medium heat, mix the honey and sugar and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 2 minutes or until slightly darker in color, then remove from the heat and add the peanut butter. Stir vigorously until all the peanut butter is melted, then mix in the vanilla.
- Immediately pour the peanut butter caramel over the popcorn and stir until completely coated. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheets and spread evenly. Using your hands (carefully) break apart the popcorn. This way there are individual kernels. Drizzle with melted chocolate and let sit until chocolate hardens.
Source: Adapted from A Cozy Kitchen.
Disclosure: I received bags of G.H. Cretors’ popped corn for free from Crier Communications. I was not compensated for this post. Thoughts and opinions are my own.
Posted in Appetizers & Snacks, Reviews, Sports Events | 
Tags: buckeye, honey, peanut butter, popcorn, sugar | 
2 Comments »
Banana Peanut Butter Cup Muffins
I hope that most of you are aware of the “shoes” video from several years ago, which I watched far too many times and friends and I still quote to this day. But did you know that the same guy also made a “muffins” video? It starts out all innocent then gets a little weird and takes a turn to the creepy side. Yet whenever I make muffins I always have it running through my head (followed by “OMG shoes”). Oh yea, did you catch that? I made you muffins that’s why I am talking about this random youtube video.
Thankfully these muffins contain no glass despite their sparkly nature on top. I promise those are just coarse granules of sugar 
. And their insides are definitely not filled with blood but with banana and miniature peanut butter cups! I wish that’s what my insides were made of. Then again with how many I’ve already eaten that may actually be the case.
“I’m baking muffins asbestos I can!” – Come on, admit it. That video is at least a little amusing.
One year ago: Orange Strawberry Banana Smoothie
BANANA PEANUT BUTTER CUP MUFFINS
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
4 Tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup 100% whole wheat flour
3/4 cup mini peanut butter cups
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas with melted butter and sugar. Mix well. Add the egg and beat well.
- Sprinkle in salt, baking soda and flour. Then, gently fold in miniature peanut butter cups. Be careful not to overmix!
- Divide amongst greased muffin tins and sprinkle tops with coarse white sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
Source: Adapted from Eat, Live, Run.
Disclosure: The mini peanut butter cups and sparkling course sugar came from a giveaway I won on The Heritage Cook.
Posted in Breakfast, Muffins | Tags: bananas, chocolate, peanut butter, sugar, whole wheat | 26 Comments »
Halloween Brownie Roll Out Cookie Sandwiches
Happy almost Halloween everyone! I feel like the fall holidays are always overshadowed by Christmas every year. Halloween and Thanksgiving have yet to pass and Christmas music is already being played and all the stores have their winter holidays sections ready to go. Don’t get me wrong, all that shiny stuff does make me happy, but we gotta take care of the darker side first.
Yes my friends come to the dark side, we have cookies! (Oh my goodness I am sorry I had to. The entire time I was making these I kept thinking of that shirt.) But seriously, these arn’t your typical cut out sugar cookies – they’re chocolate! Although they are not as chocolatey as I had imagined they would be so it’s a good thing there’s frosting sandwiched in between. Frosting makes everything better, especially when it is cream cheese (at least I think so).
More Halloween ideas:
HALLOWEEN BROWNIE ROLL OUT COOKIE SANDWICHES
Makes 18 cookie sandwiches, or 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
COOKIES
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
FILLING
6 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Food coloring
Directions:
- Mix together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar together. Followed by the eggs and vanilla.
- Gradually add the dry flour mixture into the wet mixture. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll out the cookie dough on floured counter to 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie dough cutters to cut into desired shapes: cut out cookies using pumpkin or skull outline side of cutter. Then, use the other side of the cutter to create skull or pumpkin faces in half of the cookies.
- Bake on a lined baking sheet for 10 minutes or until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile, make the filling: In a small bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, butter, confectioner’s sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Add food coloring and mix thoroughly. Spread about 1 tablespoon filling on each non-face cookie and top with a cut-out cookie.
Source: Idea from Target’s Halloween double-sided cookie cutter set. Cookies discovered on Lovin’ From the Oven, originally from Smitten Kitchen. Frosting adapted slightly from Alton Brown on Food Network.
Petri Dish Cookies
Many bakers make gorgeously decorated cookies that look too immaculate for a regular day person to accomplish. It’s this thing called royal icing, and it involves outlining, flooding and a bunch of little decorating tools. Sounds kind of daunting, which is why it took me so long to try for myself.
Ever since I saw a picture of these petri dish cookies, the lab nerd in me knew I had to join forces with my baking-side to make them. Since our lab just moved into a new facility and the ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled to be today, I figured it was the perfect time to conquer my fear of royal icing. But I wasn’t about to do it without a little help. Thanks to Michelle at Brown Eyed Baker and her wonderfully helpful tutorial on “How to Decorate Cookies with Royal Icing“, I bring to you these slightly unappetizing-looking, yet completely adorable (okay maybe I’m alone on that one) petri dish cookies!
Although there are a lot of steps, it’s pretty simple when you break it all down (and assuming you have all the necessary tools).
PETRI DISH COOKIES
Makes approximately 30 3-inch diameter cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick plus 2 Tbsp (10 Tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 batch royal icing (recipe below)
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.
- Working with a stand mixer, perferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated – because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.
- Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. To make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- Working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of ¼ inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies – I used a 2-1/2 inch diameter round cookie cutter. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1-1/2 inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you’ve rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 8-9 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
- Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.
- Outline the cookies with the royal icing. Place some of the icing into a disposable pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip and coupler and outline the outside of the cookie. Keep the tip about 1/2-inch above the cookie while moving it allows the icing to lay on the cookie more easily. Make sure that the outline is pretty well set before moving on to flooding the cookies (generally by the time you are done outlining the first ones are already dry).
- To the remaining icing, slowly start adding a few drops of water at a time, until the icing reaches an almost liquid consistency. The test here is to pick some icing up with a spoon and let it drizzle back into the bowl – the drizzle should disappear into the bowl within 10 seconds. Once you have achieved this, you are ready.
- Either fill a squeeze bottle with the thinned icing or transfer it to a disposable pastry bag with a 1/4-inch hole cut off the end. Now squeeze in the icing to almost completely fill the inside the cookie. Then take a toothpick and gently use it to distribute the icing to any empty spots. Sprinkle with white nonpareils.
- Allow to dry completely before storing. The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
ROYAL ICING
Ingredients:
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp meringue powder
5-ish Tbsp water
1/8 tsp Buttercup Yellow icing color (this color is extremely close to the YPD media we use to grow yeast in lab)
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients on low speed for 7-10 minutes or until the icing loses its shine. Add more water by the teaspoon if it appears too stiff, or more powdered sugar if too thin. At this stage you want to be able to pipe it easily.
- Color the icing and then cover the container with a damp paper towel. It is key when working with royal icing not to allow it to dry out.
Source: Sugar Cookies from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, pages 146-147. Royal Icing and Tutorial from Brown Eyed Baker.
Blueberry Cookies
Emma brought these into lab the other week as leftovers from her committee meeting (I too like to bribe my committee members with baked goods) and I absolutely had to have the recipe. I found out that it’s the same recipe she used for her cranberry cookies at Christmas, but with blueberries instead. Crazy how much different they taste, I would’ve never guessed.
Fruit in a cookie other than raisins was kind of a new concept to me as well. But it was like eating a more dense version of a blueberry muffin – Yum! Do you have a favorite fruit-cookie?
Ingredients:
COOKIES
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp orange juice (I used Pineapple-Mango)
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups fresh blueberries, frozen
ICING
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place silpats on cookie sheets.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together 1 stick butter and sugars. Blend in egg, milk, and orange juice until just incorporated.
- Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Carefully fold in blueberries.
- Spoon heaping teaspoon sized balls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Once cookies are cool, cream the 1/2 stick butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together. Add more milk or powdered sugar to reach the desired consistency.
- Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of icing onto each cookie and spread to coat the surface. Allow to set before serving.
Source: Emma
Sweet Swirl Cookies
These soft and chewy sugar cookies are perfect for Valentines Day. They are so cute! I brought them into work, and passed them out with Spongebob Squarepants cards. I’m a nerd I know.
Check out Prudent Baby for step-by-step photos.
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy or milk, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
- Transfer half of dough to a work surface. In the bowl of your mixer add 1/8 tsp of food coloring (I used Wilton Violet). Mix until just evenly distributed, try not to overmix.
- Place your white dough between two pieces of wax or parchment paper and roll into a rectangle as best you can. Repeat with the colored dough. Place on a baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and peel the paper off of one side of the colored dough. Lightly flour your work surface and flip the dough over onto it, then peel off the paper from the other side. Lightly brush the top of the colored dough with water.
- Peel the paper off of one side of your white dough. Place it dough side down on top of the colored dough, trying to align the two rectangles of dough as well as possible. Then peel the paper from the other side. Try not to break your dough into pieces, but if you do just gently smoosh them back on.
- Use a sharp knife to trim the edges of your rectangle so they are straight and even. Start to gently roll the dough. Continue until it is all rolled up. You might see some gaps if you look at the side of the dough. You don’t want those so gently roll the dough with two hands until the gaps disappear.
- In a pan, empty your sprinkles or non pareils or whatever cookie decoration you like. Brush the dough with water, then gently roll in the toppings, pushing the toppings into the dough so they stick. Wrap with plastic wrap: Place in the refrigerator for one hour to firm up.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge and trim the ends of the dough flat. Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats
. Evenly slice the roll to about 1/4-inch thickness. Place on cookie sheet.
- Bake until lightly golden, about ten minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Source: Prudent Baby
Cream Cheese Spritz Cookies
What’s better than making fun shapes with Play-Doh? Being able to eat it!! Making spritz cookies with a cookie press was so much fun growing up for that very reason. And I loved dying the dough a variety of colors depending on the season.
…wait a minute, I still love to make these cookies because it reminds me of Play-Doh. All the different shapes you can make – oh the possibilities! Such a great tool for holiday cookies and even for frosting with the attachments. Today I am showing you the heart-shaped variety, as it is the season for such shapes. I refrained from dying the dough since I had little heart-shaped sprinkles to add on before baking. So cute!
Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
3 oz cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated orange peel
2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
Food coloring, decorator candies and colored sugar, optional
Directions:
- In a bowl, beat shortening and cream cheese until blended. Add sugar; beat until creamy. Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and orange peel.
- Combine the flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Add food coloring if desired.
- Using a cookie press fitted with the disk of your choice, press dough 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Decorate if desired. Bake at 350° for 6-9 minutes or until set (do NOT brown). Remove to wire racks to cool.
Source: Adapted slightly from Taste of Home
Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookies
With the excitement building up inside of my all day yesterday, in anticipation of the newest HP Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, I had to release it prior to the midnight screening through baking. Although I could not come up with an item itself that depicted the movies, these cookies topped with creative frosting techniques sealed the deal.
Unfortunately I discovered that I did not have cream of tartar in my cabinet of baking supplies, and I refused to make another trip to the grocery store. Instead, I read up that in place of the cream of tartar and baking soda, an equal amount of baking powder could be used. Definitely have that! The end result was a light crisp cookie, remnant of shortbread. Although not as soft as I typically enjoy for a cookie, the texture was definitely something to appreciate.
Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, softened (I used unsalted then added 3/4 tsp salt to the creamed mixture, as noted by the original recipe)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cream of tartar 2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Directions:
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, oil and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and dry pudding mix.
- Combine the flour, cream of tartar and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
- Roll rounded tablespoonfuls into golf balls and place 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Press down a little and add sprinkles, or hold off until after frosting.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks.
To finish the cookies off in spirit of the new movie release, I frosted them to look like Ron Weasley and Harry Potter! I used a tub of cream cheese frosting and dyed it orange with food coloring for Ron’s hair, had leftover frosting from the Devil’s Food Nutella Cake for Harry’s hair, and then used black and pink gel frosting for the eyes, glasses, and characteristic scar.
And when I got tied of doing that, I just frosting and added sprinkles. Enjoy!
Source: Cookie Madness
