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Category Archives: Desserts

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Turtle Cheesecake

July 12, 2010

I’ve been having a lot of fun in the kitchen lately. First of all, I’m reviewing a product from CSN Stores, a fabulous Boston-based company with over 200 online shops. They have everything you need for your house, from a vanity to a grill, so stay tuned for that! Secondly, I made a cake for my good friend Geeti’s surprise baby shower this weekend! Her expression was priceless when she saw the room full of people and I already can’t wait to meet her little one!

I iced a tall triple layer strawberry cake with a classic vanilla buttercream and then covered it in white fondant and decorated it with a pastel green border at the bottom and blue and yellow circles everywhere else. It was my first time covering a cake in fondant, so I was a bit nervous, but thankfully it worked beautifully on my first try.

Then I rolled the dice and decided to see if my eggless sugar cookie dough decorations would work well on a cake. I was inspired by this cake and so happy with how my cute jungle animals turned out – they really spruced up the front of the cake! Since the dough has butter in it, it’s a bit shiner than fondant, but it also doesn’t dry out as easily. It’s also a bit more fragile than fondant and the finish isn’t quite as clean and crisp, but boy is it a lot more tasty! I will definitely be decorating with it again.

Anyway, when I saw 30 people were attending the shower I got nervous that the cake wouldn’t be enough, so I decided to whip up a cheesecake as well. This is the third time I’ve made this cheesecake and I finally nailed it. I topped a crust of pecan shortbread cookies with a layer of classic creamy cheesecake, and added a layer of eggless chocolate chip cookie dough on top. Then I crowned the dessert with a layer of homemade caramel, pecans, and chocolate! It was so rich and sinful and the perfect treat to bring to a celebration! Congrats Geeti and Puneet!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Turtle Cheesecake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:
8 ounces pecan shortbread cookies, pulsed in the food processor until finely ground (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Cheesecake Layer:
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel:
1/4 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Toppings:
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350˚F. To make the crust, mix the pecan shortbread cookie crumbs and butter in a large bowl until well blended, transfer the mixture to a greased 9-inch springform pan, and press into a uniform layer over the bottom of the pan.

To make the cheesecake, combine the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl and beat on medium-high speed with a mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the vanilla. Pour into prepared crust and bake at 350˚F for 32 to 35 minutes or until edges are set and middle is slightly wobbly. Cool to room temperature, about one hour.

To make the caramel, place apple juice and sugar in a medium saucepan, stir well, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently, or until mixture is a caramel color. Monitor closely so the sugar does not burn! Remove pan from the heat and slowly stir in cream and vanilla. The mixture will boil up. Return pan to the heat and boil an additional 2 to 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and allow caramel to cool to room temperature.

To prepare the eggless cookie dough, mix butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until creamy; add milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Gradually mix in flour and salt; stir in chocolate chips. Spread cookie dough evenly over cooled cheesecake layer and top evenly with caramel. Sprinkle toasted pecans and chocolate chips on top. Refrigerate for several hours or until cheesecake is chilled. Allow cheesecake to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting into wedges. Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition: 427 calories, 25.0g fat, 1.4g fiber, 5.7g protein per serving
Cost: $0.69 per serving

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Sugar Cookie Dough Decorations

July 4, 2010

Happy 4th of July! I wanted to whip up a fun treat to celebrate the holiday this weekend and while I was mulling over the red, white, and blue color scheme, I was reminded of the Chicago Cubs Dessert Sushi I made last year. Suddenly a light bulb went off – I should try making decorations with my eggless sugar cookie dough, which was the base of my dessert sushi! While I like playing with marshmallow fondant and creating crisp cute shapes to top cakes and cupcakes, I don’t enjoy the overly sweet bland taste and have often wondered why no one has come up with a tastier alternative. So, here’s my attempt!

Eggless sugar cookie dough is absolutely delicious so I whipped up a small batch, rolled it out, made cute little shapes with cookie cutters, and topped some Oreos with my designs. The dough is not quite as stiff as fondant, so you have to be a bit more careful with it, but I think it has a lot of potential! It’s also very moldable like Play Doh so I was able to make some cute little American flags. I’m going to try decorating cupcakes with it next time and maybe play around with chilling the dough as well before rolling it out. Overall, I think my foodie arts and crafts project was pretty successful! Ok, I’m off to eat a hot dog and munch on some yummy sweet potato chips from Trader Joe’s – hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Sugar Cookie Dough Decorations
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Food coloring

Directions:
Mix butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamed. Add milk and vanilla and mix until smooth; stir in flour and salt and knead with your hands until well mixed (if the dough is too sticky you can add 1 more tablespoon flour). Mix dough with desired food colorings. Roll dough out with a rolling pin and use cookie cutters to create cute shapes or mold dough into desired shapes by hand. Top cookies or cupcakes with your decorations!

Nutrition: 784 calories, 35.8g fat, 2.0g fiber, 8.9g protein per batch
Cost: $1.15 per batch

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Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles

June 30, 2010

I often joke that I’m a walking advertisement for Costco because I’m always gushing about my latest find or fabulous deal. From their cute greeting cards to their juicy sweet fresh strawberries – I love it all! In fact, I’ve talked about Costco in eleven posts already, and this mention makes it number twelve! When I noticed the Costco Connection magazine features member recipes, I sent in two of my own and look what they published this month! Apparently my Costco karma has come full circle!

To celebrate, I decided to combine two of my favorite things – eggless cookie dough and Oreos. I whipped up a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough and mixed in some leftover Oreos. Then I rolled the dough into truffles and coated the outside of each one in more crushed cookies. Just writing this post is actually making me crave one of these little guys – they are so yummy and completely addicting! The best part is that they are the perfect treat to make on a hot summer day when you don’t want to turn on the oven.

Oreo Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 Oreo cookies

Directions:
Cream butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Stir in milk and peanut butter and then gradually beat in flour and salt. Pulse 10 Oreos in the food processor until coarsely chopped and mix into the cookie dough. Roll into 32 1-inch spheres. Pulse remaining 4 cookies in food processor until finely ground and coat truffles in the crushed cookies. Makes 32 truffles.

Nutrition: 82 calories, 5.0g fat, 0.4g fiber, 1.5g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.10 per truffle

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Peanut Butter and Banana Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

June 21, 2010

So after a few nights in Vilnius, we headed out on a road trip to see the rest of the country. The Lithuanian countryside is just gorgeous. Rolling cow pastures and farmland are interspersed with forests full of pine trees. We couldn’t resist stopping a few times to stretch our legs and take in the scenery.

Our first official touristy break was a visit to Castle Island in Trakai, where a castle built in the 1400s has been restored. I worked up quite an appetite as we roamed the grounds and climbed up all the towers.

Apolinaras couldn’t resist punishing me for whining that I was hungry.

I was in luck though because next up was a fabulous lunch with his family friends who spend their weekends in a traditional Lithuanian village. Their property is protected by national heritage laws, which means they must keep the house and barn in their original working condition. This means no upgrades – including no indoor plumbing! They have a well right outside their door and an outhouse in the barn. I’m not sure this is the way I’d want to spend all my weekends, but we really enjoyed checking out their home.

They served a very tasty lunch of beet soup, sausages and potatoes, and banana sour cream cake. Cold beet soup is a staple of Lithuanian cuisine and is packed with buttermilk, pickles, and dill.

It’s not my favorite, but I did my best with it and then quickly switched bowls with Apolinaras who slurped his down quickly. I hope our hosts didn’t notice! The banana cake was absolutely amazing though.

After lunch we took a long stroll and visited the neighbor’s cow. She was very sweet but I think the clicking of the camera made her a bit nervous.

After thanking our hosts we drove to Druskininkai, which has many mineral water springs and is considered a place of healing. Several of the springs are tapped on public grounds and you’re welcome to drink to your heart’s content. The mineral water was delicious directly out of the ground…

Haha, undiluted mineral water actually has a very strong pungent taste. Apolinaras kept encouraging me to drink more for my health, but I think he was really just amused by the faces I was making after each sip. Druskininkai was one of my favorite places though because the town is full of spas and I got a traditional mud bath and a lovely massage!

Next we headed to the Hill of Crosses, which is a spiritual place where people bring crosses representing their hopes. The first crosses were placed on the hill in the 1800s and now many Catholic pilgrims visit every year. It’s estimated there are well over 100,000 crosses! It was a beautiful and inspiring site, but a bit eerie since we went at dusk when no one else was there and the fog had rolled in.

In my next post I’ll be telling you about our time by the Baltic Sea, but first I need to share today’s sweet treat, which was inspired by that incredible banana cake we devoured. There was a chocolate cake layer covered by a banana cheesecake which was smothered in chocolate cake crumbs. I decided to make mini cheesecakes and give them an American twist by topping Oreos with slices of banana.

Then I topped the bananas with a layer of peanut butter cheesecake and crumbled Oreos. Mmm, these were definitely a winner!

Peanut Butter and Banana Mini Oreo Cheesecakes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
16 Oreos
2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Make the peanut butter cheesecake by beating together cream cheese and sugar with a mixer until fluffy. Mix in egg, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Line 12 cups of a muffin pan with paper cups and place an Oreo in the bottom of each cup. Add three slices of banana on top of each Oreo. Pour peanut butter cheesecake batter on evenly on top of the banana layer.

Crush remaining 4 Oreos in a bag with a rolling pin or pulse in a food processor until crumbled. Sprinkle Oreo crumbs evenly on top of peanut butter cheesecake layer. Bake at 350˚F for 25 to 28 minutes or until set. Remove from pans and let cool to room temp, about an hour, and then place in fridge until chilled, about 1 more hour. Remove mini cheesecakes from paper muffin cups. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition: 182 calories, 11.5g fat, 0.9g fiber, 2.8g protein per serving
Cost: $0.29 per serving

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My Mom’s Culinary Arts Program and Chocolate Cake

May 30, 2010

I’ve been meaning to tell you about the very cool Culinary Arts High School Program my mom runs at Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa for awhile now, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity since I won’t be cooking up any recipes to share while we’re on vacation!

This is the sixth year my mom has taught the program and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of all the cooking experience her students get – they are truly ready to tackle culinary school or directly enter a restaurant upon graduation. In fact, students that complete both years of the program receive 33 college credits at the Des Moines Area Community College (and enter as sophomores if they choose to attend after graduation) and many of these credits transfer to other culinary schools as well.

Students commute from their high schools to attend Culinary 1 and 2 classes for 3 to 3 1/2 hours a day. During the first year they learn basic cooking skills and are servers at the Central Campus Café and during their second year they expand upon their basic skills and do all the cooking for the café, where the menu always includes two kinds of soup, side salads, several kinds of sandwiches, a daily special, and a few desserts. And the prices are right – a daily special of a grilled chicken breast, rice pilaf, green beans, a homemade roll, and your choice of a soup, salad or dessert is just $5.25! My very favorite thing on the menu is my mom’s chocolate cake, which is also my go-to chocolate cake recipe (and is shared below!). They serve 40 to 80 people a day and all the proceeds go back into the program – for ingredients or trips to competitions!

Yes, that’s right, the students also get to battle it out at Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and Skills USA culinary competitions for scholarships! For FCCLA, a three person team has one hour to prepare a three course meal. My mom’s students rocked this year’s menu of corn chowder, Maxwell Street-Style pork chops with Roesti potatoes, and a lemon tart with Chantilly cream, became state champions, and will be attending nationals in July! At Skills USA individuals compete in the culinary arts, commercial baking, or food and beverage service categories. This year the students found out the menu at the competition and had three hours to whip up a Waldorf salad, beef stroganoff, and broccoli with Hollandaise sauce for culinary competition and dinner rolls, coffee cake, cream puffs, and a decorated cake for baking section. For the food and beverage service competition, students are given a menu and have to set up a table and serve food and beverages to the judges. My mom’s students placed in all of these categories this year and will be heading to nationals in June, where the winners get a full ride to the culinary school of their choice! As you can see, this is a really valuable program for those high school students that know they want to pursue a culinary career.

And of course I have to finish up by bragging a bit about my mom. She was recently selected as the Des Moines Rotary Teacher of the Year and received the National Restaurant Association’s ProStart Educator Excellence Award. And these accolades are very well deserved. She is always working with her students on the weekends and over the summer to make sure they all graduate and do well at competitions – her dedication is truly inspiring.

If you live in Iowa and would like to support her program, you can visit their café, which is open from 10:55am to 12:30pm most Wednesdays and Thursdays from October through May (the menu and directions to the school are posted here). And they are always looking for local chefs to mentor students for competitions, perform demonstrations, donate expensive ingredients, and provide internships.

And as promised, here’s my mom’s chocolate cake recipe that they serve at the cafe. I’ve been completely spoiled by this recipe and can’t order chocolate cake at restaurants anymore because I’m always disappointed – this version beats them all!

My Mom’s Chocolate Cake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup cold coffee (use regular strength coffee and nothing too strong like Starbucks!)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting:
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
6 ounces butter (12 tablespoons), at room temperature

Directions:

For the cake, heat oven to 350˚F. Grease two 9-inch round cakes and line with parchment paper. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of a mixer. Mix buttermilk, coffee, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until well combined. Add liquids to dry ingredients and mix for 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl and mix again briefly. Add cake batter evenly to prepared pans and bake at 350˚F for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes and remove cakes from the pans. Remove parchment paper and cool completely. Cakes can be wrapped in several layers of plastic wrap and frozen in the freezer until needed, if desired.

For the frosting, add vanilla to the milk and set aside. Sift powdered sugar and cocoa together in a large bowl. Beat butter in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup of the sugar/cocoa mixture to the butter, then part of the milk mixture, alternating until the ingredients are well mixed. If the frosting is too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time to thin it out, mixing well after each addition until desired consistency is reached.

To assemble the cake, spread 1/4 of the frosting on top of one cake layer. Place other cake layer on top and use remaining frosting to cover and decorate the cake.

p.s. My mom has requested I skip the nutrition stats for this one and I agree!

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Balsamic Strawberry and Goat Cheese Tarts

May 20, 2010

I’m sitting in Heathrow right now taking advantage of the free internet from Starbucks before we head to Vilnius via Helsinki in a couple of hours! I’m a planner by nature and usually take charge of organizing all the details of our vacations, but this time Apolinaras has done everything and I have to admit that I could get used to just going along for the ride and not worrying about the details! We’re touring the entire country and visiting many of his family and friends – I’m so excited!

Before we left, I was frantically finishing up a couple recipes for contests and didn’t have much time to whip up any treats for my blog, but I found this goody that I made back in December that was just waiting to be shared. Puff pastry shells are filled with a sweetened goat cheese and topped with balsamic strawberries, which makes for a very tangy dessert.

We’re going to be here for 2 weeks and while I won’t be posting as often as usual, I do have a couple of fun posts ready to go – one of which involves chocolate cake and one of which is a giveaway, so stay tuned!

Balsamic Strawberry and Goat Cheese Tarts
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (10 ounce) package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Shells
6 tablespoons high quality balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups chopped strawberries
6 ounces goat cheese
3 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Directions:
Prepare the puff pastry shells according to package directions. Let shells cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes, and remove tops.

Meanwhile, heat balsamic vinegar and granulated sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and a thick syrup forms. Remove from heat and mix in chopped strawberries.

Mix goat cheese, milk, and 6 tablespoons powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop goat cheese mixture evenly into the cooled shells, followed by the balsamic strawberries. Sprinkle remaining 1 teaspoon powdered sugar over the filled pastry shells. Makes 6 tarts.

Nutrition: 345 calories, 18.4g fat, 1.5g fat, 9.0g protein per tart
Cost: $1.75 per tart

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Mocha Donut Pudding

April 24, 2010

Apolinaras and I just booked a trip to Lithuania! He grew up there and came to the US in 1995 for college, and while I’ve heard a lot about it, I actually haven’t visited yet. So I’m very excited to see where he grew up, meet his extended family, and visit the Curonian Spit, which was recently named the second best beach in the world by The Lonely Planet. You can probably guess that I also can’t wait to try the local cuisine! I love being inspired by flavor combinations during our vacations.

In fact, one of the first things I did when I got home from URS was to make this bread pudding because I was so inspired by Andria’s idea to use donuts instead of bread in her version of the dessert! My own little twist was to add instant coffee since donuts remind me of breakfast (I may or may not have started my day with this treat one day…), and I couldn’t resist a little chocolate drizzle. This is a really easy dessert to pull together since you’re already starting with the baked donuts.

Mocha Donut Pudding
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups cubed cake donuts (I used a 12 ounce package of 12 donuts)
1/4 cup hot fudge sauce or warm chocolate ganache

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Place doughnut chunks in a greased 9-inch bread pan. Whisk eggs and milk until smooth in a medium bowl. Stir in sugar, instant coffee, and vanilla extract. Pour egg mixture over doughnuts and soak for 5 to 10 minutes.

Bake donut pudding for 40 to 50 minutes or until the custard is set, but still soft. Cool slightly and cut into slices. Drizzle hot fudge or warm chocolate ganache over each piece. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 406 calories, 20.7g fat, 1.1g fiber, 7.5g protein per serving
Cost: $0.65 per serving

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Caramel Mocha Crunch Cookies

March 18, 2010

I ran my very first 5K last weekend! After being inspired by the book Born to Run and many runners including my half-marathon champion Dad and bloggers like Shannon and Elina, I decided to try jogging on the treadmill in January on a whim. Even though I’ve always been pretty athletic, running has never come naturally to me, so you can imagine my surprise when I actually got hooked fairly quickly.

I’m really enjoying it because I feel so energized after I jog, and like I’ve done something good for my body, unlike when I use the elliptical or bike where I tend to have trouble pushing myself. I also love just being able to throw on my shoes and run outside, without having to trek all the way to the gym to use the machines. So, when Shannon mentioned she was running the Ras na hEireann 5K, an Irish themed race celebrating St. Patty’s Day, I decided to sign up and use the race as motivation to make myself run a bit farther and faster every week.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t corporate at all on Sunday and we had to run the whole thing in the gusty cold rain! The wind was blowing hard and the water cups were flying off the tables. My pants got so waterlogged that I kept having to hike them up, and I actually got too hot because I wore too many layers under Apolinaras’ bright yellow rain jacket, but I still had fun and managed to meet up with speedy Shannon after the race! I was pretty happy with my time of 32 minutes flat – I still had some steam left when I was done, and I know I will be able to get faster as I increase my training and figure out how to run a smarter race!

To celebrate, I decided to bake some cookies! I made a rich mocha dough, stuffed a balled-up caramel into the center of each cookie, and then rolled them in chopped macadamia nuts. I polished off a few of these right away – good thing I had already worked out!

Caramel Mocha Crunch Cookies
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
18 caramels, rolled into balls
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped

Directions:
Heat oven to 350˚F. Place butter and chocolate in a bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; mix until smooth, microwaving for 15 additional seconds at a time, as needed. Place melted chocolate mixture in a large bowl and stir in both types of sugar, instant coffee, egg, and vanilla extract until smooth. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until soft dough forms.

Wrap cookie dough evenly around the 18 caramels and roll each cookie in chopped macadamia nuts. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350˚F for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool 5 minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Makes 18 cookies.

Nutrition: 187 calories, 10.9g fat, 1.6g fiber, 2.4g protein per cookie
Cost: $0.31 per cookie

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