Raspberry Or Strawberry Topped Brownies

Chocolate and raspberries or brownies are the perfect combination as far as I'm concerned. This is a great dessert that is easy enough for everyday but nice enough for company . I came up with this recipe when I needed to make 50 servings of a dessert for a school event. I didn't have time to bake so I bought store made brownies, some berries and came up with these delicious confections. They were gone in minutes and talked about for hours. While you can make the brownie part from a box or buy them at the store, they're even better when you make them from scratch.
Best Brownies Ever

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs- lightly beat before adding
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In the microwave or in a pan on the stove, melt the butter and set aside to cool. 
3. Into a bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder- set aside Grease a 9x13" pan well. 
4. Add the sugar to the melted butter and stir until combined then add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat well.
5. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Don't over beat. 
6. Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until done. 
7. Cool completely before putting the frosting on. 

Strawberry or Raspberry Frosting

• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4- 1/3 cup strawberry or raspberry puree. (I take 1 cup of fresh or thawed frozen fruit and put it into a blender and blend until smooth. This will yield about 1/2 cup of puree. Any extra puree left over, I freeze in a ziplock bag ready for the next batch of fruit frosting that I make)

In a large bowl cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and 3 TBS of the fruit puree. Beat until it comes together. Continue adding the fruit puree one tablespoon at a time beating after each addition until it is the consistency that you want. Frost the brownies by spreading over the top or for a fancier presentation, place the frosting into a zip lock bag that has a large star tip in the cut off corner. Pip a swirl onto the top of the precut brownies. Top with a raspberry or slice of strawberry. 

Holiday Cranberry Tart- A Festive and delicious make ahead dessert.

This is a yummy recipe that I got from Bon Appetit magazine 3 years ago. The combination of the clean fresh taste of cranberries and fresh ginger, a creamy mascarpone cheese filling and the crisp chocolate cookie crust is divine.  If you don't like chocolate you can use vanilla cookies for the crust.

The best thing is that you make all of the components 2 to 3  days ahead of time and then assemble them just before serving. It's actually better when the cranberry part sits for a few days, but if you want to do it all the day of you can.

Cranberry Chocolate Tart 

Bon Appetit Nov. 2007

Click here for a printable version of this recipe
Cranberry Topping:
1/2 cup cranberry juice, divided
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1- 12-ounce bag fresh or frozen cranberries
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

Crust:
1 1/4 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (made from about 6 1/2 ounces cookies, finely ground in processor) You may also use vanilla wafer cookies or shortbread cookies instead.
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 to 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Mascarpone Filling:
1- 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese- an Italian cream cheese you can find at most stores now
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Thin strips of crystallized ginger (optional garnish)

Preparation
Pour 1/4 cup cranberry juice into small bowl; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand until softened, 15 minutes. Combine 1/4 cup cranberry juice, cranberries, and next 5 ingredients in medium saucepan; bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until cranberries are tender but still plump, 5 minutes. Strain into bowl; set cranberries aside. Add gelatin mixture to hot juice in bowl; stir until gelatin dissolves. Stir cranberries back into juice. Chill until cranberry mixture is cold and slightly thickened, at least 8 hours or overnight. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2-3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Stir chopped crystallized ginger into cranberry mixture one hour before assembling.

For crust:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Combine chocolate (or vanilla) wafer cookie crumbs, sugar, and salt in medium bowl; add 5 tablespoons melted butter and stir until crumbs feel moist when pressed together with fingertips, adding remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter if mixture is dry. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Bake chocolate crust until beginning to set and slightly crisp, pressing with spoon if crust puffs during baking, about 14 minutes. Transfer tart pan to rack and cool crust completely before filling.

For mascarpone filling:
Using electric mixer, beat all ingredients except ginger in medium bowl just until thick enough to spread (do not overbeat or mixture may curdle). Cover and chill.

Assembling Tart: Up to 6 hours before serving
Spread mascarpone filling in crust.
Spoon cranberry mixture evenly over mascarpone filling.
Chill at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.
Garnish with crystallized ginger strips, if desired.
Cut tart into wedges and serve cold.

Orange Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream

Cupcakes

• 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee or instant espresso- Not the grounds but the instant you add to water
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup whole milk plus
• 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 cupcake molds or muffin tins with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray.
2. To make the cupcakes, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and instant coffee.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, and white sugar. Whisk in the orange juice concentrate, orange juice, and melted butter. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake molds, filling them about three-quarters full.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Using a small spatula or knife, remove the cupcakes from the pan. Continue to cool on a wire rack to room temperature. 

Orange Buttercream

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoon grated orange zest (Just the orange part of the rind try not to get any of the white
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 tablespoons orange juice

Top with a  mandarin orange slice or a half slice of a regular orange.

Tips- For this cupcake I just took parchment paper and  folded it into cup shapes to make these.
         Before I eat an orange, I use a micro planer and take the zest off of the orange. I zest it off onto a piece of wax paper and then push the zest into a pile in the middle of the square. I fold it up into a tiny square and place in a freezer bag in the freezer. This way I always have fresh zest for recipes waiting for me in the freezer.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

My family loves this bread! This recipe is really versatile, if you want to add seeds and nuts add them in. I sometimes add sunflower seed, pumpkin seed and use half whole wheat and half regular bread flour.  Try playing with the recipe and find your family favorite.

For a printable version of this recipe Click Here! 

 
3 tablespoons warm water
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast- DO NOT USE FAST RISE YEAST!
1 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon bread flour

1 cup oatmeal- I like Old Fashioned rolled oats
1 2/3 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 cup dry instant powdered milk (optional)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 to 3 1/2 cups of bread flour

Place the yeast, warm water, sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour in a small bowl or cup and let it proof- this means that bubbles will form! If bubbles don't form then the yeast is not active and your bread won't rise!
In a large mixing bowl add your Oatmeal, warm water, salt, powdered milk, oil and honey and stir to mix. On low speed, mix in the whole wheat flour and then your yeast mixture. Blend well. Slowly start to add the rest of the four a half cup at a time waiting for it to be fully incorporated before adding the next half cup. When you have 1 cup of flour left begin adding it a couple of tablespoons at a time. YOu want to dough to come together in a ball but to still be moist on the outside. Not so sticky that it sticks to your hand but moist enough that it is still tacky.

If you are going to kneed by hand, once the dough comes together and is still sticky, Sprinkle flour out onto the cupboard and place the dough into the middle in a  ball.  Now press both heels of your hands into the middle of the ball and push away from you. Once your arms are extended, curl your fingers over the edge and fold the dough back towards the middle. Rotate the ball a quarter turn and repeat.
Here is a great video to show how to kneed dough.


Kneed the dough by mixer or by hand for 5 to 6 minutes. You're done when you can stick two fingers into the dough and the centers pop back out at you. Shape the dough into a ball.

Take a large bowl or plastic container that is at least twice the volume of your dough and grease it with vegetable oil or butter. Place t he ball seam side down into the greased bowl and then turn over to grease the outside of the ball well. This will help keep the dough from drying out. Cover the bowl with a damp dishtowel and let sit until the ball has doubled in size. 
(If you are at altitudes over 5000' punch the dough down by pushing into the middle of the ball with your fist and then reshape the dough back into a ball and let rise again.)
Once the dough has doubled again, dump out onto your counter and roll out into a rectangle that is 18" wide. Cut down the middle to make 2- 9" wide strips. Roll each strip up into a loaf shape and place into 2 greased 9x4' leaf pans.
Preheat oven to  350 degrees-
Cover the dough in the pans and let rise until almost doubled again.

Place in oven and bake until golden brown or as I prefer to do it to an internal temperature of 190-200 degrees. Baking to temp. keeps the bread from overcooking and drying out.

Remove from oven and let sit in pans for 10 minutes before turning out. Turn out the pans and let cool for at lest 10 more minutes before cutting. Here in Colorado it's very dry and we don't like really crunchy crust so as soon as I take the bread out of the pan I rub a tablespoon or so of butter over the entire outside of the crust to keep it soft.

Mocha Toffee Brownie Squares

These are brownies on steroids and are very addictive!

• 1 cup butter
• 5 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4  cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of chopped toffee candy bars- 2-  1.4oz bars
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds that have been toasted
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In 3-quart saucepan over very low heat, melt butter or margarine and chocolate, stirring the mixture constantly. Remove from heat, and stir the sugar into the chocolate. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the walnuts. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in oven 30 to 35 minutes. Brownies are done when toothpick inserted into center come out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Topping

4 oz. cream cheese (from 8-oz. pkg.), softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped toffee candy bar- about 4- 1.4 oz bars
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with shortening or spray with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat brownie mix, 1 teaspoon instant coffee, butter, water and eggs with electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Gently stir in 1/2 cup chopped candy bars and 1/2 cup almonds. Spread batter in greased pan.
2.Bake at 350°F. for 24 to 28 minutes or until edges are firm. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool completely in pan on wire rack, about 1 hour.
3.In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, brown sugar and 1 teaspoon instant coffee with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Increase speed to high; beat in cream and vanilla until soft peaks form.
4.Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled brownies. Sprinkle 1 cup chopped candy bars and 1/2 cup almonds over top. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Raspberry Or Strawberry Topped Brownies

Chocolate and raspberries or brownies are the perfect combination as far as I'm concerned. This is a great dessert that is easy enough for everyday but nice enough for company . I came up with this recipe when I needed to make 50 servings of a dessert for a school event. I didn't have time to bake so I bought store made brownies, some berries and came up with these delicious confections. They were gone in minutes and talked about for hours. While you can make the brownie part from a box or buy them at the store, they're even better when you make them from scratch.
Best Brownies Ever

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs- lightly beat before adding
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In the microwave or in a pan on the stove, melt the butter and set aside to cool. 
3. Into a bowl sift together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder- set aside Grease a 9x13" pan well. 
4. Add the sugar to the melted butter and stir until combined then add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat well.
5. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Don't over beat. 
6. Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until done. 
7. Cool completely before putting the frosting on. 

Strawberry or Raspberry Frosting

• 3/4 cup softened butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4- 1/3 cup strawberry or raspberry puree. (I take 1 cup of fresh or thawed frozen fruit and put it into a blender and blend until smooth. This will yield about 1/2 cup of puree. Any extra puree left over, I freeze in a ziplock bag ready for the next batch of fruit frosting that I make)

In a large bowl cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and 3 TBS of the fruit puree. Beat until it comes together. Continue adding the fruit puree one tablespoon at a time beating after each addition until it is the consistency that you want. Frost the brownies by spreading over the top or for a fancier presentation, place the frosting into a zip lock bag that has a large star tip in the cut off corner. Pip a swirl onto the top of the precut brownies. Top with a raspberry or slice of strawberry. 

Apple Rosemary Blue Cheese Bites

Warm apple slices wrapped with blue cheese and pecans with a hint of rosemary all wrapped up in a flaky crust. Perfect for a cocktail party or as an appetizer before a special dinner.

1- 8 oz. package of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
2 large golden delicious apples- Peeled, cored and sliced into 8 slices each
4 oz of crumbled blue cheese
2 TBS of cream cheese- softened
½ tsp fresh or dry rosemary chopped fine
¼ cup of chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Grease a cookie sheet or line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Peel, core and slice your apples
• In a small bowl stir together the blue cheese, cream cheese, nuts and rosemary until the mixture hold together.
• On a piece of parchment or plastic wrap, unroll the Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough and Divide into 8 triangles. Cut each triangle into half for 16 smaller triangles.
• Spread 1-2 teaspoons of the cheese mixture on the wide end of a triangle and wrap around an apple slice.
• Place on the prepared baking sheet
• Bake in your preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes or until they are golden brown.

Serve warm or room temperature.
These can also be made with fresh pears instead of apples.