Sweet 16 - An Enchanted Evening
So I've been MIA for quite awhile, but I'm almost 6 months pregnant and I think that's a good excuse. (Being pregnant is a good excuse for a lot of things...my moodiness especially) I honestly had no desire to cook or bake during my first trimester, and my blog definitely showed that.
However, right before I became pregnant ~ or found out I was pregnant, our friend Kaelyn (far left in picture below) turned 16 and I had the honor of making some of the food for her party. Andrew and I are good friends with Kaelyn's family, and Kaelyn means a lot to us, so Caneva and I were thrilled to help plan her sweet 16 party. We decided on an Italian theme since Kaelyn loves Italian food, and we decorated Caneva's backyard to look like a casual Italian restaurant, complete with an amazing waitstaff!
I made the desserts, and we had cupcakes and tiramisu.The tiramisu recipe is listed on an earlier post, but the cupcake concept came from Annie's Eats, which is a really good food blog I visit frequently. Her's look much more professional than mine, but I thought they turned out pretty well. I chose yellow and brown candy melts to make the butterflies and studded them with nonpareils. I won't post the cupcake recipe I used because it wasn't good at all; a little too dense for a cupcake and on top of that I think I over-baked them a smidge. But the icing was great, and I just used a basic buttercream. Lori (Kaelyn's mom) made stuffed shells, which were amazing, and salad and breadsticks from the Olive Garden were also on the menu. A few more pictures are below of that night!
We started off at the mall in Natick and then came back to Caneva's for dinner and a movie ~ Enchanted~ and gift opening of course. I hope you felt loved and celebrated, Kaelyn! We love you!
However, right before I became pregnant ~ or found out I was pregnant, our friend Kaelyn (far left in picture below) turned 16 and I had the honor of making some of the food for her party. Andrew and I are good friends with Kaelyn's family, and Kaelyn means a lot to us, so Caneva and I were thrilled to help plan her sweet 16 party. We decided on an Italian theme since Kaelyn loves Italian food, and we decorated Caneva's backyard to look like a casual Italian restaurant, complete with an amazing waitstaff!
I made the desserts, and we had cupcakes and tiramisu.The tiramisu recipe is listed on an earlier post, but the cupcake concept came from Annie's Eats, which is a really good food blog I visit frequently. Her's look much more professional than mine, but I thought they turned out pretty well. I chose yellow and brown candy melts to make the butterflies and studded them with nonpareils. I won't post the cupcake recipe I used because it wasn't good at all; a little too dense for a cupcake and on top of that I think I over-baked them a smidge. But the icing was great, and I just used a basic buttercream. Lori (Kaelyn's mom) made stuffed shells, which were amazing, and salad and breadsticks from the Olive Garden were also on the menu. A few more pictures are below of that night!
We started off at the mall in Natick and then came back to Caneva's for dinner and a movie ~ Enchanted~ and gift opening of course. I hope you felt loved and celebrated, Kaelyn! We love you!
Chocolate Decadence
This amazingly delicious Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte is one that I made for Easter, and am just posting about now because my life has been seriously crazy recently. Andrew and I moved into our new home and have been steadily trying to make it livable:) I have wanted to make one of these for quite awhile, but have shyed away due to the incredibly high amounts of butter and eggs in this. The three ingredients in this are chocolate.eggs.butter. Mmmmm. Trust me, you will not be disappointed if you try this. It is well worth the extra calories. I think I cooked mine a little too long, but nonetheless it was wonderful. I got this recipe from the foodblog www.101 cookbooks.com . She was able to get permission to post Rose Beranbaum's recipe for this Torte. Please check it out.
*Note: I used Trader Joe's chocolate but please see the blog noted above for other recommended chocolates.
I put an robyn's egg nest on top for Easter. I used Lindt white truffle eggs and brushed them with blue dusting powder and the nest is made from chocolate and white chocolate shavings. I got the idea from Martha Stewart's website. I served it with a raspberry sauce because chocolate and raspberry together are, well, heavenly. The recipe for the raspberry sauce is below...
Raspberry Sauce
2 pints raspberries
1/2 c. water
3/4 c. sugar
2 T. cornstarch
Crush berries with water in saucepan. Add sugar and cornstarch. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Push through a strainer and let come to room temp. (if you can wait...I think I ate half of it plain before I used it for the torte) I placed each torte piece on a pool of this sauce and then topped the torte with fresh whipped cream and fresh raspberries.
Mmmmmm...........
To Angie
This post is dedicated to my friend Angie, for we share a love of one of the greatest foods one can love...tiramisu. I want to give credit where credit is due, but I actually can't remember where I got this recipe. I think it's Alton Brown's, but I've tried a few recipes for tiramisu and just can't place it for sure. This is by far the best recipe for this dessert that I've found, and I think the only way it would be better is if the ladyfingers were made from scratch. I'll post that if it ever happens!
Tiramisu
1 1/2 c. brewed espresso (3/4 c. ground coffee, 1 1/2 c. cold water)
1/4 c. Kahlua (how can you go wrong with anything that has this in it?)
2 T. brown sugar
3 large egg yolks
2/3 c. + 1 T. sugar
1 1/4 c. heavy cream
1 lb. mascarpone cheese
1 (7oz. pkg) ladyfingers (@24 cookies)
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, for chocolate curls
In medium bowl, stir together espresso, 3 T. Kahlua and brown sugar; set aside. In a double boiler (I use a round glass casserole dish over a saucepan), beat together the egg yolks, 2/3 c. granulated sugar and 1/2 c. cream over simmering water until the mixture lightens, about 7 minutes.
Transfer insert to a larger bowl filled with ice water. Whisk until cold, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the mascarpone and the remaining 1 T. Kahlua if you haven't drunk it yet. Whisk until smooth.
Dip half of the ladyfingers into the espresso mixture. (See note below) Lay flat in 8" square baking dish. Spread 1/2 mascarpone mixture on top. Repeat with other half of ladyfingers and mascarpone mixture. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Using a mixer, beat the remaining 3/4 c. cream and 1 T. sugar on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Spread over top of tiramisu and then dust with cocoa using a fine strainer. Make chocolate curls by shaving with vegetable peeler, being careful not to touch them with your hands or they will melt very quickly.
*Note: When dipping the ladyfingers in the espresso mixture, place the ladyfinger flat side down into the espresso. Hold it there for 1-2 seconds and flip to other side for 1-2 seconds, then quickly pull out. If you leave it in the mixture too long, your tiramisu will be too soggy.
Scones
When I was pursuing my master's degree at Gordon-Conwell, a very thoughtful woman there used to bake scones for some of her classes. I was lucky enough to be in a couple of those classes. Before I tasted these, I always thought that I didn't care for scones, but my classmate made me a believer:) They may look a little underwhelming, but they are so good! This is the recipe, and I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I think I could eat an entire batch in one sitting.
Scones:
2 1/2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
8 T. butter, chilled and sliced
1/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. milk
Combine 1st 3 ingredients in food processor. Add butter and mix just until butter is cut in. Add sugar and mix. Add milk and mix just until dough is formed. Do not overwork the dough in the mixer. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 10-12 x's. Cut in half and press into 2 8" circles. Cut each circle into 8 triangles (or 6 if you want large ones) and place on a pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes, until slightly golden on top. Lighter in color is better.
Tip: if no food processor, work butter into dry ingredients with fingers until mixture looks like very small peas. Then mix in sugar and then the milk with a fork. Follow the rest...
Humble Apple Pie
This is a recipe for apple pie that I made for Thanksgiving this past year. There's a bigger picture below of the whole pie. I combined two recipes to make this; a pie crust recipe from my mother-in-law and the pie filling I slightly adjusted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I got the leaf idea from a Williams-Sonoma booklet from their store. This was really easy to do, but a little time-consuming to make all the leaves. I cut each out by hand and then layered them. Okay, so I used a leaf punch to make them but it still took a long time! I started with the outside layer and overlapped the leaves as I went in a circular pattern towards the middle. I didn't want to eat it after I spent so much time on it! Whether it was just to placate me or because they truly liked it...everyone raved about it! **If I make this again, I will probably brush the crust with an egg wash to give it a nice shine.**
Apple Pie
Pastry for 9" Two-Crust Pie (recipe below)
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. Gold Medal flour (if using self-rising flour, omit salt)
1/2 t. cinnamon
6 c. thinly sliced pared tart apples (I prefer Granny Smith)
2 T. butter
dash of salt
Heat oven to 425. Prepare pastry. Stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt; mix with apples. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Cover edge with 2-3" strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 min. of baking.
Bake 40-50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through. Enjoy!
Crust Recipe
2 c. flour
6 T. Crisco
6 T. butter
1 t. salt
6 T. cold water
mix 1 c. flour and next 3 ingredients.
add last c. of flour and mix until resembles small peas.
add water.
one recipe makes a top and bottom crust.
i made 1 1/2 recipe in order to have enough pie dough for the leaves.
**this recipe can also be made in the food processor...combine all ingredients in processor bowl and pulse to combine; when resembles small peas, add water and pulse until just comes together.
That's Tasty
So I'm finally starting a food blog. I've been contemplating it for months, and have finally decided to do it with a little...okay maybe a lot... of persuasion from my husband, Andrew. Andrew and I have been living in Massachusetts for about 3 years, and my love of cooking has blossomed here. Cooking and baking have grown into something I truly enjoy and have a passion for. I love trying new food, and I love that my husband encourages my habit even when my experiments don't turn out well!
So here's the story behind my first posted recipe!
This is my mom's amazing carrot cake even though the picture isn't that great. I'm not usually one for carrot cake, but this recipe is so good. My husband doesn't like carrot cake, either, and he likes this one. This is basic and yummy! Many people add fruit and nuts to their cakes, but I don't care for either.
The first time I attempted to make this was back in college, and I made the cake for a birthday dinner for my mom and grandparents (we usually celebrated their birthdays together since the dates were so close to one another). I made this as a sheet cake, and was so proud of myself. However, when I took the cake to my grandmother's and started to cut into it, I realized that I hadn't baked the cake long enough. The center was undercooked and completely inedible. I was so embarrassed, but my family was gracious and ate around the edges anyway!
Since then, I have tried to redeem that cooking disaster. This cake was thankfully cooked all the way through and made for Easter when we had our friends over for Easter dinner.
Carrot cake:
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. oil
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. grated carrots (about 5 large)
Beat eggs; add oil, sugar, and other dry ingredients. Pour in two 9" cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 stick margarine
1 8 oz. cream cheese (can use 1/3 reduced fat)
2 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar to taste
Cream margarine, cream cheese and vanilla together. Mix in powdered sugar to taste.
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