Cream To Butter To Shortbread
December 23, 2012 - Written by DianaIf you want to do a project with your child to make a gift for their grandmother or other relatives or their class at school, this would be a great bonding experience. I’ve had a lot of fun lately making butter from whipping cream. I use Snowville’s Whipping Cream from grassfed cows because I like the way they do things. Then I take the butter and use it to make Shortbread Cookies. I did it with a food processor which can make it safe and quick to work with their attention span.
Let the cream sit at room temperature until it comes up to around 55 deg Celsius.
Pour into the food processor up to the liquid line and let ‘er rip.
The cream will become thicker and thicker turning into whipped cream, keep going.
It will be thicker and then start to separate into buttermilk and butter – it’s amazing, but pretty cool.
The food processor will rock a little as the butter sticks to the blade and separates from the buttermilk….
Fresh Strawberry Pie – Perfect Mother’s Day Dessert
May 9, 2012 - Written by Diana
This year peak strawberry season and Mother’s day collide. I found some strawberries at a farm market and made the Fresh Strawberry Pie from Pat Sinclair’s Baking Basics and Beyond. The pie was fantastically delicious, though really, I just needed a spoon to eat the strawberries and sauce out of the pot. In fact, I wanted to lick the drippings off the stove – if I didn’t worry about burning my tongue. I brought it to my daughter’s college house for her friends (and us) to share. We all loved it – it’s a bit messy, but ohhhhhh soooo good. Enjoy!!
Crust – Pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie (included in the book)
Fresh Strawberry Pie – Perfect Mother’s Day Dessert Print Prep time 40 mins Cook time 20 mins …
Whiskey and Molasses Cookies
December 11, 2011 - Written by Diana
Food Embrace presented a blogger cookie swap – The International Blogger Cookie Exchange 2011. We swap cookie recipes and make the recipe of another blogger, adapting it to our tastes. Let me tell you, I am not really a cookie baker. I don’t mind making them, but it always seems as though I bake one day and by the next the plate is empty again, plus there’s that watching the oven thing. Growing up I loved the white sugar cookies, with white flour and sugar icing. I have grown to enjoy more flavor now. This cookie with whiskey and molasses was well liked by my husband and I think those strong flavors make for a real guys cookie. I can taste molasses, but my husband was tasting whiskey and he loved it.
I do like using local ingredients – so instead of Bourbon, I used OYO whiskey made by Middle West Spirits located in Columbus. When Middle West Spirits puts out the word they’re releasing some of the good stuff, if we are in need, my husband will call to …
Wiggly Jello For Dessert
June 10, 2011 - Written by DianaMy College Girl made a nice two layer Jello Dessert for after last night’s dinner. Green Lime on the bottom and Strawberry on top – and dollops of whipped cream. It’s been so long since we’ve had jello, that this was a lot of fun. Here’s a photo on the deck, isn’t it cool and delicious looking. It’s the simple things that can give your day a lift, Wiggly Jello makes me smile.
Cinco De Mayo Dessert by Ingrid Hoffman
May 6, 2011 - Written by DianaIngrid Hoffman of Simply Delicioso has joined with Eagle brands to come up with some sweet springtime desserts. These can be used for Cinco De Mayo (today), Mother’s Day, or just a nice gathering. In this video, she is making Coffee Spanish Torrijas (which is similar to French Toast).
BLUEBERRY OATMEAL CRUMBLE BARS
February 16, 2011 - Written by DianaBlueberries are showing up in the stores right now. They’re not local, but they are in season if you live in Chile. Blueberries are one of my favorite things to help get me through the winter in a healthy way. If you don’t plan ahead and freeze those berries you picked in the summer, or even if you ran out, the fresh from Chile is in the stores. Here’s a recipe to try out with your Chilean Blueberries.
Makes 9 – 2×2 inch squares.
Ingredients to make berry filling
- 3 cups fresh blueberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
For crust & crumble topping
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- 3/4 cup flour
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick sweet butter, melted
Line a 9 inch square pan with parchment paper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
For filling:
In a medium saucepan stir together all filling ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium high heat stirring often to reduce until mixture is thick and the berries breakdown, about 15 …
Chocolate Mousse with Berries – Quick Valentine’s Dessert
February 14, 2011 - Written by DianaHere’s a Chocolate Mousse recipe that’s so quick, easy, delicious and perfect for Valentine’s Day. For the Superbowl I made vegan cupcakes that were delish. I thought the glaze tasted like pudding, but it was thick and sweet. I took that recipe and changed it into a mousse. This dessert is pretty fast and easy to make.
The microwave was used to melt the chocolate and goat cheese together before putting it into the magic bullet to combine it and add air (to moussify). That’s really all it takes, pour the mousse red raspberries and sliced strawberries in ramekins and then decoratively top with one of each and refrigerate. This is a dessert you can make after work and cool while dinner is being devoured. I loved it and so did my husband. One for us tonight, and another for tomorrow (no kids, oh well).
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces silken tofu
- 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate
- 2 tsp chevre (goat cheese – plain)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp agave
- 4 strawberries
- 12 raspberries
Use a paper towel or cloth to drain and pat dry the …
Nothing Says Christmas Like….StarWars Cookies?
December 24, 2010 - Written by Deb NgSo Mr. Ng and I are browsing the cookie cutters at Williams Sonoma a couple of weeks ago, and what to my wandering eye should appear, but a box of Star Wars cookie cutters:
We have a standard set of holiday cookie cutters at home. You know, the usual Christmas trees, snowmen and bells and stuff. However, as a geek, this called to me. Plus The Boy is just winding down from a major (and I mean major) StarWars phase.
I’m not an impulsive girl and there’s no way I’d spend $20 for 4 cookie cutters, but these called for me. They even called to Mr. Ng whose wallet is sealed tighter than the Declaration of Independence. So, we left William Sonoma with a box of overpriced cookie cutters.
The Boy loved them and last Saturday we got down to business.
The cookie cutters have lots of nooks and crannies, but thankfully they have those press things on the back to make dough removal easier. However, we did find it easier to dust the cookie cutters …
My Grandmother’s Cream Cheese Pound Cake
December 24, 2010 - Written by DianaIntroducing another Sister to Cookerati. Desiree is the sister that’s right between Deb and me in pecking order. She was trying out one of my grandmother’s recipes and shared it with us today. I told her I’d like to give her a guest post on Cookerati since it’s a special recipe. It was really perfect timing for me since I am trying to sort out the contest results , going through all the entries, and also because I decided to wait until the very last minute to re-jam my Christmas gifts that didn’t jam properly earlier. Procrastination is not a good thing. Thanks Desiree.
I made a recipe that Grandma gave me. I will let you know how it tastes and post the recipe if it is good. It is neat to see her handwriting. The card is starting to yellow though.
The cake has a heavier consistency than you would expect. It was good. Jon and I liked it. Matt said it was OK but he likes my apple cake better. (Note: Matt is a pie person, …
Mexican Wedding Cookies from Crazy About Cookies
December 4, 2010 - Written by Diana
This is the Mexican Wedding Cookie recipe from Krystina Castella’s book , Crazy About Cookies- 300 Scrumptious Recipes for Every Occasion & Craving. I picked this out with my daughter for her to make to bring to the birthday potluck. We tripled the recipe which turned out to be way too many. We shared everyone else’s food, but I’m embarrassed to say my kids took our cookies and stashed them in the car without asking if anyone wanted the leftovers. I guess that means they were really delicious – yes, I can say that they were, but also that my kids have bad manners. Sorry about that. Makes 3 dozen hand shaped cookies.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup(2 sticks) butter
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 cup ground pecans
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter 2 cookie sheets (I used parchment paper on the cookie sheet)
- Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.
- Cream the butter and 1/2 cup confectioners sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until blended. Stir in the pecans and vanilla.
- Shape …
