Tag Archives: dessert

The Yin and Yang of Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yin Yang Chocolate chip cookies n

Which side is more delicious? The chocolate with white chocolate chips? Or the traditional chocolate chip side? 

Life is too short for just one kind of cookie. Combine two cookie doughs that take about the same amount of time to bake and you have a recipe for a cookie which will disappear in the blink of an eye! These cookies were as fun to make as they were to eat… play dough for a baker!

Yin Yang Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

Chocolate Chip Dough

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

White Chocolate Chip Chocolate Dough

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 10 tbsp dutch processed cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Make the chocolate chip dough.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
  4. Thoroughly mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
  5. Fold chocolate chips into dough.
  6. Turn dough out onto piece of plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  7. Make the white chocolate chip chocolate dough.
  8. In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
  9. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
  10. Thoroughly mix the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
  11. Fold white chocolate chips into dough.
  12. Turn dough out onto piece of plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  14. Take a tablespoon of the light dough and roll into a ball.
  15. Take a tablespoon of the chocolate dough and roll into a ball.
  16. Cut each ball in half and press the opposite doughs together, so you have a ball of half chocolate chip dough and half white chocolate chip dough.
  17. Press the balls slightly and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat process until the baking sheet is filled. I fit 20 cookies on a sheet.
  18. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes. I like mine soft, so they will appear slightly underdone at 10 minutes. Bake a couple of minutes longer for a crunchier cookie.
  19. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Makes about 60 cookies.

Mini Matcha Cheesecakes with Shortbread Crust

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Matcha cheesecake n

Delightfully green and chock-full of flavor, these mini desserts are sure to please a mini crowd. 

The smooth texture and familiar flavor of cheesecake draws us time and again to this delicious and decadent dessert. The beauty of homemade cheesecake is that it is a perfect canvas for so many creative ideas. The traditional vanilla flavor is sumptuous. But it is so easy to add, top, or infuse. I’ve been wanting to play some more with the matcha green tea powder I have in my pantry. I wanted to make a small sized cheesecake but I don’t have a small cheesecake pan. So I made small cheesecakes in a standard-sized muffin tin in order to turn out a small batch. These would be a lovely dessert to share at our next dinner party invite.

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling

  • 1 package of cream cheese, 250 grams, softened to room temperature
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp matcha tea powder

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line 8 standard-sized muffin tin cups with paper liners.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix together crust ingredients.
  3. Evenly divide crust mixture into lined muffin tin cups. Press down to form bottom of cheesecakes.
  4. Bake crusts for 5 minutes. Let cool.
  5. In a large bowl, whisk together filling ingredients. There should be no lumps and all ingredients should be mixed well.
  6. Divide filling evenly into paper lined cups.
  7. Bake cheesecakes until set, about 16 – 18 minutes. Centers should not jiggle.
  8. Refrigerate cheesecakes for 3 hours before serving.

Sweet Coconut Rice with Mango Purée

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sticky rice w mango n

Rich coconut-cream-infused rice topped with scrummy mango purée. Take a bite, close your eyes, and imagine life in the Tropics.

When we are finished teaching in Mongolia, we plan to fully embrace the tiny house movement and live full time in our Lance truck camper traveling all around North America. We have spent several summers living in our camper, which gives us a clear understanding of exactly what 120 square feet of living space means. Primarily relying on electricity generated by driving and by our solar panel has a big influence what type of equipment we use inside our tiny home.

In preparation for living large in a tiny kitchen, we are using this time in our small Mongolian apartment to vet products in order to see if they will meet our needs in our future full time tiny kitchen. Limited electricity, size, durability and multi-function are the top criteria we use to vet products. An additional criterion is whether or not we use a given item on a regular basis. At the end of the day, with a small oven, a small three-burner cooking range and limited counter and storage space, we give a good deal of thought to what we can live without.

Many people all over the world make rice on the stovetop. To eliminate the rice cooker we have relied on for many years, we decided to learn to make rice this way, too. Oh dear. My rice came out consistently bad – mushy, overcooked or undercooked – no matter what I did. With one epic failure after another, I handed the rice-making baton to Jack. He was more successful, but we both agreed that our rice just wasn’t as fluffy as the rice from our rice cooker had been. So we broke down and decided to buy a rice cooker. Now we’re convinced that we need to figure out a way to add this tool to our tiny mobile kitchen.

Our main criterion for a rice cooker was simple – it had to be small. After all, there are only two of us. Standard-sized rice cookers take up too much space and use too much energy. Since we live in Asia, finding a rice cooker shouldn’t be difficult, right? And finding rice cookers was easy. But in shop after shop, most of what we saw were massive in size. The average “small” rice cooker had a 10-cup capacity. Finally, after nearly giving up, we found a dust-covered, last-one-in-stock no-long-in-production Zojirushi rice cooker with a 3-cup capacity. Score!

Zojirushi is a brand we’ve had great success with in the past, so we wasted no time grabbing this cooker. As is the custom here, the sales clerk plugged it in, showed us that it indeed was in working order, and pointed out the six-month store warrantee. Once home, I immediately made a batch of rice to test our new gadget. Hot, steamy, fluffy, perfect rice. Yum!

Remembering a delicious rice dessert Thai friends had turned me on to, I recreated it using the batch of rice “I” just cooked. It is a simple dessert which is not too sweet, is packed full of tropical flavors, and is quick to make.

Sweet Coconut Rice with Mango Purée

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Japanese style short-grained rice, cooked and hot
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut cream (or substitute with coconut milk)
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 cup cubed mango
  • honey, to taste
  • toasted sesame seeds and crystallized ginger to garnish

Directions

  1. Put hot, cooked rice in a medium-sized bowl.
  2. Heat coconut and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
  3. Pour coconut mixture over rice and mix well.
  4. Let coconut mixture sit for 30 minutes, until coconut cream is absorbed into rice.
  5. Purée mango.
  6. Mix in honey to taste.
  7. Scoop coconut rice onto individual serving plates.
  8. Hollow out a bit of the top of the rice in order to make a well for the mango purée.
  9. Fill well will purée and garnish with toasted sesame seeds and crystallized ginger.

 

Magical All Fruit Ice Cream with a Quick Hot Fudge Topping

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All Fruit Ice Creams n

A tropical triple sundae created with all-fruit coconut, mango, and banana ice creams topped with homemade hot fudge and crystallized ginger. Happy Summer Solstice everyone! 

Recently, I came across a recipe for one-ingredient ice cream. As big fan of homemade ice cream, I was curious, so I clicked. Bananas! We used to freeze bananas and dip them in carob when I was a kid (the carob thing is a whole other story). I loved that refreshing summertime treat. This memory brought about other childhood memories of eating all-fruit popsicles. In all of my custard and milk based ice cream making adventures, I don’t know why it never occurred to me to try making an all-fruit “ice cream.” It certainly is more healthful to eat a banana than a cream-based, sweet frozen custard concoction, not that I’m planning to give those up!

I had bananas in my kitchen that were just past the perfect-to-eat stage, which made the banana flavor stronger and sweeter. I sliced the bananas into coins, laid them out on a baking sheet and froze them. After an hour, I popped the frozen pieces into the tall cup that came with my stick blender. It did take some work for the stick blender to smooth out the frozen bananas. But after a couple of rounds of stirring and puréeing with the stick blender, I scooped pure magic into bowls. The consistency of the banana ice cream was creamy and the flavor was sweet and rich.  One ingredient ice cream is delicious!

My culinary sense of adventure and curiosity got the best of me while eating this creamy frozen snack. A banana is a snack, after all. By adding one more ingredient to this creamy base, I could create chocolate banana or peanut butter banana ice cream. From here, my thoughts took off, adding many more ingredients. And toppings. This recipe is versatile!

I thought that since bananas worked so well, other fruits might prove equally appropriate. Here in Ulaanbaatar, we don’t get a huge variety of fruit. But I happened to see frozen mangos at the store. I work with what I can get. The frozen mango worked as well as the banana. The batch of frozen mangos I purchased was on the sour side, so I did add some honey and crystallized ginger to sweeten up the ice cream and give it some pizzazz. This was no longer a one-ingredient recipe, but I was experimenting. It was delicious and tropical.

A proper sundae needs three different flavors, in my opinion. I froze small cubes of coconut milk and processed the frozen cubes just as I had processed the fruit. The coconut milk came out icy, so I added a bit of regular milk to smooth the texture. And since coconut milk doesn’t have much natural sweetness, I added two tablespoons of powdered sugar. The resulting ice cream was tasty and perfectly complemented the mango and banana ice creams.

In order to create the ultimate all-fruit sundae, I whipped up some hot fudge (there goes the healthful dessert), sprinkled some crystallized ginger to finish it off and voilà, a cool, beautiful, tropical summertime dinner… I mean dessert. (Well, in all honesty, we did eat it for dinner.)

Frozen Fruit Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • small chunks of fruit of your choosing, frozen
  • (optional) other flavorings to enhance the fruit like vanilla, ginger, cocoa powder
  • sweetener, to taste (if needed add honey, maple syrup, sugar, etc.)

Directions

  1. Place frozen fruit in food processor or cup of a stick blender and process scraping down sides occasionally until fruit is thick and creamy and there are no chunks remaining.
  2. Mix in optional ingredients.
  3. Serve immediately.

Quick Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup boiling water
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup powdered milk

(or substitute the above with 14 oz sweetened condensed milk)

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Place first 5 ingredients in the metal cup that came with your stick blender to make sweetened condensed milk.
  2. Blend until well mixed and thickened. Set aside.
  3. In medium pan, with medium heat, melt 1/2 cup butter.
  4. Stir in chocolate chips.
  5. Add milk mixture and stir until smooth and silky.
  6. Store leftovers in covered container in the refrigerator.

 

Almondtella – A Twist on the “Other” Chocolate Nut Spread (without the Palm Oil)

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Almondtella n

Everything tastes better when you make it from scratch.  One taste of this homemade spread, loaded with toasted almond yumminess, and you will forget the name of that decadent stuff you used to spread on your toast. …what was that called again?

Headlines Inspire Kitchen Creativity

Recently, France’s Minister of Ecology put Nutella in the headlines because of its environmentally hostile ingredient, palm oil. Like many large scale agricultural operations, palm oil plantations require the deforestation of vast tracts of natural forests. In Indonesia and Malaysia, where the largest palm oil plantations operate, many species of native animals and plants are being pushed toward extinction. The process of slash and burn forest removal is releasing stored CO2 and generating tremendous amounts of smoke, contributing to Indonesia’s sudden jump to third place among the world’s emitters of greenhouse gasses. It’s estimated that 40-50% of household products in the U.S. contain palm oil. This product extends beyond food items to cosmetics and cleaners. Yikes.

I suppose everything humans consume has a detrimental effect on the environment due to the sheer number of humans that consume. What to do? We limit our consumption of products by using them until they can’t be used any longer. For example, we have been using the same box of zip top bags for almost a year by carefully using the bags, washing them and reusing them. We also try to make as much as we can from scratch in order to limit the addition of chemicals and unnatural ingredients into our bodies.

Our answer to the controversy swirling around Nutella is to make our own spreadable delight using more Earth-friendly ingredients. Before you quibble with me about almonds and how much water it takes to grow them… I know. However, a friend was moving from Ulaanbaatar and offered us her unused pantry items. Among those items was a three-pound bag of almonds. Other nuts would work well in this recipe.

Who knew a post about a delicious nutty spread would be so political? Moving away from the political, let me tell you this spread is better tasting than any commercial product. And with less sugar, no processed emulsifiers and no artificial flavorings (what is vanillin?) this is arguably a much healthier spread. The top two ingredients in that other spread are sugar and palm oil. The top ingredient in this recipe is pure, natural almonds. And the vanilla extract is real vanilla extract.

The key to the standout flavor is the toasted nuts. The delicious end product makes the slightly arduous process of skinning the almonds totally worth it. Now we have a sweet chocolate spread that is packed with protein and tastes great on toast or as a topping on the all-fruit banana and mango ice creams we’ve been enjoying on these warm summer days. Or how about cheesecake swirled with homemade almondtella?

Chocolate Nut Spread aka Almondtella

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole raw almonds
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • up to 1/4 cup vegetable or light olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Skin almonds by pouring boiling water over them in a bowl and letting them sit for 2 minutes. Drain off hot water and replace with cold water. Almond skins should pop off when you squeeze the individual almonds.
  2. Preheat oven to 350° F (175 degrees C). Place almonds in a single layer on a shallow baking pan. Toast for 10 minutes. Stir the nuts halfway through baking to ensure an even color.
  3. Process nuts in a food processor, or use a stick blender. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary until the nuts have liquefied, about 5 minutes. First, you will get coarsely chopped nuts, then a fine meal. After a little while, the nuts will form a ball around the blade. Keep processing. The heat and friction will extract the natural oils from the nuts and you will get almond butter!
  4. When the nuts have liquified, add the sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly drizzle in enough oil to make a spreadable consistency. Since the mixture is warm, it will be more fluid now than at room temperature.
  5. Transfer the spread to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

Here are some ideas for using your “Almondtella.”

Vanilla-orange cookies with chocolate nut filling

Place almondtella at the bottom of crème brûlée for a nice surprise.

Read more about the problems with palm oil at: Palm Oil, What’s the Issue?

My Version of an $8 Chocolate Chip Cookie

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eight dollar chocolate chip cookie n

High quality milk chocolate, white chocolate, toasted almonds, browned butter and vanilla paste pack in the flavor. Served warm out of the oven, this cookie adds up to… Irresistible!

This week, I read an article about a restaurant which offers a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of flavor-infused milk for $8! The value of this pricey cookie lies in the care with which it is baked and served as well as with the quality of the ingredients. Customers love that this warm-from-the-oven-cookie has a soft, melty chocolate center and crispy edges.

Using the concepts from the article – ingredients should be top notch and the cookie needs to be served individually-baked and warm – I created my own version of a cookie that would deserve an $8 price tag. I love the flavor and texture of nuts in my chocolate chip cookies, so I browned the butter and toasted some chopped almonds to ensure plenty of nutty flavor. I added a dash of almond extract for additional flavor. Traditional chocolate chip cookies use vanilla extract. I substituted the extract with vanilla paste for a richer vanilla flavor. I baked the cookies at a little lower temperature than traditional recipes to allow the cookie to retain its gooeyness a little longer… not that these cookies will last long! I highly recommend you bake only the number of cookies you will immediately serve. The dough will keep in the refrigerator so you can make ’em as you need ’em fresh out of the oven.

Both Jack and I agreed that the flavor was amazing. Jack thought the cookies could have been a little bit bigger for the price tag. Feel free to scoop them larger if you agree with Jack!

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, browned
  • 2 tsp vanilla paste
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup toasted almonds, chopped
  • 1/3 cup good quality milk chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup good quality white chocolate, chopped

Directions

  1. Mix the sugars and the egg well.
  2. Add in the browned butter.
  3. Mix in vanilla paste and almond extract.
  4. Stir flour, baking soda and salt into the mixture.
  5. Fold in the almonds and chocolate pieces.
  6. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
  7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  8. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
  9. Scoop tablespoon-sized balls using a small ice cream scoop onto the baking sheet. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes.
  10. Let the cookies set on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes before removing them to a wire cooling rack.
  11. Continue to cool for another two minutes on the wire rack.
  12. Serve cookies while still warm.

Makes 10 cookies.

Cinnamon Toast Biscotti – A Light, Satisfying Small Batch

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Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti n

Warning: the enticing aromas from baking this crunchy, cinnamon biscotti may cause neighbors to knock on your door. 

During our summer break, Jack and I don’t have as many little volunteers to help us eat our sweet creations. Being mindful of our waistlines, it is time to switch gears to confections that are either made in smaller batches, are lower in fat, or are just plain healthier. Curious what I’d discover, I searched for “lowfat cookie recipes” on the Internet. The top result, according to Google, was biscotti. Delicious and versatile, I could see how they would make the cut. I decided today’s creation would feature cinnamon, which always tricks my taste buds into thinking the cookie is sweeter than its sugar content would indicate. This small batch will be just right for the coming week.

So with all this, I give you a small batch of cinnamon biscotti that that is easy to whip up in about an hour’s time. This “two bake” recipe is especially galley and camper friendly, as it limits propane use.

Cinnamon Toast Biscotti

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

 

Cinnamon topping (just mix ingredients together)

  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees Celsius).
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl.
  4. Stir melted butter, egg, and vanilla into flour mixture
  5. Form dough into a flat log shape on parchment-lined baking sheet. Log should be about 10 inches long and 1 ½ inches wide.
  6. Generously sprinkle top of log with about half of the cinnamon topping.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven. Log will be firm to the touch.
  8. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes.
  9. Cut log into 10 pieces using a serrated knife.
  10. Place pieces on their side, exposing a cut side.
  11. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon topping.
  12. Bake for 10 – 15 more minutes, until biscotti is nicely toasted.
  13. Cool completely on wire rack before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

When You Cross a Monster Cookie with a Fudgy Brownie…

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Monster Brownie n

A decadent, sweet confection stuffed with peanut butter and chocolate and decorated with the fun colors of M&Ms. This Monster Brownie is a rich, colorful dessert delicious for any age.

Once a month or so, I bake for my students. They earn tickets in the classroom and can spend the tickets on “bake sale” day. It’s a tasty incentive that allows me to bake, which I enjoy, and allows them to have a tasty reward for their hard work and good behavior. My bake sales have created monsters… cookie monsters! After the first couple of baking events, my students started to come up with ideas and challenges for me to bake. One of the first rewards was a fudgy brownie with a chocolate ganache frosting. Of course, this went over quite well. Several bake sales later, I brought in mini monster cookies… which were an instant hit. One day, my cookie monsters were arguing over the best baked treat I had brought them. It was fudgy brownies versus monster cookies. There was only one way to settle this argument… a confection made up of all the flavors of both of these confections. So, monster brownies were born.

As you might guess, the monster brownies came out fantastically. The fudginess of the original brownie recipe was retained. Swirling in a peanut butter mixture, instead of mixing in peanut butter, kept the peanut butter flavor as an upfront flavor. After mixing in the M&Ms, I reserved a few extra M&Ms to speckle the top to make sure there was no mistake that this was a monster brownie! My bake sale “customers” were extremely happy.

Monster Brownies

Ingredients

Brownie Batter

  • 10 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup M&Ms

Peanut butter filling

  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (Use a quality brand made only of roasted peanuts or roasted peanuts and a dash of salt, such as Laura Scudder’s or Adams.)
  • 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
  2. Line an 8 x 8 inch glass baking dish with foil. Grease foil. Set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter and sugar.
  4. Sift in cocoa powder and flour to eliminate lumps.
  5. Mix well.
  6. Mix in vanilla and eggs.
  7. Fold in M&M pieces.
  8. Set aside and make peanut butter filling.
  9. In another medium bowl, mix filling ingredients together until mixture is smooth.
  10. Pour about 1/2 of the brownie batter evenly into prepared baking dish.
  11. Scoop tablespoons of peanut butter filling and drop onto brownie batter.
  12. Pour remaining batter on top of peanut butter filling.
  13. Gently drag a butter knife through all layers going from left to right and from top to bottom in order to slightly mix batter.
  14. Bake for about 50 minutes. A wooden stick inserted into brownies will have a few crumbs and not be wet. Check the brownies away from the edge and away for the middle for best results.
  15. Let cool slightly in pan. Finish cooling on wire rack.
  16. Cut when completely cooled.

Almond Bread Pudding with Cognac Caramel

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bread pudding n

You don’t need to share an individual serving of sweet nutty bread pudding drizzled with cognac caramel sauce!

Heavy whipping cream is not readily available in Ulaanbaatar. This surprised me. Since the Mongolian culture is heavily tied to herding and to dairy, I assumed that whipping cream would be much easier to get than in remote Point Hope, Alaska, where we had to fly in this precious commodity. The plight of whipping cream difficulties has followed me across the globe. Well, that’s a bit overdramatic. I did come across heavy whipping cream in the one store that carries many western groceries here in UB. But at about $28 a liter, I decided it wasn’t worth it. Plus it was UHT (ultra heat temperature processed) in order to keep it shelf stable. My experience with UHT whipping cream is that it turns to butter with the slightest amount of whipping.

The other day, I noticed a box of a new product in the dairy section of a grocery store we frequently shop. Everything was in Korean, except for the words “whipping cream.” Since the price was reasonable and since I could not find anything that looked like “UHT” written anywhere, I took a chance. Boy, am I glad I did! Not only does this cream whip up beautifully, it is the best tasting whipping cream I have ever had.

As is often the case in Ulaanbaatar, a product is here one day and gone the next. Alas, I can no longer find this whipping cream, so I am using it sparingly. I hope it will show up again.

One of our favorites is bread pudding. Using pantry staples such as homemade French bread, toasted almonds, and good cognac, I baked a small batch of individual bread puddings. It was the perfect amount for us to enjoy and share with guests. And it was a delicious way to use some of the precious heavy whipping cream.

Almond Bread Pudding with Cognac Caramel

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup almonds, chopped and toasted
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 1/2 cups French bread, cubed small

Ingredients for cognac caramel

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp good quality cognac

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Grease 6 cups in a muffin tin. Set aside.
  2. Whisk together melted butter, milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond extract and eggs in a medium bowl.
  3. Stir in bread cubes. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the bread to soak up egg mixture.
  4. Divide mixture equally into prepared muffin tin.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes.
  6. Add almonds to the tops of bread puddings and bake for 10 more minutes.
  7. Let the bread puddings cool in the tin for 10 minutes. While they are cooling, make the cognac caramel.
  8. Bring brown sugar and cream to a boil in a small pan and continue to cook for 2 more minutes. Sauce should thicken.
  9. Remove from hit and stir in cognac.
  10. Loosen the bread puddings from tin by cutting around the edges with a knife. Transfer puddings to individual plates.
  11. Drizzle cognac caramel sauce on each bread pudding and serve warm.

Two Monster-Sized Monster Cookies

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Monster Size Monster Cookies n

Sometimes you need a big, soft, peanut buttery cookie stuffed with M&Ms and white chocolate chips.

OK, sometimes you need two. I love recipes measured in tablespoons and minutes, especially when they produce a soft cookie with an instant connection to childhood – and when there is enough to share with a friend.

Two Monster-Sized Monster Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp peanut butter
  • 8 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 4 tbsp quick oats
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup M&Ms
  • 2 tbsp white chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 C).
  2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together first 6 ingredients.
  4. Stir in flour, oats, baking soda, and salt.
  5. Fold in M&Ms.
  6. Fold in chocolate chips.
  7. Divide dough in half. Scoop each half onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly.
  8. Bake for 20 – 22 minutes, until edges are slightly browned.
  9. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.