and the nominees are...

Mini Raspberry Cheesecakes and Oreo Truffles.

I was invited to an Oscar party last night, and of course needed to bring some Oscar-worthy treats with me. I was disappointed in my execution of the mini-cheesecakes, those are definitely not winning for any type of technical or cinematic category. In my mind, I was making them with a chocolate crust, so they would be Black and White, very elegant. But, the chocolate crust was more light brown, and the cheesecake more very yellow. The whole thing just missed the mark I was aiming for, and while they were good (have you ever met a cheesecake that wasn't??) they just weren't the hit I'd hoped for.

The Oreo truffles looked small and delicate, and tasted AMAZING, a clear front runner in this race. But they weren't without their problems. The truffles were supposed to be dipped in melted chocolate, and I waited questionably too long to do this step. I pulled out my double boiler, dumped in the chocolate, and went to town melting it. It wasn't long after that it turned into one globby clump, took on a life of it's own, and told me that there was no way I was dipping anything into it - its consistency was barely even spreadable. Somehow, I'd managed to mess up the simple step of "melt chocolate". Infuriated, I rushed to the store for more chocolate, and called my kitchen-emergency hotline (thank, Mel!) to discover that, in fact, a ganache recipe she has made clearly states "Do not use chocolate chips". I had, in fact, used chocolate chips. They were on sale and cheaper than the bars that I would have had to buy. Bad move, Jenni. Luckily, I was able to make a game time switch, and got the good stuff. On second chance I melted the chocolate ok (actually, the white chocolate never recovered, but I ran out of time to fight with it.) While, even my visions for the truffles were not quite achieved, their taste made it a moot point.

And, the Oscar goes to....

Oreo Truffles, who are gladly accepting this award on behalf of Meryl Streep and her portrayal of Julia Child!

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**Oreo truffles, totally simple:

Crush up Oreos in a food processor (save 9 crushed cookies aside for later). Combine remaining cookie crumbs, 8oz of cream cheese, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla with a mixer until mixed thoroughly. Roll into small balls and chill in fridge for one hour. Melt 1 pound of chocolate in a double boiler - careful, this part is apparently tricky. I ended up using one bar of milk chocolate and one bar of bittersweet chocolate together, I think it was a good choice. Dip the chilled oreo balls into chocolate and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs on top. (I ran out of chocolate at one point, and simply rolled the oreo balls in the cookie crumbs for some - these were good too) Return to fridge to chill for one hour, or until you have to go!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

I think that peanut butter and chocolate might be the worlds most perfect combination. I mean, seriously. Name something that works together as well as these two...

Tonight, I created this chocolate peanut butter pie, without a recipe, using only my shear will to devour something delicious. Here's the recipe that resulted:

about half a package of Nilla Wafers, crushed fine
1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup of peanut butter
16 oz. milk chocolate
1 container of Cool Whip

Melt butter and peanut butter over medium heat. Add to finely crushed Nilla wafers and mix well. Press into bottom and sides of pie plate (I used my springform pan). Cook in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool to room temp.

On top of double boiler melt milk chocolate. Add to thawed Cool Whip and combine well (I didn't let the cool whip thaw completely, and when I added the hot chocolate it all went awry, so then I threw the mixture back into the top of the double boiler and melted it all together!) Spread chocolate into crust and chill, uncovered, at least one hour. (Once chilled you can cover it, but if it's warm when you put it in the fridge don't cover it or it'll rain all over your pie).

All I can say is....YUM-O!

Let the good times roulade

I admit that maybe I've become obsessive, but the pumpkin roulade was seemingly so easy that I just had to try again.  This time I was inspired by this recipe.  A red velvet cake with white chocolate mousse and raspberries inside.  Mmmmm mmmmm!  It sounded delicious and perfect for our Christmas dessert.  The results fell short of my grand expectations.  I submit to you people's exhibit A:

The problem was after the cake was cooked and rolled and cooled it completely cracked when being unrolled. I was left with about 5 long strips of cake. I proceeded to fill them and "roll" them back up the way they should be rolled. I wrapped it quickly and tightly in saran wrap and aluminum foil and put it in the fridge overnight where I hoped it would heal itself. It did not. I think that some pieces sunk further into the filling, and thus it looks all rolled back up on itself - although I can't really seem to figure out how it should have gone together.

It looked a little better when sliced, I submit people's exhibit B:

And, it tasted delicious!!

I think that perhaps the cake part was cooked too long, I'd attempt a shorter time the next time. It also seemed a little dense, I'd maybe go to 3/4 cup of flour or substitute cake flour instead.

Happy Halloween?

Some of us celebrated Halloween a week LATE because a certain sister (Diane) was sick. The cake was already made of course, hanging out in the freezer, so I just decorated it this past weekend for when we went over to Diane's house to celebrate. It was a wonderful evening. We ate chips, delicious guacamole, and CAKE! We also watched one of my favorite movies: CLUE! So here's the very traditional-looking jack-o-lantern cake that I made:


I should've taken a picture of the middle too after we cut into it, but of course didn't think about bringing my camera. It was a marble cake, and I died the white cake part of it orange. I also added chocolate chips because it didn't look chocolatey enough. It was good! Now I have to wait another year before using that cake pan again. Oh well.

Happy Birthday....America!

While I was out yesterday afternoon watching the Red Sox Yankees game with some friends we devised our 4th of July fireworks viewing plan - to meet at a friend's house at 7:30pm and head over from there for the show starting at 8:30. By the time I got home from the game I had about 2 hours before I had to be ready to leave again, and I still had to go and walk the dog (as an aside, I've been dog-sitting for a week, and this dog likes to hike through the woods, where we see coyotes!!!) I left my house, headed for dogs house, and stopped at the grocery store on the way - I was not going to show up for pre-fireworks party empty handed. She likely doesn't know, but Melanie helped me devise this recipe while I was AT the grocery store. A few quick text messages back and forth and we'd decided on filling those little phyllo pastry cups with chocolate pudding and whipped cream. I decided to top them with strawberries and blueberries, for the full patriotic effect.

I must say, while this is like less homemade and more "semi" than what Sandra Lee would put on her show, they came out looking quite cute and being quite tasty. And, of course, the simple fact that I showed up with something in-hand made me quite pleased.

Happy and safe 4th to everyone!

An Easter Feast for one!

After the weekend from hell, I decided I would indeed cook an Easter dinner. Luckily I found an open grocery store and picked up some essential ingredients, and at about 7pm I began cooking.

Nothing too fancy, I had some steak tips marinaded already. My mom taught me a trick with these - if you buy your meat ahead of time and freeze it, put the meat and marinade in a ziploc bag and freeze it together. The meat will marinade as it thaws, before you cook it - saving you a step! I also had some zucchini and yellow squash, which I just cut up and threw into a pan with some evoo, and then some frozen green beans - talk about fancy. I bought some potatoes, and made mashed potatoes. I tried something new with these, and put in some grated parmesan cheese, and in fact they were delicious. I bought some pillsbury crescent rolls, and ate about 154 of them!

Last, but not least, I made a carrot cake. I blame Mel for making me crave this. It started off as Carrot Cake Cupcakes, but - I don't seem to have any cupcake pans, is this possible?! So it turned into a Carrot Bundt Cake, and I'd say it came out very well. I followed the same recipe as the cupcakes, but I cooked it a little longer - about 15 minutes at 400 degrees and then maybe 35 or 40 at 350 degrees. I wish I'd used less walnuts though, I'm not a huge fan. I used my hand food chopper with the carrots, and of course I prepared my bundt pan with lots of Baker's Joy! I used a little bit less sugar than the recipe called for the frosting, and I think it came out great - there's a ton left over. I'm going to go dig in with a spoon!