Summer Tablescape and Chocolate Eclairs

This is my summer tablescape that Ive had all sumer.  Just fun earthy elements, with soft linens and pops of green to make a splash.  The darling salt shakers was a Birthday present from Andrea, and Its the Life.  Shes the best!

This is an old German antique my Mom picked up.  She is currently now just finding out that I borrowed it. 

 These darling mugs are from Pottery Barn.

 For Fathers day, I decided to make him some Eclairs.  So while I was making them, I decided to take some pictures of my tablescape at the time.  Thats why these are all in one blog post!  When I bake these days, I try to challenge myself, not just make something easy.  So I decided to try an Eclair. They were a lot easier then I expected.  Though I didn't have a pastry bag or tip on hand, so I had to get a little creative with a plastic bag. Next time, ill be sure to have those on hand! After a lot of research, I found this recipe on-line, and I liked the ingredients a little better.  So i went with this one from Food Network.  You can find the link here, and also below.

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CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS

Ingredients
Filling:
2 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
Pastry:
1 cup water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs, plus 1 extra, if needed
Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons water
Chocolate Glaze:
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the saucepan. Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.

Pastry: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, add 3 eggs, 1 egg at a time. Stop mixing after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add the remaining 1 egg and mix until incorporated.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe fat lengths of dough (about the size and shape of a jumbo hot dog) onto the lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between them. You should have 8 to 10 lengths.

Egg Wash: In a bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Brush the surface of each eclair with the egg wash. Use your fingers to smooth out any bumps of points of dough that remain on the surface. Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 25 minutes more. Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking. Let cool on the baking sheet. Fit a medium-size plain pastry tip over your index finger and use it to make a hole in the end of each eclair (or just use your fingertip). Using a pastry bag fitted with a medium-size plain tip, gently pipe the custard into the eclairs, using only just enough to fill the inside (don't stuff them full).

Glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils. Immediately turn off the heat. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside and keep warm. The glaze can be made up to 48 hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, and rewarm in a microwave or over hot water when ready to use.

Dip the tops of the eclairs in the warm chocolate glaze and set on a sheet pan. Chill, uncovered, at least 1 hour to set the glaze. Serve chilled.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/gale-gand/chocolate-eclairs-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Baked Alaska

 Once upon a time, on a family European cruise we had Baked Alaska.  So one night last week, as I was strolling through Pinterest on another sleepless night I found a recipe for it.  So I decided what better dessert to make for the Fourth of July as well.  I wanted it to recreate the firework theme, but aslo a fun and easy way to do for a party.  So I did it with the same Funfetti cake mix, and used Take The Cake Ice cream to represent the colors of the fireworks.  Someday, I will do the original recipe that you can find here.  However, this was incredibly easy.

To make this, I followed the instructions on Bon Appetit, but instead of making the cake from scratch, i just baked a layer of cake in a sheet pan for 20 minutes @ 350 degrees and then followed all of the steps.  Everyone loved it and its always a big hit!

Firework Cake Bites

I wanted to do something fun, Patriotic, and simple for the 4th of July. With a full time job, and not a lot of free time on the side, I had to do something fast and easy. I love holidays, and my favorite part of the Fourth of July is the beautiful firework display that you can see everywhere.  I wanted to mimic the fun,  playfulness of it all, so I decided to make firework cake bites!  I used funfetti cake mix to mimic the different colors in the sky, and then I used Pop Rocks candy on top so that they would pop in your mouth when you ate them!

I decided it would be easier to bake the cake the night before and just follow the instructions on the back of the box.  Once its cooled, i placed it in a large mixing bowl and just crumbled it up with my hands.  Next I added half of the container of frosting and stirred it together.  If you feel like you need more, feel free to add more frosting, I just like it to have a little less.  Next I rolled them into balls on a cookie sheet with wax paper on it.  Let them freeze for at least an hour, I let them freeze over night.

In the morning I melted the white chocolate in a bowl, making sure I stirred it a lot to temper the chocolate.  Then I rolled the frozen cake balls in the chocolate.  Placed them back on the wax paper, and QUICKLY sprinkled them with Pop Rocks candy.  They set up pretty quickly, so I just placed them on a platter and brought them to dinner!

Peppermint Brownie Torte (Gluten Free)

I saw this recipe in a magazine years ago, and I make it about every other Christmas.  This year, we decided to try it Gluten Free for my sister-in-law, and no one could even tell.  Last year, we found the most amazing Gluten Free Brownie Mix from William Sonoma.  So I made that up as directed and baked it on a sheet pan for half the time.  then I let it cool so I could cut it up to three sheets and placed them on a tray.

 In between each layer I put a layer of Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting:

Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting
2 pkg. of Cream Cheese (@room temp.)
1 cube of butter softened
1 tsp. Peppermint extract
2 C. of Powder Sugar
2 T. Cream

In a mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter together until soft.  Add the peppermint extract and mix throughly.  Next add the powder sugar and heavy cream.  Mix well on medium speed until its blended well together.  Last mix on high for 3 minutes until nice and fluffy.  Spread evenly inbetween each layer including the top.

On the very top, make a dark chocolate ganache to place on top.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
1 bag of Dark Chocolate chips
1 T. Butter
1/4 C. Heavy Cream

In a microwave melt the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe bowl for 30 second intervals stirring in-between each turn.  When the chocolate is melted, add the heavy cream and stir until it becomes a smooth ganache.  If its too thick add more cream until it because thin enough to spread on the top.

To top off, drizzle white chocolate trees, on top of tooth picks, sprinkle green sprinkles on top and let dry.  Once it has set up, gently remove from the wax paper and place in brownie torte with crushed peppermint candies on top.

EggNog Cake

One of my favorite Christmas desserts is Eggnog bunt cake. This year, I felt lazy, so I bought my favorite cake mix from Williams Sonoma.

This is the cake mix that I love, though most of there cake mixes there are worth every penny.  Lets face it, sometimes we just dont have enough time to pull off a home made dessert.  Its ok if you cheat!  So how I made it was simple: I followed the recipe exactly, and instead of milk I added Egg Nog.  Tricky I know!  It turned out amazing!

 My first attempt was to make a Eggnog cake with Egg Nog Creme Brûlée,  Dont get me wrong, both were delicious, together... not so much.  It was too heavy of a dessert.  So I passed on that one, and made the other half of the batter into cupcake tins.

 With the Cupcakes I added a simple glaze.  With 1 cup powder sugar, and 1/4 cup of Egg Nog. Poured it on top and let it sit. Turned out perfect!  So this was what I decided to do tonight for dinner.

Egg Nog bunt cake, with Egg Nog glaze and white chocolate snowflakes.  To say it wasn't divine is an understatement.  If you want a killer dessert, that takes no time at all, try this out!

Treacle Tart

One of my favorite desserts that I had on my visit to England was Treacle Tart.  Its a lovely tart that has this buttery, carmely flavor. Its quite difficult to describe but its a must try.  I am even considering making it for Christmas day.  Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I took this at the quaint little inn we were staying at.  This is the actual Treacle tart that I got to try!  When I make it for Christmas day, im going to use this recipe and let everyone have there own.  So here is the recipe in case you want to try it, or if anyone out there has an amazing recipe, please share it with! 

Treacle Tart
Makes one 9 inch tart, or 2 dozen tartlets

Ingredients

FOR THE CRUST
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3-4 tablespoons ice water

FOR THE FILLING
18 oz. golden syrup (or 12 oz. light corn syrup combined with 6 oz. molasses)
2 eggs
finely grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup fresh bread crumbs

For the crust: In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt with 2 or 3 pulses. Evenly distribute the cold butter over the flour mixture and and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons of the cold water over the flour mixture, and process with 4 to 5 pulses. After processing, the mixture should look sandy. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Sprinkle another tablespoon of the water over the mixture and use a rubber spatula to press the dough together. When the dough looks shaggy and a bit dry, but holds together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3 or 4 times until the dough comes together completely. Add more water, up to 1 tablespoon, as needed. Handle the dough as little as possible to prevent melting the butter.

Continuing to handle the dough lightly, shape it into a disk six to seven inches across. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes, or the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Once chilled, Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. If making many small tartlets, work with half of the dough at a time. Roll the dough to about one-eighth of an inch thick. Line tart pans as directed above.

Place the tarlets on a baking sheet and chill for at least 30 minutes, preferably in the freezer.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Once chilled, line the tarts with bits of foil or parchment and fill each one with a small amount of pie weights or dry beans. Bake mini tartlets for 15 minutes. Bake a full size tart for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before filling.

For the filling: Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl and pour into the cooled tart crust.

Bake for 20 minutes (for tartlets), or about 30 minutes (for a standard tart), or until the filling has set.

Allow to cool completely before serving. Serve with clotted cream, vanilla ice cream, or fresh whipped cream.

Christmas Tea

The Christmas season is always a very busy time of year for me.  In fact, this year it started very early for.  I work in a Design store that sells high end Christmas decor during the season.  So with working long hours of designing and selling, plus designing clients homes for the holidays, along with my own I have been a very busy girl.  With little time to get blog post out, I'm sadly behind this year.  Though Sunday I will have another post out of Christmas in my house and so on...

After I finished putting Christmas up in my little home, to celebrate our house being finished, we decided to have a midnight Christmas tea while we watched a movie.  So I whipped up some English scones, clotted cream and jam.  Made up a fresh pot of loose leaf berry tea from England. Took out some fresh cakes from the local bakery, and some shortbread cookies and curled up by the soft glow of the Christmas tree.

Stay tuned for more exciting post, and a very special Sugar Plum Fairy party in January for my darling little nieces 1st Birthday!

Mini Pumpkin Spice Cake with Salted Carmel Frosting and Cream Cheese Frosting

TO make this pumpkin cake, I put two small bundt cakes together, with salted carmel frosting inbetween, and cream cheese frosting on top.  Then placed a broken twig in it.  I love the rustic look that it has to it, and its the perfect November treat!

 I'm sure many of you have seen pictures of the carved out apples with apple cider inside of them.  How about Carmel Apple Cider??? I used left over carmel from the sauce, added it to some store bought apple cider, and used a cinnamon stick to stir it.  It tasted amazing!  Then to make the cake I found this amazing recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod that you can find here!

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

Yield: 15 cupcakes

The best pumpkin cupcakes you will ever eat!

ingredients:

For the Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose Gold Medal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

For the Salted Caramel Frosting:

Salted Caramel Sauce:
2 cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1 tablespoon fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes

Frosting:
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup salted caramel sauce

directions:

1. To make the brown butter pumpkin cupcakes: preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown, Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugars, eggs, vanilla extract, and brown butter. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire cooling rack and cool completely before removing cupcakes.

5. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the salted caramel frosting. First, make the salted caramel sauce. Make sure you have all of the ingredients ready. Once you start the caramel sauce you have to pay close attention so you don't burn it. To begin, heat the sugar over medium high-heat in the bottom of a heavy 2-3 quart saucepan. When the sugar starts to melt, start whisking the sugar. The sugar will clump up, but keep whisking. It will continue to melt. When the sugar is melted, stop whisking. You can swirl the pan to move the sugar around.

6. Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches a deep amber color. Make sure you watch the pan very closely. This is where it is easy to burn the caramel. You want the caramel to reach 350 degrees F. If you are new to making caramel, I suggest using a thermometer.

7. As soon as the sugar reaches the dark amber color, carefully add the butter. Whisk until butter is melted.

8. Remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in the heavy cream. Whisk until cream is incorporated and caramel is smooth. Whisk in the fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes.

9. Let the caramel sauce cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Pour the caramel into a large mason jar and cool to room temperature.

10. To make the frosting: beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add powdered sugar, and mix until completely incorporated. Turn off the mixer, and then add the salted caramel sauce. Beat frosting on low to combine, and then increase to medium-high and beat until airy and thoroughly mixed, about 2 minutes.

11. Frost the cooled pumpkin cupcakes with the salted caramel frosting and and drizzle cupcakes with extra salted caramel sauce, if desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg. Cream Cheese at Room Temp.

1 Cube of Butter at Room Temp.

1 T. Vanilla

2 T. Heavy Cream

4 C. Powder Sugar

In a mixer combine cream cheese and butter until they are blended smoothly together.  Next, add the vanilla until it is incorporated throughout the mixture.  Add 1 cup of powder sugar at a time, alternating between the heavy cream.  Once it is all mixed together, beat on high until the mixture because fluffy.  If the mixture is too thick to spread, then add a little more cream. If its too runny, add a little more powder sugar.  Add in some orange food coloring at the end to create the pumpkin look.  I went for a more rustic/natural look with this.  But you can make the pumpkin more detailed if you like.

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Ever get tired of eating the same old chocolate chip cookie. I do, but I love how quick and easy they are to make.  One of my favorite holiday combinations is orange and chocolate.  So I thought, why not add it to a chocolate chip cookie.  I took a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, and added just a few extra ingredients to turn it into this!  I hope you enjoy!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 C. All-Purpose Flour
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Salt
1 tsp. Cardamon
1 C. Unsalted Butter, softened.
1 C. Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 C. White Sugar
1 T. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 T. Orange Zest
1/2 of a fresh orange, juice.
2 C. Milk or Dark Chocolate Chips

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Add all the dry ingredients together, flour, baking soda, salt, and cardamon together.  In a separate bowl, mix the butter and brown and white sugar together.  Next, add in the eggs one at a time, mixing until the mixture because light and fluffy. Add vanilla and orange juice and zest and mix.  Your batter may separate a bit, dont worry too much because it will turn out fine in the end.  Next add in the dry ingredients a little at a time. Last, add 2 cups of chocolate chips. Bake for 10-12 min.  The cookies shouldn't brown up, if they do they have cooked too long. You want them a little soft, let them sit on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then on a cooling rack until cooled.

Miss Lovett's Meat Pies

One of my favorite things to do with a few of my friends every Halloween is to watch Sweeney Todd.  Its a gruesome musical that brings in the Halloween Spirit, without being to scary.  Every time we watch it we make these pies.

Meat Pies 

The Ingredients:

1 pkg. Cresent Big Flakey Rolls

1 pkg. Jimmy Deans Regular Sausage

1 Medium Onion

1 pkg. of Cheddar Cheese

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a saute pan, take a little drizzle of olive oil and spread it on the pan, heat the pan and add your chopped onions to the pan, saute them until they are golden brown.

 Next, add the sausage and saute them until it is completely cooked with the onions. Set aside when done.

 For the pies, take a cupcake pan, and peel apart all the crescent rolls.  Place one crescent roll per cupcake tin and push down into the tin.  You can do this two ways, you can either push it down and make it into a pie with extra on the side, or you can leave some left over with the extra strip hanging off the side.

 Next, fill each pie with the meat mixture.

Next, add a slice of cheese to each meat pie.  Then take the extra end piece and wrap it over the top, pinch it with the side to seal the top.

 If you decide to use one crescent roll for the whole piece, then tear off a third of an extra piece of crescent roll and play it on the top.  Pinch together the sides making it a complete pie.

This is what it should look like when its done, once finished place in the oven for suggested time and let cool for 2 minutes in the pan.  Take out of pan and serve!