Tiramisu

Hello everyone! Today I am sharing a recipe I have had for quite a while and have even become somewhat famous among my family and friends for making for special occasions. I have always been a huge fan of Tiramisu, but never thought of making it (sounds too complicated to make right?). Well, then when I was still dating my husband, I had heard my "future" father-in-law LOVES Tiramisu. So what do I do? Of course, I wanted to score brownie points with his family, so I decided to try my hand at it. By the way, I found this recipe online, although I can't find it anymore and I had not saved the source of the original. It was labeled as a William-Sonoma recipe.

Anyways, back to my first attempt at Tiramisu: it went well for a first time, except that I made the mistake of using egg whites instead of egg yolks! Oh man... but you know what though? My father-in-law still ate it! LOL That is family love right there. Since then I've had many more opportunities to... uh-hum, "fine-tune" my skills (and learn the difference from egg yolks and whites). 

So a little background info on Tiramisu. If you don't already know, Tiramisu means "pick me up". This Italian dessert is made of sweet biscuits dipped in coffee (hence the pick me up part) and layered with an Italian custard made of Mascarpone cheese. But aside from the fancy name, it is not hard to make. I'll add comments throughout the recipe directions so that I can hopefully lend my years of "experiences" (or the what-not-to-do's). I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients

• 6 EGG YOLKS
• 3/4 cup SUGAR
• 1 lb MASCARPONE CHEESE, softened
• 2 cups HEAVY CREAM, chilled
• 2 Tbsp RUM or RUM EXTRACT
• 1 tsp VANILLA EXTRACT
• 2 Tbsp + 2-3 cups brewed (and cooled) ESPRESSO or COFFEE
• 5 EGG WHITES
• 40-50 LADYFINGERS
• COCOA POWDER, for garnish

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl set over but not touching a pan of simmering water, beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture is pale yellow and thick ribbons fall from the whisk (4 to 5 minutes).
2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer.
3. Add the mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth and creamy (2 to 3 minutes). Set aside.
4. In a chilled large mixing bowl, beat the heavy cream to stiff peaks.
5. Add the rum, vanilla and the 2 tablespoons of espresso (or coffee) and beat until smooth.
6. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the mascarpone mixture into the cream until blended and smooth.
7. While blending the mascarpone mixture and the heavy cream mixture, in a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks (when the whisk is lifted straight out of the bowl and inverted, the whites should hold their shape).
8. Add about 1 cup of the beaten egg whites and fold gently until blended.
9. Add the remaining egg whites and fold gently until the mixture is smooth and blended.
10. One at a time, submerge each ladyfinger into the remaining espresso, then lay it on the bottom of a 6-quart glass or ceramic baking or serving dish (about 2 inches deep).
11. Continue to form a complete layer.
12. Spread half of the mascarpone mixture over the soaked ladyfingers until evenly covered.
13. Arrange another layer of soaked ladyfingers over the mascarpone cream, then spread the remaining mascarpone cream evenly over the top.
14. Dust the Tiramisù with cocoa powder to create a rich, dark topping.
15. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 1 day before serving.

Butter Cookies

Happy New Year greetings to everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season J Looking back at this last year, I sure have many MANY things to be thankful for. One of the things I am super thankful for are the people who surround me. I absolutely love my family and friends, coworkers, even my neighbors! I wanted to share my gratitude with everyone, and so I chose to try my hand at cookies (yup, not cupcakes) and share them with my loved ones. I saw this wonderful recipe for Danish Butter Cookies at Day Dreamer Desserts, and couldn’t wait to give it a try. I was a little nervous not knowing how they would turn out as I had never used a cookie press. Also, I had not checked the original recipe from All Recipes, and didn’t know that one recipe makes seven dozen cookies! Ha! Well, on the upside, I had enough cookies to share with LOTS of people, so I guess it was win win!

So these cookies turned out wonderfully! I had lots of fun trying out the different cookies shapes, some of which I had no idea what they did before I pressed the dough through it. This cookie is very buttery with just enough sweetness to it. In the end, it wasn’t hard to get rid of these cookies, as you can see from my last picture.

To share these babies with my loved ones, I placed 3-4 cookies in a cupcake liner (mine were Santa Claus themed) and placed these liners in a cookie tin. If I may say so myself, I think it turned out pretty cute.

I will be posting next another edible gift idea I made for my neighbors. Meanwhile, enjoy this recipe!

Danish Butter Cookies

Makes ~7 dozen

Ingredients:

3 cups unsalted butter (6 sticks)
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
7 egg yolks
6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl (fitted with the paddle attachment), cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the yolks one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift and whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet in a few batches. Using a cookie press, press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-8 minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Oh, and this is what was left BEFORE Santa arrived!

Recipe originally from Day Dreamer Desserts, adapted from All Recipes

I am still here...

Hi everyone! I just wanted to apologize for the lack of postings in the past few weeks... I try to get at least one recipe posted per week, but it has not happened recently...
Just wanted to say that I still am alive (haha!) and that I am working on a few recipes to post here. So, stay tuned!
Until then, have a happy holiday season, and may the new year bring lots of happiness, health, and love!


Yours truly,


Lulu.

Easy Double Chocolate Vanilla Cupcake

Oh, what a joy it is to see a happy child enjoy a birthday treat! This week, the son of one of the dentists I work with had his ninth birthday. When I asked the parent what her son would like for his birthday cupcake, she simply said: he loves vanilla and chocolate! I thought BINGO! Simple vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting would be a perfect combination. However, I did want to add a fun surprise to the cupcake, and so I decided to fill it with chocolate pudding. Result? This is the note I got on my desk later that afternoon:

Isn’t this sweet? J

How easy was this cupcake recipe? SUPER EASY!!! I did resort to boxed cake mix, but I added my flair to it, thanks to the recipe recommendations in Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make. If you are ever in a pinch to make cupcakes, it is good to have a cake mix in your pantry (I always have at least one vanilla and one chocolate). Both the cupcake and frosting recipes are from there. The frosting recipe is the same as my Mint Chocolate Cupcake recipe, so just follow the recipe posted there.

I do want to focus on how to fill the cupcake though. Choose a smooth filling (any type of pudding, or even frosting). Here are some ideas of filling recipes from Wilton. Whatever filling you choose, I use a piping bag with the 230 Wilton round tip inserted (no coupler needed).

 Fill the bag with the chosen filling, then poke the center of the cupcake with the tip, and squeeze! I make sure to go at least half way deep into the cupcake (even 2/3 deep) so that when you start squeezing, the filling stays more in the center and not just at the top. When the top of the cupcake starts to crack a little because it is expanding, then stop. Once you fill all your cupcakes, you can frost the top of it with your chosen frosting and hide the hole you have created. No one will know, and when they take a bite of the cupcake, they will be pleasantly surprised with the yummy goodness they have just encountered! Happy eatings!

Cherry Cordial Cupcake

Happy greetings everyone! Hope all the tryptophan-induced comas are gone and everyone is working towards the next holiday :) 
Here is one of my latest cupcake adventures. One of the doctors I work with happens to L-O-V-E cherry cordial candies! That nice combination of chocolate and cherries is just to die for... So, I thought I could try my hand at replicating this little piece of heaven in cupcake form. The result? Something A-mazing! Well, and by replicating, I mean sticking a frozen cherry cordial into a nice and moist cupcake prior to baking, and voila! The resulting cupcake came out wonderfully: moist chocolaty cupcake that had an added moistness bonus from the cordial itself. I only froze my candies for about 10 minutes, but I think next time I will try to freeze them for longer (maybe 30 minutes or so?) and hope the candy stays whole during the baking process. If it seems that the cherry cordial chocolate shell did melt during baking, then let the cupcake cool completely before eating, so that the chocolate has a little bit of time to harden again.
So onto the recipe: the chocolate cupcake batter is the same from my  chocolate mint cupcake, just without the mint chips. The frosting is an invention of mine that turned out pretty good! Hope you enjoy these yummies!


Cherry Cordial Cupcakes - serves 20-22 cupcakes


Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups AP flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
20-22 Cherry cordial candies, frozen


Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line the muffin cups with paper lines.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. in another medium bowl, with an electric mixer on high, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating just until blended. 
4. Fill the paper liners 1/2 full. Place one cherry cordial candy into each filled liner until the candy is completely submerged. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean 15-20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the baking pan, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool completely.


Cherry Buttercream Frosting


Ingredients:
2 sticks (16 Tbsp) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
10-15 Maraschino cherries, finely chopped
2 Tbsp liquid from Maraschino cherries
1 Tbsp heavy cream
3.5-4 cups powdered sugar


Directions:
With an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the butter until soft and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract, liquid from cherries, and heavy cream into butter and beat until well blended. Start to add powdered sugar and mix after everyone cup or so of measurement. If the buttercream has too much of a stiff consistency, add a little more heavy cream, and if it is too runny, add more powdered sugar.

Originally adapted from: Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make