Tag Archives: sweet

Cucumber Basil Lemonade

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I decided to take a new approach to my juicing obsession this week. While its a little less healthy than ususal {I had to use almost a cup of sugar} it is the perfect summer time drink – and I am pretty sure it could also be turned into the perfect summer time cocktail. If you don’t have a high tech juicer you can still easily achieve a similar result by hand juicing lemons with something like this and then double the cucumbers that you soak. This definitely could be a Memorial Day weekend by the pool kind of drink-enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of sugar
  • 3/4 cup of water, to boil
  • 1/ 1/2 cups of fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup of fresh cucumber juice
  • 3 cups of cold water
  • Basil, for garnish
  • 1 lemon sliced, for garnish
  • 1 cucumber sliced, for garnish

Directions

  1. Over medium heat dissolve sugar into 3/4 cup of water.
  2. Juice roughly 6-8 lemos for fresh lemon juice and 1 cucumber for fresh cucumber juice.
  3. Combine juiced mixture with sugar water in a pitcher with ice.
  4. Add 2 cups of cold water and cucumber and lemon slices.
  5. Let soak for 30 minutes and then pour over ice.
  6. Add basil for garnish and enjoy!

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Chocolate Potato Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich

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Yesterday was National Chocolate Chip Day so I decided to do a spin on the classic chocolate chip cookie with a updated version of this recipe. Two cups of crushed potato chips and a pint of ice cream later I had homemade ice cream sandwiches that combined salty sweet and crunch gooey goodness all into one. I let the cookies set for about 20 minutes before turning them into ice cream sandwiches and when they were still slightly warm they were incredible! But since I had no business eating a dozen ice cream sandwiches at that moment I wrapped them individually in plastic wrap and stuck them in the freezer. I suggest letting them thaw for a few minutes before eating them if you freeze them but either way this is an easy update to an old classic. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter, softener
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups potato chips, crushed
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with wax paper.
  2. Beat butter, brown and white sugar with electric mixer until fluffy.
  3. Add in eggs and maple syrup and beat on medium speed.
  4. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour, salt and baking soda.
  5. Hand stir in potato chips and chocolate chips.
  6. Drop cookies into tablespoons balls 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
  7. Bake for 10-14 minutes until brown.
  8. Let cool on baking sheet and then scoop ice cream into two cookies to form sandwich.
  9. Enjoy or wrap in plastic and freeze until ready to eat.
  10. Remove from freezer and let thaw at room temperature for 5 minutes before eating.

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Bailey’s Cake with Buttercream Frosting

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St. Patricks Day is this weekend and I wanted to be festive with every post I made this week. Green everwhere! I have been reading into baking recipes with alcohol and thought a Bailey’s cake sounded delicious {and it was}. I modified this classic cake recipe with a touch of Bailey’s and decided to layer it up and dye it so it would be shades of green. Ultra festive. I don’t have long hair so this is one of the only ways I can participate in the ombre trend and it turned out great!

Ingredients, Bailey’s Cake

  • 2 cup white sugar
  • 1 cup butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
  • 2 packages of Jello instant vanilla pudding

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 4 inch round pan.
  2. Bring all refridgerated items to room temperature.
  3. In a medium bowl with electric mixer cream the butter, then add in sugar and mix again. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
  4. Combine flour, baking powder and Jello pudding in a seperate bowl, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
  5. Stir in Bailey’s by hand until batter is smooth and then pour in greased baking pan.
  6. Divide batter evenly into three seperate bowls and add green food coloring in differening amounts to each bowl. {I did roughly 8 drops in the lightest color layer and then 16 and 24 in the middle and darkest layers}.
  7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until you can pierce with a tooth pick and it comes out clean.

Ingredients, Buttercream Frosting

  • 4 cups of powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup of butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
  • 1/4 – 1-2 cup of milk
  • gold sanding sugar for the decoration {i got mine here}

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl with electric mixer cream the butter, then add in vanilla.
  2. Gradually add in powdered sugar and then add in milk until frosting is at desired consitency.
  3. Once cake cools frost layers indvidually and then coat with sprinkles! Enjoy!

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Chocolate Baked Banana Recipe

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I love desserts that involve fruit, and well mostly all desserts. I also love simple recipes that have tasty flavors and can be made quickly in case you have impromptu guest or a two. This recipe is easy for the amount of ingredients, the preparation time and the cooking time. If you need to sweeten up the lives of a bunch of people in a hurry your problems are solved. Perfect in the oven, but also could be done over an open fire. Who wants to go camping because this could be a tasty extra element to the traditional S’mores recipe too!

Ingredients

  • 1 banana, per person
  • 4 square of chopped dark chocolate, Valrhona is the best

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. With a sharp knife, cut a slit through banana peel and banana on one side {make sure not to go all the way through banana}.
  3. Cut chocolate chunks {you can also use chocolate chips} and stuff inside banana.
  4. Wrap banana in tin foil and place on center over rack {you can also grill outside if the you have one and the season is right}.
  5. Back for 20-30 minutes until chocolate is melted. Banana peel will turn black, but you aren’t eating that so who cares!
  6. Remove from oven and enjoy straigh out of foil!

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Strawberry Balsamic Shortcake Recipe

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My dad never tried extremely complicated recipes growing up, but had a few things he would always make that I remember happily. His strawberry shortcake was simpler with store bought whipped cream and cake, but I figured I could so something a little more exciting. After trying fruit with balsamic vinegar in this recipe I became obsessed and could not wait until I could do it again. The crunch of the top layer of the cake combined with fruit and the saltiness of the vinegar was basically perfect. Great dessert, but I would even eat it for breakfast.

Ingredients, White Cake

  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 package of Jello instant vanilla pudding

Directions

  1. Bring all refridgerated items to room temperature.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.
  3. In a medium bowl with electric mixer cream the butter, then add in sugar and mix again. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
  4. Combine flour, baking powder and Jello pudding in a seperate bowl, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
  5. Stir in milk by hand until batter is smooth and then pour in greased baking pan.
  6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when touched.
  7. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting and adding strawberry mixture and whipped cream {shown below}.

Ingredients, Strawberry Mixture

  • 1 large container of strawberrys, {about 8 cups} quartered
  • 5 tablespoons of sugar
  • 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Directions

  1. Combine strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar in medium bowl.
  2. Stir occasionally for 15-20 minutes to soak berries.

Ingredients, Whipped Cream

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions

  1. Combine heavy whipping cream, sugar and maple syrup in medium bowl.
  2. Using electric mixer beat on medium until mixture forms stiff peaks.

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Lavender Biscuits with Honey Recipe

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If you live in LA you know the glory of food trucks. The only downfall is when they never come never where you are located. A friend told me about the amazing Honey Lavender Biscuits from Ludo Truck and I was fascinated. Sadly, they never come to my side of town so I thought I would just try and make them myself. After a longer than expect search for Lavender {thank you Penzey Spices} I whipped them up {rather quickly} and enjoy them with some tea. Perfect and now I can enjoy them anytime I want.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tablespoon of dried lavender flowers
  • 2 1/3 cup of all purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
  • 4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cup of unsalted butter
  • 1 cup of milk

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Mix flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl with a large fork.
  3. Cut butter into small pieces {about the size of a pea} and add to dry mix. Mix again with your hands to break apart butter.
  4. Place mix and milk {in separate bowls} to chill for 10 minutes. The colder the ingredients-the flakier the biscuits.
  5. Add cold milk to dry mixture and gently stir. I find that using the same large fork to fold ingredients together worked best, and the less time you touch the dough-the better.
  6. Once dough holds together, turn it out on a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough to form a ball and the roll out to about 3/4 inch thick.
  7. Cut out 2 inch circles {I used a dry measuring cup} and place are parchment lined cookie sheet.
  8. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
  9. Serve warm with honey and enjoy!

 

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Flirtini

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After last week’s nostalgia for food missed from my hometown {seen here}-I got to thinking about other things I miss and how I could bring them into my LA life. After visiting a great little place in Hollywood {Wood & Vine} this weekend I was reminded of one of the first real cocktails I ever had. It was a concoction named Flirtini from {Malibu Grill} in Bloomington, IN and although it sounds girly it is just plain delicious. The kind of drink that tastes so good you don’t even realize there is alcohol in it-until you have had a few at dinner and then stand up to make the walk home. Luckily, I only lived a block from the restaurant. After picking up all the ingredients Malibu Grill listed I played with the proportions and found the perfect combination to make this drink without the price tag of a plane ticket back home.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz Raspberry Vodka
  • 1 oz Citronge
  • 1.5 oz part cranberry juice
  • 1 oz part pineapple juice
  • Champagne
  • Orange (half sliced; have for juice)

Directions

  1. Slice half an orange for garnish and set aside other have for juice for drink.
  2. Combine Raspberry Vodka, Citronge, cranberry juice, pineapple juice, fresh squeezed orange juice and ice in shaker.
  3. Shake and strain into a glass.
  4. Top with Champagne.
  5. Garnish with an orange slice and enjoy!

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Mini Carmel Apples

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Caramel apples are one of my favorite Halloween treats, but I often opt out because of the excessively messy and difficult to eat nature of the snack. I find that mini caramel apples are the perfect solution to satisfy my sweet tooth. These bite-sized creations fulfill all the flavors I love and provide even more fun with the opportunity for many more toppings than one normal sized apple. One regular apple can give you at least 8 mini apples and that means there is room to try pecans, chocolate chips, all the sprinkles in your cabinents, gummy worms, peppermint patties and even coconut! Of course you can choose any toppings you like, but those are the ones you will see below.

Ingredients

  • melon baller
  • twigs from your backyard
  • Granny Smith apples (one apple equals about 8 mini apples)
  • 14 oz of caramel (will coat at least 6 apples)
  • chocolate chips, pecans, york peppermint patties, gummy worms, shredded coconut, black and orange sanding sugar (all are optional)

Directions

  1. First, go outside enjoy the fall weather (if you don’t live in LA) and pick some sticks (I found mine on a flower bush) just make sure you rinse them off since they are going inside the apple.
  2. Use the melon baller to scoop out circular pieces of the apple and set them aside for dipping.
  3. Melt the caramel pieces in a double boiler (stove pot with water and glass bowl with carmel chips on top) making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the glass bowl.
  4. Once caramel is melted; skewer the apples and dip them in the caramel. Using a clockwise turning motion allows the apple to get covered evenly. Continue to spin a few times once apple is out of melted carmel so it has an even coating.
  5. Once caramel is evenly coated dip in toppings of your choice.
  6. Place on wax paper to finish cooling and replace skewer with twigs that you already have cut and cleaned; enjoy!

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Pan-Seared Peaches with Balsamic VS Baked Cinnamon Peaches

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I thought it would be fun to take one ingredient and show you two different ways you can serve it-in this case I chose two different desserts with peaches. The first recipe features pan-seared peaches with a balsamic vinegar sauce served over ice cream-if you have an adventurous palate or simply enjoy a salty sweet dessert than this is the one for you. The second recipe (seen below) features baked cinnamon peaches. A simply sweet dessert that is best served warm out of the oven, but could also be pan fried to create an even more delicious crispy treat.

Ingredients

  • 1 peach, sliced into 8 pieces
  • 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • a pinch of ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

  1. Combine balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 2 to 3 minutes.
  2. While mixture is simmering; slice peach into 8 equal pieces.
  3. Place peaches in a shallow dish. Pour vinegar mixture over peaches, flipping to coat evenly. Let stand 5 minutes on each side.
  4. Remove peaches from vinegar mixture and set aside remaining mixture for later.
  5. Place a greased skillet over medium heat; pan-sear peaches for 2 minutes on each side.
  6. Once seared; remove peaches from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
  7. Serve peaches with vanilla ice cream and a couple spoonfuls of remaining balasamic mixture on top.
 
OR…..

Ingredients

  • 1 peach, sliced into 8 pieces
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon of water

Directions

  1. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and a water in bowl; stir together mixture.
  2. Slice peaches into 8 equal pieces.
  3. Gently roll peaches in cinammon sugar mixture; evenly coating each side.
  4. Bake at 350 degree for 10 minutes and then enjoy!

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Churros + Chocolate Carmel Sauce & Cinnamon Sugar Glaze

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Give me a good theme and I will go far. Last nights premiere of Boardwalk Empire begged for something homemade while staying true to the times. Prohibition was in full effect for me given it was a Sunday night with a full work week ahead so I decided to listen to my sweet tooth and make this Churro recipe. What can I say, I love fair food and that is what I think of when I think Atlantic City. They were perfect rolled in cinnamon and sugar, but decided to whip up a chocolate carmel sauce and a cinnamon sugar glaze while heating up the oil in between batches. They added the perfect finishing touch.

Ingredients (churros)

  • 1 cup water
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups of oil for frying
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, salt and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball. You can leave the dough out while making dipping sauces.
  2. Heat oil in deep skillet at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Usually you can pipe strips of dough with a star shape tip, but I didn’t have a tip so I rolled them by hand and then made the impressions with a knife. Make sure to coat the knife in flour so that it does not stick to the dough.
  3. Fry until golden; drain on paper towels.
  4. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Roll drained churros in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

{hand imprinted the dough since I didn’t have a star-shaped pasty tip}

Ingredients (chocolate carmel sauce)

  • 1/2 cup of butterscotch carmels chips
  • 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

Directions

  1. Melt carmel chips on medium heat.
  2. After carmel has completely melted down, add chocolate chips and heavy whipping cream.
  3. Stir consistently until all three have blended together.

Ingredients (cinnamon sugar glaze)

  • 1 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • half of cup of unsalted butter
  • powdered sugar as desired

Directions

  1. Melt butter and salt over medium heat. Once butter begins to melt, add brown sugar and cinnamon.
  2. Continuously stir until melted.
  3. Drizzle cinnamon sugar glaze over churros. Add powdered sugar to taste.

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