Dessert » Simple Recipes

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIPS COOKIES EVER...AND HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Sep 062010

Like most of the recipes for chocolate chips cookies this one is simple and easy.
I’ve tried many recipes and after adjusting for this and that I came up with the one that I like the most…it is soft and slightly chewy, but if you care for a crunchy and crispy style you can bake a little longer and still have a great cookie.

Ingredients:
½ cup (1 stick) softened butter
2 tablespoon granulated sugar (if you prefer less sugar omit this)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup whole wheat flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnut

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
In a bowl, mix together the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
In another large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients to the creamed butter. Stir in the chocolate chips and the walnut.
With the help of two spoons, spoon the dough on to a wax paper cover cookie sheet, 1 inch apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until edges are slightly brown.

Makes two dozen cookies.

LIME PUDDING CAKE

Dessert 98 Responses »

Aug 092010

This is an easy and simple recipe adapted from Desserts Magazine…I had lots of lime from my brother’s lime tree so I made some changes from the original recipe which uses lemon and is served with raspberry sauce. It is so good that you will not miss the raspberry sauce, I could not even wait, so as soon as the lime pudding cake cooled down I dig my spoon in it…trust me it is delicious, you will find a layer of cake and a layer of pudding… anyway, for the original recipe please visit Desserts Magazine, and if you haven’t seen this virtual magazine you HAVE to check it out, it is absolutely amazing.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
~~3/4~~ 2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for ramekins
1 tablespoon of grated ~~lemon~~ lime zests
3 large eggs, separated
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup ~~whole~~ fat free milk
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed ~~lemon~~ lime juice
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Method:
Heat oven to 350F. Butter 4 small pirex ramekins and coat with sugar. Place a folded dish towel in bottom of 13 x 9-inches pan, set aside. Boil water for the water bath.

In a bowl mix sugar, salt and flour. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the butter until well blended.

Whisk in the milk, lemon juice and zest until well blended. Whisk the flour mixture into the lemon mixture until incorporated; the batter will be very liquid.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Whisk gently the egg whites in egg-yolk mixture until there are no large lumps.

Immediately pour into custard cups; place in prepared baking pan; fill pan halfway with hot water. Bake until they are puffy and golden on top or when you insert a clean knife inserted in the center of lemon pudding cake and the knife comes out clean; the cake is done, about 30-35 minutes. Cool puddings on a wire rack, 30 minutes. Sprinkle confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Did you know that lime is denser that lemon? Lemon contains more oil than lime. Lime is more acid than lemon, therefore is more sour.

BLACK FOREST CAKE, THIS IS FOR YOU NICK!

Cake, Dessert 86 Responses »

Jul 262010

For the longest time I wanted to bake a black forest cake like we used to have in Brazil. Black forest cake is a chocolate cake filled with cherries and whipped cream. After seeing the recipe for chocolate cake using mayonnaise from Louise at Month of Edible Celebrations which uses mayonnaise, I could not wait anymore…I found a really simple recipe for chocolate cake!

I cut in half the chocolate cake recipe with small changes. Instead of layering with cherries and whipped cream, I covered the cake with the mix of cherries and whipped cream, since there were no layers in the cake.

Most of the black forest cake contain some sort of liquor like rum…since my little niece and nephew were going to eat the cake I had the feeling that my sister would not be very happy if the kids suddenly started to behave kind of weird, so I left the liquor aside and only added some of the cherry syrup from the cherries. But if you have the opportunity, moist the cake with a small amount of rum before topping with the cream, it is amazing. Nevertheless, even without the rum, the cake turned out to be delicious, moist and rich in flavor.

By the way, I want to dedicate this post to my little nephew Nicholas…why? Nicholas loves, really loves chocolate and cherries…so this is for you Nick!

Ingredients:

Cake
1 cup all purpose flour
5 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup water

Whip Cream Frosting
1 8oz whipping cream
4 table spoon of ultra fine sugar or confectionary sugar

1 small jar of cherries, drain and chopped. Reserve the syrup

Grated semi sweet chocolate, approximately 1/3 cup

Method:

Cake
Mix all the dry ingredients together, except the sugar.
In a bowl add the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract, beat in high speed until light and fluffy. Change to a lower speed and add the mayonnaise. Add the flour mix alternating with the water in 4 parts by finishing with the flour. Pour the batter into a 9 inch pan. Bake in a pre-heated oven for approximately 30~35 minutes at 350F. Once the cake is done (checked my inserting a toothpick and comes out clean), remove from the oven and let is cool completely in a rack before topping with the whip cream.

Whip Cream Frosting
Place the whipping cream into a bowl (metal preferably to keep it cold) and have it in a ice/water bath. Whip the whipping cream starting wih a low speed, until start to thicken, then increase the speed to a medium~high speed, slowly add the sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks forms. Gently fold in the cherries.

Assembly
Sprinkle the cake with small amount of the cherry syrup. Cover the cake with the cherry/whip cream mix, top it with the grated chocolate and decorate with cherries. Place the cake in the refrigerator until time to serve.

MINI RED VELVET CUPCAKES AND HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Cake, Holiday Wish 83 Responses »

Jul 032010

For the longest time I wanted to make red velvet cake, and after weighing all the pros and cons decided to give a tried. Pros: love the color and taste of the cake; Cons: pictured red stain all over my kitchen. I even thought in bringing home some surgical gloves from the lab to make this cake, but fortunately everything went well, not major catastrophes…I just got very little red stain on my hands. This recipe was adapted from Simply Recipes.

Ingredients:

Cake
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoons red food coloring
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon white vinegar
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Cake
Preheated the oven at 350F.
In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.
Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg beating until a creamy texture. Add ¼ of the flour and mix, then add 1/3 of the buttermilk mix . Continue adding the flour and the buttermilk until all the ingredients are mixed.
Use two teaspoons and carefully scoop the batter into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Transfer the baked cupcakes to a wire rack to cool.

Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese together, until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and mix and the powdered sugar. Cover the cooled mini cupcakes.

Makes approximately 2 ½ dozen cupcakes.
Enjoy the Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Did you know that during World War II, beets where used to enhance the color of red velvet cakes? Moreover, the boiled beets also retain the moist of the cake.

1st ANNIVERSARY, PINEAPPLE CHEESECAKE AND AN AWARD

Anniversary, Award, Dessert, Vegetarian 71 Responses »

Feb 082010

Simple Recipes 1st anniversary…I cannot believe that has been a whole year since I started this site. I want to thank you all for the support that I have been receiving daily…it has been a year full of new experiences and joys. It has been really fun to meet and get to “talk” to people all around the world and learn a little bit of you life, things that you like, things that you don’t like…

To celebrate my blog anniversary I want to share a special recipe for cheesecake. This pineapple cheesecake is light and you just cannot have enough of it…actually I made 3 of them!!! Moreover, with the drained pineapple juice from the crushed pineapple cans I made pina colada by adding Malibu to the juice and marinated chicken, which I’ll post next week…

Ingredients:
3 8oz cream cheese
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 20oz crushed pineapple (no sugar added), drained

Ground cinnamon to taste

2 16oz sour cream
10 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ready made pie crusts

Preparation:
Whip the cream cheese until light and fluffy, add the eggs one at the time by continuous beating. Once the eggs are added to the cream cheese, add the sugar and the vanilla extract. Mix for 1 more minute and fold the crushed pineapple into the cream cheese mix.
Pour the cream cheese mixture into the ready made crust and bake for 25~30 minutes at 350F.
Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let them cool down. Sprinkle the cakes with cinnamon. In the meantime mix the sour cream with the sugar and vanilla extract.
Pour on top of the cheesecake and bake for 5 minutes at 375F. Let it cool and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Now the award…I will be brief, I don’t want to get you bored…

This Happy 101 award was sent to me by Shaz at Test with Skewer and Kristy at My Little Space, I feel very flattered for receiving this award and really appreciate

I am passing this award to 10 bloggers friends, random order:

1. Anna at Chef Wanabe
2. Sook at My Fabulous Recipes
3. Joanne at Eats Well with Others
4. Mimi at Mimi’s Kitchen
5. Erica at Itzy’s Kitchen
6. Doggybloggy at Chez What?
6. Peachkins at The Peach Kitchen
7. Barbara at Moveable Feasts
8. Blond Duck at A Duck in Her Pond
9. Gloria at Canela Kitchen Recipes
10. Zita at Simplicious

Did you know that pineapple was first discovered by the Spaniels in Brazil? The original name of pineapple, ananas came from the Tupi language (used by the Brazilian indigenous). Now pineapple is spread throughout South America, Caribbean, Philippines, Hawaii, Zimbabwe (former Republic of Rhodesia, Africa) and Guam (South Pacific Island).