bounty chocolate: white chocolate

Showing posts with label white chocolate. Show all posts

Showing posts with label white chocolate. Show all posts

White chocolate ginger buttons + the best horror film of all time

Much like my “to make” recipe list, the list of movies I want to watch grows longer every day – there is always something interesting I haven’t seen yet, new releases every week... I don’t think I’ll be ever done with either list. :D

To make things harder, now and then I feel like watching my favorite movies again, especially the ones I saw in my teenage years – it seems that now that I’m

Chewy speculaas blondies and one of the most beautiful trailers I've ever seen

My sister and I love watching the trailers when we go to the movies, and after each one we turn to each other and say “yes” or “no” (if we will or will not watch that movie once it premieres). Weeks ago, on the Catching Fire session, we saw the trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and I must confess that when Ben Stiller’s face first appeared onscreen I was more than ready to say “no” –

CARAMEL & WHITE CHOCOLATE POPCORN

DANGEROUS! BEWARE! SCRUMPTIOUS! NEED I SAY MORE?

1. Start with 10 cups of popcorn (I used 3 bags of microwave popcorn). Here is my favorite tip to share with you.....Lay popcorn in a roasting pan!!! This will allow for lots of room to stir!!!!

2. In a pot, melt:
1/2 cup butter
Add:
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
Stirring all to combine, bring to a boil and then boil without stirring for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and add:
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Pour over the popcorn stirring well to coat. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove, cool, drizzle with melted white chocolate (I used Ghirardelli disks!!!) and break into pieces.

CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!

Cranberry double chippers

Ingredients:

3/4 c. salted butter, softened

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used dark brown)

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips-Ghirardelli

1/2c. dried cranberries

1/2c. white chocolate chips

(Use some extra chips/cranberries to press in immediately after coming out of the oven.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment.

2. Beat butter and sugars till creamy. Add egg and vanilla.

3. Add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Fold in chocolate chunks & cranberries.

4. Using a cookie scoop drop dough onto sheet. Mine baked about 14 minutes but check the time depending on the size. They should be lightly brown. The tops do not really brown so don't over bake.

5. Remove and push in a few extra chips/cranberries. I got about 20 cookies from this recipe.

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM APPLE A DAY
and Sally's baking addiction

White chocolate and hazelnut pound cake and "Ray Donovan"

Since Girls wasn’t bringing any joy to my days – much to the opposite – I decided to dedicate my precious time to a different TV show (aside from The Blacklist, which I watch with the hubby), and being a dark-drama-kind-of-gal I went for Ray Donovan; I’m halfway through the season and loving every minute of it – the performances are outstanding (how great are Liev Schreiber, Paula Malcomson and

Cookies and cream blondies and a TV show to eat them with

A couple of days ago I finished watching Hannibal and found it pretty even: it was a very good show from start to finish and I hope the second season stays that way; Cynthia Nixon will be joining the cast and there are rumors of David Bowie playing Hannibal's uncle – I mean, how cool is that? :)

No spoilers here, everyone knows that Hannibal Lecter is a killer and eats his victims, and the

POLKA DOTTED TRIPLE LAYER OREO CHEESECAKE

For the Cake:

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and line 2, 8-inch baking pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the dry ingredients & mix.
Add in the buttermilk, hot coffee, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until well combined 1-2 mins.
Divide batter among cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out almost clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pans about 10 minutes then remove from pans and cool on a cooling rack until completely cooled. I froze mine at this point, overnight.

For the Cheesecake Layer:

Two 8-oz packages cream cheese, room temperature3/4 cup sugar2 tsp. vanilla extract1/4 tsp. salt2 eggs3/4 cup sour cream7 coarsely crushed chocolate sandwich cookies

Cheesecake:
Preheat oven to 325°. Beat cream cheese on medium. Add sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla & salt. Add eggs, one at a time. Add sour cream. Fold in crushed Oreos.
Line bottom of an 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper and pour batter in. Smooth the top and bake until center is set, about 45-50 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes and run a knife around the edge. Cool completely. Remove outside sprinform ring and refrigerate overnight-covered.

Frosting:
6 oz. white chocolate chips
1 cup room temp. butter
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more to thin it out as needed
Melt white chocolate in the microwave at 60% power until smooth. Let cool slightly. In a mixer, cream butter. Add the cooled chocolate to the mixer with the vanilla. Add the powdered sugar, alternating with the cream until it reaches a good spreading consistency.

To assemble, crush 8 additional Oreos and have mini Oreos ready for decoration.
Place one chocolate cake on your cake platter. Spread on a thin layer of frosting and some crushed Oreos. Top with the cheesecake. Thinly frost and add the rest of the crushed Oreos. Add the final chocolate cake layer. Thinly coat the cake with frosting and chill 30 mins as a crumb coat. Frost the cake with the remaining frosting and decorate with mini oreos.

Adapted from Rebekah's Family Food & Fun

Grown up Oreos

My visit to Bouchon Bakery last year was one to remember and every now and then I think of the delicious treats I had there. However, I never got to taste Thomas Keller’s version of the Oreo cookie – me being me I ended up ordering lemon and raspberry sweets.

Days ago I set out to make Keller’s Oreo cookies, a recipe from "Bouchon Bakery", but wasn’t in the mood for rolling out cookie dough –

White chocolate and lemon madeleines and Blogger being stupid

I got a surprise a couple of days ago and it wasn’t a nice one: Blogger decided that the list with the books I own was a spam blog and deleted it – just like that, no questions asked and no proper explanations given. O_O
I have tried to restore the blog, but now have to wait until they feel like analyzing the whole thing and well, let’s just say they don’t work very fast. :(

While that happens

INSIDE OUT JELLY DOUGHNUTS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE

DONUTS IN LESS THAN 20 MINUTES? YES, YES, YES! THANKS TO PILLSBURY!!! THIS RECIPE IS A COPYCAT OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE RESTAURANT DESSERTS SERVED AT BLACKSTONE STEAKHOUSE!!!

BUY SOME GRAND BISCUITS-CUT OUT THE CENTERS AND POP THEM IN SOME HOT OIL! BOOM! DONUTS! I TOPPED MINE WITH HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY JAM BUT YOUR FAVORITE STORE BOUGHT JAM WILL WORK JUST AS WELL. THEN I USED A CARROT PEELER TO GRATE SOME WHITE CHOCOLATE ON TOP FROM A SMALL BAR. YUM! ADD SOME WHIPPED CREAM AND INDULGE!

1. FLATTEN OUT EACH GRANDS BISCUIT A BIT AND CUT THE CENTERS USING A SMALL, ROUND BISCUIT CUTTER.

2. POUR OIL IN A DEEP POT AND LET IT GET HOT, HOT, HOT!

3. ADD DONUTS-JUST TWO AT A TIME AND BROWN ON BOTH SIDES. REMOVE TO A PLATE.

4. GARNISH WITH HOMEMADE JAM (CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE) OR STORE BOUGHT.

5. GRATE WHITE CHOCOLATE ON TOP AND ADD SOME WHIPPED CREAM ON THE SIDE!

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies and being short

Back in my school days, I hated being short – I had all sorts of nicknames, and not many were cute as Smurfette (I believe that was the only one I liked). At 34 I no longer care and funnily enough I have developed a taste for mini food – humans are strange beings, I know. :D

A jar of peanut butter in the cupboard and a Donna Hay magazine with several pb recipes (which had already produced

Raspberry Brownies with White Chocolate Chips

(ADAPTED FROM FAT WITCH BAKERY BOOK)

1¾ sticks unsalted butter
½ cup + 1tbsp bittersweet chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup + 1 tbsp flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup white choc chips
½ cup seedless raspberry jam

Grease a 9x9 pan with nonstick foil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and bittersweet chocolate over in the microwave. Set aside. While chocolate mixture is cooling, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add the cooled chocolate and keep mixing until thoroughly combined. Add flour and salt stirring until no white streaks remain. Fold in the white chocolate.Spread only half the batter into baking tin, then spread the preserves/jam on top, avoiding the edges. Refrigerate for 20 minutes, then spread the remaining brownie batter over the jam. Don't worry if the jam and brownie mixture get mixed up a bit. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool for 1 hour on a wire rack.

White chocolate, pistachio and lemon cookies

Due to incorrect information given by the bookstore over the phone I arrived really early at the mall last Friday to get Nigella’s autograph; with all that time in our hands my sister and I needed something to do, so we ate lunch and then went to the movies. The options are pretty limited these days with “Iron Man 3” taking over half the theaters, so “Evil Dead” was our choice. The original

WHITE CHOCOLATE BABY BARK

Melt white chocolate disks in the microwave and spread onto a cookie sheet lined with nonstick foil. I used Classen's white disks. Once spread evenly, add sprinkles and candies. Let set in the fridge and break into pieces!

CRANBERRY DOUBLE CHIPPERS!

THESE COOKIES WILL BE MUSIC TO YOUR TASTE BUDS!

Cranberry double chippers

Ingredients:

3/4 c. salted butter, softened

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used dark brown)

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips-Ghirardelli

1/2c. dried cranberries

1/2c. white chocolate chips

(Use some extra chips/cranberries to press in immediately after coming out of the oven.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment.

2. Beat butter and sugars till creamy. Add egg and vanilla.

3. Add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Fold in chocolate chunks & cranberries.

4. Using a cookie scoop drop dough onto sheet. Mine baked about 14 minutes but check the time depending on the size. They should be lightly brown. The tops do not really brown so don't over bake.

5. Remove and push in a few extra chips/cranberries. I got about 20 cookies from this recipe.

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM APPLE A DAY
and Sally's baking addiction

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Marbled sour cream pound cake with white chocolate icing

A while ago I nominated Flo Braker and Lisa Yockelson the Queens of Pound Cakes but now I have to add another name to that fabulous list: Alisa Huntsman, who to me was already the Queen of Layer Cakes, kicks ass in other fields, too, and her pound cakes have become favorites of mine, not only because they are insanely tender and delicious but also because her pound cake recipes from this

White chocolate and macadamia bars

Great songs are everywhere to be found, don’t you think? As I was trying on some shoes a couple of weeks ago when a song playing at the store caught my attention – I reached for my phone and Shazam showed me that it was “Boy”, by Ra Ra Riot, which is a band I’d never heard of; I just love discovering things this way – it’s the kind of simple thing that makes my days ever better.
I feel that

Torta caprese al limone

That I can’t resist lemon desserts you already know, so it’s no surprise this lemon cake caught my attention the minute I saw it: not only because I wanted to use the white chocolate in my pantry, but also because cakes made with the addition of almond meal always turn out really moist and tender, and this is no exception – and since the almond meal replaces the all purpose flour in this recipe

White chocolate, honey and almond panforte

Back in my college days, I had a classmate that was ten years older than me (I was 16 then) and we used to disagree about music preferences: she loved Brazilian music while I preferred American and British rock bands. She used to tell me that when I got older I would begin enjoying the kind of music she did back then. Well, eighteen years have passed and nothing has changed: I still don’t

Double chocolate cookies (made with sweetened condensed milk)

After a time consuming cake I thought you deserved an easy recipe, and these cookies are very, very easy; I have made tons of chocolate chip cookies so far but what made me curious about these was the sweetened condensed milk based dough - I'll just warn you that it is going to be very difficult not to eat the dough right out of the fridge by spoonful. :D

Double chocolate cookies (made with