Chocolate Cherry Tart

This is a little something I just threw together. Nothing fancy, very simple... but will impress people. I wasn't even going to post it, but then was encouraged to do so after I was told how good it was. Sometimes "simple" just works!
Enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Tart

For the crust:

• 125 g (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour, sifted
  

For the filling:

• two cups pitted cherries (fresh, canned or tined)
• 3 cups of dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 180 C (355 F.) Lightly grease sides of a 25cm fluted tart tin with butter.
2. To make the base of the tart, put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on high until fluffy. Add cocoa and beat on low until combined. Add egg yolk and vanilla and mix until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer and and add flour, mixing by hand until dough comes together. Press the dough firmly into the bottom and sides of the tin. Prick the bottom with a fork evenly around the base and centre. Refrigerate for 10 mins or until firm.
3. Bake in the oven for 20 mins or until firm to the touch. Set aside and cool for at least 30 mins.
4. Spread cherries evenly in cooled tart shell.
5. To make chocolate ganache, place milk in a medium sauce pan. Heat until tiny bubbles start to form, just before it boils. Remove from heat and add dark chocolate to milk without stirring. Let stand for 2 mins, then with a whisk, stir until smooth.
6. Pour chocolate ganache evenly over cherries. Gently shake tart to ensure even coverage. Refrigerate for at least one hour to set.

Perfect Sugar Cookies

Anyone who knows me, knows that if there is a holiday near by, then chances are I'm baking something for it! Although my husband once again went overboard, buying me roses and tickets to a show, I chose to go the classic way to man's heart... food. (It amazes me that he is not the size of a house.)
This is a great sugar cookie recipe! Sweet, and just the right medium of crisp and chewy. There are two big mistakes that people usually make when baking sugar cookies. One, they do not refrigerate the dough before rolling it out and cutting it. By refrigerating it first, it makes it firmer and easier to cut once you roll it out. I refrigerate it for at least 3 hours. And second, they use too much flower when rolling the dough out. Most of us take what's left once you cut the first batch out and roll it out again to cut more from it. If you have crazy amounts of flour on your work space and on your rolling pin, you are incorporating it back in to the cookie dough and this will make a harder, sometimes tougher cookie when it should be light and flaky. I get rid of the flour on the counter completely and roll it out between two pieces of baking paper. The dough won't stick to it and it's almost mess free!
ENJOY!

Ingredients

For cookies:

• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup softened butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 4 Tbs milk
• 2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 160 C. (320 F.)
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking powder.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after the addition of each. Add milk and vanilla until just combined.
4. Add dry mixture to sugar and butter mixture and beat until just combined.
5. Divide mixture in to two evenly shaped disks. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 ours.
6. Work dough between your hands until it softens slightly. Place between two large sheets of baking paper. Roll with a rolling pin until 1/8 inch thick. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters. left over dough can be combined and rolled out again. Place cut out cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes. Place on a cooling rack once removed from the oven.

For royal icing:

• 4 egg whites
• 5 cups of icing (powdered) sugar
• 1 Tbs lemon juice of flavored essence
• food coloring

1. Beat egg whites until peaks form.
2. Slowly add sifted icing sugar to egg whites. Mix until just combined. Add flavoring of lemon juice and mix once more until just combined.
3. Divide into smaller bowls and add food coloring. Water can be added to thin as needed. You will need a thicker icing for the outline and boarders, and thinner for filling areas.

My tips for decorating: With a edible marker, draw desired outlines or designs on cookies. Trace with a thicker texture royal icing. Once dry, about 30 minutes, fill in with a thinner texture icing

Marshmallows

This is a recipe I have been wanting to tackle for a while now. I had been hesitating because in my head, I thought it must be too complicated (and messy from what I'd heard!) But yesterday I decided "what the heck," and in to the kitchen I went! The really great thing about this recipe, is that that the colour and flavor combinations are endless! There are a whole bunch of really great, good quality candy and confectionery flavorings available these days. I recently picked up a bunch of fun flavours and had been itching to use them in something. I had 3 in mind for these marshmallows, but settled on cherry. If you do not have any of these flavorings, you can just use good old vanilla and get a great, original tasting marshmallow!
Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup icing (powdered) sugar
• 3 1/2 envelopes (3 tablespoons) unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup (or glucose syrup if you're in Australia)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1 Tbs of your choice of flavor (vanilla, peppermint, almond, hazelnut, cherry, blackberry, etc...)
• a couple of drops of coordinating food coloring.

1. Oil a 9x13 baking dish. (I used cooking spray.) Dust bottom and sides generously with icing sugar.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup of the cold water and let stand for at least 5 minutes.
3. In a heavy 3 quart pan, combine sugar, corn syrup, 1/2 cup cold water, and salt. On low heat, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Insert candy thermometer and increase heat to med-high until mixture starts to boil. Without stirring, leave to boil until mixture reaches 240 F (soft ball stage.) This should take 10-12 minutes.
4. Pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture. With mixer on high speed, beat until thick and white and tripled in volume. This should take about 8 to 10 minutes.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add whipped egg whites with flavoring and color in to the sugar mixture until just combined.
6. Pour mixture in to prepared dish. Spread evenly and wiggle dish until level. Dust the top with more icing sugar. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, uncovered.
7. Now it's time to cut them in to what ever shape you choose! I went with basic 1 in squares, but you could use any small shaped cookie cutter. What ever you use to cut them, a knife or a cutter, will need to be well oiled. To cut mine, I turned the slab of marshmallow on a large cutting board and with a large knife, cut it in to squares, rinsing and spraying my knife with cooking spray when the knife started to get sticky.
8. In a large bowl, put about 1/2 cup icing sugar. Once marshmallows have been cut, toss them in icing sugar until evenly coated. Marshmallows should be kept in an air tight container to prevent moisture making them sticky!

Crack Pie

This may be the oddest named thing I've ever baked and blogged about! It is, however, one of the tastiest! It's called Crack Pie, and no, there's no crack in it. The recipe is said to have come from a famous bakery in NY, and has been shared on blogs, in news papers and on shows like Martha Stewart. Apparently it acquired it's name because it is addictive as crack! I can confirm that those who had the pleasure of tasting this little gem, are now self confessed "crack"addicts!


So what is crack pie I hear you ask? The easiest way to describe it is: A buttery, twice baked oatmeal cookie crust with a baked butterscotch custard filling! Nothing healthy here, just sugar (two kinds,) butter (nearly a pound,) egg yolks (8, although I suspect a couple more would make it even richer,) some cream (thickened, of course,) and a few other yummy ingredients that clog your arteries just thinking about them! I would call this more of a tart than a pie, but either way... it's DELICIOUS and totally ADDICTIVE!
Enjoy!

Crack Pie

Oatmeal Cookie for crust

• 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup rolled oats

Crust

• Crumbled cookie from above
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup plus milk powder
• 1 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 egg yolks

Directions for oatmeal cookie

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Cream the butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Whisk the egg into the butter mixture until fully incorporated.

5. Stir in the flour mixture until fully combined. Stir in the oats.

6. Spread the mixture onto a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking sheet and bake until golden brown and set, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to the touch on a rack. Crumble the cooled cookie to use in the crust.

Directions for crust

1.Combine the crumbled cookie, butter, brown sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until evenly combined and blended

2. Divide the crust between 2 (10-inch) pie or tart tins. Press the crust into each shell to form a thin, even layer along the bottom and sides of the tins. Set the prepared crusts aside while you prepare the filling.

Directions for filling

1. Heat the oven to 175 C (350 F) degrees.

2. Whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt and milk powder. Whisk in the melted butter, then whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla.

3. Gently whisk in the egg yolks, being careful not to add too much air.

4. Divide the filling evenly between the 2 prepared pie shells.

5. Bake the pies, one at a time, for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 165 C (325 F) degrees and bake until the filling is slightly jiggly and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove the pies and cool on a rack.

6. Refrigerate the cooled pies until well chilled. Serve cold, and the filling will be gooey. Dust with icing (powdered) sugar before serving.