FUN WITH OREO COOKIES

Posted in Chocolate Bonbons, Cookies, Desserts by sallybr

Four ways to use Oreos in your baking, starting with my favorite of this set…

The Melting Witch Chocolate Cookie

I cannot take credit for this cute idea, but I modified it slightly from what was published in this site.

For the cookie, I used my default recipe with a touch of chipotle pepper and cinnamon (click here). For the hat, I used Hershey’s kisses, but gave it an additional coat with Candy Melts dark chocolate, to make it match the color of the Oreo underneath. Then all you need to do is flood the cookie with Electric Green icing, immediately add the half Oreo cookie and the pretzel stick. Once that sets, pipe the broom detail, and glue the Hershey kiss on the Oreo. You are done!

STRAWBERRY OREO LITTLE BALLS

OREO STRAWBERRY BALLS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

24 Oreo cookies
90g strawberry cream cheese, at room temperature
200g white chocolate
30g grape seed oil
fat-soluble dye, pink and red

Place the Oreos and cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor and process until it starts to form a dough.

Form little balls using about 20g of Oreo dough. Place them in the freezer for 1 hour.

Melt the chocolate gently in a microwave at 50% power, together with the oil. Whisk gently from time to time. Separate a small amount to dye red. Dye most of the batch pink.

Remove the Oreo balls from the freezer, and gently but quickly dip each one in the melted chocolate (ideally at about 100F), using a toothpick or medium-size wooden stick. Place upright to set. Drizzle the red chocolate all over for decoration. Remove the stick and place on paper cups to serve.

If desired, spray a little Diamond dust or pink luster powder over them.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

OUTRAGEOUS COOKIES AND CREAM COOKIES

These are nothing short of amazing… For the full recipe, please visit the site where I originally found them (click here). One cookie will feed a family of four, so to speak… But absolutely worth the calories!

CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

I do these often, as I like to include a small batch in my donation box of Friday. Two ways to decorate them for the Halloween season. On the left, ghosts made with candy melts, just a drop on parchment paper, then pull the shape with a gloved finger. Add eyes. Done! On the right, chocolate transfer sheets. Sweet and simple!

I hope I convinced you to go out and buy a big package of Oreos, so you can have some fun in your own kitchen…

ONE YEAR AGO: Halloween Brownies, Two Ways

TWO YEARS AGO: Revving the Engines for Halloween

THREE YEARS AGO: Happy Halloween from my Cookie Blog to You!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple Carrots

FIVE YEARS AGO: Sarah Bernhardt’s Cookies

SIX YEARS AGO: A Really Big Announcement

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Stir-Fried Chicken in Sesame-Orange Sauce

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Monday Blues

NINE YEARS AGO: A New Way to Roast Veggies

TEN YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

9Apr2025

CAKES TO CELEBRATE EASTER

Posted in Cake, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

I am thrilled to share these because they were my first cakes frosted using my electric turntable, a wonderful gift from my hubby last month (check it out at my last In My Kitchen post). Amazing how much easier it was to get a smooth frosting! Without further ado, here is the first cake, fully dressed for an Easter Party.

VANILLA-ALMOND CAKE WITH RASPBERRY FILLING
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

345 grams (3 cups) cake flour
2 teaspoons)baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
226 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
375 grams (1 + 3/4 cups) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
160 grams egg whites (about 5 eggs)
170 grams (¾ cup) sour cream
170 grams (¾ cup) whole milk
Swiss meringue buttercream for frosting
seedless Raspberry jam for filling

Prepare three 6-inch round cake pans lining them with parchment and spraying with baking spray.

Heat oven to 350F.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Reserve. Mix the sour cream and milk together, making sure they are at rom temperature and well incorporated. Reserve.

n the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Cream together on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl halfway through mixing. Slowly pour in the egg whites while the mixer continues running.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients into the bowl in three additions with the milk/sour cream mixture in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed between additions until almost fully incorporated. Finish mixing by hand with a spatula.

Transfer the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool the cakes in their pan completely on a cooling rack before turning out of the pan.

SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Basis formula: 1X egg whites + 2X sugar + 2X butter

For the three layer 6-inch cake I started with 200g egg whites. The magic is all in the temperature control.

Start by dicing your butter and placing at room temperature for at least a couple of hours before making the buttercream. The reason for that is the closer the temperature of the egg whites/sugar and the butter match each other, the smoother the whole preparation will go. All problems with Swiss meringue buttercream happen when there is a sharp difference between those temperatures.

Mix sugar and egg whites and whisk well, then over a bain-marie bring them to 140 F minimum. I take it to 149F because I find it makes a nicer emulsion to work with. Place in a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed for about 10 minutes. You want a stiff meringue.

Most recipes will tell you that it will be enough to bring the mixture to room temperature level, or not feeling warm if you touch the bowl. However, if you measure the temperature inside the bowl you will notice it will probably still be at mid 90’s Fahrenheit, way above the butter that is waiting to be incorporated.

My advice is to turn the mixer off and walk away. Come back in 10 minutes, give it a 20 sec mix, check, the temperature. Still a bit too high? Walk away and repeat the process. I find that if the egg white mixture is around 80F it will be ok to incorporate with the butter, which might be around 72F or so.

Now start incorporating the butter with the mixer running, you can squish it with your fingers as you drop them to help incorporate even better. Once all the butter is added, whisk at high speed for a couple of minutes, change to the paddle attachment and mix for another couple of minutes to smooth out air bubbles.

Two problems might happen if the temperature was not a real good match: buttercream will be grainy (butter too cold), or soupy (meringue too hot). Both can be fixed by either warming the bowl (hair-dryer works great), or placing it in the fridge for 15 minutes and whisking again. Contrary to popular belief, Swiss meringue is not that tricky and can always be salvaged even if it looks like Armageddon in a bowl.

For the layers I added a circle of white buttercream on the perimeter of the cake, filled the center with raspberry jam, and repeated that for the upper layer. I crumb coated with white frosting, then dyed most of the buttercream with Sky Blue (just a couple of drops), and the tiniest amount of black to mute the tone. A small portion was dyed brown for the nest. Malted chocolate eggs and sprinkles finished the decor.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This is pretty much like a wedding type cake, very white because you omit using egg yolks. It is delicate and moist, truly one of my favorites for layered cakes. I adapted the recipe from versions that call for more sugar, I prefer the cake a little less sweet. Sugar is important for structure so there is a limit of how much you can reduce, but this formula works great. My rookie mistake was to use parchment paper to add the sprinkle border at the bottom, and it took me so long to do it, that the buttercream warmed up and the paper got stuck at places. All my hard work to get the smooth surface was a bit compromised, but nothing that strategically placed sprinkles would not fix!

Feedback on the cake was wonderful, I cannot show you the cut cake as I dropped it whole and it was cut later in the evening. But I hope it looked ok inside…

Moving on…

LEMON POPPY SEED LAYERED CAKE WITH BLACKBERRY FILLING

I cannot share this recipe because it is copyrighted from a very interesting book called “I’LL BRING THE CAKE” by Mandy Merriman. It is unusual in the sense that all cakes start from a boxed mix, but they are heavily doctored. If you are totally against boxed mixes, the book is not for you, but I wanted to give those a try and her cakes are quite delicious.

This was my very first cake using the turntable, and I opted for a watercolor effect, which started by adding blotches of darker color all over the frosted cake.

Then you just turn the cake and allow the color to mingle with the background until you are satisfied. For the decorations on top I mixed the white with the mauve-dyed buttercream and used the trusty 1D tip for rosettes.

I hope you found some inspiration for your Easter festivities with this post!

ONE YEAR AGO: Flower Stencil Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Happy Easter!

THREE YEARS AGO: Mini-Blueberry Cakes

FOUR YEARS AGO: Wood Plank Cookies, Learning from the Best

FIVE YEARS AGO: OMG Spinach Pies

SIX YEARS AGO: Avgolemono Soup, My Way

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Sourdough Chocolate Twist Bread

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Dan Lepard Times Three

NINE YEARS AGO: Turkey Portobello Burger

TEN YEARS AGO: Raspberry Ricotta Cake

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2014

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Whole-Wheat Pasta with Lemony Tomatoes and Spinach

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Blood Orange Duck: A work in progress

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Grilled Mahi-mahi with citrus marinade

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Memories of Pastéis

5Apr2025

STRAWBERRY FINANCIERS, A MARATHON IN BAKING

Posted in Cake, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

First of all, let me clarify that I cannot share this recipe. It is copyrighted and available exclusively for members of Savour, the online cooking community hosted by the amazing Kirsten Kibballs (click here for details). This can only be described as a baking marathon, one of the most involved projects I’ve ever attempted. However I am beyond thrilled with the way they turned out!

Although I cannot share the recipe, I will walk you through all the steps, so you will have some idea of all that is involved.

Starting with the Financier component, you can conceivably use a muffin tin to make them, but if at all possible, get this silicone pan that allows you to bake cute strawberry-shaped cakes.

.
Kirsten’s recipe includes coconut and it is really delicious on its own. Once the cakes are baked, they go straight into the freezer (still in the pan) to facilitate removal. From that point, the cakes are hollowed and filled with the other components.

Starting with a Strawberry jelly made from fresh strawberry puree, agar-agar, allowed to set, and then emulsified in a blender to make a cream. That is finally mixed with fresh strawberries, diced very small, and used to fill the cakes.

The second component of the filling is a fantastic white chocolate chantilly cream, that must be made at least 6 hours before use. First the strawberry jelly/fruit is added, then the chantilly. The cakes go into the freezer to set for a while, and then white chocolate is used to seal the bottom.

At this point, all goes back to the fridge, or for a short stay in the freezer. Tempered chocolate dyed red mixed with neutral oil is used to coat each mini-cake. It will be messy! Best way to deal with it is using two big wooden skewers to manipulate them.

Marathon is in its final stages now… For the strawberry leaves, I spray-painted wafer paper and cut shapes using the template provided by Savour. Kirsten used tempered green chocolate and a very elaborate system to cut and shape them, but I had to simplify it.

The only way they stayed glued was using Edible glue from Wilton. Melted chocolate and Royal icing were no good.

Finally, they get brushed with a little oil (I used grapeseed) and white sesame seeds are sprinkled all over!

And with that step, we just crossed the finish line!

I made 9 of these babies, and Phil and I shared one, as I really needed to know how they tasted.

One of the best things I’ve ever baked, for sure! I messed up when I cut it, they were too cold from the fridge, but I can tell you everything worked great together. The cake is moist and tender, the strawberry cream intensely flavored, and the chocolate whipped cream completes the symphony…

I was quite exhausted at the end, but so glad I decided to face this challenge. If you are interested in expanding your horizons in baking, consider joining Savour online school. I’ve been a member from their very beginning, and although I don’t bake often from their recipes, I watch most of their videos when they are published and learn a lot with each and every one.

ONE YEAR AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2024

TWO YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, Spring 2023

THREE YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2022

FOUR YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2021

FIVE YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2020

SIX YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2019

SEVEN YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2018

EIGHT YEARS AGO: First Monday Favorite

NINE YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, April 2016

TEN YEARS AGO: Spring has Sprung with Suzanne Goin

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Chai Brownies

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Pomegranate-Molasses Glazed Carrots

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Braised Brisket with Bourbon-Peach Glaze

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: The Real Vodka Sauce

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Spring Rolls on a Spring Day

21Mar2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Posted in Breads, Cake, Cookies, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

The date came and went (March 11th), but only now I have a chance to share a few things I made for the occasion. As you may know, most of the sweets I bake we don’t get to eat, but this series of bakes is the exception that confirms the rule. We got to savor all the sweetness! But let’s start with the bread components.

FOCACCIA ART

Maybe you remember the Quilted Focaccia Buns of a recent past? I got this idea from the book Beautiful Bread, which I highly recommend, as Theresa Culletto shares amazing designs and all the tips to make them happen. It is all a matter of making a big enough dough to cover a large baking sheet, and then planning decorations with veggies cut in shapes.

It is quite amazing how much flavor and smell little pieces of leeks impart to the dough. You can also use chives for the stems if you prefer, they will likely be easier to work with, no real prep needed.

Moving on, I had to bake a sourdough, and chose a Springtime design for it…

And now, to the sweets… From Molly Yeh’s new book Sweet Farm, one of the most delicious cookies ever, a Cherry Mahlab Linzer! I cannot share the recipe for copyright issues, but I’m tempted to tell you that the book is worth it JUST for that one. Mahlab is a Middle Eastern spice that resembles cinnamon and imparts great flavor to the dough. I will be using it often.

The dough rolls like a dream, browns beautifully in the oven, and crumbles in your mouth with that texture that only almond flour will provide. Absolutely a must-make!

From the past, I re-visited the German Chocolate Macarons, which I did not have a change to taste the first time I made, but the feedback was so great, I was intrigued and could not wait to make again FOR US. Wonderful they were, all modesty aside… Recipe available here.

TWO VERSIONS OF BRIGADEIROS

Red Velvet and Lemon. They were both made with the same basic method: 1 can condensed milk + 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan. To the Red Velvet I added one full tablespoon of cocoa powder + 1/2 tsp Red Velvet Emulsion from LorAnn and a pinch of salt.

To the Lemon version, I added 2 tablespoons Lemon Curd (store-bought), and a pinch of salt. On a later version I added a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some lemon zest, I liked that better. Both versions cooked the way described in this old post of mine.

And now, for the Piece of Resistance, THE CAKE! Choice of the husband, who found the recipe online and twisted my 65 year old arm to make it. Recipe published here, and also in his cookbook SWEET.

This is one amazing cake! Luscious, moist, tender, almost feels like flourless. The ganache on top takes it exactly there: over the top. And of course, I had to add a Brazilian flair to it and topped with Red Velvet Brigadeiros. And some luster powder. Because if I cannot bling on my own Birthday, there would be something wrong with me.

ONE YEAR AGO: Incredibly Simple: Air-Fried Salmon Bites

TWO YEARS AGO: Chocolate-Covered Oreos

THREE YEARS AGO: Pan-Steamed Broccoli with Miso Vinaigrette

FOUR YEARS AGO: Cookies and Rubber Stamps

FIVE YEARS AGO: Macarons for all Seasons and Reasons

SIX YEARS AGO: Lentils and Radicchio? Yes, please!

SEVEN YEAR AGO: Tres Leches Cake

EIGHT YEARS AGO: The Joys of Grating Squash

NINE YEARS AGO: Auberge-Pecan Walnut Bread

TEN YEARS AGO: Gluten-free and Vegan Raspberry Bars

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Lasserre, a French Classic

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Sourdough Bread with Walnuts and Dates

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Braised Brisket with Bourbon-Apricot Glaze

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: The Real Vodka Sauce

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Pork Tenderloin and Blue Cheese

11Mar2025

CAKE PUCKS

Posted in Chocolate Bonbons, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Back in July last year, I shared my first adventures with cake pucks (for a flash back, click here). I’ve made quite a few since then, some with boxed cakes and home-made buttercream, some with cakes crushed into crumbs while still warm, skipping the addition of buttercream. In my opinion, the texture of the cake component suffers a bit if you don’t use a little buttercream, but I am sure that is a matter of personal taste. Some bakers swear by the warm crumbled cake. Today I want to focus on a different recipe, one that uses a peanut butter fudge instead of cake for the center. And I also want to show you a new type of cake puck, made with a smaller mold. So, without further ado, let’s go over the peanut butter version.

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE PUCK CAKES
(from bentycakes)

2 cups granulated sugar
1 + 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
melting chocolate (such as candy melts)

Bring sugar and milk to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, whisk for 1-2 minutes. Add in vanilla, peanut butter and salt and mix until smooth. Working quickly, fill your small molds with the mixture.
The peanut butter fudge should set up pretty quickly at room temperature, but I prefer to stick in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Melt 17 ounces chocolate and a spoonful of refined coconut oil gently in the microwave at 50% power. for 1 minute. Place larger mold (with the Benty Cakes logo on the bottom) on the plastic tray and fill one cavity half full with melted chocolate.

Place chilled center on melted chocolate. Gently apply even pressure as you slowly press the center down until chocolate comes up from the sides and covers the top of the center. Scrape off any excess chocolate. If there is not enough chocolate to cover the center. Add chocolate and scrape away excess.
Tap the mold tray on the counter to eliminate air bubbles.

Let the pucks set in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, then gently un-mold. Decorate as desired.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: If you are a peanut butter lover in desserts these will blow your mind! The texture is creamy and luscious, and of course, the peanut butter with the chocolate around it is a perfect match. I will now show you mini-pucks, which I find even better than the original ones because they turn out as a two-bite thing, one is enough and not too much. You can order the set of molds by clicking here. Below, a comparison in size between this new version and the original.

This batch of minis was also made with the peanut butter fudge center…

As to decorations, I’ve been using several different techniques, one of them which I really love is painting the bottom of the mold with luster colors, then adding the chocolate on top