Caramel Apple Cider

My husband has actually been suggesting that we go through starbucks to get drinks because he loves their caramel apple cider. Coming down with a very sore throat and looking for hot drinks with out caffeine to ease my throat I decided to take a try at making Caramel Apple Cider.

I made 4 cups last night so this was I used

Ingredients

4 cups of Unsweetened Apple cider
about 4 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tbsp heavy cream
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp of caramel

I put the apple cider, cinnamon stick and brown sugar in a sauce pan and let the brown sugar dissolve. Once it was hot I added the heavy cream and caramel. I let it sit on the stove on med heat for about 10 mins. Then it was ready. I whipped extra heavy cream with a mixer to put on top and sprinkled caramel on that but you wouldn't have to. I left the stove on low until we drank all of it.

My husband said he could not tell the difference between mine and Starbucks so we had a happy customer.

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Chocolate Souffle

I absolutely love Chocolate Souffle. They serve it at the resort we go to in Mexico and a local restaurant use to serve it until they got a new chef. It is such a comforting warm dessert that just melts in your mouth. I have not had the delightful dessert since Januarary so I decided I would make it.

I used a recipe from Food Network for the souffle and the cream sauce I kinda just put together myself.

Ingredients
7 ounces finely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus for preparing the molds
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
8 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Confectioners' sugar for garnish

Directions

Brush 6 (6-ounce) ramekins with soft butter, then coat with sugar. Put the prepared ramekins in the freezer. (This can be done a day ahead.)

Set an oven rack in lower third of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

Put the chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching, the water. Stir the chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Set aside.

Combine the egg yolks and warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer or large bowl and beat until frothy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, and continue beating until ribbons form, about 5 minutes. Very lightly fold the yolks into the chocolate mixture. (Rinse the bowl well, if using for beating the egg whites.)

Remove prepared ramekins from freezer. Put the egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer, or large non-reactive bowl, add the lemon juice. Beat on medium until frothy; then gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and increase speed to high. Beat until the whites hold a stiff but not dry peak.

Working quickly, fold about a third of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten; then fold in remaining whites until blended. Gently ladle or spoon the souffle mixture into the ramekins, and place on a baking sheet. (Level off the surface with a straight edge, scraping any excess mixture back into the bowl.)

Immediately bake until the souffle rises about 1 1/2 inches from the ramekins, and the tops are touched with brown, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven, dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately. It is important to take it out at the right time.

The Cream sauce - You put this sauce in the middle and all around.

Ingredients
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir first 3 ingredients together in a saucepan. Add butter, and cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture begins to boil. Cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Serve warm.

This dessert is a little time consuming but well worth the effort and I highly suggest trying it out.
This is a picture of souffle that I had in Mexico

This is souffle that I made last night

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Full Plate Thursday

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Peach Crisp

This weekend I went to a fruit and veggie stand and saw they had peaches, eager for Missouri peaches. I excitedly asked the gentleman if they were peaches and left the stand very let down to find they were Georgia peaches. The next day, today, wonderful news was shared that there was Missouri peaches at a stand. God must have known how much I was wanting them!! We went and bought a huge bag of peaches. I took a small nap and eagerly began cutting peaches for Peach crisp. This is the recipe I used

Ingrediants
8 cups of cut peaches
1 cup of sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup of oats
1 1/1 cups of brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup of butter

Directions

Spray bottom of 2qt pan. Cut Peaches up and put in pan. Put sugar on top of peaches and mix together.

For the topping.

Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Then melt butter and mix into dry mixture.

Spread topping over peaches and bake. Bake at 375 for 30 mins. You want topping golden brown and peaches soft.

Enjoy

Tutu Party - Ruffled Cake

For Niah's Birthday, I made 2 cakes. 1 a smash cake for Niah and the second one was a cake for the guest. Both cakes were a sour cream white cake but the big cake had a raspberry filling in the cake. Niah's cake was a 6 inch cake and the other cake was a 3 layer 9 inch cake. I used the ruffled technique that can be found in the Victoria Magazine or Better Homes and Garden. When I first saw it, I thought there was no way I could make those cakes being I have very little experience with icing cakes. I did it a little in high school but since then have not touched an icing bag. I did a trial run on my mom's cake whose birthday was 4 days before Niah and loved the results so I did Niah's cake following the same techinque.

I will start with the cake recipe, this is an excellent recipe that is very moist.
Cake Recipe
1 box white cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
4 large egg whites

In a large bowl, whisk together cake mix, flour, sugar and salt. Add remaining ingredients and beat with hand mixer for 2 minutes, or until well blended
Preheat oven to 325 bake about 30 mins.

I made this recipe twice, the first time for 2 layers of the 3 layer cake and the second time I used the batter for the 6 inch cake and the last layer.

For the icing after several different icing recipes I went with a swiss meringue buttercream
Icing recipe:
5 large egg whites (30g each–total 150g)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Method:

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with paper towel and vinegar, to remove any trace of grease. Add egg whites and sugar, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

With whisk attachment of mixer, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and cool. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on medium speed continously, add softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). Add vanilla and salt, mix well. You can also add a wide variety of flavourings, extracts, and more.

Keep in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week, leaving out at room temperature when needed, rewhipping in mixer for 5 minutes.

I trippled this recipe to have enough for all of the cakes. I added purple icing food color to make it the purpe.

Raspberry Filling:
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberrys
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

In a small sauce pan, combined all of the ingredients and slowly bring to a boil over medium-high heat (keep stirring until thickened for best results). I actually used a little more sugar because the first go around was to tart so just an overflowing 1/4 cup. Let cool completely before using.

What you need to Decorate:
12 or 14 icing bag (I used 14)
Petal tip- (the bigger the petal tip the sloppier it was for me, I used Wilton 103)
Cake stand helpful but not required
Metal Icing spatula is helpful but not required

1.Assemble the cakes. If you are as new at this as me I will explain how I assemble the 3 layers. 1st you need completely flat layers so cut your cakes to make them flat on both sides (I just used a schraded knife, they have tool though). Then Ice the top of your first layer, then put raspberry filling, then put your second layer and ice the top raspberry filling and then place your last layer on top. I always ice the top of the cake last.

2.The next step is to ice the cake starting with the sides. Then do the top. To get a smooth top clean your utensil and go over the top to smooth it out.

3. Next is to the decorating. I found the best way to ice is for the cake to be on a stand. The first thing I did is make lines in my cake ro keep my ruffling straight. I had a tall kabob and measured about an inch an half and indented the icing with the kabob all the way around. To start you are actually going to hold the icing bag straight up and down. with the wide part towards the cake and the smaller part towards you. You will just go back and forth from bottom to top of cake, line to line (the lines you made to help things stay straight). It is better if you do not break from icing until you finish the row. After you finish the row you start the next row starting at the bottom.

4. Then you do around the edge of the top with the same techinque of back and for but going around the circle. I was going to write on the cake but did not master the writing so that will be next years cake.

1 thing that did happen to me is I had an air bubble in my icing bag and messed up a whole row so make sure you watch for air bubbles in the bag by squeezing the icing down as you use it.

For only doing this 1 other time, I was quite please how it turned out. I hope that you can try it and see it does not take an expert to do it.




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Ranch Dip Baked Chicken

This is an absolute favorite at our house we have it probably every month, if not 2 a month. My sister got it as a recipe when she got married from someone and we both love it.

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breast

1/2 cup Butter

3/4 cup Grated Parmesan

1 Ranch Dip Packet

3/4 cup crushed Corn Flakes

Melt the butter in 1 bowl. In a separate bowl mix the parmesan Ranch Dip Packet and crushed corn flakes together. Dip chicken breast in butter then in cornflake mixture put in greased 9 x 13 pan. Continue till all of the chicken breast are covered in the cornflake mixture. I pour the remaining cornflake mixture on top of the chicken breast. Then bake on 350 for 40-45 minutes until chicken is done.

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Full Plate Thursday

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Chicken Broccoli Supreme

Monday night is my least favorite day to cook besided the weekends because I am trying to finish up so many things from the weekend and also getting into the groove of the week. This Monday night I hadn't been to the grocery store in a couple weeks so I needed to make something I had all the ingredients for searching through recipes online I found this chicken broccoli supreme recipe on food.com and I have seen a couple recipes on pinterest similar. I liked it because it didn't call for canned soup had a meat and veggie in it. CHICKEN BROCOLLI SUPREME Ingredients: 1 – lb. fresh broccoli Break in pieces, and steam for 2 minutes.3 cups cooked chicken breasts – Break up in small pieces3 cups Grated Cheddar Cheese dividedTopping:2 tubes Ritz Crackers1 stick melted butter1 tablespoon poppy seeds SAUCE: 1/3 cup Butter- melted1/4 cups Cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 cup COLD Water1/3 cup Chicken Broth1/4 tsp. Salt1/4 tsp Pepper2 Cups Milk1 1/2 cups of the above Cheddar Cheese Directions: In greased 13×9 pan, layer the broccoli and chicken, then set aside. I grilled my chicken in the cast iron but the next time I make it I will make extra chicken the night before dinner or put chicken in the crockpot on low before going to work. It will save alot of time in making it. In saucepan over medium heat, combine the 1/3 cup melted butter, cornstarch dissolved in water, chicken broth, seasonings, and milk. Stir well, and continue stirring until sauce has thickened. Turn heat down to low, and add 1- 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese. Stir until melted. Pour over the chicken and broccoli. Top with 1- 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese. I think I will add the salt and pepper after I pour the sauce on and maybe add some garlic powder.Melt the cup of butter, and add the poppy seeds (I didn't have poppy seeds so I skipped that), and stir well. Crush Ritz crackers in large zip-lock bag with a rolling pin. Don’t crush too small. Add crumbs to the melted butter. Sprinkle crumbs over the top of the grated cheese.Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until hot & bubbly.The whole pan was eaten in 2 days it was a huge hit and pretty easy to make. I would suggest it for anyone.

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Full Plate Thursday

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Lemon Tres Leche Cake

My mom needed a dessert for our Easter Lunch and so I knew I wanted a fruit flavor desert with it being spring. I started googling recipes and put a couple recipes together and this is what I came up with. It took quite a bit of time to prepare but I spaced each part through out the day so I would say total prep time if you did it at one time about an hour. Total cook time 30 mins. Tres Leche: 12 oz evaporated milk 1 cup sweetened condensed milk 1 cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon vanilla Cake: 1 cup sifted flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 cup melted butter 1/2 teaspoon. lemon extract 1/2 cup milk scalded 6 egg yolks 1 cup sugar Mousse: 1 lemon zested and juiced 2 tablespoons simple syrup 1 package unflavored gelatin 2 cup heavy cream -- chilled 1 cup lemon curd -- your favorite recipe Topping: 2 cups sweetened whipped cream Chill the bowl and wire whip of an electric mixer in the freezer. Whisk together flour and baking powder; keep scalded milk hot. In an electric mixer beat eggs until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar, butter and lemon extract. Quickly add flour mixture. Stir just until mixed. Gently stir in hot milk mixture. Pour into greased 9 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Bake in oven 350 degrees oven for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely. Mix ingredients for Tres Leche together. After cake is completely cooled, I cut the top off of my cake so I cook have an even top and so the cake wouldn't be so thick since this will be a rich dessert. Poke holes all over cake and pour tres leche mixture over cake and let it soak in the cake. I only used about half of the mixture but you almost have to make that much because I do not think you can get a smaller can of evaporated milk. I stopped when it seemed the cake could not absorb anymore of the milk mixture. I put the cake in the fridge. You have to make a lemon curd for the mousse, I used a recipe from foodnetwork.com. You take 5 egg yolks, 1 cup of sugar and it said 4 lemons squeezed making 1/3 cup juice (I did not have lemons so I used lemon juice), and beat with an electric mixer for several minutes in metal bowl. Then in a sauce pan bring water to a boil and then turn water down to a simmer and put metal bowl on top of sauce pan don't let it touch the top of water just getting the heat. Mix with whisk for 8 minutes. Then cut up a stick of butter (I cut mine into 1/2 tbsp) and add a piece at a time until it melts. Then refridgerate. In a small saucepan combine the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons simple syrup and gelatin. Stir to soften the gelatin. I on accident got pudding instead of gelatin and pudding worked great. I remade it with the unflavored gelatin and the mousse is easier to work with when you use the gelatin. The mousse with the pudding tasted great just not as good of a consistancy. Place over low heat and cook until the gelatin dissolves, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Combine the gelatin mixture and lemon curd. Mix well. Add the lemon mixture to the whipped cream. Continue to beat until the cream forms stiff peaks. Spread lemon cream over cake and place in the refrigerator to set - 3 to 4 hours. When I served the cake I drizzled carmel sauce over the top of the cake and made sweeten whipped cream. I took a cup of heavy cream 1/2 tsp of vanilla and about 1/4 sugar and beat until stiff peaks. I put the whipped cream in a plastic bag, cut the tip out and squirted it on the cake. It was probably a more tedious dessert I made but it turned out great and would definately do it again.