Nutella Brownies (gluten free)

March 31, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Brownies, gluten free

Easiest recipe ever – only 2 ingredients (4 eggs and 1 cup of Nutella, plus powdered sugar for garnish).

I used the recipe at www.highheelsandgrills.com.

However, I found the last step in the directions to be comical. It says “Can be stored in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week.” First of all, these hardly lasted one hour in my house. Second, any dessert recipe that says how to store it for a week I find puzzling. If it is a good recipe, why would it hang around that long? And if it isn’t any good and might last that long, perhaps it isn’t worth making. If you decide to make these, ignore the last step and enjoy the brownies!

Macaroon Madness

March 20, 2015March 23, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Cookie, French Macarons, gluten free, macaroon recipe

No, I didn’t say March Madness. This is not a post about NCAA basketball. I may not be crazy about basketball, but I definitely can get behind the idea of macaroons. I decided to bust out all my favorite macaroon recipes for a little comparison baking.

French Macarons (It is spelled with only one “o”). This is a little variation I did to coincide with spring. Most French macarons that I have seen have a similar color creme filling that matches the cookie part. Instead, I decided to make a yellow cookie with a pale blue, green, and pink buttercream in each sandwich cookie.

This is a very basic macaroon. Because it was St. Patrick’s Day, I dyed half the batch green. These were outstanding the first day I baked them. They seemed a little too moist the second day.

This was an older macaroon recipe that I adapted by adding 3/4 cup of melted chocolate. These tasted okay the first day, but after they rested one day they were absolutely fabulous. These were all eaten before the vanilla ones.

Bailey’s Chocolate Macaroon. Like the standard macaroons it is spelled with 2 O’s. The texture of the cookie portion reminds me of an italian cookie. If you like Bailey’s and chocolate ganache, you’ll love the filling.

Here are links to the recipes that I used:

Beth’s Foolproof French Macaron Recipe – YouTube

Baileys Chocolate Macaroons

Basic Macaroon Recipe:

1 egg white, 1 c. sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract, & 16 oz shredded coconut; Bake in preheated oven on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 325 for 15-20 minutes (until golden brown). Allow to cool on pan for at least 10 minutes before removing.

Older Macaroon Recipe:

3/4 sugar, 2 1/2 c shredded coconut, 2 large egg whites, 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 c melted chocolate chips; Bake in preheated oven on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 350 for 15 minutes. Allow to cool long enough that the macaroons can be removed by hand and not with a spatula.

See Related Posts:

Macaroon (not French Macaroon)

Whoopie Pies Are For All Occasions

Banoffe Pie – Pie Day 2015

March 14, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Pie

BANOFFEE – A combination of Bananas and Toffee and topped with a brown-sugar whipped cream

IT’S PIE DAY 3/14/15 or 3.1415

And, it was the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Chicago (when they dye the river green).

There was no other choice for dessert today, I had to make Banoffe pie. When I originally found this recipe, I was looking for a good Irish dessert and I came upon this one. For this post, I did a little further research and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information about whether or not this is an English or Irish dessert. Either way, it tastes great!

Making the toffee filling: I read a number of recipes on how to do this. Some actually sound a little dangerous. I opted for the easy and safe way. I filled a pie pan with about 24 oz of sweetened condensed milked and mixed in a generous pinch of kosher salt. I covered the pan with aluminum foil and put the pie pan in a roasting pan. I added water to create a water bath. I baked it at 400 for about 2 hours, occasionally replenishing the water bath. Upon removing it from the oven, I transferred the cooked sweetened condensed milk to another bowl and placed it uncovered in the refrigerator for one hour.

I bet this filling would taste great in other desserts as well. That’s something to consider for another day.

Nutella Banana Bread

March 12, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Chocolate

I doubt my kids will ever eat plan banana bread after eating this. Is it a dessert or a breakfast food? Who cares – it’s just good.

If you want to try it for yourself, I got the recipe at http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/10/nutella-banana-bread/

Cake Balls

March 11, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Cake, Chocolate

Extra cake, frosting, and some chocolate – why not make some cake balls? Last week, I made a multi-layer birthday cake. Each layer, must be leveled (slicing off the top of each cake so that top and bottom are perfectly parallel). This is essential to making a cake look “professional.” While it is one extra step in the process, it’s one that my kids most appreciate – the extra cake that is. Usually I just let my kids snack on the extra cake. Because I had actually baked 6 layers of cake there was a LOT of extra cake. In fact, there was so much cake that I took five of the “tops of cake” and made an entire extra layer cake. Okay, it looked terrible, but my kids didn’t complain while eating it. I still had an extra full layer of chocolate cake and a bit of chocolate frosting left over. I threw the extra cake in the food processor and mixed it with the extra frosting. I chilled the mixture and formed small balls. After popping the balls in the freezer for a bit, I coated them in chocolate coating (I had a lot of chocolate left over from the cake, too). I realize that the cake ball craze is pretty much over, but they still are a great treat. Unfortunately, they are very labor intensive, which makes them expensive to purchase and a pain to make. This was an ideal time to make the cake balls. I had all the ingredients on hand and I would hate to be wasteful.

Thus, one man’s trash is a dessert lover’s treasure.

Blackhawks Birthday Cake

March 6, 2015March 7, 2015 lizellyn Sweets Cake

Just made this for my best friend’s birthday. Inside the cake are 5 layers of cake that match the frosting on the outside: red velvet, white, and midnight black cake. The logo and letters on top are all done in chocolate.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’m originally from St. Louis. Needless to say, I am NOT a Blackhawks fan. However, my best friend is a HUGE Blackhawks fan; she never misses a game. I considered hiding some blue and yellow frosting in the center of the cake, but I managed to refrain. However, on the back of her birthday card, I included a picture of the St. Louis Blue’s logo. And, I wore a blue shirt while delivering the cake.

Time will tell which city hosts the better hockey team.

Peanut Butter Fudge

March 1, 2015March 23, 2015 lizellyn more sweets Fudge, gluten free, Peanut Butter

Fudge is a deceptive dessert. It doesn’t look very special – simply cut into cubes of some sort. You can’t always tell whether it is soft or hard by just looking at it. But when it is perfectly smooth and the balance of flavor and sugar is ideal, fudge is heavenly. Tonight, it turned out superb. (Which was a good thing, because last week’s fudge was a disaster) Whether the fudge is yummy or nah, baking with my daughter is a heartwarming occasion.

Nanaimo Bars – A Canadian Dessert

February 26, 2015 lizellyn more sweets Chocolate

I first found this recipe during the 2010 Winter Olympics in British Columbia. Oddly enough, I had a recent request to make the bars again. They are a great textual blend of sweets. The base is a mix of graham, chocolate, coconut, pecans and sugar. It is dense and a bit nutty. The middle layer offers a smooth creamy vanilla compliment. It is then topped off with a thin layer of chocolate. If cut into bite size portions, one can enjoy all the flavors at once.