Remember...an Ode and a recipe.

          I haven't posted anything so personal before but I felt that for this once would be okay. Since February of this year, things have been kind of tough for my family and I. Keep in mind I am in no way complaining, this is just a retrospective "ode" for lack of a better word to the three people its about, plus a recipe.
           In February, my brother Joey went missing off the coast of Mexico in a boating accident. The man that was sailing with him has given us a full disclosure of what happened when he went into the water. I was close to my big brother. Not as close as one could be I guess and that's on me, but I felt his disappearance pretty deep.  He was/is a great man who didn't always know or understand how loved he was. I think a part of him felt that he didn't deserve it. You'd have to know my brother to understand that last part. He was as deep as the ocean that claimed him. My sister wrote a beautiful tribute to him that I would never be able to replicate. Below is a recipe that will be explained. I would do one for my brother, but he was never really big on sweets. He loved green tea and when I find a recipe for Green Tea cake that I find acceptable, that one will be for him.

           On August 1, 2012 after being back in NY for only three days, my best friend and her husband were killed in a horrible, senseless car accident.  My best friend, Patti died instantly. Her husband Shawn later died at a local hospital. They leave behind two small children who were in the car with them, but not seriously injured. They all had left my house thirty minutes prior to the accident, making my family and I the last to see them alive. They were supposed to come back for a day of swimming and dinner that coming Sunday. Patti's birthday had past not too long ago and Shawn's was yesterday (8/10/12), so I was going to make her the cupcakes she had given me the idea for in honor of our favorite candy....chocolate covered cherries. So in her honor, I'm going to rename the flavor for her....The Patticake (which is somewhat ironic as she hated that nickname as I hate "red" but she would see how it fits this one time). Shawn will get his flavor when I tweak a gluten free option.

          These three people mean so much to me and all of them have left this life entirely too early. I know they are wherever they are, and if I know Patti, Shawn and my brother there is a large beach/ocean up there in paradise. So I say to them, Patti save a spot in the sand for me, Shawn make me a drink and brudder save me a sail!  I'll see you all again someday, just not today. <3

Patti and Shawn Wonderly

My brother, Joey Horrevoets

         After you read this, do me a favor. Go to your significant other, your kids, you parents, grandparents, friends, anyone that you love and can't picture life without. give them the biggest hug you can possible manage. Tell them you love them. Show them you love them everyday, even in a small way. Make memories. Share laughter and tears. Never regret words that may have been said in the past, simply forgive and forget. Talks for hours on the phone if you can't be there in person. Never leave the "I'm Sorry's" for another day. Life can be taken away in an instant. Enjoy every second that we're granted and hold them close to your heart.

                                        The Patticake adapted from Betty Crocker and given my own little spin.
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter.
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups unsweetened coca powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
3 TBSP vanilla
1 1/2 cups Milk (I use 1%)
Fresh cherries, pitted and chopped (used about 30 cherries) or one can of cherry pie filling.
1/2 c sugar
 
 Filling:
 In a small saucepan, on medium to low heat, combine fresh cherries and sugar. Let simmer for about 5-8 minutes or until becomes slightly syrupy (yes that's a word, in my world anyway ;p). Set aside.

Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temp. for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease bottoms of two 8x8x2" square or 9x1 1/2" round cake pans or one 13x9x2" pan(or ungreased cupcake liners). In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder and salt. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer, beat butter on high until creamy or 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed until combined (approx 3-4 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl then continue to beat at medium for an additional 2 mins. Add eggs one at a time then beat in vanilla.


  Alternate adding in dry ingredients with the milk, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on low until just combined. do not over mix. Spread batter evenly into pans or fill cupcake liners 1/2 way. Bake in 350 degree oven for 35-40 mins for the 13x9x2 pan, 30-35 mins for the 9" pans. Cupcakes will cook in about 10-15 mins at 325 degrees. Tops of cuppies will spring back when done. test cake pans with a toothpick. When its clean after removal then the cake is done. Cool in pans for 10 mins then remove to wire cooling racks to cool thoroughly. "Core" the cuppies and save the middles. Fill with cherry mixture (or canned cherry pie filling) and replace with middles. replacing the middles is optional. I usually choose not too.  Cover with icing and enjoy!

Can't go wrong with cheesecake!

           Ok well maybe you can. While I make cupcakes, cakes, cookies and chocolate candies a lot I don't make cheesecake very often. In fact the last time I tried was during Christmas. I made a Pumpkin Spice and Cherry Cheesecake. Needless to say they were not my best efforts. I myself have to be in the mood for cheesecake, but my family adores the creation. Frankly, I've never tasted a cheesecake that can compare to my mom's. She claims that she doesn't do anything special to it, but no one can make it quite like my Mither!
 
            While visiting the in laws, I was perusing a magazine that Hannaford supermarket puts out with recipes in it and came across this one. I love Mango's. I don't really care what they are in so long as I can have them.  So of course I ran to their office and copied it so that I can try it at home. I had my doubts because of my previous efforts at Christmas. This particular cheesecake turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. It was supposed to be something like a coconut macaroon. I think I may have done something wrong regarding the crust even though I followed the recipe to the letter. It I'll have to tweak it a bit next time. My husband ate pretty much the entire thing by himself so that is saying something. I swear there was a drop down, drag out brawl between him and my daughter for the last piece! Compliments to the chef!!

            below is the recipe from Hannaford. I normally tweak recipes to add my own flair to them, but this particular one I followed to the letter. So thanks for an awesome recipe!

Mango Coconut Cheesecake
Servings: Serves 12
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 61 minutes

Ingredients:

CRUST

1 cup sweetened Shredded coconut

1/4 cup almonds

2 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons Unsalted butter, melted

FILLING:

2 ( 8 oz.) pkgs Neufchatel 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup chopped ripe mango

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 each eggs

1 teaspoon Fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons potato starch  (You can substitute with cornstarch like I did. It works the same with no chane in texture)

TOPPING:

1 cup chopped ripe mango

1/4 cup all-fruit apricot preserve (no added sugar or artificial sweeteners) (I used whole apricots and pureed them myself)

1/2 cup Water, plus more if needed

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon potato starch

2 tablespoons sweetened Shredded coconut

1 to 5 slices mango (optional garnish)

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable oil.

2. Prepare the crust. In a food processor, process coconut, almonds, sugar, and salt until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add melted butter and process until fully combined. Pour crust mixture into prepared pan and press crumbs evenly on the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides. Bake until lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. Prepare the filling. In a food processor, process cream cheese until smooth. Add mango and process again until smooth. Add sugar, salt, eggs, lemon juice, and potato starch. Process all ingredients until creamy and smooth.

4. Pour filling over baked crust. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees until center is just set but still slightly jiggly, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

5. Prepare the topping. In a medium saucepan, combine mango, apricot preserves, water, lime juice, and potato starch. Mix together and cook over medium heat until thickened and mango chunks are soft. If mixture gets too thick and starts to stick to the pan, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove from heat and puree in a food processor until smooth, or use an immersion blender.

6. Spoon mango mixture on top of cooled cheesecake and smooth the surface.

7. If desired, toast coconut in a small skillet over medium heat until it just begins to brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle over the mango topping.

8. Cover pan and refrigerate until chilled, at least 6 hours and up to overnight.

9. To serve, cut into wedges and garnish with fresh mango slices, if desired.

Source: Hannaford fresh Magazine, March - April 2012

Cead Mile Failte!

       Happy belated Saint Patrick's Day to all the Irish folks out there! I myself am half Irish and that half is obvious (red hair, blue/green eyes and cough...a mild temper...cough). As with every year I either make the traditional Corned Beef and potatoes ( I leave out the cabbage to appease my olfactory peace of mind) and Soda Bread, or the Hubs, offspring and I are invited to a party where the fixings are made by someone else. This year was no exception. We had to skip the party this year due to the Hub's job so on St Pats we invited a couple of friends over for a low key evening of merry making. Good times were had by all and the offspring played like it was going out of style!

      This year I added something baked to the meal. i wouldn't be me if I hadn't. Along with the Corned Beef we had the Soda Bread. I've had this recipe for years and for the life of me I cannot remember where in the world I got it. Normally I tweak any recipe I find to make it my own somehow, but this particular one is great on its own. It can be made with or without raisins. As for me, I love raisins whether they reside in bread or are covered with chocolate or yogurt. Raisins and me are BFF!

photo by Amanda @Mandies Sugar Bowl

Irish Soda Bread  yields: 12 servings
5 C All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
5 tsp Baking Powder
1 stick (1/2 C) Butter, softened
1 1/4 c Raisins (optional)
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 to 2 C Buttermilk (you can do a buttermilk sub. but the taste of the bread is not the same)

     Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, soda and baking powder in a large bowl. Unwrap the butter and save the wrapper (to grease the cookie sheet). Mix butter in with a spoon.  Add the raisins, eggs, and sugar. Mix these together well. At some point your going to need your hands. (I nix the spoon altogether. Less dishes = a happy me!) Scoop the dry ingredients up from the bottom so that everything is mixed to an equal consistancy. Add the buttermilk a little at a time. Stop when the dough becomes sticky (For me it's usually after adding 1 1/2 c of the buttermilk). Take the dough out of the bowl and place on a floured surface. Knead the dough 10 times. More than that will change the texture of the dough. Cut into half to make two loaves. Using the butter wrapper, grease a cookie sheet (you can also use parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray. This technique has never changed the bread in any way for me.) Score the top of the bread with a cross an "x" for decoration and to help with make the top crusty. Place the bread in the oven for 45-60 minutes (45 mins. works for me.) or until the bread is a nutty brown. Test before removing by inserting a skewer or slim knife in the center. If it comes out clean, then the bread is done. Cool slightly before serving. Enjoy!!

photo by Amanda @Mandie's Sugar Bowl

        For dessert this year I added something new to the day. I made Chocolate Stout Cupcakes courtesy of Dave Lieberman at Food Network. I didn't change much as the recipe I used before Dave's was way too buttery. For this recipe I left out the salt with no repercussions. I also made a different butter-cream than Dave used. The result was sooooooo much better than my first attempt!! I also filled them with a chocolate ganache. The ganache part I have to tweak a bit more, but on the whole they came out fantastic! To top it all off I hand piped some chocolate Shamrocks for the occasion. All in all the evening was great. Everyone had a lot of laughs and a great time, which is the Irish way. I hope your St. Pats was great as well! Sláinte! (Cheers in Gaelic)

Crazy Holiday's

       I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Myself, we had a wonderful time with all our friends and family. I have a love/hate relationship with the holiday season. I love the anticipation of Christmas morning and seeing my kids faces at all the wonderful things that Santa and the family got for them. I love teaching them about the real meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it. I love the holiday music (even though they start playing it the day after Halloween. That I can do without.), putting up all of our decorations, the sights around town, just everything about the holiday I enjoy. 

       

       The hate part comes along with the enjoyment, as it does with most things. While I love entertaining and making a great tasting meal for my family, I hate the frazzle that comes with it. The worry if the turkey is going to come put just right, if the ham will be juicy enough (I still can't figure out why mine burned a little on top when I set the oven for cooler than called for. Even my in laws and my dad couldn't figure it out. Stumped by the Christmas piggie.), if everyone is going to like what you've made. I don't know if I'm alone in my concerns as most people are not as anal retentive as I am. All i can say is that while Christmas is my favorite holiday, I am never sad to see the tail lights of it either. I remain non committal about New Year's eve. 

       In all my frenzy this year, I of course made desserts for Christmas, holiday treats for my husbands partner at work and cupcakes for my daughters holiday party at school. I sent Oreo Cupcakes to school the day before winter vacay and they were a huge hit (so I must be doing something right, right?). I misremember where I got the recipe, but it was delicious and will stay in my arsenal. Besides, who can go wrong with Oreo's?! That delectable cookie should be a food group. I'm starting a petition. 

Add caption

 These tasty little buggers had Oreo chunks at the bottom of the liner. When you pour the batter in, they float to the top. You can also place the whole cookie on the bottom and it floats to the middle. Kind of like a Surprise cupcake. Chocolate and Oreos. You just can't go wrong with the two!

The icing is the standard Wilton Butter Cream icing, except I added ground up Oreo cookies (filling and all) to it at the end. I used my Magic Bullet system to grind up the sinful little things, but if you don't have the Magic Bullet or a likeness and don't feel like lugging out a huge grinder/blender then  you can just put the whole cookie in a gallon sized zip lock bag and crush them that way with a rolling pin. Either way, you're going to get ground up goodness. I should probably apologize to all the parents in my daughters class, since they got a sugar high. I'm not going to, but I least I had the thought to ;^)! 

       As much as I crap and complain about all that I have to do during the holiday's, I wouldn't trade one second of it for the satisfaction I get from seeing someones "bliss" face after I've made something good. Maybe I'm masochistic for enjoying the irritation and desperation of getting everything done on time. That bliss face makes it all worth it. So if that is wrong, I've never been so happy to be wrong! Bring. It. On! 

       The hubs and his partner had to "divorce" as they call it after Christmas this year. His company's way of keeping complacency down I guess. Kinda dumb in my mind. Lazy workers will be complacent with whoever they are with. But that's just me. His company, while being a big energy supplier, isn't really fast on the uptake if you catch my drift. Anyway, I digress. As a farewell to their "marriage" I told the hubs partner that I would make them tons of goodies so that they could part on speaking terms. This pleased all parties involved and the separation commenced. So off I went to fill the divorce order as I call it. I made them my fan favorite Oatmeal-Raisin-Chocolate Chip cookies, the requested Peanut Butter Revel Bars and a new recipe that I wanted to try out-Eggnog Cookies (think sugar cookies but made out of Eggnog and other yummy stuff.) His partner also requested my homemade Peanut Butter Cups. These I made just enough of for him alone. The cookies went to his wifey and their kiddos. She wrote me an email New Years eve and said that he ate them all and she hopes he gets sick! Gotta love that kind of props! She also asked if I could make her daughters birthday cake, so I don't think she was too put out! 

Sorry about the dark photo. Photog I am NOT.

I wanted to show how they glitter like real snow.

The Eggnog cookies come out spectacularly! The hubs is not a fan of eggnog, yet he could NOT stop eating those cookies. This was my first attempt at brush embroidery as well. I don't think i did too bad, but definitely room for improvement. Try, try again until you get it right I always say.The technique is a little time consuming, but so worth it in the end. After the icing was put on, I sprinkled edible glitter before the icing dried to make it look a little more like snow. Hubs partner and his family were super happy with them.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

I love making my peanut butter cups. The filling this time was a little more gooey than usual (don't know what happened there) but it worked for the general outcome of the product. Partner gobbled then up faster than you can say "mmmmmm" so I guess they were up to par!

        Much merry making was had this holiday season. Through all the spilled flour, cookies that were less than...well....they were less, all the smiles, my daughters stomach pyrotechnics from eating WAY too much, and the "Thanks. These were great," all the blood sweat and tears....OK well no blood was actually spilled during the making of this holiday, I still had a wonderful month with my family and friends. The good and the bad, I wouldn't have changed a minute of it, even when my daughter got sick. Hey what's a holiday without someone getting sick? I've never had one. There's was this one time, when my sister and I were little.....JUST kidding. she would do bodily harm to me if I went into that and I darn sure you don't want to read that. Let's just say our brother and I had a good laugh at her expense! Next year may be just as crazy, it may not. Crazy? I like crazy. We're real close, Crazy and I. It's the masochist in me. Happy New Year to you all!

Musical Puppy!!

I have always known that my youngest daughter Chelsea was a music lover because she would do a sort of dance in my belly whenever she heard music! My ribs knew she loved music as well. Her love of music has only grown since then. She will literally stop whatever she is doing and dance along when she hears a song or beat she likes. She is equally enamored of dogs. Big or small ones, it doesn’t matter. She starts out with “Mommy, its a DOG!!!” then takes a mad dash to go pet said quadruped. Being the parent I am I tell her to wait and ask the owner if she can pet the animal first, but even the furry set can’t resist an enthusiastic blonde haired sweetie with an ear to ear grin that literally oozes with happiness just because that animal exists.

    

     So when it came time to plan for her second birthday party, the theme was a no brainer…music and puppies. So I got to work on cutting out music notes and paw prints that were going to hang down with the balloons. I found a picture of a cute dog that I blew up and printed out for a rousing game of Pin The Paw on the Puppy and hand stitched a paw for a puppy version of Hot Potato. Then I hit the dilemma of what kind of cake was I going to do. I didn’t want to buy a special shaped pan in the event that she outgrows the four legged obsession. So while surfing the internet one day I came upon another blog one day by Bonobo Cakes. On there was this adorable shaped dog cake that she had done for a client and I thought that it would be perfect for my little girl!

  

    

         

     So I started building “Beethoven”. His flavors resemble a Cherry Cola Soda float. His cake is Coca Cola cake with a Cream Cheese filling and a Chocolate Cherry Buttercream Icing. His white musical notes spots and eyes are Cherry Buttercream.

 

 

 

     To say that my daughter was excited is a vast understatement! She saw the cake when it was all finished she jumped up and down saying dog over and over again. She didn’t quite understand that she couldn’t pet this particular dog or give his a kiss on the nose, but she loved it none the less! In the end I have to say that I was happy that I found this puppy that day. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of making him and making my daughter happy on her birthday. 

      The day of her party, she giggled and danced in her seat when she finally got to kiss Beethoven on the nose!

Cheeseburger cake for my Hubby!

           No one can accuse my husband of being a herbivore! Whenever we go out to eat there are 3 possibilities on any menu that he considers….Something Parmesan, Something BBQ and Cheeseburgers. Most times he gets the cheeseburger with fries.
 

            One day while perusing Food Network Magazine I saw a picture of a cake for the Cheeseburger lovers out there and naturally I thought of my husband. I was going to make it for his birthday but as with most things when I see something new I just HAVE to try it out right then and there. I am an unabashed instant gratification kind of girl when it comes to certain things! Luckily we were invited to a friends house for a BBQ so I decided to make it for them.
 

             I adapted the design a bit to match what my husband (or most people) likes to get on his burgers and added “tomatoes” and “pickles”. I then made “ketchup” and “mustard” bottles for our friend’s two kids. The result of all my hard work was better than I thought it would be and it was a HUGE hit. I have a few ideas for the next one I make which will make it the “deluxe” version.

with tomato, pickles, lettuce, mustard and Ketchup

Happily Ever After 6/10/11

     This past June, I had the opportunity to make my own wedding cake.  When I first set out to design and make the cake I was slightly apprehensive. A wedding cake is a daunting undertaking for someone who has never done one before. So I gathered all my materials and made the royal icing for the scroll work. When I started baking the cake, my confidence kicked in and I thought “I can do this” with a mental dance in my head that resembled the dance Rocky did when he reached the top of the steps. Anyone who has ever planned a wedding, whether is a small family affair such as mine or if it’s the big traditional wedding, knows the amount of stress that over comes the bride the week of the event.  So the mental Rocky dance was my way of calming down so to speak. When the whole cake was done I actually did a Rocky like dance in my kitchen, which amused my daughters and my husband to no end! In the end it was a lovely wedding with close family and friends accompanied by  a very tasty white and dark chocolate cake with a lemon curd and raspberry filling. The wedding cake did not defeat me after all, only made me stronger and excited to be able to do another one someday!