Scrumptious Sweets

December 6, 2016–“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”

I thought I was done for the year then requests from near and far started arriving to my inbox.

“Can you make me a banana nut cake with banana cream frosting?”–20 plus year friend and Colonel in the Army living in the DC area

“Come up with some deliciousness featuring hot chocolate.”–long time friend and Texas Judge living in Houston

“Doesn’t this Pumpkin Gingersnap Cheese Cake look good?!?!”–my Deputy, my Secretary and another employee

Since I have to see the people who work for me everyday I decided to satisfy their request. That being said, this is it for the remainder of the year. Travel and holidays will restrict my baking.  Oh, wait. I did promise to make a Bourbon Pecan Pie for Christmas….

December 1, 2016–What do you do when you can’t sleep?

You bake, of course!

Quadruple Chocolate Chip Cookies (QCCC). Chocolate cookies made with cocoa and espresso (1), melted semi-sweet chocolate (2), mini-semi-sweet chocolate chips (3) and white chocolate chips (4). Oooooo, I still have some of the salted bourbon caramel sauce left. Think I’ll bring that so people can drizzle some on top.

November 29, 2016–No sure if everyone picked up on the fact that yesterday’s Post said ‘Part 1’.  Well here is Part 2. The recipe from the November 2015 edition of Southern Living.  Their recipe only used lady fingers but I couldn’t find enough so I substituted. Once the substitution started I couldn’t stop resulting in the addition of cocoa, the espresso cream, espresso beans…instead of me talking just look at the pictures.

Pumpkin-Espresso Tiramisù

I started with a base layer of lady fingers.  Since I didn’t have enough lady fingers for the side I alternated with Pepperidge Farm Milano Dark Chocolate cookies.  The cookies were of course soaked in espresso coffee mixed with Brandy, Kahula, and Bailey’s Irish Cream.

I then poured a mixture of cream cheese, canned pumpkin, heavy cream, and vanilla bean paste on top

I then put another layer of espresso soaked Pepperidge Farm Milano Dark Chocolate cookies and topped those with some more of the cream cheese pumpkin mixture.  I then dusted the top with cocoa powder.

The next layer consisted of a whipped cream espresso mixture dusted with freshly grated nutmeg.  I know that ‘freshly grated nutmeg’ is a given but some people like to use the pre-grated stuff so I wanted to ensure the laymen understood. 🙂

I finally sprinkled the top with crushed chocolate covered espresso beans that I picked up from Trader Joe’s.

Although it took more than a day to make it was worth every…last…bite!!!

November 28, 2016–…in this case ‘are NOT the devil’s workshop’ but they did produce a devilish good dessert.

Pumpkin Roll with Bourbon Cream Cheese filling

Pumpkin cake with ginger, cloves, freshly grated nutmeg, and cinnamon.

I spread a thin layer of pumpkin cream cheese frosting (PCCF) then bourbon cream cheese filling with drizzles of PCCF.

Roll tightly, slice thinly and serve with bourbon cream cheese and pumpkin cream cheese frosting and salted caramel bourbon sauce!

November 21, 2016–I’ll forgo my usual loquacious description of the dessert I made and let the pictures speak for themselves.  It is for adults only!

I am unsure of where/how I came upon this recipe but it was definitely worth the effort.

You start by making the batter for chocolate cupcakes that besides the normal ingredients also contains a FULL CUP OF BOURBON!!  You now have a blank canvas of goodness.  But like any great artist, why stop there?!?!

You then cut a small hole in the top of each cupcake and remove the center.  You can use the scrapes to crumble on top of ice cream or just nosh on while you continue to assemble the cupcakes :-O.  You can’t leave the hole so you add a Bourbon butter pecan frosting (pecans were toasted w/bourbon & vanilla then mixed w/brown sugar, powder sugar, cinnamon & heavy cream).

Admittedly this looks a little sloppy so you should cover it with some Bourbon Buttered Pecan Frosting!

The recipe called for toping the whole thing with a whole pecan.  I went a step further and added maple Bourbon bacon.  Why?  Because EVERYTHING tastes better with bacon and you can NEVER have enough Bourbon!

I present to you Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Cupcakes w/Buttered Pecan Frosting topped with Bourbon Buttered Pecans and Bourbon Maple Bacon.  I told you it was for ADULTS ONLY!

October 3, 2016–On Friday one of my friends sends me a text out of the blue with the following message, “So no pumpkin creations to share? You’re slipping! 😝” I will not mention any names but she knows who she is!!!!

If she was saying these ‘harsh’ words I had to wonder, “ How many others thought the same?” I couldn’t let my reputation be tarnished so after a quick internet search, off to the local grocery store to buy the ingredients to make a fall dessert.

As I was making it, I realized that it could also serve as a halloween cake (add some marshmallow ghosts, candied skeletons and spiders, etc).  As I type I realize that I could have also left the cake completely orange, covered a banana, pineapple or some other cylindrical fruit with the chocolate, put the fruit in the middle and it would have looked like a pumpkin!

The cake batter has the pumpkin my friend wanted; turned it chocolate with cocoa. Icing is cream cheese, cocoa, heavy cream, confectioners sugar, etc and A LOT of orange food coloring.  If you didn’t know it takes a lot to turn something brown, orange but I wanted the cocoa flavor in the icing so….

Finally topped the whole thing with bittersweet chocolate mixed with some Grand Marnier.  Did I spell it right this time? You know who you are 🙂

NOTE: I have no idea what the final product tastes like. I will leave that for my office mates. That being said, the batter, frosting, and chocolate glaze all tasted good separately.

DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for, and expressly disclaim all liability for damages of any kind to yourself or computer (ie. damaging your screen and/or getting sick from licking your screen to see if you can taste the cake). I am not responsible for any weight gained due to you eating items to substitute for the that fact that you can’t eat this cake. Finally, I am not responsible for you being upset that you cannot taste the cake.

Enjoy the remainder of your Sunday.

May 31, 2016–I received a few emails complaining that I did not send a dessert picture last week, umm I was in Bogota.  After you see the pictures below I’m sure I will receive emails complaining that I sent the picture.  I can’t win for loosing. That being said, I think I over did it this time!!! You will see what I mean–sorry for the long description.

The first night I was in Colombia (it’s not Columbia) I had a chocolate mousse cake for dessert…but something was missing.  It bothered me the next five days until it hit me on the plane home.  Four things came to mind: caffeine, texture, tropical and kick.  Since I was leaving Colombia I decided to pay homage to this amazing country.

I knew I could use coffee and cocoa–some of the best come from Colombia. Caffeine 

Like the ruggedness of the Colombian Andes mountains I decided to satisfy texture with crushed Oreos and pecans. Texture 

Tropical came to mind because Colombia is bordered by two bodies of water–the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the north. Oranges are tropical and few things go better with chocolate than oranges so I will use orange zest and candied oranges which due to the sugar will also add some texture. Two for one. Tropical and Texture  

Now I know the coffee provides some kick but I needed something more.  Oooh, how about some Grand Mariner? Tropical due to the orange flavor and kick due to the alcohol content. Another two for one. Texture and Kick  

Now how should I incorporate all of these items into a chocolate mousse cake?  I dubbed my version Escalera al Cielo de Chocolate (Stairway to Chocolate Heaven) but some will call it La Muerte por el Chocolate (Chocolate Death).

I added some brewed Colombian coffee and pecans to a Devil’s Food cake.  I made this type of cake because ‘Devils Breath’ is the most dangerous drug in the world which happens to come from Colombia.  It was thicker than I thought so I cut it in half.  Stair 1 complete.  Get it…Stairway to Chocolate Heaven 🙂

For Stair 2, I made an Oreo level with finely ground Colombian coffee grounds.  I then brushed it with a mixture of fresh squeezed OJ and Grand Mariner.

I next made a chocolate mousse with Colombian chocolate, heavy whipped cream, orange zest and some fresh squeezed OJ, from the oranges I zested, mixed with Grand Mariner.  Plus a little more Grand Mariner.  You’ve just stepped up to Stair 3.

Now what should I do with this other orange that I bought?  Hmmm?  I know, to add a little more texture I put some candied Orange peel on top of the mousse. Can anyone say Stair 4?

I still had some fresh squeezed OJ and Grand Mariner remaining so I soaked the top half of the cake in it.  I know, right, but as the saying goes, “Waste not, want not.”  Stair 5, done.  We’re almost there!

Now, that doesn’t look very pretty so I guess I should add another stair.  What do I have?  Chocolate, orange zest, Grand Mariner.  I know, I will make a chocolate icing with these ingredients and cover the entire cake!  Stair 6 is done and so am I.  At least I thought so.

As I’m cleaning up and by that I mean licking the chocolate off of all of the utensils and bowls, I realized that this dessert has a lot of chocolate in it.  Sure the Grand Mariner and oranges will give the taste buds a little break from the chocolate but it still may be too much. I know some of you are saying, “You can never have too much chocolate!”

While I agree, seven is a lucky number so one more stair here we go.  Everything is gone so what can I do.  Hmm, I was planning to use the remainder of the heavy cream in my coffee but decided instead to make a Grand Mariner whipped cream with it instead.  It’s like the color of another Colombian export  and should add some non-chocolate flavor to the experience.

With that, Stair 7 is complete!  Caffeine, tropical, kick and texture…check, check, check, and check.

I never eat my desserts but my office mates say it is pretty tasty

May 16, 2016–I will let the pictures speak for themselves–six layers of awesomeness!!

Chocolate Tart

Start with a Oreo cookie crust

Add a layer of homemade caramel

Followed by a layer of Graham Cracker crumbs

Then a layer of melted white chocolate

Covered with peanut butter–oops, it sanked a little

Cover the entire thing with chocolate

Enjoy 

May 9, 2016–…is what I hear you saying as you look at the picture 🙂

Limoncello cheesecake bites w/limoncello & lemon frosting and candied lemon peel

Scene setter: So I’ve had three bottles of limoncello that I brought back from Tuscany when I took my cooking vacation.  Picture an updated version of the movie Under the Tuscan Sun; without the birds ;-)–cooking and eating amazing food, drinking wine, great conversation all with a picturesque scenery serving as the backdrop.

But I digress.  Besides drinking limoncello, which by no means is a bad thing; I wanted to do something different.  Sticking with the ‘lemon theme’ from last week I decided to make a dessert with limoncello.

Nothing like combining two good things (dessert and alcohol) into one even better thing.  Enjoy, the picture not the actual dessert; unless you have a 3D printer or live in Miami 🙂

I’ve had numerous requests to make something with chocolate so stay tuned…

May 6, 2016–Lemon Icebox pie w/graham cracker crust and meringue

I made the blueberry lemon bread and lemon cookies for my friends the other day. Made the bread many times but it was the first time I’ve made the cookies–I will DEFINITELY make them again. They are both topped with a glaze made from lemon juice, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla. I’ll continue to test out recipes for your arrival 🙂