Tiramisu

I've made this Tiramisu twice so far, and at each dinner party it's gotten rave reviews.  So here is my version of a Tiramisu.  I've made it the old school hard core way with using egg yolks, and this is actually better! Plus you don't have to waste any egg whites. I also found most people do not like the taste of soaked lady fingers, which I wasn't a huge fan of either.  Using a Brush and barely dipping the lady fingers gave them the flavor and a little moisture without being dripping wet.  

1 cup of brewed strong coffee brewed (3 heaping tablespoons of fresh ground French roast, brewed in a small French press for 5 minutes. Then poured in a bowl.)

1 container of Trader Joe’s heavy whipping cream – 16 ounce bottle

4 tablespoons of Torani vanilla syrup (can substitute white sugar and vanilla extract)

2 tbsp instant espresso powder (Medaglia D Oro Espresso powder - seen at Fresh and Easy and Good News cooking store) 

2 cup of milk

1 - 8 ounce container of mascarpone cheese softened to room temperature (trader joe's) 

¼ cup sugar

1 pack of vanilla jello instant pudding mix for 6 cups of pudding

¼ cup dark rum or kahlua

24 lady fingers

1 hand full of dark chocolate chips (about ¾ cup)

Makes 1 tiramisu for a party of 8-10 people

Brew the coffee and pour into a bowl.  Set aside.  In a bowl for the electric mixer, pour the entire bottle of heavy whipping cream.  Using an electric mixer, (use the whisk attachment if using a kitchenaid) beat the heavy cream.  Stream in 4 tablespoons of vanilla syrup while it is mixing.  Beat until the consistency of whip cream.  Peaks can be made in the cream.  Taste the cream if the consistency and sweetness is to your liking.  Once it is ready, pour mixture into a side bowl.   Scrape bowl with a rubber spatula but no need to wash out.   Measure out 2 cups of milk into a bowl or liquid measuring cup.  Add the instant expresso.  Mix until dissolved and incorporated. Change the attachment to the flat beater if using a kitchen aid (keep the regular beaters on with a hand mixer) and beat the mascarpone and the ¼ cup sugar together.   Pour in the vanilla jello mix.   Stream in the espresso milk ¼ cup at a time.  Beat until smooth.  Once all the milk is poured in, mix for about another minute.  Then take half of the whipped cream and mix into the coffee custard until incorporated.  Stop and set aside. 

Assemble:

Take a lady finger, and the bowl of coffee.  Quickly dip each side of cookie in the coffee.  Do not soak! Maybe one second on each side.  Then, place in the 8 x 8 glass container.   I found about 8 lady fingers fit on each layer.  I did have to break one ladyfinger on each layer to make them fit, FYI.  Take a brush, dip the brush into the rum or kahlua, then brush each of the lady fingers.  I find the dabbing motion worked best.  Then place half the coffee custard mix over the top of the lady fingers and spread to coat and form a single layer.  Dip each cookie again in coffee and place on top of the mixture forming a single layer using another 8 lady fingers.  Take a brush, and dip in the rum or kahlua.  Brush the lady fingers with the alcohol. Then spread the coffee cream again.  Do the last layer of lady fingers dipped in coffee, brush the cookies with the alcohol, then on top spread the rest of the reserved whipped cream and spread to form a single layer.  Top by sprinkling chocolate chips.  For a more traditional look, dust with cocoa powder.  

Mochachino Cookies

Mochachino Cookies

These were quite popular with my coworkers.  They came out thin, crisp, yet a little chewy

½ cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp milk

2 tbsp instant espresso powder – Medaglia D'Oro Instant Espresso Coffee (I have seen this available at Bristol Farms, Good News!, Amazon). 

½ tsp salt

½ tsp of baking soda

½ tsp of baking powder

1 ½ cups flour

1 ¼ cup dark chocolate chips (Ghirardelli)

Parchment paper

Heat oven to 375

Cream wet ingredients: Butter, sugars, and egg until smooth.  Then add vanilla, milk, and espresso powder.  Mix until smooth.  Add the espresso powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until smooth.  Then add the flour a half cup at a time until full incorporated.  Last, add the chocolate chips until mixed.  Stop mixing.  Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Using a cookie scoop or rounded teaspoon, scoop the dough onto the parchment paper covered cookie sheets.   These cookies expand, so I only put 9 per pan instead of 12.  Bake for 10-11 minutes.   The cookie dough will already have a golden brown color because of the espresso, so you have to bake them until they are set, but they will brown just a little more.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes 3 dozen. 

Note: regular instant coffee can be substituted for instant espresso.  The darker the better.

Citrus Roasted Turkey

Happy New Year everyone!  Last blog post of the year.  I made this really yummy turkey for my Holiday Party.  It came out nice and moist, and got positive reviews by my friends.  

 

Citrus Turkey

• 1 (12-pound) turkey, with giblets
• 1 stick = 1/2 cup butter softened at room temperature – leave it out the day prior
• 2 lemons, zested
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 4 basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon of dried tarragon
• 1 – 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 – 3 oranges, halved

·         Take the turkey out of the refrigerator and leave it to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes prior to preparing and cooking. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

·         Remove the rosemary from the sprig, and dice.  Also finely chop the basil.  Zest the lemons if you have not done so already.

·         In a mixing bowl, add the 1/2 cup softened butter, lemon zest, fresh chopped herbs, and dried seasoning. Halve the lemons and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon half into the butter. Stir to combine. Season with salt and crushed pepper.

·         Prepare the turkey: Remove the inner packet of giblets from the cavity and set aside.

·         This is horrifying but had to be done.  Run your fingers and hand underneath the skin of the breast and separate the skin and the flesh. From the skin under the breast,   also go to the sides of the bird to the legs/ dark meat, and separate the skin and meat there as well with your fingers. 

·         Using your fingers, scoop up some of the lemon-chive butter and push the butter under the skin, rubbing the meat and spreading the herbed butter. Do the same thing on the legs. Continue until all the butter is as even distributed as possible.  Pat the outside of the bird and squish the butter with fingers and hand to distribute. If there are any leftovers, take the rest of the butter and rub it all over the outside of the bird. Sprinkle the bird with salt and pepper.

·         Stuff the cavity with Citrus:  Squeeze the other lemon on the inside of the turkey cavity. Also give the orange a squeeze into the cavity as you stuff it. Insert as much of the citrus as you can. Give each piece a little squeeze as you insert them to get the juices distributed, plus the juices steam and help cook the turkey from the inside. 

·         Tuck the wings under the turkey.  If the turkey legs are not already tied together, go ahead and do that as well with twine. 

·         Cover up most of the bird – not the cavity – with aluminum foil

·         Place the turkey in the 450 degree preheated oven and cook for 1 hour. (most people say to only do this for 20-30 minutes, but I did an hour and it turned out fine).

·         Turn down the heat to 350 degrees F and roast for about another 2 hours, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 175 to 180 degrees F.  I started measuring the temperature after the inserted turkey thermometer popped out of the turkey.  The general rule is to cook a turkey about 15 minutes per pound. My bird did take longer because I basted a few times and my turkey was still cold when it went in… total cook time for my 11.5 pound bird was 4 hours.

·         Remove the foil from the bird during the last hour and a half of cooking

·         Remove the bird from the pan onto a carving board or platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Peanutbutter and Toffee Chip Cookies

I did 4 modifications to a recipe found on the package of chips.  It all ended up working out nicely and these did bake up beautifully. 

Peanut butter and Toffee Chip Cookies

Wet Ingredients:

1 and 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

½ cup shortening

¾ cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

Dry ingredients:

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

2 cups flour

1 pack of heath bar toffee chips divided.  Package contains about 1 and 1/3 cups.  Reserve 1 cup for the batter, 1/3 cup for the topping.  This pack had the chocolate and toffee.  I have also hand chopped toffee bars before if the pack is not available. 

Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 375

Cream / mix together all wet ingredients until smooth.   Then Add the dry ingredients: baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Add the flour in one cup at a time.  Mix until smooth.  Then add the toffee chips.  Place the 1/3 cup of toffee chips in a bowl or a small plate. With a rounded teaspoon (or cookie dough scoop), scoop dough.   Take the dough and make a smooth ball in your hands.  Then gently press the dough into the extra toffee chips, on one side only.  Place the dough extra chips side up on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Do not overbake.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, around 4 minutes or 5.  Then move the cookie using a metal spatula from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack. 

Nuts Over Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nuts over Chocolate Chip Cookies

This cookie was a pretty big hit at work!

Frances, I hope you can make this recipe some time! This one goes out to you =)






Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Filling:
1 ¼ cup pecan halves, chopped
1 cup semi sweet chips (I used Nestle)
1 cup bittersweet chips (I used Ghirardelli)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

I like to use a kitchenaid stand mixer. If you are using a mixer, use that bowl with the wet ingredients first. But you can also do this by hand. Beat the eggs and butter together, than add the sugars and vanilla. Beat until fluffy and fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Then slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, mixing and fully incorporating each time. Take the pecan halves and place them on a cutting board. Using a knife, chop the pecans, running your knife through them several times. It doesn’t have to be fine, but a thorough chopping so there are still chunks. Mix this into the dough thoroughly, then add the chocolate chips. I prefer to make slightly bigger cookies, and use a heaping tablespoon cookie scoop. I also use parchment paper over my cookie sheets to make sure they don't stick, plus the backs of the cookies come out better anyway. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool for at least two minutes on the cookie tray, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen medium sized cookies.

This dough freezes well. It works really well if you make balls of dough, then you can just place the cookie dough balls in a freezer bag or tupperwear and store them in the freezer. Then when you are ready, place the frozen cookie dough ball on your cookie sheet and bake right into the oven. Just increase the bake time by a minute or two.

Hail Caesar Salad

Editors note: The salad I made this weekend was for two people for a generous salad, or 3 people for a side salad with one head of romaine lettuce. We had extra dressing, but the croutons were a perfect amount for two people using the demi batard. So if you want to make a bigger salad to serve more, I would say use more lettuce, and use a bigger baguette.

I also did not take any pictures of the salad, but I thought it came out really good so I wanted to write the recipe out anyway.

Caesar Salad Dressing, serves 4

2 anchovies from a can
juice of ½ a lemon
1/3 cup mayo
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons of canola oil
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar (red wine vinegar would work as well)
Dash of salt and pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Place all ingredients in a blender, and blend until incorporated.

Fresh Croutons, serves 2-3

1 demi batard or mini baguette bread
3 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp of Italian seasoning blend
1 minced clove of garlic

In a very small bowl place the EVOO, Italian seasoning, and garlic in a bowl. Mix with a fork. Slice the bread in half lengthwise. Drizzle or brush the olive oil mixture on the inside part of the cut bread. Toast whole face up in either a toaster oven or oven at 400 degrees until golden around the edges. While still hot, use a knife to cut into small bite sized pieces.

1 head of romaine for 2 people, 2 heads for 4.

If you don’t use bagged prewashed lettuce, cut, wash, and dry romaine. Place the lettuce into a salad bowl. Pour the dressing on top and toss to coat. Add an additional ¼ cup of shredded parmesan cheese, and top with the croutons. Toss lightly and serve immediately.