Oreo Truffles

This cookie is so rich and so easy to make it's sinful. There is no need for a long introduction.  Simply, roll and indulge.

Ingredients:

2  18 oz packages of Double Stuff Oreos (R)
2 8 oz packages Cream Cheese, softened
3 lbs White Chocolate Candy discs (easiest to find at Michael's stores)
1/2 pound dark chocolate morsels or bar of dark chocolate

Method:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, crush the cookies until they become fine, almost like flour. 

2.  Place crushed oreos in the bowl of a mixer, and slowly beat in the cream cheese.  The dough will be soft.  Place it in the refrigerator for an hour to chill. 

3.  Pinch off 1 inch of dough at a time and roll into a ball.  Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment.  As each sheet fills, place it in the freezer for at least an hour.

4.  Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly each time.  When the chocolate is thin and smooth, it is ready to dip.  Using a plastic fork with the center tines removed, dip each frozen truffle in the white chocolate.  Place it on another baking sheet lined with parchment.  When the sheet is full, place it back in the freezer for about an hour.

5.  When the white chocolate is hardened, remove from the freezer and melt the dark chocolate 30 seconds at a time in the microwave, stirring thoroughly each time.  When the chocolate is thin and smooth, it is ready to drizzle.  Drizzle dark chocolate over truffles.   Keep truffles chilled until ready to serve.  

Nutritional Info: based on an approximate yield of 150 truffles

• Calories 115,
• Protein (gm) 2,
• Carbohydrate (gm) 13,
• Fat, total (gm) 7,

Lemon Raspberry Squares

I can't truly take credit for this recipe.  The base recipe was given to me by the one and only Liz Young. I merely tweaked it for the Christmas season.  Lemon squares are tart and sweet and adding raspberry jam adds a layer of tanginess to this recipe that makes it fresh and fun.

Lemon squares are incredibly easy to make as long as you have the right pan and you make a good crust.

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Confectioners sugar
1 cup Cold butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup Seedless raspberry jam

Lemon Curd:
4 Large eggs
2 cups Sugar
1/3 cup Fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp Lemon zest
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Thoroughly grease the sides and bottom of a 9x13 glass pan.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, blend the flour and confectioners sugar.  Add the butter 1 cube at a time to the mixture.  The mixture will become crumbly. Do not overmix and form a solid dough.

2.  Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, and all the way to the edges.  Pat the crust down until it becomes a more solid dough.  Make sure you get the crust all the way to the edge of the pan. Attempt to have it bond with the glass pan.  Place dough in oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until crust turns a golden brown color.  Set aside, let it cool.

3.  When the crust has cooled, warm the half cup of jam in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Spread the jam evenly over the crust.

4.  In the bowl of a mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest until fully combined.  Add the flour and baking powder.  Whisk until fully combined, scraping down the bowl if necessary.  Pour the lemon curd over the crust.  Make sure it is spread evenly across the crust.

5.  Place lemon squares in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until curd sets.  Allow squares to cool overnight before trying to depan.

Nutritional info based on 48 squares from a 9x13 pan

107 calories

16.5 g carbs

4.3 g fat

1.2 g protein

A Weekend Baking Extravaganza

Christmas cookies are a big deal to me.  I bake around 500 cookies to give away to family, friends, clients and neighbors.  Although I should probably start picking my favorites and making them again each year, thus far, I change it up every year.

This year began with 5 cookies in mind.  A quick facebook poll landed me on:
Lemon Pistachio Shortbread
Lemon Raspberry Squares
White Chocolate Peppermint Bark Brownies
Oreo Truffles
Amaretto Truffles

I ultimately scrapped the last cookie because I was so tired already, but nonetheless, I still ended up making nearly 500 cookies.  From now until Christmas, I'll post a recipe a day for each cookie.  Today, we'll start with Lemon Pistachio Shortbread.  Shortbread itself is not an overwhelmingly sweet cookie.  The pistachios and lemon in this cookie make the flavor more complex than traditional shortbread.  This cookie is great with coffee or tea.

Ingredients:

For Cookies:
1 1/2 cups Butter (3 sticks), softened
1/2 cup (heaping) Confectioners sugar
1 tsp Lemon Zest
1 tsp Vanilla extract
3 cups Flour
1 cup Ground pistachio
1/2 tsp Salt

For Glaze:
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 - 1/2 cup Confectioners sugar

Method:
1.  If for times sake, you need to make these in one day, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.   If you are just making the dough today and baking tomorrow,  skip to step 2.
2.  In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in lemon zest and vanilla extract
3.  With the mixer running on low, add in pistachio, flour and salt and mix until fully combined.  Do not overmix or the dough will get hard.

...as an aside.  Normally with shortbread I will knead and roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter to finish these.  For Christmas cookies, I always want to go the easiest, fastest way, which is the roll and slice method.

4.  If you are baking today, take small sections of dough and roll into a log, about a 1 inch to 2 inches in diameter, depending on how big you want your cookie.  As you finish each section, place it in the freezer to let it harden up a little while you work on the other sections. If you are baking another day, wrap the log in saran wrap and place it in the refrigerator to cool overnight.
5. After the dough is a little bit firmer, slice the dough into circular cookies.  A batch should yield at least 40 cookies, depending on how big you made the diameter of the log.
6. Bake on a lined cookie sheet in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges get slightly golden.
7.  Cool the cookies fully to room temperature.  To make the glaze, mix lemon juice and confectioners sugar.  Drizzle over cookies.

Nutritional info:
118 calories
9.5 g carbs
8.3 g fat
1.675 g protein

Guest Room 101

Every guest room must be equipped with:

A bed.
A place to sit.
A place to put some stuff.
Books.

Our guest room was probably the least offensive original color. 

 

The cobalt blue wasn't too bad.  What was bad?  The amount of paint on that poor ceiling.  And, the thick, gloopiness of the paint.  It was so thick it was cracking and peeling off. 

It was the second room we painted, but this was the color that took the longest to grown on me.  After we were done, I wasn't sure about it.   

The color was called Key Lime.  It had more of an electric tone than I was prepared for, but after we added the bed and some accessories, it got much, much better.

Now, future guests will have a place to sleep.  Eventually, the bookcase will be refinished and stocked and a reading chair will be available.

But, Chez Riley is now open enough for business. 

Just try to withhold judgment on the bathroom...we'll be starting on the bathroom in January.

A Time to Remodel

One of the main reasons I haven't been doing much baking or blogging these days is that 90% of my free time has gone into remodeling our house.

We bought a house built in 1917 and have slowly been trying to reverse the years of poor care and maintenance.

For today, I'll begin with the first room we redid.  John's office was an upstairs bedroom that very obviously belonged to a girl in love with Pink and Purple:

Not only was the room pink AND purple, it was shiny.  And they painted over the light switch and outlet covers and the switches and outlets themselves.  This room was the first room we painted and we soon realized that it was the start of many, many weekends and nights spent painting.

One bonus for all of the main rooms?  It came with beautiful, knotty pine ceilings.  The drawback?  The previous owners got paint all over them.  So we've had to slowly sand out the mistakes, re-stain and re-polyurethane each spot.

But all for a good cause:

After 2 days of painting, we have a nice, neutral soothing room in Gentle Rain (basically a dove gray), that suits John very nicely.

This room will be revisited after we get the art on the walls and the new floor down.  I don't really want to highlight the awful berber carpet we have going on right now.

Cinnamon Walnut Blondies

This is my take on the Applebee's Famous Maple Butter Blondies:

Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, divided
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
10 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 in baking pan with foil and butter or grease the foil. Set aside.
2.  In a food processor, blend 1/2 cup of walnuts.  Do not make into a fine powder, but rather pulse only until you get small pieces of walnut.  Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Pulse until well mixed.
3.  Meanwhile, beat the butter and brown sugar until it is light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, 1 at a time, until they are completely incorporated.  Add in the vanilla.
4.  Add the flour/walnut mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined.  Add the remaining walnuts.
5.  Using a spatula, also buttered/greased, spread the batter evenly in the pan.  It will be sticky, so be patient! Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven or until the blondies spring back evenly.

These blondies are great with coffee, hot chocolate or just by themselves!

Holy Crap

It's been nearly 8 months since I've posted! 

Funny how time flies.  In my defense, I got married, bought a house, and have been super busy with my business.  That said, there is no excuse. 

This week, stay tuned for:

Cinnamon Walnut Blondies
Pumpkin Scones
House Remodel Updates