Salty Peanut Brownies

Salty Peanut Brownies

After watching an episode of Anne Thornton’s “Dessert First” I wanted to give these a try.

Oh my . . . this is what I got . . .

Hard, dry brownies, with a layer of dee-licious peanut butter filling and salted peanuts, topped with a thick layer of chocolate ganache.

I did as some of the reviewers suggested and made additional ganache for the top layer. That was a good idea. And the center layer, the peanute butter buttercream was delicious! That part of the recipe is a keeper. But despite using an oven thermometer so I kenw my temperature was correct, following the recipe exactly, and even cutting down on the baking time, I ended up with a dry, icky browniew layer. About as far from "fudgey" as one could get! I think I would make these again, but use my favorite box brownie mix. It would be much taller - you certainly could not bake and make the entire product in a 9 x 13 sheet pan. Maybe that should have been the first clue that these were going to be very flat brownies. . . .
But everyone else that reviewed this recipe on the Food Network loved it (it got 5 stars), so I must have done something wrong. But what?????

I advise eating these only if you have your own teeth!
However, they do photograph well.

Dee-vil Dogs

Dee-vil Dogs!

The east coast may have Devil Dogs, but the west coast has Dee-vil Dogs! This was my first time using my Canoe Cake Pans. How fun! I baked devils' food cake, and piped them full of vanilla marshmellow cream filling. They are yummy!

 

I have seen these exact pans by Norpro selling packaged as "Twinkie Kits" for up to $99.00. How crazy is that? You can find them on Amazon.com for under $20.00.

Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Salted Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Today I made Salted Caramel Apple cupcakes. Inside the apple cake is a gooey caramel center. I topped them with cream cheese frosting, drizzled them with some salted caramel, then sprinkled with coarse sea salt. This only made 14 cupcakes, the exact number I need for the COW Club, so I won't get to taste these unless someone isn't there tomorrow. But, the batter was good! Using these tulip shaped cupcake liners lets you add more batter to each cupcake paper without it spilling out, so they are bigger than my standard cupcakes.

We'll see what the tasters say!

Peepsicles!

Easter Bunny Peepsicle

Just when you thought Peeps couldn't get any sweeter! The classic Easter Bunny Peep, on a stick, then dipped in white or chocolate and covered with sprinkles. Individually wrapped and ready to tuck into any Easter basket.

Whoopie Pies!

Mini Whoopie Pies

"A whoopie pie's a wondrous thing,

like newborn pups or early spring.

It fills the mouth with rapture sweet,

This yummy chocolate sandwich treat."

                                                                      -  Anonymous

I recently got a Babycakes Whoopie Pie maker  . . . for FREE!  So, I had to try it. Since I had all the ingredients already at home, I decided to make the classic devil's food with vanilla filling.

The whoopie pie maker is kind of along the lines of a George Foreman grill, or one of those sandwich makers. You just plug it in, wait for it to heat up, pour in your batter, close the lid, and 2 minutes later you have 12 little baby whoopie pie halves! It took 3 batches befoe I got decent looking ones, which was an acceptable amount of learning tiome. I didn't waste too much batter. Although the instruction booklet and the instruction on their website don't agree (one said use a teaspoon of batter - the other said one tablespoon) I found neither measurement to be correct. One teaspoon gave tiny little rounds that didn't even fill the cavity, and a tablespoon made slightly bigger rounds that still didn't fill the cavity. I finally put the batter into a large piping bag and just squirted in enough to fill the bottom of each little well. Perfect! They're so cute!

I used the "Creamy Vanilla Filling" recipe from the booklet, but added half of a fresh vanilla bean to it. Yum! There is a big whoopie pie debate going on about what whoopie pies should actually be filled with. A marshmallow-tpye filling or more of a creamy-frosting-y type filling. I chose what I think is actually the traditional, the creamy vanilla. The little booklet included with this maker includes recipies for both, as well as several other fillings like chocolate and cream cheese. It also several recipes for different whoopie pie flavors, such as vanilla, chocolate, red veltet and pumpkin. It evn has directions for converting a box cake mix.

And yes, I know you don't need an official "Whoopie Pie Maker" to bake whoopie pies. You can use a plain old cookie sheet with parchment paper. What I like about the maker, though, is that you get the same size everytime - no trying to match different sized tops and bottoms. I like them to look perfect! And since it makes mini sized pies, it would be no trouble at all to make a few different flavors and not feel too bad about trying more than one.

So, I am very happy with my new gagdet! The Babycakes company also has makers for cupcakes, cake pops, and donuts, which you can check out on their website HERE. I have read mixed reviews on some of them, but I have to say I am happy with the Whhopie Pie maker! These are also sold locally at WalMart and Kohls.



Cupcake Pop

Oreo Truffle Cupcake Pop

Well, by now, thanks to Bakerella and her book, we all know and love cake balls and cake pops! Even Wilton has gotten in on the act with their new book, called Pops! Sweets on a Stick. And I just discovered something really cool - a cupcake shaped mold! Now that makes life a whole lot easier if you want to make the actual cupcake shape! And the molds are very affordable! Check them out at My Little Cupcake Pop.

So this rainy Sunday I tried a batch using the Oreo Truffle recipe. I think you have to make things once to learn what you need to do to make the actually look good the next time you make them. But since it had been so long since my last post, I decided to show you, even though they are not perfect, and my photo is bad. But you get the idea. And the possibilities, both for flavors and designs are endless.