Milky Way Frosting

We are stuck at home in the land of Spring Breakers...traffic is horrendous and going out is highly undesirable!  The teen was looking longingly at the few snacks we had left and walked away dejectedly without making a choice.  I've been loading him up on fruits and healthy choices this week and I could tell....he was hankering for a sweet.

I made some box mix yellow cupcakes and thought we'd just eat them plain...until he said "where's the frosting?"  I said, all I have is a can of cream cheese frosting that I bought to make cake pops...you can open that if you want frosting.  He did and we both slathered a cupcake and bit into it...yuck!  I haven't had canned frosting in a lonnnnggg time.  It was awful!  I threw mine in the trash.  He opted for the bare ones and headed to the man cave.  He better enjoy it, tomorrow is house cleaning day and the man cave is getting aired out!

I looked into my baking cabinet to see if anything stirred me.  I saw two Milky Way bars that I'd bought a couple of weeks ago and forgotten.  That brought to mind an old frosting recipe that I've made for a Milky Way Cake...and I remembered it set up really well, and wondered if it would maybe be pipeable (is that a word?).

I had everything I needed, so got to work to find out if it would hold up to piping!

Milky Way Frosting

Ingredients:

2 Milky Way bars (regular size)
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
12 ounces powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Method:

Cut up butter and Milky Way bars into tablespoon sized slices and put in a small saucepan over medium heat. 

Stir frequently and vigorously with a heat-resistant spatula, pressing the Milky Way pieces to hurry the melting process - they never get all the way melted I've found....but that's okay.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, with beater attachment, pour in the powdered sugar and give it a few whirls to make sure all the lumps are out...I've never sifted this recipe and didn't today.

Add the melted chocolate and butter mixture and blend until you have a heavily crumbly mess.  Add the vanilla extract and the whipping cream, 1 teaspoon at a time.  Beating on high medium after each addition.  Today it took about 3 or 4 teaspoons of cream.  I pull the beater up and when the shape holds, I know I'm "there".

Prepare a piping bag with a large coupler and large tip and stand it in a tall glass.  Fold the cuff down and fill the bag with the frosting.  I played with a couple of tips - a Wilton 1M and Wilton 4B.  I will say, I'm not the best at piping...but I don't have a lot of opportunity to practice.  We like cupcakes way too much...I'm going to have to visit the neighbors with cupcake gifts again as it is.  If I don't, our butts won't fit out the door come Monday.

This piped really well, but didn't "finish" well - the stars at the end didn't break gracefully, I nearly had to pinch them off. 

So, this might not be the best piping material...but it is quite tasty, albeit very sweet.  I might try a sprinkle of cinnamon in the mix next time. to give it a little warmth...and I am not sure what to do about the refusal to release...maybe have some snippers handy :-)

Whatever the outcome, it was fun to try my hand at topping cupcakes again.  I'll keep trying until I get it eventually!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

SHARED WITH:

Scarlet Snapper for Two!

The teen has been begging for some snapper so we ducked into Quik Stop in Port Isabel and picked up a lovely piece of Scarlet Snapper that I thought was just right to feed two people...two normal people. 

I cooked it up with some orzo for dinner tonight...I took 1/3, gave him 2/3...and still he asks "is there more snapper?"

O.M.G.

A nice piece of fish, delicious orzo, a salad, garlic toast, fresh blackberries and whipped cream for dessert...I was beyond full.  Oh yeah, the teen won't eat salad ...oh well...what's a mom to do?  I just shrugged and offered him my fish skin...he loves it, me not so much.  He smiled.

Scarlet Snapper with Orzo

Ingredients:

1-2 quarts water
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup whole wheat orzo pasta
2 tablespoons diced onion
Kosher Salt
2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil if prefer)

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup EVOO
1/2 white onion, diced
2-3 tablespoons chiffonade of fresh basil
1-2 green onions, split and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic - through a garlic press
1 filet of Scarlet Snapper - skin on
Lemon Pepper to Taste
1/2 lemon thinly sliced
1/2 lemon reserved

Method:

Bring water and chicken broth to boil in a 3 qt saucepan.  Add salt, chopped onion, and orzo pasta.  Bring back to boil, reduce heat to medium and boil for 8 minutes.  Drain, add 2 tablespoons of butter, and stir.

While orzo is cooking, add butter and EVOO to large skillet over medium high heat.  Add diced onion, 1/2 of the basil, 1/2 of the green onion and garlic to pan, cook for 2-3 minutes.   Push veg to the side and add the Scarlet Snapper filet to the pan, skin side down.  Place lemon slices on top of fish.  Cover pan with lid.  Cook until lower half of fish is turning white.  Move lemon slices off to the side and flip fish, scooting it to the side of the pan. 

Add orzo to pan and stir in the the rest of the onion and basil.  Lemon pepper the fish and return the lemon slices to the top of the skin side of the fish, return the lid to the pan and cook until fish is done (the entire fish cooking time took about 10-12 minutes for a .80 pound piece of fish).

Plate the orzo and place the fish on top of the orzo.  Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the fish and serve.

Awesomely delicious!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

SHARED WITH:

Roasted Shrimp with Farro Pilaf

I had never heard of the grain "farro" until a year or so ago.  Giada DeLaurentiis made a cold salad with farro and said it was a favorite.  I tucked it into the back of my mind...never seeing it on the shelves here, nor in Austin.  Then, I asked Mr. Flip Flop to stop in at Central Market bulk section and see if they had it there...if so, would he bring me a pound?  He arrived with that, and the rest of my wish list, in hand.  As I unpacked I nearly had a heart attack!  $11.99 per pound...I was guessing in the $4 to $5 per pound range...as I had learned it was an "old grain" and was a type of wheat.  The price on the small ziplock bag was over $13.00 so I turned and said "OMG, I had no idea this cost so much...call me next time if it seems out of line!"  He said he was certainly shocked, but I'd asked and he'd delivered.  (good man that he is!)  I am now pondering how to use this bit of Italian gold.

I searched recipes - found lots of soups, a few cold salads...spaghetti made out of farro...aka spelt.  Ahhh, okay, now that is a more familiar word!  I've seen spelt flour in the specialty flour section at the grocery store and it felt like a more common term...although it really isn't a "common" grain in wide use here in the United States...at least not in my part of the U.S.!  Farro is apparently the Italian word for spelt or emmer.  I decided to investigate a bit further...and found this on the USDA's website.

"Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccon), also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. It was widely cultivated in the ancient world, but is now a relict crop in mountainous regions of Europe and Asia." (Source)

Most searches for recipes had a fairly standard method of cooking...somewhere in the 1:3 or 3.5 ratio of farro to liquid...and most suggested 20-30 minutes of cooking time, yielding a firm to the teeth cooked grain.   Some sources recommended soaking it overnight and others recommended toasting it in oil prior to adding the liquid and boiling, much in the manner of rice...bring to boil, reduce heat, put a lid on it and leave it alone.

I decided I wanted to treat it in a pilaf sort of method, hoping the teen might eat it.  He hates rice (do you know how hard it is to cook with no rice products???) but loves orzo...so I've got my fingers crossed.

I am hoping by serving it with one his favorites, shrimp, he might be inclined to give it a go. 

Here's what I came up with:

ROASTED SHRIMP WITH FARRO PILAF
by Debbi Hook
(with a nod to Ina Garten 
for showing us how good it is to roast shrimp!)

Ingredients:

½ pound Farro (spelt)

1 tablespoon EVOO

Chicken or Vegetable broth sufficient to use a 3:1 ratio for cooking Farro

1 teaspoon salt

*********

1 ½ pound jumbo shrimp (21/25 per pound), peeled and deveined

Two vine ripe tomatoes, cored, halved, de-seeded, and sliced in 8 pieces from each half.

4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (I used the Martha Stewart Garlic Press/Slicer)

EVOO for drizzling

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

**********

¼ cup EVOO

¼ cup butter

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon lemon pepper

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely diced (I used a press)

¼ cup basil, chiffonade

Fine zest from ½ lemon (use a microplane)

3 green onions, cleaned and thinly sliced (2 of these will be cooked, 1 will be garnish)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Method:

In the bottom of a 3 quart or larger sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over a medium high heat and add ½ pound of dried Farro, stirring to coat with oil.  Continue toasting the Farro for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, then add chicken or vegetable broth with 1 teaspoon of salt, using 3 parts liquid to 1 part Farro.  (my 1/2 pound was slightly above 1 cup…but not quite 1 ¼ cups.  I used 3 ½ cups of low sodium chicken broth for the liquid.

Bring to boil while stirring, lower heat to medium low, cover and and cook for about 30 minutes – try a grain and see how it feels to your tooth.  (I actually cooked mine another 5 minutes because the teen taste-tester said it was still too hard.)  Drain and set aside, keeping warm with a lid on the pan – doesn’t have to stay hot, just warm as it won’t be heated again before service.

While Farro is cooking, prepare your shrimp and tomatoes and garlic. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Peel and devein shrimp, including removal of tails. 

Cover a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up. 

Lay cleaned shrimp (I ended up with 30 shrimp) and tomato portions in single layer on the cookie sheet, drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle the salt and pepper and garlic slices over everything.  Toss to coat everything with oil. 

Place in oven for 9-10 minutes.  Shrimp will be pink and curled in on itself.  If using smaller shrimp, cook less time.  Don’t over-cook shrimp, it gets rubbery.

Perfecto!

*************

While the shrimp are roasting, work on the rest of the flavors for the Farro.  In a small frying pan, heat butter and olive oil, add chopped onion and sauté for a few minutes.  Add  diced garlic clove, salt, lemon pepper, basil, lemon zest, and about 2/3 of the sliced green onions (reserve last third  in its raw condition to the side).  Sauté for just one or 2 minutes more – then pour contents of the pan over the warm, drained Farro and mix well. 

Remove the shrimp from the roasting pan onto a plate. Add everything  else from the roasting pan, including any juices or oil, to the Farro and onion mixture.  Toss well to combine.  Place Farro mixture into a serving vessel, add the shrimp on top, and garnish with last bit of green onion, and a little more fresh basil if desired. Squeeze 1/2 of a lemon over the shrimp or serve lemon wedges on the side if preferred. Serve immediately.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!  The teen ate THREE servings. (Mr. Flip Flop is convinced if we tell him it's from Italy, and supply a history lesson, he'll eat anything!) There were enough leftovers for maybe one person the next day.  Dad and the boy gave it a thumbs up!  I ate one helping.  It was very filling.  I'm happy with my first utilization of Farro...it will definitely be used again - I'm thinking soup next time.

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

SHARED WITH:

Seahorsies and Starfish Cookies

I received an order from Karen's Cookies this week and could barely wait to tear into the package....felt like a little kid at Christmas.  I sliced open the box and carefully took out each item, admiring it and thinking of how and when I would use the different products.  I had most of these items in my online basket for over a month...I just kept thinking and changing my mind - adding stuff - tossing it out.  These are luxury items - Momma's toys.  I wanted to make sure I spent my money wisely.  I'm much more impulsive in a walk-in retailer.  When it's online, I'm a bit more careful.  Returns require too much work, so I want to make sure it's just right!  I scored - it was perfect.

I got some new cookie cutters, some sugar pearls in colors I can't find locally, disco dust of various colors, some booboo sticks (those are wonderful), some pixie dust shakers (another marvelous invention),  and some small 2 oz. squeeze bottles with tip couplers for detail work.

For my first play time with the new toys, I went for the starfish and seahorse cookie cutters.  I had cookie dough left from my last round with tropical themed cookies so that saved time.  I always try to make extra and keep in the fridge or freezer.  Baked off a couple of dozen - ended up with two different seahorses - so I tried them both.

Next day, it was time to start the decoration process.  I wanted to try Karen's Meringue Powder Buttercream Frosting recipe.  She said she's used it for a lot of years and likes the texture and flavor for decorating.  I watched her tutorials something like three times to make sure I got it right.  It seems counter intuitive to add fat to a meringue but I forged ahead, following her steps with precision.  It turned out beautifully!  It tastes delicious with a bit of almond extract and vanilla extract.  The taste is vastly superior to regular royal icing.  It takes a LOT longer to dry...and it doesn't dry as hard as royal icing so I did mark a few, even after they crusted.  You have to handle them a lot more carefully...a LOT more carefully!  However, this morning, after drying under a fan overnight and part of yesterday, they are safe to handle and package with no oopsies.  I've yet to see how the packaging and stacking goes.

I also learned my lesson last week - you really can't outline and flood in assembly line fashion.  The outline will dry and you can't nudge the flood into the edge - you will always see an outline.  I really noticed it on my dolphin cookies last week so this week, one cookie at a time.

I've linked Karen's frosting recipe above - she has several video tutorials on her web site.  I also like the tutorials for icing consistency from Ali Bee.  I LOVE video tutorials - I'm definitely a person who likes to see how to do things in action!  I found her method of thinning with a spray bottle of water to be so much more controlled and better and getting a good consistency than any other way I've done it.  I didn't use the squirt bottle of water for the batch of frosting for the starfish...and I got it a bit too runny - overflows!  I learned my lesson and got the squirt bottle for everything else.  Soooo much easier to control.  I also find working in small bowls in small batches to be the best way to get good icing consistency. I never think I'm going to have enough...and I almost always have too much! The small squeeze bottles were superb for decorating the details. 

I'm on a roll here - and I have more new cutters I haven't used.  You'll likely see more and more cookies from me.  I hope my friends and neighbors are hungry!  I am loyal to the sugar cookie recipe obtained from the Central Market Cooking School class with Laurie Mather.  It is just so easy to make and to work with.

First I baked
Then I piped and filled
Then they dried for 10 hours
Then I decorated
Then they dried...for about 12 hours

I so enjoyed this little project and trying out my new tools and products.  I finished the seahorses with a baby yellow disco dust for a bit of sparkle.  When using disco dust be sure to put some wax paper under the cookie or cookie rack.  It is very expensive and you can add the dust that falls onto the wax paper back into the tiny jar very easily.  I love, love, LOVE the pixie dust shakers.  They are the tiniest little shaker and they distribute just the right amount.  I've never found anything that works as efficiently.

So, as you can see, I'm a huge fan of Karen's Cookies web site.  A great online store, wonderful recipes, and awesome tutorials.  Now I'll be looking at more cookie cutters and I wonder how long it will take to complete the purchase this time?

Spring Break starts today for the teen - I sent some of these cookies to his teacher and his note-taker.  Hope they enjoy the treats as much as I enjoyed making them :-)

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

SHARED WITH:

Tropical Sugar Cookies - Warmth in Winter!

I started these cookies on the last day of February...it was 85 degrees outside and gorgeously sunny.  The joys of living at the tip of Texas in the Winter.  I felt compelled to make some sugar cookies in tropical shapes so I got busy baking.  I knew this would be a multi-day task...baking one day, base coats the next day, and details on the final day.  I finished up late Friday night amidst a most hectic Thursday and Friday with errands, school meetings lasting until 7:00 at night, an unexpected trip into "town" - 30 miles away - which took most of the day.  All-in-all, it was not what I planned, but still they turned out okay.  I used up all of my royal icing before I got some additional colors for further details I had planned...and some of it wasn't the right consistency...and a couple were sacrificed to the teen-ager (he gets the ones I mess up).  Then, I wake up Saturday morning and a windy "cold front" has blown in...it's 67 now instead of a lovely mid-70s.  However, I feel certain my Northern friends will not give me any sympathy as they are being coated in snow.  News of horrific tornadoes throughout the South and Midwest states also bring a pall to the days.  Still...for us, we are entering the period of time that brings a ton of visitors to the area...SPRING BREAK!  Some of the far Northerners began arriving Friday.  It was noticeable on the road and at the grocery store.  As Winter Texans began their trek home, college students begin their treks South, seeking warmth, sun, and the fun to be had on South Padre Island.  They will come in waves...small wave this week, a monster wave next week, dwindling waves the following two weeks and then it's over.

To celebrate the onset of Spring, despite the blustery winds, I have tropical cookies!  Using my favorite sugar cookie recipe and royal icing recipe, I'll share the progress in pictures below!  Enjoy :-)

Cookies are baked and decorating station ready to rock and roll.  I have said it before and I'll say it again.  Mis en place is important, even when decorating cookies!
Maybe ESPECIALLY when decorating cookies!

The dolphins were outlined, floated, and then happy smiles and eyes drawn with edible marker

The flowers were going to be much more detailed...but I got tired and ran out of icing...
so tired, I didn't have energy to make more.  Still, happy flowers.

Palm trees will be my next task to "make better".  The detail piping on the trumk was done with icing not thick enough to stand alone...and I had some running.  The palm leaf top layer was going to be much different than it ended up with.
My hands were cramping...these were the very last thing I did.  I'd just done all I could!

The turtles take the most steps.  I start with the green base for
the shell, then do the heads and flippers after the shell
is well-firmed up.  About 6 to 8 hours later, I do the shell detail.
The next day after all is very dried and can be handled
easily, I do the eyes and flipper detail with an edible marker.
I do love my sea turtles!

So, there we have it.  I was sad that the sea horse and star fish and lighthouse cookie cutters had not arrived in time for this batch...but I'll be attempting those when I next get the hankerin' to bake and decorate sugar cookies.  This seems to be the season...It starts with Christmas, segues into Valentine's Day (which I skipped this year in the cookie department) and then we have Spring Break and Easter.  After that, I probably won't do any for a while.  Maybe until 4th of July...and then, of course, I have a lot of humidity to deal with so...we'll see!

Thanks for reading along!  Hmmmm. wonder who I will share these cookies with today???  Maybe my friends at Island Wheelies and The Salty Seagull!  If you are Spring Breaking on the island, please stop by their venue in the Palmetto Shopping Center just north of the bridge by a few blocks!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

SHARED WITH:

Our Anniversary Week-end

Mr. Flip Flop and I have been married for 19 years now...together for almost 22 years...but Sunday was the official anniversary.  He was lucky enough (or maybe skilled enough - cause he's a darn good nurse) to finish up his ACLS renewal exam in a brief amount of time and they gave him the rest of the day off...and he headed home for a 4 night week-end.  We had a really nice time staying cozied up on Friday - a brief outing for some Mexican food to clear my hubby's sinuses.  We tried to go to Manuel's in Port Isabel- we do love the chips and salsa there, as well as their delicious food - but it was so packed there was no place near to park and I knew that meant standing and waiting for a table.  It was rainy and cold so we just rolled on by.  We opted for Mexiquito instead - which was excellent for me.  I had most delicious and really steamy hot beef enchiladas with beans and rice.  He had chicken fajitas...I don't think he thought they were fabulous - but he said they were good.  They have these monster sized tortillas and he really liked them.  The salsa was appropriately sinus-opening so mission accomplished there!

Stopped by the library in Laguna Vista and picked up a book for me and a couple of movies...then went home to doze and read the afternoon away.  When the teen got home he was happy the week was over.  It had been quite the long week for him.  He retired to the man cave until we rustled him out to make some homemade pizza for dinner.  We had another wonderful pizza nearly identical to the one blogged about previously.  I'll just link it here - no photos necessary.

Most of this week-end, I didn't carry my camera around snapping photos - it was very low key.  I'm blogging about the entire week-end, because we had some nice re-visits of previous restaurants, and updates are nice to have from time to time.  I'll add these to the Restaurant Reviews page so there is current info.

Saturday morning we had to be on the island at 10:00 to drop the teen off at Island Wheelies rentals and The Salty Seagull.  This venue will be opening for business on March 3rd, 2012 at noon and they have employed the teen to help them during Spring Break.  The Island Wheelies part refers to some very cool Trikkes they will be renting to Spring Breakers.  A fun alternative for those who don't want to spend the bucks for wave runners or para-sailing, but want a bit of fun.  They say "the more you wiggle the faster you'll go".  Sounds like fun to me! Here's a link to their Facebook page as well as their website.  It is still partially under constructions...it is a very new business!  The Salty Seagull, as I understand it, will be a Mexican Snack Bar.  I'm not clear on the offerings there - but if you like Mexican Snack food, it might be a place to stop in if you are in the area for Spring Break...and hopefully, if successful, during the summer.

While the teen was meeting with his co-workers (half of which are hearing impaired like he is - LOVE IT!), Dad and Mom moseyed on over to the Grapevine Cafe on that cold and rainy morning.  I had a big glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (OMG so delicious), a big bowl of warm oatmeal, a side of bacon and a side of toast.  Papi had migas.  We were both ultimately happy!  A huge improvement in service compared to the last visit.  They were crowded and busy...but everything was running very efficiently and smoothly.

After that we went to SPI Market Days and shopped, and visited with a few folks we knew.  It was PACKED with Winter Texans!  Nothing much better to do on a wet and cold Saturday morning so I know it was good for their business.  I like the Market Days...lots of stuff to look at and good deals to be had.  I found some stainless large tweezers just like the ones I pay $10 bucks for online.  I use them for placing dragees on my cookies...and other detail work.  I grabbed all they had - 3 for $5!!!!  I brought them home and compared them...I think these must have been slight "seconds"...because they sure were not very different...and perfectly fine for what I needed them for!  Score!  We also both got some sun glasses and looked longingly at some of the beautiful artwork by Guy Morrow, who has given classes at SPI ArtSpace.

We picked the young man up at 12:00 as instructed.  We ducked into BadaBing Bagels and grabbed 3 bagels for our Sunday morning breakfast.  The teen was ready to return to the man cave after a fast stop at Wally World for some broccoli and potatoes.  He grabbed lunch at McD's while we shopped...no gastronomical highlights from that experience I expect. 

I had, before leaving Saturday morning, popped a Rump Roast, on top of some sliced onions and carrots, into the slow cooker...sprinkled a little thyme and garlic and pepper - very simple.  When we returned home, the house was smelling really good.  Later that evening, the broccoli was steamed, the potatoes boiled and mashed...some crescent rolls were baked - and supper was delicious and "comforting".  My hubby's first words were "look at all of this good comfort food"...and then there was silence as everyone dug in.  No pictures there!

Sunday morning brought a return to lovely weather.  I fixed bagel sandwiches for the hubby and me...the teen turns up his nose at bagels.  (I'm shaking my head - who could not love those BadaBing bagels?)  I made him some bacon and egg breakfast tacos and he was happy as a clam.  My husband said "I'll take that other bagel if he's not going to eat it"...so I asked if he wanted another bagel sandwich or just toasted with cream cheese?  "Cream cheese?  You have cream cheese?"  I replied affirmatively (does he not know who he is married to?) and he said he'd like that.  When I served him the halved and toasted bagel with a ramekin of cream cheese his response was "are you sure you don't want to open a restaurant?".  Ahhh, nice to be so appreciated.  Response, however, was "hell no, that's hard labor!"

Sunday afternoon we left the teen to his laundry and anime youtube addiction, and we drove around for a couple of hours looking at all the back roads of Port Isabel.  A small town with a surprisingly circuitous road plan - finger inlets and waterways, once the shrimping capital of Texas, now filled with old and rusty shrimp boats at every corner.  We used the GPS to meander up and down just about every single road in town.  We crossed the "swing bridge", just because we never had done so, stopped in the Port Isabel DQ for a French Vanilla Moolatte (fattening but delicious - it was our lunch).  Drove by the old cemetery, watched the birds on the bay, watched boats and fishermen.  A lovely and interesting day.

FINALLY, it's time for the Anniversary Dinner.  I opted for Sea Ranch Restaurant...it was Cafe Kranzler all the way to the crest of the bridge...then the evening was so lovely, I wanted the view available at Sea Ranch.  I also decided I wanted a steak!  We concurred before we hit the island (it's a long causeway) that we were both interested in surf and turf of some sort.  We felt certain Sea Ranch would be able to accommodate that desire.  When we arrived we were told it would be a 30 to 45 minute wait.  It seems like many people were looking for the good food and excellent views offered at Sea Ranch!  Fortunately for us, we didn't mind a wait.  Our neighbor was the hostess and she said she'd "see what she could do".  I led the way to the bar to wait and fortunately there were two tables available.  I grabbed the one by the window and we both ordered Mexican Martinis. 

We were perusing the appetizer menu when our beeper went off to say our table was ready...15 fast minutes after arrival!  Guess it was a plus that our neighbor was working that night!  John paid the bar tab while I went to the front hostess station where I was told we had a nice table by the window overlooking the water and to please enjoy our anniversary dinner.  Yee-HAW!!!  John and the waitress from the bar followed shortly with the Mexican Martinis in hand.  We had a most lovely evening!  Sorry for the cell phone photos - it was all I had and it was a fairly dark room.

We started our meal with the most delicious Artichoke, Parmesan Cheese Dip packed full of whole shrimp...served with crusty toasted slices of baguette.  I don't know if it was the lack of lunch, the euphoria of the Mexican Martini, or what...but that was some damn good dip!

The room was dark and all I had was a cell phone camera to
to photograph this awesome dip!

Our dinner was fabulous.  John had a Filet Mignon, grilled shrimp, and grilled scallops.  I had a 14 ounce boneless rib eye steak and it was like buttah in my mouth.  After salads and with a big baked potato on the side...I could only eat half of the steak.  Needless to say, the teen was most happy to receive the doggy bag and had it inhaled within moments of it landing on the kitchen counter! 

Served on a sizzling platter - my steak was delicious,
but way too much to eat in one sitting

What a wonderful week-end.  Probably more information about my goings-on than you ever wanted to know...but, hey, I've not blogged for a week...I had lots to say!  I had happy little flip flops dancing around all week-end.  Unspoiled by rain and cold, redeemed by sunshine and warmth - it was a week-end to remember!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I hadn't made cupcakes in quite awhile... and as I sat on the couch, nibbling on a handful of Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips, I decided it was time to melt some of those chips and experiment with some frosting for cupcakes.  I wanted something stiff enough to pipe, but I didn't want to use shortening to hold it.  I dug into my box of chocolate in my baking cabinet and found a half bag of semi-sweet chips and I grabbed them and headed to the kitchen.

I had baked some basic white cupcakes - just plain old cupcakes.  They were cooled down and now it was the frosting I was after.

I had set out a stick of butter earlier when I was going to make a butter cake - and decided against it.  I set the butter to creaming in the stand mixer bowl.

In a small saucepan, I poured 3/4 cup of heavy cream and put it over medium heat.  I poured 6 ounces of the Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate into a metal bowl and when the cream was just coming to a simmer, I poured it over the chocolate and stirred until smooth.  I gave it a little taste.  Nope, needed some milk chocolate added (I'm a milk chocolate freak)...so I grabbed approximately 4 ounces of milk chocolate drops (I admit I didn't measure them, but I'm pretty sure it was about 1/3 of a 12 ounce bag) and dropped them into the cream and chocolate concoction.

While I waited for them to get soft from the heat, I added 10 ounces of powdered sugar to the creaming butter and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and continued the beating.

Back to the chocolate, I mixed it until almost all lumps of chocolate were gone but it was cooling down fairly rapidly by now so I went ahead and mixed the chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture.  Sample taste said it had the right flavor, but not the right amount of texture.  I needed more confectioners sugar and added 6 more ounces bit by bit until I had exactly the texture I was looking for.  Not so stiff that I couldn't easily pipe it, but stiff enough that it would hold the lines of a large star tip when I piped circles onto the cupcakes. 

I loaded up a large piping bag and the frosting volume was exactly enough to pipe frosting onto 24 cupcakes.  (and Goldilocks said "this one is jussst right")

The teen arrived in time to sample one, and his arrival for a second assured me it was as tasty as I'd hoped. 

He likes it when Momma goes into the kitchen to experiment with cupcakes...he thoroughly enjoys the taste testing role...just so long as it's not vegetables.  Good thing he doesn't read my blog and realize how many times I sneak pureed veggies into our sweets.  Tee hee hee!

So, there we go, now I have a shortening-free buttercream that will stand up to piping.  It could have been made even more stiff if I'd wanted to add some more sugar and pipe more detail...but that wasn't the point for this particular exercise.

Mission accomplished!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

Shared With:

Valentine Brownie Cake

This is not really a cake...yet, it is more than just a brownie.  It is so decadently sweet it just screams Valentine's Day.  I served it Sunday evening after a very filling meal...and it was almost a struggle for each piece to be totally consumed.  We needed a cup of coffee or a glass of milk.  It was rich!

I did use a boxed brownie mix - I really only planned to make some brownies for the week-end, then I got this idea to make it in a  round glazed pottery dish my Mom had given me for Christmas...and then, I got the idea to bring cream cheese frosting into play...and then I got the bright idea to cut the brownie to make it two layers (that was not the best decision I will say - it was hard to accomplish).

All-in-all, it is a holiday-worthy dessert.  I am no cake decorator that is for sure, but a very large star tip made everything either very easy or challenging, depending on which part I was working on.  The family thought it looked good and tasted good.  The teen forwent second servings of dinner to make sure he had room for dessert.  It was a satisfying result but quite the challenging endeavor.

Here's how I did it.

I prepared a box of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie 13x9 Family Size, per package directions.  I wish I'd used 3 eggs instead of 2 to make it more cake-like.  I used a 10 inch round pan and I sprayed the bottom of that pan with vegetable oil spray, laid a round of parchment paper in the bottom, and then sprayed it too.  In went the batter and it baked for 36-37 minutes.

I allowed the brownie to cool overnight, on a rack, loosely covered with plastic wrap after it was cool to the touch...you don't want condensation under the plastic wrap.  The next morning I used a sharp knife to run around the edges to loosen the brownie from the pan.  I flipped it onto a "cake turner".

I then had to decide how best to cut the brownie into two layers.  My Wilton cake leveler was too tall and not sharp enough anyway.  I ended up with the cake on the cake stand on top of a cake decorating lazy susan.  I realized a serrated knife was going to be my best bet...even then, I had a slightly fudgy center which caused all sorts of problems.  I was able to cut it, then take the same cake lifter and lay it on top of the cake and lifted the cake plate and began a slow tilting motion.  I realized what I hoped for was indeed happening!  The bottom of the brownie was sticky enough to stay on the cake plate allowing the top layer to plop onto the cake lifter upside down.  Whew.

I had prepared some light pink Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below) and placed it in a 16 inch piping bag with a large coupler.  I piped a filling of frosting on the bottom layer using a Wilton 1M Star Tip, leaving a border so the filling doesn't squish out. 

Next, I flipped the top of the brownie back onto the filled bottom.  A minor amount of cracking occurred but I was able to sort of squeeze it back into position since the brownie was really closer to fudgy than cakey.  I did have one spot where the filling seeped out to the edge.  I covered that with some piping on the sides. 

I did a few stars and swirls on top (again, I am not good with cake decorating so don't judge my inconsistent piping :-) and finally piped a heart in the middle. Standing back, it wasn't too bad. I could see all the booboos...but I knew the family probably wouldn't!

It was outstanding - but the slices should have been half the size I cut.  We will enjoy nibbling on it a bit more...and I'll need to share a slice or two with a neighbor to get it out of the house.  Eating it all would be a bad, bad thing!

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter softened to room temperature (1 stick)
8 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla bean paste
1 pound sifted powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
1 teaspoon heavy cream - more if needed to get to spreading consistency
4 drops liquid red food coloring

Method:

Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla bean paste until incorporated.
Add powdered sugar, beat on low until powder no longer flies, then increase beating speed and add cream and red food coloring to desired color and consistency.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!