Browned Butter Chocolate Candy Cookies

August 22, 2017

These Browned Butter Chocolate Candy Cookies may look like your average chocolate chip cookie but they are not! The browned butter provides an amazing toffee flavor. So if your palate is more on the sophisticated side, I recommend you give these cookies a try. They might just become your new favorite recipe for the all american chocolate chip cookie!

Letting the browned butter, sugars and eggs sit for a few minutes not only helps the toffee flavor develop, but also helps to achieve those crispy edges and chewy centers.

The beautiful colors in this cookie got me thinking about Thanksgiving. Yes, Thanksgiving will be here before you know it and it's never too early to start planning your Thanksgiving menu! And I think these Browned Butter Chocolate Candy Cookies would go perfectly on your Thanksgiving table this year.

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Grandma's Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake

August 15, 2017

You could say blood, sweat and tears went into this one. Okay not literally but I was up against some crazy obstacles when making this recipe for Grandma's Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake.

The recipe comes from...well you probably guessed it...my Grandma. I've never made it before but I sure do remember eating it when I was young and still to this day during holidays.

Round 1: So a power line behind our street fell down the day I was supposed to finish and take pictures of this cake. With the power out for a few hours, the cake was pretty much done for. But this was actually a blessing in disguise. I realized I didn't use enough ice cream filling for the ice cream layers and I also used baking soda instead of baking powder for the cake 🙁

Round 2: After my failure the day before, I was determined to get it right! The next day (Sunday) I started all over. With the power back on, I was ready to tackle the challenge. Or so I thought. Ice cream cake should never be rushed!!!! My mistake on the second round. Talk about melting ice cream everywhere. Not only that, but I hadn't made the proper adjustments in my freezer for a cake this tall in stature.

Round 3: Yes!!! The final round! Having learned from all my mistakes I now have the perfect, show stopping ice cream cake ready for it's debut on The Cake Chica.

As mentioned above, don't rush the ice cream cake. So here is what my schedule looked like when making this amazing ice cream treat:

Friday:

Make the sponge cake
Make the ice cream layers
Assemble cake and cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the freezer overnight to set up.

Saturday:

Prepare for any garnishes: set up piping bags, make Magic Shell, get sprinkles ready, get cherries all cleaned up and get the ice cream cone pieces prepped.
Make whipped cream.
Cover cake with whipped cream and decorate with garnishes of your choosing.

I have some tips on this cake that you should be made aware of before tackling this recipe:

Be sure you have enough freezer space in your freezer for this cake. It gets very tall! If you have a bottom loading freezer this recipe will be difficult to do.
Use a marble or granite serving platter and store the cake on top to keep it as cold as possible in the freezer. I used a marble lazy Susan which made it a breeze to store and frost the cake.
Don't rush the ice cream cake!
You can use 9 inch round cake pans to make the cake a little shorter and wider if that fits your storage space better. Just be sure to adjust the baking time on the cake.

Lucky for you I have made all the mistakes for you :). This is my Grandma Mary's recipe and I wanted to do it justice! So no matter how many times I had to redo it until I got it just right, then that's just what I was going to do. Thankfully the third time was the charm. I had to put my own twist on this recipe just a little by adding homemade whipped cream, Magic Shell, sprinkles and some crushed up ice cream cone.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. And now I have the recipe down to pass on to future generations. You can follow me on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Strawberry Sun Tea

July 25, 2017

It's crazy hot and humid in H-town, also known as Houston. The dog days of summer are here. And one memory I have as a kid was during the summertime my sister and I would stay with my grandma and when the sun was bright and blazing hot, she would put a chair out in the back yard and place a large jug of tea on it and just let the tea steep for hours in the sun.

With it being crazy hot right now it made me crave a nice glass of cold sun tea. This recipe for Strawberry Sun Tea is inspired by my grandma. She never put strawberries in it but that's my spin on it. Plus strawberries are plentiful in the summer so why not?

It's up to you if you would like to add sugar to your tea. I originally made it without sugar but I feel a little sugar is necessary to really bring out the flavor of the strawberries.

So what is your favorite cold drink in the summer? Is it iced tea like mine? Or maybe a nice cold soda, or float? Or maybe even snow cones! Those are pretty amazing when it's 100 plus degrees outside. Comment below what your favorite drink is, I can't wait to read them.

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Fruit Tart

July 10, 2017

This was a fun recipe to make, and I learned a few things too! When I was little fruit tarts were my favorite dessert. I remember getting excited when my mom said we were going to La Madeline's to eat because I knew I wanted to get a fruit tart from the bakery case. Then I would eat the fruit and filling and leave the crust. To me it was more of a dish that the yummy filling and topping came in, not meant to eat because it just didn't taste all that great. But this Fruit Tart is different! The crust is like a dessert all its own. Made by browning the butter to give a warm nutty flavor and baking it until just browned. It could be it's own cookie all by itself.

The pictures above show a clever way of decorating your fruit tart, by using the peaches as a slicing guide. A big thank you to the awesome people at Cook's Illustrated for this neat and useful idea. Here are a few tips and tricks I learned while making this Fruit Tart:

First things first, the crust. The first one was not up to my standards so I scrapped it and made another one. (It's so easy it wasn't a big issue having to remake it.) This time I used one of my 8-inch round cake pans with a piece of parchment paper on the bottom and gently pressed the dough into the tart pan. I found this helped spread the dough out evenly and made for a picture perfect crust!
This one is VERY IMPORTANT. Use white chocolate baking chips for the filling, not white chocolate chips. To be sure you have white baking chips, look at the list of ingredients. If it lists cocoa butter on the ingredients list this is not what you want. If you use real white chocolate your filling will not set up properly and will be loose.
Depending on the size of your peaches you may just need 2 or 3 slices for decoration.
Use a light hand when dabbing on the glaze. If your glaze starts to harden, reheat in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds to loosen it up.
You want to be sure you have all your fruit topping prepped and ready to go once you pour the filling in the crust. Once the filling cools it will be too firm to hold the fruit topping properly so you want to be sure you decorate your tart while the filling is still warm.

Don't let this Fruit Tart's good looks fool you, this is incredibly easy to make. It only looks like you slaved all day in the kitchen for it. 🙂

If you try this one let me know in the comments below. You may also like: Peach Strawberry Shortcakes, Strawberry Shortcakes and Strawberry Shortcake. Follow me on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies

July 4, 2017

Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! Yes they exist!!! I used my tried and true chocolate chip recipe Best, Big, Fat Chewy, Chocolate Chip Cookie and substituted about have of the chocolate chips with Snickers Bites.

I admit these were a bit of an impulse buy. There I was looking for white chocolate chips in my local grocery store for this Confetti Cookie Cake recipe and in jumped the Snickers Baking Bites right into my basket. 🙂 Snickers are probably my favorite candy bar, it's right up there with Whatchamacallit.....ooh another cookie idea!

If you can't find Snickers Baking Bites you can chop up a Snickers bar and use that instead.

Get ready for these Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies to be a hit at your next party. I took these to a family gathering this past weekend and they were a hit! I got several compliments on them and people went back for seconds. If you're a Snickers lover like I am then these must be on your "to make" list.

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Confetti Cookie Cake

June 26, 2017

Why You'll Love This Confetti Cookie Cake:

It's incredibly easy to make and tasty too.
With the different types of sprinkles available now, it's super easy to match your special event.
It's two of my favorite childhood sweets together as one!

What a perfect pairing right? A cookie and a cake put together! When I was younger I always loved getting cookie cakes instead of the typical birthday cake.

This Confetti Cookie Cake tastes like something you would have to order from a professional bakery. But lucky you, you now have an awesome recipe to impress your guests and when they ask "where did you get this from" you can say proudly "I made it!" And I'll leave it up to you if you want to tell them how simple it was to make 🙂

Tip: Be on the look out for real white chocolate chips! There is a time and place for the fake stuff but no room for it in this recipe. The fake stuff will say something along the lines of "baking chips". Legit white chocolate chips will have cocoa butter listed in the ingredients section.

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Spiked Shirley Temple

June 23, 2017

Don't toss out that empty jar of Maraschino cherries just yet. Save that juice! It goes great with cocktails, such as this Spiked Shirley Temple. A traditional Shirley Temple is made with ginger ale, a splash of grenadine and garnished with a Maraschino cherry.

My adult version uses lemon-lime soda, with gin, cherry liqueur and Maraschino juice. Yum! I still remember when I had my first Shirley Temple. I was maybe 10 years old and I was at a steak restaurant waiting at the bar with some family for our table to be ready and my step-father's dad said to the bartender "Get these girls a couple of Shirley Temple's" I thought to myself, "What is that?" Then when the bartender brought me and my sister our drinks I was like WOW it looked so grown up! And it tasted so good from that point on, for almost the next 10 years I always ordered Shirley Temples when I was out at a restaurant.

Now that I am older, I have cut back on the sodas. But every now and then I like a good cocktail after a long days work and I love that this Spiked Shirley Temple satisfies my craving and takes me back to that time when I was around 10 years old and had my first Shirley Temple. This one really hits the spot.

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Homemade Bacon-Ranch Tator Tots

June 12, 2017

No store bought frozen tator tots can compare to these Homemade Bacon-Ranch Tator Tots!

Sure there is a little work involved but it's worth it! They're flavorful and super crispy! You won't get that from the frozen kind.

These Homemade Bacon-Ranch Tator Tots are perfect for a special dinner. You can make them ahead of time which is always a plus. Once the tator tots are done, let them cool, then place in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 1 month. To reheat, place an oven rack in the middle position and heat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the tator tots on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until heated through, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Here are a few tips when making this recipe:

If you have a few large pieces of potato that remain after processing, chop them coarsely by hand.
To make handling the uncooked tots easier, use a wet knife blade and wet hands. This will help you shape the tots.
When you drop the tots into the hot oil they may stick together. Be sure not to stir them until they have browned and set.
You may end up with a few tots that have fried together. Once they are cool enough to handle, gently pull them apart.

Now you've gone through all the work of making homemade tator tots from scratch, and let me tell you these probably don't really need any sort of condiments; but if you simply must have something like ketchup to dip these little nuggets of fried crispy-ness in, then be sure you choose a high quality ketchup like Sir Kensington's ketchup.

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Strawberry Shortcake

June 5, 2017

This one took a few tries to get it just right, but I'm happy to report it's finally perfected.

Well at least in my opinion. Why don't you give it a try and tell me what you think?

Strawberry Shortcake is perfect during the Summer months when strawberries are in season. This cake bakes up a wonderful sponge cake, that's soaked in a sugar syrup to give the cake a little extra moistness. Then top those moist cake layers with homemade whipped cream! Next, you'll top the whipped cream with fresh sliced strawberries. Yum! I think your gonna love this light and fluffy Strawberry Shortcake.

And because this cake is so fluffy and light, if you're planning on taking it somewhere, I strongly recommend setting up this cake when you get to the event location. I brought this cake to a family gathering at my mom's house just a few weeks ago. I sliced the cake layers and wrapped them up in plastic wrap and stuck them in my cake storage container. Next I packed a wooden skewer, strawberries, a container of soaking syrup and another container of whipped cream. Once I got to my mom's house I assembled the cake there. Don't forget to pack a pastry brush for your soaking syrup and an offset cake spatula to spread on your whipped cream.

I'd love to hear from you on social media. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

I hope you enjoy this Strawberry Shortcake as much as I did. I'll talk with you guys next week!!!

Adapted from Layered: Baking, Building, and Styling Spectacular Cakes by Tessa Huff.

Degustabox Giveaway

May 28, 2017

Hello everyone! I'm excited to host my very first giveaway in partnership with Degustabox. All you have to do to enter is scroll down to the bottom of this post and answer one question! And while your here, check out some of the yummy treats I've made with the surprises I've received from Degustabox. Chocolate Orange Spice Cake, Caesar Salad with Anchovies, Chocolate Chip Monster Milkshake, Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream Float, Gluten-Free Veggie Pasta in Olive Oil, Homemade Graham Crackers, Moscow Mule, and Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Espresso Buttercream.

This giveaway is only available to those living in The Contiguous United States. We are unable to ship to Alaska and Hawaii at this time.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Homemade Graham Crackers

May 22, 2017

You may never buy those store bought graham crackers again after having these Homemade Graham Crackers!

These are great if you're looking for a bit of a cleaned up version of a graham cracker. I love graham crackers and I used to eat them as a "healthy" snack, that was until I read the ingredients list. I was a shocked at all the chemicals used to make a cracker. I mean its just a cracker right?

Thankfully I came across this homemade version with simple ingredients you can pick up at your local grocery store.

To keep up with new recipes from The Cake Chica, be sure to follow on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!

Rocky Road Bars

May 9, 2017

Here is an easy homemade recipe for Rocky Road Bars, that is sure to impress your friends and family. I love baking cakes and decorating them, but they usually take a little more time in the kitchen. For those of you that don't want to spend that much time in the kitchen but want to create a dessert that's sure to impress with looks and taste, then this one is for you!

You don't even have to turn on your mixer for this one. If you don't want to melt the chocolate over a double boiler you can microwave the chocolate at 30 second intervals, being sure to stir between each interval so the chocolate doesn't burn.

If your marshmallows aren't getting that nice golden brown color to them by the last few minutes of baking, turn on your broiler and watch very closely for them to brown. Be careful, the broiler will turn your marshmallows brown fast but within seconds can also burn them, so keep a close eye on them.

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Rocky Road Bars

Name: Rocky Road Bars
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate; 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons; 2 cups granulated sugar; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 3 large eggs; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped almonds; 1 cup coarsely chopped almonds; 1 cup milk chocolate-covered English toffee bits, such as Heath bits; 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips; 2 cups miniature marshmallows

Yield: 16 bars

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

A rich dark chocolate brownie base, topped with toasted marshmallows, almonds, toffee bits and chocolate chips!

No Ratings

Ingredients

BROWNIE

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped almonds

TOPPING

1 cup coarsely chopped almonds
1 cup milk chocolate-covered English toffee bits, such as Heath bits
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups miniature marshmallows

Instructions

BROWNIE

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with 2 pieces of foil (one horizontal and one perpendicular) creating handles at the edge of the pan to lift the brownies out after baking. Spray the bottom and sides of the foil-lined baking pan with non-stick bakers spray and set aside.
Place the chocolate and butter on top of a double boiler over simmering water. Heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes.
Stir the sugar, salt and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition and no egg yolk remains. Stir in the flour and mix until just combined. Fold in the nuts and pour batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and leave the oven on.

TOPPING

Sprinkle half of the chopped almonds evenly over the hot brownie base. Sprinkle half of the toffee bits, half of the semisweet chocolate chips and half of the miniature marshmallows evenly over the almonds. Repeat this process with remaining almonds, toffee, chocolate chips and marshmallows, being sure to press each layer into the brownie base to adhere.
Return the pan to the oven and bake for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the chocolate is partially melted and the marshmallows are soft and lightly browned. Place the pan on a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Lift the bars out of the pan with the foil overhang and using a serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Serve bars at room temperature.

Notes

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 462Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 205mgCarbohydrates: 58gFiber: 5gSugar: 43gProtein: 9g

*Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary.*

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Ingredients

BROWNIE

TOPPING

Instructions

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TOPPING

Notes

Nutrition Information:

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