Chocolate Cream Icebox Tart

Ok February, can we talk?

We're confused. You're sending us mixed signals. We don't know what to expect from you anymore. You're hot, you're cold, you're windy (like REALLY windy). Oh right, and then you snowed.

So now we feel silly. We totally read the signals wrong. Like all wrong. We got caught up in the moment. We let the sunshine and that 65 degree day (sidebar, can we get some more of those?) go to our heads.

And we made tart.

Icebox tart.

Gah how could we have been so foolish!?

Friday night we whipped up this chocolate creation in a fit of spring fever. We were giddy. We were laughing.

We had the windows open! OPEN!

And then? Then, you gave us Saturday.

Oh February...really? We mean...really!?

Fine, you can be cold. But the 50 mile per hour winds? Were those totally necessary? Don't you think that was a touch dramatic?

And now, with the snow? Fine. We get it. You're cold. And perhaps more suited to gooey chocolate cakes and piping hot brownies than chilled icebox tarts.

But you know what? We. Don't. Care.

Because seriously, this tart? It's a dream. It warms us from the inside with it's deliciousness. Yeah, you heard us. We are so over you February. We're making another icebox tart right this moment. And we're giving it to March.

Chocolate Cream Icebox Tart
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Print Recipe

For Crust:
1 9 ounce package chocolate wafers (we used Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar

For Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoon Chocolate Malt Ovaltine
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
5 large egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces milk chocolate
2 teaspoon whisky
1 teaspoon vanilla

For Whipped Cream:
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

In a food processor, pulse the wafers until they are powdered. Add wafer crumbs to a bowl and mix in the sugar and melted butter and mix.

Press the crumb mixture into the bottom and sides of a 9 inch round tart pan (or a pie pan). Place crust in the freezer.

While the crust is chilling, make the filling. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together sugar, Ovaltine, cornstarch and salt. Add the egg yolks and continue to whisk. Slowly add in the milk and cream. Whisk mixture constantly until it thickens to a pudding consistency (6-9 minutes). Off the heat, add in the chocolate, whisky and vanilla and whisk until mixture has cooled slightly.

Let filling cool for 30 minutes. Pour filling into chilled crust and place in the fridge. Chill for at least 6 hours before serving. Top with whipped cream (recipe below).

For the whipped cream, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix heavy cream, vanilla extract and cup sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form. Top pie with whipped cream and serve.

Chocolate Orange Biscotti

We're having a bit of a post-Valentine's Day blog writing slump...potentially induced by a pan of S'Mores Brownies and Iced Sugar Cookies that we *may* have finished by ourselves. 

Let's just have a Chocolate Orange Biscotti and see if we can locate some inspiration...people, it's a BISCUIT not a cookie. Well, we think it's a biscuit. "Biscotti" sounds a lot like "biscuit" after all. But, whatever. We've covered this with the Almond Biscotti. 

You see. All we can think of at the moment are the mounds of Easter candy rapidly appearing at grocery stores everywhere. Easter is one of our FAVORITE holidays (hmmm, wonder why) and we are having a hard time containing our excitement and reigning in our blog-writing focus.

Cadbury Creme Eggs. Cadbury Mini-Eggs. It's so difficult to determine which of these takes first place. But, did you know they now have Dark Chocolate Cadbury Mini-Eggs!?!? Be still our British hearts.

Then there are Whoppers Robin's Eggs. We prefer the mini version to the regular size. Just in case you were curious. Uh, Peeps. Hello?!?!? PEEPS! PEEPS! How can you not love something called a peep and something shaped like a chick?!?! Hmmmm, maybe that's weird that they are shaped like chicks...but they are pink too, so that makes it ok. PEEPS!

Wait, where were we? What are we writing about? What did we bake today?

Er, better have another Chocolate Orange biscotti to ignite the grey matter. They are small....-ish. It's cool.

Mmmmm, tastes just like a crunchy marriage of chocolate and toasty pecans and sweet orange. 

Orange! Like orange Starburst Jelly Beans which seriously everyone needs to get on board with asap because they are like little juicy Easter jewels. Trust us. You'll thank us.

What are we talking about? Argh. Still trying to write this blog post. Better take a break since now we seem to have completely derailed from our goal and we have melty chocolate all over our fingers. 

We'll save this as a draft and come back later and perhaps then we'll know what to say.

Just taking another biscotti...for the road, you know. 

Chocolate Orange Biscotti
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes about 28 cookies

Print Recipe

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon orange extract
Orange zest from 2 medium oranges
1 heaping cup of whole pecans, lightly toasted, roughly chopped
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then add the orange zest (we used a coarse Microplane to zest the oranges because we wanted larger pieces of orange, but you can obvy use a finer zester). Add the orange extract. Gradually add flour mixture and beat everything until blended. Finally, stir in the pecans and chocolate. Gather dough together; divide in half. Wrap each half in plastic and put in the freezer for 30 minutes in order to firm up.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Remove the dough from the freezer and form each half-dough piece into a 14-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-wide log. Don't worry if it's not exact. Transfer the logs to the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake the biscotti logs until light golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer parchment with the logs onto a rack to cool for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, reduce the oven temperature to 300°F. Place more parchment on the baking sheet.

Using a cutting board and serrated knife, cut each cooled log into 1/2-ish-inch thick slices and stand the slices upright on the parchment baking sheet. 

Bake biscotti until slightly dry to the touch and pale golden, about another 30 minutes.

Cool completely on a rack and enjoy!

Iced Sugar Cookies

We know we know, it's been hearts and pink and red velvet and dark chocolate everywhere you look.  When will it all end?!

Today.  Boo.

But WHY OH WHY would you want it to end cookies?  We personally can't see the issue with that sweet little Saint Valentine.  Like we said, hearts and pink and red velvet and dark chocolate everywhere, just everywhere!

Um yeah, see we're big fans of all that stuff.

Red velvet?  Bring it.  Dark chocolate?  Bring it again.  Hearts?  Love 'em.  Pink?  LOVE IT.  (Like really, you should see Abby's front hallway.  There's paint.  And it's pink.  And it's everywhere.)  (P.S. And it's AWESOME).

So clearly we're jumping all over this heart shaped holiday with today's treat.  No red velvet, no dark chocolate, but sugar cookies.

Er...hmm...sugar cookies sound kind of lame when compared to cake and chocolate.  But they're not!  They are SO not.

See, a number of years ago, after a rather unfortunate run in with a moving automobile, one of the bakers was banished to bed rest for quite a few weeks (you can guess which one, she's a klutz and her name sounds like Schmabby).

Thankfully, in lieu of flowers, people sent cookies.  As in cookie bouquets (they know us so well).  As in lots and LOTS of cookies in a bouquet.  As in AMAZING.

And there, between the concussion and the bone straightening harness, the sugar cookie infatuation began.  The search was on for a recipe to replicate that big, soft sugar cookie, covered in that sweet, glossy, hard (not too hard) icing. 

And trust us, after eating 43 6-inch bee and bear shaped cookies (You'll Bee Okay! Feel Better Beary Soon!), we kind of became sugar cookie connoisseurs.

And after TONS of recipes that got us this close but not quite, we found it.  FINALLY.  And now we can stop ordering those dang cookie couquets every few weeks.  Not that we actually do that.  Ummm.  Right.

So our little heartbreakers, before you turn your nose up at these rather simple sounding cookies and run straight for the heart shaped box of Russell Stover's, just do us a favor and try these cookies.

You'll Bee so glad you did! (Sorry, couldn't resist).

Iced Sugar Cookies
Makes 20-25 medium (3-4 inch) cookies

Print Recipe

For the cookies:
4 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, vanilla and sour cream until well blended. Stir in the sifted ingredients. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes (can be chilled over night if needed).

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 11 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven – cookies should not be golden on top – you want them to be set but still a bit soft. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Variation: Substitute 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.

For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

In a small bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. A good way to tell if icing is too thick or thin is to dip your finger into the icing and create a small “peak” when you remove it. The peak should disappear back into the icing in 10 seconds. Less than 10 – too thin – more than 10 – too thick!

Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity and decorate! If icing layers of colors – allow 10-15 minutes of drying time between each layer.

After icing allow to sit out on racks until icing hardens – about 12 hours.

S'Mores Brownies

Some girls like flowers for Valentine's Day. Other girls prefer a romantic dinner, or request sparkly jewelry, or dreamy spa days. A few want tropical getaways. Some want puppies.

Puppies are traditional Valentine's gifts, right?

But, for these ladies (that's us), nothing says love like butter and chocolate...

AND sparkly jewelry...

AND setting some marshmallows on fire under the broiler.

Flames of luuuuuurrrrrve, muffins. Flames of passion!

Just kidding.

Not about setting marshmallows on fire in the oven because we definitely did that but we're more kidding about them being appropriate for Valentine's Day. 

In fact, we recommend NOT allowing any sugar or sugar-like products to alight on February 14th because it totally stinks up the kitchen and no sweetheart really enjoys being presented with a charred, smelly brownie on such a special day.

Unless of course that's what you're going for and you're trying to send a message to said sweetheart something along the lines of a lump of coal in a stocking at Christmas. In which case, um, ok. 

But, here's an awesome thing about marshmallows; they are easily scraped off when they are hot (or burnt).

See! Nothing to cry about! We all make mistakes, some of us more frequently than others like when attempting to make macaroons or homemade caramels. We just buck up and start hysterically laughing and wondering if perhaps the flames will destroy the oven and call the other sister and move on to talking about the requested sparkly jewelry and steak dinners. No biggie. Nothing broken other than perhaps a few eggs. Just start again.

Man, baking for Valentine's Day is totally easy and stress-free.

PS- We have actually modified this recipe to ensure that you lovelies don't make the same flaming error that we did. Fear not. We've got your backs!

S'Mores Brownies
Makes 12 very rich brownies

Print Recipe

For the Crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs (about 10-12 large rectangle sheets)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Pinch kosher salt

For the Brownie:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large cold eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the Topping:
2 cups large marshmallows, sliced in half around the barrel

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 by-8-inch square baking pan with foil so it hangs over both edges by at least one 1 inch.

To make the crust, lightly butter the foil with a wee bit of the melted butter. In a small/medium bowl, stir the rest of the melted butter together with the graham crumbs. Then add the sugar and salt and stir to combine. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the brownie part. Put the butter and chocolate in a large microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave on medium percent power for 1-2 minutes. Stir, and microwave again until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. Remember that the chocolate will continue to melt after you remove it from the microwave and keep stirring. Don't let the chocolate burn! Stir into the melted chocolate/butter mixture both sugars and vanilla extract. Add the eggs and beat vigorously to make a thick and glossy batter. Add the flour and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter into the prepared graham crust. Bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean but with a few crumbs, about 50-55 minutes. Check the brownies after 45 minutes because oven temps do vary and this is a really thick layer of chocolate. Your batch may take even longer than 55 minutes. Our brownies took over an hour. 

Remove from the oven and turn up the oven temp to 500 degrees Fahrenheit (do not use the broiler). Layer marshmallows across the top of the brownies. Put the pan back in the warmer oven on the middle rack and watch while the marshmallows toast. This will take 2-4 minutes. Remove them from the oven when they are a puffy, golden brown.

Cool on a rack, gently removing the brownies from the pan using the aluminum flaps. Carefully separate any marshmallow from the foil with a knife and peel away. Cut into 12 (2-inch-ish) squares while still warm (trust us, this is easier) and serve immediately.

 

Homemade Almond Joys

So get this.  You know that whole aisle of candy in CVS?  With the rotating seasonal display of holiday m&m's?  That calls out to you when you're quickly stopping in for tissues and nail polish remover?  Yeah, right.  THAT one.

Well shut the front door cupcakes, because you can make that stuff.  No, not the nail polish remover (that sounds dangerous), but the candy.

We know.  WE KNOW. 

Get out!  No you get out!  Ok we'll all stay.

And talk about the wonder that is homemade candy bars.

We have certainly dabbled in this whole candy business with some homemade peppermint patties and Ferrero Rocher truffles.  But now?  Now we're in deep.

An entire aisle of delicious treats just begging to be recreated at home?  Clearly there will have to be some taste testing.  You know, to figure out precisely what goes into the makings of a candy bar.  Mmm hmm.

We started with homemade Almond Joys.  Why?  Well because a) we were hungry, b) had all the ingredients on hand and c) ummm, they're homemade almond joys!! 

Seriously, do we need to give more reasons?

We do?  Um fine.  We love coconut. And almonds. And chocolate. 

(And bacon, peanut butter, marzipan, instant espresso powder and spangly party tops, but now we're just oversharing).

And now we think we might have a problem. 

Because we just spent waaaaaay too long trying to figure out if we could make a homemade version of a Cadbury Cream Egg (they're out they're out!!!). 

We've already started on a batch of Snickers.

Take 5 is next.

Send help if you don't hear from us in a few days.

Homemade Almond Joys
Makes 25 bars

Print Recipe

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
14 ounces shredded, sweetened coconut
1/2 cup whole almonds (about 50 nuts)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Line a 9 x 9 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.

Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.  Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to incorporate fully.  Add coconut and blend mixture.  Make sure all coconut is covered with the condensed milk and sugar mixture.  Press mixture into prepared pan and chill until set, about 30 minutes.

Melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips in the microwave, checking every 15 seconds.  Stir until smooth.  Cut chilled coconut mixture into 1 x 2 inch bars and spread the top of each bar with a small amount of melted chocolate.  Place 2 almonds on top of melted chocolate on each bar.  Place bars with almonds on a large baking sheet and chill again to set chocolate, about 15 minutes.

Melt remaining chocolate chips.  Once the almonds have set in the chocolate, dip each bar into remaining melted chocolate to coat completely.  Place on wax paper lined baking sheet to firm.

Store in fridge, between wax paper in an airtight container.  Bring to room temperature before serving.