RECIPE: "Oreo" Frosting

I don't know a single kid (or adult, for that matter) who doesn't love the frosting inside an Oreo Cookie better than the chocolate cookie part on the outside. Finally there is a solution!

Ingredients:

- ½ stick (2 ounces) butter (unsalted)
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 cups sugar (confectioners works best)
- 2 tspns vanilla extract

What To Do:

1. Beat butter and shortening together at medium speed until a smooth texture is achieved.

2. Add the sugar and vanilla while continuing to beat the mixture.

3. Continue beating for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the filling is light and fluffy.

Sergio del Limonar

BOOK: 'Wich Craft

Tired of that boring old bologna sandwich or PB & J for lunch? It will be well worth it for your taste buds to check out Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio's book, 'Wich Craft, devoted solely to the art of sandwich-making.

While it would take months to sample all the delicious recipes included within this inventive book, two have already become favorites of mine. The smoked ham sandwich with avocado and butter is just as smooth and satisfying as it sounds. Also, the meatloaf sandwich with cheddar, bacon and tomato relish is a meat-lovers new best friend. Although I can't speak from personal experience, I am excited to explore the dessert sandwich section as soon as possible!

Sergio del Limónar

RECIPE: Mango Dessert

ingredients:
2 ripe mangos
4 tablespoons of honey
200 mL bucket of whipped cream
400 mL plain yogurt
2 tablespoons of sugar
crushed almonds (optional)

what to do:
1 - cube the mangos
2 - heat the honey and mango cubes in a frying pan
3 - roast the crushed almonds in a different frying pan
4 - mix the cream and the sugar until they are the same consistency as the yogurt
5 - mix the cream/sugar and the yogurt together
6 - add the mango cubes
7 - serve in a dessert cup or glass and garnish with roasted almonds on top

RECIPE: Guinness Cake

A friend of mine served this at her St. Patrick's Day party this past week. She wouldn't tell me the recipe and when I finally got it out of her it turns out she was embarrassed for to reasons. One, she found it on YouTube, and two, it is from a Spanish cooking show (in Español, no doubt). Thank goodness for "subtitulos."

I know this is a little late for this year, but print yourself a copy and make one next year; its worth planning ahead for! Slainte!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup Guinness dark beer
- 10 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup chocolate powder (coco works fine)
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 cup heavy cream (35% MG)
- 2 eggs

- 8 ounces cream cheese (for frosting)

- 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar (for frosting)

- 1/2 cup heavy cream (35% MG) (for frosting)

What To Do:

Watch the video.

Buzzy

RECIPE: Apricot Crisp

Happy National Apricot Day! (No, really. January 9th is National Apricot Day. Seriously, look it up!)

Ingredients:

*8 apricots (halved)
*1 cup of flour
*1/2 cup of sugar
*1/3 cup of ground almonds
*1/2 cup of butter (cut into cubes)
*salt
*1 tablespoon of flour
*2 teaspoons of vanilla

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F

2. Combine the sugar and flour.

3. Add butter to sugar/flour mixture using a mixer.

4. Add the almonds and salt to butter/sugar/flour mixture and stir well.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the apricots with a tablespoon of flour and 2 tsp. of vanilla. Mix until the apricots are well coated.

6. Spoon the coated apricots into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish and pour crisp topping mixture on top. Pat down firmly.

7. Bake at 375°F for approximately 30 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown.

RECIPE: Candy Cane Cookies

When I was little my Great Aunt Ida-Lynne would make those ever-present Christmas dessert-platter staples, the Candy Cane Cookie. I remember caring more if my Great Aunt would serve the cookies or not and if there would be enough of them (amidst the choco-coco balls, powdery Russian tea cakes, and red & green sprinkled sugar cookies) to go around between all the dinner guests almost more than I anticipated opening presents!

Well, I haven't had a Candy Cane Cookie as good as my Great Aunt used to make them. My grandmother's were good but, bless her heart, not the same. The closest I've come myself is from that master chef, Betty Crocker. It's a lot of work, but if you get good, you can live eternally in the minds of those you love as the one who made the best Candy Cane Cookies EVER. Not a bad way to be remembered!

Buzzy

RECIPE: Wine Cake

Wine Cake. "If you serve this once, my friend Oneida says, "it will become 'Whine Cake' because everyone will be whining if you don't make it every time." This actually isn't her joke, but her mother's. Even with this tempered warning, however, Oni didn't learned and exposed more of us to its deliciousness over Thanksgiving.

I'm just here to pass on the same sage advice in hopes that you too do not follow it.

Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
2 small boxes of Jell-O vanilla pudding
1 cup oil
5 large eggs
3/4 cup sherry wine
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup sherry wine (yes, again)

What to do:

1) Preheat oven to 350

2) Take the first five ingredients and mix them together.

3) Bake in a greased bundt (I love that word) pan for ~50 minutes.

4) Time to glaze: Without popping the cake out, poke the exposed part (the bottom) with a fork. Pour the glaze over the holes until it soaks inside.

5) Wait until the glaze soaks in. Then, pop the cake out of the pan onto a serving dish

6) Repeat poking the rest of the cake, but for the top. Also repeat the glazing process.

7) Cool.

8) (Optional) If you want to have a thicker glaze on top, add more sugar to the glaze and pour some more on after the cake cools.

Buzzy

BOOK: Cake Wrecks

Hooray! or should I say...ZONINO! We put website Cake Wrecks on our blog back in July and now it's a best selling book!

Congrats to author and creator Jen Yates!

Sergio del Limonar

RECIPE/WEB: My Dinner Plans

A friend mentioned to me that other day that they had tons of food in their house but no idea what they were hungry for or what to eat. While I, myself, have never had such a problem, perhaps the website My Dinner Plans can help.

This blog posts random creative to basic recipe ideas that most people would have no problem throwing together with an amply stocked kitchen. I tried the Orange Maple Glazed Chicken from the July 26th post and it was very tasty and relatively easy to make. I might try the Cream Cheese Pound Cake, posted earlier this week, for a dinner I'm attending this weekend.

What I like most about the blog is the organization in labeling. Say you're in the mood for a pasta dish. Just click on the "Pasta" label along the right-hand side of the page and you'll have yourself five (at present count) dishes to choose from!

Bon appetite!

Sergio del Limonar

RECIPE: Sweet Sugarfree Smoothie

A cool and healthy treat, the fruit smoothie is the perfect summer refresher! Or at least it should be. Think of this "recipe" as more of a tip since the nature of smoothie making is so flexible in and of itself.

Often times, people can negate the healthy nature of a smoothie by overdoing the amount of sugar added to the blender. A better alternative? Add a slice or two of fresh pineapple. The fruit has a sweetening quality without overpowering any of the other flavors or fruit you include. In fact, if you limit yourself to one or two slices, you probably won't taste it at all and you won't need any sugar!

Sergio del Limonar

RECIPE: Margie's Fudge

My mother has been on a fudge-making kick as of late and on a recent visit I had the confectionary pleasure of enjoying plenty of her creations. (I mean, it's right there in a pan on the counter ever time I wandered through the kitchen - what was I supposed to do?)

ingredients:

-2 1/2 cups of sugar
-3/4 cup of butter
-2/3 cup condensed milk
-package of semi-sweet chocolate pieces* (size of package depends on how chocolately one wants it)
-1 tspn vanilla
-1 cup of marshmallow creme (my mother claims this to be the secret ingredient! shhh!)

what to do:

1) combine sugar, butter, and milk into a sauce pan
2) bring to a boil stirring constantly
3) after 4 minutes of boiling, remove from heat
4) stir in chocolate pieces* until melted
5) add marshmallow creme and vanilla and beat until blended together
6) pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch pan and cool

* can substitute 1/2 cup of peanut butter

Sergio del Limónar

WEB: Cakewrecks

This is a great guilty pleasure: Cakewrecks is a site that basically makes fun of professionally made cakes that should not look like crap but, for whatever reason, do. From the bizarre to the illiterate to the disgusting, "Jen" provides daily postings for the reader to laugh and feel superior over. (Especially since most of us couldn't even make a "wreck" cake if we tried. However, I maintain I would at least use proper grammar.)

As a humble and respectful bonus, the site highlights superiorly created cakes each Sunday. Some of these I wouldn't want to even cut into; they are truly works of art. The others though, that's a whole other story!

Sergio del Limonar

RECIPE: Raspberry Topping Sauce

This is a perfect addition for any hot summer day ice cream retreat. Try serving the ice cream in a cantaloupe if it's vanilla.

ingredients:

-fresh or frozen raspberries
-2 table spoons of red currant jelly
-2 teaspoons of cornstarch

what to do:

1 - with a spoon, push the raspberries through some sort of a sieve to remove the seeds and juice the berries
2 - stir in the jelly and cornstrach
3 - heat mixture to boiling in a saucepan while stirring contantly (boil for 1 minute)
4 - cool and serve at room temperature

Sergio del Limónar

EAT OUT: Grand Avenue Coffee Cafe

If you're ever driving the stretch of interstate between Chicago or Madison, WI, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, be sure to stop in Eau Claire, WI, for a bite to eat at the Grand Avenue Coffee Cafe. Loving known to the locals and university students as the "Grand Av Caf," this small cafe is tucked on a side street around the corner from the city courthouse and next to the Eau Claire River, at 119 W. Grand Ave.

With probably less than 12 tables inside, which are packed tightly together as it is, and two or three on the sidewalk in nice weather, the intimate atmosphere makes for the perfect place to enjoy a delicious sandwich lunch with friends over tea or coffee. The wait staff are attentive and friendly and the ambiance of the old building, with the large front windows, reminds you of a simpler time when this could have been a bakery or a hardware store, or both.

But, the one thing that you must try before leaving is the bread pudding. Coming here and not having a order is almost sacrilegious. The flavors are plentiful and vary on a daily basis, but they are all fantastic! It is advisable to not get one to share; a better idea is to have each guest get one and then play the passing game.

Just don't pass by Eau Claire without stopping in to treat your stomach!

Sergio del Limónar

RECIPE: PB Max Cookies

A work friend of mine, who has been nicknamed "Betty Crocker" and made all of us legitimately jealous of her husband's taste-testing lifestyle, brought these amazing cookies to share with us the other day. After humbly bathing in the expected and deserved compliments for a few moments she declared that the cookies were not difficult to make. She was right!
If you have a peanut butter & chocolate addiction, beware...

ingredientes:

-1/2 c. butter, softened
-1/2 c. peanut butter - creamy or crunchy
-1/2 c. sugar
-1/2 c. packed brown sugar
-1 egg
-1 tsp. vanilla
-1 1/4 c. flour
-3/4 tsp. baking soda
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-1/4 tsp. salt
-1 c. chopped peanuts
-1 c. dark chocolate pieces

what to do:

1. Beat the butter for three or four minutes. Add sugars, egg, vanilla, and mix well.

2. Blend together flour, baking soda and powder, and salt. Add to the batter. (Or just dump it all in at once, like me).

3. Add chopped peanuts and chocolate. Chill dough for at least two hours.

4. Drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet by teaspoon or tablespoon. (Oh, the choices: eat more little cookies or just one or two big cookies). Don't bother smashing them flat. Bake at 375 for eight to ten minutes.

Sergio del Limónar