Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Orange Creamsicle Cookies


This yet another recipe from www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com


2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 firmly packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons orange zest (for me that was the zest of 2 oranges)

2 cups Guitard Choc-Au-Lait Vanilla Chips (I used Ghirardelli white chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and chips.Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Do not flatten cookies; it will make them dry. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Do not overcook! Cookies will be plump. Cool for several minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container

Strawberry Cream Puff Cake

I found this yummy looking dessert on www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com

Ingredients:

2 cups or one carton of strawberries, sliced

Cream Puff Base:
5 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup flour
3 eggs

Cream Cheese Mixture:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2/3 cup powdered sugar


For the cream puff layer, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring the butter, water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the flour all at once and stir quickly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the mixture until smooth. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until the mixture is shiny with a satiny sheen. Don’t overbeat. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan (or in a pinch, you could use a 9-inch circle cake pan).

Using an offset spatula, spread the mixture on the bottom and one inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Don't look at my picture. I skimmed the instructions and put it 2 inches up the side instead of one. This part can be tricky. I've found sometimes it's easier to spread with clean hands.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and prick pastry with a toothpick 10-12 times. Return to the oven and bake 5-10 minutes more until golden brown but not overbaked (you can insert a toothpick into the center and if it comes out with sticky dough, it still needs longer in the oven). Cool completely.
For the cream cheese mixture, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar (sift if necessary)and beat with the cream cheese until mixture is smooth and light. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form. Spread onto the cooled cream puff shell.

Top with fresh sliced strawberries. Keep in the fridge until serving. My strawberries weren't that sweet so I put the sliced strawberries in the fridge with a couple tablespoons of sugar for an hour and they made their own sauce.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

This recipe is from The-girl-who-ate-everything.com.

Combine:
1 pkg. plain yellow cake mix
1 stick melted butter
1 c. creamy peanut butter
2 eggs

Press this into a 9x13 pan reserving 1 1/2 c. of the mixture to crumble on top.

Melt:
1 (12 oz) pkg. chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 T. butter
Melt on low heat in a small pot. Remove from heat and add:
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. coconut (optional...my sister did not like the texture of it in there)

Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 of reserved cake mixture on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325 degrees. Cool completely before cutting into bars.