Copycat Frappuccino

Ingredients: makes 2.5 cups (590 mL) (at a cost of ~ $ .50 vs ~ $7.00!!)

• 1 cup cold double-strength Starbucks coffee OR 3/4 cup espresso (Freeze in ice cube trays for later?)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar ((I'm going to try stevia))
• 2 cups ice
• Secret ingredient: Pinch of xanthan gum OR 1 teaspoon dry pectin (keeps Frapp from separating)
  

Blend!

Top with Whipped Cream and Chocolate (Or Caramel?) Syrup if desired. :)

Chocolate cupcakes with flaming strawberries

Cupcakes:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin tin with cupcake papers and set aside.

Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Add eggs, water, heavy cream, oil and vanilla.  Mix with a hand held mixer until smooth.  
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each half full.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool before frosting.

Frosting:

2 sticks softened butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, cream together sugar, cocoa and butter; beginning on low speed then increase to high.  Beat until fluffy and lightened in color.  Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip.  Frost cupcakes.

Strawberries:

18-24 Strawberries - you'll need as many as you have cupcakes
Vodka, rum, or your choice of liquor 80 proof or higher (over-proof such as 110 will give you a yellow flame)

Hollow the strawberries carefully.  If you pierce the side of the strawberry accidentally, start with a new one.  Since you'll be setting the liquor aflame, it is important that your strawberry is leak-proof.
 
Set one strawberry atop each frosted cupcake.  Fill strawberries with liquor just before lighting (see tips).  If you need to light them all at once, (say, for a party) use a turkey baster to quickly fill all the strawberries and a grill lighter in lieu of matches.

Notes for flaming strawberries:

• Any alcohol below 80 proof will not light well.  I used 80 proof and got a nice blue flambe'.  I've been told that using an over-proof liquor (anything above 100) will give you a real fire, or a full yellow flame. 

• You can add a little sugar to the inside of the strawberry to sweeten things up.  However, the flame seems to last longer without the addition of sugar.

• Make sure to use a liquor that you like.  Vodka is a good choice if you want very little flavor.

• Alcohol evaporates, so light the strawberry soon after you spoon the liquor in. 

• Do I have to say it?  Probably not, but my conscience will not let me go without.  Do not attempt to eat a flaming strawberry.  It's a relatively short burn time, lasting about 30 seconds to 1 minute. So, enjoy but be careful.  Use your noodle.

Best-Ever Hot Cocoa Mix

Makes about 20 servings

3	cups  nonfat dry milk
2	cups  confectioners' sugar
1 1/2	cups  Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2	cups  white chocolate chips
1/4	teaspoon  Salt

Combine ingredients in large bowl. Working in two batches, pulse ingredients in food processor until chocolate is finely ground. Store in airtight container for up to 3 months. To make hot cocoa, stir 1/3 cup of this mix into 1 cup of hot milk. Top with whipped cream or mini marshmallows.

Home Made Moon Pies!!

These are great!  Start with peanut butter cookies:

Peanut Butter Cookies

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut or other vegetable oil

 2 cups +1 T (20 3/4 oz) chunky peanut butter

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 3/4 cups (18 oz) all-purpose flour

1 T baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

sugar for sprinkling on top

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl and mix (Alton recommends doing this by pulsing the mixture a few times a food processor.)  Mix the butter alone in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer for about one minute.  Add the sugars slowly.  Once all of the sugar has been incorporated, beat the mixture on medium speed until it lightens noticeably in texture and increases slightly in volume.  Drop the mixer speed to low and add the peanut butter and oil all in one dose.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and cream for another 2 minutes until well combined. 

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the eggs and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. 

Add the dry ingredients to the mixture in three installments, scraping down the bowl as necessary.  Chill the dough for about a half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Portion the cookies into golf-ball sized balls (mine were a little smaller) and place on cookies sheets.  (I used half-sheet pans lined with parchment paper but greased cookies sheets should work just fine.)  Use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on the top and then sprinkle with sugar.  Bake the cookies until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges, about 14 to 17 minutes.  (You can bake two sheets of cookies at a time, just rotate them halfway through the cooking time.)  Let the cookies sit for at least 2 minutes on the pans before removing to a rack to cool completely. 

Next we made Marshmallows:

• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup ice cold water, divided
• 12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. 


Quickly spatula into a roll of parchment paper and pipe it onto the cookies and make sandwiches out of them.


In double broiler melt chocolate chips taking care not to overheat them and destroy the temper.  Dip one side of the sandwich cookies in chocolate.  Allow everything to thoroughly cool and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Sopapilla's

Ingredients:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (8 ounce) cans crescent roll dough

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Honey

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape the each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.
Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Stir the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar together with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle over the cheesecake along with the almonds.
Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes.  Remove and drizzle honey over entire crust. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares.

Broiled Neapolitan-Style Pizza

Ingredients

• About 12 ounces crushed San Marzano tomatoes or another variety of premium plum tomato
• Kosher salt
• No-knead pizza dough
• About 20 thin slices sweet or hot sopressata (optional)
• About 4 cups fresh mozzarella
• Parmigiano-Reggiano
• A couple large handfuls of basil chiffonade
• Extra virgin olive oil

Procedure

1. Season tomatoes lightly with salt. Place in a strainer lined with cheesecloth or paper towels and set over a bowl to drain excess liquid. Reserve strained tomato juice for another purpose.

2. Turn broiler on high to preheat. Place the largest cast iron skillet you have under the broiler, on the stove over maximum heat, or on a ripping hot grill. After about 20 minutes, both the broiler and the skillet should be hot enough.

3. Roll out or stretch pizza dough as thin as possible on a floured cookie sheet. (If you have a pizza peel, roll it out on the counter then transfer it to the peel.) Immediately top with tomatoes, sopressata, and mozzarella, torn into large chunks.

4. Invert skillet and transfer pizza to underside. Slide under the broiler as close to the heating element as possible without generating copious smoke. Cook until dough is puffy and well-charred, about 3 or 4 minutes, rotating skillet 180 degrees halfway through cooking to brown crust evenly.

5. Remove excess flour from crust with a pastry brush and transfer pizza to a plate. Top with finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, basil, and a light drizzle of olive oil. Slice and serve.

No Knead Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 cups room temperature water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Procedure

1. Whisk together flours, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Incorporate water and olive oil with your hands or with a dampened stirrer until flour is fully hydrated and there are no dry lumps.

2. Drizzle some olive oil around the perimeter of the dough to prevent sticking. Cover with plastic wrap and store in a warm, dry place, such as an oven with the pilot light on, for 12 to 24 hours to let rise.

3. Punch down dough, turn out onto a surface lightly dusted with bread flour, and let rest for 20 minutes. Divide dough into 4 rounds of equal size. Place each round on a heavily floured cotton (not terrycloth) tea towel, flour the top of each round, and fold up the edges of the towels to cover. Let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

4. Working quickly to prevent sticking, turn out dough rounds one at a time onto a heavily floured cookie sheet and roll out as thinly as possible. You don't have to make a perfect circle of dough.

5. Top as desired and bake at the highest possible heat.