Almond Joy Tartlets

I made these a while ago for Club: BAKED and fell in love with these little tartlets! I was too busy to post about them when the group baked them, but I couldn't just leave the pictures in my "Cooking Photos" folder any longer so here they are...honestly the are one of the best things I've ever tasted. But, I am a huge coconut fan and love Almond Joy candies (I never buy them though, but, when Halloween rolls around, you can bet these are the first things I request from my kids :) )

Almond Joy Tart

Baked: Explorations
For the Almond Tart Dough
1 large egg1/4 cup whole toasted almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ( 1 stick ) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

For the Coconut Filling
8 ounces good quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut ( if you are coconut obsessed, go ahead and use 2 1/4 cups) -- I did
1 tablespoon light rum (I used Whaler's Killer Coconut Rum, love this stuff, very mellow with lots of coconut flavor)

For the Chocolate Glaze and Garnish

2 ounces good quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 ounces good quality dark chocolate ( 60-72% ), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 whole toasted almonds (I just added sliced almonds to the top)

Make the Almond Tart Dough


In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg and set it aside.


Put the almonds and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely ground. Add flour and salt and pulse again just until mixed. Add the butter and pulse until sandy ( about 6 to 10 quick pulses). Pour in the egg and pulse just until the dough begins to cohere into a ball. Form the dough into a disk, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Make the Coconut Cream Filling


Place the white chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.


In a small saucepan set over medium heat, heat the cream just to a boil. Pour it over the white chocolate and let it stand for 30 seconds. Slowly, starting in the center of the bowl, whisk the cream and white chocolate until smooth. Cover and refrigerate the ganache for 4 hours or overnight before proceeding.


Assemble the Tart


Dust a work surface with flour. Place the disk of chilled dough on the work surface and divide it into 6 equal portions. Shape each into a smooth disk. (Note: The dough will be sticky. Make sure to turn it with a bench knife or offset spatula as needed and keep the working surface floured.) Use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a 5 1/2 inch circle just over 1/8 inch thick. Very gently press each dough round into a 4 inch tart pan with removable bottom.


Place the tart pans in the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.


Line the tart crusts with aluminum foil, and fill each one three-quarters full with pie weights or dried beans. Bake them for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and weights and bake for another 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer the tart pans to a wire rack to cool. (I had some shrinkage problems because I didn't use pie weights, I would say for this recipe they are worth the extra effort, but if you don't care if you have a shrunken crust, don't worry about it :) )

Make the Coconut Cream Filling

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the white chocolate ganache at medium speed until soft peaks form. Do not over whip. Gently fold in the coconut and the rum. Divide the filling evenly among the cooled tart shells and place them in the refrigerator while you make the chocolate glaze.

Make the Chocolate Glaze


Place the milk and dark chocolates in a medium heatproof bowl.


In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream until it is just about to boil. Pour it over the chocolates and whisk to combine. Let the mixture set for about 10 minutes. Remove the tarts from the refrigerator and spoon the glaze evenly over each one. Top each tart with one almond and refrigerate again until the glaze sets up, about 10 minutes.


The tarts can be stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

~~~~~

Like I said earlier, these were one of the most delicious things I've ever had or made. They are that good if you are a coconut fan.  Thanks to Linda at Sassy Is Baking for hosting this back in December 2011.  I am wishing I had these all over again, such delicious and decadent treat for any coconut fan!

Not Quite Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

It's my turn to host for Club: BAKED!  I thought it would be fun to give these Red Velvet Whoopie Pies a go and then forgot to add the red food coloring, go figure!  So here are my Brown Velvet Whoopie Pies :) I've never had or made whoopie pies before although I see them all over. They've always looked like a fun treat to me and now I know that they are!

These were a big hit with my whole family, they are definitely a delicious treat and quite easy to make! I loved the cream cheese frosting and walnut combo. Thanks for baking along with me this week, I hope you all had fun with this recipe and I can't wait to check out your red desserts :)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Baked Explorations
Yield:10-12 large or 15-17 small pies

For the Whoopie Pies
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder ( like Valrhona)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon red gel food coloring

For the Cream Cheese Filling
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Assembly
1/2 cup toasted walnuts,chopped coarsely


Make the Pies


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.


In a large bowl, sift together the flour,cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil and buttermilk.


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and shortening until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugars. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the red gel food coloring, then mix on low speed for a few more seconds to incorporate. Do not over mix.


Turn the mixer to low. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl , then mix on low speed for a few more seconds.


Cover with plastic wrap and chill the batter in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.


Remove the batter from the refrigerator. Us a a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-20 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling.


Make the Cream Cheese Filling


Sift the confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.


Add the confectioner's sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth. Be careful not to over beat the filling or it will lose structure. (The filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.)


Assemble the Whoopie Pies


Spread the walnuts in an even layer on a small plate.


Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down (flat side facing up)


Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop a large dollop of filling onto the flat side of the cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Turn the whoopie on its side and roll through the walnuts. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.


The whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days on a parchment lined baking sheet covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.

Muddy Mississippi Cake

This delicious dessert is one of our Club: BAKED picks for March. Thank you to Alexis at 3PM Sunday Dinner, you can find the recipe for this pie/cake here at Alexis's site if you do not have the book Baked Explorations.

If you are a Nummy Kitchen regular reader (are there any of you out there? I don't think so, but a girl can dream) you may remember that I recently made Mississippi Mud Pie, also for Club: BAKED, and this Muddy Mississippi Cake is also known as another version of Mississippi Mud Pie! Was that confusing?

Not being from Down South, I was not familiar with the previous Mississippi Mud Pie, containing a fudge layer and coffee ice cream, but I had tasted Mississippi Mud Pie before and this is the recipe I've had. Not exactly this recipe of course, but something very similar, a crunchy crust, a cake layer, a chocolate pudding layer, a whipped cream topping, and more often than not crusted up Oreos sprinkled on top, and sometimes a warm chocolate fudge sauce poured on top. I think it may be known better around here as an Oreo Mud Pie. Anyway, this was my first time making a cake / pie like this and although it was a lot of work, it turned out just as I'd imagined.

First there are crushed up Oreos for the base, I used some Birthday Cake Oreos and some regular ones. Next up is the flour-less chocolate cake, I knew there was a day when having this extra glass mixer bowl would come in handy and I hadn't been storing this giant bowl in my basement in vain. Six egg yolks whipped up and then folded into six egg whites, plus some sugar, chocolate, extra concentrated coffee, vanilla...

All ready to pop into the oven...

While the cake was baking I made the deep dark chocolate pudding layer...


I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder for some super dark chocolate pudding...

Popped the pudding in the fridge to cool and then pulled my cake out of the oven...

I have misplaced my 9 inch springform pan and opted to use my 10 inch one instead of the 8 inch. Boy am I glad that I went for bigger! This cake rose right over the 10 inch pan, luckily there was no oven mess and it stayed in the pan!


Oh no, it sank! Just kidding, it was supposed to do that, the book told me so :) It forms a nice basin for the pudding to fill. Then gets topped with some whipped cream...

And served as an after school treat to three uber-excited-for-the-three-day-weekend kids. The end :)

Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

Twinkle, twinkle, little star tart :) Welcome to our 2nd Tuesdays with Dorie baking through the book Baking with Julia. Our featured recipe this week is Chocolate Truffle Tartlets by David Ogonowski.

I was excited to give these a try because I got to use my new star tartlet pans, aren't they cute?

I also used two of my mini heart tartlet pans. I have way too many tart pans! Tarts are just so fun to bake and can be sweet or savory. I think I like the savory tarts a touch better, if they are sweet I prefer them as fruit tarts. Even though Chocolate Truffle Tartlets wouldn't be my first tart choice on a dessert menu, these were pretty yummy and fun to make.

Above is the chocolate tart dough all ready to be rolled out...

Lots of chocolate in this recipe, bittersweet, milk, and white -- oh my! Chocolate overload! After baking them, they almost looked like little Chocolate Brownie Tartlets...

I gussied these up with whipped cream, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry for the kids. They loved them, success! Picky husband didn't finish his tartlet. He is not a huge chocolate fan. Chocolate desserts are hit or miss for me. This one was pretty good. If you are a chocolate fan I bet you went head over heels for these cute little tartlets. Happy Baking, everyone!

Thank you to our hostesses this week: Steph at A Whisk And A Spoon, Spike at spike.does.stuff, Jaime at Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats, and Jessica at cookbookhabit -- please visit their sites for the recipe if you would like to give these Chocolate Truffle Tartlets a try!

Mississippi Mud Pie

This Mississippi Mud Pie is our second January selection for Club: BAKED, thank you to Jess at The Saucy Kitchen for this pick. You can find the recipe here at Jess' site if you do not have the book Baked Explorations.


This was my first time making a Mississippi Mud Pie. According to the book there are two types of Mississippi Mud Pie, this one, which is kind of like a coffee ice cream pie, and another that is more chocolately without ice cream. I have had the later chocolatey Mississippi Mud Pie before at restaurants, but had never heard of this coffee ice cream version which is apparently very popular down south. The pie starts with a chocolate cookie crumb crust, I used some oreos sans middles, you can see one of my kids trying to grab a left over oreo middle (these were the berry ice cream flavor oreos).


The next ingredient is a fudge layer which is then topped with coffee ice cream. I made my own with a recipe from the book The Ice Cream Bible which was absolutely delicious. I don't use my ice cream maker that often and when I do schlep it out to make some ice cream for one of my baking groups I always wonder why I don't use it more often since it is so fun to make homemade ice cream. The kids love watching it churn and I have to admit, I like to watch it too.


This recipe was a lot of fun to put together, the kids had fun helping with almost every step. The whole family was very excited to finally try this one for dessert after the fudge drizzle set up. The kids loved this and I thought it was pretty delicious too. It was too sweet for picky husband, which I can totally understand, it was very sweet, but I think that's part of the charm of a Mississippi Mud Pie :)

Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting -- Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone stopping by has had a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of happy memories!  As much as I want to blog regularly, it seems like every year around the holidays I just can't find the time.  I try not to stress about it and just enjoy the holidays as they seem to fly by so fast.  New Year's Day has arrived and I'm posting a delicious cake from the book Baked Explorations, Devil's Food Cake with Angel Frosting. 

This cake was our January 1st pick for the group Club: BAKED, thank you to Natalie at Just About Food for this choice.  This is my second time baking and blogging about a Devil's Food Cake, you can see my first version, from the book Baking From My Home To Yours, here -- Devil's Food White Out Cake, baked for the group Tuesdays with Dorie.  That time I used a really neat pan set that has a heart tunnel of frosting through the middle. That was my first time making this type of frosting and I absolutely loved it!  It tastes like creamy marshmallow fluff, yum!

This time I went with three 9 inch round cake pans, the recipe calls for two 8 inch pans, but I could only find one 8 inch pan and didn't feel like looking that hard, my set of three 9 inch ones were right where they should be so they got used instead, naughty 8 inch pans taking off on my like that :) I did decrease the baking time to twenty minutes for the three pans and that worked perfectly. 

This cake was absolutely delicious, so moist and chocolaty.  I am usually not a big chocolate cake fan, but this one was really good.  I would make it again if someone requested a Devil's Food Cake, I think this recipe is just perfect. 

My daughter picked which sprinkles to decorate the cake with for a New Year's Eve dessert.  Everyone really enjoyed this cake!  Wishing you a very happy New Year from my family to yours! Looking forward to blogging more and visiting more blogs and sharing lots of delicious recipes in the new year :)

Mini Vanilla Cake Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend getting ready for all of the Halloween festivities just around the corner! Today was such a fun day, we made some fun Halloween themed treats with the kids, and the favorites were these mini donuts.



The recipe is a Tessa Kiros recipe, just perfect for I Heart Cooking Clubs theme of the week, Harvest Moon -- Foods celebrating Fall's bounty/Halloween-themed foods. The recipe is for Vanilla Cake and I made the cake batter and used it in my mini donut maker, Maxim Donut Bites, pictured below...

This is an almost retro, almost vintage, okay, okay, just old, small kitchen appliance from 1995. It is still going strong. I hadn't used it in years but after seeing all of these cute new mini donut makers all over amazon and at stores I had the yearning to trudge mine out and see if it still fired up. The kids were very excitecd, and I'm sure we'll be using this thing a lot more now that they know about it.

I also broke out my new heart doughnut pans and baked a few heart doughnuts as well, but mostly the minis. I know, hearts are for Valentine's Day, but I love hearts all the time, and we heart Halloween :) The heart ones were gobbled up too quickly to photograph.

Here is the recipe from the book Apples for Jam adapted for doughnuts:

Vanilla Cake Dougunuts

1/2 pound plus 2 tablespoons butter (2 and 1/4 sticks)

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar -- I used regular sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla -- I upped this to two teaspoons
2 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup half and half

Preheat oven to 350 or preheat your doughnut maker.

Beat butter and sugar together very well in a large bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one goes in. Add the vanilla and sift in the flour and baking powder. Beat well, adding the half and half a little at a time. You will have a thick and creamy batter.

Scoop it into a ziplock bag and cut small hole at the end, squirt in enough batter to fill your doughnut molds half full and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, depending on your pan, or about 2 minutes in your doughnut maker (or follow manufacturers directions for baking) remove to wire rack and cool completely before frosting or glazing.

~~~

To top the doughnuts I made a quick chocolate glaze, I didn't measure really, but it was pretty much 1 and 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, 1/4 cup corn syrup, and 1/4 cup half and half, microwaved together for 2-3 minutes and half power, stirring vigorously after every 30 seconds. Add a little time as needed and add some extra light corn syrup if it is too thick. It should be shiny and glossy and easy to dunk the doughnut tops in -- you could also spread it on the doughnuts, just make sure to add any desired sprinkles asap so they will stick.

These ended up being the perfect snack and a perfect fun halloween treat to make with my kids and their neighborhood friend. I wish I had snapped some pictures, but it was kind of crazy managing kids and sprinkles and chocolate glaze :) Happy almost Halloween!

Honey Nut Brownies

It is Tuesday and that means Tuesdays with Dorie! I've missed the past couple of recipes (the muffins, which sounded lovely, will be making them soon!) and am glad to be back to baking with these Honey Nut Brownies.

These were picked for us to try by Suzy of Suzy Homemaker, thanks, Suzy! You can find the recipe for these brownies here if you do not have Baking From My Home To Yours and want to give these a try.

I baked these up this afternoon as an after school snack and they were a big hit. My two boys loved them and my daughter liked them but wasn't too keen on the nuts at first -- she later changed her mind and declared she loved these brownies, nuts and all. I used hazelnuts and kept them whole, which I like, but next time I think I'd chop them since these are a more cakey brownie and whole nuts seem to work better for me in dense fudgy brownies.

My only tiny change was to use an extra ounce of chocolate -- five instead of four. I thought these soft and thick brownies were great with some tea -- note the kettle on the range :) I would make these again for sure, I really enjoyed the honey chocolate flavor combo. Below photo is in front on my daughter's pink backpack and on top of a kindergarten workbook, which just happened to be sitting on the kitchen table, how's that for staging and after school snack?

Chocolate Puddings and Coconut Custard Pie -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

Our pick for today's edition of Sweet Melissa Sundays is Chocolate Pudding, picked for us to try by Leslie of Lethally Delicious -- thank you, Leslie! I just made something similar, Chocolate Pots de Creme for TWD, and the recipes were very close. I only made of half batch of the TWD Chocolate Pots de Creme, it was a huge hit and the kids were asking when I would make them again, so I was happy to make a full batch (6 ramekins) of the SMS Chocolate Pudding pick and excited to give this recipe a try.

I prepared the custards, my only change to the recipe was to whisk in 1/4 cup of Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder to give in an extra chocolate punch since it looked a little pale. I then got my water bath ready, covered my pan with foil, and put these puds in the oven for one hour, the full recipe baking time. When I took them out they looked a little funny, but I wasn't worried, I thought it might have just been from the extra cocoa powder. I then discovered I totally messed these up by having the oven set at 350 instead of the 300 the recipe called for, I had to go check the oven temp and realized my error but it was too late for these puddings. They were inedible and just utterly disgusting. I couldn't believe I had ruined them :( I would have made a second batch but used up the last of my eggs for the first batch. I will have to try these again soon. The Butterscotch Puddings we made for Sweet Melissa Sundays were amazing and I'm sure that the chocolate recipe is wonderful too, I'm sorry I messed these up...Oh-well, what can you do?

As I was uploading my pudding fail photo, I noticed a couple photos of a Sweet Melissa Sundays pick from last May that I baked along on but never posted about -- Coconut Custard Pie, picked for us to try back then by the bakers at I Dream of Baking (click for recipe). So I figured I'd post these along with my poor puddings that didn't turn out. This pie was delicious, I love coconut but am not usually a custard pie fan, but gave this recipe a go anyway and it was so so yummy. If you are a coconut custard pie fan give this a try for sure :)