Blackberry and Ricotta Parfaits

These may sound a little weird but they're actually quite good. I don't think ricotta cheese instantly comes to mind as a dessert ingredient for most people.  But it does for me.  I first feel in love with it way back as a cannoli loving teen.  I loved it so much I checked out an Italian dessert cookbook from the local library just to learn how to make the cannoli filling.

Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for you. It's more of a "method" as these were born out of my children's complete love of sweetened ricotta cheese and the need to use up some blackberries that were on their last leg.  (See Monica we love other things besides bananas! :-)

Here's what I did.... I took ricotta cheese, drained it, and then whisked in some sugar.  I've also used honey and powdered sugar.  Depending what I'm layering with the cream I've also added lemon and orange zest, Fiori di Sicilia, vanilla, and almond extracts.  Use whatever works for you.  My children will eat the ricotta cream just sweetened with nothing else, but they love it best with berries.  In this case I had some blackberries that had seen better days.  I tossed most of the blackberries into a small pot and cooked them down with a little bit of sugar.  Once they had released their juices and the berries were sufficiently softened I took them off the stove and I stirred in the few berries I had reserved.  (I did this to add more texture.)  While the berries were cooking I crushed up some Maria cookies for a third layer.  Because I wanted the contradiction of hot and cold, I had the cream chilling in the freezer during the few minutes it took to cook the berries.  Layer up the cookies, cream, and berries and your done!  Easy and delicious!  

BTW, if you haven't ben able to tell I am having serious issues with formatting! ughhh

Cookies, Anyone?

No, I didn’t bake cookies but the good people at Tate’s Bake Shop sent me 3 packages (Tate’s famous Chocolate Chip cookies, White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut, and Oatmeal Raisin) of them along with their cookbook.  Thank you.   With cookies being sparse around 3B’s they didn’t have to twist my arm to get me to agree to sample their cookies.  :)

I’m not going to twist your arm either but suggest instead, that if you’d like to eat cookies and not have to bake them yourself then leave me a comment for a chance to win Tate’s Bake Shop cookies and cookbook.  For an extra entry hop over to Tate’s Bake Shop Facebook page and become a fan.  And if you don’t want to wait to see if you win, Tate’s has also generously provided you with a discount code (cookies) for 15% off your order, from now until December 31st at tatesbakeshop.com. 

Along with the cookies I also received Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King.  I really enjoyed it and have several recipes bookmarked to try.  The recipes are straight forward and the ingredients are ones readily available.  My only complaint about the cookbook is, photos are sparse.  There is a section in the middle with 8 photos.  Eight photos and yet there is over a 100 recipes?  I don’t know about you but I’m of the opinion that a cookbook should include photos for at least 25% of the recipes.  (Can I get an Amen?) I know what a chocolate chip cookie looks like. I wanna see your Lemon Cream Cheese Tart (pg. 82) or your Lime Mousse Cake (pg. 129).   And for you chocolate lovers, how about the Chocolate Mousse Cake (pg. 109)?  Wouldn’t you like to see that beauty?  With mousse in the title even I would like to see a photo of it!

With Kathleen famous for her cookies I probably should have tried one of the cookie recipes but you know me.  I dived into a bar one instead and whipped up the White Chocolate Brownies (pg. 58).  Kathleen says, “They are like a dense, yummy vanilla bar with cranberries and almonds.”  I agree except without the cranberries.  You can see from my bottom photo the texture and crumb is reminiscent of a pound cake.  The “brownies” are extremely dense but tender and surprisingly moist.  I thought perhaps I had over cooked them and that they would be dry but they were perfect.  To kick things up a notch I drizzled warm raspberry jam over individual pieces. Yes, I’ll definitely be making these again.  They were a great change from our usual banana, caramel, butterscotch, or cinnamon filled dessert!

White Chocolate Brownies, adapted from Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook, by Kathleen King

• 9 Tbs. butter, cut into pieces
• 9 oz white chocolate; I used Valrhona, which I had saved for a special occasion.
• 1 Tbs. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup dried cranberries;  I left out
• 1/2 cup of almonds chopped; I used sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray and place waxed paper in a 9 inch square baking pan. (I used an 8 inch pan and lined it with aluminum foil that I lightly sprayed with Pam. I suggest sticking with the 9 inch pan.)

In a small pot combine the butter  and white chocolate. Over low heat melt the butter and chocolate slowly.  Remove pot from heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.  Add the vanilla. (Normally I would take the easy route and use the microwave but I’ve over heated white chocolate too many times that way.  On the stove I have more control and can tell when to take it off the stove.)

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.  With an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until they are thick and pale.  Add the chocolate mixture and mix until it is combined.  Add in the flour mixture and mix until it is combined.  Stir in the cranberries and almonds if adding.

Spread evenly into the pan (or sprinkle sliced almonds evenly across the top of batter, as I did) and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Don’t under bake. 

Refrigerate the brownies overnight. Remove them from the pan and cut into squares.

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Giveaway Rules & Info

• For the first and main entry, answer this question, “Are you a cookie baker or eater?”
• For a second entry, become a “fan” of Tate’s on Facebook. Come back and leave a comment telling me.
• The giveaway ends on Saturday, December 11th and a random winner will be selected on Sunday, December 12th. 
• Please leave an email address where you can be reached.  Once a winner has been selected he/she will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be randomly selected.

At this time the giveaway is only open to U.S residents.

For a 15% discount at tatesbakeshop.com use the discount code, cookies.  Offer good through December 31st, 2010.

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Disclosure:  I received Tate’s cookies and cookbook free of charge.  The opinions stated here are completely my own.

Guest Blogger: Lick The Bowl Good

Hello Everyone! I am Monica from Lick The Bowl Good and I was asked by Ingrid to be a guest blogger here on her blog while she's away on vacation. Ingrid and I have become great friends over the last year and a half, so of course I said YES! I am honored to be here and thank you for having me.

Originally I wasn't sure what recipe I wanted to share with you. Would I share something savory? Or would I treat you with cookies (which he doesn't like to make) or chocolate and raisins (which she despises)? In the end, I wanted whatever I featured on this blog to reflect Ingrid's personality and her blog style. I also still wanted her to be my friend and I knew if I made something with raisins in it, that she'd stop talking to me. ha ha!

So today I have a special cookie for you. I made these for McKenna's 11th birthday last month. I made snowflake sugar cookies for them over the holidays and they all really enjoyed them. So much so that Ingrid decided to make some for the dessert table at her brother's wedding. She used the same recipe I did, but for some reason McKenna claims mine were better. I'm not sure if that's true or if that's just what Ingrid told me so she wouldn't have to make them again :-) Either way, McKenna asked nicely so I sent her some in a surprise birthday package.



Ingrid said I could make and decorate them in any way I wanted, so I decided to turn to my Message In A Cookie Cutters that I got from Williams-Sonoma. I planned on doing pink and purple and was immediately shut down. Ingrid told me she's not a girly girl and that she prefers blues, greens and yellows. I still wanted them to be somewhat feminine, young and fun so I settled on purple, lime green and a dark peacock blue. I cut them into hearts and scalloped rectangles then accented them with white royal icing for contrast and added sweetness. They were then bagged and tagged with these sweet embossed stickers given to me by my friend Janet. I think this completes the package- thanks Janet!

Rather than typing out the recipe, I'll just link to it back on my blog since it's lengthy. The recipe for the sugar cookies can be found HERE. Thank you all for allowing me to share a recipe and photos with you. I hope you enjoy them. Ingrid has a picture of McKenna with her cookies so maybe if you ask nicely she'll share it with you when she returns!

Recipe: Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Cookies

In my last post I mentioned it had been years since I baked cookies but that I ended my cookie boycott this Christmas and baked some with my mom.

When I found out my parents were going to be in town for the holidays, I quickly told my mom that I would take a day off so we could bake some Christmas goodies together.  I guess I should have been more specific about what we would make as her mind went straight to cookies.  Her and my dad’s favorites, Raspberry thumbprints and Mexican wedding cookies.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her I didn’t want to make cookies but I did whine a lot about how much work they are.  

I’d like to say this foray into cookie baking changed my opinion but it didn’t.  It confirmed it.  Cookies are time consuming and a lot of work.  Bars ARE better!  :)  Were they good? Yes!  They were very good but for the amount of work I really didn’t get many cookies.  And you know, no one eats two or three slices of cake at one time but two or three cookies?!  That’s just getting started.  Every time some one went into the kitchen they grabbed one (or two), well with seven people in the house  those 36/40 cookies just didn’t last.  As a matter of fact there were only a few of each one left by the end of the night.

Click here for the thumbprint recipe I used from Land o Lakes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t  find the wedding cookie recipe that we used and none of the ones I saw on the web looked familiar.  Sorry.  The good news is while the recipe was good it wasn’t “oh, my gosh this is the best cookie recipe I’ve ever had in my cookie eating life.” good so you’re not missing out.  :)

Here’s a picture of the official cookie ball roller, my Mom, Linda. 

See that photo below?  I made a pan of cranberry crumb bars while waiting for the cookie dough to chill.  We’ll talk about their yumminess in a later post along with a couple of other things I made.

It’s Snowing in Florida….

Here are photos  of the snow flakes I received.  They came from Texas.  :)

For those that are new to my blog you may not know that cookies and me don’t get along.  Actually I don’t have a problem with cookies.  It’s the cookie baking that I have issues with.  And not issues like I can’t bake them.  It’s more like I don’t like to bake them. Now don’t get me wrong I like eating them just fine but I’d much rather bake something else.  Give me cake, ice cream, cupcakes, brownies, blondies, cinnamon rolls anything but cookies. (Bars are probably me favorite.  So quick. So easy. Sooo  good.)  Until this Christmas I couldn’t tell you when the last time it was that I baked cookies.  (More coming on those.) The closest I’ve  come to cookies were these snickerdoodle blossoms and the pizzookies. 

I have to be honest, I had high hopes that someone would take pity (Donna!) on my cookieless self and spend me a few.  :) Well, for New Year’s I received snow flakes from Texas!  Monica from Lick the Bowl Good sent me these beauties!  Not only were they gorgeous but they tasted wonderful!  I can’t begin to tell you how excited the kids were to see the cookies, you would have thought Monica sent the cookies to them.  I hated to break it them…..but no guys Miss Monica did NOT send you the cookies.  She sent them for Mommy.  You should have heard them arguing with me about that and about how I should share,  and blah, blah, blah!  :)  I shared but I wasn’t happy.

Visit Monica’s post here if you’d like the recipe.  If I want firm but tender flavorful sugar cookies I can bake them myself but if I want delicious AND beautiful ones I’ll call Monica!  Thanks for the snow flakes Monica!  Oh, and Babygirl said you can send cookies anytime you want!  :)

*All the photos were courtesy of Monica.  There was no time for photo taking and the kids were NOT going to be put off.  You would think  we never have cookies! :)

Snickerdoodle Blossoms

These are  the first “cookies” I’ve made in YEARS if you don’t count the pizzookies. They are most likely the closest thing to cookies you’ll see on here, too.  While I like cookies they aren’t my favorite which is probably why I think they are a lot of work for just a little payoff.  

I first lusted after these beauties when I saw them on Monica's blog but it was seeing Denise's version of them, baked up in a mini muffin pan that gave me the final push to make them.  I suppose with my love of all things snickerdoodle-y, it isn’t a huge surprise that this would be the “cookie” to get me out of my “no cookie baking” funk.   :)

I know a few of you (April & Megan) are already thinking about what you are going to put on your holiday cookie tray this year and I think these should be considered.  They really aren’t difficult and they are VERY good!

 

Snickerdoodle Blossoms 

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 48 milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped

Heat oven to 375°F.

Combine the 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar and butter in large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add egg, vanilla extract and salt; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking soda. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. If dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour. (Don’t be lazy like me, refrigerate the dough! It makes it much easier to work with!!)Combine the 1/4 cup sugar and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. (On the 2nd batch I mixed some turbinado sugar with cinnamon and rolled the dough in it. I loved the crunch it added.) Roll dough balls in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.* Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until very lightly golden brown. Immediately press 1 chocolate kiss in center of each cookie and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over them while they're still warm. (Duh, I forgot to sprinkle my 1st batch but did the 2nd.  In case you’re wondering the 2nd batch tasted better!) Remove from cookie sheets; cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 4 or 5 dozen.

*Instead of the cookie sheets I put the rolled dough into a Pam sprayed mini muffin pan.  I won’t tell you how long I baked mine as I didn’t do a very good of job rolling my dough into a 1 inch size or even getting them all the same size.  I also like my cookies very soft so I took them out as soon as they looked done to me.   I think you’d be fine using Monica’s bake time for the regular cookies.

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If you haven’t checked out this post you’ll miss out on a chance to win your own handy dandy Microplane nutmeg grater!

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