All posts by Ashley

S’mores Cookies

Every kid in America has had a s’more at some point in their life. There’s just no avoiding the warm gooey mess that makes up the campfire treat. I decided to introduce my coworkers to the wonder that is the s’more through these cookies. (That and I had a ton of graham crackers I needed to use up!) They’re essentially an adapted chocolate chip cookie recipe, so it may seem pretty familiar!

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (you can substitute plain digestive biscuits for this)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (230 grams) butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • mini marshmallows
  • 1 cup chocolate chunks, plus extra to top the cookies

Directions

1. Cream the butter and sugars, then slowly add in the eggs and mix well.

2. Add in the baking soda, salt, vanilla, and graham cracker crumbs. Once everything is well combined, slowly mix in the flour. Finally add in the chocolate chips.

3. Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for about an hour. Then preheat the oven to 375°F (190°F).

4. Place balls of the chilled dough onto a cookie sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches in between each. I find it easiest to use a dough baller to keep everything the same size, and you don’t get dough all over your hands. 

5. Bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes until they’re set at the edges, but the middle is still really gooey. Open the oven and slide out the pan enough for you to work on, then quickly place three marshmallows and three chocolate chunks on the center of each cookie, then return to the oven and bake for about another 2-3 minutes until done.

6. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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by Ashley on March 17, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Ashley on March 17, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/03/17/smores-cookies-2/

Rainbow Cake

Last year, I made this cake for my birthday, and it was a hit with my friends. However, I was never quite happy with the buttercream that I used with it – it was too sweet and made eating this cake quite a challenge.  So, I decided to give it another shot and take it in to share with my co-workers. So, being that I work at a design agency, I think it went over quite well in ‘yeah, we work with colour’ kind of way.

The key to this cake is time. And a set of scales. Be sure to watch the layers when they’re in the oven, because they’re really thin and you can easily overbake them. Try different colour combinations as well! It would be fun to see one that’s more of a monochromatic theme.

For this recipe, I used the batter below, but you can cheat and use a couple of boxed cake mixes instead. For the buttercream this time around, I made three batches of the lemon buttercream that I used on my Earl Grey Cupcakes. I made two of the batches with the lemon zest and used them to coat in between the layers and to do the crumb coat. The third batch for the final coating didn’t have the lemon zest in order to have a pure white finish with no lemony bits.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (230 grams) butter, room temperature
  • 2 1/3 cups sugar
  • 5 egg whites, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (355 milliliters) milk, room temperature
  • gel food colouring – I used the Wilton food colours.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (approx 175°C). Butter your 8-inch cake tins and line with baking paper. I only have two pans, so I had to do this in multiple stages, just clean and reuse them between each layer – like I said earlier, this takes time! Then weigh the empty large bowl that you will be mixing everything in and take note of it. (All you Americans back home, this will be easier in the long run if you set your scale to grams.)

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Separate your egg whites into a separate small bowl and set aside.

3. In the large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Then slowly add your egg whites, mixing in as you go, followed by the vanilla.

4. Add in the milk and the dry ingredients, alternating between the two until you have combined everything completely.  Then weigh your filled mixing bowl. Subtract the weight of your empty bowl to get the weight of the batter you need to divide. Divide that number by the number of layers you intend to make, so if you’re doing the complete rainbow, it will be six.

5. As with the mixing bowl, weigh the bowls you will use to colour the layers while empty (or just set them on the scale and tare it). Gradually add in your batter until it weighs its even portion. Repeat this process with each of the bowls until you have enough for all of your layers.

6. Mix in the gel food colouring to each of your batters until they reach your desired hue. Pour into your cake tins, using a spatula to get as much of the batter out as possible. The layers will be very thin!  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

7. Let the cakes cool in the pan for about five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While all of the layers are cooling, make the first two batches of buttercream (the ones with the lemon zest).

8. To stack the layers, coat each one with a thin layer of the icing, trying to keep them as even as possible to prevent toppling over. Once all of the layers are stacked, coat the top and outside with the rest of the icing, creating a crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge to allow the crumb coat to set.

9. While the cake is in the fridge, mix up the third batch of buttercream (the one without the lemon zest). Use this batch to coat and complete the cake with a clean, white finish!

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by Ashley on March 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Cakes
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Posted by Ashley on March 14, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/03/14/rainbow-cake/

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cake

This. Cake. Is. Amazing.

There’s simply no other way to put it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that chocolate and peanut butter is the best food combination on earth. After having one slice of this decadent cake, I found myself dreaming about having another one! In fact, days after the cake was gone, I was still jonesing for it – which is a little sad really.

The triple-layer cake itself is super moist and rich, and the peanut butter frosting goes really well with it. And the chocolate ganache is just an extra treat that really, well, takes the cake! Big thanks to Smitten Kitchen for this recipe, as it has shot it’s way up to the top of my favorite foods list!

My only complaint for this cake is that it was incredible difficult to photograph, because the ganache kept reflecting all of the light. After spending about an hour trying to get one decent photo, I’ve added a pop-up photography studio kit to my Amazon list. So hopefully future cakes won’t be as temperamental.

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 1/2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
For the frosting:
  • 10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 5 cups icing sugar, sifted
  • 2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
For the chocolate ganache:
  • 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (I happened to have some from my last trip to the US, but you can use a mix of milk and dark chocolate.)
  • 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (I substituted with vegetable oil, since the UK is lacking in corn syrup)
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half (again, substituted by using a 1:1 mix of milk and whipping cream)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (approx 175°C). Butter three 8 or 9-inch cake tins and line with baking paper.

2. Sift together all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Whisk in the vegetable oil and sour cream, then gradually add the water. Once everything is combined, whisk in the eggs, vinegar, and vanilla. Divide the batter evenly amongst the three prepared tins.

3. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Place the cakes in the fridge while you prepare the frosting so that they will be easier to work with.

4. To make the peanut butter frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Gradually sift in the icing sugar and mix until it’s light and fluffy. Once all of the sugar is mixed in, gradually add in the peanut butter.

5. Remove the cake layers from the fridge and assemble by using 2/3 cup of the frosting between each layer. Then put a thin layer of frosting on the top and sides of the cake – called a crumb coat. Place the assembled cake back in the fridge to let the crumb coat set up. This will prevent any of the dark-colored chocolate crumbs from the cake showing through your frosting layer. After about 15 minutes, remove the cake and use the rest of the frosting to completely cover the cake. (Because you are covering the top with the ganache, I would concentrate more on making sure the sides are covered well and do a thinner job on the top.) 

6. Place the cake back in the fridge while you prepare the ganache.

7. In a double boiler (essentially, use a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water), gradually melt the chocolate chips. Be sure to stir often to prevent them from burning and to help them melt evenly! Add the peanut butter and the corn syrup (or oil, whichever you’re using). Be sure not to let any steam or water get into your mix, or else the chocolate will seize and be ruined.

8. Once the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half.

9. Quickly remove the cake from the fridge and pour the ganache over the top, while the ganache is still warm. Don’t worry about it dripping down the sides – it adds a sense of whimsy!

 

When storing this cake, be sure to keep in the fridge until about 15 minutes before serving. This makes it easier to cut, because it gets quite gooey and messy if left out at room temperature for awhile.

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by Ashley on February 19, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Ashley on February 19, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/02/19/chocolate-and-peanut-butter-cake/

Iced Sugar Cookies

My mom has been baking these cookies since before I was born. When I was growing up, we’d make them for just about every holiday and we probably had about a hundred cookie cutters. Usually we’d make an icing from icing sugar, vanilla, and milk and use paintbrushes to decorate them. It was snowing the weekend I baked these, so with no where to go, I decided to try decorating with royal icing instead – and the results were AWESOME.  To make the penguins, I used the Wilton Comfort Grips snowman cutter and decorated from there.  It’s best to make the dough the night before you actually want to bake and decorate so that it has plenty of time to chill, as it works best when the dough is stiff.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup shortening (baking fat)
  • 1/2 cup (115 grams) butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 and 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Mix shortening (baking fat), butter, sugar and eggs until blended, then add then vanilla.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in separate bowl. Then gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.

3. Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for at least one hour. Again, it’s best to leave it overnight!

4. Heat oven to 400°F (200°C). Dust your work surface with flour, then roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin until it is 1/4 inch thick. Cut with the cookie cutters, then transfer to a baking sheet with a floured spatula.

5. Bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes until slightly brown at the edges. You’ll need to adjust the baking time for cookies that have finer details or smaller sizes (such as the snowflakes, or a thin candy cane shape). It works best if making multiple shapes to only use one shape per tray so that they bake evenly.

6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, then pipe the decorations with royal icing.

When one tray of cookies are in the oven, I usually put the dough back in the fridge to keep it from getting too soft. Try not to handle the dough too much with your hands, as this will cause the butter to soften and the dough will get sticky and the cookies won’t hold their shape when transferring from your work surface to your baking sheet.  Don’t be too worried about it though, if a cookie loses its shape, just toss it back in the dough bowl and pop all of it back in the fridge for a few minutes.

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by Ashley on February 18, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Ashley on February 18, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/02/18/iced-sugar-cookies/

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

For Valentine’s Day, I decided to make heart-shaped whoopie pies after seeing the recipe on Annie’s Eats. The hardest part of this recipe was trying to pipe all of the heart shapes the same so that the sides would (hopefully) match up.  It’s actually a lot harder than it looks!  I made these pies pretty small (about 1.5 inches across) to make them more of a bite-sized treats, and I think it worked quite well.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons red food coloring
For the cream filling:
  • 10 ounces cream cheese
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups icing sugar

Directions

1. Cut out a heart shape from an index card for whatever size whoopie pie you want to make. Then trace the hearts onto sheets of baking paper or parchment. Lay the sheets pencil side down so that you don’t get graphite into your dough!

2. Preheat oven to 375° F (approx 190°C).

3. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Once they’re light and fluffy, mix in the egg, followed by the vanilla.

4. Mix in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk. Mix then scrape down the bowl. Add another third of the dry ingredients, followed by the rest of the buttermilk, mix then scrape the bowl, then mix in the final third of the dry ingredients. Once everything is incorporated, mix in the red food coloring.

5. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag with a large round piping tip. Pipe the dough onto your heart stencils, taking care to make them as even as possible. I kept my dough slightly inside my lines to allow for the cookies to flatten out. Take your time with this part, and if you mess up, scrape off the dough, put it back in the bowl, then try again.

6. Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes until set. Allow them to cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way. Be sure to let these cool COMPLETELY, or else your cream filling will melt and be super messy.

7. Lay out all of your cooled cookies, then match them up as best you can. Set each pair together on the cooling racks, one side facing up, the other down. This will make things a lot easier when assembling the pies.

8. Make the cream cheese filling by creaming the butter and sugar. gradually sift in the icing sugar. Once everything is combined, add the vanilla. Transfer to a second pastry bag with another round piping tip.  I found it easier to use the filling after putting in into the fridge for about 5 minutes before piping.

9. Pipe the cream filling onto one cookie, then top with the other. Don’t press them together too much or your filling will squish out the sides! Once all of the pies are assembled, place the racks in the fridge for a few minutes to allow the cream filling to set before stacking them up – again, to prevent them from getting squished.

10. Once the filling is set, store the pies in an airtight container in the fridge.

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by Ashley on February 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Cookies
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Posted by Ashley on February 14, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/02/14/red-velvet-whoopie-pies/

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