Wednesday, June 23, 2010

It's my chocolate attack

I'll keep this brief, but I wanted to share a semi-recent discovery about those hot chocolate packets my office supplies in our kitchen.

Should you find yourself in desperate need of something chocolaty, and with only an empty pocketbook or vending machine, here is a simple solution:

1. Empty 1 packet of Nestle or Swiss Miss hot chocolate into a disposable cup.
2. Pour in approximately 1/4 cup milk.
3. Mix like hell. (It won't want to mix at first, but it will eventually acquiesce.)
4. Microwave for about 35-40 seconds.

The result is an extremely molten brownie milkshake thing. It is so good. And if I've done my math right, only about 110 calories. Mmmmmm.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Rhyming Cutlets

Sing a song of kitchens full of girls so spry,
Four and twenty flour sacks baked rising high.
When their goods were tasted the girls began to sing,
'Our sweet treats should win grand prize -- the Dough Boy crown us king!'
The girls picked through their cupboards, oils and sauce so runny,
The boys helped chop and drink and fart and tell jokes fairly funny,
They seared and boiled, grilled and broiled, but still they have not chose,
The recipe to rule them all, wow every eye and mouth and nose!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Spice President

So, it's been a while. You're probably thinking, "Man, I wish Rachel or Claire would write about something they've recently baked to make me oh-so-jealous of their wicked Pillsbury skillz." Well, my friend, your wait is over. Because this 4-day weekend wasn't just about hanging off the back of a Hobie Cat by a boogie board. No no, it also served as an opportunity for me to finally go ahead and try to rip-off Tom Colicchio's mind-blowing cookies from 'wich craft.

These cookies are seriously the best cookies in the whole world. 'Wich Craft has a variety of cookie sandwiches filled with delicious ganache. When these show up in my office, I have no qualms about taking 4 back to my desk. The one I'm absolutely gaga about has peanut butter in the middle, and some kind of ginger snap cookie on the outside. I love those spicy cookies, so I just couldn't resist trying them out myself.

Ingredients for cookies:
1 tube Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies doctored up with --
approx. 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tbsp cocoa powder 1tbsp powdered sugar

Ingredients for ganache:
some peanut butter, heavy cream, and powdered sugar. No measuring, just mixed until I had a happy consistency and the taste was creamy and sweet.

I baked up the cookies, making sure to keep them all fairly small and the same size. Once completely cooled, I spooned about a teaspoon of the ganache onto one cookie, and topped it with a match.

They were awesome!!! Jenny did suggest that the filling could be a pumpkin ganache. I thought this was an excellent idea, and would make for easy marketing. Who wouldn't want to whip up a batch of Pillsbury Harvest Cookie Sandwiches? Yum!!