Caramel-filled Sugar Cookies

Caramel and sugar- the perfect addition to a regular ol' Tuesday.  Tonight my husband shares with you another treat that he baked!  Two batches in one week?  I really found the right man.

I was off at Tuesday Night Dinner with my college sorority sisters tonight, and came home to these chewy cookies, nice and warm out of the oven.  J looked at what we had in the cabinet and found a recipe to try on his own.  His creation is a delicious, perfectly- but not overly-sweet sugar cookie, with a caramel center. I had bought the caramels a few weeks back with the intent of making a caramel apple pie.  That never happened, so I'm glad he used them for some cookies tonight!

When I asked J if he made any tweaks to the recipe or if he followed it exactly, the answer was:

"Ummm......

.............. I probably put a little more butter... a little more sugar...."  (cue puppy dog eyes)

Those ingredients never killed anyone!  Besides those two liberties, I think he followed the recipe pretty closely, so you can check that out here on Barbara Bakes to try these out.

PS - for my faithful readers who remember my old Tuesday Night Dinner posts; here's an update on tonight!  Shannon was on dessert duty and brought some chocolate chip cookies and vanilla fro-yo.  Lindsay served them on the cutest owl plates ever, sent up to Boston from her mom who knew they were a must-have for our TND tradition.  This dessert tastes really, REALLY good with some Alamos Malbec from Argentina, in case you were wondering.  (I was on wine duty!)

TND Dessert - I even got a Kappa Green owl plate - thank you Barb! xoxo

Kappa Tuesday - Temple Bar in Cambridge

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk Mousse Cake with Peanut Toffee and Creme Anglaise.  Yup.

This was my dessert last Tuesday night, when Shannon, Lindsey and I enjoyed our Kappa Tuesday at Temple Bar in Cambridge for Restaurant Week.  After an amazing dinner of roasted Jerusalem artichoke soup with chorizo, olive oil and chives, followed by grilled adobo-rubbed Mahi Mahi with plaintain and a smoked chicken black bean tamale, this was the perfect ending.  And I don't even like peanut butter!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk Mousse Cake with Peanut Toffee and Creme Anglaise.  Yup.  I said it again.  It was a super silky smooth chocolate mousse cake, studded with mini peanut butter chips, and supported by chocolate cookie crumb crust.  Unfortunately it's not listed on the regular menu at Temple Bar, but if their other desserts are anything like this one, I suggest running there and trying one asap.  A-SAP.

The restaurant is beautiful, comfortable, and the food amazing.  The parking situation isn't half bad either. A+ for Temple Bar.

PS, if you would like to try your hand at a dessert similar to this one, check out these recipes.  I haven't tried any, but they look pretty delicious!

• Mini chocolate peanut butter mousse cakes- La Mia Vita Dolce
• Chocolate peanut butter mousse cake - Couldn't Be Parve
• Chocolate peanut butter mousse cake - Alpine Berry

Berry Pie

Oh, berry pie, you are so good for the soul.

And, girls' night dinners!

My sweet friend Lindsey baked this strawberry-raspberry pie for our girls night dinner tonight.  Shannon conveniently had some leftover homemade strawberry whipped cream in her fridge to dollop on top.  De-lish.  I don't have Lindsey's secret recipe to share but you can check out some similar sounding recipes here...

Simply Delicious - Strawberry Raspberry Pie

Instructables - Triple Berry Pie

Please note - best friends + delicious pork/green bean/grain/salad dinner + red wine + BERRY PIE = heavenly Wednesday night.  

Upside-Down Blueberry Pluot Cake

Last week my girlfriends and I were lucky enough to enjoy a Kappa Thursday dinner together!  Shannon had just won her SEVENTH dodgeball championship, so she got a Thursday night off, yay!  She grilled up some steaks, tossed a salad and made some perfect corn on the cob for us, Lindsey brought the vino and I tried a recipe from my "Cake for Every Pan" challenge.

The cake?  Upside-Down Blueberry Pluot
The pan?  8" Round Cake pan

The cake turned out yummy but I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites.  Martha has another recipe for pineapple upside down cake that uses sour cream and that one is to die for.  I really have no complaints about this one, I just don't think it's going to make any of my personal "top" lists.

The original recipe calls for plums and blueberries...I like pluots and think they are a prettier color (if you haven't seen pluots in your grocery store- it's a hybrid fruit, half plum, half apricot) so that's why I tried them instead.

Here are a few picutres and the recipe- if you try it for yourself, let me know what you think!

'Nite, sweets!

Look at the little butter heart, too cute!!

   

Upside-Down Blueberry Pluot Cake
(Adapted from Martha Stewart's Plum Blueberry Upside-Down cake in the September Everyday Food)

Need:

• 10 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large pluot cut into 10/11 wedges
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries
• 1 large egg, 1 large egg white
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Do:

1- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray your 8" round cake pan with non-stick cooking spray

2- Cut out a circle of wax or parchment paper to cover the pan and go a little bit up the sides; press it into the pan and into the edge so its snug

3- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and then pour it into the pan, coating your circle of wax paper.  Swirl it around so the whole bottom is coated. 

4- Sprinkle half of your brown sugar (1/2 cup) in the pan covering the butter, then place your pluot slices on top, in any design you like. 

5- Add in the blueberries, try to fill in the gaps where your pluot is not touching so that the whole bottom of the pan is covered in fruit

6- In your mixing bowl, beat 8 tablespoons fo butter and the rest of your brown sugar together- Martha recommends 3 minutes of this, and it comes out perfect.

7- Beat in your egg and egg white to combine.

8- In a separate bowl, whisk your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.  Turn the mixer down to low so that you don't cover yourself in flour, and slowly add the mixture in.

9- Now beat in the buttermilk and vanilla, after it's incorporated, turn the mixer up to high and beat until smooth.

10- Pour your batter into the pan, and then tap it on a table or counter to get all of the air bubbles out.

11- Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is nice and gold, you might see some fruit bubbles, and your test toothpick comes out clean.  

12- Let the cake cook on a wire rack for about an hour.  After the hour is up, run a knife around the edge and flip our pan over to release the cake onto your serving plate of choice.  

13- Enjoy!

Kappa Tuesday - Summer Simple

Ohhh Kappa Tuesdays, how I will miss you!  Shannon is starting a new job so last night was the final edition of Kappa Tuesdays.  We're going to try for occasional Kappa Sundays instead.

To wrap things up, Shannon provided a simple summer dessert of Strawberry Shortcakes!  She whipped the cream herself, chopped up some fresh strawberries and brought nice light shortcake shells.  Delish and perfect for the first full day of summer.  Summer always makes me think STRAWBERRY, I'm so happy that the season of fresh berries is here.  

What are your go-to summer desserts?

Kappa Tuesday - Raspberry Rhubarb Bake!

Well hello!  I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post.  Life has been busy, but the baking hasn't slowed down!  I'm kicking BostonSweetieBlog back off with a Kappa-licious bang for you.  I mean it.  Kappa-LICIOUS.

Last night our girls dessert was provided by the lovely Miss Lindsay.  She made an absolutely amazing dessert for us - Raspberry Rhubarb Bake with vanilla gelatto.  She brought all of the ingredients to dinner, quickly assembled everything, popped it in the oven when the chicken was done, and an hour later our dessert was ready!  This is warm, sweet, satisfying, and absolutely delicious.

 

The recipe is so easy, this is a GREAT thing to make for summer potlucks, parties, or when you're craving a sweet on a random weeknight.  The recipe is below.

Before I sign off- I have to give a shout-out to Shannon who provided our Kappa Dinner:  Rosemary chicken, sauteed green beans and rice pilaf.  It was SO good, and she was proud of how pretty she plated everything.  I know my blog is all sweets, but this meal was pretty sweet (ohhhh!) so thank you Shanns!  Here's a pic:

Coming up tomorrow: Smore's bars and a care package to a deployed soldier, my participation in Operation Baking GALS!

Raspberry Rhubarb Bake - serves 6
Recipe from Lindsay's mom's cookbook "One Dish Wonders"

Place 2 cups of sliced rhubarb (fresh or frozen) in a greased, square 8"x8" baking dish.  Sprinkle with half of a 3 oz. package of raspberry or strawberry Jell-O, 1/6 cup of sugar and half of a box of yellow or white cake mix (in that order.) 

Pour 1/2 cup water evenly over dry ingredients.

Drizzle with 1/6 cup butter or margarine, melted.

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender.

Great idea from Lindsay's mom Barb: "I would put the other half of the Jell-O and cake mix in ziplocks and stick them in the cupboard or freezer if you think it will be a while before you make it again.  Doubled, this recipe fills a 9" x 13" pan, which would be good if you were going to a group event."

Kappa Tuesday: Simply Sweet & a Teaser

I love girls nights. Really, there are few things better than eating good food, drinking good wine, and savoring delicious dessert over uninhibited girl talk with your besties. Last night's Kappa Tuesday was epic. We went through more wine than usual, hung out longer than usual, and laughed as much as we always laugh. Perfection.

You know what else was perfect? Lindsay's dessert last night. She brought over chocolate frozen yogurt and fresh, mixed berries. So simple, and SO good, so satisfying and perfect for a girls night.

I think what made this dessert was the high quality ingredients. I'd never tried Stonyfield fro-yo before last night, and I was so impressed with how creamy, rich and ultra-chocolatey it was. There was none of that yogurt tang at all; it tasted just like full-fat ice cream. I eat fro-yo all the time, and this may be a new favorite. Also the berries Linds picked up were fresh and ripe, especially the blackberries. YUM.

After we'd polished off our official dessert, the wine was still flowing and we still had plenty of room for more sweets which leads me to my teaser....

Do you know what this is??? I'll give you a few hints, but not too many because I will have a really fun blog post on this coming up this weekend!

-This is a plate full of cake scraps (unofficial tasties!)

-The cake is pink (hopefully you can tell that)

-It's for a celebration

-Do you like champagne?

-Remember how I told you I love cake decorating?

-Super fun project ahead!!

Check back this weekend, and until then, remember, Life is Sweet!

Kappa Tuesday - Mini Carrot Cupcakes

A couple of my college sorority sisters and I have a great tradition of meeting for dinner, dessert and wine every other Tuesday. We rotate apartments, and rotate duties. Each of the three of us provide one of the three key elements :) This past Tuesday, dinner was pasta with homemade sauce and a garden salad. For wine, we tried Ruffino Chianti, and for dessert, ohhhh dessert, gourmet mini carrot cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting. HEAVEN!

These beauties were leftovers from my friend's Easter dinner. Her aunt, Maura Kilpatrick, is an amazing pastry chef here in Boston, baking up treats at Sofra Bakery, and Oleana. I didn't see carrot cake on the Sofra menu, but if the other items match the quality of these cupcakes, my advice is to RUN THERE and try something!

Friends, wine, cupcakes, mid-week bliss.

(PS - The Bruins just beat the Canadiens in Round 1 of the Playoffs and I am so over-filled with bliss you have no idea. GO BRUINS!!!!)