Emily: Meringues & Nanaimo Bars

Meringues, ready to serve.
Image located at www.recipeshubs.com.

Meringues
Yum! How can you not love them? Just sugar and egg whites whipped up to perfection. I had quite a bit of fun with this recipe. It was nice to try out my piping skills, and the students and faculty loved them. From the website attached below, I followed the directions exactly.  However, I suggest you leave the vanilla extract out. It gave my meringues a cream color rather than white. If you want a little more flavor, I’d say add some almond extract or some sort of colorless flavoring. Also, when piping, use a big tip to achieve a nice size meringue.  When nearing the hour and a half mark, test one of your meringues to see if it has dried because cook times may vary depending on size and shape. Finally, I served my meringues with berries with sugar; the faculty and students went crazy for that.  http://mobile.eatingwell.com/recipes/meringues.html

A recipe for Nanaimo Bars.
Image provided by Emily.

Mouthwatering Nanaimo Bars.
Image located at thatwinsomegirl.blogspot.com.

 

Nanaimo Bars
This great Canadian treat tastes sooooo good. I used a recipe I got from my mom and aunt. I have attached screenshots of them to the left. Nanaimo bars are easy to make and they are no bake. I have no suggestions for this recipe. They’re that good. They are a must try!

Emily: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars & Sweet Strawberry Jam Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars, and they were delicious. I found the idea on Pinterest as usual.  However I didn’t use the exact recipe from the site. I used the Nestle Toll House Original Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe and a Cheesecake recipe from a website I found on Google. The ratio of cookie-to-cheesecake is one batch of cookie dough to two batches of  cheesecake. For the cookies I suggest using mini semi-sweet chocolate chips because it makes it easy to press into the pan. If you do decide to use the mini chips, you can add at least half a cup more. I just eye-balled it. For this recipe I have no suggestions because they were simply perfect.

I also made Sweet Strawberry Jam Cupcakes. It’s a vanilla cupcake with a homemade strawberry jam filling and a vanilla buttercream with strawberry jam mixed into it. I suggest using your favorite vanilla cupcake recipe. If you don’t have one, I’ve attached the one I used. To fill the cupcake just take a small ice cream scoop or a teaspoon and scoop out as much of the cupcake as you want to fill. Add as much of the strawberry jam to the buttercream to taste. You can also put any topping you would like to garnish the cupcake. I put a slice of strawberry on top, but a drizzle of chocolate would make it look pretty good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars.
Image shared by Emily &
located at divascancook.com.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars:

1) Once you have made the cookie dough, take about half the dough and press a thin, even layer into a greased 13x9 pan.
2) Then double the cheesecake recipe and spread the cheesecake mixture evenly across the bottom layer of cookie dough.
3) Then take the remaining cookie dough and put pieces of it on top of the unbaked cheesecake until it mostly covers the cheesecake.
4) Then place in oven heated to 325 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until cheesecake is set and cookie is a golden brown.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies:  https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Cheesecake:  http://divascancook.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-cheesecake-barsrecipe-cookie-dough/

Vanilla Cupcake & Vanilla Buttercream:  http://www.browneyedbaker.com/vanillacupcakes-vanilla-buttercream-frosting/

Sweet Strawberry Jam Cupcakes.
Image located by Emily.

 

Emily: Rolo Cake & Mississippi Mud Cake (02/08/16)

Hi, I'm Emily.  For my Edge Project I am studying baking.  Every Wednesday I bake dessert for the students and faculty.  So I thought I would share my weekly desserts with you.  I will tell you what did and didn't work (and also offer suggestions).

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A picture of the Mississippi Mud Cake.
Image selected by Emily and located at Tastes Better from Scratch!

Rolo Cake was a big hit and it’s so easy to make. It’s just chocolate cake with caramel frosting with a drizzle of melted caramel and melted semi-sweet chocolate on top. However be sure to separate icing evenly across the cake. With my limited time my icing spread a little too thick in some places. Also I suggest, if you aren’t much of a sweet tooth, to just generously drizzle the icing.

Last Wednesday I made Mississippi Mud Cake. Everyone loved it. Mississippi Mud Cake is a chocolate cake with marshmallows on top and a chocolate ganache icing generously drizzled on top. This dessert was almost a "fail" because once I started cutting the first pan into squares it looked horrible. I think the icing needed to set more. However, even though it didn’t look the best it still tasted great.

I have a couple suggestions for this recipe. One: don’t over toast the marshmallows. You want them to puff together but not turn brown. Two: if you do wish to cut the cake, dip the knife into hot water with each cut. Three: be generous with the icing, I find it really compliments the cake. Four: use a very moist chocolate cake recipe. When the cake goes into the oven a second time, it drys out a little. And five: a scoop of vanilla ice-cream would suit this cake perfectly (although vanilla ice cream is good with just about everything).

A snapshot of the mouth-watering Rolo Cake.
Image located by Emily.

Rolo Cake

Moist Chocolate Cake

Yields one small sheet pan

- 2 cups Flour
- 2 cups Sugar
- 3/4 cups Cocoa powder
- 2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 tsp. Baking powder
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 cup Oil or Butter (I use butter)
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Coffee, brewed at room temp.
- 1 cup Milk

In the mixer combine all dry ingredients. Then beat in eggs, vanilla and and oil. Slowly add coffee and milk to the mixture. Lastly pour into the sprayed and prepared pan. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Caramel Frosting:
http://www.pauladeen.com/caramel-frosting

Mississippi Mud Cake:
http://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/2015/09/mississippi-mud-cake.html