by Kathy Douglas | Oct 11, 2021 | Holiday, Side Dishes
Purple bell peppers, disguised as a witch’s cauldron, make for a fun Halloween dinner! Filled with cheese, rice, and sautéed veggies, they are topped with tiny cherry tomatoes and goat cheese curds for a bubbling finish. Add a Wilton tree branch treat stick as the perfect stirring branch to complete the Halloween vibe.
INGREDIENTS
6 large purple peppers
1 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1 cup chopped tomato, seeds removed
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
6 ounces crumbled goat cheese, 1 ounce of the larger crumbles removed and set aside.
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup cooked rice
10-12 very small cherry tomatoes
6 Wilton treat sticks, plastic tree branches
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oven to 375˚F. Slice off the tops of the peppers, discard the seeds, stem, and membranes. Set the peppers aside and finely chop the remaining top. You should have about ¾ cup of chopped pepper tops after you have removed all the tops from the six. Finely dice the onion to make 1 cup. Heat the oil over medium heat in a sauté pan and add the peppers, onions and half the salt.
Sauté until most of the moisture is gone from the mixture, then add the tomato and the rest of the salt. Cook until most all the tomato water has cooked away, then add the smoked paprika, garlic powder, 5-ounces of the goat cheese, sour cream, and the rice. Stir until well combined. Fill the peppers, leaving 3/8-1/2” space at the top, place on a baking tray then in the oven to bake for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and top with the cherry tomatoes, pressing them halfway into the mixture in the pepper. Place back in the oven for 5 more minutes.
Remove from the oven and set the oven temperature to broil. Arrange the remaining 1-ounce of larger goat cheese crumbles in and around the tomatoes. Place under the broiler and watch carefully to just slightly melt and just brown the top of the cheese. This should be 5 minutes or less. Remove from the oven. Let rest 5 minutes and add the decorative treat sticks to each pepper-cauldron and serve.
by Kathy Douglas | Oct 5, 2021 | Desserts, Holiday
The flavors of chocolate and pumpkin taste delicious together. And, we love the Halloween vibe of our dark Chocolate Brownie cups filled with Pumpkin Mousse and topped with a cute little Williams Sonoma marshmallow pumpkin.
You will need a brownie bowl pan and mini pumpkin marshmallows to make this dessert. Both are available at Williams Sonoma. If your brownie pan didn’t come with a recipe, here is a simple one below.
Basic Brownie Bowl Recipe
Makes 6 bowls using special equipment – 6-well pan, Brownie Ice Cream Bowl
INGREDIENTS
Softened butter for brownie pan
2/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon expresso powder
1/2 cup grape seed oil
2 tablespoons water
3 large eggs
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the wells of a brownie bowl pan using softened butter.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugars, salt, flour, and espresso powder.
Mix well the oil, and eggs, add to the dry ingredients mixing until combined. Scoop 2/3 cup of the mixture into each of the wells of the pan. Tap the pan on the counter to remove excess air.
Bake the brownie bowls for 25 to 30 minutes, testing for doneness. Remove the brownies from the oven, cool them in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn them out of the pan on a rack to cool for 1 hour. Store on the counter, covered, until ready to finish.
Pumpkin mousse
INGREDIENTS
½ cup sugar
7-½ ounces (½ can) canned pumpkin
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1½ cups heavy cream
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 marshmallow pumpkins
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, pumpkin and spices. Stir continuously with wooden spoon over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, just until the sugar melts.
Transfer to a bowl and set the bowl over ice to cool.
Using an electric mixer, whip the cream with the salt and vanilla until soft peaks form.
Very gently stir into the cooled pumpkin mixture, mixing until the white streaks just disappear. Place the mousse in a large piping bag fitted with an open tip. Fill the brownie wells with the mousse and chill until set. Just before serving, top each mousse filled brownie with a marshmallow pumpkin.
by Kathy Douglas | Jul 27, 2021 | Desserts, Holiday
Enjoy the Olympics while snacking on our favorite tart! We love cherry season for the delicious sweet and tart flavor of this pie. Topped with stars, it celebrates Team USA in the summer games!
INGREDIENTS
For the Filling:
4 cups pitted tart red cherries
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
For the Crust:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the filling:
Place cherries into a medium saucepan over medium heat; cover the pan. Cook the cherries until they release their juice and come to a simmer, 10 to 15 minutes, Stirring often.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the sugar with cornstarch until smooth; pour the mixture into the hot cherries and juice, and stir to combine completely. Return to low heat, bring to a simmer, and cook until the filling has thickened, about 2 minutes; remove from heat, and let cool completely then refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the crust:
In a food processor fitted with a blade combine the flour, sugar, and salt, pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas. With the processor running, add the 2 tablespoons water and; continue pulsing until the dough clumps together, about 45 seconds. If the dough remains too dry and crumbly to form a cohesive mass, add a bit more water. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic, pressing on the plastic to flatten the dough into a disk. Refrigerate for 30 minutes
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a 1/8-inch thick circle, about 11 inches across.
Transfer to a 9-inch tart pan and trim the edges to the top of the tart pan. Roll out the remaining dough again to 1/8” and cut as many stars as possible. Roll and cut stars until you run out of dough. Place the stars on a parchment lined sheet tray and refrigerate the stars and pie dough for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Pour the cooled cherry filling into the cold crust, then top filling with the stars. Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes or until the filling is very bubbly and the stars are slightly golden brown.
by Kathy Douglas | Jun 14, 2021 | Desserts, Holiday
Spoil Dad with these rich chocolate malt brownies topped with chocolate ganache and bananas sautéed in caramel sauce. They’re the perfect dessert for showing your love on Father’s Day!
For the Brownies
INGREDIENTS
½ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for pan
Cocoa powder, for the pan
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup malted-milk powder
1 teaspoon expresso powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup dark chocolate chips
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg, plus one large egg yolk
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter and lightly flour with cocoa powder a rectangular 8-cakelet pan and set aside.
In a heatproof bowl, combine the chocolate and butter, then set over simmering water. Whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, malted-milk powder, expresso powder, salt, and chocolate chips; set aside. Using an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the sugar and eggs in the mixer bowl until thickened and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add melted chocolate mixture and vanilla; mix to combine, about 30 seconds more. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined.
Evenly add the batter into the prepared pan, filling each opening 2/3-3/4 full. Spread the top of each brownie evenly. Depending on the size of the pan, you should get 7-8 brownies out of the batter. Place in the oven and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for ten minutes or so, then carefully remove and transfer the brownies to a wire rack to cool.
Make the topping while they cool.
For the Topping
INGREDIENTS
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS
Add the chocolate to a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat stirring occasionally. Pour over the bowl of chopped chocolate, let the chocolate mixture stand for 1 minute; then stir until smooth.
Let the ganache set for 20 minutes, then pour evenly over the brownies. Let the brownies cool until the ganache is set, at least 1 ½ hours.
To Serve
INGREDIENTS
4 small bananas
1/2 cup caramel sauce, homemade or high-quality
INSTRUCTIONS
Slice the bananas, then split by slicing each piece in half again down through the banana length wise. Add the caramel sauce to a sauté pan over medium heat, cook until melted.
Add the bananas and cook until just starting to soften. Place the brownies on a plate, then top with a banana slice on each brownie. Drizzle over the caramel sauce left in the pan and serve immediately. Makes 7-8 servings.
by Kathy Douglas | May 24, 2021 | Desserts, Holiday
A tasty treat for all, celebrate Memorial Day with these sous vide fruit cups. Fresh fruit and a cookie-like pecan crunchy top plus whipped cream make a fun dessert you can assemble right at the table.
For the fruit:
INGREDIENTS
2 cups ripe strawberries, stemmed, washed, and quartered
2 cups fresh blueberries, stemmed and washed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the sous vide circulator to 180˚F.
Put the berries into a large bowl add the sugar and lemon juice and then toss gently to coat.
Add to a vacuum bag and seal. Submerge the pouch in the water bath and cook for about 30 minutes.
Cool completely and then refrigerate until ready to use. When ready, cut the pouch open and gently pour into a bowl.
For the cookie crumble
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 ounces unsalted butter
1 cup whole pecans, some broken
INSTRUCTIONS
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, dark brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and stir in the flour mixture until small clumps form and all the butter is absorbed. Add the pecans and stir in. Pour onto a parchment lined baking tray and cool.
To Serve:
INGREDIENTS
Whipped cream
Holiday sprinkles
INSTRUCTIONS
Divide the fruit evenly in six bowls. Divide evenly the cookie crumble and sprinkle over the fruit. Top with whipped cream and holiday sprinkles. Serve immediately
by Kathy Douglas | Mar 30, 2021 | Desserts, Holiday
These cute individual trifles are perfect for your upcoming holiday dessert. We used cinnamon and sugar phyllo dough strips for the “nest” and Williams-Sonoma seasonal candy eggs over a lemon cheesecake filling with a shortbread cookie base. Need to cut some time? Simply use high-quality store-purchased shortbread cookies instead of baking your own.
Phyllo Dough Nest
INGREDIENTS:
6 sheets of phyllo dough
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet tray. Cut 6 sheets of phyllo dough in half to make 12 shorter sheets. Roll together tightly and very thinly slice into long thin pieces then transfer to a baking sheet carefully separating the layers.
Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle with butter, then with cinnamon sugar. Bake until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely. Best used on the day they are made, but you can store in an air-tight container overnight. Re-crisp if needed in the oven for on 300˚F for 10 minutes, cool to room temp before using.
Shortbread Crumbs
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for the pan
½ cup plus two tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
6 glass serving cups
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter an 8×8” pan. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes. Fold in flour and vanilla and blend until a soft dough forms. Press into the 8” x 8” pan and bake until light brown, about 40 minutes; remove and cool completely. Crumble then divide equally among the cups and press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the cups. Or store in an air tight container over night and add the cups when ready to use.
Lemon Cream Cheese Layers
INGREDIENTS:
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
2½ cups cold heavy cream
1 cup homemade or store-bought lemon curd
INSTRUCTIONS:
Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat mascarpone, powdered sugar, and lemon zest in a large bowl until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the cream. When combined, increase the speed to medium and beat until medium peaks form.
Transfer half of mascarpone mixture to another bowl. Add the lemon curd to the remaining half and beat in until combined.
Dividing the mixtures evenly, layer the lemon curd mixture over the shortbread crumbs in each cup followed by the plain mascarpone /cream mixture. Smooth the top, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least two hours and up until 24.
When ready to serve
INGREDIENTS:
Candy bird eggs
INSTRUCTIONS:
Form a nest in the top of each cup using the shorter pieces of cinnamon phyllo in the center and longer on the outside. Add the candy eggs into the center of the nest and serve immediately.
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