Chocolate and Vanilla Biscoff Truffles

Random thoughts and a few things about me.

1. Have you ever noticed how those ASPCA commericals always play the most sad music in the background while showing you pictures of animals with the most pathetic faces. Great marketing to get donations.

2. I have fallen in love with Chevron print.

3. I have decided that I am crafty enough to refinish a dresser/buffet for my house. Although I have yet to find the perfect piece.

4. I love old episodes of The Twilight Zone.

5. I have to repeat certain words over and over in my head.

6. I refuse to think that I'm getting older.

7. Biscoff Spread is the DEVIL!!

Okay so enough random thoughts.

That last one...is a complete truth! I swear!

I had never heard of this stuff before I was a blogger. I secretly wish I would have never discovered it because I'm telling you, it is the DEVIL!!!

Jar # 1

I bought jar # 1 about a week ago and decided to try the slightest little taste on the end of a spoon (you know, just incase it was a mixture of terpintine and dirty socks)

I didn't stop at the slightest little taste! Much to my surprise it tasted nothing like dirty socks!

I decided that the only way to make this any better was to try it on toast.

Yeah, that was pretty good too! And Jar # 1 now resides in my desk at work!

On to Jar # 2

Jar # 2 found it's way into my cart yesterday at the grocery. Apparently our local largest chain in america store decided that Biscoff Spread was better placed at the end of the frozen entree section of the grocery than in the spread aisle. Either the stock boy had no idea what he was dealing with or the peanut butter was jealous and forced it out of it's aisle. I just had to rescue some of it from potential freezer burn!

So jar # 2 came home with us.

I decided this time around I was going to do something different with it.

Check this out!

Do you see this?! Do you know what that is?!

Yes!

It's a Toasted Bacon Biscoff Sandwich!

And it was my breakfast!!

And it was fantastic!!!

And I wonder why I look like a whale!

So now that hubby and I have finished almost half of the jar within the last 24 hours I decided I better do something constructive with my remaining Biscoff Spread or I was going to have to move on to Jar # 3 to be able to blog about it.

I toyed around with the idea of doing something chocolatey and ooey gooey,  but then decided to try making truffles.

I'm a cake pop kinda girl so I decided I'd make these the same way.

I just so happened to have some left over vanilla and chocolate cupcakes in my freezer so out they came.

I mixed these up just like cake pops, coated them with some candy coating and a little drizzle of Biscoff and Voila!

They have just enough of the Biscoff flavor to be dangerous!

I made these three different ways.

I did chocolate coated in chocolate.

I did vanilla coated in chocolate.

And I mixed it together and coated them in chocoalte.

Those were my favorite!

I think the plain chocolate cake overpowers the Biscoff a little, so with the vanilla cake marbled in it allows the Biscoff flavor to reappear.

These were so good! And I said "were"! They're gone!

And I'm considering purchasing Jar # 3 when I make a trip to the grocery tomorrow!!

Now these directions aren't real technical. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the steps, but I hope that you can figure this out!

Chocolate & Vanilla Biscoff Truffles

Chocolate Cupcakes or Cake

Vanilla Cupcakes or Cake

Biscoff Spread

Chocolate Candy Melts

Crumble cakes into seperate bowls.

Add in Biscoff Spread. You only need enough to help the cake stick together. (I had three standard size cupcakes and I used about 2 tablespoons of Biscoff spread for each flavor cake)

Squish the cake and spread together with your hands until it becomes like a thick dough.

Roll into balls.

Melt chocolate according to directions on package.

Dip balls in chocolate and allow to cool on wax paper.

Was that technical enough for you? Um....now just eat them!!! And go buy some Biscoff Spread!!

Kid Friendly Homemade Ice Cream

So, I've jumped on the band wagon. Kicking and screaming, as if I need something else to get my attention, I've been pinned. Pinned to Pinterest! The website where you can plan your make believe wedding, your make believe kids, your make believe house, and all of it's make believe furnishings! My house looks nothing like any of those pictures on there, but it gives me great inspiration. There are several places I draw my inspiration from, my family, my friends, my kids, Cupcake Project, and many other wonderful sites on the web, this one is no different.

After a long day in the kitchen making this and this, I sat down in my living room and picked up what dear hubby thinks is my new extremity, my Droid, and brought up Pinterest. As I was scrolling through the pictures, picking my favorites and repinning, I came across one for Homemade Ice Cream in a Ziploc bag. Oh I had to try this. I summonsed my kitchen help, a.k.a. Aiden, my 6 year old, and off to the kitchen we went. After 8 minutes, and 6 frost bitten hands (after dear hubby had to join in) we had ice cream!! And really good ice cream at that.

Now to my 6 year old ice cream is ice cream, no matter what taste, shape, or color. Any will do. For my dear hubby, ice cream extraordinaire, this ice cream just didn't make the cut. He felt it had too greasy of a texture (I'm sure this happened because I used heavy cream rather than half & half). I fell somewhere right in the middle.

 I'm usually not a plain vanilla fan, chocolate is more my speed, but this vanilla ice cream was good. And it was even better when I added just a dab of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. So how did we do this you ask? It's easy! Here's how!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

2 TB sugar
1 cup half & half (or light cream)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarse salt or table salt(I used canning salt)
ice
gallon-sized Ziploc bag
quart-sized Ziploc bag





Place sugar, half & half, and vanilla in a quart-sized bag and seal well.




Fill gallon-size bag 1/2 full with ice, add salt. Place quart-size bag inside gallon-size bag and seal bag.




Shake bags around for 5 minutes (If you use heavy cream you will need to shake it about 8 minutes)




Remove quart-size bag from gallon bag, rinse with cold water and serve!

As you can see, we ended up using towels to hold onto our bags, it makes your hands really, really cold. But a little frost bite on your hands is worth it for some pretty tasty ice cream! It's that easy! And you can store any leftovers in the freezer (that is if you have any leftovers)!  I think this would make a great treat for a kid's birthday party, and I'm sure you could add in any kind of toppings or flavors you'd like once it was frozen. The possibilities are endless!!

So there you have it! A pin that you really can achieve!!

Pink Champagne and Raspberries

When I think of Pink Champagne all I can think about is the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's. I've never seen the movie and I have no idea what the movie is about, but I know Pink Champagne plays a role in the film.  I've never had pink champagne, but I do know that I like the white kind so I figured that I'd probably like pink one just as well. When I started thinking of new ideas for cupcake flavors I decided to try a Pink Champagne Cupcake. I googled the idea I came across alot of different recipes. Some from scratch, some from a box mix and decided to stick with my usual and go with the scratch recipe that I found.

I came across a website that first struck me with the images of a beautifully designed Pink Champagne Cupcake. Then I started reading. This website was started in 2011 with hopes of raising awareness and funds for cancer research. I encourage each of you to go this website and read more about it. It is amazing all of the stories and recipes that are posted there.

I went ahead and did an inventory of the recipe and found that I had all of the products in my pantry to make these cupcakes, but of course decided to change it just a little. Here's the recipe that I used. It was adapted from Intoxicated Cupcakes by Kate Legere. The recipe said that it makes about 20 cupcakes. However, I ended up with 30 standard size cupcakes.

Pink Champagne Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

For the Cupcakes
6 large egg whites (save 3 yolks)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
5 ounces (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
3 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
2 2/3  cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup Pink Champagne

4 drops red food coloring (optional, but it does make it pink)

For the filling
1 - 1.4 oz package instant vanilla pudding mix (try the white chocolate for a whiter center)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup Pink Champagne

For the buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup fresh red raspberries

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1-2 tbsp Pink Champagne
4 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 350, line cupcake pan, set aside
2. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks, then slowly beat in 1/4 cup sugar.  Beat until glossy stiff peaks, but not dry.  Set aside.

3.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks, vanilla bean paste and red food coloring and beat well. 

4. Sift the dry ingredients together.  Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the Pink Champagne, mixing well after each addition.

5. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the batter.  Fold in the remaining egg whites carefully not to deflate the egg whites.

6. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the prepared cups.  You want them about 3/4 full.  Bake for 16-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  They should not be brown on the top.  Springy.  Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely before filling.

7. Combine the filling ingredients together and whisk for about a minute until smooth.  Refrigerate until set, about 5 minutes.  Place in a piping bag or a zip-top bag.

8. Remove a core of each cupcake. I just used a sharp knife to carve out a cone shape from the top of the cupcake. Keep the cored piece.  Fill each hole with some cream filling, and replace the cored piece, gently pressing down.

9. For the buttercream, in a bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter, and vanilla.  Mix on low speed, until well combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.

10. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar slowly on low speed.  Beat for 1 minute, scrape the sides, and slowly increase the speed to medium. Add in the raspberries and continue mixing until they are mixed well into the frosting.

12.  Spread or pipe on cupcakes. 

Here is what they look like on the inside. A nice fluffy cupcake, filled with a creamy vanilla champagne center and topped with fresh raspberry frosting, what could be better than that!

 I wish I could capture in pictures just how good these cupcakes are. When they came out of the oven it was like a time machine for me, it took me back to a time when my mom worked at a local bakery. The smell of the cupcakes was exactly what the bakery used to smell like. I'm wondering if Mr. Daniel used champagne for anything??