TKO's for Valentine's Day!

So, TKO's may actually stand for Thomas Keller's Oreos, but I think it should stand for Total Knock Outs because man-oh-man these are sinfully good! I decided to alter them a bit for Valentine's Day and cut them into heart shapes and dyed the filling pink (aw).
These seriously are so unbelievably delicious. I wouldn't say that they really taste like Oreos at all (another reason they should be called "Total Knock Outs" and not Thomas Keller's Oreos!), but something even better! The crisp salty, chocolate cookies complement the creamy white chocolate center so delectably! 
Plus, they make a pretty cute Valentine's Day treat! Serve these with a nice big glass of milk and give in to your sugary cravings.

How completely GORGEOUS are these photos?! My brilliant boyfriend Mikey took them :)

TKO's

recipe from Thomas Keller's Essence of Chocolate through here

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 15 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 3/4 inch cubes at room temperature
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• gel food coloring (optional)

I think it's clear who took these photos, lol- yours truly.

1. For the filling: In a small sauce pan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute and then whisk until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and let stand at room temperature for 6 hours to thicken up.
2. For the cookies: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt on low speed. With the mixture running, add in the butter, a piece at a time. After about 2 minutes, the mixture should start to cling together in pebble-sized pieces. At this point, stop the mixture and transfer the dough to a surface (I poured mine onto a counter covered in wax paper).
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheets with either silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Set aside.
4. Separate the dough into two pieces and roll each piece of dough out between two pieces of parchment paper to 1/8 inch thick. Stamp out shapes using cookie cutters. Place 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating half-way through. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. 
6. To assemble: Lightly whip the white chocolate cream to aerate (add in your food coloring now if using). Transfer the filling to a pastry bag and pipe roughly 1 1/2 tsp onto the center of one cook and top with another, pressing down lightly until the filling comes to the edges.

Like I said before, you won't find any calorie counts for holiday treats here. That just wouldn't be right!

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

I've been really wanting to try my hand at baking and decorating sugar cookies for a while now and I thought around Valentine's Day would be the perfect time because a) I would have a theme, and b) I can give them as gifts! I'm shipping these out ASAP :) (yes they will be a bit late for the holiday but I doubt the recipients will mind much once they see/taste them)!

I think they turned out really nice! I know they aren't as pretty as those of someone who is more experienced, but for my first time I think they look great.

Oh, and besides looking cute, they taste great too! I attribute that to the 2 tablespoons of brandy in the dough, yummm!

Make these for your sweetie this Valentine's Day; you won't regret it (and if you do, you are free to come here and tell me all about it, ha ha)!

Thanks to my Valentine, Mikey for these beautiful pictures. I need him to teach me to take better photos myself, hah!

Sugar Cookie Dough

recipe from Martha Stewart

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add in the egg, brandy and vanilla and mix until combined.
3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and separate into two equal sections. Roll each into a ball and flatten into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your baking sheets with silicone mats of parchment paper and set aside.
6. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters and place cookies onto prepared baking sheets an inch apart.
7. Bake only until barely lightly-golden- about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Royal Icing

recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

ingredients:

• 440g (4 cups) confectioners' sugar
• 30g (3 tbsp) meringue powder
• 1/4-3/4 cup warm water (make sure to have two consistencies of icing- one stiffer for lining your cookies, and one runnier for flooding)
• gel food colorings

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or you can do this by hand with a hand-held beater), combine the sugar and meringue powder. Add in the water and beat on medium to high speed until glossy and stiff peaks form- 5 to 7 minutes. You can add more water or sugar to get the consistency you desire.
2. Stir in the food coloring in small batches (as a reminder, a tiny, tiny bit goes a long way with gel food colorings- we're talking pin pricks here).
3. Transfer stiffer icing to piping bags for lining cookies and squeeze bottles for the runnier flooding icing.

*This icing needs to be used right away or stored in an airtight container since it hardens when it is exposed to air.

No calorie counts for holiday treats. C'mon you can indulge a bit ;) Just don't overdo it :P

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

Being so close to Valentine's Day and all I've been nonstop craving something chocolatey and rich. If you haven't noticed I haven't really been baking lately since I've been so busy with school, but I took a break from typing up my lab report this evening to answer my cravings. 
I borrowed from quite a few different recipes to make these decadent treats. For the cake portion, I wanted something really sumptuous so I added cocoa powder and two types of melted chocolates. But, I still wanted to keep it somewhat healthy (ha ha yeah right) so I used white whole wheat flour. I also subbed in skim milk to eliminate what fat I could.
I wanted the frosting to be a contrast to the sweet, rich cake portion so I opted for a mascarpone/cream cheese vanilla frosting that was heavenly. I used a full vanilla bean in this and you can definitely tell! It's wonderful!
The cake part turned out almost brownie-like; the outside was a bit crisp, and then the inside was so soft. They're even good without the frosting, and actually not too bad for you- see bottom of post for nutritional info (but the frosting is really good).

You can see the actual cupcakes are quite flat; that's apparently exactly how they are supposed to be as the original recipe I adapted noted that as well :)

Also, you can see a little blue heart in the top photo. I had intended to make red ones, but my red gel food coloring was all dry :(! I thought blue would be cute too though. All it is is melted white chocolate dyed and then sprinkled with sugar and left to dry.

Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from here

makes 24 cupcakes

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 55g bittersweet chocolate
• 55g semisweet chocolate
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 1 tsp vanilla paste

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
2. Combine the two chocolates in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir chocolate and if it's still not melted, microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring thoroughly after each. Let chocolate cool to about room temperature.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the melted chocolate and mix until combined. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each (about 30 seconds).
4. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
5. In a measuring cup mix together the milk and vanilla paste. Set aside.
6. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the chocolatey butter/sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.
7. Scoop into the lined muffin tins (I used a medium cookie scoop) about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to completely cool on a wire rack.

Mascarpone Frosting

slightly adapted from here


This isn't enough frosting for all 24 cupcakes, so you may want to double or even triple the recipe.

ingredients:

• 3 ounces Neufchatel cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from inside (you can add the empty pod to your granulated sugar to infuse it with a vanilla-y taste!)

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat until combined.
2. Use to frost cooled cupcakes. You can either pipe the frosting on, or simply spread it.

I topped a few with blueberries because I think berries go great with both mascarpone and chocolate!

Calories per cupcake WITHOUT frosting is 130 calories.

For 1/12 of the frosting recipe there are 110 calories.

Poached Eggs Over Sauteed Garlic Spinach

On Thursdays I don't have class until 1:30 so I get to sleep in and have brunch :)! Today, though, I didn't do much sleeping in as I got up at 8am. I laid around on the couch for a few hours and studied for my English exam this afternoon (which I totally aced if you were wondering) and by 11 I was in the mood for eggs! I haven't had eggs in quite a while and the last eggs I did have were scrambled. I knew I wanted some delicious, runny, yolk-y goodness to satiate my craving.
Poaching eggs is one of my very favorite ways to enjoy them and these turned out spectacular. Seriously, this simple dish is one of the best breakfasts/brunches I have had in quite a while. I enjoyed my eggs with some juicy white and pink grapefruit.
Oh, and don't judge my use of sandwich thins! They're only 100 calories!

It's a happy face! Hah.

Poached Eggs Over Sauteed Garlic Spinach

serves 1

ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 tbsp butter, divided in half
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 slices of toast, and english muffin, or *ahem* a whole wheat sandwich thin

1. Bring a pot of water to a low boil.
2. While you wait for the water to boil, heat half of the butter in a skillet. Add in the garlic and saute for a minute or so until really fragrant. Add in the spinach and some salt and pepper and saute for a few minutes until wilted.
3. Crack the eggs into little bowls or ramekins and slowly slide them, one at a time, into the water. You can use a spoon to try and push the egg whites around the yolks. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and let the eggs cook in the water for about 4 minutes.
4. Grab your toast/sandwich thin/whatever and butter it with the remaining butter. Top with the sauteed spinach. Using a slotted spoon, remove the eggs from the water and gently place on top of the spinach. Add more salt and pepper to your heart's content... I like a lot as you can see. Enjoy!

1 serving @ 352 calories

Salty-Sweet Granola "Clusters"

Tastespotting didn't like the "composition" of this photo :(

Yes, I had originally set out to make granola bars. Some tasty, easily portable, better-than-the-store-bought snack bars (by the way I just mistakenly typed "bras" which is definitely not the same, ha ha). Well, things didn't go exactly to plan, though, to be fair, I don't think it was the recipes fault (although many others who tried the recipe complained of the same thing). You see, I was supposed to wait until the baked bars were completely cooled before cutting them. I assumed, like the others who had this little mishap I'm sure, that cooled for 45 minutes to slightly warmed was equivalent to "completely cooled." -Sigh- And so I am sure this was my mistake, and had I waited longer these would have cut without shattering.
Well anyways, despite my "issues," this granola was soooo good! I LOVED the honey/peanut butter binding mixture. These bars were also pretty salty which complemented the naturally sweet dried fruit extremely well.
I highly recommend making these bars, only, unlike me, be sure to wait until they are COMPLETELY cooled. I would wait a couple of hours at least; it's better to be safe than sorry.

As you can see, they are somewhat bar shaped, but there was a lot of crumbling.

Salty-Sweet Granola Bars... or "Clusters"

recipe adapted from here

ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut, unsweetened
• 1/2 cup pepitas
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 cup whole cashews
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup dried currants

Before and after roasting!

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line both a baking sheet and an 8 or 9 inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Combine the oats, coconut, seeds, and nuts and spread out evenly on the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. 
3. In a small sauce pan, combine the sugar, salt, honey and peanut butter over medium-low heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and then reduce the heat to low until the nuts/seeds are done toasting.
4. In a large bowl, mix together the toasted nuts/seeds/coconut, the dried fruit, and the honey/peanut butter mixture with a wooden spoon.
5. Spread the mixture into the square baking dish. With a piece of wax paper, press down on the granola to create a smooth, even surface.
6. Bake the granola for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool COMPLETELY. Cut with a very sharp knife and store in an airtight container.

 Makes 16 bars at 195 calories each.