Chocoholism and a long Birthday Weekend

Apparently, the fourth weekend in july is birthday weekend in Northern Virginia. Over two days, I had three different birthday occasions to bake for. The first was for my boss at work. Okay, I realize this makes me a huge brown-noser, but hey -- if you want brownie points with your superiors, why not bake brownies?!  

The second occasion was for my friend's birthday, for whom it is a tradition that I bake each year. This year was particularly special as it was his 21st birthday. I typically do some sort of fun and colorful cake, but this year I wanted to go dark -- a rich chocolate cake with an oreo whipped cream cheese frosting.

To be honest, in previous years I took the easy way out when baking for my friend Todd and used Betty Crocker cake mix. I'm not ashamed to admit that I think Betty is fantastic -- her cake mixes have yet to fail me. However, I feel that in the past year I have become significantly more confident in my baking capabilities, and therefore more adventurous in cake-making. This year, I wanted to make a cake from scratch, but I didn't want to risk the cake coming out too dry or lackluster in flavor. As such, I turned to my favourite contessa to hand-hold me through this endeavor -- Ina Garten. I used her wonderful chocolate cake recipe.

For the frosting, instead of a traditional buttercream, I wanted something lighter that would help counteract the richness of the chocolate cake and the heavy oreos. As such, I adapted a whipped cream cheese frosting recipe from this website:

Oreo Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
8-oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
16 oreo cookies (crushed)

Beat cream cheese and sugar on medium-high speed until well blended. In a separate bowl, whip heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the whipped cream into the well-blended cream cheese until well incorporated. Fold in crushed oreo cookies.

Since it was for a 21st birthday, I thought I'd use the extra oreo cookies I had to decorate the cake a bit. This may not have been the most beautiful cake I've ever made, but the taste is what matters, right?

The third occasion I baked for was a family friend's birthday who is a total chocoholic. He requested that I make a cake for his birthday, for which I was quite nervous because I had never baked for him or his family before. I knew he wanted a chocolate cake, but I also knew that he LOVES coffee. So for this cake, I once again Ina's recipe above, but for the frosting, I made an espresso buttercream frosting that was simply out of this world, if I do say so myself.

Espresso Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
2 cups confectioner's sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur
2 tablespoons finely ground espresso beans
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

In a small bowl, mix together extract, liqueur, cream, and espresso. Microwave for 20 seconds to allow the espresso to steep into the mixture. Refrigerate to let cool and set aside. In a standing mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the sugar and a pinch of salt until all is well incorporated. Once the coffee/extract mixture is room temperature, add to butter mixture and beat until evenly mixed together. This buttercream may be made ahead of time and refrigerated until use.

To garnish, I added a bit of crushed Cadbury Flake on top with a few blueberries for a splash of color.

This was truly a chocolate-crazed birthday weekend for me -- I'm definitely going to need a bit of chocolate-free detox! It may have been a crazy few days of birthdays and baking, but I must admit that all of this was worth it, as this weekend had two of my favourite things in the whole world: chocolate and celebrating with friends.

Happy eating!
-Talia

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Cooking for friends is always the most fun. Especially during the summertime when friends get together for outdoor barbeques by the pool, making a special dish can really add a lot. So when one of my best friends (and special contributor to this blog) Morgan invited us over to grill and hang out by the pool, I knew I wanted to do something fun for everyone. 


Morgan already had an amazing menu planned. She made a baked asparagus and zucchini pasta salad, these incredible s'mores bars loaded with chocolate and marshmallow, and the most adorable jello shots that looked like wedges of watermelon. All of this in addition to loads of burgers and hot dogs and, last but not least, beer and mixed drinks for all. 

Since I knew Morgan was making s'mores bars, I thought I'd make some chocolate chip cookies, a safe bet that everyone would like. However, I was aware of a recent trend in the online blogging community to put "surprise" oreos inside their cookies. Inspired by this, I decided to put Reese's peanut butter cups in mine! Also, as an added special touch, I changed up regular chocolate chips for M&M pieces, adding a bit of color to my cookies. 

Making these are really quite simple. You can use your favourite cookie-dough recipe - just don't put in the chocolate chips at the end. On the parchment paper, flatten out a scoop of cookie dough and place the peanut butter cup in the center. Lift up the edges around the peanut butter cup until it is completely covered on all sides. After, place however many M&M pieces on top. Baking time is the same as before, roughly 10-14 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Now, I thought I was being so very mysterious when I told everyone that these cookies had a surprise to them. To find out, people had to "just bite into them and see!" Too bad my plan completely backfired. Of course, I didn't know everyone there very well -- so I didn't know that two people were allergic to peanuts. They both were about 10 seconds away from biting into a cookie before another guy yelled for them to stop! Could have been very bad but thankfully, a crisis was averted. I learned my lesson, though -- next time you want to surprise your friends, make sure of everyone's allergies beforehand! 


Happy eating! 
-Talia 

Not Another 4th of July Post

This is not one of those blog posts for the 4th of July telling you how special to make the event by making some classic American dishes for an outdoor barbeque. The following are not pictures of patriotic desserts. Although it may appear to be, these photos do not show how creative touches to a Strawberry-Rhubarb pie can make your 4th of July pie the centerpiece of the table. The other photos do not show how making blondies with white and dark chocolate chips, craisins, and walnuts is a great complement to a 4th of July meal.

This post is not like other posts that expound on how wonderful it is to be an American and how this holiday gives us the opportunity to do what we do every weekend during the summer months -- barbeque burgers and drink beer.


This blog post is none of the above.


But if it we're, it'd look a little something like this.


Happy eating everyone!
-Talia