This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/20

Here is the highlight of an item that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

It is "Mexican" week at work so I wanted to make a dessert since there was no hot food item that looked appealing to me. Unfortunately, there weren't many options. So I went with a Tres Leches cake. It is a lactose intolerant's nightmare. It contains whole milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream. It is also a really heavy cake weight wise because it is a normal cake with all these milks dumped in the crevices of the cake.

Cake base

Milk layer seeping into the cake

Frosting layer of heavy cream, sugar and vanilla

This Week's Concoctions Ending 6/11

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

We had guests over on Sunday which included a child so I wanted to make something that was attractive to her...as well as use some of my cream top whole milk.

Dirt Pudding Dessert:
-Bottom layer: Devil's Food cake
-Middle layer: whole milk, 2 boxes of chocolate pudding, cream cheese, cool whip
-Top layer: Oreos and gummy worms

We started our vegetable share this week so this recipe includes the arugula, spinach and beets that we got and uses the goat cheese we got from the dairy share. It also has an orange vinaigrette made with juice from oranges, dijon mustard, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.

Roasted Beet, Orange and Goat Cheese Salad

This Week's Concoctions Ending 5/28

Here are some highlights of items that I made this week other than the "Weekly Cookie"

Cream filled cookie cups

This year, we participated in a dairy share where we get a 1/2 gallon of cream top whole milk every week. We thought it would be cool thing to do plus Patrick likes whole milk. He didn't like this milk (and I don't drink milk) so every week I am constantly on the search for recipes that require a lot of milk. I found this recipe that combines the large quantity of milk and one of my favorite things, the slow cooker. It uses 4 cups of milk, 2 cups sugar, baking powder, and vanilla. It was gross and runny so I threw it out.

Tres Leches I (in a slow cooker)

Tres Leches II (after cooking for 10 hours)

Rocky Road Brownies

May 19: Devil's Food Chocolate Cake Cookies

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies
8 tablespoons (4 oz) unsalted butter or 1/2 cup (3.4 oz) shortening
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole or 2% milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (8 oz) all-purpose flour

Frosting
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons (2 oz) butter, room temperature
1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons whole milk
Sprinkles, for decorating

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the center. Have ready two ungreased baking sheets.
2. Make the cookies: Combine the butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe mixing bowl and microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. Stir well. Repeat until the chocolate is fully melted. Set aside and let cool completely.
3. When cool, whisk in the brown sugar, followed by the egg, milk, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour gradually until you have a thick, sticky batter.
4. Drop well-rounded teaspoonfuls of batter about 2 1/2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes, or until the tops appear set. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
5. Make the frosting: In a mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the confectioners' sugar and butter together at medium speed until creamy. Beat in the cocoa powder and vanilla. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time until you get a nice spreading consistency. Spread the frosting on the cookies and decorate with sprinkles.

 Cookies:

About 2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds

Addition of brown sugar

Addition of milk, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt

Addition of flour

Rounded teaspoons

 Frosting:

Thoughts: I hate making frosting. It is something that I prefer buying because I usually hate the taste of my own. I didn't whisk it well enough because it was a little grainy and there were small specks of powdered sugar that didn't mix when I was frosting these. I cooked these for exactly 10 minutes. It made a lot!! Patrick liked the cookie and I thought it was a little bland. It would've been better if I had used Devil's Food cake mix and store bought frosting!