BookCourt and Mini Donuts Three Ways

5 dozen Mini Muffins and 7 dozen Mini Donuts

Last Saturday we had our book launch at BookCourt in Brooklyn.  We’re so lucky to have such a fantastic independent bookstore in our neighborhood!

Anne reading Truck Stop.

Anne Rockwell, the author, came all the way from Stamford, CT to be there!  It was nice to see her again.  If I had any brain cells I would have had Denis take a picture of us in front of the store!

Talking about how I made the artwork.

It was well attended and a lot people ended up staying a long time even after the reading was over (that’s a sign of a good bookstore!)

I made mini donuts and mini muffins for the occasion.  Luckily there were no leftovers to bring back home…  A big THANK YOU to all those who showed up!

Cinnamon sugar, chocolate, vanilla with chocolate glaze, and vanilla with sprinkles

 

Note:  I used a mini donut pan.  You could make regular sized donuts instead.  You will have to bake them for about 15 minutes and it will make about 1 dozen for each recipe.

Baked Vanilla Donuts with Vanilla and Chocolate Glaze (based on this recipe from theKitchn. I used a different method for the glaze because I wanted to make sure the glaze would be firm enough for transport)

Non-stick spray

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)

2 tablespoons warm water

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Vanilla glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

water

Drop of food coloring if you want!

sprinkles

Chocolate glaze:

2 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

milk as needed (about 1-2 tablespoons)

Cinnamon Sugar:

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

sprinkles

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray donut pan with non-stick spray.

2.  In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water and set aside.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3.  In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, melted butter, vanilla extract, and yeast mixture until combined.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.

4.  Spoon batter into donut pan –just a little bit — about half way.  With the mini donut pan, you don’t need much! It will spill over and look like a muffin.

5.  Bake donuts until puffed and golden, about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes on rack.  Transfer donuts to rack to cool.

6.  For vanilla glaze, I just added vanilla and a bit of water a little at a time to sugar until the consistency is opaque but still wet.

7.  For chocolate glaze, melt chocolate and butter together in microwave in 30 second intervals.  Stir until smooth.  Add sugar gradually.  Add milk if it is too thick.

8.  For cinnamon sugar topping, mix sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.

9.  To decorate, dip donuts in glazes and sprinkle with sprinkles if desired.   Dip on both sides in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Baked Chocolate Donuts (based on this recipe on Mom Advice

Non-stick spray

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

4 teaspoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  Preheat oven to 325 F.

2.  Coat donut pan with non-stick spray.

3.  Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

4. In another bowl, whisk milk, sugar, egg, butter, coffee, and vanilla until smooth.

5.  Add milk mixture to flour mixture.  Whisk until fully incorporated.

6.  Fill donut pan a bit less than half-way full.  Bake for 8 minutes or until donuts spring back when touched.

7.  Cool in pan for about 5 minutes on rack.  Remove donuts to cool on rack.

8.  Dip in vanilla glaze (see above).

My Life Will Go Back to Normal after Valentine’s Day!

Melissa Iwai 2013

Other than being completely sleep deprived (I stayed up until 6 this morning and 5:30 a couple of days ago– they all seem to blur together), and not having left the house since last Saturday, I am still alive.  I have been living in a strange universe where Denis is doing all the child care, cooking and cleaning!  I’m not ill so no worries, just consumed with an out of control job I would normally never take, involving a lot of computer/tech issues, major pressure, and not enough time to do it all. Hence the staying up all night working….  It’s brought back memories of when I lived in an adrenaline infused haze when Jamie was an infant and didn’t sleep for more than two hours at a time.

It will all be over after Valentine’s Day, though, so I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I hope everyone has a lovely one with your lovelies, and hope you all get a lot of chocolates!

I’ll be back to the blog then.

Holiday Butter Cookies Three Ways

Every year I make a ton of holiday cookies to pass out to friends and family.  I have been collecting recipes since 2000.  Here are some of the every year standards:

Hidden Surprise Snowball Cookies

Turtle Brownies

Chocolate Crinkles

Brown Sugar Ginger Crisps

Pistachio Orange Lace Cookies

These are usually more tan, rather than green!

Stained Glass Trees

Gingerbread

Our gingerbread castle

Favorites tend to appear over and over because people request them, but I also try to test a couple of news ones every season as well.

Jamie has been imploring me to bake cookies for a special “snack” for his class, so I decided to try out three variations on a theme in one pop!

This basic cookie dough recipe is from an old 2003 issue of Gourmet (he wasn’t even born yet!)  that I’ve used for cut-out cookie holiday cookies, which we then frost.  The cookie dough is versatile, and you can add different flavors to it, creating a whole new cookie.

I decided to try out three that are school-friendly (i.e. containing no nuts):  A lemon one, a chocolate one, and one drizzled with melted chocolate and white chocolate.

Lemon Butter Cookie

Chocolate Butter Cookies with sanding sugar

Butter Cookies Drizzled with Melted Chocolate and White Chocolate

Instead of making three batches of dough, I made one batch, divided it into three parts, and then flavored one with lemon and one with chocolate.  I drizzled the last third with melted semi-sweet and white chocolate.

Here is the link to the original recipe, and here is my version of three different cookies in one batch.

Packed for school!

Holiday Butter Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For Lemon Cookie batch:

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

For Chocolate Cookie batch:

1/3 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder

a little less than 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3.5 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Demerara sugar for sanding (optional)

For Chocolate Drizzle Batch:

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted

1.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

2.  Beat together butter and sugar in bowl of a standing mixer for 3 minutes until pale and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

3.  Divide dough into thirds and remove from bowl.  Wrap one of the thirds in saran in the shape of a 4-inch log.  Return one third back to mixing bowl and add lemon juice and zest.  Mix until combined.  Wrap this lemon dough in saran in the shape of a 4-inch log.

4. Return last third of dough back to mixing bowl and add cocoa powder, baking soda, and melted chocolate to dough.  Mix until combined.  Wrap chocolate dough in saran and shape into a 4-inch log.  Chill all logs for at least 4 hours or overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven.  Cut each chilled dough log into 1/4-inch slices and place on baking sheet 1 -inch apart.  For chocolate slices, roll in Demerara sugar if desired.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway.  Cool cookies on sheets for 3 minutes.  Then remove to cool completely on racks.

6.  Decorate plain batch of butter cookies with melted chocolates by transferring melted chocolate to a sandwich bag and  snipping a small hole in one corner.  Squeeze bag and drizzle chocolate over cookies in a Jackson Pollack fashion.   Repeat with white chocolate.  Chill to set chocolate for about an hour.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Healthy Desserts for Kids

Chocolate, banana, spinach smoothie!

Awhile ago, during the summer (those days seem far away!), I had the opportunity to join Katherine Lee of about.com in her kitchen for a fun afternoon of cooking and filming!

Katherine has a wonderful parenting blog on about.com, and she invited me to contribute some healthy dessert ideas for kids.  We made everything in her kitchen and the lovely Meredith filmed us.  It was a blast and such a different experience from what I am usually doing during the day in my studio!  She treated us to a fabulous sushi lunch, and we munched on the desserts we made throughout the day. 

My favorite Double Chocolate Zucchini, Banana Bread with Secret Ingredient is one of the recipes featured.

Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?

Check out the video on how to make it here.

Other super easy, practically-not-cooking recipes are:

Peanut Butter Truffles!  Remember this post?

Video is here.

Frozen Yogurt Grapes:

I never did a post about it, but the recipe is in the video.

Banana Soft Serve (minus the Magic Shell!):

All natural goodness — just bananas and a splash of milk!

Chocolate version seen here in the video.

And last, but not least:  Chocolate, Banana, Spinach Smoothie  

This the one video I never want Jamie to see, because he drinks this all the time!  It is a great after school snack.  The spinach has absolutely no flavor in the smoothie, and he has no idea I sneak it in. I sometimes use frozen spinach which adds to the creaminess of the smoothie along with the frozen banana!

Video and recipe are here.

Hope you enjoy these recipes — they are all really easy to make and are pretty healthy considering they are desserts!

S’mores Mini Cupcakes

Over the weekend at the gym, I caught part of Giada At Home while sweating it out, and was inspired to make these mini cupcakes for an end of the year class party.   But when I looked on the Food Network site later at home, I couldn’t find the recipe. So I made one up. (Later, I realized they were called “Brownie Bites” — here is the original recipe.)

I used a basic chocolate cake recipe from Une Gamine dans la Cuisine, substituting semi-sweet chocolate chips for the bittersweet chips, reducing the sugar, and substituting yogurt for the sour cream.  I also added 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips to the mix.

The mini cupcakes were topped with three mini marshmallows, three chocolate chips, and a pinch of crushed Digestive Biscuit cookie (we didn’t have graham crackers).

Jamie was a great help with topping the cupcakes

These cupcakes are decadent little bites of yumminess.  They are a perfect size for kids (I cringe when I think of all the wasted Magnolia Bakery cupcakes I’ve seen at birthday parties!), as well as adults who just want a taste without overindulging!

S’mores Mini Cupcakes

Non-stick spray

1 stick of butter

2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

For the topping:

about 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

about 1/3 cup mini marshmallows

3 Digestive biscuits, crushed or 2 rectangles of graham cracker, crushed

1.  Line mini cupcake tin with liners.  Spray pan lightly with non stick spray.  Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Melt butter, 2 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate, and cocoa in a pot over simmering water until melted. Set aside to cool.

3.  Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

4.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar and vanilla.  When the chocolate mixture is cooled, add to egg mixture and stir until incorporated.

5.  Sift 1/3 of  flour mixture into chocolate/egg mixture.  Then add 1/2 of the yogurt and stir.  Sift 1/3 more of the flour, add remaining yogurt and Stir.  Then sift last of flour and add to mixture.

6.  Stir in mini chocolate chips.  Spoon batter (it will be thick) into mini cupcake liners. Top each with 3 semi sweet chocolate chips, three mini marshmallows, and a sprinkle of the crushed Digestive Biscuit or graham cracker crumbs.

7.  Bake for 15 minutes; test with a toothpick.  Cupcakes are done when it comes out clean.  Remove cupcakes to a cooling rack and let cool.  Marshmallows will harden slightly.  Store in an air tight container at room temperature.

Makes about 36 mini cupcakes.

Monthly Lego Build and Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Secret Ingredient

Can you guess what the secret ingredient is?

*Quick note, I forgot to add earlier — after almost two years, I FINALLY figured out how to post my book, SOUP DAY, on the sidebar just days ago!  Yes, I’m kind of technically challenged (or intimidated, shall we say?)  Anyway, if you haven’t already, please check it out — I have almost reached my goal of selling enough copies for the sequel (another cooking related theme)– it’s a fun book for budding cooks! *

OK, back to the regular scheduled blog post:

Yesterday Jamie had a special play date with two friends.  I took the three of them into the city to visit the Lego store at Rockefeller Center where there is a monthly model build every first Tuesday.

Approaching Radio City Music Hall near Times Square. Such city kids.

Each month is a different theme, and each child gets to build the model and keep the original kit (while supplies last).  For the month of May, it was a tulip.

The staff there is incredibly nice and actually let the boys build their own construction using pieces in the bins for sale while waiting for the model build to begin!

Plants v.s. Zombies Zen Garden

If you are ever in the area, the Lego store is a fun visit. There are giant structures as well as fun miniature city scenes all built out of Lego, including Rockefeller Center.  I didn’t take any photos because I had to save our spot in the line.

I wanted to bring a portable snack for the boys to eat on the subway on route, so I made a Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread loaf beforehand.  I cut each slice into cubes and brought it in containers.

This bread is SO moist and full of chocolate flavor, you would never guess it is actually full of nutrients.  It’s also lower in sugar and fat than traditional zucchini bread, because I use applesauce in place of a lot of oil.

Can you guess the secret ingredient yet?  Yep, spinach.  The chocolate masks the flavor completely.  I’ve actually seen chocolate baked goods made with cooked kale, but I haven’t attempted this yet… Kale has a much stronger flavor than spinach, so I am a bit hesitant to try it out.  The spinach, however, works perfectly, I promise.

This bread is an excellent after school snack.  It’s actually good enough in my book to serve for breakfast.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread (with special ingredient!)

Non-stick spray

1 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (23 g)

1 cup frozen spinach, or ½ cup cooked spinach

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 small zucchini or ½ medium one)

1 ripe banana, mashed

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a loaf pan with parchment and spray with non-stick spray.  Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder until evenly mixed.
3. Microwave frozen spinach for about 1 minute on high.  Squeeze out extra water and drain.  Process in a food processor with oil until finely pureed.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
4. Into spinach mixture, add zucchini, banana, applesauce, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Then add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.  Then stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into lined loaf pan and dot the top with remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.
6. Bake for 1 hour. Test with a toothpick or skewer to see if done.  Let cool in pan on a rack for about 30 minutes.  Cut around edges with a knife and carefully lift out onto cooling rack (don’t invert or the chocolate chips will get smashed).
7. Let cool, cut and serve.

Chocolate Candy Making and Homemade Marshmallow Fluff

Awhile ago I was the lucky winner of a blog contest over at Joy’s Misadventures blog!  Here is the loot:

2 bags of pink chocolate disks, 1 bag of milk chocolate disks, lollipop sticks, lip molds, lollipop lip molds, a decorative ring mold, and a giant heart mold!

Jamie had been waiting patiently for me to find time to make them with him, and we did it on a perfect rainy weekend afternoon.

Joy got the candy disks and molds from Morkes.  The chocolate needs no tempering and all you do is heat them in a microwave safe bowl.  We did 30 seconds at a time and stirred.

Then we spooned it into the molds.  And let it harden.

The reward for helping:

Jamie really wanted to do the ginormous heart, but I didn’t think we had enough chocolate, so I got inspired and decided we could fill it with marshmallow fluff.  It’s not a staple in our house, so we didn’t have any, but I figured we could make some ourselves.  There are two basic recipes — one uses egg whites, confectioner’s sugar, and corn syrup.  The other is just melting 16 oz. store bought marshmallows and 1/4 cup corn syrup together.  I opted for the easiest one– i.e. the latter!

First, we lined the mold with melted milk chocolate.

Then I made the fatal mistake of taking a shortcut while making the marshmallow fluff and omitted the corn syrup, because it seemed redundant — more corn syrup on top of corn syrup and sugar in the marshmallow??

Ok, it’s not so bad here…

Covered with the rest of the chocolate.

Finished products.  Aren’t they cute?
But wait — about that “fatal mistake”…  when we tried to eat the marshmallow filled heart, the marshmallow filling had hardened into something close to a chalky nougat.  Sweet and still candy, but murder on your teeth!  So if we were to make this again, we would definitely NOT omit the corn syrup!

You’d never know what lurks within…

Thanks, Joy, for such a generous giveaway!  We had a blast making candy, and we’ll definitely use the molds again and again. 

Fun Filled Weekend Involving Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum

The Brooklyn Children's Museum. It looks like a square yellow submarine

I was in the midst of a deadline last week and didn’t have a chance to post a recap of our Brooklyn Children’s Museum visit.

If you are ever in the area, you* must* visit the museum which is located in Crown Heights.  It was renovated in 2008 and is a truly spectacular.  It is more spacious and inviting than its Manhattan counterpart (you can literally spend all day there!), and it’s the first “Green Museum” in the city.

To celebrate the opening of Muriel Feldshuh’s Brooklyn Literacy quilt, I read Soup Day in the museum library for Story Time.  All six of Muriel’s quilts are on display there.  It is fun to find favorite authors and illustrators in each one.

J insisted on "helping". My "green bean" square is in the 2009 orange quilt behind us.

Then we got creative and made collages out of a bunch of different materials.

The children were so enthusiastic with their projects. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was busy meeting people (some came especially for the event–thanks, guys!) and helping out with gluing and cutting.  It was great fun.

After the workshop we ate lunch in the cafeteria and then visited our favorite part of the museum:  World Brooklyn.

Jamie has always loved this area from the time we first visited when he was just four.  World Brooklyn celebrates our borough and its amazing diversity. The “hands on” exhibit is comprised of child-sized versions of real stores in Brooklyn which kids can explore and do activities in.

Being a cashier in the International Grocery Store

The fake food is so realistic!

I love this sign which has sample shopping lists for a range of ethnically diverse meals.

Baking pizza at L and B Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst

Serving pizza

Baking Mona Bread at Don Paco Lopez Panaderia in Sunset Park

On to real food…

We had another movie afternoon the next day.  This time the feature was The Fellowship of the Ring (Denis and Jamie had just finished reading The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring).  It gave me an excuse to make popcorn!

I was completely lusting after The Choco-aholic’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn recipe for days and had to make a batch.  I’m sure hers is much more “gourmet” than my lightened version, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do 2 sticks of butter and 2 cups of brown sugar, plus 1/2 lb. of chocolate and 1/3 of a jar of peanut butter for just one batch of popcorn!  If you want to make the original recipe, I say “go for it” though!

Ours was mighty tasty and the level of richness was just right for us.  The caramel flavor melds with the chocolate and peanut butter so perfectly.  Even the lightened version had the perfect trinity of sugar, salt, and fat, creating the “bliss point” of irresistibility that David Kessler writes about in The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite  … Ah well, everything in moderation!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn

Adapted from The Choco-aholic  (Lightened up and without the kettle salt, as I didn’t have any)

Non-stick spray

10 cups of popped popcorn (I used an air popper)

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/4  cup of light corn syrup

4 ounces of milk chocolate chips

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

pinch of salt

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray.

2. Pop popcorn and place in a large mixing bowl.

3.  In a large pot combine  butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes.  Add chocolate chips and stir to melt.  Remove from heat and stir until smooth.

4.  Pour the boiled chocolate mix onto the popcorn. Toss until all the popcorn kernels are evenly coated with the chocolate.

5.  Spread out onto prepared baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 15  minutes. Remove, sprinkle with salt, stir and let cool for about 30 minutes.

6.  Melt peanut butter in microwave oven for about 30 seconds.  Pour chocolate popcorn back into mixing bowl and pour melted peanut butter over popcorn and coat evenly.  Refrigerate until hardened for about an hour.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Biscotti and the 6th Annual Princeton Children’s Book Festival

Chocolate glaze optional - I'm trying to decide if it is better with or without.

In the midst of trying to finish 52 illustrations by next week (I have 11 more to go!), summer activities, preparing for September book events, I decided to honor my recent white chocolate fixation and attempt to create an original recipe of White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Biscotti.

I will be reading from my book, Soup Day, at the 6th Annual Princeton Children’s Book Festival at the Princeton, NJ Public Library this Saturday at 11:30 am.  I will also be meeting amazing authors and illustrators,  greeting the public, and signing books!  If you happen to live in or near Princeton, NJ, please stop by and say “hello”.  I’d love to see you.

I’m traveling with my friend Kate the day before, who just released her book, Big Bouffant, and we are staying with her dear friend in Princeton who has generously offered us lodging.  I decided to make this creation to bring to her.

Hopefully she won’t mind the sloppy chocolate garnish I mistakenly put on the sides instead of the tops (see note below)!

White Chocolate Macademia Nut Biscotti

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

½ cup white chocolate chips

optional:  1/3 cup semisweet or bittersweet chopped chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl with a whisk. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add sugar and beat another minute.  Add egg and extracts and beat until incorporated.  Stir in macadamia nuts and white chocolate until evenly distributed.
4. Dump batter out onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Wet hands and form dough into a large rectangular log, about 4-inches by 12-inches in size.
5. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes until top is firm.  Let rest on baking sheet on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.
6. Carefully transfer log with two spatulas (it can easily break if it is not supported) to a cutting board.  Cut log into diagonal slices about ½-inch thick with a serrated knife.  Gently use a sawing motion, don’t press down too hard, or the log will break.
7. Transfer the pieces back to the baking sheet and bake for another 20-25 minutes, flipping baking sheet and cookies halfway through.
8. Remove baking sheet from oven and let rest on wire rack for about 10 minutes.  Then move biscotti to rack to cool completely.
9. If you’d like to drizzle them with chocolate, just melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 30 second intervals (it took me about 90 seconds), stirring in between.  Transfer melted chocolate to a sandwich Ziploc bag and press all the chocolate to one corner of the bag.  Snip off a small bit of the corner so you have a tiny hole.  Turn biscotti so that the tops are up!  (I forgot to do this – oops!)  Squeeze the bag gently, drizzling chocolate over the biscotti.
   

   Major fail: I drizzled one side instead of the tops -- oops!

   To speed up the hardening process, you can chill in the refrigerator or freezer for a bit.

Makes about 13-14.

Kahlua Chocolate Cream Pie

My recent dilemma:  Hot summer days + loads of work + minimal child care + entertaining guests.

My solution:  Have a grill (i.e. husband does the cooking) and serve a pre-made  dessert that requires minimal stove/oven time on my part.

Since we are chocolate fiends, whenever I make a special dessert, it invariably has chocolate in it (even with the abundance of gorgeous seasonal fruit these days)!   I also still have two large bottles of Kahlua that I got duty free last summer, so I infused this dessert with said liquor.

The Chocolate Kahlua Cream Pie is adapted from a Cooking Light recipe for Rich Chocolate Pudding Pie.  It’s “light” in that the filling is not made with heavy cream and a ton of egg yolks, like a typical custard.  Cornstarch is the thickening agent that gives the milk its pudding consistency.   This pie is fantastic and doesn’t taste light at all.

I changed the original recipe by making a Reduced Fat Oreo cookie crust (I couldn’t find plain chocolate wafers at the store), which is just processed cookies mixed with melted butter, pressed into a pie pan and baked for ten minutes.  Easy peasy!

I also added Kahlua to the filling and dusted the pie with unsweetened cocoa powder and served it with homemade whipped cream also flavored with a bit of Kahlua.

If you love chocolate and Kahlua as much as I do, you will love this pie.

Kahlua Chocolate Cream Pie

Crust:
16 Reduced Fat Oreo cookies

4 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ cups 1% low-fat milk, divided

2 large egg yolks

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Kahlua
Topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon Kahlua

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

1. Process Oreos in processor until finely ground.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Drizzle melted butter on top and mix to incorporate.  Pour mixture into pie dish and spread out.  Put a sheet of saran wrap over mixture and press out to edges to form a crust.  Chill for about 10 to 15 minutes while preheating oven to 350.
2. Bake crust for 10 minutes.  Cool completely.
3. To prepare filling, combine sugar, cornstarch, cocoa and salt in a large saucepan;  stir with a whisk.  Add half of milk and 2 yolks; stir with a whisk until smooth.  Stir in the remaining milk.  Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth.  Stir in Kahlua.  Pour filling into prepared crust.   Cover with saran; chill 4 hours until set.
4. To make topping, whip cream on high in the bowl of a cold stand mixer just before stiff peaks form.  Add sugar and Kahlua and whip until stiff peaks form, being careful not to overwhip.
5. Just before serving pie, cover with whipped topping and garnish with cocoa powder sifted on top.

Makes about 8-10 servings.