My First Big Gig!

I had my first BIG gig!!!

Well.. it turns out all my bake sale contributions have finally paid off. A woman at my church happened to come across a batch of my Cordially Cherry Happy Janes, and she was smitten. SO smitten, in fact, that she commissioned me to provide her with 25 DOZEN of them for a volunteer appreciation party she was charged with hosting.

(insert big huge smiling Carrie here!)

This project was a true exercise in time management, as well as a chance to create invoices and receipts for my budding business. I'm PROUD to say that the creation of and delivery of this job was done seamlessly. like.. I was done before 9pm the night before seamlessly. (I KNOW!! awesome, right??)

signed, sealed, and delivered!

In hindsight-- I COMPLETELY undercharged this order. I have no shame in saying that because it WAS an event for church, and it WAS my first big order. But yeah... The church got a GREAT deal on these... I probably averaged about $4/hour BEFORE my costs were taken out... MAYBE 25 cents/hour profit.

but that's GOOD. all part of the lessons learned!

In addition to those things, I feel I have a better understanding of ground rules and expectations when it will come to ordering and payment. I was a little bummed that it took about a week AFTER the event to be paid for the work, and when I was, the check was made out to A Taste of Stepford. (which meant I was unable to CASH the check because at the time I did not have an account set up under the fictitious name of Stepford)

But everything is a step forward in this journey. I do find it slightly meaningful that it was an order from church that forced me in the direction of above-board business practices such as proper account naming and licencing... but that's just me.

The bottom line is that I accomplished my biggest order to date with timeliness, style, and a great product.

and I got PAID.

Whe-hoo!

getting there is half the fun

So I've been on a mission lately. Not only have I gotten it into my head that I need to make a cupcake counterpart to every Happy Jane flavor I create... but I also want to enter the Ice Cream Cupcake challenge this year.

Two things need to happen for me to accomplish my goals. First... I need to get an ice cream maker. I was TOTALLY hoping to get one for Mother's day... but I got a lawnmower instead. I'm not going to talk about that here, though.. because I do try to keep from using profanities on this blog. So whatever. I'm still ice cream maker-less. But I'm not too worried. my husband may MAKE the money, but I control the budget. There shall definitely be a belated mother's day ice cream maker coming my way soon.

So the second thing is that I need to figure out how to make a good graham-cracker cupcake. I don't mean a vanilla cupcake with a graham cracker bottom. I mean.. "holy cow.. this tastes exactly like a graham cracker.. but it's a cupcake!"

I found a recipe online that I used yesterday.... but the problem is that it's in grams. gar! So I made some conversions and did my best to re-create this recipe.

The 'batter' ended up being VERY THICK. like "am I making muffins or scones here?" thick.

Nonetheless... they baked up fine. At least by looks anyway. to taste one out of the oven was not what I had hoped for. They tasted a bit... well... bran muffinish. I mean.. they were OK.... but not roll over and find a glass of milk good or anything.

But I thought... let me forge forward. you never know what they'll taste like after I pipe some buttercream in there and cover them with chocolate. Oh wait.. did I say buttercream? Yeah... I did. Marshmallow buttercream, as a matter of fact. thick, sugary, make-your-teeth-hurt marshmallow buttercream. SURELY that would balance the neutral graham taste of the cake.

But wait... because I was looking to re-create my More than S'mores Happy Janes in Cupcake Formation... I needed to get some chocolate. Thank you, Trader Joe's... this ought to work nicely in a ganache layer on top.

and nicely it did. I spooned a little on each cupcake, and sprinkled with a few graham crackers for garnish.

When all was finally set... I excitedly peeled away the paper to see the treasure that would greet me. Looks good, no?

Of course... there's no point of piping in the buttercream if you can't see it in there... so here's a cross-section for you.

All in all... it was... lackluster.

I know!! so sad!!! I was really bummed it wasn't spot on. I even typed out the recipe with the conversions so I could include it here on my blog... but I don't feel right sharing it.. cause it wasn't good enough.

All in all... I need to tweak the recipe a little. I think... because I used an entire portion of graham flour... it was a little on the dry side. next time I'm going to use a mix of the graham and white all purpose flour. and instead of non-fat milk, I'm totally gonna break out the full-fat moo-juice. that little bit of fat helps to make a moist cake.. so I need not to skimp on that.

Also?? I need to pipe in MORE buttercream. The cake wasn't BAD... but with the grainy/branny/neutralnessof the cake, and the dark dark bitterness of the chocolate ganache... you really need a bit more punch of sweet for balance.

So hooray for the pictures... but fingers crossed that I can get this right. I really do want an authentic graham-cracker tasting CAKE... and when I DO get that magic combo down.. I will re-post with the winning recipe.

_________

let it be known that I am currently doing my best to personally get rid of all these 'bad' cupcakes. They may not be great... but I'd hate to see all that good chocolate go to waste. Besides... I figure, with every one I eat, I'm one bite closer to figuring out how to make it better. I better stop messing things up, though... summer is coming, and my bathing suits will not appreciate all these mistakes I'm eating!

Because "Intense Chocolate" Makes Me Happy

So thank GOODNESS Lent is over! I have missed baking!!!

Mind you, I have NOT missed EATING this week... I am certainly doing my share of indulging on all the things I fasted from the past few weeks.

This weekend, we had some friends over for dinner, and I wanted to try my hand at a recipe I had done a year ago or so.

It's called Intensely Chocolate Mousse Cake, and it's a recipe I found over on the Kraft website.

I had made this recipe before, as I said.. but this time around, I decided to change up the recipe just a little. For example... instead of just pouring the mousse mixture into my spring form pan... I decided to lay down a chocolate-cookie crust first.

I used some of my un-decorated chocolate butter cookies, but if you don't have those? chocolate graham crackers crushed up would work just as well. Just be sure to mix in some melted butter so it pats down nicely.

Another change I made was to use cocoa powder in preparing my spring form pan. Flour works just as well, but leaves a white residue on the finished product. Take it from me.. if you're making a chocolate cake... use the cocoa powder. it'll look THAT much nicer when you're finished.

I also used my favorite chocolate for baking.. the dark chocolate pound-plus bars from Trader Joe's. if you use YOUR favorite chocolate... stick with about 9 ounces.

I served it up with some nice cold whipped cream, and that was a good pairing, since the title is no lie.. it is a VERY intensely chocolate cake.

just.. don't judge me when I tell you that NEXT time I make this??? I'm totally gonna add chocolate CHUNKS to the mousse filling. huminuh huminuh.. now THAT'LL be intense!

Luck of the Irish

so my previous post highlighted my FAILED attempt at a new Happy Jane Flavor.

it's been a while since I posted it, but I do recall the gist was that the IDEA was good, but it was just falling short.



I just wanted to let the record stand that I eventually DID figure out how to make the Jane an acceptable member of the family.

I tweaked the recipe so that the 'filling' was thicker (a lot less Bailey's this time, and more sugar. enough Bailey's for flavor, but not so much that the filling was 'soft' like last time, and there was less of an alcohol-y taste.)

I also used a better chocolate. I stuck with my instincts of using Milk Chocolate. I know my folks probably preferred that I would have used a dark chocolate, but the milk chocolate flows better with that creamy-dreamy taste I was shooting for. And let's face it... my creation... my choice of chocolate, right? ;)


So at long last... let's give a hearty welcome to our newest Jane-

"Irish Dreams"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Stepford's Rejects

I knew it would happen. I was doing too well with the whole "Happy Jane" train I had going. Good flavors, good reviews... all was... well... GOOD.

So I had been thinking on a good flavor combination that I could present in March, and being the good little Irish girl I am.. I thought it'd be a kick to do something with Bailey's Irish Cream. Also, for personal reasons, I give up sweets/desserts during the Lenten Season for my religion. Since March falls during Lent, I wanted to do my flavor testing a little early.. you know... while I could actually taste it without breaking my fast.

All started off great. Chocolate cookie bases were made, then set aside while I whipped up a Bailey's butter cream for my centers. Piped that on the rounds, and got ready to do the dip.

So I had decided to use a milk chocolate this time around... thinking I didn't want to squelch the taste of the Bailey's. However... the only milk chocolate I had available was in the form of milk chocolate morsels. from Target.

I've used Target brand things before.. and they're FINE. but this time it didn't work. and i had a nagging feeling in my gut when I was melting it down.. as I usually only use my best chocolates for the outer shells... but still... I proceeded.

Unfortunately.. the chocolate never melted down to be smooth or 'wet' enough. It remained a bit gloppy... and when I went to dip my rounds... things just went further downhill. Despite freezing the rounds topped with the bailey's butter cream... the filling just began to melt away under the heat of the gloppy milk chocolate. Adding to my frustration... I just couldn't get a smooth finish for the rounds. they looked like little rats' nests on my cooling racks.

I even tried to 'doll' them up a bit by adding zig-zaggy strips of colored gum-paste. meh. still didn't do it for me.... so I gave up and left the remainder as plain. (plain Bailey's rats' nests, that is!)

After over an hour, noticed the Janes were just not setting... and more so that the centers were beginning to ooze out, since the heat from the chocolate was melting the butter-cream.

finally I just put them in the fridge to set. Once they hardened.. they weren't too bad. As you can see... I still ate a few.

Ultimately... this 'recipe' won't make it to my Stepford site. the TASTE was good... but the appearance was nowhere near up to par for its sister Janes. I will try to re-do this.. perhaps make the butter cream a LITTLE thicker... and either find a better milk chocolate or switch to a dark that I know will melt nicely and form a better shell.

Cordially Cherry Happy Janes

So as I mentioned before.. I came up with a new flavor of Happy Janes this past weekend. ok.. so the IDEA for the flavor stemmed a long time ago from my husband who, several months ago, begged me to do a chocolate and cherry combination.

well maybe not BEGGED.

he might have done a gorilla-styled "oooh-oooh-oooh!!!" in asking me, though.

not one to disappoint, I declared February would be the month to do it. I mulled around some different ideas.. fresh cherries, dried cherries, cherry extract... white chocolate, milk chocolate.. DARK chocolate.... Finally I decided to go with a chocolate cookie base, topped with a cherry-infused ganache, coated in a dark chocolate.


cherry-infused, you ask?

yeah. so I took some cherries, and added them to my heavy cream during the boiling process of making my ganache. once the cream was boiling, I strained the cherries out. This part was NOT very pretty, and gave the cream a funky reddish-brown color... but I definitely feel there was a certain sweet after-taste that the cherries added.

once my chocolate was fully melted and mixed with the cream, I folded in some finely chopped DRIED cherries. As you can see.. I totally avoided using cherry extract. for one.. because it's crap. but seriously.. it gives things such a maraschino FAKE cherry taste that I can't be affiliated with. bleh! so no extract.

after the piping was done, I coated in a bittersweet and extra dark chocolate blend, then topped with some festive heart sprinkles.

these are truly a chocolate lover's treat.... but I do enjoy the chewy and zingy-sweet element the cherries add. So let's say hello and welcome to the newest Jane in the neighborhood... the Cordially Cherry.

if the description and pictures of the Cordially Cherry Happy Janes aren't enough for you.. take a stroll over to A Taste of Stepford. By the end of March, things will be set up there for you to be able to order your very own batch of Janes.

Oh, Fudge!

yeah. so you know those times when you get a crazy idea to do something at 9pm, and the voice of reason FAILS you, so you end up doing it??


well.. I decided, on a whim, to make FUDGE one evening.


first of all.. I have never made fudge before, but I decided it was high time I make some, and more importantly.. EAT some.


let the record show that this was a big mistake.



I didn't even bother taking pictures of it, because for ONE.. I didn't know what I was doing, and TWO... I was too bent on EATING the creation to even think straight.


I feel foolish, as the ingredients for MOST fudge recipes are merely chocolate and condensed milk... but somewhere between chopping the chocolate and sticking my fingers in and licking the ingredients as they melted, things went astray.


In the end.. it was eaten. but it was not so much fudgey as it was a grainy chocolate bar. bleh. I would have been better off just sticking a straw into a bottle of chocolate syrup and going to town, or just eating the baking chips right out of the package.

I'm chalking this up as a hormonal-driven catastrophe. Ordinarily I wouldn't/shouldn't post about hot messes like this.. but I need to document these kind of mistakes so I can learn from them. really. cooking is not always about the ingredients and techniques you use.. it also has a lot to do with your mental state while PERFORMING such tasks as baking/creating/cooking.


I do plan on attempting the fudge again, though. (I won't go down without at least another fight!) I WILL, however.. wait until a better time of the month for my next attempt.. and maybe try it during the day when I'm a little less 'cagey'. just sayin'.

More-than-S'Mores

Ladies and gentlemen... I'm happy to announce I have created another Happy Jane Flavor.

Meet the "More-than-a-S'more"....

I was going to call them S'mores a Go-Go, but I used that name for a post I did about little S'mores favors I made for my son's first birthday. Who knows.. maybe I will go with the Go-Go name. but not now. Now I just want to share the latest Jane.

So she was SUPER easy to make... did a batch of the home-made graham crackers. I'm definitely loving that recipe that Cupcake Project posted. LOVE IT!

As usual, I roll it out on the thick side, then cut out my rounds. I like the bottoms to be thick because the topping are just SO sweet that the thicker cookie base is needed for balance. otherwise.. why am I not just making filled chocolates, you know?

ANYWAY. after my rounds were made, I had some dough left, so I rolled it nice and thin so I could have some graham crackers for the kids. (for the kids.. THIN is the key. I've made fun shapes for them in the past, using the same thickness as I do for my sugar cookies, and wow.. it's like eating dog biscuits. So for non-Happy-Jane graham cracker making? thinner is better in our house.)

but back to the Janes. I piped a home-made marshmallow butter cream on the rounds, then dipped them in a dark chocolate.

these were very very sweet. ALMOST too sweet for my taste with that marshmallow filling... but again.. the thicker graham rounds help spread out that sweetness so it wasn't a full-on assault of your teeth. (I do NOT recommend eating the toppings off the cookies first. really. TOO SWEET! YOW!)

Nonetheless... I think these will make a fine addition to the Happy Jane Flavor Roster. the best part? no camping required to enjoy them!

Lessons Learned: the marshmallow butter cream is not nearly as thick as some of my other toppings. when in the dipping stage, I find it is far better to dip the cookies and filling right after they have been removed from the freezer so they can withstand the heat of the melted chocolate. towards the end of the batch I had on my tray, I found that the filling was melting under the chocolate, and gave way to a 'broken shell' appearance. Still tasty.. but not as pretty to me.

oops!

Tricks and Treats

SO clearly I'm all about the treats on this site. I DO love me some treats!


a good friend of mine, whom I have already named to be my executive talent scout should I ever get too big for my britches. (and by that I DO mean money wise.. not pants sizes. if I LITERALLY get too big for my britches, then said friend will be the one duct-taping my mouth shut and putting my rear back on weight watchers. Cause she and I know I have to look good for that day when our kids get married. Just sayin'. )

ANYWAYS! Susie, in many ways, is my eyes and ears. She finds the coolest stuff, and that definitely includes recipes and fun ways of doing or presenting everyday stuff. A few months ago.. Suser passed on a link to a Martha special featuring a treat called Cake Pops.

I was immediately enthralled.. but I'm ashamed to admit I did not even ATTEMPT those little bad boys until this past bake sale. I was GOING TO... just... life took over for a little.



I thought it would be fun to make some cake pops in a ghoulish theme... I was thinking ghosts and goblins. or at least ghosts and pumpkins.



that's where the 'trick' part came in



On the original site of the cake pops creator... she was coating her pops in candy melts for the round pops... and the 'cupcake' shapes were 'dipped' on 2 different occasions.

I used white chocolate, and it was NOT EASY to work with. it was very gloppy and thick. I found that my ghosts looked a bit more like round and fat mummies. oh, and my food writing markers?? did not work so well on the white chocolate. I ended up using my Wilton dye gels for the eyes.



Look at these poor things... it's like they're BEGGING for someone to help them look better.





and lo and behold.. my 'grand' ideas of doing pumpkin balls got SQUASHED because I didn't have a good way of letting the balls 'dry' without setting them up-side-down. (thus giving them a Frankenstein-esque flat head.)



Thinking fast I dunked the orange 'balls' in theme-colored sprinkles, and chalked it up to inexperience.






All in all I think the treats turned out cute enough, and they tasted fine. (though ENTIRELY too sweet in my opinion. My 4 yr old daughter didn't seem to mind, though.) They seemed to be as dense/fudgy as a brownie coated in a too-thick layer of white chocolate.... just not as rich and heavy as a brownie would be.







I'm in no hurry to try these again, but that's not to say I won't. I think that like anything, practice would make me more proficient at making them... and perhaps using a thinner consistency outer shell (such as candy melts or adding paraffin!!! again with the paraffin!) would make this project a little easier.



or having a stand of some sorts so the pops could harden upright?




overall... I'll give it a "boo!" rating. Really... not my best work. Try me again next year?

P.B.E.'s

I'm sure you're wondering what in heck a PBE is. no.. I assure you it's not the newest blue-collar beer. It's another new flavor of my Happy Janes.

I know.. I have yet to even market these things enough to sell ONE, and I'm coming up with new flavors. ISSUES! But it's all in the spirit of creativity.

If you recall, a while back, I hosted a contest. Well, given that the winner wasn't really a HUGE fan of any of the flavors I was offering, I decided to come up with something better for her 'prize'. I also had a 4-month-late birthday present to send... so all of that coupled with another bake sale at church... and well.. two new flavors were born. I've already posted about the Pumpkin Truffle flavor.

(as a matter of fact, I actually just made another batch of them. my parents were visiting and are heading back to jersey tomorrow, and my mom requested that I make some for her to give as part of a gift basket to give to her doctor. So I GUESS you can say I got my first order. except I wasn't paid for them. Though my folks will tell you that they paid in some free babysitting while they were here. but my first order!!! though it's my folks... and they're supportive like that. oh well. I'm chalking it up as a win-win. I get to practice my skills and get my product to a new mouth without having to pay hand-over fist in shipping. but NEVERMIND!! back to PBE's!)

So the other flavor was made with the previously mentioned belated birthday girl in mind. Erin of Erin Cooks had a birthday back in June, and I had promised to send her some CDs. oops. So, to make up for my tardiness, I tried to make the CD package more than just music for her ears. you see... Erin is a fan of peanut butter. like a BIG fan. A while back, Erin posted a recipe for her own take on a recipe called "Melting Moments". She decided to make it in a peanut butter version. The recipe she posted looked pretty good.. so I used it for inspiration and as a base for a filling for a new Jane.

I made a few changes.. like using crunchy peanut butter, and using like 5x the amount she calls for. but still... it was sweet. and pea-nutty good.

I used a chocolate cookie base... and spooned some filling on each before freezing. (note.. yes, I DID say SPOON. the filling was too thick/crunchy to be piped on using my bags. I mean, I did start to pipe it on, but it came out like little logs, and I ended up using a spoon to round them out... so I stuck with the spoon for the rest.)

You know the rest... dipped them in chocolate, let them cool, and served with some milk!

Oh. it occurs to me I never did explain what the PBE stands for. The PB is easy.. Peanut Butter. duh! but the E? Gotta give credit where credit is due. SO since I used Erin's recipe for the filling... I think it's proper to have the E stand for Erin. But Jane is a vain little cookie... and can't be havign another woman's name in the mix.... so just a plain E will have to suffice. The taste makes up for it, though.. cause there's nothing plain about them.

enjoy!

Lessons Learned: I noticed I may have yet another reason to use paraffin in my chocolate. I'm not quite sure if it was the shoddy sprinkling of gold dusting powder I did on the PBE's, or if it was the EXUBERANT amount of peanut butter I used (hence creating a very heavy oil-base for the filling) but I noticed an odd crystallization happening on the outer shell of the chocolates. (if you look closely, you can see it on the last picture.) It did not affect the taste.. but I'm big on appearances, and seeing those spots bugged me. I really need to look into the paraffin.

Fall into Happy Janes

Autumn is probably my favorite season, and has been just about all my life. As a child in NJ, I recall the crisp mornings, the hearty foods and bursts of color every where I turned. When I lived in Florida, it was the time of year when we finally got a break from the heat. awwww, heck... I have reasons for every place I lived why Fall is my best season.

In the here and now, however... Autumn is more than a season of weather to me. It's back to school, it's birthdays and socials time, it's holidays, and most importantly.. it's GOOD FOOD.

I once joked with a friend that I only eat pumpkin from September through late January. While I know it's entirely silly to put stipulations of when I eat a particular food... 'saving' pumpkin for this time of year just means it's that more special to me.

Imagine my glee, then, when I came across this recipe for Pumpkin Truffles. pumpkin. chocolate. spices.


my tongue about fell out of my mouth.


At the heels of a bake sale, and eager to get back into the kitchen, I concocted a new flavor of Happy Janes inspired by the Pumpkin Truffle recipe and this SO-EASY recipe for home-made graham crackers.

I set out by making the graham cracker rounds, my signature shape for the Janes. As I said, this was much easier than I expected it to be. I think once you get used to working with cut-table cookie doughs, this falls right in line. (A word of warning, though.. if you choose to make graham crackers.. this recipe was far stickier than a regular sugar/butter cookie dough. I suspect it's from the abundance of honey.)

Then I made the pumpkin truffle filling. I followed the recipe, then made some changes. First.. I only used about HALF the amount of chocolate and heavy cream that was called for, and used about one and a half TIMES the amount of pumpkin required. I did this because I knew I wasn't making truffles as much as I was looking to create a pumpkin truffle FILLING. Also, since I knew the Jane would be COATED in chocolate.. I wanted a nice strong pumpkin flavor to emerge. (oh, and I used CLOVES.. not Gloves, as stated in the recipe.)

After the filling set and cooled... I piped some on the rounds.

Froze those bad boys and dipped in a bittersweet Belgian chocolate, then piped on an orange-colored candy drizzle for decoration.

I was very pleased with the flavor combination. it was like a chocolate covered piece of pumpkin pie. Yes.. I think I actually swooned a little after my first one. What a way to bring in Autumn!

Lessons Learned: I got two big things out of this project. The first is that those graham crackers are VERY POROUS. Within 24 hours, I noticed the cookie began to soften from absorbing the pumpkin's moisture, and by day three, they were a soft crumbly mess. The taste was still there, but texture means a lot to me.. and I was disappointed when they lost the cookie crunch. Some possible work-arounds are dipping the cookie in chocolate FIRST.. to form a protect barrier? maybe. we'll see.

The other lesson I learned is that my husband has very hot fingers. Every time he touched a Jane he ended up looking like a toddler playing with dark brown finger paints. Not so pretty. I may explore the addition of just a bit of paraffin to my chocolates to solidify that outer shell a bit more. This should prevent the messy fingers, as well as prevent the chocolate from absorbing oils of the fillings, and just being affected by things like humidity. Not that I want the Janes to have a shelf life of a twinkie.. just being able to hold their shape, color, and taste for more than 24 hours could open up a lot of doors for me in terms of sending Janes as gifts to friends around the country.

The Ten Dollar Cake

So we had another bake sale for church. It was good to get back in the swing of things, as I missed last month for family obligations, they had taken the summer 'off', and I was in NJ for the June sale.

One of the items I made was a peanut-butter chocolate layer cake. yeah. sounds good if you like that stuff!

I had some leftover peanut butter filling from a new flavor of Happy Janes. (a post about them is coming, I promise!) And since I was making some chocolate cake for my own version of cake-pops.... I decided to make a small round cake.

SO after the cake was cooled, I smoothed some 'filling', and layered the other half of the cake on top.

Made some chocolate icing, and frosted the cake.

At that point, I decided to 'purty' it up and piped some edging around the base and the top.

It occurred to me that I do not have much practice with icing cakes, so this was a good exercise. I was happy to see that it sold at the bake sale for $10 dollars. not sure *I* would have paid that much.. but it was a fundraiser, and sure enough.. I was there to see a couple buy it. Felt good to see the guy pick it up and pay for it.. as it did to see his girlfriend or wife walk away with a very coy smile. like she KNEW they were gonna knock that bad boy out with a jug of milk that afternoon. (or so I imagined...)

lessons learned... I need to invest in some flat off-set spatulas for a smoother finish. and maybe a leveler.. as the cake looked a teeny bit lop-sided. but overall, the cake was relatively simple to make, and decorate. I may just make some more next time I'm invited somewhere for dinner or coffee. The size was just right, in my opinion. (assuming it's to feed a group of six or less) small enough to be eaten before it starts to get stale.

New Addition - Strawberry Shorties

I'm proud to say that we now have two new additions to the Happy Jane Family!!! This post will only discuss one of the two I made, as I will be hosting a little CONTEST involving the other happy jane. (stay tuned for later today about the contest info and unveiling of the other Jane!)

I decided to shake things up and make some Happy Janes with a vanilla cookie base.

After looking around in the fridge and our daily lives for inspiration, I decided to try to make something of a vanilla-strawberry variety.

After whipping up a buttercream filling, I piped little 'cones' on the cookie rounds. After the 'cones' were in place, I piped in some strawberry preserves. AT this point I wanted to call it quits and eat the whole lot, as strawberry and vanilla are two of my favorite flavors. alas, my senses over-ruled and I put them in the freezer while I prepared the white chocolate dip. Or should I say "pink" chocolate dip.

Each round was coated in a pink-dyed white chocolate, then allowed to set overnight.

Don't be deterred by their loud pink color. These Janes are soft blend of vanilla, shortbread, and just a right hint of strawberry. I present to you...

Strawberry Shorties!

Lessons Learned? once again, I foolishly tried to 'enhance' the white chocolate with an imitation strawberry extract. (there's the clue.. imitation = BAD!) the chocolate got lumpy and grainy, and I had to scrap the batch. oh well. the second batch came out nice, and believe it or not. I think it's better without the 'extra' strawberry flavor. now they just stand with that hint of strawberry. very nice for adults who don't like that over-the-top sweetness.

Happy Janes

ok.. it's been a slowwww summer here. Between travels, no bake sales at church, and just trying to keep the kids occupies... I don't have as much stuff to share.

On fourth of july, I made a 'twinkie' cupcake in which I stuffed yellow cupcakes with a marshmallow-based frosting. They were beyond sweet, and I forgot to take pictures, but now that I have them under my belt (so-to-speak) I will make them again and document it.

For today, however... I will share something I whipped up based on a recipe, a good friend, and some good music.

The original recipe I saw suggested topping a vanilla cookie with ganache, then coating with candy drizzle.

I made it 'my own' by starting with a chocolate cookie base. Then I made two batches of an extra-dark chocolate ganache. One I kept plain, then other I mixed in some pure peppermint extract.

I piped the ganache onto the cookie rounds, and placed in the freezer to set.

meanwhile, I melted down some milk chocolate, and mixed in espresso powder. after it cooled slightly (but was still pourable) I dipped the tops of the plain-ganache cookies and put aside to cool and 'set'. I called these happy janes a "Mocha Crunch"

Next I melted some white chocolate and added a touch of flavorless green gel coloring. Once that 'dip' was ready, I took the rounds that had the peppermint chocolate ganache, and coated their tops. These were to be called "Mint Treasures"

after all the happy janes were cooled and set, I piped a drizzle of the plain dark chocolate ganache on top of each.

"Mocha Crunches"

"Mint Treasures"

I was pleased with the results; a crunchy cookie with a chocolate shell filled with a ganache that was SO RICH and literally melted in my mouth. Like a great marriage of truffles and cookies.

Mocha Crunch Happy Janes

Mint Treasure Happy Janes

LESSONS LEARNED: Unfortunately, this is a treat that should be eaten within a day of making. the longer the ganache sits atop the cookie, I found the cookie to become softer; as if it was absorbing the moisture from the ganache? Though I did notice that the chocolate cookies in general tend to get softer over time (vs vanilla ones that stay crunchy MUCH longer). I hope to continue to explore the idea of the Happy Jane; perhaps with the vanilla cookie to compare softness over time, and of course... flavor combinations. Troy has already put in a request for a bing/black cherry variety.