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.

Old, New, and a taste of Blue

SO I still have some old pictures to post.... but I still have to finish converting them into jpegs (currently TIFs) before blogger will accept them....

for now.. here are the cookies I made with Rhena a week and a half ago. I tried a new technique with the picture taking.... more for backdrops than anything.

good day, sunshine!

rubber ducky, you're the one!

Little Lady

Mary had a little lamb (or three)

LESSONS LEARNED: UNFORTUNATELY, these cookies were not eaten by anyone. I noticed that the icing had a taste similar to WINDEX. I had cleaned up the counter using the Windex like I usually do, but totally forgot to cover and/or rinse my kitchen aide mixing bowl before making the icing. not sure if the spray had gotten in the bowl or on the whisk part, but bleh. that didn't stop me from practicing decorating, though. oh well. better for my diet, I guess.

Bake Sale- May Edition part 1

I decided to try out a biscotti recipe this time around. Being that in general, I CAN NOT STAND the taste of almond flavored things... (amaretto? blah! plegh! kaploooey!)

I saw this recipe and thought I could give it a shot.

I was intimidated.

I had never made a loaf-like cookie before, and given my general dislike for biscotti (too hard! too almondy! is this stale??) I wasn't even sure if this was a good idea.. but alas.. gotta step outside the comfort zone.

SO I had visions of grandeur that I would chop up some walnuts or pecans to put in the cookies instead of the chocolate, then half-dip the cookies when complete in chocolate.

but. no nuts.

no mini-chips, either. so I used normal sized milk-chocolate ones.

The recipe notes that you should grease your hands before forming the rectangular-shaped dough logs, because the dough will be sticky. The idea of rubbing crisco on my hands made me vomit in my mouth a little, but after trying to just pick UP the dough, I realized that when I step out of my comfort zone.. I go for the gusto.

I smeared the crisco all over my hands, and was able to shape the dough. (of course.. I chose too small of a pan to fit the two loaves on one, so I had to shimmy the one loaf over to the center, then grease up yet ANOTHER pan, and my hands AGAIN, and form the other log. Rubbing shortening between my hands made me want to start another diet like IMMEDIATELY, btw..)

after the first round of baking, I let the loaves cool for per the recipes directions. I then cut the slices, and place on the cookie sheet again to bake/brown/dry out.

10 minutes later, I flipped them, and baked some more.

I also had some leftover chocolate from the apples I made.. so I did actually do the dip.

the final product was a nice golden color, and the taste was a pleasant surprise. not OVERLY banana-y, not TOO chocolaty, and by luck of my mistake.. it wasn't rock hard. one, because I'm sure it was still oven-fresh.. the other cause I think I didn't bake it long enough the first round in the oven. and the biggest thing... no almonds.

Lessons learned: this was a long process to undergo for a cookie I wasn't sure I would actually like. kind of a pain with the in-out-cut-in-out-flip-in-out baking. but I liked the taste. the KIDS LOVED the cookies. I think this recipe, with some educated substitutions, would make great teething cookies.... again.. only if I found a way to cut the sugar and up the fruit/fiber. might be something to work on in the future.

Bake Sale - May Part 2

Usually when my folks come to visit us, we end up taking a trip to the outlet mall. One store we always seem to make a stop in happens to be a Chocolate shoppe. In their front window, they boast a HUGE copper pot which is used to make their gourmet apples. Try as we might... when my mom is with me, we cave and buy one.

I let that primal urge for needing chocolate covered apples be my inspiration for this month's bake sale and made some gourmet apples of my own.

For baking and eating purposes, I usually stick to Breaburn apples. sometimes a Fuji.. OCCASIONALLY a Gala.. but mostly I'm a Breaburn girl. However... when it comes to gourmet apples.. I personally feel that nothing beats a Granny Smith.

I've said before how I love caramel, so it should be no surprise that I started this batch of 'healthy desserts' by a generous dunk in caramel. I used the Kraft caramels.. which was much easier than making my own caramel.. but I assure you that unwrapping about 50 of those little squares was mundane. I just know I like the taste of Kraft caramels and can count on them to melt and re-form well.

after the caramel set, I coated each apple in a mix of chocolate bark and baker's chocolate (I do not like the taste of store-bought chocolate bark.. bleh! so I always add in a better quality chocolate to the mix to make it taste like REAL chocolate. for things I serve at my house or that I know I will eat, I typically skip the use of bark and go straight to Dove or Ghiradelli or Hersheys.)

I let the chocolate cool slightly, then rolled 2 in crushed Heath Bar pieces. I topped another 2 with a store-bought jar of nestle's rocky road-flavored ice cream mix-ins. the last apple was topped with mini m&ms. (speaking of; does anyone know how I can buy those? I snagged a little snack-pack that my daughter had gotten in a goody bag from school, but couldn't find them anywhere in the store?)

Lastly, I drizzled just a little more chocolate on top of the whole mess and packaged them up to sell. When all was said and done, each apple weighed over a pound. now THAT'S my idea of health food!

LESSONS LEARNED: I'm not sure how they sold, and I know that while they were packaged nice enough, I think it was really hard to see them under all the plastic wrap. Given the state of hurried buying that happens in the hall after mass, I'm not sure potential buyers would get the full effect of their looks. I know, cause I'm one of the buys, and dealing with people in front of and behind me, and holding on to my daughter.. well.. it's more of a get-in-and-buy-and-get out mentality at the table. I don't really get to PERUSE the goods like I would elsewhere. so perhaps I'll try to find a better way to present them. a giant clear box would be good, I think.

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Taffy Apple Bars

So when my folks were here, we passed through Barnes and Noble, and my mom bought me a book, Cookie Dough Fun.

It's a cute book, and while it's not COMPLETELY jaw-dropping inspiring like my Confetti Cakes book... I find that it has some cute ideas and very simple recipes.

in fact.. most of the recipes listed in this book have the base of ready-made cookie-dough.

one of the recipes was called a "Taffy Apple Bar". It used a base of pre-made sugar and peanut butter cookie dough (one package of each, then mixed together). The original recipe was topped with apples, peanuts and then caramel sauce... but I took the liberty of using pecans and real caramel squares instead. Really... what you see below were all the ingredients I needed.

after the doughs were combined and pressed into a pan, I chopped my apples, nuts and caramel squares. Ever the fan of caramel, I decided to 'mix' my dough-toppers so I would have caramel all over the place, and not just the 'drizzle' on top like the recipe called for.

All set for the oven....

mmmm.. melted caramelly-apple goodness. I'm in LOVE!

cooled off and ready to be served

care for a piece?

I will gladly share the actual recipe through e-mail; just leave a comment letting me know if you want it.

Garden Variety Cupcake

ok. so I FINALLY got the chance to play with gum paste.

we had a play-date today, so what better thing to bring than a batch of fresh cupcakes to our hostesses?

ok.. I could think of a FEW good things that I would love to have someone bring to my house.. but still. time and money being limited.. I opted for the cupcakes.

box mix people. nothing fancy in that. and I had leftover icing from the bake sale. canned icing. yup. used that too. But really.. it's not always WHAT you use... it's HOW you use it. right?


anyways, after the cupcakes were cooled/cooling, I got to playing with the gum paste. thankfully, I still had a box of rubber gloves leftover from the pierogies. they saved my hands from being dyed by the coloring gels.



I had some cute little cookie cutters that I used to cut the rolled gum paste. I used a knife to etch in a very simple line for the leaf.. then left to dry.



halfway through the leaf-making, I got to thinking about Daniel's upcoming birthday (in november) he'll be 2, and I'm doing a farmer/garden/veggie theme for him. Since seed packets will be part of the favors, I thought it might be cute to have a few cupcakes flanking the main cake with little garden items on them.


so I used some of the green gum paste and made some peas. then I made some pink gum paste and moved on to some flowers. I got pretty bored with the flowers quickly, so I threw in a strawberry for practice. (used a nail to create indents/seeds. not great. needs work.)



I got crazy and tried to make grapes. actually, it's cause I couldn't think of any other pink fruits, other than watermelon, and as I said I was tired of the flowers.... so I just added a little blue gel to the remaining pink gum paste. it had a very concord-grapey look to it.


when all was said and done, I had a few basic cupcakes to take to our playdate (plus a few gum paste ones)


a few flower ones left for home


and then of course, fruit/veggie ones. I used crushed cookies to make the 'dirt'. oh, and about the grapes... they're varying in color cause I used water and a paintbrush to make the balls "stick' to each other. they take a long time to dry. a LONG time. I wanted to get this post up before the weekend consumed me, so unfortunately you get the color variance.




Annnnnd.. what's on a tray in the kitchen as we speak. wanna come over for some coffee and cupcakes?




Lessons Learned: I REALLY liked working with the gum paste. I used the pre-fabbed wilton kind this time around.. being my first time and all. biggest thing to note for next time... MUST know my plan ahead of time. it dries quickly, and if you bend or try to shape it after some drying has occurred, you get a cracked or greying effect on the final color.

the gloves? priceless. my finger would be blue for a week if I didn't use them. wondering what happened to the little fondant tool I purchased a while ago. it's used for making funky cuts or 'stitches' in the fondant and gum paste.

I liked the look of the peas. I will for sure do those again... only better next time. but especially to practice for danny's birthday. that's gonna be a fun cake, I think.

Old Faithful

ok, when I typed the title of this post, I was thinking about how these two treats I made for the bake sale were just easy stand-bys.. but I like how the pun happens cause it was a CHURCH bake sale. or not.. maybe I just need sleep.

anyways.. more bake sale items!

Since I didn't use all the batter from the cone cakes, I made some standard cupcakes with the chocolate box mix.

but just cause I used a box mix and frosting doesn't mean they can't look pretty! ever the chance to practice my piping techniques, I filled up my bags and used my new wide tips.

the frosting was just so simple with the swirl, but I thought they looked polished. as in professional.. not as in from Poland.

and since I didn't get to make rhena her pancakes from my over-ripe bananas... I mashed them up and decided to make banana bread.

oh.. with pecans, that is.

There's something very promising about something being put into the oven. I really do get a little giddy whenever I put something in.

I only made the four loaves, but that's all I had in terms of bananas. I was pleased with their coloring. Though.. I have to say, if I was keeping them for me, I would have topped them bad boys with a streusel topping or something. I do love me some streusel.

not too many lessons learned here. this was pure churn 'em and (don't) burn 'em. on a separate note, though.. my mom oversaw a kid purchasing an oopsie-daisy after mass. she said he was VERY excited to get home and eat his treat.