Desserts in Jars: Almond-Poppyseed Cakes

My mom was one of those people who had a great group of girlfriends wherever we lived.  There were always parties and get-togethers and celebrations.  Her girlfriends from Houston are affectionately referred to as "the Ya-yas," and their children have always felt like cousins to me.

As I write this post on what would have been my mom's 67th birthday, I can't help but think of how much she would have LOVED to bring a tray of desserts in jars to one of her girlfriend get-togethers.  I can totally picture her baking up a recipe and then digging through her quilting scraps for just the right fabric to tie around the jars.

There IS something special about Desserts in Jars.

This is Shaina Olmanson's new book, Desserts in Jars: 50 Sweet Treats that Shine...and it is a treasure.  Shaina walks through the basics of using jars for all kinds of dessert making and then provides luscious recipes for everything from cakes to pies, to bread pudding, to frozen treats, to mixes.

The photography is GORGEOUS!  Last year, I had the pleasure to meet Shaina and she is just one of those people you instantly love.  Knowing that there is a gracious and sweet person behind this book makes it all the more wonderful.

I chose to make the Almond-Poppyseed Cakes.  They ARE incredible.  What I really loved is that almost every bite had some of the buttery goodness from the buttering the insides of the jar.  Extra butter.  Mmm...
You must try them.

{I was a little worried about finding jars, but right in my grocery store, there were oodles of them to choose from. OODLES!}

Here's your chance to WIN a copy of Desserts in Jars for your very own.  Use the widget below (if you are reading this post in an email, click over) to answer the question provided.
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Otherwise, if you'd just like to leave a comment without entering, please do so the usual way. :)

Entries accepted through midnight, July 27th.  Good luck!



Almond-Poppyseed Cakes in Jars
{with permission from Desserts in Jars}

Makes 12 individual almond–poppy seed cakes

Ingredients

·       3 tablespoons poppy seeds

·       2 tablespoons boiling water

·       1¾ cups all-purpose flour

·       3 tablespoons cornstarch

·       2 teaspoons baking powder

·       1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

·       1½ cups sugar

·       4 large egg yolks

·       4 large eggs

·       2 teaspoons almond extract

·       1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·       ¼ cups sliced almonds

Directions

1.     Place the poppy seeds in a small bowl. Pour the boiling water over them and stir to coat. Allow to sit for 1 hour, stirring halfway through.

2.     Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease twelve 8-ounce jars with butter. Whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder in a medium-size bowl and set aside. In a large bowl or in a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. In a separate bowl, lightly beat together the egg yolks and eggs. Alternate adding the flour and the eggs to the butter mixture, mixing after each addition. Stir in the almond extract, the vanilla extract, and the moistened poppy seeds.
 

3.     Fill each jar half full with batter and sprinkle with sliced almonds. Place the jars 2 inches apart on a large baking sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops of the cakes spring back when tapped. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Desserts in Jars...Shaina's book makes it a delicious art form. You'll love it.

So anyhoo...

...this is where things get a bit surreal for me.

You might remember several months ago I mentioned that I was working on a book.  A book of my best loved fitness routines and diet plans.

Well, I may had fibbed a little.  The book is about {wait for it}...

...COOKIES!!!

Published by the wonderful people at Lark Crafts, the book is titled:
Decorating Cookies: 60+ Designs for Holidays, Celebrations & Everyday

In Decorating Cookies, you'll find 160 pages of step-by-step photo tutorials for all 60+ cookie designs.  It'll be just like I'm in your kitchen holding your hand...in a totally non-creepy way.  ;)

I'll be filling you in and giving you a few sneak peeks in the months to come, but...
It is available for pre-order (!!!) on both:
Amazon
Barnes &Noble
{The official release date is October 2nd, my grandfather's birthday. ♥}

Wanna see what my kitchen looked like for months and months putting this baby together?  Yes?  OK....here ya go:

Thank you so much for sharing this cookie baking and making adventure with me!

*mwah*

The Night Sky...and Astronomy 101

College course catalogs really should include more detail.  

For example: A description of Astronomy 101 might read like,  
"Introductory astronomy course focusing on general physical conditions under which life is thought to arise and evolve in the universe. Topics include historical astronomy, gravitation and planetary orbits, the solar system. Blah, blah..."


It should also include a sentence like this,  
"Hey, silly 17-year-old girl...we will not be discussing our "favorite constellations," or making trips to the observatory with picnics and cute boys, nor will we be discussing why you are "so a Libra."  That's astroLoGY; this is astroNoMY."

Just a suggestion, colleges. 

PS...astronomy = math.  And not fun math, either.  Unless you're into the whole physics thing.

In case you *were* wondering what my favorite constellation is, it's this guy...

...Orion.

So, let's start our own astronomy class, shall we?  Cookies, picnic at the observatory, cute boy, Linda Goodman's Sun Signs.  Sign me up.

Let's make Constellation Cookies.  You'll need:

• sugar cookies, square or circle will work
• royal icing divided and tinted dark blue (using AmeriColor Navy Blue mixed with Super Black) and light gold (store the gold icing in the fridge until day 2)
• couplers and tips: #2, #1
• disposable icing bags
• squeeze bottle
• toothpicks
• constellation print-outs (printed to fit your cookie size)
• push-pin
• meringue powder
• small paintbrush
• disco dust

 

Use a #2 tip to outline the cookies in blue icing.

Thin the remaining blue icing with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottle.

Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing. Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Let the cookies dry uncovered 6-8 hours, or overnight.

The next day, place the print-outs of the constellations on the cookies, and use a clean push-pin to press into the dried icing to mark where to pipe the stars.

Use a #2 tip to pipe stars over the push-pin holes in gold icing.

Switch the tip to a #1 and pipe lines to connect the stars in the constellations.

Let the cookies dry for one hour.

Mix 1/4 teaspoon meringue powder with 1/4 teaspoon water.  Brush onto the stars using a small, clean paintbrush.  Sprinkle on the disco dust. (I do this over a coffee filter to catch the excess.) Shake off excess and brush with a dry paintbrush.  (This will not remove every bit of the stray disco dust, but it looks pretty, I think.)

Let the cookies dry 30 minutes before packaging.

Do you have a favorite constellation?  Discuss.

Help! My cookies have streaks!!! (Works for Me Wednesday)

Has this happened to you?

You've spent hours mixing colors, outlining and flooding.  Your cookies look perfectly perfect. You decide to let them dry overnight and go to bed. You wake up the next morning to STREAKS in your royal icing.

Nooooooooooooooo! 

Those white or light colored streaks are caused by.....water.  Yep.  Water.

Let me tell you how that water probably got there:

1. Squeeze bottles used for flooding weren't *completely* dry.  Even a small drop of water clinging to the side of the bottle can wreak havoc on a cookie.  Solution: check all bottles before filling.  If there is a drop of water, dry with a paper towel.
2. When thinning a bowl of icing, a drop of water goes unnoticed on the side of the bowl.  When the icing is poured into the squeeze bottle, the drop of water is poured in as well.  Solution: always add water with a measuring spoon into the bowl.  Never hold the bowl under running or dripping water.
3. The icing in the bottle is too thick for flooding, so a drop or two of water is added and not properly mixed.  Solution: to add water, pour the icing back into a bowl and stir. Do not under any circumstances SHAKE the bottle.  This will fill your icing with air bubbles (another issue for another day.)

 

If you happen to spot a drop of water when you're filling your cookies, use a paper towel to blot out the water and add more icing if needed. 

Have streaks ever happened to you?  Have you had other issues decorating cookies?  What are they?  Tell me, tell me!  I bet I've had them, too.

{In the meantime, check out this post from the archives on Troubleshooting.}





Preventing streaky cookies....works for me!

Cheerio(s), Old Chap!

I've always wanted to say that.  Now if I can just figure out a reason to title a post, " 'ello Govna."

Let's talk about these cereal bars for a minute.  They're basically rice krispie treats made with chocolate and peanut butter Cheerios.

Ever since I spied a box of peanut butter Cheerios (oh, 6 months ago), I've been jonesing to make them.
{Sometimes it takes me awhile.}

My theory here is that these treats have the same "negative calorie" intake as that cabbage soup diet.  You expend a lot of energy stirring 6 cups of cereal into melted marshmallows.  And, these are double-layered, so you do it twice.

Add in nutritious Cheerios and basically, you have yourself a bar full of health.  You can quote me on that.

Peanut Butter Cup Cheerios Bars

for the chocolate layer:
3 TBSP unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10 ounces marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
6 cups Chocolate Cheerios

for the drizzle:
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semisweet chips

for the peanut butter layer:
3 TBSP unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
10 ounces marshmallows
1/2 cup peanut butter
6 cups Peanut Butter Cheerios

topping:
8 ounces mini Reese's cups (the unwrapped kind)

In a large stockpot or dutch-oven, melt the butter, salt, marshmallows, and vanilla for the chocolate layer over medium-low heat, stirring often.  Once the marshmallows are almost all the way melted, add in the chocolate chips.  Stir until completely melted.  Add in the chocolate Cheerios and stir with a silicone spatula until evenly coated.

Pour the mixture into a 9x13" pan.  To spread easily, place your hand into a baggie and spray the baggie with cooking spray.  Use your covered hand to press the cereal into the pan.

Melt the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips (in separate bowls) in the microwave in 30-second intervals at 50% power.  Stir after every interval until the chips are melted.  If the melted chips are too stiff for drizzling, stir in 1/2 tsp. shortening.

Place the melted chips in separate pastry bags (or baggies), snip the tips, and drizzle half of each mixture onto the chocolate cereal layer.  Reserve the remaining melted chips.

Make the peanut butter layer by melting the butter, salt, and marshmallows over medium-low heat, stirring often.  Once the marshmallows are almost all the way melted, add in the peanut butter.  Stir until completely melted.  Add in the peanut butter Cheerios and stir with a silicone spatula until evenly coated. 

Press into the pan on top of the chocolate layer as described above.

Drizzle the remaining melted chocolate and peanut butter chips over the top.  (Microwave the pastry bags for 5 seconds if they have hardened.

Coarsely chop the mini Reese's cups.  Sprinkle over the drizzled chocolate...you'll want the drizzle to be warm, but not piping hot, so it won't melt the Reese's.

Let the bars set for one hour before cutting.  A bench scraper is a great tool for cutting the bars.

If you love krispies, and really, who doesn't...you'll need to visit my friend Shelly over at Cookies and Cups.  Shelly is the Krispie Queen...yes, royalty.  {Go look.}

Peanut Butter Cup Cheerios Bars...they're not just for breakfast anymore.

{{psst...remember that Red-faced Runners challenge?  Because of the amazing response and enthusiasm from all of you, there is now a Red-faced Runners BLOG!!! It launched today with an inspiring inaugural post from Dara.  Come check it out!}}}

Golden Kahlua Coladas

It's a holiday week (weekend?).  These holidays that fall mid-week always confuse me.

No matter what you call it, a cocktail is definitely in order.

You have the necessities on hand, I trust...

These are the simplest of frozen drinks....perfect for a summer night when the sun has set, the heat has dissipated, and the humidity of the day has burned off.  Ahh....summer nights.  The only enjoyable part of summer, no?

Enjoy them in the heat of the day, too...just make them.

Golden Kahlua Coladas
{serves 2}

ingredients:
2 cups orange juice ice cubes
2 ounces Kahlua
2 ounces Amaretto
orange slices

First kids, you'll need what we called in the olden days, an "ice cube tray."

Once your orange juice is frozen, combine the 2 cups of cubes (approximately) with the Kahlua and Amaretto in a blender.  Process until smooth.

Pour into glasses and garnish with an orange wheel.

Summer in a glass.  Ahhh...

Happy Birthday, America!!!

Can you handle one more *just under the wire* 4th of July cookie post?

There was a cookie idea I'd been planning to make all month.  When I started yesterday, it just wasn't coming together quite right.  So, I went to my cookie cutter stash and thought, "ok...what I can I make cute in red, white, and blue?" 

Pumpkins?  Not quite right.
Butterflies?  Hmm...maybe.
Armadillos?  Promising...

CAKES?!? Now, why didn't I think of that before?!?

I'm so happy with the way the star looks on the top of that cake, I may use it on ALL cake cookies from now on.  {You've been warned.}

Also, I think these cookies have sealed the deal.  Black outlines are my favorite.  Hands-down.  They just add that graphic quality and certain pop.  I may do all black outlines from now on.  {You've been warned again.}


To make the star cake cookies, you'll be putting to shapes together, like this:
Cut out tiered cakes and small stars...

...use the star cutter to cut out where you want to place the star on the cake...

...place the star in the cut-out and freeze for 5-10 minutes before baking.
(You DO freeze your cookies before baking, right?)

For the double-decker cookies, you'll put those together just like these double-decker valentine cookies.

 

(The stars on the blue cookies are just sugar pearls.)


For the star-topped cakes, just outline with a #2 tip and black icing.

Before filling a black outline with another color, you'll want to let it dry for at least one hour to prevent bleeding.  {I use AmeriColor Super Black.}

After an hour, fill in the outline with thinned white icing.  Let the icing dry for at least one hour.

Again with the #2 tip, go over the outline of the star and pipe "bunting" across the cake.  Fill in the bunting with red and blue icings.  (Piping consistency icing is fine here...flood icing in tiny spaces has a tendency to collapse.)

Place small star sprinkles on the bunting with tweezers, or place on and nudge gently into place with a toothpick.

Let the cookies dry overnight.

Happy birthday, America!!!