Rocky Road Overload!

A little while ago I wanted to wow my staff with a rich and delicious treat, and I just happenedto have an entire day to put something together. This was a very time-consuming project for me, mainly because it was my first attempt at making my own marshmallows (but so worth it!). I actually ruined the first batch and had to start over a second time - something that happens every once in a while just to humble me.

You can use any standard brownie recipe for a base, I used this one. I doubled it so I'd have lots, plus the marshmallow recipe makes more than enough for a double batch of brownies, plus hot chocolate later, plus snacks the next day...

While your brownies are cooling, lightly toast enough whole almonds to cover. I used lots because I love almonds, but you can go lighter than I did. When they are toasted and cooled, store them in an airtight container until you're ready to use them.

Start your marshmallows. The recipe I used is from Martha's website (of course), because I've had so much success with all of the recipes I've ever used from there. Please note, if you're making them for the first time like I was, I didn't have a candy thermometer, which is fine, because another way to judge whether they're to temperature is by the consistency of the mixture. But really, do yourself a favor and buy a candy thermometer if you're at all concerned about making a mess. 'Firm-ball stage' is what you're looking for, when the mixture has really come together and has formed a round, more solid, obvious ball, and when you get there, take it off the heat immediately, don't second guess yourself, because directly after 'firm-ball stage' is black smoking mess. Just saying.

To prepare the pan I used, I lined it with parchment that I cut to fit exactly (I had a bad feeling about getting the marshmallow out of the pan), and then dusted it heavily with confectioners' sugar - very important, the more you use, the easier it is to handle.

The instructions call for you to cut the finished marshmallows with a dry hot knife. This is very important. You need a very sharp knife, and literally between each slice, run the blade under hot water and dry with a towel. You could also use a cookie cutter to create fun shapes (snowflakes, hearts, whatever).

Once you've cut the marshmallows out, have a bowl of confectioners' sugar set aside to toss them in so that all sides are covered and won't stick together once you pack them up for storage.

The recipe doesn't say how long you can keep them, but I kept mine in an airtight container, refrigerated for nearly two weeks and they were just fine.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tbsp. unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. vanilla extract

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. Let stand 30 minutes.

Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup water in a heavy saucepan; place over low heat, and stir until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.

Not quite 'firm ball' stage.

Clip on a candy thermometer; raise heat to high. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 224 degrees (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from heat.

With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase speed to high; beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla; beat to incorporate.

Generously dust an 8-by-12-inch glass baking pan with confectioners' sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into the pan. Dust top with confectioners' sugar; wet your hands and pat it down to smooth. Dust with more confectioners' sugar; let stand overnight, uncovered, to dry out.

Turn out onto a board; cut marshmallows with a dry hot knife into 1 1/2-inch squares, and dust with more confectioners' sugar.

To assemble your brownies:

Chop toasted almonds roughly. Place marshmallows on top of brownie and then sprinkle with prepared almonds.

Melt semisweet chocolate in the top of a double boiler and pour generously over top to coat. I used Callebaut chocolate, it's very important to use the best quality that you can find.

I let them harden before I cut them into individual portions, but next time I will cut them while they are still soft, on a couple of them, the chocolate cracked. It all tastes the same, but when giving them it's nice if they can be uniform and look perfect.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

This is the first time I've made Red Velvet anything, and I've never been a fan of Red Velvet until I had a cupcake at Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle. I tried my best to find a recipe I could tweak to get it as close to theirs as I could.

I used my little cups again, which are cute, but I really think they shouldn't be filled more than halfway to make a perfectly shaped cupcake. Most of them came out okay, but a couple were definitely a miss. This batter really rises well, so even with regular cupcake liners, don't fill them any more than 1/2 to 2/3 full.

I wanted a cake that would be truly red, many that I've tasted are more like a chocolate cake with a slight red tint. Here's what I came up with:

Red Velvet Cupcakes

By Dulce Doll

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. cocoa powder

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 oz. red gel food coloring

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine buttermilk, oil, and eggs on medium speed. Add vinegar, vanilla, and red food coloring. Mix until smooth. Add sugar.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder together. Add dry ingredients to wet in batches, beating well between each addition.

Fill cupcake liners 1/2 to 2/3 full and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, rotating pan halfway through to ensure even baking.

Cream Cheese Frosting

By Dulce Doll

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup milk

6 to 8 cups icing sugar

Directions:

Cream the cream cheese and butter together. Add 1 cup of icing sugar and beat in. Add milk and another cup of icing sugar. Continue adding sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you have the desired consistency for piping.

Makes 24 cupcakes or one three layer cake.

S'mores Cookies

It's not a secret that I love Martha Stewart or her monthly Everyday Food publication. There are seriously countless recipes that I've taken from that handy little book and each time, with great success. They are designed to be helpful, and simple, generally using ingredients that you've already got in your kitchen.

These cookies are no different. My sister made them first and had such a great time making them for a work potluck, where they earned her rave reviews. She's since made them a second time, and now I'm giving them a shot too.

I'm making them this time with store-bought marshmallows, I don't have time this weekend to make my own, which sucks, because homemade ones are soooo much better!

Also, the recipe calls for semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, but my sister and I both used milk chocolate so they'd be just like real s'mores.

Next time I will make them smaller. I got 27, but I think it should be cookie, chocolate and marshmallow in each bite, for me these were too much cookie.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup AP flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

8 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, cut into 30 squares

15 large marshmallows, halved horizontally

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, pulse oats until finely ground. Add flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; pulse to combine. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, scraping down sides of bowl. With the mixer on low, beat in flour mixture just until combined.

Drop by tablespoons, 1 inch apart onto two baking sheets. Top each with a chocolate square.

Bake until lightly golden, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Remove sheets from oven; heat broiler. Top each cookie with a marshmallow. One sheet at a time, broil until marshmallows are lightly browned, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Rainbow Confetti Cupcakes

These cupcakes were super fun and cute too. They'd be great for a birthday party or for a project with kids. You could use any basic white cake or vanilla cake recipe and just mix in colored sprinkles at the end..

I was really excited to try out my new cups like I saw on this blog. Definitely don't fill the cups any more than 2/3-full or they'll spill over and make a mess, mine came dangerously close. Check out the website, she has some amazing recipes and photos.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups AP flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp. butter, room temperature

1 egg plus 1 egg white, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp. colored sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with papers.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat sugar and butter until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla.

Add flour mixture into wet ingredients in three additions, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in sprinkles.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3-full. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting.

I chose my old stand-by chocolate buttercream for icing. I tried piping it, but my bag broke. There isn't really a recipe I follow, I start with about 1/8 cup softened unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa powder and start creaming. Once butter is incorporated, add milk, 1 tbsp. at a time until you have the right consistency. To make a bigger bowl, add more icing sugar, cocoa and milk. You can also add extra cocoa to make it really chocolatey, I always do.

Chocolate Mint Drop Cookies

Yum. I LOVE chocolate and mint together so obviously when I found this recipe I had to try it. Plus, I had everything I needed right in my kitchen, and that's always a bonus.

It's drop cookies, so simple and one bowl, very little mess. These are great for everyday, will be even better at Christmas when baking projects can get out of hand complicated and you need to pull something out that just takes a few minutes.

Ingredients:

4 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 tsp. peppermint extract

1 3/4 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Chop butter into small pieces and melt it together with the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.

Beat together sugar and the egg until well combined. Add the whipping cream and the peppermint extract and mix well. Slowly add the butter/chocolate mixture, stirring constantly.

Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix until just combined.

Drop dough by heaping spoonful about two inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

Makes about 16 cookies.

Blackberry Jam

It's been a million year since I did any kind of preserving, but there are giant blackberry bushes very close to my house so I've been wandering down every few days throughout August and collecting berries. Now I have a freezer full and decided today was the day to do something with them. Or some of them, at least.

Coincidentally, blackberry is one of my favorite flavors of jam, so not only will I enjoy giving it away to others, but I will enjoy some myself!

Ingredients:

4 cups blackberries, washed and picked through

4 cups granulated sugar

Sterilize your jars and lids and set aside.

Start a large pot of water to boil (for processing the jars).

Crush berries and strain out seeds, if desired. Combine berries and sugar in a medium-sized pot over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reads 220 degrees on thermometer, or has thickened.

Pour into prepared jars and top with lids. Immerse in boiling water and process for several minutes. Let cool and store.

Not Great...

Kind of disappointed today with the kitchen. Totally having an off day, dropped everything, spilled everything, twice, ruined an entire tray of lemon macaroons (I knew from the time I put them in the oven they weren't right). The only thing that worked was my lemon curd.

My great success yesterday with the chocolate macaroons diluted my thinking to the point where I assumed I could bust out two batches tonight, no problem. Wrong. I am instantly humbled.

I made some vanilla ones that turned out alright, not great, though. I think I might skip this recipe in the future. Or maybe I will try it once more, but not anytime soon.

Ingredients:

1 cup slivered almonds

2 cups powdered sugar

4 egg whites

5 tbsp. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Process almonds in food processor until finely ground, about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and process until very fine. Sift mixture into a bowl.

Beat egg whites on medium-low speed until frothy, increase speed to medium-high and beat until whites form medium-stiff peaks, about 2 minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar, whisking constantly until stiff, glossy peaks form. Stir in vanilla.

Transfer whites to a large bowl. Fold in almond mixture in two batches. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/2-inch piping tip. Pipe 1-inch rounds about 1/2-inch apart on baking sheets. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

Bake until puffed and lightly colored, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside to cool completely before peeling off parchment.

They tasted okay, a little sweet for my liking, even with the tart curd.

I am on hiatus from macaroons...