GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Chocolate Pretzels

A quick and fun snack idea is chocolate covered pretzel sticks.  I just melted the chocolate (on 50% power in the microwave) stirred the sticks in it, allowed excess to drip off, then sprinkled on confections and M&Ms.  The M&Ms did not work out as well as expected, but were fine.  It would have been better to use minis.  I laid out on parchment paper to harden then transferred to a platter.  Some didn't turn out half bad looking.

GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Tiramisu

Ever since I saw the Cake Boss Episode where Sonny made a Tiramisu, I have been wanting to try this!

Here is my version of his Tiramisu.
 First, I mixed 6 egg yolks with 1 1/4 cup sugar.
I improvised a double boiler by doubling up a couple sauce pans.  I stirred and cooked my egg yolk/sugar mixture over boiling water for 10-15 minutes until it was creamy and yellow.  Then took it off the heat.

 After this was done, I added a pound of Marscapone cheese plus 1/4 cup cream cheese and stirred until melted.

I then folded in almost 2 cups of Cool Whip.











The recipe calls for lady fingers.  I actually used Milano double chocolate cookies in place of one box of lady fingers.  And to give a touch of authenticity, I used a box of lady fingers, too.

 I used my small spring form pan and put a ring of frosting around the inside to hold the cookies in place.  (There was STILL frosting from my original Super Bowl strawberry football project and my Easter Basket Cookie  project. )  I then snapped part of the lady finger cookies off to make them fit the side of the pan and alternated Milano cookies and lady fingers around the pan.  .

I then put the rest of te Milanos on the bottom of the pan and filled in the rest of the space with lady fingers

The recipes all call for either coffee or coffee flavored liquor.  Since I don't drink either, I had no idea what to get.  I decided to go with the coffee flavored liquor because the flavored is probably not coffee, and the liquor will evaporate.  :)

Anyway, I had the salesman point me to the coffee flavored liquors and the name "Kahlua" sounded familiar, so that is what I bought.  Not sure if a coffee flavored liquor and rum with coffee flavor are the same, but it is what it is. I bought the smallest bottle available (which looks like it will make 2 or 3 Tiramisu pies!  Take 1/3 cup of this and using a basting brush, brush this onto the lady fingers and Milano cookies.  I used a little over 1/2 of my third cup for the first layer, because I had to brush on the sides and the bottom. 


Then pour about 1/2 the filling mixture in the pan and layer with the rest of the lady fingers. Brush these with the Kahlua, too, then pour the rest of the filling on top.  I may have poured too fast, no idea. But for some reason my lady fingers tried to rise to the top.  I gently pushed them back down with my finger then placed my Tiramisu in the fridge for a few hours.  This could be made the day before, because it does need time to set up!  As you can see, I didn't quite allow mine to set long enough: we were anxious to dig in!

When finished, sprinkle some cocoa powder on top.  I would use some kind of stencil next time to make it prettier.  One recipe recommended chocolate curls as a garnish.  My chocolate 'grated' rather than curled as you can see.

Take a knife and cut around the pan to get the frosting from the side and take off the side.  The cake boss put a ribbon around his, and I would have done so if I'd had one -- it would hide the frosting line. 


I will probably make this again just to get the Kahlua used up! lol  I didn't taste it, I don't think.  If so, it was nicely blended into the rest of the ingredients so that there was no alcohol taste to this and really no coffee taste.  It was a pleasant flavor and easy enough to make that I won't hesitate to make this again.

GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Easter Basket Cookies

 I found these sugar cookies at Aldi's and thought they would make a nice cookie basket.  There are 24 pieces: just enough for each of the 24 places in my mini muffin tin holder.

I generously sprayed my muffin tin with the spray oil.  I then took one piece of cookie dough and smashed down into each of the holes. Before the time was up baking, I pulled out and pressed down just a bit (it was like 'popping' balloons -- the cookies deflated so they were still basket shaped rather than balls of cookies.
While these were baking, I took about a cup of coconut (I just used what was left in a bag in the freezer) and added a few drops of green food coloring and water.  I shook up to make green coconut for the Easter grass.

Believe it or not, I still had frosting left in the can from my football strawberry project.  I squirted some of this in each basket (after they were cooled) then pushed some of the green coconut Easter grass onto each cookie.  Jelly Beans (slued down with frosting, too) completed the look. 
The lighting in my photo is off (wish I hadn't used the flash!), but here is the finished project.  

GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Football Strawberries

It's me, late as ever with my posts!  But when looking at my camera today, I found the pictures I had taken on Super Bowl Sunday.

Wanting a fun, EASY, (and healthy! lol) snack, I just browsed the internet.  I saw several sites with football strawberries on them, and decided that was exactly what I wanted.  (I did make other snacks, too: hot wings, chips and dip, etc..)  But this was the fun SuperBowl snack that I made!

I only bought 3 things for this:

1. Fresh Strawberries
2. Chocolate Dip
3. Instant Icing

Following the directions on the container of Candy Dips, I melted the chocolate discs in the microwave.  Then I carefully dipped my strawberries in that and put on parchment paper to harden.

I popped open the instant frosting, put on the writing tip and added white lines.

Yes, I know these could have been neater.  BUT, I made them right before the big game.  Next time, I'll do the night before and keep in the fridge!

Also, the lines would have been neater if I had used my own frosting (or canned frosting) with my own tips.  I have a smaller writing tip that would have been perfect.

I just say, these balls made it to the Super Bowl, so they've been through a LOT of practice and games!
hehe

And, of course, they were ALL eaten! 

GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Strawberries and Twinkies

I was in need of a quick and easy dessert.  I needed to make dessert with what I had on hand, but was in a hurry.

I found 3 Twinkies and had almost a whole box of strawberries.  I sliced the sliced the strawberries in a bowl and put a scoop of sugar over the top and let set in the fridge for a while. I hid theTwinkies until I was ready for them.  Before serving, I sliced the Twinkies in a pie pan and poured the strawberries over the top. And, viola, dessert in a hurry!