Gingerbread Competition!

This year my siblings wanted to do something as a family other than music, so they set up a family gingerbread competition!  They got everything set up and all I had to do was show up and be creative.  It was so much fun!  And we all got a little competitive:

 This is my sorry attempt at making the Hogwarts Castle, complete with Hedwig, a dragon, and the Quidditch Pitch.

 My sister tried to make the manger scene and ended up putting them in an igloo instead of a stable.

 This is my little Hedwig.

 ... and Hogwarts before it snows.

Since my dad drives a school bus for a living, he decided to make one!

Cheesecake Bake-off!!

Awesomeness has occurred!!  Tonight definitely got everyone on a sugar high!  It was my home ward's third annual cheesecake bake-off, and my first time being able to actually go, so I made a cheesecake!  It was my second time ever making a cheesecake, my first attempt being an Australian cheesecake that was quite bitter.  I actually had to adapt this most recent cheesecake from a cheesecake bar recipe into an actual cheesecake recipe, which took some effort, and it certainly didn't win any prizes.  I did, however, get a compliment on the brownie cheesecake crust.  The cheesecake I made was a chocolate chip cookie dough brownie cheesecake recipe, given below.  The picture is first of the bars that the real recipe makes, and then the second picture is of the already-sampled cheesecake that I made for tonight (I forgot to take a picture before-hand).  Then the adaptations follow.

Ingredients:

Chocolate chip cookie dough

- ½ of 1 package Nestle Toll House pre-made cookie dough

Cheesecake

8oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Brownie (adapted from Alice Medrich)

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup all-purpose flour

Instructions:

Cookie dough preparation

Crumble half of cookie dough mixture.

To make cheesecake

Add all ingredients in a bowl and beat until blended. Set aside.

To make brownie

1. Place butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a bowl over simmering water. Stir frequently until mixture is melted. Remove chocolate mixture from heat and stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring until each is incorporated before adding the next. Stir in flour and beat with a wooden spoon until mixture is glossy about 1 minute. Set aside.

Assembly

1. Pour 3/4 of brownie mixture into pan. Layer cheesecake mixture on top. Sprinkle crumbled cookie dough on top of cheesecake layer. Pour remaining brownie mixture on top. Use a skewer or a fork and drag it through the brownie and cheesecake mixture to create a swirled top.
2. Bake for about 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees F. Brownie will will be fudgy and cheesecake layer will be creamy.

Adaptations: I used the same cookie dough, but instead of making an entire layer of just cookie dough I did little pieces here and there to keep it from having too much of a cookie texture.  Then, I still made the entire brownie mix, but I put less than half of the mix on the bottom for a thinner crust and none on the top so that the finished product didn't come out too cake-y after being baked.  There was quite a bit of brownie mix left over, which my brothers proceeded to then eat.  I doubled the cheesecake part of the recipe to make it more cheesecake-y because with the original recipe, the cheesecake seemed like the least important part.  I baked it at the same temperature for the 30 minutes the recipe says to and it turned out pretty well, I think.  Try it for yourself and adapt it to your liking!  :-)

Fun With Rice Krispy Treats!

So, Thursday was one of my boss' last day working at Target.  His name is Bryan and he was one of my favorite people there, if not my favorite person there.  He kind of understood me a little better than everyone else does.  Anyway, for his last day, I made an entire pan of rice krispies drizzled with Ghirardelli chocolate and Kraft caramel, pictured below.  I then decided that I wanted to do something a little more special than just making a treat, so I molded a huge KISS out of another batch of rice krispies and then covered it in chocolate!  When I wrapped it up it looked like a gigantic Hershey's KISS!  He thought it was awesome.  :-)  Then, last night I babysat Jen and Lynette's boys, Jack and Ian, and we made dinosaurs out of rice krispy treats.  I don't know if you can tell what kind of dinosaurs they are, but we tried.  Then we decorated them with the left-over chocolate and all kinds of colorful sprinkles!!  Needless to say, we had fun with rice krispy treats this week.  :-)

Trunk-or-Treat!

Okay, again, this is late, but I promised.  During our ward trunk-or-treat on the night before Halloween we had an amazing chili cook-off!  Even though our chili didn't win, I was still asked for the recipe so I am posting it here.  There was also some great desserts and I got to make my grandma's famous apple pie, the recipe is kind of weird to follow, so I'm not posting it.  Then, as always, we had an awesome ward party with the mingling and all of the candy!!!  The kid's costumes were so cute!!

Creamy White Chili
1lb. of chicken (cooked and cut)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 tbsp. of oil
1 and 1/2 tsp. of garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. of ground cumin
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. of cayenne pepper
2 cans of white beans (drained)
14 and 1/2 oz. chicken broth
2 cans of 4 oz. of chopped green chilies
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of whipping cream

Directions:
Saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil.  Add beans, chili and seasoning.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in whipping cream and sour cream.  Garnish with cheese, olives and chips.

ART WALK!

Success!  Tonight was amazing!  My ward had an art walk for their ward party, and the turnout was astounding!  There is so much talent in this ward, ranging from paintings of every size, shape and style, to sketches, blueprints, photography, jewelry, sewing projects, scrapbooking, woodwork, baking and more!  The people who participated in and donated their time and talents to tonight's event made it all that much more special.  A wonderful gathering of over 100 friends who had the opportunity to learn about each other's talents was a great way to spend the evening.  I was able to show some of my sketches and a painting or two, as well as try my hand at the pastry art by making three different kinds of fudge (recipes to follow).  Being able to try my hand at something new and to have the opportunity to share it with and get the opinions of others really helps me develop my talents and for that I am truly blessed.  From the panini bar, to the artisan bakery, to the art walk itself, tonight was definitely a success! 

FUDGE RECIPES!!!!

Funfetti Cake Batter Fudge

(This was a fun fudge to make because of the sprinkles, and it was a good recipe to make for sitting out on a tray for three hours because it set well and didn't melt.)
  
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
3 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (about 1 3/4 bags)
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
Sprinkles (I used rainbow sprinkles, but you can use any kind!)

Pour milk and white chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 2-3 minutes, or until white chocolate is almost completely melted. DO NOT OVERHEAT. Stir until completely blended, melted, and smooth.
Immediately add vanilla and almond extract and combine thoroughly. Add a handful or so of rainbow sprinkles and fold in quickly because they will melt (and if they are stirred for too long they’ll turn thefudge an ugly gray color).
Transfer to an aluminum-foil lined or well-greased 8×8 inch baking pan for very thick fudge, or a 11X7 inch pan (this is the size I used and it worked perfectly). Let set at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Once set, cut into cubes (peel off the foil if you used it!). Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

Peppermint Fudge

(This fudge is my favorite of the three that I made for tonight.  I usually don't like peppermint taste in anything, but this was good.  It also set up well and didn't melt.  It was super easy to make and fun to make the swirl designs in the white chocolate with the food coloring.  Yes, sometimes I still act like I'm four and have fun with stuff like that.)  :-)

Ingredients

·         1 (12 ounce) package of white chocolate chips or high quality white chocolate bar

·         1 (16 ounce) container vanilla frosting

·         1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

·         8 drops red food coloring

·         2 Tablespoons crushed peppermint candies

Directions

1.    1Line an 8X8 pan with waxed paper.

2.    2Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or melt in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.

3.    3Stir in the frosting into the white chocolate chips.

4.    4Stir in peppermint extract.

5.    5Spread into prepared pan evenly.

6.    6Drop 8 drops of food coloring evenly spaced on top of the fudge.

7.    7Using a knife swirl the food coloring.

8.    8Sprinkle top of fudge with crushed peppermint candies and press down slightly.

9.    9Cool for about an hour in the fridge.

10.  10Once firm, turn fudge onto a cutting board and cut into small squares.

White Chocolate Cookies ~n~ Crème Fudge

(This fudge was the most difficult to make out of the three.  Boiling was involved and it didn't really set up the way it was supposed to, like the others did.  Don't get me wrong, it tasted great, but it wouldn't thicken all the way and became too runny when it was set out at room temperature. If you can find a way to keep that from happening, more power to ya!)

Ingredients

·         1 cup sugar

·         3/4 cup butter 

·         1 (5-oz.) can evaporated milk

·         2 (12-oz.) packages white chocolate morsels

·         1 (7-oz.) jar marshmallow cream

·         3 cups coarsely crushed cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (about 25 cookies), divided 

·         Pinch of salt

Preparation

1.     Line a greased 9" square pan with aluminum foil; set aside.

2.     Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add white chocolate morsels, marshmallow cream, 2 cups crushed cookies, and salt. Stir until morsels melt.

3.     Pour fudge into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cookies over fudge, gently pressing cookies into fudge. Cover and chill until firm (about 1 to 2 hours).

4.     Lift uncut fudge in aluminum foil from pan; remove foil, and cut fudge into squares