Thursday, August 26, 2010

Top Favorite Desserts When I Was a Kid


When I was a kid, my father and my mother kept my sibs and I entertained. They kept our eyes glued whenever we made desserts. My memories have what they look like but even what they taste like. I here to give you the recipes of the best tasting desserts I had as a kid.

1.Marshmallow-Chocolate Mud Cookies
That chocolate chunks go best in cookies is a well-known fact, but another such ingredient which enhances the flavor of cookies is Marshmallows. Yes, that tiny white, soft and chewy ingredient that imparts taste and texture to your cookies! Mud Cookies are traditionally loaded with chocolate, both dark and white, and are baked a little more than regular cookies to give them the dark brown mud-like color. But don't go by the comparision to mud - it ends in the name!! The double chocolate mud-cookies are very tasty, not too sweet, and make for lovely goodie-boxes for the festive season!

Recipe and Image Source: Southern Living

Ingredients
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tspn vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup milk chocolate chunks
1 cup mini marshmallows (optional)

Method
Microwave semisweet chocolate morsels in a small microwave-safe glass bowl at HIGH for 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; add eggs, 1 at a time, and beat well. Finally blend in the vanilla and melted chocolate.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and pass it through a sieve. Add this slowly to chocolate mixture, continuously stirring until well blended. Stir in the chopped pecans and 1/2 cup milk chocolate chunks.

Now take a baking sheet lined with butter paper. Spoon two tbsp of the dough onto the paper sheets. Press 3 marshmallows into the center of each cookie dough.Preheat oven to 350° and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Remove and allow to cool on the wire rack.

Store in an air-tight container and enjoy these lovely cookies anytime of the day. These marshmallow-chocolate chip cookies taste great with plain milk too! So next time your kid throws a tantrum while drinking milk, add a cookie to his glass and see him lick it to the last sip:)


2.Dirt Dessert
This dirt dessert recipe is a great cooking activity for kids. Made with chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos and gummy worms, these pudding dirt cups are as fun for the kids to make, as they are tasty to eat.
This Oreo dirt dessert also makes a terrific Halloween party recipe, especially for kids who enjoy being grossed out.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups cold milk
1 4-serving size package instant chocolate pudding
8 oz. frozen whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), thawed
1-1/2 cups crushed sandwich cookies (such as Oreos)
20 gummy worms
Preparation:
Whisk together milk and instant pudding for two minutes, until pudding is completely dissolved and. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken.

Stir in frozen whipped topping and 1/2 cup of the crushed cookies.

Spoon into 10 cups.

Sprinkle remaining crushed cookies over the pudding mixture. Top with 2 gummy worms.

Chill until ready to serve.
Makes 10 servings.

3.Angel Food Cake with Strawberries & Whipped Cream
As an alternative to separating eggs for this cake, you can purchase liquid egg whites at Eggology.com.
Serves eight to ten.
Yields one 10-inch cake.


For the cake:
1-1/2 cups egg whites (from 11 large eggs)
4 oz. (3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs.) all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
Pinch kosher salt
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the strawberries:
3/4 lb. strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 3 cups)
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 Tbs. Grand Marnier (optional)

Lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving


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Make the cake:

Put the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and let them warm until they’re a little cooler than room temperature (about 60°F), about 1-1/2 hours. (To speed up this step, set the mixer bowl in a bowl of lukewarm water and stir the whites occasionally; check the temperature frequently.)

Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F. Have ready a 10-inch tube pan with removable bottom. Sift together the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the salt; set aside.

Add the lemon juice to the egg whites and beat on medium-low speed until the mixture is quite frothy and has increased a little in volume, 1 to 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and slowly, about a tablespoon at a time, add the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Continue beating until the whites thicken and form soft droopy peaks when the beater is lifted, 6 to 7 minutes from when you began adding sugar. Do not beat the whites until stiff. In the final minute or so of beating, add the vanilla extract. The mixture should be voluminous and light but still fluid enough to pour.

Sprinkle about one fifth of the flour and sugar mixture over the egg whites and with a large spatula, gently fold it in. Continue folding in the remaining flour-sugar mixture in 4 more additions until it’s fully incorporated. Gently pour the batter into the ungreased tube pan. Run a spatula once through the batter to eliminate any big air bubbles and then lightly smooth the batter if necessary.

Bake until the top is a light golden color and the cake feels spongy and springs back when touched very lightly, 45 to 55 minutes.


Prepare the strawberries:

Meanwhile, toss the berries with the sugar and Grand Marnier (if using) and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving (you can prepare the berries up to 6 hours ahead).

When the cake is done, insert the neck of a bottle or a funnel into the tube part of the pan and invert the pan. Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan. (Cooling the cake upside down keeps it from collapsing before it cools, and elevating it on a bottle or funnel helps air circulate for faster cooling.)

To remove the cake, run a thin knife or spatula around it to loosen it. Lift the cake (still on the tube section) from the pan. Run the knife or spatula between the cake and the bottom of the pan. Invert the cake onto a cake plate and remove the tube section.

Slice the cake with a serrated knife using a gentle sawing motion. Serve topped with the strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

Yes, I was a very happy kid :)

What do you think? FAME or LAME?

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