Showing posts with label desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desserts. Show all posts

Monday, September 29, 2014

Happy National Coffee Day!

If you haven't already celebrated National Coffee Day with your favorite cup of joe today, (or even if you have!) here's a great dessert to serve tonight...

Coffee Caramel Espresso Dessert

With its whimsical presentation, this dessert is one that is sure to delight your guests! The perfect after dinner treat.

Ingredients:

Directions:
  1. Mix espresso powder with cold water.
  2. Combine heavy cream, Kahlua, confectioner's sugar, and espresso. Beat until lightly whipped and soft peaks form. Reserve half and refrigerate the remaining half.
  3. With beater on low, mix Mascarpone and dessert sauce until smooth. Fold in reserved whipped cream until well blended and light in texture.
  4. Spoon mixture into demitasse (or your favorite small) cup, leaving about 1/8-inch space from the top. 
  5. Top mixture with a dollop of remaining cream and spread to touch the sides of the cup, creating a "faux" foam. 
  6. Sprinkle top with espresso powder and serve with a small biscotti.
Enjoy! 

Friday, June 20, 2014

I Scream, You Scream.....


The warm temperatures of summer are a perfect excuse to enjoy a nice, cold, refreshing treat at any time of day!  Ice Cream is one of our favorite summer treats - we have so many great little ice cream shops here in Southern Maine, but sometimes, building your own sundae at home is just as fun as going out!

There is no skimping when it comes to our sundaes.  For a base, we always go with a premium ice cream, such as Gifford's Old Fashioned Vanilla.  Next, we warm up a little chocolate sauce such as Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel Sauce or Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce and drizzle it over the ice cream.  Occasionally, we'll even add a drizzle of caramel sauce!  A dollop of fresh whipped cream and a sprinkling of fresh fruit such as strawberries or a crunchy topping such as chopped nuts finish it off! 

Grab a spoon and dig in!



Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's almost time for the sweetest day of the year... Valentine's Day! Here are some great treat ideas for all the sweeties in your life. They also package well for school (or work!) parties. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies 

 


Ingredients:


Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Beat together the butter and Stonewall Kitchen Creamy Peanut Butter or Chunky Peanut Butter until fluffy.
  3. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar until smooth.
  4. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
  5. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt and sift into the peanut butter mixture. Mix until uniform and smooth.
  6. Pull pieces of dough and roll between your hands to form 1-inch balls.
  7. Place cookie balls on a greased cookie sheet two inches apart. Make an indentation on each ball with your thumb or spoon, fill the indentation with approximately 1/4 tsp. Stonewall Kitchen Strawberry Jam. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on edges. Cool on wire rack.


Raspberry Jam Brownies

 


Ingredients:


Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter.
  3. Whisk in sugar, eggs and vanilla.
  4. Stir flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture.
  5. Pour 3/4 of the batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan. Spread with Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam. Swirl remaining batter over the top.
  6. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and chocolate chips.
  7. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Cherry Berry Tarts

 


Ingredients:

24 mini premade phyllo tart shells
4 ounces Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons milk or cream
4 tablespoons Stonewall Kitchen Cherry Berry Jam (or your favorite!)
1/4 cup sweetened whipped cream, garnish
Mint leaves, garnish
Orange zest, garnish

Directions:

  1. Remove mini phyllo tarts from freezer.
  2. In the bowl of a free stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or a hand mixer and bowl) mix the Mascarpone cheese, vanilla extract, sugar and milk or cream on medium speed several minutes until combined and light and fluffy.
  3. Spoon or pipe using a pastry bag fitted with a star attachment, the cheese mixture into each tart filling each 2/3's full.
  4. Top each tart with about 1/2 teaspoon Cherry Berry Jam.
  5. Garnish each tart with a small dollop of sweetened whipped cream topped with a mint leaf or orange zest.


Dulce de Leche Chocolate Bars

 


Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups quick oats
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 11 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup Stonewall Kitchen Dulce de Leche Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
  • 1/3 cup white chocolate chunks
  • 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup shredded coconut (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x8-inch pan.
  2. Combine the oats, 3/4 cup flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and melted butter. Mix until uniform. Reserve 1 cup of this mix and press the remainder into the prepared pan.
  3. Combine the Stonewall Kitchen Dulce de Leche and 1 tbsp. of flour. Spread mixture over the oatmeal crust.
  4. Combine the reserved oat mixture, pecans, white chocolate chunks, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spread over layer of Dulce de Leche.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool and cut into 2-inch squares.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Product of the Month - Sea Salt Caramel Sauce!

Caramel lovers rejoice... our February product of the month is Sea Salt Caramel Sauce! This delectably smooth, richly sweet sauce has just the right amount of salt to take your desserts to a whole new level. Pour this sauce over ice cream, dip fresh cut fruit into it or slather it over pound cake. It's an unbelievable treat that you'll crave after every meal. And best of all? It's 10% off the entire month of February.

Need an idea for your newly purchased Sea Salt Caramel Sauce? Why not try this Brownie Trifle? The layers of chocolate brownie, smooth whipped cream and silky chocolate pudding pair perfectly with the buttery taste of caramel. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Brownie Trifle - Serves 12






Ingredients: 


Directions:

  1. Make brownies according to box instructions. Allow to cool completely. Cut brownies into 1-inch squares.
  2. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Whisk in sugar and vanilla.
  3. Layer ingredients in a 12 cup trifle bowl in this order; half of the brownies, half of the chocolate pudding, and half of the sweetened whipped cream. Heat the Sea Salt Caramel Sauce for 30-60 seconds in the microwave so it is pourable, but not hot. Drizzle Sea Salt Caramel Sauce over whipped cream. Repeat layering using remaining ingredients. Top trifle with chocolate curls. Chill until ready to serve. Can be made 2 hours ahead of time. 
  4. Tip: Chocolate curls can be made by running a vegetable peeler along the flat side of a semisweet chocolate bar. This technique works best if the chocolate bar is room temperature.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Tips From The Kitchen: Following a Recipe


"Cream butter, sift flour, alternate adding dry ingredients with wet ingredients…" 

 


Really? Do I have to? 

We're going to explain why baking recipes instruct you to do these steps and the science behind it. After you’ve purchased and gathered all of your ingredients and are ready to bake your cake or cookie recipe, here are a few steps a recipe may call for. By following these steps correctly, you will be assured and happy with the outcome your baked good.


Why cream butter with sugar when baking cookies or cakes?

 


An important step in baking is to make sure that ingredients are well combined and aerated. Creaming butter and sugar together with an electric mixer is important to have a baked good rise high and have uniform texture.

When you cream butter with sugar small air pockets are formed. When the baking soda or powder produces gas during baking it gets trapped in the air pockets and expands, causing the cake/cookie to lift or rise.
It is important your butter is room temperature and soft, but not too soft. Butter should be around 60 degrees F and indent when pressed with your thumb. The butter is firm enough to crack if pressed hard. Once the sugar is incorporated into the butter with a mixer for several minutes, the batter will be light, fluffy and off-white in color. If the butter is too warm the butter will be too soft and look shiny and wet, resulting in a flat dense cake.

Why sift flour and dry ingredients?


Sometimes a recipe will ask that you sift flour and other times not. There are two reasons to sift flour. One is to aerate the flour and get rid of lumps. Often times in transportation the flour gets packed down and lumps can form due to moisture. Sifting will fluff the flour. Other times a recipe will ask that you sift flour with other dry ingredients (for example: sift flour with salt, baking powder and cocoa powder). This is a good way to evenly disperse the ingredients before adding them to the wet ingredients.

Why do some recipes ask that you alternately add dry ingredients with wet ingredients instead of just dumping everything in all at once?

Some recipes ask that you add your dry ingredients alternately with wet ingredients starting and ending with the wet ingredient. A cake batter is basically an emulsion. By adding the dry ingredients alternately with wet ingredients a uniform batter is formed and the result is fewer and smaller holes and a fine tender texture. If everything is added at once and mixed together the texture will be coarser with large.

There really are reasons why a recipe calls for you to do certain steps. When followed, you will have the best outcome. Happy Baking!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Snowman Day

These adorable, tasty, snowman-inspired recipes are sure to brighten any winter day. Try them and see for yourself! They are wonderful little gifts and a great baking activity for children to help decorate.


Mr. Snowman Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box Stonewall Kitchen Vanilla Cupcake Mix 

For the cupcakes
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup water, lukewarm
For the frosting
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
For Mr. Snowman
  • Black jelly beans
  • Orange gumdrops
  • Chocolate covered cookies
  • Chocolate covered candy

Directions:

  1. Make cupcakes and frosting according to package directions.
  2. Frost cupcakes.
  3. Use black jelly beans cut in half for the eyes and mouth.
  4. Cut an orange gumdrop into the shape of a carrot for the nose.
  5. Cut a round chocolate cookie in half for the brim of the hat and use a small square chocolate candy for the top of the hat.


Frosty the Doughnuts

Ingredients:


Directions:

  1. Make and bake doughnuts according to package instructions.
  2. Make the mouth and eyes with mini chocolate morsels. (The chocolates stay on better if you make small holes in the doughnut first with a toothpick and then force the chocolates into the small holes)
  3. Roll out an orange gumdrop and cut into a carrot shape for the nose.

 Happy baking!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Kim's Favorite Cookies

Stonewall Kitchen Sugar Cookie Mix is great to have on hand for last minute cookie baking. It's delicious and easy to make! Here are a few of my holiday cookie ideas for you to try...

Red & White Santa Hats

 

Ingredients:


For Royal Icing:

  • 1/4 cup meringue powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3-4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

Directions:

  1. Find a cute Santa hat cookie cutter and bake cookies according to box instructions.
  2. Make royal icing*. Dye some of the icing red and keep the remaining icing white**. 
  3. Ice the hat red. Then, ice the pom pom as well as the head band white.
  4. Then, decorate! Here are some ideas:
    • Small white nonpareils, sanding sugar or shredded coconut for pom pom and head band
    • Large nonpareils as dots for the red hat
    • White dots of icing on the red hat. Drag a toothpick through the dots to form teardrop shapes.

*Royal Icing Directions:
  1. Combine meringue powder, salt and water in a bowl.
  2. Mix on low with a whisk attachment. Increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form.
  3. Slowly add confectioner's sugar until desired consistency (if icing gets too thick add additional water to adjust).

*Tip: It's hard to achieve a nice, dark red when making colored icing. Use a good quality red food dye, preferably gel or powder. It's best to make it a day ahead - it'll darken over a 24 hour period. Another trick is to make the icing substituting maraschino cherry juice instead of water. The icing will be pink to start, so it'll turn a deep red color after adding the dye... and it'll taste delicious! Be sure to cover the icing with plastic wrap, placing the wrap right on top of the icing, so air doesn't come in contact with the icing (which causes it to harden).


Jam-Filled Cookies

 

Here are two fun ways to fill cookies with jam. Any flavor jam will do, but my holiday favorites are Stonewall Kitchen Seedless Raspberry, Mixed Berry and Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam.

Ingredients:


Directions (for version number one):

  1. Make sugar cookie dough according to package instructions.
  2. Roll dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.
  3. Cut into 1 1/2 - 2-inch rounds.
  4. Place 1/4 teaspoon jam down center of cookie.
  5. Bring sides of cookie dough towards center and pinch together.
  6. Bake according to package instructions or until light golden brown.
  7. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and serve.

Directions (for version number two):

  1. Make cookie dough according to packages instructions.
  2. Roll dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.
  3. Cut into 2-inch squares.
  4. Place 1/4 teaspoon jam in the center of each square.
  5. Bring corners of the cookie dough towards the center. Pinch dough corners together as well as the seams.
  6. Bake according to package instructions or until light golden brown. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and serve.

Chocolate Sugar Cookie Delights

 

Ingredients:


Directions:

  1. Bake round or heart shaped cookies according to package instructions.
  2. Melt chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler.
  3. Top or dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate.
  4. Sprinkle chopped toasted pecans or crushed peppermint candy over chocolate. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Spooky Halloween Recipes for your Halloween Party


Get into the spirit this Halloween with some of these spooky recipes!  These fun recipes are great whether you are hosting a party for adults, gathering the kids before trick-or-treating or looking to pack something fun in your child's lunch box.  Enjoy!

 
Mummy Pies
Makes about 6 mini pies
 
Ingredients
 
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Grease 6 wells of a 12-cup muffin tin.
  3. Roll pie dough to be 1/8 inch thick.  Cut six, 4.5-inch circles.  Press dough circles into prepared muffin tin wells allowing extra dough to hang over lip of muffin tin well.
  4. Fill each well with Apple Pie Filling.
  5. Roll remaining pie dough into a circle and cut into 1/4 inch strips.  Place strips randomly over the top of each mini pie, covering entire surface.  Trim edges and crimp top to bottom crust.  Place two raisins on each mini pie for eyes.
  6. Bake mini pies for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Cool about 5 minutes and then gently remove Mummy Pies from pan.  Serve warm or at room temperature.
 
 
Spooky Sandwiches
Makes 12 spooky sandwiches
 
Ingredients
  • 12 slices Dark Rye Bread (for cats or bats)
  • 12 slices thin white bread (for ghosts)
For the sandwich spread
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2 Tablespoons scallion, diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic, crushed
  • Dash of salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup Colby cheese, shredded
  • 1/4 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
 
Directions
  1. Cut 24 spooky shapes from the bread with cookie cutters (the shapes are easier to cut if roll each slice gently with a rolling pin before cutting)
  2. Combine all spread ingredients and mix until uniform
  3. Evenly spread cream cheese mixture on 12 of the spooky bread shapes and top with remaining spooky bread shapes.  Garnish with sliced scallions to make eyes and mouths on sandwiches.
 



Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Adorable Mini Pancake Stacks

In honor of National Pancake Day, we have created these adorable mini pancake stacks using some of our favorite products.  These are easily created using our pancake & waffle mixes.  Simply prepare the pancake mix according to the directions and spoon 3/4 tsp of batter onto the griddle, resulting in mini pancakes about the size of a quarter.  Stack them four high, top with a topping of your choice, add a little garnish, insert a toothpick through the middle and serve!

Buttermilk Pancake Mini Stacks
These adorable brunch-style stacks use our new Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Mix, Lemon Curd, fresh berries, a mint leaf and a quick dusting of powdered sugar.  These would be great served at a wedding or baby shower or any weekend brunch.

Double Chocolate Raspberry Mini Stacks

Pancakes for dessert?  You bet! We used our Double Chocolate Pancake & Waffle Mix topped with a dollop of our Chocolate Raspberry Jam, fresh raspberries and a little powdered sugar for an easy bite-sized dessert.


Here are some other great combinations to try;

What would your favorite combination be?

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

The multiple uses of Pancake & Waffle Mix

When purchasing a pancake mix, such as our Farmhouse Pancake and Waffle Mix, most people have two ideas in mind, pancakes or waffles.  Although these mixes are made to make the perfect pancake or waffle, they can also be used for another favorite treat; cookies.  Using a few extra ingredients, our pancake mixes can make a great base for a chewy, flavorful homemade cookie.

Our recipe developer, Kim, has used our pancake mixes to make Blueberry Muffins, Chocolate Cupcakes, Toasted Coconut Cookies and most recently took our new Maple Pancake and Waffle Mix and used it to create these great Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.



Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups Stonewall Kitchen Maple Pancake and Waffle Mix
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
  • 1 cup raisins
Directions:
  1. With a mixer, cream butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until evenly incorporated.
  3. Add remaining ingredients and mix until uniform.  Using a heaping tablespoon, drop batter 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet (or lined with parchment paper)
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.  Allow to cool on rack.
And if you are really looking to jazz it up, try using the cooled cookies to make an ice cream sandwich!  Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two cookies and freeze for a special treat.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Chocolate Strawberry Jam Filled Vanilla Cupcakes & Giveaway

Update:  We have a winner!



Congratulations to Michelle - Please comment back within the next 48 hours with your contact information so we can mail you your choice of Chocolate Jam and Cupcake Mix! (your comment with contact information will not appear below)

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Before beginning my internship at Stonewall Kitchen I was familiar with the products having used them growing up in the area.

Interested to see what the latest and greatest products were before beginning my internship, I went to the best source I could think of; social media.  Much to my surprise, the first thing I found was new Chocolate Jams in three different flavors – Strawberry, Raspberry, and Banana – absolutely taking over their Facebook page. As a lover of food, like most of the employees here, you can imagine my excitement. Even more than I love food, I love to bake, and also happen to be guilty of watching most of the cupcake shows currently on TV. So, unsurprisingly, I got the idea to bake cupcakes filled with one of these new, sure to be delicious, chocolate fruited jams. Hoping that it would demonstrate I had indeed done my research, I even made a point to bring up the jams and the cupcake idea during my interview.


I’ve never baked with any kind of gluten free mix before and do not have a gluten intolerance, but I decieded to go with the Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcake Mix. Here it goes… Hopefully they taste as good as I’m expecting! 


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Halfway through making the batter! At this point, I had put in the butter and mixed it with some of the cupcake mix, then added the milk and egg before adding the rest of the mix to all be blended together.

Here’s the finished mix and the cupcake tins filling up 

I had a feeling this method wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t resist trying it… On a few of the cupcakes we filled the tray part way, put in some Chocolate Strawberry Jam, and then topped it off with a little more batter to try to bake the filling into the cupcake. 

Ready to go into the oven

And, fresh out of the oven! 

Cutting out the center, so far they look great to me. And licking the spoon after I finished filling them was a delicious decision. 

After letting the cupcakes cool for a while and filling them with jam, I was finally able to frost them. The mix that came with the cupcakes was sweet and sugary!

Now for the results of the experiment. The cupcake on the left is the one I tried to bake the jam filling into; apparently the consistencies didn't work well together because as you can see, the jam somehow made it to the bottom of the cupcake. The one on the right was the successful cored cupcake; we just scooped out the middle of the cupcake with a small knife and drizzled the jam into it.

Finally, here is a close up of the successfully cored cupcake. As you may have guessed it was a little messy to eat, but still sweet and tasty all the same!
If you love baking anywhere near as much as I do, which is a lot, I highly encourage you to try a project like this. So much so that we are going to offer a free Chocolate Jam (your choice on flavor) and one of our cupcake mixes to try! 

Giveaway!
What you will win
  • (1) Jar of our new Chocolate Jam - your choice from the following flavors:  Chocolate Banana, Chocolate Strawberry and Chocolate Raspberry
  • (1) Box of our cupcake mix - your choice from the following flavors:
    • Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting
    • Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Bean Frosting
    • Chocolate Coconut Frosting
    • Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting
    • Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting
How to Enter

Mandatory:  Let us know what flavor combinations of cupcake and jam sounds best in our comments below! 

Additional Entries: 
  • Like us on Facebook
  • Share our giveaway with your friends via Facebook or Twitter
  • Follow us on Twitter:  @StonewalKitchen
  • Follow us on Pinterest
Remember, each extra entry must be left in a separate comment. A winning comment will be chosen at random. If an email, twitter handle or other way to be contacted is not included the winner will be announced and asked to comment back leaving their contact information (this will not be published). Winner has 48 hours to reply and claim their prize.

Giveaway ends on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 12:00PM EST

Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize. US residents only, please no employee entries.