Tag Archives: Family

A Special Day!

30 Sep

A Very Special “Thank You’ for a Very Special Day!

Me and mom

Bridal Shower

Last weekend my amazing Mom put together a BEAUTIFUL Bridal Shower for me at Valbella Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. Besides gathering all of my favorite people in one place, the food was to die for, the weather was fabulous and of course dessert was melt in your mouth! Once again, Madison Lee’s Cakes made mini funfetti cupcakes that were so addicting, you lost count of how many you ate! I can’t express enough gratitude to everyone that came out and for all of the wonderful gifts Rob and I received. While a little off topic from baking, it was such a wonderful day that I had to share!

me me and rob 1Me and megMe and Janme and danielle

 GirlsBridesmaids

Family me and linda

Chubb Girls    keri me cora meg

Enjoy!

Kristin

A Delicious Duo

21 Sep

Peanut Butter Blossoms

If you ask me, there’s nothing more delicious than the pairing of chocolate and peanut butter. I was looking for something quick and simple to bring to a family party this past Friday and was flipping through some old recipes, browsing pictures online and chatting with some colleagues. We got onto the topic of cookies and figured maybe I’d just settle with my classic chocolate chip (not that chocolate chip cookies are “settling”! I could eat them all day long!!), but I wanted to mix it up a bit. I haven’t made these cookies in probably over a decade… aka WAY too long ago and I was reminded just how easy and quick they are to make.

Needless to say, they were a huge hit! Even my Nana who “doesn’t like peanut butter”, which I’m not sure how that’s possible (Love you Nana!) now has decided that she in fact, does love it! I did question whether that was just her response given I am her grandchild, but on her 3rd cookie, she convinced me! The cookies were gone long before the night was over and the sangria continued to flow. All around great night with family!!Nana

Nana & Me!

Blossoms

final 3 strait

Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Yields: 35 Blossoms

What You’ll Need:

  • 35 Unwrapped Hershey Kisses – Milk Chocolate
  • 1/2 Cup of Shortening
  • 3/4 Cups of Jiff Creamy Peanut Butter
  • 1/3 Cup of Granulated Sugar (+1/3 Cup for rolling)
  • 1/3 Cup of Packed Light Brown Sugar
  • 1 Egg
  • 2 Tablespoons of Whole Milk
  • 1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
  • 1 1/2 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
  • 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

Instructions:

  1. Preaheat the oven to 350 Degrees F and remove the wrappers from the chocolates. Place in a bowl and set aside
  2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt until combined. Set aside
  3. Beat (with the paddle attachment if using your mixer) the shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended
  4. Add 1/3 Cup of granulated sugar and the brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Roughly a minute or two.
  5. Add the egg, milk and vanilla. Beat until incorporated
  6. Slowly add the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. Add in 3 batches and beat after each addition until combined.
  7. Using your hands, scoop out a tablespoon of dough and shape into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the additional 1/3 granulated sugar (if desired, but who wouldn’t love the extra sugar!?) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Don’t be deceived, they will grow in size while they bake. Keeping them on the smaller size makes them the perfect bite-sized treat!
    in the sugar    before the oven
  8. Bake the rounds for 10 – 12 minutes, depending on your oven, until they are lightly browned.
  9. Remove from the oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. The cookie will crack around the edges, so that’s OK!
    out of the oven
  10. Remove from the cookie sheet and allow them to cool completely. Full disclosure: I love eating these when they’re still warm and the chocolate kiss is still soft! They melt in your mouth and you’ll want at least 15 more!!

With football season in full force and hockey season right around the corner.. oh and baseball still on TV, this is is the perfect Sunday Funday treat to share with your friends and family. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!

Fianl 9

Enjoy!
Kristin

Chocolate Chip Muffins

14 Nov

This past Saturday in baking class, if you remember from Baking School – Weeks 6,7 & 8, we made these blueberry muffins that were to die for! Of course, being the chocolate lover that I am, I went home and tried out the recipe with some chocolate chips and I have to say, they came out pretty amazing! This recipe is so quick and simple that maybe (I can’t say for certain because I don’t want to get the 16 people’s hope up that are coming!) I’ll make them Thanksgiving morning.

My family is famous for their breakfasts. Every Sunday morning growing up I’d wake up to the smell of my mom cooking bacon and eggs and my dad whipping up pancakes and waffles and before I could even make it down the stairs my dad has already been to the Bagel Store in town to pick up news papers, bagels, muffins and fruit. Now, you’d think through reading half of these stories in here that my entire family is about 500 pounds… Luckily we’ve all been blessed with a fast metabolism! Let’s just hope it continues that way! Anyway, making these muffins brought me back to the happiness of Sunday morning breakfast as a kid. I hope you enjoy making them as much as I did.

What You’ll Need:

  • 264 grams of Flour (2 Cups)
  • 1 tbs of Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp of Salt
  • 1 Egg * Room Temperature
  • 200 grams of Granulated Sugar (1 Cup)
  • 60 grams of Melted Butter (4 tbs)
  • 290 grams of Sour Cream (1 and 1/3 Cups) * Room Temperature
  • 200 grams of Chocolate Chips (1 and 1/4 cup)

To Prepare:

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
  • Butter the top of your muffin tin and place in the paper inserts

Directions:

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

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, sugar, melted butter and sour cream. Keep in mind, the sour cream and the egg should be at room temperature. Remember from All You Need to Know – Eggs that an easy way to bring an egg to room temperature is just to place it in a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes rather than leaving it out for a long period of time.

Add the chocolate chips into the dry mixture. We add them into the dry so that we the chocolate chips are well-distributed through the muffins. If they are added to the wet ingredients they’ll sink to the bottom, and who really likes the bottom of a muffin anyway? The top is the best part!

Add the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and using your rubber spatula, combine with as few strokes as possible. You don’t want to overwork the dough.

Now here comes a little trick: Any time I make cupcakes or muffins I always use an ice cream scooper to scoop from the bowl to the prepared tin. Well, this past week in baking class I learned an even better way that is faster, easier and cleaner that I’m going to share with you! It may sound a little tricky, but trust me it makes life so easy once you get the hang of it!

Take an ordinary pastry bag and cut the tip enough so that the dough and chocolate chips can fit through (note: if you’re using blueberries or cherries the hole with have to be the appropriate size for the fruit to fit through – some of you may think this is obvious, but you’d be surprised!). Fold the cut tip over a bit and place the pastry bag in a large cup (or a measuring cup like I did) and fold down the edges around the outside

Scoop the dough into the pastry bag. Since the top sides are folded down they’ve remained clean! Lay the pastry bag flat on the counter and with a plastic scraper, or anything with an edge, hold the top of the bag and push the dough to the tip of the bag.

Twist the top of the pastry bag and you’re ready to go!

Fill each individual muffin roughly 3/4 up.

Bake for 25 -30 minutes or until the tops of the muffins start to brown. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy!

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