justJENN recipes » 2008

Monthly ArchiveJune 2008

cupcakes & desserts & frosting & fruit & lemon 27 Jun 2008 12:14 am

Lemon Yellow Raspberry Cupcakes

I happened upon these yellow raspberries at the farmer’s maket and I was inspired to make something that showcased how pretty they were. This is it.

ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners. Wash the raspberries and let dry on a paper towel.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt

Alternate the flour mixture and the milk until you get a nice well blended batter. Add in the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Fill the cupcake liners almost to the top – you should get a dozen cupcakes out of this batter. Once you’ve filled all the liners, take on raspberry and press it down into the middle of the batter in each cup. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack.

frosting 27 Jun 2008 12:01 am

White Chocolate frosting

My son loves white chocolate. It’s a little on the sweet side, but if you use the right cake, you should be fine. I used a nice lemon cupcake, the balance with the citrus was kinda nice.

ingredients:
3/4 cups white chocolate (chips are fine)
2 TB of butter
2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
! more tablespoon of milk

In a saucepan heat the chocolate, butter and milk on medium. Stirring and watching constantly, so it won’t burn. Nothing is worse than burnt chocolate.

Once everything is melted and looks awful like this:

Then go ahead and stir in the vanilla. I pour this into a bowl of an electric mixer, turning the mixer on low I slowly add the powdered sugar until well blended. If it is thick or lumpy, I add that extra tablespoon of milk in.

Then turn the mixer up a little to whip it into shape. You should have lovely dense frosting. I’d suggest you use it immediately, as the white chocolate tends to stiffen up and become more difficult to spread.

This is sweet, but so good.

desserts & ice cream & kids & party food 25 Jun 2008 08:37 am

50/50 mini bombes

I love the flavor combo of orange and vanilla. It takes me back to childhood, eating 50/50 bars. Since I am the Queen of making bombes, I wanted to make small individual versions. These fit in the palm of your hand, and are so simple and SO refeshing on a hot day.

ingredients:
Orange sherbet
vanilla ice cream

plastic wrap
small ramekins

Line the ramekins with plastic wrap. Make sure you leave enough to hand over the edge. This will make the ice cream easily removable. I like to use small Creme Brulee sized ramekins.

Take small spoonfulls of the orange sherbet and line the walls and bottom of the ramekin, leaving a ‘hole’ or indentation in the middle. Your vanilla will fill it obviously.

If your sherbet is soft, put these puppies back in the freezer to chillax for a few minutes to solid up. Then take them out, and fill that hole with spoonfulls of vanilla til you almost reach the top. Then cover with a little more orange sherbet. Covering it just completes the bombe so you don’t see the surprise vanilla middle.

Pull the overhanging plastic wrap over the top to cover. Put them back in the freezer. When you are ready to serve, use the plastic wrap to pull them out of the cup. Turn it over on a plate and serve.

As you can see, when you cut into it there is a nice vanilla surprise. These are great for dinner parties, but you have to work quickly. Sherbet is melts insanely fast.

meat & root beer 22 Jun 2008 11:10 pm

marinated tri tip

I love to marinate meat. It’s the best way to get a nice full flavor out of your meal. I’ve mixed up a bunch of different variations of this recipe and I think this one works pretty well. I don’t think you need to use tri tip either, I’m sure it’d work on chicken or other cuts of beef. Note my secret ingredient – as always – root beer. If there ever is an Iron Chef – Root Beer, somebody better call my ass up.

ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 maple syrup
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup root beer
tri tip – or whatever other meat you want to use.

In a bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients – add the root beer slowly, cause it tends to fizz up.

Marinate in a sealed container or a plastic bag. Stick it in the fridge. I like to do this as long as I have time for, I usually prepare it in the morning and then it’s ready by dinner time.
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Put the marinated steaks on a hot grill – depending on the thickness of your meat, tri tip is tricky and will not taste good overcooked. I usually go about 7 minutes on each side. Once the meat is done, put it on a plate, covered in foil, and let it rest for 5-7 minutes. This will keep the tri tip nice and juicy before you serve it.

When I cook tri tip my goal is to get it just about medium. I am actually NOT a fan of seeing the pinkness or rareness of meat, but I have to tell you – cook tri tip any more than that and you will be sorry. To me, this tastes so good, it doesn’t need a sauce, which is always my goal. Less work is best.

desserts & ice cream & kids 18 Jun 2008 04:24 pm

Inside Out Ice Cream Sandwiches

I make these neapolitan cookies at Christmas, but something got in my head that I’d like to make a reverse ice cream sandwich. So I took the cookies and filled them with ice cream. They freeze suprisingly well. The combo of cookie and ice cream is SO DELCIOUS and they are gorgeous to boot.

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
pink gel food coloring
2-4 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 TB mini chocolate chips

Prep a loaf pan but lining it with plastic wrap. This will make for easy removal later. Make sure the plastic wrap is long and hangs over the edges.

In an electric mixer bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, then the vanilla. In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture.

Divide the dough into three bowls. Add the gel coloring to one – this will be your pink. I HATE liquid red food coloring. I think it’s gross and takes forever to dye things. Gel color is the best way to go and you won’t use but a few drops. You get the EXACT color it says on the bottle. No fuss. (end of my food coloring rant)

In the second bowl, mix in the cocoa powder. This may take more or less than the 2 tablespoons, just play it by ear until you get a nice chocolate brown color. Add in the mini chocolate chips.

Now you should have three colors of dough. I spread the chocolate dough on the bottom of the loaf pan first. Then the vanilla. Then the pink.

Cover and refridgerate until firm, this takes a few hours or be a lazy bastard like me and stick it in the freezer.

Once the dough is firm, preheat your over to 350 degrees. Using the hanging plastic wrap, carefully pull your dough out and take off the wrap. You should have one nice solid piece of dough.

With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/4 inch slices. Now, if you were going to JUST make cookies (or make small ice cream sandwiches) you’d cut the dough again crosswise. I was going for a LONG sandwich so I skipped that part.

Place the cookie slices on your baking sheet, beware!! These things spread like crazy. Leave room on each side.

Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. The dough is a little soft, but don’t let the vanilla turn brown, that’s overcooked and not so pretty. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.

Once they are cool, spread vanilla (or chocolate) ice cream on one side, then sandwich it with another cookie. Wrap in plastic wrap individually and freeze until you are ready to serve.

These cookies are great alone, buttery, delicious. The ice cream is just a wonderful added bonus.

dinner & kids 16 Jun 2008 03:03 pm

Mousey Pizzas

I took my original Tortilla Pizza recipe and adapted it for a funny twist. It amuses the kids.

ingredients:
tortillas
pasta sauce
mozzarella
mushrooms
pepperoni
olives
corn
green onions

Cut the tortilla into a “V” shape, put sauce on it – jarred pasta or pizza sauce is fine, lay down the cheese then just start making it look ‘mouse’ like. I found that mushroom ears were the winner here. As well as beady little yellow corn eyes.

However you make your pizza, lay it on a baking sheet and broil for two minutes and you’re done. If you want a more adult meal, try a regular old Tortilla Pizza, it’s still yummy.

dinner & meat 13 Jun 2008 06:30 pm

Turkey Burgers with chopped bacon

Aha! Turkey burgers…with a twist. There’s bacon in there! But it’s still healthy…cause it’s turkey. But bacon. Mmmm. Bacon.

ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Worstershire sauce
1 egg
ground black pepper
6 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped tiny like.

Mix all the ingredients together and form patties. Let me give you the biggest secret of all time – when you form your patties, make a dent in the middle. That is, make sure the edges are higher than the middle, that way when you grill it, it will cook evenly. No dryness. Always moist.

Grill or pan fry, whatever you prefer, until the middle is no longer pink. Another secret to avoid ‘dryness’ is to use cold straight outta the fridge turkey. The liquid will keep the burgers moist while cooking.

This is great for a weekend dinner or a party. A weekend of fun, bacon and possibly ice cream? Sounds like a good weekend to me. Or possibly and invitation to heart attack city. Either or.

cake & cupcakes & desserts 12 Jun 2008 07:47 pm

Standard White Cake recipe

I use this recipe for cupcakes a lot, and sometimes change it up. Recently I used it as a base for green tea cupcakes. In any case, it’s pretty much like everyone else’s recipe. But since you asked, here it is.

ingredients:
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each one.

Add the vanilla to the milk. Beat the butter mixture on low, alternately adding the flour mixture and the milk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed.

Fill 2/3 of the way full, and bake for about 15+ minutes, depending on your oven. Use a cake tester to check and let cool on a wire rack.

kids & party food & snacks 10 Jun 2008 03:59 am

faux-cargots

Oh, Ratatouille cookbook, you complete me. While it’s filled with FANTASTIC recipes, great for adults, this is the one that sold me. The Kid thought it was hilarious. The Baby thought it was disgusting. I like the simplicity of it and the entertainment factor. I changed the ‘recipe’ of course. I always do.

ingredients:
Tortillas
cheese
luncheon meat
mini gehrkins
dill

Lay a large tortilla flat. Layer cheese and ham, I only did one layer each since you will be rolling it, you don’t want a giant ass snail. Or do you? Hm…

I cut away the curved sides and slowly and carefully rolled it up, laying it seam side down.

Cut a gehrkin at an angle to make a ’snail head’. Here’s where it starts to take shape, take a toothpick and poke two holes in the ‘head’ of the snail. Cut off the end of some dill and poke them in. The Baby was HORRIFIED by the ’snail horns’. I thought it was funny.

I’m sure you can make an entire scene on the plate with a forest of broccoli or what have you, but who has time for that, I barely have time to make snail horns.

cupcakes & desserts & frosting & ice cream & japanese & kids 08 Jun 2008 02:57 pm

Chocolate & Green Tea Ice Cream Cupcakes

A surprisingly good flavor combination. Working with ice cream on a hot summer day, not fun. Be warned, it’s way too melty, and thus frustrating – but worth it in the end.

ingredients:
chocolate cupcakes (recipe, here)
green tea ice cream
chocolate frosting

This is a how to, so I’m not really giving you recipes. Just how I did it. Deal with it. I used a vegan cocoa cake recipe for the cupcakes – 1. so that the Kid could eat it (who is allergic to chocolate) and 2. I figured a cake without butter wouldn’t freeze as ‘hard’.

When I made the cupcakes I only filled them about halfway so that they gave some room at the top for the ice cream. Once out of the oven and cooled, I popped the cupcakes in the freezer to firm up.

Next step, I scooped the green tea ice cream on top, sort of in a mounded shape. I usually make my own green tea, but I saw this Haagen Daaz green tea at the market and I had to try it – plus it was just $2 a pint, what a deal! (I still like my own recipe better, but hey.) After you top the cakes with ice cream, pop them BACK in the freezer. I’m telling you these things are not cooperative and melt fast.

Then finished it off by icing chocolate frosting OVER the ice cream. Put them BACK in the freezer and keep ‘em there til you are ready to serve.

The result made a beautiful cross section when you cut into it. And the flavor combo? Just perfect.

Lemon Yellow Raspberry Cupcakes

White Chocolate frosting

50/50 mini bombes

marinated tri tip

Inside Out Ice Cream Sandwiches

Mousey Pizzas

Turkey Burgers with chopped bacon

Standard White Cake recipe

faux-cargots

Chocolate & Green Tea Ice Cream Cupcakes

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