Batman Forever
The DC 52 relaunch starts tonight at midnight – with DC eventually relaunching all of it’s main comic titles.
This makes me reminisce about how much the Baby loved/loves Batman, so much that many a Batman related food came out of my kitchen at one time. Here are just a few of the Baby’s faves:
Batman Lollipop Cupcakes (recipe here)
Whenever you get two desserts out of it, I’m all for it. These lollipops are just colored chocolate and easier than they look, I promise.
___________________________________________
Batman Snack Bar (recipe here)
At every party I throw you will always find a themed snack bar. It pulls the party together and your guests can snack all day!
___________________________________________
Gotham City Cake (recipe here)
A simple way for a home-cook to decorate a cake, Gotham never tasted so good.
___________________________________________
Batman Fondant Cupcakes (recipe here)
Clean simple design is when fondant looks best. The Batman symbol is a perfect vehicle for this.
___________________________________________
Bat-wiches with Chocolate Ganache (recipe here)
Chocolate-y Batman? Yes, please.
___________________________________________
Batman Chicken Pot Pies (recipe here)
Not the ‘real’ Batman logo, it was eaten quickly before the Baby noticed. ~whew~ I hear Bruce Wayne eats these for dinner every night. Um.
Pog Chicken
If you grew up in Hawaii or even if you’ve just visited, then you know what Pog is. Passion – Orange – Guava. Get it? POG.
POG is a combo drink full of delicious-ness and darn hard to find if you are on the mainland. But I happened upon some in a store and I had to buy it. Not only did we drink it but I thought it would make a perfect marinade for chicken.
The fragrant smells that come out of your kitchen when this is cooking will take you back to the islands. Aloha…
ingredients:
6-8 chicken thighs
1 cup POG
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
Prep chicken by washing and drying well. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix together the Pog, brown sugar and garlic. Pour into a freezer bag along with the prepped chicken. Set the bag in a pan so it doesn’t spill and marinate in the fridge for 4-6 hours.
When you are ready to cook preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a sheet pan with foil and place a wire rack on top.
Place the chicken on the wire rack (discard the marinade!!) and salt and pepper the chicken. Cook for 50 minutes.
The flavor is subtle but deep and you get a nice crisp skin on the chicken when it bakes in the oven. The kids love this chicken, it’s perfect with a side of rice and leftovers make a great lunch!
My fave frozen treats
Tomorrow is my birthday! I used to hate having a summer birthday because it was so darn hot. Maybe that’s why I love ice cream so much. For my birthday, here is a rundown of some of my fave frozen treats that I’ve made over the years. Make one and cool off!
_________________________
Guri Guri Ice Cream (recipe, here)
An old skool Hawaiian treat, this couldn’t be easier and more refreshing!
_________________________
Inside Out Ice Cream Sandwiches (recipe, here)
I took the beautiful pink, white and brown of the neapolitan ice cream sandwich and put it on the outside!
_________________________
Chocolate & Green Tea Ice Cream Cupcakes (recipe, here)
A surprisingly good combo – luscious chocolate and smooth green tea, not only a frozen treat but a cupcake too! Double the pleasure!
_________________________
Tiny Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes (recipe, here)
This won top three in the 2010 Ice Cream Cupcake Contest. Super tiny, one bite of pure frozen bliss.
_________________________
Brownie Ice Cream Musubi (recipe, here)
I love using my musubi maker – not only for rice, but frozen treats too!
Frosted Buttermilk Brownies
Sometimes cake brownies are the best. Topped off with a rich chocolate frosting and you can’t decide – are you eating a brownie…or is it cake? The buttermilk adds a nice softness and tang that makes this the perfect dessert.
When I try out my recipes I often go around town to drop off the treats with friends. These were a HUGE hit with everyone who received them!
ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 pound powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9×13 pan with buttered parchment. This will help you pull out the brownies when they are done.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, coffee , baking soda and salt.
Add the boiling water and melted butter until combined.
Add the buttermilk, eggs and vanilla.
Pour into the prepped pan. Bake for 30 minutes depending on your oven, until done.
While the brownies are baking, start the frosting. In a saucepan heat he butter, cocoa and buttermilk until boiling. Add the powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Pour over the hot brownies and let cool or….eat it right away. You know – depending on your willpower.
*Um. There’s no nice plated picture because I ate most of them and gave them away.
Captain America Apple Hand Pies
Hand pies are little individual pies that well, you can eat with your hands! But why have regular hand pies when you can eat one in the shape of Captain America’s face??
When the Marvel cookie cutters came out my mind was filled with ideas for recipes…and none of them had to do with cookies. Williams Sonoma, I’ve got to hand it to you. First Star Wars and now Marvel, I feel like my culinary nerd life is complete.
I decided to take good ol’ Cap and make very American apple pies out of him. This recipe is so easy, it’s barely a recipe.
The kids were thrilled to see Cap in pie form and loved the taste of these individual sweet hand pies even more!
ingredients:
pie dough (recipe, here)
2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter, chopped into tiny shards
egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon water)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.
I always keep extra pie dough in the freezer and defrost it for emergencies such as this. The best kind of emergencies – pie emergencies.
These cutters are amazing – they don’t stick to dough and look at that detail! There’s even a cleft in Steve Rogers chin!!
Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. I like mine fairly thin so that it can still have room to stretch. The Marvel cookie cutters are great because they make a nice impression and generally don’t stick to doughs. If the dough gets too soft, put it in the fridge for a few minutes.
The beauty of the smallness of these pies is that you don’t even have to pre-cook the filling! The apples will bake and bubble perfectly all on their own in the oven.
Half of the cut outs will be the back side. Flip them over. On each one place about 2 teaspoons of chopped apples (these cutters are SMALL thus the small amount of filling). On top of that put a few shards of butter and sprinkle about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar. That’s it! I’m serious. This couldn’t be easier!
Now take the other Cap faces and place them carefully on top of the filling. Push the edges to close, no need for pinching, just press firmly – you don’t want to ruin his face.
Place the pies on the baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes, depending on your oven, until just browned. Let cool on a wire rack.
With just a few ingredients for filling you’ll be surprised at how tasty these are!
WWVE – Brown Sugar Meatballs
Every new school year I try to document the lunches I make for the kids by doing “What Would____eat?” based on their lunch boxes.
Yoda ate very well in years past, so well that – I had an incident with teachers eating my Kid’s food. I know, right? Who does that?? Well that teacher (and daycare) is gone, and we’ve got a new lunch box. So I give you…What Would Vader Eat.
For lunch today Vader has Brown Sugar Meatballs. These are a big hit at parties but are so easy that I often make them for weekday dinners. The leftovers are perfect for the kid’s lunches because they can eat them quickly, no mess and can run off to play faster than you can say “Luke, I am you fa…”
Brown Sugar Meatballs recipe, here.
*More Vader lunches coming soon – depending on how busy this school year goes. Yikes.
**All lunches kept frozen or cold w/ice packs because of my complete and total paranoia.
Brown Sugar Ribs
Yes, I did make ALL this food for a Sunday Family meal…
Cooking in the crock pot is great but sometimes I miss that nice crust that you get from the oven. For these ribs I did most of the cooking in the crock pot and then transferred them to the oven right at the end to finish them off. Soft, yet crispy, and flavorful, these Brown Sugar Ribs are a big hit at family gatherings!
ingredients:
2 pounds pork spareribs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup water
2 slices fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
fresh ground pepper
Place the ribs in a crock pot.
In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, soy sauce, water, ginger and garlic. Pour over the ribs and season with fresh pepper.
Place crock pot on low for 4-6 hours.
Take the ribs out of the crock pot, place in an oven safe dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. And serve!
Watermelon Ice Cream Cake
While I make my Watermelon Ice Cream Bombe on the regular, I wanted to somehow incorporate cake. My family LOVES ice cream cake.
So I made a ‘green’ base by baking a matcha (green tea) cake, and then layering it with a fresh watermelon ice cream, studded with mini chocolate chip ‘seeds’. It came out beautifully and the family loved it!
watermelon ice cream ingredients:
5 cups watermelon, cubed (will become 2 cups watermelon juice)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup mini choco chips
In a blender, blend the cubed watermelon until it becomes fully liquid.
Pour into a cheesecloth and strain out the pulp. Keep 2 cups of pure watermelon liquid.
In a bowl mix together the watermelon liquid, sugar, lemon juice, and heavy whipping cream until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and churn per the manufacturer’s directions. In the last 5 mins, add in the mini chocolate chips.
Keep in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use.
matcha cake ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon matcha powder
Pinch of salt
Matcha is a highly concentrated green tea powder, you can find it in the tea section of most asian markets. It’s…pricey. But nothing can compare. Nothing will give you a full rich taste green tea taste like powdered matcha.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prep a springform pan.
Separate the whites and the yolks. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until light. Add the sugar and vanilla, and mix well.
In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and matcha powder. Add the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the egg whites.
Pour the batter into the springform pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until done, depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.
Once the ice cream has set and the cake has cooled, now you can assemble!
Level off the cake and place it back into the springform pan. Warning, the cake may have shrunk.
Spoon the watermelon ice cream on top of the matcha cake, speading evenly.
Gently press the ice cream down to form an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until you are ready to serve.
When the cake is cut you will have sweet, delicious slices of fresh watermelon…in cake and ice cream form! Perfectly refreshing for summer!
Peanut Butter Pie
I met Jennie Perillo back in Chicago when we both attended the Wilton Food Blogger Workshop. We were placed next to each other and little did we realize that later we’d be teamed up for a cake decorating event.
I tend to get along with Jen(n)s, a lot of them are my customers based on my company/blog name – but more than that Jennie and I were very similar. We both had young kids, we both were all about cooking healthy for our kids and we both shared a love of farmer’s markets. We also had the same minimalist design aesthetic which came in handy for the cake competition! After the trip I kept up with her on twitter and her blog.
A few days ago her husband Mikey died of a sudden heart attack, no warning, no time to say goodbye. I was devastated for her. Jennie posted that on August 12 she wanted people to make Peanut Butter Pie – Mikey’s favorite, and “share it with someone you love.” (Check out all the people who supported and participated on twitter with the hastag: #apieformikey)
I took her recipe and made it into cupcakes, so that I could share it even more easily. The kids and I are going to take them to our weekly family dinner at O.G.’s house. Slow down, take it all in – and cherish the ones you love today.
Individual Peanut Butter Pies
(adapted from Jennifer Perillo’s recipe, here)
8 ounces chocolate cookies
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Prep a cupcake pan with high-sided liners.
I used Trader Joe’s chocolate filled JoJos. By just smashing them up, cream filling and all, you don’t even need to add butter to make a proper crust.
Put them in a bag, smash with a rolling pin until you get a crumb. Press the cookie crumb mixture into the bottoms of the cupcake liners.
Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. Pour evenly into each liner over the cookie crust. Sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top. Place in the fridge.
In the bowl of an electric mixer whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
In a separate bowl of the electric mixer cream the cream cheese and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Mix well until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.
Fold in the whipped cream until combined.
Pour evenly on top of the cookie/peanut mixture into each of the cupcake liners. Let set in the the fridge overnight before serving.
Shoyu Gohan
This is one of my favorite things to make because it’s so easy. Just throw everything in your rice cooker, turn it on and you’ve got dinner in 20+ mins.
‘Shoyu’ means soy sauce and ‘gohan’ means rice, what this is – is a mix up of tasty rice with chicken and veggies, all thrown together and DEElicious.
ingredients:
2 cups rice (uncooked, washed)
1 cup cooked rotisserie chicken, chopped
1/2 cup carrot, julienne
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup water chestnuts, sliced
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1-1/2 Tablespoons sugar
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons mirin
fresh ground pepper
Place the washed rice into the pot of the rice cooker. Layer the carrot, mushrooms, water chestnuts and cooked chicken on top.
Mix together the chicken broth, sugar, soy sauce and mirin and pour on top of the rice mixture. Season with fresh ground pepper and start the rice cooker as usual.
When the rice cooker is done, fluff up the rice everything mixes together. You’ll have a flavorful, easy one pot meal! Even the rice spoon is happy!
