Baked Apples With Caramel Mousse

Well, this lovely dessert is being posted just in time for Valentine's Day to be over. Serve it for your Oscar party...if you have one of those, or President's Day. Serve it for President's Day. Regardless of when you serve it, I'm guessing people will like this twist on the caramel apple because it is awesome. I served it VD night (Valentine's Day, because the other interpretation of that would be DISASTROUS) and the girlpren finished hers before I could even register that she was eating it. That sounds somewhat unflattering unless I mention that she's a slow eater.

I tried various apples with this recipe, and found that Fuji work the best. The Granny Smith was good, but the flavor of the wine didn't come through. Yes, there is wine in this. You could skip the wine and use a brown sugar/honey mixture, but then you don't get to say, "Oh, I already opened a bottle of wine. I might as well drink the rest so it doesn't spoil." Honey never spoils. Besides, who drinks a bottle of honey? Weirdo.

This recipe is kind of a pain in the ass, as you have to cook things, then let them cool so you can assemble everything. If the apples are hot, then the mousse will melt. If the caramel sauce is hot then the whipped cream will melt and the mousse won't form. The best way to make this is apples, then sauce, then mousse, then assemble, then eat. Don't try the last one first.

BAKED APPLES WITH CARAMEL MOUSSE

4 Fuji Apples ($1.69 for 3 lbs.)
12 oz. sweet wine ($9.99 for the Auslese or Icewine)
1 cup brown sugar ($1.69 for 32 oz.)
1/2 stick plus 1 tbsp (5 tbsp.) unsalted butter ($1.69 for 16 oz)
1/2 cup half and half ($1.59 for 32 oz.)
1 cup chilled heavy cream ($1.99 for 1 pint)
pinch of confectioners sugar ($1.29 for 32 oz.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Core the apples by scooping the core out from the top of the apple. Do not cut all the way through the apple to remove the core. You will be creating a shot glass sized cavity in the apple. Then shave the skin off the top of the apple about 1 inch down the apple.

Sprinkle a bit of brown sugar into each of the apple cavities and add 1/2 a tbsp of the butter. Fill the cavities with the wine. Place the apples in a small shallow baking dish and pour the rest of the wine in the dish. You want the liquid to cover the bottom of the dish and come up on the apples a bit. If you don't have enough liquid you can mix some water in. The rest of that wine is for drinking.

Place the apples in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour basting the tops of the apples every 15 minutes. The apples will start to brown on the top when done.

While the apples are baking away, you can make the caramel sauce. The recipe I use isn't an actual caramel sauce, it's more of a brown sugar sauce, but it's easy to make, tastes like caramel, and I can't think of a third thing. First, make sure you have brown sugar. I didn't. If you don't have brown sugar it is easy to make. First take 1 cup of sugar, and pour it into a mixing bowl. Then add 1 1/2 tbsp of molasses. Work them together with a fork until no more molasses chunks remain and the sugar is an even brown color. Freshest brown sugar you will ever have. If you don't have any molasses, go to the store and pick some up. While you're there, get some brown sugar. Oh, and do this before you bake the apples or you run the risk of starting a citywide fire.

Combine the remaining brown sugar, butter, and half and half in a small sauce pan over medium heat. heat and whisk or stir constantly for 5-7 minutes and you are done. Let the sauce cool to room temperature.

When the apples are done, take them out of the oven, dump the liquid in the apples, and put them into the fridge. It'll take a while for them to cool. Say about 1 and 1/2 hours. I waited several hours, so I'm making that time up. If you are making theses in a hurry I would say, "Really?" And you could put them in the freezer I guess, but don't let them freeze.

Once the apples and caramel sauce are cool, whip the heavy cream on high after adding a pinch of confectioners sugar. When you get firm peaks pour in about 4 tbsp of the caramel sauce and fold it in to the whipped cream. You do not need a lot of caramel to flavor the mousse. if you want it sweeter, add more caramel, if not, add less. If you work the cream too much it will deflate. You can have streaks of caramel in the mousse, it's OK.

Now put the mousse in a piping bag, or, if you don't have a piping bag like the majority of us who aren't pastry chefs, a zip top bag. Cut the corner of the zip top bag off and you have yourself a disposable pastry bag. Take that mother earth! Pipe the mouse into the apples, then heat up the rest of the sauce and pour over the apples for presentation.

You will have leftover mousse and sauce, but this is not the kind of problem to complain about. People will be impressed that you made caramel mousse, and you can respond with things like, "Yes, you are right to be impressed." and "That's right, what have you ever done with your life?" It just drives the point home a little more. Now if you will excuse me, I have to buy copious amounts of discount Valentine's Day candy.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

I have been away for a bit, guest posting over at Meg the Grand about sewing. It had nothing to do with cooking, but I did cook. This is what I made, and they did not last long. One of the sewers literally inhaled these. I say literally, because after eating a few of them she placed one in her mouth and inhaled sharply. She then started making frantic gestures that we assumed were choking panic signals. It turns out she just wanted more cinnamon rolls crammed into her mouth. It's how she wanted to go, and I respect that.

Today is Superbowl day. I don't care. I do not follow football and neither does Megan, unless it's the Steelers. I used to watch the Superbowl for the commercials, but now you can view those online even before the Superbowl. Still, there are a lot of people who have parties and make massive amounts of food for this happening. I'm all for that. Most of the food made tends to be salty in nature. Things like pigs in a blanket, cheeseburger dip, nacho platters, and-for the more discerning pallet-deep fried sea salt. I thought it would be nice to put up something both sweet and insanely easy to make. Let me repeat, easy. If you have just suffered serious brain injury, this is the recipe for you.

MINI CINNAMON ROLLS:

1 tube croissant roll dough ($1.29)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter ($1.99 for 16 oz.)
Sugar to taste ($2.59 for 4 lbs.)
Cinnamon to taste ($0.99 for 2.5 oz.)
1 cup powdered sugar ($1.49 for 2 lbs.)
1 1/2 tablespoons hot water

I made a mention in my last post using croissant roll dough about how much I dislike this stuff. Well, here I am posting about it again. Yeah. It works for this recipe, and making actual croissant dough is a pain in the ass. So, preheat the oven to 350. Take the dough out of the tube and line up 4 of the croissants side by side. Pinch all the seams closed, then flip and do the same to the other side.

Roll out the jointed triangles to 1/4". Now, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small dish. Coat one side of the dough with the melted butter. Not all the melted butter, just enough to get the cinnamon and sugar to stick. Now, get the cinnamon and sugar to stick by putting it on the dough. Use however much you want. If you like a sweeter cinnamon roll, use more sugar. I would go with about 2 1/2 tablespoons (as I like the icing to bring the sweetness).

Roll up the dough into a tube and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Now do the same to the rest of the dough from the tube.

Put the rolls in a mini muffin tin and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. If you don't use Aldi roll dough, follow the baking instructions on the can.

Photo credit: Mina Kang (Korean girl with a camera)

While the rolls are baking (15 minutes) you can make the icing. Mix the other 2 tablespoons of butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. Add the water 1 tablespoon and then 1 teaspoon at a time until creamy and workable. I like to dip the rolls into the icing when they are done. You can either wait for the rolls to cool or dip them while warm to have the icing melt into the roll. 

Photo credit: that Korean girl I mentioned earlier

That's it. The first time I made these they lasted less than an hour with Megan and I. The next time, they lasted a few minutes. We keep buying more roll dough just to make these.

Honey Nut Peanut Butter Bars

So, these are awesome. I've been over the recipe many many times, and I still can't find any crack in there. I say this because I'm pretty sure there is crack in these treats, or heroin, or some addictive drug that makes things wonderful. Why else would they be so awesome? I know I didn't put in any crack when I made them (I save the narcotics for my spaghetti and methballs). I'm not sure what the chemical properties of crack are. I know it's made from cocaine, but maybe you can synthesize it with marshmallows and peanut butter. Anyway, I highly recommend you make these before the DEA bans them.

The ingredients are simple enough, but the mixing can be a pain in the butt. Working with hot marshmallows and peanut butter can cause a real mess. so be prepared.

HONEY NUT PEANUT BUTTER BARS:

5 cups honey nut cereal ($1.59 for 12.5 oz.)
6 cups mini marshmallows (this is one bag $0.89)
1/2 cups peanut butter ($1.89 for 18 oz.)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter ($1.99 for 16 oz.)

Coat a 13 x 9 inch pan with butter, then toss the rest of the butter into a LARGE bowl with the marshmallows and peanut butter. I put LARGE in all caps because this should be a bowl that can more than fit the marshmallows, peanut butter, butter, and cereal as the marshmallows will expand while heating and cause a mess. Use a bowl bigger than this one:

Put the bowl in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. This is when the marshmallows will go all Ghostbusters Stay Puft. Apparently marshmallows do not like being enclosed in a small area to await a fiery death.

After the 2 minutes are up, stir everything until smooth and mixed. Now add the cereal. Stir carefully and thoroughly. If at some point you feel that stirring isn't doing the trick, you can use your hands, but make sure the mixture has cooled down enough. Melted marshmallows will be hot and can burn you. Also, coat your hands in cooking spray before you handle the mixture. When everything is mixed form the mixture into the buttered pan, again coat your hands with cooking spray to keep the mixture from sticking to you. Once cooled cut and eat.

The time not spent eating these treats will be spent cleaning peanut butter and marshmallow that have inexplicably gotten on your ceiling and on the insides of your socks. It probably happened when you blacked out after freebasing these things and tried to make another batch while chanting something about being the Lizard Queen. That happens.

S'more Croissants

Nothing starts a cold morning off right like a freshly baked breakfast. By morning I mean about 12:30 p.m. because we're being lazy, and by freshly baked breakfast I mean chocolate. It is cold, though. It's about 11 degrees and snowing. I took a picture:

It's that cold. Or maybe I just had my camera on the wrong setting. Either way, that's not far from what it looks/feels like outside. Luckily the Megan and I are not homeless. For now. I saw this recipe on pinterest, or I should say I saw a picture of the recipe, which with this is pretty much all you need to figure out the recipe.

Not what you would call difficult. We had some leftover croissant dough from some pigs in a blanket we made. I broke out the dark chocolate and some mini marshmallows and got to work.

S'MORE CROISSANTS:

1 tube croissant dough ($1.29)
1.5 oz. chocolate ($1.89 for 4.4 oz.)
Mini marshmallows ($0.89 for 10.5 oz)
1 egg ($1.59 for 12)

Preheat oven to 350 (or whatever the dough package you use says). Lay out the croissant dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Break up the chocolate (unless you are using chocolate chips) and place on the dough near the wide end. A few small pieces should do. I used the 70% cacao dark chocolate, but you could use milk chocolate if you wanted the croissants a little sweeter. Place 3-4 of the mini marshmallows with the chocolate. Don't put too much on the dough or you won't be able to roll them. Roll up the croissant starting at the wide end. You have to seal the sides of the croissants or else the chocolate and marshmallow will try to escape during baking. I should mention that I do not like premade croissant dough. I think all premade dough tastes pretty much the same. The croissants never brown right and you end up having croissant shaped rolls. You can avoid the browning problem by making an egg wash to go over the croissants. Beat an egg and brush over the croissants before putting them in the oven. Bake according to directions (mine were 350 for 15 minutes).

These would be awesome with some hot chocolate, which when I make it is basically a thin ganache. That's right, heavy cream and chocolate. Nothing like a chocolate heart attack to keep you warm on a winter's day.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

My aunt brings this every year to Thanksgiving dinner, and there is all but a fist fight to get the first, and last piece. One year, I killed my twin just for looking at the cake longingly. To this day we do not speak of him in my family, going so far as to claim I never had a twin and that I am making this story up. To those of you who claim that chocolate eclair cake is not worthy of grizzly siblicide using a pie server, it is obvious that you have never had this cake.

Another wonderful thing about this cake is that it is so easy to make. There is no baking, which is my kind of cake. My aunt gave me the recipe to this cake, and I decided to start making it with my favorite ingredient, heavy cream. The use of heavy cream makes the filling like pastry cream, and the ganache icing is actually much easier to make than normal icing. The recipe here is for a 8 1/2 inch square dish.

CHOCOLATE ECLAIR CAKE:

3 packets instant vanilla pudding ($0.49 each)
51.25 oz. heavy cream ($1.89 per 16 oz)
7.2 oz graham crackers ($1.49 per 14.4 oz. box)
3.5 oz dark chocolate ($1.89 per 4.5 oz)

Combine the instant pudding mix with 5 3/4 cups (47.75 oz) heavy cream. beat on low for a few minutes or until proper consistency is achieved. Set aside beater for licking (this is a very important step). This is more liquid than is suggested for a filing on the box, but when you beat the cream and pudding mix it will become firmer than if you use milk. When the pudding is ready, line the bottom of the dish with graham crackers. You may have to break some of them up for full coverage. Spread 1/3 of the pudding on the graham crackers. Alternate layers of pudding and graham crackers until you run out of pudding (your last layer should be pudding).

Place the cake in the fridge while you prepare the ganache. Break the chocolate up into small pieces and place in a mixing bowl (I used the dark chocolate bars, but you could use any chocolate you wanted, like chocolate chips). Heat the cream over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk to combine. Let the ganache cool at room temperature for a bit and then just pout it on the cake and spread. If you let the ganache cool too much it will become more difficult to spread. Set aside ganache bowl for licking.

There you have it. You have now made a dish that will both satiate your family's sweet tooth and inspire them to commit great acts of violence against one another. It's a win/win.