Truffle Pie

This pie is OMG good. So rich and chocolately. The fresh cream is so great and the pie is really easy to put together. I've served this for a dinner party and taken it to a potluck. It is a winner and definitely one I'll make time and time again.

Truffle Pie

Ingredients:

Truffle Filling

2⁄3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

1 9-inch prepared graham cracker crust

Whipped Chocolate Filling

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

1  1⁄2 cups heavy cream

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla

Whipped Cream Topping

1 cup heavy cream

1⁄4 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

Garnish

1  1⁄2 ounces milk chocolate

1  1⁄2 ounces white chocolate

1  1⁄2 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate (this is the only kind I used)

Directions:

1. For the truffle filling, in a saucepan, bring 2⁄3 cup cream to a simmer. Place the 6 ounces chocolate chips in a bowl and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then gently whisk until smooth. Spread truffle filling over the bottom of the prepared piecrust. Freeze for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for the whipped chocolate filling, in a double boiler or a microwave set on low power, heat the 6 ounces chocolate chips with 1⁄2 cup of the cream until the chocolate is just melted, stirring often. Let cool to room temperature. In a chilled bowl, beat the remaining 1 cup cream until thick. Add the chocolate mixture and the vanilla and beat until soft peaks form (tips curl). Spread the whipped chocolate mixture over the truffle filling in the crust. Refrigerate overnight.
3. Just before serving, for the topping, beat 1 cup cream on medium speed of an electric mixer until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners’ sugar and whip until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie. Using a grater or vegetable peeler, make pieces or shavings of milk chocolate, white chocolate, and semisweet or dark chocolate. Garnish pie with chocolate pieces. Serve immediately.

Source: Recipes from the Road by the Deen Brothers, obtained through thenest.com

2nd Annual NC Nestie Tacky Sweater Party

For years I've enjoyed chatting with the fabulous married ladies that frequent The Nest and the NC girls are the best. They are funny, caring, and just all around wonderful. This year was the 2nd annual NC Nestie Tacky Sweater Party, hosted by the fabulous Beth Anne (who always has a beautifully decorated home for the party). The idea...everyone dons the tackiest Christmas sweater they can find, shows up with an appetizer or drink, and we have a great time chatting, eating and drinking. There is also a cookie exchange at the end of the night...each girl brings 6 bags of 6 cookies each and each girl goes home with 6 different bags of cookies. Yum! The food and cookies were delicious. I had some requests for my Chocolate Chip Cheeseball/Dip recipe that I took to the party (I serve as a dip), so I thought I would share that as well as the recipe for the cookies I took to the party. Thanks to my mom for loaning me the first Christmas sweater she ever bought to wear to the party...it was a good one! Merry Christmas!


Chocolate Chip Cheeseball/Dip

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
Graham cracker sticks

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add the sugars and beat just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. If serving as a dip, it will be ready at this point. If you wish to serve it as a cheeseball, remove from the refrigerator and place cream cheese mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball. Refrigerate for at least an hour and then just before serving, roll the pall in pecans. Serve with the graham cracker sticks for dipping. Yield: 2 cups

Source: My friend, Kati

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg (I use pre-ground)
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup peanut butter--chunky or smooth (but not natural)
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. Mix in the chips. If you have the time, cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours or for up to one day. (Chilling the dough will give you more evenly shaped cookies.) If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes (my oven is more in the 10 minute range for these). The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula - they'll firm as they cool. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches (I don't really do this). Storing: Wrapped airtight or piled into a cookie jar, the cookies will keep at room temperature for about 4 days. Wrapped and frozen, they'll be good for 2 months. Makes approximately 60 cookies.

Source: Baking, From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, page 73 found on Proceed with Caution

Party Pictures

All the girls, being silly

Beth Anne geting ready to try the first bite of Sarah's beautiful cake (it was delicious!)

Everyone is starting to grab the cookies they want to take home

The best shot I have of my sweater (that's me in the white)

A Symphony in your mouth

I've made these brownies a few times since starting this blog, but I can never seem to remember to actually blog the recipe. So I'm finally going to take care of that tonight. I made these last night after dinner and they were as delicious as ever. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. I got the recipe from my mom, who got the recipe from a friend who I think ultimately got the recipe from Paula Deen.

Symphony Brownies

1 box brownie mix, any kind, prepared as directed (I normally use applesauce instead of oil)

2-3 5oz Toffee and Almond Hershey's Symphony Bars (2 if making in a 8x8, 3 if making in a 9x13 or other rectangular pan)

Pour half the brownie mix into the prepared pan. Place the two (or three) whole candy bars on top next to each other. Top with the remaining brownie mix. Bake as directed on the brownie package. Enjoy!

I scream, you scream...

...we all scream for Ice Cream! For Christmas (or my birthday...they are so close together I can't remember which) my mother in law gave me the ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. I'd had a little ice cream maker that a friend gave us but it just never seemed to work. So I was excited to try the Kitchenaid attachment, as I'd heard it was pretty good. Boy is it! I love this thing. So far I've only made two batches of ice cream but I'm keeping the bowl permanently in our extra freezer so I can make ice cream whenever I want. It comes out in a nice soft serve consistency and then you can harden it up by freezing it (over night is best...4 hours or so will get it a little firmer, but not to the hardness of say grocery store ice cream). Here are the two ice creams we've tried so far. Both were really good. We used full fat ingredients in these but I hope to start trying to do some lighter ice creams soon.

Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup milk

a pinch of salt

3/4 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean (I used a Madagascar vanilla bean, which is more recommended for ice cream than a Tahitian bean)

2 cups heavy cream

5 egg yolks

a few drops of vanilla extract

Heat the milk, salt and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk. Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour (this is called tempering...so your eggs don't scramble). Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping. Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Source: David Lebovitz via http://crumblycookie.wordpress.com/

Oreo Cheesecake Ice Cream

1 cup sugar

4 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

10 Oreo cookies, crumbled

Beat the sugar and the cream cheese together until smooth and creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Set aside. Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Slowing beat the hot milk into the cheese mixture. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stire constantly with a whisk until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the egg will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the hot cheese custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. All the custard to cool slightly, then stir in cream. Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight. Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in your ice cream machine, adding the crumbled cookies to the machine when the ice cream is semi-frozen. Allow the machine to mix in the cookies.

Source: The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein

Valentine's Recap

My husband and I decided we'd stay in this Valentine's Day and cook rather than fight the crowds for an overpriced restaurant meal. Luckily the temperature was pretty nice out so we could grill. My husband grilled a steak for himself and he grilled me a piece of boneless chicken. We served it with a salad and twice baked potatoes. Then mini molten chocolate cakes for dessert. Yum!

Twice Baked Potatoes

Baking potatoes (we do one per person)
Shredded cheese (we used 2% cheddar)
Bacon pieces (we cooked and crumbled some fully cooked slices)
Sour cream (we used light)

Baking potatoes in the oven or microwave until done. Scoop out most of the potato, leaving just the skin with a thin layer of potato on it. Mix scooped out potato with as much cheese, bacon and sour cream as you'd like. Put the filling back in the skins and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through and cheese melts.


Mini Molten Chocolate Cakes

2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
2 teaspoons all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 3/4-cup (6 ounce) ramekins. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; whisk in cocoa and sugar. Whisk in egg yolks, then whole egg and flour. Divide batter between prepared ramekins. Bake cakes uncovered until edges are set but center is not yet set, about 22 minutes (i'll probably shave a few minutes off this next time as the center wasn't set yet but it also wasn't molten). To serve: Cut around cakes to loosen; turn out onto plates. *do-ahead tip: cake batter can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated.

Source: email from Whole Foods which lists the source as Chef Ashley Brooke adapted from "Dinner for Two" class at Salud! Cooking School

More Catching Up to Do

So I didn't get to finish catching up the other night so here are a few of the other things I've been making recently:

I always love to get Baked Ziti at restaurants so I thought I'd try to make some at home. I generally get mine meatless but my husband always prefers things to have meat in them if possible, so I opted to try a recipe that contained beef. I thought it turned out pretty tasty, though I might try to use more sauce or less ricotta next time, as I prefer mine to have a little more of a tomato taste to it. It was good nonetheless.

Baked Ziti (er...Rotini...I didn't have any ziti on hand)

1 lb ziti pasta
1 lb ground beef
salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes to taste
12 oz ricotta cheese (I used part skim)
3 cups jarred pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I used 2% milk mozzarella)
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, season water with salt, boil pasta till al dente; drain and set aside.
Meanwhile brown ground beef in skillet and season with desired amounts of salt, black pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes. Drain excess grease away from meats and return back to skillet.
Put a thin layer of sauce on bottom of baking dish to prevent sticking. In a large pot, mix remaining sauce with meat, ricotta cheese and pasta. Pour half of the mixture into the baking dish and top with 1/2 cup Romano, 1/2 cup mozzarella , 1/4 cup Parmesean. Pour remaining noodle mixture and top with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/4 cup Romano cheese.
Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, then remove foil and broil on low for 5 minutes if you like the cheese a little bit browned. Let set 5 minutes to cool before serving.

Adapted from a recipe found on Mrs. Sac's Purple Kitchen.



I was asked to bring dessert to a Superbowl party and decided I've given this Oreo Cheesecake a try. It was delicious! I love cheesecake and Oreos so this was great. Now if I can just figure out how to keep it from cracking on top!

Oreo Cheesecake

1 cup crushed OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (about 12 cookies)
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
4 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
20 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, quartered

PREHEAT oven to 325°F if using a silver springform pan (or 300°F if using a dark nonstick springform pan). Mix crushed cookies and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. BEAT cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Gently stir in quartered cookies. Pour over crust. BAKE 1 hour or until center is almost set. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with additional cookies, if desired.

Source: NC Recipes


I love pizza! It is gooey and cheesy and just all around yummy. However, pizza is generally not all that good for you, especially when it comes from a pizza place. So we try to make it at home and to find ways to make it healthier. Using lower fat cheese and non meat toppings always helps, but helping to get some of your grain servings in there too is an added plus. So I was excited to try this pizza dough that incorporates whole wheat flour. It was tasty and I'll definitely be making it again.

Whole Wheat Herb Pizza Dough

1 package dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour, divided
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons pizza seasoning (I used a mix of Italian seasoning and pasta seasoning since I didn't have pizza seasoning)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cooking Spray

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, oil, garlic powder, pizza seasonings and salt to yeast mixture, stirring until well-blended. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Divide dough in half; roll each half into a 12-inch circle on a floured surface. Top and bake according to recipe directions.

Note: You can prepare this in a stand mixer using the dough hook. Add all the ingredients and let the hook knead the dough for approximately 5 minutes. Also, this dough may be frozen. Follow directions for kneading dough, and shape dough into 2 balls. Coat balls with cooking spray and place into a ziptop plastic freezer bag. Thaw overnight in a refrigerator. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85'), free from drafts' 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If Indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.) Shape as instructed.

We cooked the pizza dough for 5 minutes, then added our sauce, cheese, toppings and more cheese. Then we baked for approximately 15 more minutes until the cheese was melted and slightly browned.

Source: Jenni's Culinary Creations