Frozen Citrus Mousse

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz/330 g)
• 3/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 ml) fresh lemon juice 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest 
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
• Unsalted butter for greasing
• 3/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 ml) heavy (double) cream

Directions:

Gather Ingredients.

On the top of a double boiler, whisk together the egg yolks, 1 (7 oz/220 g) of the sugar, the lemon juice, and the salt. Set over barely simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. I suggest zesting all of the fruits first. When it says "Thick enough to coat the back of the spoon" that basically means the mixture should drip off the spoon, with a paint like thickness. 

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the zests. Scrape down the sides of the double boiler top and gently press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface. Refrigerate, until chilled, and thick. Make sure the plastic wrap is completely touching the mixture and completely covering it because if it doesn't then a rubbery coating will form over it.

While Lemon mixture is chilling, make room in the freezer for six 3/4-cup ramekins. Shape collars for the ramekins out of parchment paper or aluminum foil and tape to the ramekins. Lightly grease the ramekins and collar. Dust with sugar, Place on a small baking sheet and set aside. 

When the lemon mixture is well chilled, in a deep bowl, using a mixer on medium-high speed, whip the cream until firm peaks form when the beaters are lifted. 

Clean the beaters and, in another deep, clean bow, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and continue to beat until firm peaks form when the batter is lifted.

Whisk the chilled lemon mixture until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, scoop the whipped cream onto the lemon mixture and fold in until just blended. Add the whites and fold gently until blended. Scoop into the the prepared ramekins, gently tapping each ramekin against the counter to settle the contents. make sure you mix all the mixtures in a large bowl, because there is a lot. 

Put the ramekins in the freezer for 30 minutes to set the mousse. Carefully cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 6 hours or up to over night. Before serving, pull off the collars. Serve at once.

My Experience:

This dish was a little confusing for me to make, I got lost a lot along the way and I had to seek help. It turned out alright, though not a pretty as I would have liked. It wasn't my favourite thing to make, but I still enjoyed the new experience.

Reese's Cookie Brownie Cakes.

This recipe is also not in my cookbook, It seems to be my month of birthdays so I keep baking what people request! This recipe is also really simple but it is what someone wanted me to make! Also I only made enough of these to fill up one cupcake pan so 12.

Ingredients:

• 1 Package of break apart cookie dough (I used chocolate chip with caramel and pecans.)
•  12 Regular or snack size Reese's peanut butter cups 
• 1 box of brownie mix (If you want to make the brownie mix homemade then click here for a link) 

Directions:

Gather Ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Prepare cupcake pans with cupcake wrappers. 

Flatten cookie dough into the prepared cupcake wrappers. Make sure it is really flattened down because there is a lot more stuff you have to put into the wrappers. 

Place Reese's face down onto the cookie dough. I always gently press the Reese's into the cookie dough so that you can have more room. 

Prepare brownie batter as directed on box (or follow the recipe if you make it homemade.) Spoon batter over the cookie dough and Reese's so that it is 3/4 the way full. I always tend to over do it because there is so much extra brownie batter for me.

Bake for 20 minutes. It always takes my oven a little longer to cook things so mine took about 25 minutes. 

Let cool on wire rack. Make sure they cool all the way before taking them out because they wont stay together if you take them out while they are hot. 

(This photo isn't mine. My finished product picture wouldn't upload.)

I had a lot of extra brownie mix so I simply put it in a little pan and made these cute heart shape brownies.

Enjoy! xx

My Experience:

I have made these before and they are such a simple recipe as long as you don't over fill the cupcake wrappers! I always tend to do that. I like making these a lot even though I don't end up eating any. 

Classic Birthday Cake

It was my friends birthday this week so I decided to make her cupcakes for her! This recipe has the directions for a two layer cake, but since I made cupcakes I will give you both ways of doing it.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups (8 oz/250 g) sifted cake (soft-wheat) flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (6 oz/185 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
• 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz/330 g) granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup 98 fl oz/250 ml) buttermilk

For the Frosting:

• 4 oz (125 g) bitter sweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 oz (60 g) unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (8 oz/250 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups (8 oz/ 250 g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• A little decoration of some sort. (sprinkles, sugar candies, ect) Optional

Directions:

Gather ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Lightly grease the bottoms of two 8- or 9-inch (20- or 30-cm) round cake pans lined with parchment paper. Lightly grease the paper and sides of pans with butter and dust with flour. Or line 2 cupcake (muffin) pans with cupcake wrappers, or grease each hole with butter. Cupcake wrappers never seem to want to stay in the pans.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well blended. Make sure you remember to sift the flour!

In another bowl, using the mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until smooth. Slowly add the granulated sugar  and continue beating until well blended and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, until just blended. Beat in the vanilla. Add flour mixture in 3 batches alternately with the butter milk in 2 batches, beating on low speed after each addition. You don't have to add the flour and butter milk in that perfectly, just alternate it when mixing it in.

Divide the batter between the prepared cake pans or cupcake pans, and spread evenly.

 Bake until a tooth pick is inserted into the center comes out clean, 25-35 minutes. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes. Run a small knife along the edges of each pan, or cupcake to loosen the cake, invert onto a rack and lift up the pans. Carefully peel off the parchment paper, then let cool completely before frosting. Or Remove the cupcakes from the pan and wait 15 minutes, plus the time it takes to make the frosting to frost. The cupcakes. The cupcakes should come out of the pan really easily, but some of them need to be helped out with a knife. They baked perfectly at 25 minutes.

To make the frosting combine the chocolates in the top of a double boiler. Set over barely simmering water and stir until melted.

Before

Let cool slightly. In a large bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together the butter and the confectioners' sugar until fluffy. Beat in the corn syrup, vanilla and salt. Continue beating while gradually adding the chocolate. Beat until smooth. If your frosting is a little soft then you can put it in the fridge to help it firm up. 

Frost cupcakes, and put the little decorations (if you chose them) and then you are done! I chose a little Frankenstein candies for the top of them in spirit of Halloween.

My Experience:
Cupcakes are a recipe I am very familiar with. So this recipe was a breeze. Make sure your butter is softened, and mixed all the way before putting the batter in the pan, sometimes it doesn't mix all the way in, like it should. This cupcake recipe is one of the better ones I have tried out, the cupcakes taste wonderful!

Enjoy! xx

Raspberry Macarons

Just as a little note the recipe that I did this week is not from my book, I was inspired to make it after seeing it being made on television. This is my first time making them so it may not be the perfect way to make them, but I tried my hardest and followed the recipe and this is how they turned out. Also, the process of each step went by so fast it was hard to take a lot of pictures, and some of my pictures got deleted by accident, sorry about that.
Ingredients:

For outside:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup almond flour

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 or 3 drops red food coloring 

For Filling:

• 2/3 cups fresh raspberries
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions:

Gather Ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400F, and position racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large, wide bowl, using a large rubber spatula, or hand held electric mixer, mix the confectioners' sugar and the almond flour with one of the egg whites until evenly moistened. My mixture didn't come out as it should have, but I did everything right so I don't know what happened.

In a small sauce pan, combine the granulated sugar with the water and bring to a boil; using a moistened pastry brush, wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Cook over high heat until the syrup reaches 240F on a candy thermometer. I messed up really bad the first time on this part, the syrup heats up really fast, and I my candy thermometer recently broke so I couldn't use that and I ended up using a meat thermometer, so my hand got a little burnt after holding it so close to the pan. Be careful! 

In another large bowl, using clean, dry beaters, beat the remaining 2 egg whites at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer at high speed, carefully drizzle the hot syrup over the whites until firm and glossy. Beat in food coloring until the meringue is bright pink. I suggest starting this step while the syrup is starting to cook.

Stir 1/4 of the meringue into the almond mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the rest of the meringue. Transfer the meringue into a pastry bag with a small tip. Pipe onto the prepared baking sheets into 1 1/2- inch mounds, one inch apart, tap the sheets and let dry for 15 minutes. If you don't have a pastry bag, you can use a big Ziploc bag and have the mixture go to one corner and cut the tip of the corner off. What it means by tap is hit the baking sheet with the mounds on it on the counter for a few seconds, this helps get any remaining air bubbles out. 

Transfer the meringues to the oven immediately turn off the heat, bake for 5 minutes. Turn the oven on to 400F, and bake the meringues for 8 minutes, until they are puffed and the tops look firm and glossy. Transfer the baking sheets to racks and let cool completely. Peel the meringues off the parchment paper. Be careful when peeling them off the baking sheets because they have a tendency to break, or even crumble. 

Filling: Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer on medium until blended. 

Pipe mixture onto the flat side of a meringue then put another one on top.

I didn't have enough time to pipe the filling so I just spread it with a knife instead.

My Experience:

This recipe was pretty challenging for me. There were a lot of parts where I needed some assistance. If you don't read through the recipe first it makes it hard to make absolute sure that you have everything. I had to redo some parts of this recipe because of how fast everything was going. I had fun making it though, it's nice to challenge yourself once in a wile. I would definitely make this recipe again! 

Enjoy!xx