Mother’s Day dessert: last minute, fast, easy, delicious

May 12, 2013 § Leave a Comment

For SWEETTABLESCAPES, the first hint of summer often comes in the form of all the colorful, juicy and fruity desserts that starts appearing on our table.

Sure enough, Martha proposes a perfect, quick, easy and delicious option in this month’s issue of Martha Stewart Living.

The Mother’s Day lunch menu ends with a satisfying Strawberry and Apricot Crisp with Pine-Nut Crumble:

Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Yield Serves 6

You’ll need:

Crumble
- 1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for baking dish
- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 ounces pine nuts, toasted (1/3 cup)
Filling
- 4 apricots, pitted and cut into sixths (about 2 cups)
- 12 ounces strawberries (about 15), hulled and halved, or quartered if large (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
Serving
- 1 pint strawberry ice cream
  round cinnamon
  
  1/8 teaspoon coarse salt
  
  2 ounces pine nuts, toasted (1/3 cup)
  Directions
  Combine all crumble ingredients in a medium bowl and massage together with your fingers until butter is incorporated and mixture forms small clumps. Refrigerate until mixture is cold, at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 1/2-inch shallow round baking dish or pie plate. Combine all filling ingredients in another medium bowl. Transfer to baking dish and top with crumble. Bake until bubbling in center and crumble is browned, about 40 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

Chocolate-crusted Banana Blondies: bar cookies for grown-ups!

May 9, 2013 § Leave a Comment

Every time I see a recipe using ripe bananas (what I call “mushy bananas” in the privacy of my own kitchen), I get excited. Since I always have a few bananas in stock, some of them are bound to get over-ripe and once they reach that brown-spotted-too-soft-to-the-touch-weird -looking-thing stage, no one in my family will get near them. I personally enjoy them that way, finding the real banana flavor is only detectable when the fruit has reached a nice level of ripeness but I can only eat so many mushy bananas.

So…that is why I am always on the lookout for the recipe that will allow me to use and not waste that delicious fruit. Thus, I was very happy to find this Banana Blondie recipe in the New-York Times a few weeks ago. The fact that it has a wonderful texture, (soft top , crunchy bottom) and the lovely taste of rum is just added bonus!!

Chocolate-Crusted Banana Blondies

You’ll need:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups), more for greasing pan
200 grams chocolate wafer cookies (to make about 3 cups crumbs)
55 grams light brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)
3 grams fine sea salt (about 1/2 teaspoon), plus a pinch
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
455 grams dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
130 grams all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
80 grams toasted walnuts, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Preparation

1.: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment, and grease with butter.
2.: Melt 1 stick of butter in a saucepan over low heat or in microwave. Put the chocolate wafer cookies in the bowl of a food processor and process to make fine crumbs. Add the light brown sugar, melted butter and a pinch of salt. Process until the mixture is the consistency of damp sand. Dump the mixture into the pan and press it into an even layer. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the surface is firm. Remove the pan and set aside.
3.: Reduce oven heat to 350 degrees.
4.: In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 12 tablespoons butter, then let it cook until the foam subsides and butter turns a deep nut brown, about 5 minutes. Cool.
5.: In a large bowl, whisk together bananas, eggs, dark brown sugar and rum. Whisk in brown butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and fine salt. Fold into batter along with the toasted walnuts. Pour the mixture over the prepared crust and spread evenly. Sprinkle top with flaky salt if using.
6.: Transfer pan to oven and bake until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center emerges with a few crumbs attached (or clean) but not wet, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack; cut into 24 bars.

YIELD: 24 bars

Mother’s Day: show your love with sweets! and enter our GIVEAWAY…

May 2, 2013 § 7 Comments

It’s that time of year again…the day we all enjoy because we have an “official” if unnecessary reason to remind our moms how much we love them.

There is nothing quite like it; telling you mother how special she is, how she has held you, consoled you, encouraged you, shaped you and inspired you; how she has been and still is the constant, loving and supporting presence in your life. It is time to shower her with gifts of love, poems and cards, jewelry and sweet nothings, just to make sure she never forgets how much she means to us.

Since my Mom passed away almost 6 years ago, this day is a bitter sweet celebration: the joy of having my three daughters tell me how much they love me and the pain of not being able to do the same for my mom. But like every other motherless child out there, I carry her in my heart every day and the love never dies.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

Sweettablescapes has prepared some cute treats for the occasion:

Our popular Minis in “Mom” format and more sweet M-O-M…

Our Minis are $4.50 for a set of 6 in cello bag.

Cupcakes in all flavors are $2.50 (add’l .75 with personalized fondant topper)

We found some great packaging to make your gift extra special…

DRUM ROLL: Our Mother’s Day Giveaway

Below is a beautiful box filled with goodies:

Our gourmet Chocolate-chip cookies,a selection of shortbreads, homemade and chocolate-dipped marshmallows, handmade sea salt caramels, sugar cookies and a cute little notepad and pen; A $50 value that you may win if you like SWEETTABLESCAPES on Facebook or post a comment on this blog.

You have until Tuesday, May 7th at midnight to enter! We’ll pick a winner and send the package just in time for Mother’s Day!!

GOOD LUCK!

Smoky Chocolate Crackers: an adult cookie for sophisticated palates

April 30, 2013 § Leave a Comment

It’s always nice to try new flavors and when you bake as much as SWEETTABLESCAPES does, sometimes you get a bit bored with your old standards. So we jumped at the opportunity to try Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for Smoky Chocolate Crackers published in Better Homes and Gardens (Feb 2013 issue). Dorie has written many cookbooks and recently opened a small-batch cookie shop in NYC called Beurre & Sel (Butter and Salt in French) with her son. She says that “she prefers a small bite over a big ol’ piece of cake.” “You enjoy it more because it’s a small and fleeting pleasure; I love an individual portion – something that’s all yours. You pay closer attention to nuances in the flavor and texture.”

This is also what we believe in and promote here at Sweettablescapes when we design our dessert tables and miniature desserts. Individual portions give you variety and remove the guilt!!

Today we were also thinking of Moms whose special day is fast approaching and how to make a cookie that would be a bit more “adult” and sophisticated…”These “cookies” are , according to Dorie, “made like shortbread but just tip over to the savory side – perfect paired with wine or champagne. They get their smokiness from smoked paprika, have a healthy amount of salt and just enough sugar to bring out the chocolate flavor. They’d be incredible with port and a slice of cheese”.

So for all the sophisticated moms out there who want a different cookie, we made Dorie’s Smoky Chocolate Crackers:

You’ll need:

1 3/4
cups all-purpose flour
1/2
cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2
teaspoons smoked paprika
1
teaspoon salt
3/4
cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3
cup powdered sugar, sifted
3
tablespoons granulated sugar
2
egg whites
1/2
cup finely chopped almonds, toasted

Directions1. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, smoked paprika and salt; set aside.2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered and granulated sugars; beat 2 more minutes to blend. Add the egg whites; beat on medium speed 1 minute. Reduce speed to low; beat about 1 minute more. (The egg whites will curdle the batter, but the dough will come together when the flour mixture is added.) Still on low speed, add the flour mixture; mix only until it disappears into the dough. You should have a thick, smooth dough. Using a spatula, stir in chopped almonds.

3. Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide in half; shape each half into a disk. Place a disk between two sheets of parchment or wax paper; roll it to a 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat with the remaining disk. Freeze the rolled-out dough for at least 30 minutes.

4. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

5. Working with half the dough at a time, use a 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut as many cookies as you can. Save the scraps of dough. Place the hearts about an inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

6. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until just slightly firm to the touch, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. Remove from oven; cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool to room temperature.

7. Repeat with the remaining dough, always starting with a cool baking sheet. Combine the scraps of dough. Shape into a disk, roll and freeze 15 minutes or until firm. Cut and bake as above.

Store Crackers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

Ginger Cookies that pack a punch…

April 30, 2013 § Leave a Comment

One of our favorite baking recipe book is Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich.

SWEETTABLESCAPES regularly dives into this extensive collection of recipes for some fun. Ginger cookies are a standard in any baker’s repertoire and these pack an extra ginger punch with every form of ginger (ground, fresh and crystallized) included in the recipe…

When you need that bit of spice in your sweet snack, look no further and try Medrich’s “Screaming Ginger Cookies”:

You’ll need:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 12/ tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp salt

8 TBsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm

1/4 cup unsulfured mild or full-flavored molasses

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar or light muscovado sugar

2 TBsp finely minced or grated fresh ginger

1 large egg

3/4 cup ginger chips or crystallized ginger, chopped

about 1/2 cup Demerara or turbinado sugar for rolling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Position rack in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

Combine the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk or fork.

Combine the warm butter, molasses, sugars, fresh ginger and egg in large bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the flour mixture and ginger chips and stir until incorporated. The dough will be soft.

Form the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the Demerara sugar and place them 2 inches apart on the lined or ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies puff up and crack on the surface and then begin to deflate in the oven. Rotate the sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For chewier cookies, remove them from the oven when at least half or more of the cookies have begun to deflate; for crunchier edges with chewy centers, bake for a minute or so longer.

Cool completely before storing. may be kept in airtight container for several days.

Cupcakes with Fondant Monogram

April 26, 2013 § Leave a Comment

SWEETTABLESCAPES just completed an order of cupcakes topped with a monogrammed fondant disk.

We’ve already shared some of our creations here and wanted to share more of this fun process in this post.

First, we rolled out our white fondant to about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Then, we cut our disks with a scalloped round cookie cutter (you could certainly use a square to make it more interesting)

Then we press a clean stamp – here a fancy script letter “A”- into the fondant.

After that, you can simply let it dry for a couple of days so it hardens a bit, but to make it really stand out, the letter “A” needs some highlighting. Here, our client wanted gold on gold. So we first painted the entire disk with a mixture of gold luster dust diluted in a bit of vodka (or lemon extract; you just want the alcohol level to be high so it evaporates quickly, dries and leaves the gold tint behind.)

Then came a more labor intensive process with the actual highlighting of the letter “A”. You can use “gold highlighter” a ready-to-use (when diluted with a bit of lemon extract) “edible” paint.

You can apply it into the groove of the letter with a very fine brush. But here, our client wanted the extra shiny look of disco dust so that’s what Sweettablescapes used. For this, you need to mix an equal amount of water and meringue powder, apply it into the groove of the letter and quickly but sparingly sprinkle some disco dust onto the letter.

Make sure you use a paper coffee filter to catch the excess disco dust. It looks messy at first with some extra dust stuck all around your design… Let it dry for a bit and use a clean brush to sweep off the excess dust on the fondant disk, so the letter really stands out. This is a tedious process that requires patience and most of all the ability to resist the temptation of blowing the extra dust off….if you don’t want to be covered in it yourself, that is!!! This stuff is so minute and fine, it will get onto everything. It is also costly and you want to save all the excess for later use.