Green Chocolate Chips for St. Patrick's Day

Remember when I made my own homemade pink and red chocolate chips to use in these Valentine's Day Chocolate Chip Cookies?  Well I didn't just stop at pink and red chips.  I made a couple of shades of green as well.  I figured they'd come in handy for St. Patrick's Day, so here they are!

Again, I used my coloured chocolate chips in my favourite triple chocolate chip cookie so the greens would really stand out in the dark chocolate cookie.  These still remain my favourite cookie, they're so rich, gooey and chocolatey.  My husband who usually doesn't eat much sweet stuff during the week ate five, yes FIVE (that's 5!) of these in one night!  I had to give his hand a slap in order to stop him from eating the rest before I could photograph them!

I used a combination of my homemade green chocolate chips and store bought white chocolate chips for these cookies.  The dark green chips were made using the standard green Wilton Candy Melts.  To make the lime green chips I tinted some white candy melts with some Electric Green Americolor gel food colouring.

For the full set of instructions on how to make your own chocolate chips in any colour you'd like and for the triple chocolate chip cookie recipe, visit my original post here.  

Kids Handprint Cookies For Mothers Day

I learned to bake when I was a kid, back in the day before there were blogs and celebrity chefs.  Like many young girls, I learned to bake from the women in my life - my mom and my mom's mom.  I loved helping out in the kitchen whenever I got a chance.  I learned how to bake cinnamon buns, donuts, cookies, chocolate truffles, and the most amazing cakes ever.  Many of my fondest memories happened (and still do happen) in the kitchen.  

I can only hope that Jayden will enjoy helping me out in the kitchen as much as I enjoyed helping my mom out.  But for now I've got him practising his "mixing skills" with a wooden spoon and a soup pot.  And he's doing a pretty good job if I so say so myself! 

Although he can't officially help me out with my baking yet, he did play a crucial role in these funfetti sugar cookies.  I used his little hand as a template and then cut out the dough around the template using a sharp knife.  

The idea for these cookies actually came from my mom when she forwarded them to me in a Martha Stewart email last week.  You see, a couple of weeks ago we were supposed to fly home to Canada to visit our parents.  It had been over a year since Jayden last saw his grandparents, but unfortunately some dishonest and manipulating people ended up preventing us from taking our trip home to see them.  It still amazes me how certain people can live with themselves despite the promises that were previously made.  

In the end my mother in law ended up making the trip over to the UK to see us instead.  I figured since my parents couldn't see how much their grandson had grown since they last time they saw him, I'd send his little handprint to them in cookie form.  I made these at the last minute, the night before my mother in law left so I only managed to take a few pictures on my iphone.  Apologies for the poor photographs.

Seeing as today is Mother's Day in the UK, I figured what better way than to celebrate with these fun and creative cookies that you and your kids can make together.

Although the idea for these cookies came from Martha Stewart, I used Peggy Porschen's trusty sugar cookie recipe which is the only sugar cookie recipe I use.  I've had nothing but success with it.  I don't even bother trying new recipes, especially when they call for baking powder which causes the cookies to rise and loose their shape.

Mummy's Little Helper Handprint Cookies

1.  Start out by tracing the outline of your child's hand on a heavy piece of cardstock - I used the back of an old cereal box.  Cut out the handprint and set aside.  

2.  Make one batch of Peggy Porschen's sugar cookie dough - recipe here.  Add in 1 - 2 tablespoons of coloured sprinkles to the cookie dough near the end just as the mixture is forming a dough.  Chill for at least an hour.

3.  Roll the dough out according to the directions in my original sugar cookie post here.  Place your child's handprint template on the dough, and trace around it with a sharp knife, and repeat with the remaining dough.

4.  Chill the cookie cutouts in the freezer for 10 minutes, before baking in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven for 8 - 10 minutes.   

I packaged Jayden's little handprint cookies in a plastic container with lots of bubble wrap, so I'm hoping they made it home to my parents safely with all 5 fingers present and accounted for!

White Chocolate Speculoos Rice Krispy Treats

A few days ago I found my self home alone.  Childless.  Husbandless.  All by my self.  And with no one to disturb me I decided to make the most of my time along by relaxing in a luxurious hour long bubble bath.  OK, OK I'm totally lying.  I did no such thing.  I actually found myself cleaning out the fridge and cupboards.  Not nearly as relaxing huh?  I was going through my cupboards when I came across a jar of leftover Speculoos from the Speculoos Swiss Roll I made a couple of months ago.  I also found a few half used boxes of cereal and some white chocolate(ish) bars by Silver Spoon which are very similar to candy melts but with a better consistency.  And since I'm trying to use up the contents of my cupboard at the moment, I figured what better way to do so than by combining everything to create some white chocolate Speculoos rice crispy treats.  

I guess you could say these are my take on the traditional "crispy cakes" that are so popular here in the UK.  Crispy cakes are basically just a mixture of cereal (usually cornflakes or rice krispies) along with melted chocolate, and sometimes marshmallows and/or raisins.  They're virtually effortless, but oh so delicious. Essentially they're idiot proof.  And they were probably one of my favourite homemade things that my co-workers would bring into the office to share with everyone. 

I'll admit right now that I've never made crispy cakes before.  I don't know why, but probably because they were just too simple - I'm aways trying to come up with new and exciting desserts, or attempting to re-create ones that I've found online or in recipe books.  

These are probably the simplest things I've ever made - aside from Jello.  Three ingredients. That's it.  White chocolate flavoured cake covering (or candy melts), Speculoos (Biscoff Spread) and Rice Krispies.  Really, that's it!

White Chocolate Speculoos Rice Krispy Treats

Ingredients: 

300g White Chocolate Cake Covering or Candy Melts

3/4 Cup Speculoos (Biscoff) Spread

4 Cups (120g) Rice Krispies cereal

Instructions:

1.  In a heat proof bowl or measuring cup, melt the white chocolate cake covering over a double boiler.

2.  Add in the Speculoos spread, and stir until fully incorporated with the melted white chocolate.

3.  Add the rice krispies and stir until they are fully mixed in with the speculoos white chocolate mixture.  Immediately spoon into small muffin cups, or spread in a flat layer over some foil or a silicone mat.  Allow to set for 10 minutes before serving.

I made a combination of the traditional "crispy cakes" in little cupcake cases, as well as some "bark" style treats.  After the flat bark style treats had set I just broke them into large pieces, but you could use cookie cutters to make fun shaped treats as well.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Chip Cookies

In the UK it always seems like we're a bit cheated when it comes to fun baking ingredients. Whenever I make a trip back to Canada or the US I always go a bit mad by chucking every type of chocolate chip, different flavoured Oreo cookie, and seasonal candy in my shopping cart so I can bring them all back to the UK to restock my baking shelf.  

I've brought some pretty cool chocolate chips back from my overseas travels including milk & white chocolate swirls, green mint chips, mini Reese's Pieces, lemon chips, etc.  You get the picture.... they have LOTS to choose from.  But there's one chocolate chip I've never been able to find - PINK ones!  And to be honest, I hadn't even thought of pink chocolate chips until a couple of years ago when I noticed that one of the top search terms that people used to get to my blog was "pink chocolate chips".  So it was really all of you guys who gave me the idea for my next project.  

After scouring the internet for a mainstream brand of pink chocolate chips, I couldn't find anything.  The only thing I could think of even remotely similar were the coloured candy melts I had sitting on my shelf.  But they were far too big to be used as chocolate chips in a cookie. I had two options - chop them up into little pieces, or melt them and make my own pink chocolate chips.

Obviously I choose to make my own!  And it was so easy!  Not only did I make my own pink chocolate chips, but I also made red ones as well as a few other colours which will be revealed in a future post. 

Making your own chocolate chips is so easy!  Follow my directions below, and you'll soon be able to make chocolate chip cookies with chips in every shade of the rainbow!  

How to Make Your Own Coloured Chocolate Chips

Materials:

Candy Melts

Disposable Piping Bag

Silicone Baking Mat

Food Colouring, optional

Directions: 

1. Start off by melting some candy melts in your colour of choice over a double boiler.  If you don't have the exact colour you want, then you can use some white melts and tint them whatever colour you choose using a gel / paste / powder colouring.   (I tinted some of mine this way, and they turned out perfectly fine). 

2.  Snip off the tip of a disposable piping bag (make sure not to snip too much off, otherwise you're chips will be too big).  Transfer the melted candy melts into your piping bag.  

3.  Hold your piping bag at a 90 degree angle, and gently pipe a dollop of the melted candy melt onto your silicone baking mat.  To make a perfect little coloured chip you'll need keep your piping bag pointed straight down towards the mat, and keep the pressure even until a blob starts to form.  Then gently pull up, and make a little flicking motion at the end to create the little "drip" top.  Repeat until you've finished piping all your coloured chips. Allow the chips to set for at least half an hour before removing them from the silicone mat.  I found that the easiest way to remove all my chips form the mat was to slide an offset spatula under them.

I used a combination of the pink and red chips that I made myself, along with some leftover white & milk chocolate chips I had from a previous trip to the states to make some extra special cookies for my Valentine.  

I made his favourite double chocolate chip cookies, but switched up the regular chocolate chips for my pretty homemade Valentine's day ones.  

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies    

Ingredients:  

1 Cup (227g) Butter, softened  

1 1/2 Cups (337g) Sugar 

2 Eggs 

2 tsp Vanilla Extract 

2 Cups (250g) Flour 

2/3 Cup (65g) Cocoa Powder 

3/4 tsp Baking Soda 

1/4 tsp Salt 

1/2 Cup Pink Chocolate Chips 

1/2 Cup Red Chocolate Chips 

1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:  

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).  Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.    

2.  Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until combined.  Add in all of the coloured and chocolate chips and stir until they're combined throughout.  Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.

3.  Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven.  The cookies should still be slightly soft in the middle, but not liquidy or undercooked.   Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for approximately 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  

These cookies have been, and likely always will be my favourite cookie.  I made this batch for my special Valentine who's usually a health nut, but these are also his favourite cookie so he ended up eating 5 in one night!  They're also the same cookie I used to make my Quadruple Chocolate Lindt Stuffed Cookies, which are even more decadent with the added chocolate pillow inside!

Laduree Religieuse Recipe

Shhh, I have a secret..... I fell in love in Paris.  But not with my husband.  I fell in love with pastries.  Perfect little pastries.  From the first time I set foot into a Laduree patisserie parlour I knew I was somewhere special.  I'd never seen so many gorgeous and unique pastries before, they were like little works of art.  But there was one that immediately stood out - a pretty double stacked pink cream puff lined with white ruffles leading up to a silver pearl at the top.  It was a thing of beauty.  Sadly I never did get to try one that trip because I blew my budget on a box of their signature macarons.  

When I got home from Paris I immediately took to Google and discovered that the pretty pink pastry I saw at Laduree was called a religieuse, and was named so because the pastry is said to look like a nuns habit (headpiece).  

To this day I've never fallen out of love with the religieuse, and have always wanted to try and make my own.  So in preparation for Valentines Day I decided to celebrate love by recreating the religieuse from Laduree.  And I kid you not, these were probably the most tastiest things I've ever made.  They were to die for, and just as good as the ones from Laduree (which I've had on subsequent trips to Laduree.)

Choux pastry provides the base for the religiuese, which also happens to be the same pastry that is used for profiteroles and eclaires so it's a great recipe to have on hand.  This recipe comes from the Laduree Sucre recipe book, so it's as authentic as it'll get.  

This was the first time I'd made choux pastry before so I made sure to follow the recipe exactly as described in the book.  But to my dismay my choux buns didn't puff up like they should have.  They looked more like English Yorkshire puddings than they did choux buns.  What had I done wrong?  The recipe was very easy to follow and choux pastry is simple to make so I tried again, making sure to follow the instructions very carefully.  The recipe states to bake the choux pastry for about 10 minutes until they have fully puffed up, and then open the oven door a crack to let the steam escape, and cook for another 20 minutes.  I carefully watched my second batch of choux pastry through the oven door and they looked great.  I could see them puffing up nicely, so at the 10 minute mark I opened the door a crack.  I immediately  watched my choux buns defate before my eyes.  How disappointing!  

One thing that stood out while I was piping my choux batter onto my baking sheets was that it seemed a lot thinner than I imagined it would be.  I decided to try the recipe one last time, but this time I used one less egg in order to make the batter slightly thicker.  I also increased the oven temperature and left the door closed the entire time.  Success! My choux buns came out perfectly.  

A few days later I got talking to my friend Sarah from the blog Maison Cupcake and she thought my failed choux pastry attempts may have been down to the fact that I was using a fan oven.  I can't say for certain if it was the fan that was effecting my first two batches of choux pastry or if it was the consistency of the batter, so I'm going to include the original Laduree recipe as well as my adaptations in pink so you can decide on which one you want to try.  

These religieuse might look difficult to make, but they're really not.  So go on, and try making them for your special Valentine!

Valentines Day Religiuese

The recipes below are from Laduree Sucre, and have been adapted to make the religiuese.  

Adaptations are shown in pink.

Creme Patissiere

Ingredients:

1 Vanilla Bean *I used 1 Tbsp Vanilla Paste

1 2/3 Cups (400ml) Whole Milk

4 Egg Yolks

1/2 Cup - 1 Tbsp (80g) Castor Sugar

1/4 Cup (30g) Cornstarch

1 Tbsp (25g) Butter

*300ml double cream, whipped

Directions:

1.  Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds. Pour the milk in a saucepan and add the vanilla pod and seeds *or vanilla paste.  Bring to a simmer.  Remove from heat, and cover immediately.  Allow to infuse for 15 minutes. 

2.  In a large bowl whisk the egg yolk and sugar until slightly pale.  Incorporate the cornstarch.  

3.  Remove the vanilla pod from the milk, and bring to a simmer.  Pour 1/3 of the milk over the egg yolk mixture (to temper the egg yolks) , and whisk together.  Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan.  Bring to a boil while stirring constantly with a whisk, until thickened.

4.  Remove the creme patisserie from the heat and pour into a clean bowl.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes, and then incorporate the butter.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool and set. 

5.  Although the creme patissiere was delicious, I found it a bit too rich and heavy.  I had some double cream in the fridge, so I decided to whip it up and fold it into my chilled creme patissiere just to lighten it up a bit.  I'm so glad I did because the mixture of the whipped cream and the creme patissiere was absolutely delicious!

  

Choux Pastry

Ingredients: 

1 Cup - 1/2 Tbsp (120g) Cake Flour  *I used plain all purpose flour

1/2 Cup - 1 Tbsp (100ml) Whole Milk 

1/2 Cup - 1 Tbsp (100ml) Water 

1 Tbsp (10g) Caster Sugar 

1 pinch salt 

5 1/2 Tbsp (80g) Unsalted Butter 

4 Eggs *I used 3

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC)  *I baked mine at 200ºC.   Sift the flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and set aside.  In a medium saucepan add the butter, milk and water and bring to a boil.   Remove from the heat, and dump the flour mixture into the liquid.  Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or spatula until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pot.  Set aside and allow to cool.

2.  Add in the eggs one at a time, stirring until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next.  *Here I judged the consistency after adding each egg and decided to only use 3

3.  Transfer batter into a piping bag, and pipe into desired shape.  *To make the religiuese you will need to pipe an equal number of small and large circles on your baking sheet.

4.  Bake in pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes.  When they have started to puff up, open the door very slightly (about 1/8 inch) to allow the steam to escape. Continue to bake the choux pastry for a further 20 - 30 minutes with the door slightly ajar, until the choux buns are golden.  *I baked my choux pastry at 200ºC for 25 minutes, and did not open the door.

5.  Remove the golden choux pastry buns from the oven immediately and pierce them with a sharp knife or skewer to allow for the steam to escape.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Fondant Topping:

Ingredients:

3oz (80g) White Chocolate, melted

4oz (120g) White Pouring Fondant *I used the Silver Spoon powdered version that you mix with water

Drop of pink food colouring

Directions:

1.  In a small bowl (wide enough to dip your chox buns in) prepare the liquid fondant according to the directions on the package.  Pour the melted white chocolate into the liquid fondant mixture and stir until fully combined.  Add a tiny drop of pink food colouring, and stir until evenly blended.  

To Assemble:

In addition to the above recipes, you'll also need:

* Silver dragees

* A small amount of buttercreme, or leftover creme patissiere

1.  To fill the choux buns, transfer the creme patissiere into a piping bag fitted with a medium plain tipped nozzle.  Insert the nozzle into the hole in the bottom of the choux bun that you made after they came out of the oven.  Gently squeeze the piping bag so that the creme patissiere fills the cavity of the choux bun.  Repeat until all choux buns are filled.  *Do not over fill

2.  Prepare the fondant topping according to the directions above.  Dip the top half of the smaller choux buns into the coloured fondant, gently tapping off any excess.  Add a silver dragee on top, and place the choux buns on a baking sheet or wire rack to allow the fondant to set.  These will become the tops of your religiuese.

3.  Dip the top halves of the larger choux buns into the coloured fondant, gently tapping off any excess.  Let them sit for a minute or two before gently placing the smaller choux bun on top.  Hold the top choux bun in place for a few moments to ensure it stays put.  Repeat until all of the religiuese are assembled.  

4.  Fit a piping bag with a small star tipped nozzle, and fill with a small amount of buttercream or leftover creme patissiere. Starting with the bottom choux bun, pipe a line of buttercream that stretches to fondant covering of the top choux bun.

5.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  *The religiuese will keep in the fridge for up to two days.

I'm also submitting my Valentine's Religiuese to a blogger link ups / challenges this month:  Homemade by Fleur's virtual tea for two Valentine's Bake Off, as well as this month's Tea Time Treats link challenge (Perfect Puddings) hosted by What Kate Baked , and finally the Calendar Cakes challenge hosted by Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cake.