#74) Peach Upside-Downs

I have been drooling over my copy of Better Homes and Gardens' "Ultimate Desserts" since I got it in the mail last week. So I thought today was a good time to try out one of the many recipes I had picked out. The recipe in the book is a Caramelized Fresh Apricot Upside-Down Cake. Well, as I have said before, I live in Labrador so getting anything "fresh" is a pretty hard task. Also, I couldn't find canned apricots, so I went with canned peaches. And I couldn't justify making a whole cake for just myself, so I halved the recipe and made cupcake versions. Oh, and I have to apologize for the quality of the photo - fiance, aka souRIRE photography, wasn't here to do it today.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup butter (almost 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Steps

-combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil for 5-10 minutes (mine was done in about 7), stirring often. You want the syrup to be a rich amber colour. (watch closely as colour begins to change as syrup can go from sweet to burnt in just seconds)

-set aside.

Cakes

Ingredients

6 canned peach slices, drained (I will cut them into smaller pieces next time)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps

-preheat over to 350ºF and lightly spray 6 muffin cups with Pam.
-place peach pieces into muffin cups.
-pour slightly cooled syrup over peach pieces. Set aside.
-stir together flour and baking powder in small bowl.
-in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in milk and vanilla.
-in a clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
-fold one quarter of the egg whites into cake batter. Fold in remaining egg whites.
-using a 1/8 cup measure, divide batter among muffin cups.
-bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (mine took 22 minutes)
-let cool on wire rack in for 5 minutes, then run a knife around edges to loosed cupcakes. Carefully turn over onto a plate. Spoon any remaining syrup over cupcakes.

Brownie Recipe Published!

Have you ever stopped my mixingbowl.com? Well, I have and it is a great place to share you recipes and find some real keepers from other people. There are loads of groups to join and a new contest every few weeks.

The folks at Better Homes and Gardens selected some recipes from this community to feature in their newest special interest publication, Ultimate Desserts, and guess who is featured on page 6......

You got it - sweettreatsdani :)

They have shared out Strawberry Almond Brownies with all their readers.

But when you pick it up don't stay glued to page 6, because I am already drooling over the pages and pages of tempting sweet treats. It is definitely a book I welcome to my collection with open arms, for more than selfish reasons :)

#73) Peach Partinis

This recipe has a sordid past...

1) You know how when you come across a great ingredient you need to find a recipe that really showcases it? Well, that was how this recipe started - my fiance came home with farm-fresh eggs... Now we all know I am more of a baker than a cook, and that I have a somewhat dependant relationship with chocolate...

2) Also, I was recently invited to join the cooking/baking community over at Cook Eat Share. (I have seen plenty of online communities, but I find this one easy to navigate and full of delicious recipes with helpful reviews.)

So between my new farm-fresh eggs and Cook Eat Share membership, I thought, well I will find a great recipe in my new community to showcase these eggs... And boy did I! I am not sure how many of you are familiar with French patisseries, but they are a little bit of Heaven here on Earth, and most serve this decadent, fudgey flourless chocolate cake... It consists of lots of chocolate and lots of eggs... We're off to a good start right?

Have I mentioned fiance and I live in two different towns, separated by 285 km of gravel highway? Yeah, we are. And we drive this nearly every weekend. This means half of my kitchen supplies are in one kitchen, while the rest are in the other...

Pitfall #1 - my round cake pans are in the other kitchen.
Oh, that's fine! Let's make mini versions in the muffin pan. Great@

Pitfall #2 - fiance's oven is on steroids and burns everything in record time, including my pretty little mini cakes :(
Oh, that's fine! Let's cut off the burnt bits and use the middles for something else.

That's how these Peach Partinis were born. Thank goodness, too, because they were fantastic!!! Our friends ate them up, as you can see :)



Ingredients

12 ounces chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
5 eggs, separated

Canned peaches (in water)
Cool Whip

Steps

- Preheat oven to 350 F

- Spray pan (9" round or 15 muffin tins) with spray oil.

- Melt the chocolate, butter and granulated sugar together until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Set the mixture aside to cool.

- Whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate.

- Beat the egg whites in a large bowl just until they form peaks; do not over-beat egg whites.

- Add one-third of the egg whites to the chocolate batter and mix vigorously.

- Gently fold in the remaining whites. Do this slowly and patiently. Do not over mix, but be sure that the mixture is well blended and that no streaks of whites remain.

- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake until the cake if firm and springy, 35-40 min.

- If you want the parfait dessert just layer Cool Whip, chocolate cake pieces, and fruit until your dessert dish is full :)

#72) Lovely Lemon Squares

Living alone has its pros and cons, but the severe lack of taste-testers has to be my biggest con.... However, my fiance was here for the weekend and we had some friends over for dinner - the perfect opportunity to try out a brand new recipe! I had never made lemon squares before and was really excited to try and recreate that creamy sweet and tart lemony filling my mom makes from that ever popular blue Shirff box (oh, you know the one!). It was pretty touch and go for a while - is the bottom supposed to be this crumbly? is it supposed to smell like egg? But in the end, once they had cooled, they were perfect! Just as good, or better, than that popular blue box HaHa!

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp icing sugar

Steps

-Preheat oven to 325ºF.

-Beat together butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.

-Add flour in 2 additions.

-Press into 13X9 pan (I used a glass to pat it in evenly).

-Bake for 35 minutes, until slightly golden. Let cool.

-Beat eggs with sugar until thick. Add lemon rind, juice, flour, and baking powder.

-Pour over baked bottom.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes, just until the centre is set. (The top will have a bubbly white crust, don't worry!)

-Let cool and slice. Dust with icing sugar.