Dessert of the Week: Mint Oreo Brownies

St. Patrick's Day was a while ago now. I had a whole list of desserts to celebrate: mint desserts, green desserts, chocolate-y mint-y desserts (I tend to make a lot of lists of desserts, then I only make one of them :) But it's fun to dream!). However, St. Patrick's Day was a miserable, rainy, day of apartment searching and stress. So I never got around to making fun green treats!

When I told my husband about this, he was so confused at why I thought I could only make green treats on March 17th. I suppose he's right, why can't mint and green be part of my dessert every day! So I bought more oreos at the grocery store (not mint kind, because I like to buy the cheap brand and they didn't have mint), and made these delicious brownies from Love Veggies and Yoga.

(Her mint brownies. Don't they look sooooo yummy!)

I just used a brownie mix. Normally I would have made them from scratch, but I'm making a chocolate cake for my husband's birthday this week, so I didn't feel like making two major desserts in one week. So brownie mix it was! Then I swirled in some of the minty marshmallow cream mixture before baking. The recipe only called for 1/8 teaspoon mint flavoring, and I'm glad I didn't overdo it! I've read that mint has a tendency to taste very much like fluoride if you add too much, so I was careful to be on the conservative side. It was perfect! It might have been even better with mint oreos, but I certainly can't complain.

(Baked brownies with mint swirl)

After last week's frosting fail on my birthday, I was careful to follow a good recipe for frosting, and pay attention to what consistency I wanted. The frosting was perfect! I halved it, which was perfect because the frosting was already very thick compared to the brownies. The crushed oreos on top made it a perfect, very very rich, treat!

It made a 9x13 pan, which was amazing because it meant we could try some, I could give a plate to a neighbor, let my visiting teachers try one, and still have about 10 to freeze for sometime later! I love having frozen treats in my freezer. It just makes me feel so happy inside!

(Look how thick that mint layer is. I'm glad I halved it!)

Birthday Fail Cake

I had a lovely cake planned for my birthday! I thought I did everything right. I made the cake the day before, so it could refrigerate overnight and so I wouldn't need to spend all day in the kitchen on my birthday. On the big day, I made buttercream using this recipe, so I could make the perfect piped roses on my beautiful cake. It was two chocolate layers, with oreo buttercream in the middle, and white roses on the outside (And by that, I mean, that's how it was in my mind :D).

(My cake inspiration from I Am Baker)

What actually happened was the cake fell apart. I have no idea what happened! I only made a half batch of cake, so maybe that contributed? Also, the buttercream was so stiff. I have researched other recipes since then, and I think the recipe I used had about twice as much powdered sugar than most. Essentially the frosting made the cake crumble even more, and by that time, I was dejected about the whole cake-y mess.

(Did I mention my husband got me flowers? Daisies are my favorite! They made me feel better about the cake-y mess :D)

However, luckily Pinterest has been saving me lately. I had recently found several recipes for trifle, and therefore trifle has been on my mind a lot lately. The thought of a cake-y, moist, oreo-filled dessert with vanilla ice cream made me feel instantly better! I even had some cool whip in the freezer, which I never have! I layered cake, chocolate pudding, crushed oreos, and cool whip, then did it all again. I didn't even use any of the ruined buttercream...but I did save it in the freezer so I can take it out someday and attempt to fix it. I can't let frosting go to waste!

So what is this a picture of? Most people would say trifle. But honestly, I would call this fail cake. However, it was the best fail cake I've ever had! And there are leftovers of that in the freezer as well. :) 

Also, an update on my March craft project! I'm making another skirt, and just last night I decided to pull out all the stitching and start over. The pockets were all wrong, and I figured I might as well try to do it right, since otherwise I will never wear it. I should be finishing it this weekend, just in time for warm weather!

(My skirt, before I took it all apart last night to redo it!)

Birthday Desserts: Can I Have Them All??

So, my birthday is on Pi day. Yes, I'm a bit proud of it. Not only do I love math and the idea of having the best math themed birthday ever, but I love pie as well! So this day has always been pretty good, needless to say.

Growing up, I think I mostly had brownies and ice cream for my birthday. I'm just a brownies kind of girl! But the last few years of high school I really got into the pie thing, even bringing pie to school one time. Last year for my birthday I made three pies: banana cream to take to work (we had a pi day celebration there too), and then cherry and pecan for my party (party= fiancé and roommates. I'm not much of a party-er). Pecan is without a doubt my favorite pie. But I have about fifty close seconds.

This year, I've decided not to make pie. Pecans are too expensive for our budget just to make one pie out of, and we had that last year anyway. I would probably naturally gravitate toward another pie, like key lime, french apple, peach, chocolate oreo silk, etc. etc. But my dear husband suggested I make something chocolate (i.e. if I don't make chocolate, he won't eat it. Then I'll either have to eat the whole thing by myself or give it away!). So I have been scouring Pinterest and my Google Reader for good chocolate dessert ideas. I've come up with a few (and a few...not chocolate ones :D). Can I have them all please?

Chocolate Birthday Cake from Marcus Samuelsson

Oreo/Brownie/Cream Cheese Pie from Fox News

Rose Cake frosting from I Am Baker

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Cake from Erin's Food Files

Just a Cake from Bakerella

Lemonade Cake from Cookies and Cups

I know that last one would never fit the request for this birthday...but mark my words I will make it someday! Just looking at the picture I can already taste the moist cake, the tart frosting- oh, it would be so good! Maybe Easter? Graduation party? Just because it's summertime? I'll keep you posted. As for the birthday, I can't wait to try to make one of these divine treats!

Meal of the Week: Burgers and Fries

While preparing for tonight's meal, I read a comment online somewhere that said something like "I was too lazy to go to the store to buy hamburger buns, so I will just make them instead." That is exactly how I feel! Whether I am too lazy/too cheap (saving every penny!)/too proud to use regular old hamburger buns, I decided to copy this lady and make my own. And it was great!

After browsing a few bun recipes, I decided on this one from Creations by Kara mostly because of the picture. It also had the fewest ingredients, but I was mainly looking for a light, soft bun rather than one that looked like a bagel.

(Weird picture. I'm showing how elastic the dough is! Perfectly kneaded for 5 minutes)

I halve the recipe and made four perfect buns. I once again turned to the bread hooks on my hand beater- I love those things! This dough came out perfectly. I know if I had done it by hand, I would have over-floured it. I still feel they were a little too dense for my liking- too bready or bagely. But. they were super soft and I think they balanced the burger nicely.

For the burger itself, I just used this recipe from Tasty Kitchen, but I made full-size burgers instead. I love worcestershire sauce, so that's why I decided on this one. The burgers were great! I have made burgers once before, and I learned then how much they shrink when they cook! So this time I made gigantic, very flat patties. Once they shrank up, they were the perfect size for the buns!

I also made some homemade fries- again, I'm cheap! I used to follow a recipe, but now I just cover some potatoes (skins on of course. I love fries with the skins) in oil and garlic salt, and bake them at 450 for a half hour or so, turning every once in a while. We were certainly not disappointed this time. I love homemade baked fries.

This meal took a lot of work. But if I prepped some things before, it would have been a cinch. I could make buns ahead of time and freeze them, make and freeze burger patties, and the french fries really took no work once I got them going. I won't make burgers a ton (not exactly the healthiest meal...even if I do make it from scratch), but it will be a delicious treat when I am in the mood!

Dessert of the Week: Mini Cheesecakes

Apparently I haven't done anything blogworthy in over a week. How sad! We haven't had any great meals, and I haven't worked on my March craft project yet. But it's coupon week at Jo-Ann's, so this next weekend I'll be buying fabric and getting started! However, I have picked what I'm doing: This skirt!

So we'll have to see how that goes. Last week I didn't have a dessert of the week, but I did make dessert I promise! (How could I go a week without dessert? Never!) My sisters were in town for one of their birthdays, and she requested this cake: Chocolate Ganache Custard Cake from DroolFactor (However, my husband thinks "ganache" sounds disgusting, so it has been renamed "Chocolate Delish Custard Cake" in our family :D). This is my new favorite cake- it was moist and it fell perfectly out of the pan after baking! The custard was also to die for- I will certainly make that again. The ganache was a total failure but that's my fault- I only had half and half on hand, instead of cream. But eventually it did all work out, and I think the cake was a success!

On to this week's dessert! We went to my sister's house for dinner last night, and she was kind enough to let me bring dessert! I decided on cheesecake, because I had plenty on hand and we had wanted to do it last week instead of the chocolate ganache cake, but it didn't happen. So after looking at quite a few cheesecake recipes (seriously, a lot), I ended up using this recipe from Baking Bites. I doubled it, but I only had about 12 ounces of cream cheese instead of 16. But it still made 18 cheesecakes instead of just 16! I decided on doing a basic cherry cheesecake, and a heath bar cheesecake with caramel and fudge sauce. 

 I meant to do one graham cracker crust, and the other chocolate graham cracker crust (sadly, we don't keep oreos on hand at my house. They wouldn't last long!) But I forgot, so they were both graham cracker crusts. Half way through baking, I dropped some chocolate chips into the heath bar ones, so they would have chocolate inside as well.

They baked up perfectly! I was incredibly impressed, because I know regular cheesecakes are so difficult. But these mini cheesecakes were simple. I let them sit at room temperature for about two hours, then put them in the fridge for another hour (I shouldn't have let them sit out so long, but I was away from home, so I guess it worked!)

Aaaah, the delightful tray of cheesecakes! They looked so pretty all together, if I do say so myself. :D The cherry ones were simple- I just put some cherry topping on top. The heath ones were a challenge...and they didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. I made some caramel sauce by melting some caramels, a little half and half, and a tiny bit of butter in the microwave. It melted wonderfully, but it soon hardened into a sticky, get-stuck-in-your-teeth sauce. The hot fudge sauce was even worse! I had some homemade chocolate syrup in my fridge (also didn't turn out great, I need a lot of work on sauces!) so I added some corn syrup, more half and half, and a bit of butter to that and let it boil for about 10 minutes on the stove. It too was fudge-y when it was warm, but hardened into a stuck-in-your-teeth mess. Everyone was kind to eat them, but I could have done better on the sauce for sure!

Overall, I was super happy with these. Apart from the sticky sauces, the cheesecakes themselves were perfect, and the mini size was exactly right. I think cheesecakes are my new favorite dessert. I have a whole list of new cheesecake ideas to try: lemon cheesecake, white chocolate raspberry, twix cheesecake, and I want to try a real regular-sized cheesecake next! I just need to get through the next few weeks of dessert: my birthday pies, St. Patrick's day (I'm thinking mint oreo brownies....Yes!), my husband's birthday cake, General Conference cinnamon rolls, and then maaaybe we can get around to more cheesecake. I can't wait!