Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Bites

A while back I made peanut butter Rice Krispie treats dipped in milk chocolate (see this post for details).  A few weeks ago I made April Fool's Sushi and had some leftover Rice Krispie treats that didn't work with the shapes/sizes that I needed.  So I had an idea.  I had Rice Krispie treats.  I had dark chocolate.  I had cute jimmies.  I had everything I needed for this delicious little poppable snack.

Citrus and Herb Chickpeas

 

I'm so glad that I tried chickpeas again.  I'm one of those "texture" people who is seriously affected by the way food feels when I eat it.  Shrimp seems to pop when I chew it and beans are strangely grainy, so I make sure to NEVER eat anything with shrimp or beans.  

The baby lady has recently asserted herself when it comes to food and she's decided that unless it's ground beef, she's not eating meat.  That, of course, leaves me worried that she's not getting enough protein.  So I figured that since chickpeas are a great source of protein, I would give them a try and see if she would eat them.  No dice, but I really enjoyed these!  I was so surprised, but there I was, popping them in my mouth like peanuts.  So, at least I discovered another "new" food for me.  

April Fool's Day Sushi

 

I am not a sushi eater, and I never will be...unless it's this "sushi"!  For April Fool's Day I decided to make a faux sushi.  This is so easy, and it's surprisingly tasty.  

I got the idea from a great book my friend Christy from The Adventures of Mini-Martha got me last year for my birthday.  The book is Fun Stuff - Silly Snacks, and it's bound to become a much-used book when the baby lady gets a little older.  It's just loaded with good ideas for really cute food. 

So April Fool's everyone, and I hope you enjoy the sushi!

Mini Eclairs with Ganache

Across the street from my family's church is a wonderful little bakery, Colozza's.  My family and I would head over there almost every Sunday after church and my brother and I would get to pick out our special treat.  I varied between a lemon pastry or a jumbo eclair, but mostly picked eclairs.  I love the airy crust, the smooth custard and the chocolate on top.  It's the perfect dessert to me.

A while ago, I wanted to make B something to take into work for his coworkers.  I had planned on a lemon cake, but after I had already separated the eggs, I changed my mind.  I had stumbled upon a recipe for eclairs.  I was all sorts of ill-equiped to make this, as I didn't have a piping tip in the correct size, and only one piping bag left, screwing up my plans to pipe frosting later that week.  I had never made this type of dough before, but I love a baking challenge so I decided to go for it.

The dough was 100% what I remember my favorite eclairs tasting like.  Light and airy, simply delicious.  The pastry cream was a little different, but close enough that I was taken back to the days of looking forward to church because of the eclair that was sure to follow.

Makes about 30 mini eclairs. 

Meringue Filled Coffee Cake

I am a daring baker.  No really, I am.  I signed up to be one and this was the first monthly assignment I was able to participate in.   It's a part of The Daring Kitchen and you can be a "daring cook" or a "daring baker" or both.  I've been accepted as both, but I haven't taken part in a daring cook challenge yet.

Anyway....I'm so psyched that my first time doing a daring baker's challenge was this meringue filled coffee cake.  I really enjoy making meringue for some reason.  I think it started when I took over making Christmas cookies at my parents' house and we discovered that my brother was a meringue cookie monster.  I couldn't make enough of them for him!  At least they're easy.  But I'm totally off the topic here....

This coffee cake has yeast in it.  That fact scared the bejeezus out of me.  I've NEVER gotten yeast to rise correctly.  Ever!  And believe me I've tried.  So this was definitely a daring recipe for me.  I followed the recipe exactly and waited on tenterhooks as my dough slowly rose, and then kept rising.  It worked!

 

So I was obviously really excited and made the meringue and spread my fillings on top of it.  This recipe makes two coffee cakes and since B won't eat nuts but I love them, I decided that this was a dessert in which I could indulge my love of all things crunchy.  Hazelnuts and semisweet chocolate took up residence in the center of mine.  Semisweet chips, white chocolate chips and dried cherries filled the one that B would eat.  I personally think that mine ended up being more tasty, but they were both really yummy.

Then it came time to roll it all up, jelly roll style and then cut holes in it.

I thought that this part would be tricky, but except for a bit of the meringue sliding out, I had no problems with it at all.  I had to let it rise again, so I sat nervously waiting again, and again it rose.  No problems with yeast this time!

In the end, I was left with two beautiful and incredibly delicious coffee cakes, and I really hope B's coworkers enjoyed them.  It was just too much to eat all by ourselves!

 

Blog-checking lines: The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Recipe can be found HERE!

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Minneola Tangelo Scones with Tangelo Glaze

In my wonderful box of produce from Washington's Green Grocer I found two nicely sized Minneola tangelos.  I had seen them in stores before and read that they are a cross between a tangerine and a grapefruit, neither of which I eat.  I was, therefore, kind of afraid of them.  So what's a girl who loves to bake to do with tangelos?  Make scones!  I saw Martha Stewart's recipe for them and figured it would be perfect, but I wanted a glaze on mine instead of just brushed with cream and sprinkled with sugar.

I had a hard time with this dough, as it was very wet from the tangelo juice and quite sticky.  I had adjusted the recipe down, since it was only B and I consuming them, and I think I may have messed up the flour somewhere, so I'm just going to repost the original recipe, the way it's supposed to be made, and add the glaze that I put on top.  You can choose between the milk/sugar or the glaze, but I really liked the glaze.  But even with the potential math error, these were really good.  So we can all thank Martha again for her genius while we kick back in the morning with this citrusey scone.

~By the way, tangelos are awesome!  I tried a few pieces as I was cutting them up and I had to stop myself from eating more.

 

Makes 20 scones

Requires 2 hours of chill time