Weekend Brunch

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almond, berries, berry, breakfast, brunch, crêpes, food, foodie, nutella, pancake, postaday2011, recipe, strawberry, vegetarian

Strawberry Almond Pancakes with Nutella
Hubster loves loves loves breakfast food… (but only in the morning) so I was pushing it with brunch yesterday. Strawberries are extremely plentiful currently… so of course I had to incorporate them. Paired with strawberries, Nutella is always an obvious choice. With my, almond extract is always my go to ingredient, so whole almonds had to be incorporated.  I usually make this recipe with sweet crêpes, but the batter needs to rest before making them. I thought about making a puff pancake, but it’s been too hot to turn the oven on. So, traditional pancakes it was!

Strawberry Almond Pancakes with Nutella Drizzle

How To:
I made pancakes using my favorite pancake batter, adding a few Tbsp. almond extract and brown sugar. Then I layered with almonds, strawberries and drizzled with Nutella.

Hubster was in Brunch Heaven…

What’s for breakfast/brunch today?

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Almond Butter Blossoms

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almond, almond butter, cookies, desserts, food, foodie, nut butter, peanut-butter, postaday2011, recipe, snack, sweets

Baking is always therapeutic, it’s just the dirty dishes that I don’t want to deal with afterwards. But despite the dishes, today required some baking begin feeling like myself again… Oh, and the Aleve helped too…

Hubster loves peanut-butter, I have a strong aversion to it (well, except for the occasional Reese’s Pieces). He always begs me to make peanut-butter cookies, peanut-butter no bakes, peanut butter brownies… you get the picture. At the supermarket a few months ago, I had an epiphany. Maybe I can appease his appetite as well as mine.

Almond Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:
bag of Hershey’s Kisses, 3/4 c. almond butter, 1/3 c. light brown sugar, 1/8 c. milk, 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 c. butter, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp. almond extract, 1 tsp. baking soda, extra sugar for coating

Directions:
Unwrap Kisses and set aside. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease baking sheets. Mix together flour, salt and baking soda. Cream together, almond butter, butter, sugar, almond extract, milk and egg. Slowly combine flour mixture in to sugar mixture. Roll dough into 1″ balls, coat in sugar and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and quickly press one kiss into the center of each cookie. Place cookies on cooling rack.

Serve with a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

What activity do you find therapeutic?

Cherry Chocolate Almond Pancakes

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almond, breakfast, breakfast in bed, brunch, cherries, chocolate, chocolate chip, dried cherries, food, gourmet, gourmet breakfast, gourmet brunch, gourmet pancakes, pancakes, recipe, tart cherries, white chocolate

Now that my 12 Days of Christmas Gifts are over, I feels strange to post food again.

Try this variation the next time you make pancakes. This is a perfect dish for a holiday brunch or a great breakfast in bed surprise. Hubster & Pumpkin both loved these.

Cherry Chocolate Almond Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 c. flour, 2 Tbsp. baking powder, 1 tsp fresh ground sea salt, 1 egg, 1 c. milk, 2 Tbs. vegetable oil, 1 Tbs. almond extract, 1/4 c. grated white chocolate, 1/4 c. chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips, 1/3 c. dried tart cherries

Directions:
Set aside chocolate chips and cherries. Mix together all dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and stir until batter is smooth. Stir in grated white chocolate. Place griddle on medium heat and lightly oil. For each pancake, pour about 1/4 c. of batter on hot griddle, evenly sprinkle cherries and chocolate chips. Flip pancakes when small bubbles appear. Cook on other side until golden brown, quickly remove from heat. Enjoy!

If you wish, drizzle with real maple syrup or serve them à la mode. Serve with sausage links and a cup of English tea.

What’s for breakfast?

(Hot) Dark Chocolate Pudding

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almond, baked goods, baked pudding, cake, chocolate, chocolate almond, chocolate lava cake, chocolate pudding, chocolate recipe, dark chocolate, dark chocolate pudding, dessert, dessert recipes, dessert table, hot pudding, pudding, recipe, romantic dessert, self-saucing pudding, sweets, sweets table

I’ve been looking for a good chocolate pudding recipe. Not the North American idea of pudding, I mean a proper baked pudding that’s more like a chocolate lava cake. I found a recipe last December and gave it a try, but it just wasn’t what I was expected.

I gave in to today’s chocolate cravings and to finally vamp up the recipe to fulfill my chocolate and baking desires…

Dark Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate Pudding Ingredients:
1 c. flour, 3/4 c. sugar, 2 Tbsp. Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder, 2 Tbsp. baking powder, 1/8 tsp. salt, 1 Tbsp. almond extract, 1/2 c. milk, 2 Tbsp. melted butter (or vegetable oil)

Chocolate Sauce Ingredients:
1 3/4 c. hot water, 3/4 c. light brown sugar (packed), 2 Tbs. dark brown sugar (packed), 3 Tbsp. Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder,  2 tsp. flavoring of your choice

*I used raspberry flavoring, but think mint, orange, vanilla, strawberry…

Chocolate Pudding Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350°F. Spray 4 glass ramekins with cooking spray  and set on a baking sheet. Mix together dry ingredients. Add extract, milk and melted butter and stir well (it so be the consistency of brownie batter). Divide mixture into ramekins.

Chocolate Sauce Directions:
Dissolve sugar in hot water. Add cocoa powder and stir well. Pour sauce over each ramekin. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before eating, serve warm.

*Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar, crème fraîche, raspberry/blackberry drizzle, a few berries, or any combination!

WARNING!: You will burn your tongue and mouth if you cannot resist the urge to dig into these right out of the oven!

Refrigerate any uneaten pudding ramekin, microwave when ready to enjoy!

Mmmm… Tall glass of milk anyone???

What’s your favorite chocolate dessert?

Raspberry Almond Cream Cheese Pie

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almond, almond cream cheese pie, berry drizzle, berry sauce, cream pie, dessert, pie, raspberries, raspberry, raspberry almond, raspberry cream cheese pie, raspberry drizzle, raspberry sauce, recipe

Today is my half-birthday, so I decided to make myself a pie! Raspberry Cream Cheese Pie was my favorite desert at the restaurant where I used to waitress. I’ve been looking for a recipe as close to theirs as possible, so I ended up modifying several ones I looked at to come up with my own. I embellished even, to make mine superior (to my taste buds at least). I finally used the last of the berries I picked this past summer and froze.

Dessert Time!

Crust Ingredients:
1 1/2 crushed graham crackers, 1 stick butter, 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Crust Directions:
Crush graham crackers and coat with melted butter to make pie shell. Toss in 1/2 c. chocolate chips and then press on bottom and sides of a 9″ pie dish. Bake pie crust at 350°F for 10 minutes, just to set. Cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Chip Graham Cracker Crust

Filling Ingredients:
2 – 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, 1 3/4 c. whipping cream, 6 Tbs. sugar, 1 1/2 Tbs. almond extract,

Filling Directions:
Whip heavy cream in chilled metal bowl. Mix together 2- 8 oz. packages of softened cream cheese and whipped cream. Mix in almond extract and sugar, continue blending. Add mixture to the pie crust and chill.

Almond Cream Cheese Filling

Topping Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. red raspberries, 1 c. sugar, 1/2 c. pineapple juice, 1/4 c. cornstarch

Topping Directions:
In a food processor, blend 2 1/2 c. red raspberries, 1 c. sugar, 1/4 c. pineapple juice, 1/4 c. water, 1/4 c. cornstarch. Cook mixture over medium heat and cool, drizzle over cream cheese pie and serve. I only pour about 1/3 of the topping on the pie and leave the rest in on the table as some people like less, some people like more

Raspberry Almond Cream Cheese Pie

*Garnish with fresh whole raspberries a chocolate drizzle and a few chocolate curls.

Keep cool until ready to serve. Makes about 10 pieces.

What is your favorite type of pie? What about your favorite berry?

Fat Tuesday – Almond Berry Milkshake

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almond, blackberry, dessert, food, ice-cream, milkshake, raspberry, recipe, smoothie, sorbet

Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, the day before lent begins, you’re supposed to use up the fattening ingredients in your pantry. Traditionally you either make doughnuts or pancakes.

Yesterday’s post of my Valentine’s Feast sparked a few recipe requests. I figured this would be a good place to post two of those recipes as well as the yummy one I created with the leftovers. How did I use up my fattening leftovers? I made an Almond Berry Milkshake… Mmm. Berries? Almonds? Milk? It may sound semi-healthy, but it’s sinfully not.

Almond Berry Milkshake

Almond Berry Milkshake Ingredients:
1 c. frozen raspberries, 1 c. frozen blackberries, 3 scoops almond ice-cream, 1 scoop raspberry sorbet, 1 c. milk or cream

Almond Berry Milkshake Directions:
Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add more milk for thinner milkshake. Pour into a glass and enjoy. Go back for seconds!

Almond Ice-Cream Ingredients:
1 qt. heavy cream, 1 1/8 c. sugar, 2 Tbs. almond extract, 1 c. chopped almonds

Almond Ice-Cream Directions:
In a chilled metal bowl, whisk (also chilled) the cream, extract and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture into the freezer bowl, turn on machine, and let mix until thick and creamy (about 25 minutes). Add chopped almonds and allow to mix for 5 minutes. Immediately serve or transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer.

Raspberry Sorbet Ingredients:
1 c. sugar,  2/3 c. water, 1 Qt. frozen raspberries, 2 Tbs. light corn syrup, 2 Tbs. heavy cream

Raspberry Sorbet Directions:
Puree raspberries in food processor until smooth. Strain to remove any seeds. In a medium sauce pan, cook sugar, water and corn syrup until dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in raspberry purée and cream until well blended. Pour mixture into the freezer bowl, turn on machine, and let mix until thick (about 30 minutes. Immediately transfer to an airtight container and store in the freezer until hardened.