chocolate ganache cupcakes

Does the Barefoot Contessa ever let you down? I think not. I remember back last winter when I was sick in bed, all day, watching horrible daytime TV. But thankfully the Food Network saved the day! The Barefoot Contessa was on twice during the day! Thank goodness--I was feeling better already! So if you're sick in bed, remember the Barefoot Contessa is on not once, but twice in one day; midday then at dinnertime (I think it's still that way). Nothing like watching Ina to cheer you right up. She had made these gorgeous chocolate ganche cupcakes that were topped with bright candied violets. Of course she breezed through them with ease; they came out perfect, and then she topped them with stunning purple candied violets. I saved this recipe to create when I found candied violets. Never found them, don't even know where to look unless you go to a big city? Have you ever seen candied violets? So very pretty, and make the simplest of things like cupcakes into stunning little works of art. How fabulous is that? (I just LOVE when she says that).

chocolate ganache cupcakes
by barefoot contessa
print recipe

1/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup (recommended: Hershey's)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

For the ganache:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
Candied violets, for decoration, optional

Line muffin pans with 12 paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Don't overbeat, or the cupcakes will be tough.
Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't overbake! Let the cupcakes cool thoroughly in the pan.

For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Dip the top of each cupcake in the ganache. Decorate with candied violets, if desired. Do not refrigerate. I decorated with toffee bits and coarse colored sugar sprinkles.

broiled prosecco-scallops w/ panko crumbs

We eat a lot of scallops here; seafood I never tire of. My local fishmonger is wonderful, patient (because I ask way too many questions) and always knows what's the best catch of the day. He has the best and biggest scallops, as well as the best lobster around. I'm a huge fan of the big scallops not so much of the bay scallops. Although bay scallops are perfect for a seafood sherry bisque. This broiled prosecco-scallop dish came about by the mere fact that I had no white wine in the house, nor any lemons!. And refusing to freeze the scallops because I just think they freeze awful unless you vac-seal them to perfection, I searched the cupboards for something to use. Not finding anything I remembered the bottles of champagne and prosecco I have stored in the garage for special occasions. Perfect! I knew instinctly champagne might be too bitter when cooked, but prosecco is perfect because of it's sweetness.
What a hit these were. I was shocked at how super moist the prosecco kept the scallops while broiling, as well as lending a gentle extra sweetness to the scallops. The best part was how easy and fast this was to throw together. A recipe keeper for sure. Keep this one in mind when you what to impress friends and haven't a lot of time.

cook notes: lemon will not go so well with this. you can try it, but it doesn't taste right and overpowers the sweetness of the prosecco. i love using panko crumbs because the stay nice and crispy. serve the remaining cold prosecco when serving this dish. PLEASE make sure you know your oven broiler well, as these are scallops and they cook fast! i think adding a pinch of tarrgon to the panko crumb mixture might be nice next time.

broiled prosecco-scallops w/ panko crumbs
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about 10 - 12 large scallops, washed, nibs removed
1/4 cup of cold prosecco (or so)

fresh chopped parsley, for garnish (optional)

in a large (high heat) casserole dish spray the dish w/ olive oil or coat with butter. place scallops in a single layer not too close to each other. salt & pepper the scallops. then pour 1/4 cup or so of the ice cold prosecco over the scallops. let them soak all that goodness in for a few minutes. prepare crumb topping. most important: don't walk away from broiler when scallops are in there!

crumb topping:
about 3/4 to 1 cup of panko crumbs (more or less?)
1 stick of melted butter

combine both in a dish; season with a hint of salt & pepper; set aside.

Preheat oven broiler to 450/500 degrees. bake the scallops till just done maybe 4-5 minutes? recipe by dawn finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com. add on the panko crumb mixture and put back under broiler until panko crumb topping is nice and brown--maybe 2 minutes? watch it, it cooks quick

lobster salad w/ spicy adobo-mayo sauce

One last summer dish? I can't let go of summer food or summertime just yet. I have to close my pool up soon--my first pool I've owned. Can I tell you I have a love-hate relationship with it. They are one of the most expensive things to own and run. The equivalent of driving around in a convertible with the top down with bags of money in the back seat opened and flying out. But on the other hand, I love my pool; loved my nightly swims. All that hard work of cleaning it, vacuuming it, scrubbing the sides--you bet I was going to go swimmming daily. And now the seasons are changing and I will miss my swims, I will miss the morning skimming of the pool of the nights leaves, bugs and happy frogs swimming about in the pool. All of a sudden here in the NE it's colder (a lot colder) and so it's time to close it up. Sad. But I do get to look forward to fall. And every foodie knows that with fall comes MORE baking. So I'm looking forward to that. But before that happens I have a couple seafood summer dishes to share with you.
Living on cape cod there is lobster everywhere; one can get sick of it, so you need to be creative with it. So I've taken lobster salad and made it spicy and a few extra layers of flavor added in. It has chili peppers, adobo sauce, lime and cliantro in it; wonderful mix, beautiful layers of variating flavors.

lobster salad with spicy adobo-mayo sauce
print recipe

take a pound of cooked chilled lobster meat (tails & claws)
sprinkle the juice of one lime over lobster cover,set aside in fridge

for the sauce combine (in a non-reactive bowl)
about 2-3 TB of chili's in adobo sauce, chopped nice & fine
3-4 TB Hellmans mayonaise
1 ts lime juice
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro

Mix all together in a non reactive bowl (glass, ceramic, plastic), it's best to let the flavors mix a bit before serving. So chill covered in fridge for about half hour. recipe by dawn finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com When ready to serve, make sure you use toasted & buttered buns! Serve with lettuce. Garnish with more chopped fresh cilantro or fresh parsley.

Cook notes: the chili in adobo sauce is HOT. So be careful; use as much or as little as you like. I like my stuff hot so I used a good amount.

blue cheese burger and giveaway

Best things of summer:
hearing those familiar crickets cranking away all night long
the first bite of hot, greasy, deep fried seafood
waiting in line for your first ice cream at the local ice cream stand
putting on those old/broke down summer sandals again
that first time you go underwater and freeze, but it feels so good on your head
the first time you encounter your dear old friend 'humidity' again and curse at it
feeling that ceiling fan whirl above you & blow the breeze while you fall asleep
grilled hot dogs with as much condiments as possible
greasy hamburgers on crisp thick buttered buns....ahhh
Seems like all my summer memories are food based. I did do a lot of eating this summer. Didn't do much cooking as the summer was fairly hot. Pretty certain we broke a few heatwave records here on cape cod and boston areas. With that said I spent a lot of time swimming. It was nice to take a break from blogging, but I missed it so....so nice to be back. I missed you guys and I'm sorry if I didn't keep up with visiting your blogs; I will do my best to catch up and say HI again.

What are your favorite summer memories? Tell me and you'll be automatically entered into a giveaway I'm having. I'm giving away 3 of my ecookbooks. This is one hot lil cookbook that you'll not only want to dive right into and try the recipes, but it also has stories of why & how each recipe came about. I personally have two chapters in there, but there are other food bloggers that you may not know about and really should. Chefs and bloggers alike that have major talent when it comes to creating recipes from scratch. One of my good friends and publisher of the ecookbook 55 Knives is Nick at Macheesemo. He was generous to give me 3 to give away. When I asked if I could he instantly said 'how many?". What a good guy right? Maybe I should have said 12?
So all you have to do to enter is leave me a comment about your best summer memory, be it food or not. But in all honesty we want to hear about the food! Make sure your email and/or web page is present so I can get a hold of you if you are picked.
How about I do the drawing 2 weeks from today? Cool?

blue cheese burgers
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nothing more than a pound of 85% lean beef mixed with one pack of lipton onion soup mix and some fresh ground pepper. form into burgers, slip a pat of butter in the middle of the burger and close up. grill burgers till desired doneness. make sure to butter and grill the buns! serve with lettuce, sliced tomatoes and a HUGE dollup of blue cheese dressing.
makes 4 burgers

white chocolate cheesecake w/ cherries and a mini-vacation

Happy August! I'm excited to see August here. July was a funky month for me and it was too HOT weatherwise. So I'm excited to see what August will bring me, in a positive way, and hopefully better/cooler weather. Before we get to this wonderful cheesecake I just want to let everyone know that I am taking a little break from blogging--a couple weeks at best. I'll still be around tweeting and poking around.
I know, just get to the cheesecake already!
First off, I think I've stressed to you all that I am one of those people that loves a thick double crust in my cheesecakes. For me, it's the best part. So as you'll notice the crust is thick. Duh!
We all know that cherries and white chocolate pair purrfectly together. So why not in a cheesecake--plus I'm pretty sure this cheesecake has been done before; no big news there. But the flavor of this cheesecake paired with the sour cherries is just amazing. Almost like a sweet creamy milkshake with a hint of sour cherries--that's how I would describe it best. And then there is the crust. Oh how I love my cheesecake crusts thick and full of flavor. Please see my cook notes on what to do with the crust the next time.
I'll be back in a couple weeks. Hope everyone has a good rest of the summer. Did anyone go away for vacation? If so, where? Love to hear about it. Any foodie adventures?

white chocolate cheesecake w/ cherries & double crust
from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe

crust
12 oz. graham crackers, crushed fine
1 stick salted butter, melted
Tiny pinch of sea salt

cheesecake filling
4 - 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, room temp
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
9 oz. white chocolate, chopped (use high quality white chocolate-see cook notes)
4 large eggs AND 2 egg yolks
1 ts good quality vanilla extract

cook notes:This makes a lot of crust for the 10-inch pan, but I like to have it thick, so if you don’t like it thick you could probably halve it. But with the remaining leftover crust I just put it in a bag and freeze or make a mini cheesecake. There will also be leftover cheesecake batter—haven’t figured out how to scale it down yet. But with the leftover crust and batter you can easily make 2 mini cheesecakes if you have the mini springform pans. I do not have a mixer, I know, everyone always ask how I do it, but I do, been that way for decades. So I just use a food processer, works perfectly. Please use a high quality white chocolate, trust me it is worth it. Don’t use the Toll House white chips like I did once—they DO NOT melt, only turn into oil. Use a high quality ones like Lindt or Perugina. The next time I make this I think I would like to add in a pinch of cinnamon to the crust or even almond, just see what it would taste like.

Preheat your oven to 375°F.
In a measuring cup, crack open the eggs and egg yolks, set aside until ready to use.
Spray a 10-inch springform pan with non stick spray. In a food processor grind up the graham crackers into a fine crumb. In a bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, a pinch of salt, and the melted butter. Mix, then press into the bottom and partially up the sides of the springform pan. (I use a flat bottomed glass to press it in evenly). Recipe & photos by Dawn Finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com
Note: there will be some crumbs leftover; I normally use more crumbs than the average cheesecake because I love a thick crumb.

Bake for 12 minutes, set aside and let cool. Reduce the oven heat to 325°F.
I used my food processor to make the cheesecake batter—I suppose you could use a mixer, but I don’t have one (I know, weird). With the food processor, mix the cream cheese until smooth and lump free. Add in the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Start on the white chocolate Ganache.
Bring the 1/2 cup of heavy cream to a gentle simmer over medium heat in a small sauce pan. Add in the white chocolate chunks and stir, keep stirring until the white chocolate is nice and melted. Once it looks like it’s just about melted, take off the heat, keep stirring a bit while letting it cool. Then add it to your cheesecake batter, slowly, by pouring it in with the food processor running. Once the white chocolate is combined then add in the eggs one at a time until all is mixed well. Then add in the vanilla extract.

baking:
Most people like to do a water bath for their cheesecake. I never do, I find all too annoying. But if you want to do this please feel free; it’s best to bake your cheesecake how ever you feel most comfortable.
I baked this cheesecake at 325°F for one hour then at 300°F for an additional 40 to 60 minutes or until the center is set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

cherry sauce:
Is nothing more than chopped up cherries (about ¾ lb to 1 lb of red or black cherries) with one freshly squeezed lemon, a few tablespoons of sugar (about 3 depending on how sweet or not sweet you like it); mix this in a sautee pan over low heat. Bring to a boil then add in about 1 tablespoon of sifted cornstarch to help thicken the sauce a bit. If you don’t sift the cornstarch you’ll get lumps in the sauce, not good. Sautee for about 10 minutes or so, until thick; remove from heat, let cool, then store in fridge to let it set up.