Crispy Parmesan Biscuits - My first of many Giada Recipes

I think it is time to let you guys know that I love Giada De Laurentiis. I watch her show religiously, but I have never made one of her recipes - until now. It definitely was a perfect recipe, just as I imagined.

I brought my boyfriend (his name is Joe, by the way) lunch, while he was at work. He loves smoked salmon (he is from Finland, by the way) so when I saw Giada make the Crispy Parmesan biscuits with smoked salmon, lemon butter, and baby arugula, I knew I had to make the recipe for him.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes
2 cups Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon butter (recipe follows below)
3 cups baby arugula
10 ounces smoked salmon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the butter. Using fingertips or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course meal.

Stir in the Parmesan and green onions. Add the buttermilk and olive oil. Stir until the mixture forms a dough. Drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet in 12 equal-sized pieces.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until golden. Cool biscuits for ten minutes then transfer to rack to cool completely.

Slice each biscuit in half (I found this part to be the most challenging part of the recpe! Be gentle!) and spread bottom half with 1 teaspoon of lemon butter. Add some arugula leaves and place a small slice of smoked salmon on top. Add the top half of the biscuit and serve.

Yield: 12 Biscuits

Lemon Butter Recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lemon, zested

In a small bowl, mash the butter and lemon zest together using a fork. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Yield: 1/2 cup

Layer Cakes Galore

Over the past week, I made two layer cakes. Both, being the first two layer cakes I have ever made.

The first - a sponge layer cake with raspberry jam, whipped cream, and strawberries.



(There was another cake layer topped with powdered sugar, as well.)

For this cake you will need:

3/4 cup butter, softened
plus extra for greasing
1 and 1/4 cups self rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3 eggs
confectioners' sugar, sifted, for dusting
3 tbsp raspberry jam
1 and 1/4 cup heavy cream, whipped
16 fresh strawberries, halved

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the bottom of two 8 inch round cake pans.

2. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the butter, sugar, and eggs. Mix together and beat well until smooth. Divide mixture between the pans evenly.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Sandwich together with jam, cream, and strawberries halves.
I also added a little sugar to the cream to sweeten it up just a bit.

5. Dust with confectioners sugar and enjoy!

This recipe is from Frame by Frame Baking by Christine Last.

The second - I am very proud of. This is my most celebrated recipe of my blog so far. I made it for my boyfriend's sister on her birthday. She loves white chocolate so I wanted to make her a white chocolate cake. I evolved a recipe from a few different recipes and it couldn't have turned out better. It was a delicious, moist layer cake topped with white chocolate whipped cream with white and dark chocolate shavings. I dream about it every night.



For this wonderful recipe, you will need:

For the cake-
1 box of White cake mix
1/2 cup of sugar
1 box of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup (8 oz.) of Sour cream
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup oil
4 eggs

For the white chocolate whipped cream-
1 and 1/4 cup heavy cream
5 and 1/2 oz of white chocolate, chopped
plus extra for shavings
3 oz dark chocolate

You will need to prepare the topping the night before:

1. Put the cream in a pan over low heat and bring to a boil, constantly stirring. Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted.

2. Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill overnight.

The next day:

1. Mix cake mix, sugar, and instant pudding in a large bowl. Add sour cream, water, and oil. Mix well.

2. Add eggs one at a time, until well blended.

3. Pour into two 8 inch round cake pans and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 27-32 minutes.

4. Take out the whipped topping mixture from the fridge and beat it until it makes stiff peaks. You can add some heavy cream at this point to adjust the sweetness if you would like.

5. Allow the cake layers to cool for fifteen minutes or so. Sandwich the layer cakes with some of the whipped topping.

6. Add the rest of the whipped topping to the top of the cake.

7. Grate 1 oz of white chocolate as garnish.

8. Melt 3 oz. of dark chocolate and drizzle over the top for garnish, as well.

9. Enjoy!

The great thing about this recipe is that you can use any sort of box cake and instant pudding flavors. You can totally make it your own! Have Fun!


Whipped topping is adapted from the cookbook Delicious Suppers.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

My boyfriend and I are big fans of chocolate and banana flavors rolled into one. So, I made chocolate banana bread that was out of this world and brought it to him as a surprise (with the turkey sandwich from below)!

You will need:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature,
plus more for preparing loaf pans
All-purpose flour for preparing loaf pans
3 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 t baking soda
4 t baking powder
1/4 t kosher salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups mashed ripe bananas
2/3 cup sour cream
2 cups of semisweet chocolate chunks or morsels (It isn't chocolate chunk bread without a LOT of chocolate chunks! original recipe = 1 cup)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans and then dust the pans with all-purpose flour, tapping out the excess.



2. In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using the electric mixer set on medium speed, cream together the 3/4 cup butter and sugar until light yellow and creamy.



4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the bananas and sour cream. Beat until incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating after each addition just until the flour disappears.

5. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.



Bake for 20 minutes, then rotate the pans 180 degrees. Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 2 loaves


Here I am - mixing the batter!


I found this recipe from Nordstrom Friend's and Family Cookbook.

Turkey Sandwich with a Sweet Twist

I decided to surprise my boyfriend the other day with a picnic lunch. I wanted to make him something easy and portable, but still fun and different. I was looking through a few of my cook books and found the "Plymouth Turkey Sandwich" in Katie Brown's "Weekends." The recipe consisted of a spread with cranberry preserves and cream cheese.

I went to the grocery store and could find every sort of preserves EXCEPT cranberry preserves. So, I got raspberry preserves - and it was AWESOME. My boyfriend loved it too, so much that that I had to make two sandwiches for him! If you love sweet and savory together - this is a perfect recipe for you.

All you need:

4 oz. of cream cheese
1/2 cup of raspberry preserves
8 slices of Oatmeal bread (first time I tried this bread - I LOVE IT. I found it in the Bakery rather than the bread isle.)
1/2 lb. of Roasted or smoked turkey, thinly sliced
Lettuce, torn into strips (the kind of lettuce is up to you - I had Iceberg lettuce at home so that is what I used)

SERVES 4

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and raspberry preserves at medium speed until smooth.
2. Take two pieces of bread and spread raspberry cream cheese spread onto both pieces.
3. Add turkey and lettuce to sandwich.
4. Enjoy!!

Mint Chocolate Mousse

In hopes of impressing Paula Deen, I planned to make a Mint Chocolate Mousse served in Chocolate Cups. I had this image in my mind of how beautiful the chocolate cups would turn out and how Paula Deen would just bow down to my recipe and select me as a finalist for her "Real Women of Philadelphia Contest." (For those of you who don't know, Paula Deen is hosting a cooking contest with Philadelphia Cream Cheese. She picks 2 finalists, each week for 8 weeks, who have submitted a video involving a delicious dish with Philadelphia Cream Cheese in it.) Unfortunately, I don't think my dream is going to happen. Don't get me wrong - the mint chocolate mousse is wonderful! The chocolate cups though, those were what was going to put my dessert at the top. They would have made my presentation so beautiful! I found the idea off a food blog. And it looked so easy! Basically, you melt baking chocolate and then dip a blown up balloon into the chocolate, put them in the fridge for a little while, deflate the balloon - and voila! A chocolate cup!

After attempting the chocolate cups twice, both times the chocolate deflated miserably with the balloon, I moved on. I made my recipe, in a tiny college kitchen, and submitted my video. (One day, I will conquer those chocolate cups!)

On a better note, here is my mousse recipe! It's fresh and rich and perfect for summertime! The philly cream cheese makes it ultra creamy with a bit of tangy-ness. And if you love Andes mints - this recipe is for you!

You'll need:

• 1 8 oz. package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1/4 tsp. mint extract
• Andes Mints grated lengthwise, as garnish

1. In a bowl, mix heavy cream on a high speed until it makes stiff peaks.
2. In a separate bowl, mix sugar and cream cheese on a medium speed until smooth.
3. Add mint extract and cocoa powder to cream cheese and sugar mixture and beat on a low speed until everything is mixed in evenly.
4. Add half of the heavy cream to the mixture and mix on a medium speed.
5. Once you have added the half of the heavy cream, fold in the rest of the cream into the mixture.
6. Serve your Mint Chocolate Mousse on a plate or in a bowl topped with grated Andes Mints as garnish.
7. Enjoy!

*I found the basis of this recipe (then I put a personal spin on it) at http://www.bellalimento.com; a beautiful blog with beautiful food.