Just A Bite Desserts

This lovely little confection was the result of a happy collaboration with someone I love dearly, my daughter, Julie. How fitting that it is a Valentine’s Day treat with its heart shape, rich chocolate and XO candy decoration! This dessert was not at all what I had in mind this weekend as I was busy in the kitchen making a variety of treats for a Valentine’s Day dessert table. I actually planned to make two very simple desserts but my creativity got the better of me.

First, I grabbed a couple of these adorable strawberry HeartMallows I found at my local Target.

I melted some dark chocolate disks in the microwave and began dipping them only halfway. The pink marshmallows were such a pretty color I didn’t want to cover them all up. Here’s what they looked like as they were drying on the wax paper.

Except for letting them dry and cleaning up the edges a bit, I thought, one dessert down, one to go so I moved on to my next dessert. I had some brownie batter leftover from when I made Mini Brownie Pies.  (Those came out SO great by the way, so if you missed that post and tutorial you can read it here.)

For the brownies, I decided to use my silicone pan to make bite sized heart shaped brownies. I love this bite-size hearts pan from Wilton, just don’t forget to spray it with a non-stick baking spray.

The brownie batter was in the fridge from the day before when I made the Mini Brownie Pies. Since the batter was thick, it was so easy to fill up my pans quickly. I just dropped a heaping teaspoon of batter into the mold and pushed them down a bit so they spread to the edges. I baked them in the oven for a few minutes until a tester came out clean.

So there I was, with these cute little chocolate dipped strawberry marshmallows and these fun, bite-sized dark chocolate brownies and as I looked from one to the other, I thought, “These two should be married!” So I took out my handy little food paintbrush, dipped it in some of the melted chocolate from the marshmallows and painted the center of the bottoms of the brownies. (You can do either side, but I thought the bottoms looked a little prettier than the tops.)

Then I took my marshmallows and stuck them onto the brownie and let them dry. This is how they turned out.

I thought these were pretty darned cute and I gave myself a mental pat on the back for making something with a little originality. They looked like craft punches to me so I was feeling a little Martha Stewart-ish! My teens were holed up in their bedrooms doing homework so I decided to reward them each with one of my new treats and get some feedback. My son, who likes nearly everything I bake, happily wolfed it down. My daughter thoughtfully inspected it and before she even gave it a try said, “You know what would make these even better? If you dipped the WHOLE thing in chocolate!” Seconds later, this was the scene in my kitchen:

I added back the missing pink color by using these fun XO candy decorations.

These Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Brownie Bites are way better than the chocolate dipped marshmallows and brownie hearts I originally set out to make. Together, they make a perfect match for a Valentine’s Day dessert!

What special treats are you making or serving on Valentine’s Day? Leave a note in the comments section!

Have a sweet day!

~ Paula

The other day I shared a tutorial for delicious Mini Pie Pops on a stick. In case you missed it, you can catch it here. As I said there, the Cinnamon Apple Raisin Pops were quite good, but the Chocolate Marshmallow Cremes didn’t work out too well. Plus, the pastry dough came out tasting like a cookie rather than a flaky pie crust. It wasn’t quite what I was going after, so I went back into the kitchen and rolled up my sleeves. I had Valentine’s Day on my mind and this is what I made…

Can I just say that Mini Brownie Pies are my new favorite dessert? Seriously! These babies came out like a dream; I had to pinch myself to believe that I had made them! The pastry dough baked up buttery and flaky, just like a pie crust should. The brownies inside reminded me of the chocolate fudge filling you would find inside a chocolate croissant. Definitely not like a brownie, but fudgy chocolate? Works for me!

First, I started with the Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough recipe that I adapted slightly from the award-winning baker and cookbook author, Dorie Greenspan. I’m hoping to meet and thank her personally for this great recipe on Friday at her CookieBar pop-up shop in New York City. Here’s the recipe along with my changes.

1 1/2 cups all-pupose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 sticks very cold unsalted butter (I used frozen butter), cut into tablespoon size pieces (I diced into small cubes)

2 1/2 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces (I pre-measured and froze Crisco ahead of time)

About 1/4 cup ice water

Now here’s where I modified Dorie’s recipe: She uses a food processor to combine and mix her ingredients and I chose to do this part by hand. Actually, I was forced to do it by hand when my old, barely used food processor just wouldn’t work! After reviewing Pie Crust 102 over at Smitten Kitchen, I was confident that my shiny, new pastry dough blender would be able to take the place of my processor. Here’s what I did.

1. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix together with a whisk or spoon just to combine the ingredients.

2. Drop in the frozen, cut-up butter and shortening.

3. Use a pastry dough blender and begin working the butter into the flour mixture. When the butter pieces are about the size of peas, stop. If some pieces are larger than others, this is fine. Do not over mix.

4. Add 3 tablespoons of ice cold water to the dough mixture. Using a rubber or silicon spatula, start pulling the mixture around to moisten it. Continue to add a tablespoon of water at a time as you work. When most of mixture seems moistened, pinch some pieces together to see if they stick. (It will still look somewhat dry in spots.) When pieces stick together, use your hands and combine the dough together.

5. Roll into a ball and place on a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten ball down into a disk, wrap it up and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably for longer. (Remember, the colder the dough, the easier it is to work with. I refrigerated mine for several hours before getting to work on the Brownie Pies.)

Dough can be kept in refrigerator for up to 5 days and frozen in freezer for up to one month.

While the dough is chilling in the fridge, you can get started with the next step which is to prepare your brownie batter. Any brownie recipe is fine so if you want to make it from scratch, go ahead. I was a little short on time, so I used Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate Brownie Mix. After the batter was made, I covered the bowl and put it in the fridge to set. Stiffened brownie batter is much easier to work with than the loose mixture we’re used to pouring into a pan.

After both the pie dough and the brownie batter are well chilled, take out the dough and place on a well floured counter or baking mat. Flour the top of the dough so it doesn’t stick to your rolling pin. I like to dust my pin with flour as well. Work quickly so the dough doesn’t get warm and roll out the dough to about 1/8″ thickness. Use a cookie cutter of your choice (I used a heart shape cutter about 3″ big) and begin to cut out your bottom pieces. Place them carefully on a Silpat (or similar) mat in a jelly roll pan or on parchment paper.

Use a teaspoon and drop some chilled brownie batter on the dough. Be careful not to use too much batter as the pies will leak if they are overfilled.

Use your finger (I like to use a paintbrush used for food only) and put some water on the perimeter of your shape. Roll out more dough (if necessary) and cut the top pieces of dough for your pies. Give the top pieces a quick extra roll with the rolling pin after they’ve been cut out. This will make them slightly larger than the bottom pieces and easier to cover and close. Push the two pieces of dough together, making sure all edges are sealed.

Use a fork or a piece of cookie pop stick and create a crimped edge around the pie. (For more on this, see my previous post here.)

Brush the top of the pies with an egg wash consisting of 1 egg white and 2 tablespoons of water. Add sparkling sugar if desired.

Pierce the pie tops with 2 or 3 holes for venting. I used a metal cake tester to make the holes.

Bake in oven preheated at 425° for approximately 10-12 minutes or until golden around edges.

Cool in pan for a few minutes. Serve immediately or transfer to wire rack to cool completely. To serve later, heat in oven for a few minutes on 350° and serve warm. Enjoy!

Are you planning to try these or have you made mini pies already? Drop me a line in the comments and tell me what you’re up to!

Have a sweet day!

~ Paula

There’s been a lot of talk about Mini Pie Pops lately around the food blogosphere. In fact, I’ve heard them touted as the “new” cupcake! These adorable treats are capturing hearts and minds and are making mouths water everywhere. Maybe it’s because of their cute size, or the fact that they’re on a stick, or maybe, just maybe, it’s because you can make an endless number of fillings for them to satisfy just about every sweet tooth! In any case, today I decided to make these delicious babies. Never mind that I’ve never made a homemade pie crust before! Several bloggers have written how they’d never made pie dough until they made pie pops and declared there was nothing to be afraid of. I figured, if they can do it, I can too! Little did I know… (We’ll get back to that in a sec.)

I didn’t have a clear plan for what flavors I wanted to make so I browsed my pantry and pulled out random items, hoping for some inspiration. Here’s what I found.

I only had time to attempt two flavors today so I went with the traditional Apple Pie and thought a Chocolate Marshmallow Creme sounded good. One worked and the other didn’t. Can you guess which was which?

First, I prepared the pie dough, wrapped it up and put it in the fridge to chill for about an hour. To make things simpler you can use a store-bought pie pastry. (Oh, how I wish I had!) I should have known the pastry recipe wasn’t the one for me when it said to mix the egg and sugar mixture with the flour, salt and butter mixture with your hands. I don’t know about you, but that is just too goopy for me! While I was able to make a bunch of pie pops with the dough, it was very dry and became difficult to work with. The end result was more of a cookie dough than a pastry, but thankfully, it tasted good.  Next time, I am trying a recipe that calls for the food processor. That machine has barely seen the light of day since my engagement party (oh, 22 years ago), but I can’t wait to bring it out and save my hands from the messy work!

In any case, I used a round cookie cutter for my Apple Pie Pops. I laid the 1/8″ thick circles out in a jelly roll pan on a Silpat mat. Be sure to leave a few inches between them so you’ll have room to work. Place a 6 inch cookie or craft stick on the circle so that it covers about 2/3 of the dough, you’ll need it to support the weight of the pop. I chopped up some of the apples in the Comstock More Fruit Apple Pie Filling as the pieces are too large for these small pops. The filling has a nice flavor to it but feel free to add some cinnamon or apple pie spice to kick it up a notch. I added some soft raisins to give it more texture. I like to use Sunmaid Baking Raisins. (Yes, that’s a little secret of mine.)

Next, I cut out the circles for the tops of the pie pops. Here’s another little secret: After you cut it out, roll it gently with your rolling pin again, just enough to make it slightly larger than it originally was. If you use the same size circle it is likely to tear once you try to piece the top and bottom together. Before you carefully place the second circle on top of the first, take some water and wet the perimeter of the circle (or whatever shapes you’re working with). For jobs like this I use a clean paintbrush I keep handy for baking. Pinch the top and bottom pieces together, making sure the pop is well sealed. To get the crimped pie look, take a fork and gently press the tines around the edges of your pop, or you can cut a small piece of cookie stick (shhh, it’s a secret!) and use that to create an edge around your pop. Personally, I liked how that came out better. Here’s an example of that edge I did on a heart shaped pop.

At this point, you are nearly ready to pop it into your preheated oven. (Mine was set to 425 degrees.) Before you do, take a fork or a metal cake tester and prick a few, tiny holes in your pop to let it vent. For the Apple Pie Pop, I brushed the top with melted butter and sprinkled Cinnamon Sugar on top before baking it for approximately 8 minutes.

The second pop flavor I made was supposed to be Chocolate Marshmallow Creme. I mixed up some chocolate pudding with some Marshmallow Fluff and threw in some semi-sweet chocolate chips. I know, they look a little like E.T. on a stick, but what can you do?

The combo sounds good though, right? Well, it would have been except that the chocolate marshmallow mixture all but evaporated in the oven and we were left with a bit of chocolate chips inside and nothing else! As I said earlier, this was my first attempt at making pies. Now I know why some pie fillings are added after the pie shell is baked! I do have another filling in the fridge just waiting to be taste tested after it is baked in a pop. I mashed up a banana, added sugar, some corn starch for thickening and some chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips. I know it is going to make one heck of a Chocolate Banana Pie Pop!

As an alternative to the butter and cinnamon sugar topping, you can leave the pop plain and do a glaze afterward while it is still warm. For the Chocolate Marshmallow pops I brushed the top with egg yolk and used some sanding sugar. I loved the way it looked and it gave it a sweet flavor boost. (Now if only it had some filling in it!) You can see what it looks like in the first photo in this post.

Here’s a shot of some of the little suckers I spent a good part of the day with today.

Hey, it could have been worse! Would love to hear your thoughts on this post so leave a comment (I write back!) and share the love by forwarding and/or tweeting this post to your friends and followers!

Have a sweet day!

~ Paula

P.S. After I published this article, I came across a list of hottest food trends for 2011. Guess what made the top of the list? You guessed it, PIES! Check out the article here.

There’s an interesting discussion on Facebook tonight over at The Purple Pug’s fan page. (By the way, The Purple Pug makes gorgeous party goods, so be sure to check out her site and await her re-opening.) The discussion was focused on whether stylized photoshoots of parties and dessert tables, those that are not “real” parties and are purely inspirational, informational and for self-promotion purposes should be identified as such. So far, the parties I’ve posted are “real” and are not always picture perfect. (Case in point, the little flap on the side of the Cookie Dough Pops stand above came apart just before the party!) However, I may do some photoshoots in the future to showcase what I’m capable of, ideas I have and also to inspire others. I think there is room in the party industry for both types of work and I’m in favor of full disclosure.

This slumber party was created for a sweet teenager whose childhood nickname, “Sunshine,” inspired the theme of peace, love and flowers. I chose some of her favorite colors and united them with the theme with the help of the wonderful gals over at Anders Ruff. After an exciting day that included a B.F.F. Photo Shoot for ten, delicious Italian food and a movie, the girls came home to this…

The Cookie Dough Pops in the first photo were devoured instantly. The birthday girl had requested a fondant cake so I made sure her theme was incorporated into this 4 Layer Dark Chocolate Fondant Cake.

Always in favor of small portions of great tasting desserts, I added these custom color mini doughnuts to the table from Dough a Deer. They are baked, not fried and are so adorable at only about an inch and a half big.

Milk Chocolate Covered Oreos drizzled in party colors make for a yummy treat.

Iced Sugar Cookies as well as assorted candy rounded out the table.

This was definitely a sweet ending to a wonderful night! But the fun actually continued the next morning with a piñata that matched the theme and colors perfectly!

Each guest carried home her piñata stash in a pretty keepsake box.

I’d love to hear your comments or questions!

Sources

Printables: Anders Ruff

Doughnuts: Dough a Deer

Cake, Pops, Oreos and Sugar Cookies: Just a Bite Desserts