DIY Pink and White Dessert Table Inspiration

Happy Tuesday everyone; I have something a little bit different for you and your tastebuds tonight so brace yourselves because this feature is all too scrumptious for words. I've been a huge fan of Hungry Girl Por Vida's Flickr stream for the longest time eva so imagine my surprise when I found out the girl behind the lens is the beautiful bride from this stunner of a wedding and is the blogger behind this cutey patootey blog. Turns out Cindy is even sweeter than everything she creates too because true story, she sent me an email wondering if I'd be interested in featuring a custom created sweets table whipped up, styled and photographer by her and I uhm, took about two seconds to respond back with my answer. All I asked is that the desserts by pink. And white. And pretty. And oh em gee. A strawberries and cream themed shower set up anyone? Cindy, I majorly heart you. Come visit me so we can be friends please.

{DIY Strawberries and Cream Dessert Table Menu} Strawberry Milk Panna Cotta with Strawberry Syrup, Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Filling and Whipped Strawberry Buttercream, Pavlovas with Whipped Cream and Fresh Berries. All of these desserts can be made in the days ahead of the shower. Just keep the panna cottas covered well with a plastic wrap, in the refrigerator until ready to serve. The cake can be baked well ahead of time (it will keep for a month well wrapped in the freezer), before filling and frosting. You can fill and frost the cake the day before and store in the refrigerator, just be sure to remove it at least 30 minutes before serving to bring to room temperature. The meringue for the pavlovas can be baked a few days before, and can be stored and cooled completely in an airtight container. You can also whip the cream and macerate the berries the day before and assemble just before serving.

For all of the incredibly mouthwatering recipes and instructions head over to Cindy's Hungry Girl Por Vida blog! 

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Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quick. Go get some cherries. And make these cookies right away. In about 30 minutes you'll have delicious, perfectly sweet cherry chocolate chip cookies that even the most timid of bakers can whip up with ease. If your household is anything like the one I live in, you'll notice they don't last very long either; they're that good. Oh and did I mentioned I'm not really a fruit-lover?

I got the recipe out of the summer issue of the ever-so-fabulous Canadian Family Magazine where I am just wrapping up my summer internship (I just adore it there, it's going to hard to say goodbye!) There's a great section in the issue on cherries and all the tasty things you can do with them, so run out and pick up your copy of the magazine (who knows, maybe the news stand is next to the fruit one :)

I used about half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips but I bet chopped up baking squares would be equally as tasty and combined with the dried cherries, would make the cookies quite hearty and thick. I found the dried cherries in the bulk foods section at the grocery store and ended up using about 3/4 of a cup instead of a full cup. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar so I used a quarter of golden brown sugar and a quarter of dark brown sugar.

I baked 12 cookies at a time for 11 minutes and they were cooked perfectly. Slightly brown on the tops and delightfully moist on the inside. The batter made enough for 27 regular sized cookies and I rolled each clump of dough into a smooth ball before placing on the baking sheet. I think this helped keep the cookies plump and thick. Or maybe I'm just that good at making cookies? Who knows. All I know is they were tasty and loved by all.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Canadian Family Magazine

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg, room temp

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

splash of vanilla

half a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 - 1 cup dried unsweetened cherries

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a metal baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in your egg and vanilla, scraping down the sides to combine well. In another bowl, mix together your flour and baking soda; add it to the butter mixture and combine by hand until the dough is thick and incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips and cherries; be careful not to over mix.

You can drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the parchment paper, or use your hands to roll small smooth balls of dough before placing on your baking sheet. Bake 12 at a time for 10-12 minutes of until the very tops of your cookies start to turn light brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minute before placing the cookies on a cooling rack. Eat them up fast before anyone else comes to see what that delicious smell in your kitchen is. No need to store these in an air tight container. All 27 cookies will be gone in a few hours though. Enjoy :)

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Blueberry Loaf

Blueberry Vanilla Bean Loaf to be exact. And let me tell you, this loaf is good. Actually good isn't strong enough of a word to explain how tasty and delightful this bread is. I'm not a huge fan of fruit flavoured desserts because deep down within my heart I am a lover of all things chocolate. But remember I did make an exception when it came to making and tasting these. Then I made this loaf and well, I may be a fruit-flavoured-sweet-treats-lover from now on. And I never thought I'd say that...

The secret to the loaf's deliciousness is the ever-so-glorious buttermilk. And the best part to the recipe is that you can use any kind of fruit you'd like. I originally made this with fresh strawberries and then when I knew I had to make it a second time I thought why not try some fresh blueberries. I bet a triple berry loaf would be fantastic too; raspberries, blueberries, strawberries? Yes. Please. But for this loaf, plump, lovely blueberries did the job just perfectly.

Make sure you use fresh scraped vanilla beans instead of vanilla extract. It makes a world of a difference in the final sweetness of the bread. I used one bean per loaf but two beans would be heavenly and give this recipe its special touch. You could even try mashing up a banana for an extra sweet tasting treat. The possibilities are endless. So hurry to your kitchen now, and get your loaf on blogettes.

Blueberry Vanilla Bean Loaf

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

4 ounces cream cheese, room temp

seeds from 1-2 vanilla beans

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine your butter, cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixture until fluffy. Blend in the eggs one at a time until the mixture is creamy and smooth. Blend in the vanilla bean seeds and lightly mix. In a seperate medium sized bowl, add in all of the remaining ingredients except the buttermilk. Using a fork, combine these dry ingredients together then pour into the butter and cream cheese mixture. Combine the two mixtures by hand.

Add in the buttermilk and mix until the dough is nice and thick but be careful not to overmix! Fold in your berries and pour into a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes at 350 degrees or until a toothpick inserted directly into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool for 20-35 minutes before removing from the pan. Slice into pieces and enjoy. Beware; this loaf will be gone within a few hours. It's that good, lovelies! P.S. This recipe and my photography was featured on Beanilla.com! Check out the newsletter shout out!

P.S. Is that sea foam blue ceramic cake stand not to die for? You will see that beauty again after it gracefully holds our wedding cake up on September 24th. I scored it for $19.99 at Home Goods with a matching serving tray and cannot wait to place it atop our vintage dresser. It was love at first sight :)

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S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love me some s'mores. The gooey goodness of melted marshmallows combined with sweet chocolate and the subtle taste of graham crackers; what could be better? Well throw all those goodies into a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe and you are destined for dessert perfection. You.will.love.these.cookies. I basically used inspiration from the so tasty S'mores Brownies I made in January to bake up these beauties. Most of the ingredients for the cookies can be found around the house and I promise you anyone who takes a bite of one of these will be asking for more. Unless you eat them all by yourself which I happened to come very close to doing. I know, how embarrassing right?

S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup graham crackers smashed into tiny pieces

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 sprinkle of cinnamon

1 dash of nutmeg

2 sticks of softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

seeds from one vanilla bean

2 large eggs at room temperature

1 3/4 cups of mini chocolate chunks

2 cups mini marshmallows

1-2 Hershey bars in pieces

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl combine your flour graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and stir until combined. Beat together your butter, sugars and vanilla extract in a larger bowl until creamy and smooth. Add in your eggs, blending on medium speed until fully incorporated.

Beat in the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating on medium speed until combined well. Pour in the chocolate chips and stir with a spoon. Covering your hands on a bit of flour, roll 1-2 tablespoons worth of dough into a ball and place on the parchment paper. I fit only 9 cookies on my baking sheet.

Bake for 4 minutes in a preheated oven and remove from heat. Place as many marshmallows and Hershey chocolate chunks into each cookie before returning to the oven to bake. Continuing baking for approximately 4 more minutes or until the marshmallows start to puff out slightly. Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes until cooling completely on a wire rack. Keep covered in an airtight container for up to three days. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Try not to eat too many if you can resist!

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S'mores Brownies

I adore s'mores. Not marshmallows, or graham crackers but s'mores. The combination of gooey, warm marshmallows with a crispy golden outer shell, melted chocolate and buttery graham crackers is pure bliss. Sitting by a campfire (or over your stove top like I used to in university) watching your marshmallow toast to the perfect color, the anticipation of the sweetness you're about to enjoy - well it's all too much for the dessert-lover in me. This past weekend, I needed some s'mores in my life. And since I don't plan on sitting around any campfires soon, I had to get crafty.

Ontario adapted a new holiday a few years ago called Family Day. It's supposed to encourage families to get together and spend quality time doing extracurricular activities. My family, aunts, uncles, Grandpa and cousins got together for dinner to make use of our free day off. To celebrate the Olympics we all wore Canada colors. To satisfy my sweet tooth and everyone elses, I baked up some s'mores brownies. What could be more perfect?

I used about a cup and a quarter of chocolate chips (they melt faster than Hershey chocolate squares). I used close to two cups of mini marshmallows, or enough to cover the top of the brownies. I used almost a whole sleeve of graham crackers crumbled into pieces. For the brownies I used just a basic boxed version. After the brownies finished baking and cooling, I dumped all the combined toppings over top. You can then add more of each topping to your liking. I added some more marshies to fill in the 'holes.' Keep in mind the marshmallows will poof up and out slightly. If you use big sized marshmallows you may want to cut them in half. The chocolate chips will melt a tad too. And your heart? Your heart will thank you for making these.

And then you will bake the toppings at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the marshmallows start to turn golden and slightly crispy to the touch. Or until when you cut into the brownies, they turn out like this....

Perfection.

Honestly, go make these now. They were extremely tasty. And I was even thinking that a graham cracker crust would have been a perfect compliment to the gooey brownies so if you're feeling adventurous give that a try. Oh and thrown in some chocolate chips into your brownie batter. It'll make this dessert that much better. And then if you want to get really crafty you can break out the scrap book paper, ribbon, scissors and tape. Add in a few stickers and brown paper bags and you can create the cutest little bags to put your delicious treats into.

Enjoy!

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Mini Apple Crumble Pies

Let me start by saying I am not fan of pie. I hate fruity cobblers, I don't enjoy crumbles and unless it's lump-free raspberry sauce on my cheesecake, I am more of a chocolate, caramel and nuts kind of gal. So when a friend from University who is interning at the Michigan Apple Committee wrote me an e-mail asking if Pink Sugar could make a recipe involving apples, I thought sure. But then again what the heck could I make that I will enjoy eating and that will be cute enough to blog about? Because I am all about the cuteness here. Obviously. And I will have to say I am pretty proud of my amazing brainstorming skills.

Mini

Apple

Crumble

Pies.

Yeah, they were that good. Even I loved 'em.

I started with four Michigan apples and I peeled and cut them all into little pieces. Since the pieces had to fill little pie wells instead of a big pie well, I had to make sure there would be enough fruity goodness in each little treat. In addition to honey (oh the honey is to die for!) and pie crust dough, you will need some sugar, flour, granola, cinnamon, one egg and some other minor ingredients. I used ready-to-use dough from Pillsbury which is amazing. So flakey and tasty and I am sure I will be using it again in the future to make wonderful treats. It comes all nicely rolled up. I was only able to get 11 Mini Pies out of the two rolls that came in the pack but am sure if I had rolled the dough out a tad thinner I could have squeezed in a few more. (But who likes thin dough? Not me).

Once your apple mixture and crumble mixture is all whipped up you can fill you dough-lined wells. I used strips of tin-foil underneath each of my Mini Pies since this helped me liftthem out without breaking when they were done baking. Then you have to do the hard part; wait for 20 minutes for them to bake and then about five minutes for them to cool. Believe me, it's so worth it.

Mini Apple Crumble Pies

apple filling

4-5 cups Northern Spy apples, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 1/2 tbsp flour

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup water

crumble topping

1/4 cup sifted flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 tbsp softened butter

1 egg lightly beaten

1/4 cup granola

crust/dough

1-2 packages Pillsbury pre-made dough

or your own homemade version

tin foil strips to line your wells

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and line your wells with the tin foil strips. Roll out your dough and using a round cookie cutter or the top of a wide glass, cut out circles for your pie crusts. Gently form the dough to each well making sure to create a crust around the edges. In a large bowl combine all of your apple filling ingredients until the apples are completely coated in the honey and sugar. In a separate bowl, mixture together your crumble ingredients until just combined. Fill your wells to the top with the apple filling and then spoon a small layer of the crumble topping over the apples. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the crust edges are slightly browned. 

Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Gently remove the Mini Pie's using the tin foil strips and allow to cool (not completely because these things are tasty when they are slightly warm.) Enjoy with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream! For more information, health facts and recipes all involving apples check out the links at the Michigan Apple Committee. Talk about YUM! Who knew apples could be so tasty. Enjoy, and as for all of my Canadian friends and family, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving. I am off to enjoy turkey, potatoes, stuffing and of course Mini Apple Crumble Pies.

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Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes & Dark Chocolate Ganache

Introducing: A moist Pumpkin Spice Cupcake with Dark Chocolate Ganache frosting. So simple. so tasty. I love fall! You have to make these. I promise it will be worth your time. Your tasty buds will thank you. I love spices too. Such a small amount of spice can leave something tasting so nice. Aren't I hilarious? These cupcakes really got a great flavour from both the pumpkin and the mixture of all-spice, ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. I love autumn. Did I mention that yet?

My tin is dirty. Very dirty. So dirty I am a little embarrassed. Please don't judge me.

You know it's fall time when you break out the Pumpkin puree!

The batter was nice and thick which made for an easy spooning process (spooning process? honestly who calls it that?) I only filled my wells about halfway up and the cupcakes were a nice shape once they were baked. A little more batter in each liner would have probably been perfect as I like when my cupcakes go right to the top edge of the liner. I am picky like that. I have high expectations for my cupcakes.

The result? Perfectly moist and springy cuppies. My entire kitchen spelled like Thanksgiving (we here in Canada celebrate Turkey Day BEFORE Hallowe'en in the beginning of October). The smells got me so excited for Turkey Day. Stuffing, turkey, freshly baked bread, squash, pumpkin pie and fresh whipped cream, family, and memories. I can't wait. These cupcakes were the perfect precursor to the holidays.

The first bite was amazing. The top was very crispy but the inside was perfectly moist.

Now your mouth is drooling huh? For the ganache frosting you will need 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate and 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate. The bitter taste of the cocoa becomes interestingly sweet once melted and mixed with the sugar and cream and is the perfect compliment to the pumpkin spice flavour.

When the ganache is made, you may need to keep in it the fridge for 15-20 minutes until it's firm and thick. If you don't the ganache will be liquid-like and only suitable for pouring over top of desserts. Since I wanted to pipe my ganache I had to firm it up in the fridge before whipping it with my electric mixture. The result was perfect and this stuff is good. And I mean your-belly-will-love-you-forever good.

Something is missing though.

MMM what could it be? Wait for it....

Wait for it...

Ah there it is. A lovely little pecan so perfectly placed atop rich fluffy ganache.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice

4 large eggs

1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

Chocolate Ganache

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 1/4 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1 1/2 - 2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup whole milk or whipping cream

1 tbsp vanilla if needed for sweetness

For the cupcakes, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and in a large bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powders, salt and spices. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine your sugars, eggs, melted butter and pumpkin puree until mixed well. Combine both mixtures together and if you find it hard to get the batter consistently combined, feel free to mix on low speed with your electric mixture just until smooth.

Divide evenly among your lined cupcake wells, about 3/4 of the way full. If you love the brown liners I use (I can't get enough of these things) check these out. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. I found 20 minutes was a minute or two too long but I love when my cupcakes are a tad slightly undercooked. I am a weirdo, I know!

For the ganache, place all of your chopped chocolate in a heat-safe bowl. In a saucepan, heat your cream over low heat until small bubbles start to form around the pot edges. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for a few minutes. Stir the chocolate consistently for a few minutes until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Add the butter and continue to stir until the butter is completely melted.

In a small bowl whisk together your milk (or cream) with the powdered sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt if you'd like a less sweet taste. This mixture will be thick and sticky. Add in a bit of vanilla for more sweetness and then combine with the chocolate mixture until perfectly smooth. Keep in the fridge for about 20 minutes until firm and then beat with a mixer to make fluffy and pipe-worthy. Pipe or frost as desired and cover cupcake at room temperature. Serve within 2 days for best taste. Enjoy!

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