Lemon Pepper Cornmeal Cookies

Pepper doesn't really turn up in many desserts, but if these cookies are any indication it certainly should.  Initially people thought these were shortbread, but soon couldn't get enough of their unique, lemony-with-a-hint-of-spice taste.  Despite their deliciousness, they're very easy to make and you probably already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen.  

The first step is to zest all three of your lemons.  Be sure you're using your grater or zester to only remove the bright yellow outer skin of the lemon.  Going any deeper into the skin will be bitter and not give the bright lemony flavour you're looking for. 

Mix lemon zest with sugar in a small bowl. 

Use your fingers to squish the lemon zest and sugar together to release the oils from the lemons. 

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer  beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually bean in the sugar-zest mixture. Add the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. I was worried about over-mixing these cookies however I gave them a good mix after each addition and they turned out just fine. 

Grind your peppercorns in preparation to mix with the other dry ingredients   Here I am using a four peppercorn blend but using just black pepper would be fine. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, pepper, and salt.  Add dry ingredients to the wet a little at a time, beating with electric mixer until combined. 

 Once your dough is well mixed, turn out on to a floured counter. 

Roll into two cylinders and wrap in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least three hours or until firm enough to easily cut.  If you don't have time to let them chill you could easily form these into one inch balls and press down with a fork and bake as normal.  

Preheat over to 350.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Remove dough from fridge and slice into rounds about a quarter of an inch thick.  These cookies will not spread so you can fit a lot of each cookie sheet.  Bake for ten to fifteen minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned and tops are set.  Allow to cool for about ten minutes on the pan then remove and place and baking rack to cool completely. 

Lemon Pepper Cornmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper (freshly ground)
• ½  salt
• Zest of 3 lemons
• 1 cup  granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, very soft
• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Adapted from: Baking Obsession 

Cheesecake Surprise Bites

These cheesecake bites are a surprise because although they look similar on the outside, they each contain a different flavour of cheesecake.  I chose strawberry, blueberry and peanut butter for my bites.  You could easily use pumpkin, lemon zest, caramel bits, maraschino cherries or whatever other flavouring agent you could think to mix into the basic cheesecake filling.  

You could also scale back the surprise by using toppings to differentiate flavours from their chocolate shell, however I found that all of these were so delicious it didn't matter to me which flavour I got.  Extremely rich and decadent just one was more than enough to satisfy, however they were amazing and everyone who tried them ended up eating many many more. 

Preheat  oven to 350.  Combine sugar and cream cheese in a bowl until creamy. 

Add egg and vanilla, beating until combined.  

Stir in sour cream.

Mix graham crackers, butter and sugar. Line 3 bread pans with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.  Divide graham cracker mixture into 3 and press into bread pans.  Bake each pan for seven to ten minutes or  until set. 

Split cream cheese mixture into three bowls.  Mix blueberry pie filling, strawberry pie filling and peanut butter into each bowl. 

Pour one bowl in to each bread pan. Bake 30 to 45 minutes or until set along edges of the pan. 

Allow each pan to cool for about 2 hours. Refrigerate for four hours to overnight. 

Cut into one inch squares then freeze overnight.  Be sure to use tupperware or tightly cover the pans you freeze the bites in, or else they will form ice crystal.  These ice crystals will melt into water when dipping in chocolate and cause your chocolate to seize up. 

Melt chocolate in a double boiler.  

Dip each frozen cheesecake bite in chocolate.  Dipping cheesecake side down will prevent the crust from flaking off into the chocolate and ending up all over your bites. Place on parchment paper.  Once dipped sprinkle toppings if using over the bites.  If you're having trouble keeping straight which bites are which flavour use a permanent marker to write the flavour on the overhanging edge of the parchment paper.  Place in fridge to set.  

Cheesecake Surprise Bites

Crust
2 cup finely crushed graham crackers (9 graham crackers)
5 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons of white sugar

Cheesecake
2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream

Flavourings
2/3 cups strawberry pie filling
2/3 cups blueberry pie filling
2/3 cups peanut butter

Coating
6 (12-ounce) package (2 cups) real semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter
Crushed candy bars, sprinkles etc for decoration (optional)

Adapted from: Barbara Bakes

Sweet Potato Praline Pecan Cake

I've never made anything praline before, but I must say this turned out delicious!  The sweet potatoes make the cake extremely moist and give it a very nice consistency.  This cake would stand fine on its own as something to have with coffee even without the icing and praline pecans. The icing and pecans take a few extra steps but definitely kick it up a notch and are highly recommended!

Cream together butter and sugar called for in the cake recipe using an electric mixer.

Add eggs and vanilla, then mix until they're combined. Put in the sweet potatoes and mix well. 

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Mix until combined. Add flour to the sweet potato mixture a little at a time and mix well.

Put the cake batter into a 9" cake pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  You could also use a square pan and make bars.  Bake for twenty to twenty five minutes at 350 until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. 

 Now to make the super delicious icing!  Melt butter in a small saucepan along with brown sugar called for in icing recipe over medium high heat.  Turn down the heat to medium low and boil for two minutes.  Add the half and half and return to a boil, stirring constantly, then remove from heat.  I didn't have half and half so I just used milk and everything turned out fine. 

Pour the butter sugar mixture into a bowl.  Add the icing sugar a little at a time. 

Mix the icing well!  I used a spoon but you could probably stand to use an electric mixer here.  I used the entire amount of icing sugar called for in the recipe and my icing was very stiff.  If you would like something a little runnier or that would spread easier feel free to use less. 

Place the butter and brown sugar called for in the praline pecan recipe into a microwave safe container.  Cook for 20 seconds, stir then cook for another 20. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and bake at 350 for about 5 minutes or until deep golden.   If you're pressed for time or just don't feel like it, you could easier use raw pecans on this cake without impacting its deliciousness. 

Let the cake cool for about fifteen to twenty minutes before topping.  Finish your creation by spreading the icing on top of the cake and topping with pecans. 

Cake or Bars
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes, you could also use canned, fresh mashed or pureed pumpkin
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Praline icing
½ cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup half and half
2 cups powdered sugar

Praline Pecans
2 teaspoons butter
2 tablesoons brown sugar
1 cup roughly chopped pecans

adapted from: The Cafe Sucre Farine

Lemon Apple Cheesecake

This cheesecake is light and airy and incredibly easy to make.  I made my own graham cracker crust but you could use store bought, or use a pastry crust as the original recipe suggested.  The lemon and apple are a delicious contrast.  I kicked this up a notch by adding store-bought caramel sauce which each person eating drizzled on their slice. 

This is a fairly simple cheesecake with only a few ingredients, and only a single brick of cream cheese,  making it thriftier than the large majority of cheese cakes. 

Crush graham crackers into crumbs by hand or using a food processor, then mix in butter and sugar.  

Press crumbs into a spring form pan, both on the bottom and up the sides.  Bake at 375 for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until crust is set. 

Zest the whole lemon.  If you don't have a zester, use a cheese grater to get the peel off. 

Beat eggs and cream cheese together until light and fluffy, adding eggs one at a time.  After this add sugar and lemon zest then beat until smooth. 

Slice apple into thin pieces for garnish.

Pour cream cheese mixture into the prepared crust, then arrange apples on top.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.  Allow to cook completely before refrigerating. 

Lemon Apple Cheesecake

Cheesecake

1- 8 ounce cream cheese - softened

1 teaspoon fresh lemon peel

2 eggs

½ cup sugar

1 apple

Crust

20 graham crackers

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

Adapted from: The Cafe Sucre Farine

Fudge Mountain Cookie Dough Cake

As you can see, this cake is completely gluttonous and over the top, which is what makes it so fantastic.  I made it for Christmas but it's sure to be a hit at any gathering before people even try it.  There's something about a giant pile of brownies that just gets people going.  Oh, and a cake, too.  I was actually really impressed with this recipe, the buttercream frosting tastes exactly like cookie dough and the cake is very good. To simplify things you could easily use box mix rather than bake your own cake and still come out with a great end product. 

Make the brownies first.  These can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge.  This is a fairly involved cake so doing it over two days actually makes it a lot easier.  First, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  

While it's melting, whisk the eggs together in a bowl.  Wait until the chocolate has cooled slightly after melting, then add to the eggs.  If the chocolate is too hot the eggs might start to fry.  I gave it about five minutes before mixing. 

Combine the sugar and flour in a bowl.  Add in the chocolate mixture and mix until just combined.  Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking pan which has been greased and lined with parchment paper.  Leave some of the paper hanging over the edges of the pan - this makes it easier to remove the brownies once they are done cooking.   Cook at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes or until brownies are set. 

Now on to the cake.  Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Here you can see me adding corn starch to regular flour in order to create a substitute for cake flour. 

In another bowl beat together flour and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat again until combined. 

Add flour mixture to egg mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with flour.

Place the mixture in two separate bowls.  In a third bowl mix cocoa and boiling water until smooth.  Add this mixture to one portion of dough. 

Using a spoon alternate dropping the vanilla and chocolate dough into two cake pans.  These are 8" and the cake turned out fairly thin, so I wouldn't advise going much larger than that.  Pull a knife thru the batter before baking to create a swirl effect if desired. Bake for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.


Prepare the buttercream.  Beat together butter and brown sugar on high until fluffy. Beat in flour and salt, then mix in milk and vanilla extract until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Once the cake is cool apply the buttercream. I found it very difficult to spread and ended up applying it by pressing it on with my hands, which worked pretty well.  

Where did this massive blob of cookie dough come from??? Oh wait, that's the cake. 

Pull out your brownies.  Slice and dice them into about 1" pieces.  You could go larger or smaller on this, I found this size looked the most proportional to my cake.  Pile the brownies haphazardly on top of the cake, creating the look of a chocolate mountain.  If desired, melt chocolate and drizzle over cake.  At this point you could also add nuts, sprinkles, or even more chocolate chips sprinkled over the cake. 

Fudge Mountain Cookie Dough Cake

For the cake:

115g (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing

300g (1 3/4 cups) cake flour (not self-rising, I used 270g plain flour + 30g (3 1/2 tbsp) cornflour/cornstarch as per these instructions)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

225g (1 cup) sugar (I used caster sugar)

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder

For the buttercream:

250g (about 2 1/4 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 1/2 cups (about 315g) icing/confectioners' sugar, sifted

2/3 cup (about 85g) all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

200g (about 1 cup) mini chocolate chips or finely chopped pieces of milk chocolate

For the brownies:

200g (7oz) good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

200g (1.75 sticks) butter, chopped

3 eggs at room temp

2 egg yolks at room temp

200g (about 1 cup minus 2 tbsp) caster sugar

115g (3/4 cup) plain flour

35g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder

Adapted from: Raspberri Cupcakes