Baking Challenge Week 14 - Rainbow - Peppermint Roses

I don't have a big family.  Some people find it hard to believe that there are only three children in my generation--myself, my big brother, and our 'little' cousin.  (I remember when she was born very clearly, and now she has a Master's degree.  What's up with that?)

So I don't have the same sort of family experiences a lot of other people have had.  The first wedding I ever went to wasn't until college, and I've never been to a bridal or a baby shower.  Really, I never have!

Which is what I blame for not knowing of the existence of cream cheese mints until my husband's grandmother made them for our own wedding.  I managed not to stuff my face then--I was busy!--but a few years later, at his cousin's wedding, I did actually eat so many of these I got sick.  They're that good.  And also, dinner was late and I sometimes display an amazing lack of willpower.

I don't find I have reason to make these very often, but since I'm not a big fan of rainbow cakes or cupcakes, and I just proved a few weeks ago that my frosting skills need work, I wanted something that was both off the beaten path, and practically guaranteed to turn out.

If peppermint isn't your thing, feel free to use a different flavor--I'm particularly fond of butter rum, myself!

Cream Cheese Mints

• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened (full-fat, please)
• 1 2-lb package powdered sugar
• several drops of peppermint oil (or about 1/4 tsp peppermint extract)
• gel or paste food coloring, as desired
• extra powdered sugar, for kneading
• granulated sugar, for rolling

 Note: if you plan to make the entire batch one color, it's easiest to blend the food coloring in along with the peppermint oil, instead of kneading it into the finished dough, as I did to get six colors.

Beat the cream cheese together with the peppermint oil until smooth and creamy.  Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing on low speed, until all the sugar is incorporated and the mixture forms a ball.

Turn out onto a plastic cutting board dusted with more powdered sugar (not wood, you'll see why in a second!)  Divide the dough into pieces according to the colors you plan to use; I went with six roughly equal parts.  Working with one piece at a time, add a few dabs of food coloring with a toothpick or the tines of a fork.  Knead the coloring into the dough until the color is even, dusting the board with more powdered sugar if necessary.  Repeat with the other pieces, thoroughly washing and drying your hands in between colors if excess pigment gets on your skin.  (I found the green and purple to be staining, but not the others, so just be careful!)

Break off small pieces of dough and roll into balls.  Roll the balls in granulated sugar.  If using a mold, press the sugared ball into it to form the shape (and adjust the size of your balls for next time, I tended to make mine too big.)  If not using molds, you can flatten the balls in a criss cross pattern with a fork, like you would a peanut butter cookie.

Either way, lay the mints out to dry on waxed-paper-lined cookie sheets.  After several hours of air-drying, they're firm enough to store in airtight containers.  At room temperature they're good for several weeks (not that they'll last that long), and they freeze very well for up to a year.

Baking Challenge Week 8 - Candy Decoration - Butterfly Sugar Cookies

No recipes today - the cookies are a secret family recipe, and the cream cheese frosting is so basic!  The real challenge this week was just figuring out my theme--I spent at least twenty minutes this morning wandering the bulk candy section of my grocery (which fortunately is rather extensive!), turning over ideas in my mind.  These little pink heart candies were half-off, it being post-Valentine's, so with some decorator gel, they became butterflies.

And if anyone notices a certain similarity in color to a popular cartoon character, well, what can I say.  I'm a pegasister!

Cooking Challenge Week 6 - Brazilian - Brigadeiro

I know nothing about Brazilian food, so I was both looking forward to and dreading this week's challenge.  I read up on a number of classic Brazilian dishes, but everything seemed a little too far out there--too many (expensive) ingredients, or an ingredient I couldn't get my hands on, or something I just flat-out thought I wouldn't like.

But then, there's brigadeiro.  Who can turn down chocolate?  Not me, I assure you.

For all that they look fancy, and they're incredibly delicious, they're also super fast and dead easy.  It took me ten minutes to cook, an hour in the fridge to cool, and no more than fifteen minutes to roll.  I can just feel my future self bitterly cursing me for discovering this new form of chocolate to gorge myself on.

Never one to make things easy on myself, even the first time, I did a tiny twist on the basic recipe, inspired by this adorable strawberry version, adding a little cherry preserves to mine.  The cherry taste is definitely there, but very light; I probably could have used more, but I was afraid of overdoing it.  I also see a lot of potential in the world of extracts--peppermint springs to mind, but I bet almond would be good too...

Chocolate-Cherry Brigadeiro
(makes 20-25, depending on size)

• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tbsp cherry preserves, without any actual cherries (dig around them in the jar!)

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is very thick and pulls away from the side of the pan easily.  Pour into a small, greased pan or bowl to cool to room temperature--this step can be sped up by refrigeration.  With lightly oiled hands, break off small pieces and roll into smooth balls.  Roll balls in one or more coatings (see my thoughts below on my choices); place in small paper cups.

After my first few attempts, I found it much easier to roll all the pieces into balls and lay them out in the pan, then go back and roll them in the coatings.  Trying to coat each as I formed them was giving me club hand, just with oil and cocoa instead of dredge and fry batter!

Coatings: granulated sugar, powdered sugar, cocoa, finely chopped nuts, candy sprinkles or jimmies, shredded coconut

I tried the first three, and dutifully (ha!) sampled one of each to report my findings.  Biting into the cocoa-coated one started out a little bitter, but since the candy itself is quite sweet, the whole thing was well-balanced.  The powdered sugar, I didn't like so much; it wasn't bad, exactly, but it was too sweet for my taste.  My favorite of the three was definitely the granulated sugar--I liked the contrast between the grainy texture of the sugar and the smooth center, and while it was sweeter than the cocoa, it wasn't nearly as sweet as the powdered sugar.  Go figure!  I'm looking forward to trying some variety of nut next time, and definitely colored sprinkles.