S'mores Bars

If S'mores are an all-American dessert, then S'mores Bars are the Minnesota version. When new neighbors moved into the house on the corner, Oliver suggested we bake something for them as a welcome to the neighborhood.  Of course he knew there was something in it for him - we made a double batch.  After the kids got their fill of fresh-from-the-oven gooey, chocolatey, sticky marshmallow goodness, I put the remaining bars in the freezer because I didn't think they'd last long if the pan sat on our counter top.  However, Chris discovered they tasted just as good frozen and made a satisfying treat after a long bike ride. 

S'mores Cupcakes

When I asked Oliver what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, I shouldn't have been surprised when he said a cake with marshmallow icing.  The kid is obsessed with S'mores and, in particular, roasting the perfect marshmallow.  And that's when I got the idea to combine Oliver's request for marshmallow icing with his love of S'mores.  Much to my delight, a quick search on Pinterest revealed a blog with a recipe for S'mores Cupcakes.  Who would have thought there's such a thing?

My cupcakes didn't look quite this pretty, but surprisingly, pretty darn close!

When I make these again, (because, let's be honest, I have a "cupcake rotation") I'll try making the ganache with milk chocolate for a more authentic s'mores flavor combination.  The only difficult part was trying to remove the sticky marshmallows from the baking tray and place them on the cupcakes, so I might try "frosting" the cupcakes with marshmallow Fluff and toasting them for a few seconds under the broiler. 

S’mores Cupcakes

makes  12 cupcakes

for the cupcakes:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (from 9 crackers)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole milk

for the ganache:

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

for the topping:

• 12 large marshmallows

make the cupcakes:
Heat oven to 350° F with the racks in the middle and top positions. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and sugar in a separate bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing well between additions. Mix until just combined.

Beat the butter and sugar in a separate bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients and milk alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing well between additions. Mix until just combined.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake, on the middle rack, rotating once, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

make the ganache:
Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil in a small pot. Remove from heat, add the chocolate, and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk to combine. Let cool slightly.

make the topping:
Place the marshmallows on a parchment-lined baking sheet, 2½ inches apart. Bake on the top rack until golden and deflated, 6 to 10 minutes. Let cool.

assemble the cupcakes:
Divide the ganache among the cupcakes, then top each with a toasted marshmallow. Let sit until the ganache is almost firm to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes, before serving.

Pancake Wednesday

"Breakfast for Dinner" started as an every-once-in-awhile occurrence, reserved for those nights when we really dropped the ball on dinner, but over time, became more and more regular, as in once a week regular.  That was just out of pure laziness.  We have a waffle iron, so we make a huge batch of waffles, freeze the leftovers and then pop them in the toaster for a quick meal. And you can fry eggs in about the time it takes to toast the waffles. "Breakfast for Dinner" is one of the few meals I can put together with a screaming child hanging on to each leg. 

Our nanny had also discovered the ease of breakfast foods.  While my standards for the kids' lunches consisted of sandwiches, Liula often made elaborate dishes from scratch from whatever she found in my kitchen. (And for the most part, the kids ate it!)  But she was also super busy with the kids and Wednesdays ended up being the hardest day of the week for her.  Oliver had preschool until lunch time and she took Soren to story time and missed out on her lunch prep time.  I don't know if she was trying to find a use for the copious amount of pure maple syrup we always have on hand, but she found a recipe for pancakes in one of my cookbooks and discovered they were a hit with the kids.  Oliver soon started inquiring about what day of the week it was.  I think he's at that age where he's starting to grasp the concept of time, but we also suspect all he wanted to know was whether it was Wednesday or not.

After our nanny moved on, we could finally justify having breakfast for dinner once a week.  We were simply honoring her by continuing the practice of Pancake Wednesday.  There are some weeks when I feel really guilty that I'm not serving my kids dinner with at least one vegetable and a lot less sugar.  And then there are the weeks I actually relax about it and enjoy what has become a silly (and tasty) family tradition. 

Good Old-Fashioned Pancakes

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 3 ½ teaspoons baking powder 
•  ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 ¼ cups skim milk (a little more for thinner pancakes) 
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla 
•  3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately ¼ cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Yield: 8 pancakes

I modified this recipe slightly from one I found at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/.  I love thick, fluffy pancakes and this is the best recipe is a winner every time. We double the recipe and freeze any leftover pancakes. 

Morning Glory Muffins

My kids love carbs.  I think that's normal for this age, but it stresses me out sometimes when I'm trying to encourage eating a variety of foods.  Knowing that I like to bake, a friend gave me this Morning Glory Muffins recipe and I knew looking at the ingredients, that if I was going to feed my kids a carb-laden snack, at least this one covered some key nutritional areas - dairy, fruits, vegetables, protein, healthy fats and lots of fiber.  Oliver gobbled up the inaugural batch and I knew I had a winner.  

Years later, I'm still making these muffins, as are many of my friends with young children.  They've fed hungry toddlers at park playdates and rec center tot times.  They're easy to make, aren't too sweet despite the sugar and they freeze well.  I store them in large Ziplocs in the freezer and then pull a couple out ahead of snack time. 

Morning Glory Muffins

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups grated apples
• 3/4 cup coconut (unsweetened)
• 1/2 raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix all ingredients, adding carrots and fruit last. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Makes 24 muffins.

Jelly Roll Cake

Oliver is fascinated with Paul's jelly roll in the book Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Which is funny since Oliver has never had a jelly roll.  Now that I think of it, I've never even had a jelly roll.  But every time I turn the page, he points to the jelly roll "with the little coconut sprinkles on top" in the drawing and comments that he wants one. 

Every Thursday the two local papers each have a food section and I enjoy reading them in hopes of finding a new recipe.  I have a box full of recipes I've clipped from these papers and other sources over the years.  When I saw the recipe for Jelly Roll Cake, I told Oliver he was going to get his jelly roll with little coconut sprinkles on top.

Oliver is now a consistent presence by my side when I'm doing anything in the kitchen, whether it be cooking, baking or making my lunch to bring to work.  He drags a chair from the dining room into the kitchen and stands with me at the counter asking if he can help.  So on the Sunday morning I decided we were going to attempt the jelly roll cake, I pulled the flour and sugar out of the pantry and set up bowls and measuring cups on the counter.  He likes scooping the flour and sugar in the measuring cups, I level them off and then he gets to dump the contents in their respective bowls.  When the recipe called for beating the eggs with an electric mixer, he got to use the hand mixer for the first time.  He was scared of the mixer at first, but after watching me use it, felt brave enough to hold it by himself and mix the eggs until they were a frothy yellow. 

Our baking experiments always remind of these Target commercials that used to air, where, say, a little kid was trying to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and slopped the contents of the jars onto the bread - and all over the counter.   Luckily, according to the announcer, peanut butter and jelly ingredients are inexpensive at Target so you can afford to experiment.  By the time Oliver and I finish, the countertop and floor are usually covered in flour and we've used enough dishes to fill a dishwasher.  But it makes me happy that Oliver likes participating in something that I also enjoy. 

The Jelly Roll Cake unfortunately landed in the failed experiment category.  The jelly roll pan we have is larger than what the recipe called for, so I doubled the recipe to try to compensate, but I should have only done the recipe and a half because it was too thick.  The pan is also warped, so the batter slid to the lower sloop of the pan and one corner of the cake was too thin (and overbaked) and the rest of the cake just way too thick to be able to roll.  Oliver didn't care though.  I applied a layer of raspberry jam to one piece, put another on top and he and Soren dug into what had become a two-layer cake. 

Jelly Roll Cake

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting cloth (optional)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup blackberry or raspberry jam, currant jelly, lemon curd or sweetened whipped cream flavored with jam

To prepare oven, sheet pan: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease 11-by-15-by- 1-inch jellyroll pan. Line pan with wax paper or kitchen parchment. Grease well.

To prepare countertop: Place fresh kitchen towel on countertop with long side toward you. Sprinkle towel generously and evenly with confectioners' sugar.

To make batter: In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Using fork, mix well. Set aside. In mixing bowl, beat eggs at high speed for 2 minutes or until bright yellow and thick. Gradually add sugar, beating continually, until incorporated. Beat for 3 to 4 minutes or until pale yellow, velvety and thick. Add water and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute or until well mixed. Sprinkle flour mixture over batter. Using wood spoon or rubber spatula, mix gently until just incorporated.

To bake cake: Scrape batter into prepared pan. Spread out to form smooth layer. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cake is browned at edges and springs back when touched lightly at center.

To roll cake: Remove cake from oven. Quickly turn out onto prepared kitchen towel. Peel away wax paper. Carefully roll up cake, lifting long side nearest you and folding in towel with cake. Cool for 15 minutes.

To fill cake: Carefully unroll cake. Spread with 1 cup jam or jelly, extending filling almost to edges. Roll cake up tightly. Place on towel, seam side down. Cool completely.

To serve: Just before serving, lightly sprinkle cake with confectioners' sugar. Transfer to serving plate. (Note: If not serving within 2 hours, wrap cake tightly. Refrigerate. Set out 1 hour before serving to return to room temperature.)

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Source: Pioneer Press, 2/28/13