Mocha Torte

by Heather Harris Brady

This is a variation of what is purported to be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite tea cake. It’s a very easy and quick dessert to make. Just throw it together a day or two before, and then dress it up or down as needed. This is a fantastic choice for guests who aren’t into super-sweet, sugary desserts. The key ingredient is McVitie’s Wheat Biscuits, which my major grocery shelves in the International aisle:

I know, wheat cookies – weird. But if you are anything like me you will quickly acquire a taste for them – especially in combination with chocolate!

Mocha Torte, Makes one 5″ x 8″ torte (Approx. 8 slices)

• 1 8-oz package of high-quality chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli 60%)
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 2 T. butter
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 8 oz. package McVitie’s Wheat Biscuits
• 1 c. of coffee with extra cream (use your favorite coffee here)
• 1 pint of fresh berries

Pour the heavy cream into a saucepan and put it on medium heat. Add the chocolate chips and butter.

Add the butter and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.

Set the chocolate mixture aside to cool to room temperature. Line a loaf pan with two layers of aluminum foil, leaving an overhang, and set that aside. Make up the cup of coffee and break the McVitie’s into pieces about the size of a quarter.

Now spread a thin layer of chocolate over the bottom of the foil-lined pan. Cover that with 1/3 of the crumbled cookies, and spoon the creamy coffee over the cookies. I drizzle rather than drench, but how much coffee you add is up to you! Continue until you’ve used up the cookies, ending with a layer of chocolate on top. (I’m sorry I didn’t get pictures of the layering, I got carried away #badblogger.)

Put the cake into the refrigerator until set. When the top is set you can cover it lightly. Take the cake out of the fridge about an hour before you’re ready to serve it. Lift up on the top of the foil, pull the cake up out of the pan, and peel off the foil.

Cut the cake into 1″ slices and serve with fresh berries.

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Other Little House on the Dunes fall favorites –

2012: Farmhouse Cornbread
2013: Cheese Fondue
2014: Brioche Coffeecake
2015: Apple Dumplings
2016: Pumpkin Cake – Stir and Bake

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Dulce de Leche Truffle Pie

by Heather Harris Brady

My quest for desserts that retain their true caramel nature, and my broken oven, led me to this pie.  I’m pretty proud of it because it’s quick, easy and most of all you get lots of delicious dulce flavor in every bite. It would make a terrific surprise for Thanksgiving dinner, either as a hostess gift or just as a companion to the more traditional pie selection.

Dulce de Leche Truffle Pie, Makes one 9″ pie

• One shortbread or crumb crust (chocolate crumb would be good as well)
• 1 3 oz box instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 c. milk
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1 13-oz can dulce de leche
• Chocolate ganache for garnish, if desired

Combine the pudding mix and milk in a mixing bowl. Beat for one minute,  until well-mixed.

Add the cream and turn the mixer to high.

Whip until the mixture starts to set, and you see streaks left from the beaters. Continue whipping, and spoon the dulce in.

Stop to scrape down the bowl, and finish whipping until it’s well-combined. Pour the mixture into the pie shell.

Drizzle the top with chocolate ganache or chocolate shavings.

Refrigerate for at least two hours. Slice and serve.

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator, lightly covered. This pie should keep well for at least three days, but ours was gone in a day!

 

Raspberry Mousse Cakes, Part 2 of 2

by Heather Harris Brady

It’s been quite a run these last few weeks, we had a power outage that killed my oven and a houseful of college students for a long weekend! I have a small countertop convection oven that fits one 13 x 9 pan, so I had to use it for all of my baking. Repairs are scheduled for next Friday so hopefully after that I’ll be back in business.

So we ‘re on to the finish step for these mousse cakes, the chocolate mousse and ganache coating.

Raspberry Mousse Cakes, Makes four servings

Chocolate Mousse

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 c. high-quality chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli 60%)
• 2 T. water
• 1 T. sugar

Bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium heat, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the chips and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

When the chocolate is cool, whip the cream to stiff peaks.

Fold in the chocolate, and keep folding until there are no white streaks left.

Put your mousse in the refrigerator to set up, about one hour.

Unmold your frozen cakes from the ramekins.

Cover each one with a coating of mousse. Get it as smooth as you can if you want a smooth finish.

Pop them back in the freezer while you make the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 c. high-quality chocolate chips (I used the Ghirardelli 60% again, but a dark chocolate bar with a raspberry flavor would be nice here.)
• 1 T. butter
• 1 t. vanilla

To save room I’ve skipped the step by step here. Put the cream in a saucepan over medium heat. When it starts to steam whisk in the chocolate chips and stir until melted. Take it off the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Let it cool until it’s spreadable.

Bring your cakes back out of the freezer.

Frost each one with a final coat of ganache. It will harden quite quickly on the frozen cake. You can serve these right away, or put them in the refrigerator until you need them.

I garnished these with white chocolate shavings, mint and fresh raspberries.

Raspberry Mousse Cakes, Part 1 of 2

by Heather Harris Brady

The Story of Two Glazes

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. I had a day off, nothing schedule, and time to go deep down the Pinterest rabbit hole.  Time, in fact, to fall in love with mirror glazes and time to put the plan into action. I carried it through and achieved peak shine:

But after all the work it flat-out just didn’t taste good, which is goes against the cooking motto I was raised with: “at least it’ll taste good”. This is something we said in my family whenever anything didn’t turn out looking like we expected. So I went back to the basics, and came up with something that tastes incredible.

This is a multi-part recipe. You could do it all in a day, if you’re at a loose end, or you can do one part each day and end up with a stunning dessert for a nice dinner on the weekend. It’s up to you. This is a recipe for four, but it easily doubles.

Raspberry Mousse Cake, Makes four individual servings

• One 8″ square white butter cake, homemade or purchased
• One recipe raspberry mousse
• One recipe, chocolate mousse
• One recipe, chocolate ganache

Part One: The raspberry mousse and first assembly

• 1 c. fresh or frozen raspberries (if using fresh crush half and recombine)
• 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. boiling water
• 1/4 c. cold water
• 2 t. unflavored gelatin
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 T. granulated sugar
• 1 t. vanilla

Soften the gelatin in the cold water, pour in the hot water and stir until it’s dissolved. Stir in the raspberries.

Put your raspberry gelatin in the fridge. When it starts getting sludgy (beginning to thicken) start on the whipping cream. Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and begin to whip. When it starts to thicken add the sugar and vanilla gradually. Whip until soft peaks form.

Fold in the raspberry gelatin.

Cover with plastic wrap and return the mousse to the refrigerator to set (about an hour).
Assemble four ramekins. Cut four circles of cake to fit the ramekins. Take those circles and cut them in half horizontally, so you have eight thin disks of cake. Put a disk in the bottom of each ramekin.

Add a layer of mousse nearly to the top of each ramekin.

Top with the second cake layer.

Cover each with plastic wrap and freeze until firm. In our next step we will be unmolding and finishing this dessert by covering them with chocolate mousse and an outer layer of ganache.

 

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares

by Heather Harris Brady

These bars are a variation of a recipe in my beloved Farm Journal Book of Homemade Cookies. I changed the cookie base and was really happy with the way they turned out. They also go together quickly and with little mess, in the food processor.

They are excellent keepers, and even after a week they tasted the same as the day they were baked. Bar cookies can be rather fragile the day they’re baked, so bake these ahead if you can.

Peanut Butter Squares, Makes one 9 x 13 pan

• One sleeve of honey graham crackers
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 c. light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 T. melted butter
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1-1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. all-natural peanut butter
• 2 T. butter

Combine the dry ingredients in the food processor.

Add the egg and the melted butter.

Pulse to a soft dough.

Press the dough in the bottom of a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake for about 12 minutes.

While the base is baking make the topping. Combine the butter, peanut butter and chocolate chips in a saucepan. Melt together over medium heat.

Take the pan out of the oven and spread the chocolate topping on while it’s still warm.

Sprinkle a few peanuts on top if you like, for pretty.

Cut the bars into squares. They will firm up as they cool.

Store at room temperature, in a cookie jar or in the pan (lightly covered with plastic wrap).

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Five years ago: Granola
Four years ago: Peach Melba Pie
Three years ago: Oatmeal Apple Cookie Slices
Two years ago:  Frozen Lemon Pie
One year ago:  Gingergold Cake

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Marble Bars

by Heather Harris Brady

I’m back! I know, right? It’s been a long time. The truth is, my son’s been home for a few weeks and while I’ve been cooking it’s been his favorites, all of which are already on the blog. So I gave myself the time to enjoy having him home again.

It’s also given me time to think about reaching out and trying some new things. Bar cookies aren’t something I’ve typically made, but they are super-convenient and good keepers – which is great when you don’t have a teenage son in the house every day to help you eat them! This recipe doesn’t call for a lot of ingredients, it’s super simple and really pretty spectacular. It’s from my old favorite – Farm Journal’s Cookbook of Homemade Cookies.

The bars are really soft when they come out of the oven, but after sitting for a few hours and cooling off they turn into something that’s part cookie and part candy bar. I used 60% chips, but you could use whatever real chocolate is your favorite.

Marble Squares, Makes one 13 x 9 pan

• 1/2 c. soft butter
• 6 T. granulated sugar
• 6 T. brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 t. baking soda
• 3/4 t. baking powder
• 1-1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar together.

Beat in the egg, salt and vanilla – then the flour, soda and baking powder.

Spread the batter in a greased 13 x 9 pan, cover with the chips.. Bake for five minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and swirl the chips into the batter.

Bake for another 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.

When completely cool, cut into squares.

Store these at cool room temperature. They are good keepers, and last up to a week in the cookie jar.

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Five years ago: Sun Tea
Four years ago: Raspberry Cream Cheese Danish
Three years ago: Icelandic Almond Rolls
Two years ago: Roast Apple Pie
One year ago: Peach Crepes

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Churro Puffs

by Heather Harris Brady

This idea was a happy coincidence that came out of a need to use up a large batch of bananas – or maybe it was an excuse to use a can of dulce de leche, tomato, tomahto 😉

I used a basic cream puff dough (pate de choux), topped with cinnamon sugar and a bit of streusel for crunch. Then I put a dollop of dulce in the bottom of each puff, and topped it with a large scoop of banana soft-serve. The flavors work together really well, and if you have a very cold deep freeze you can have it on the table in less than two hours (most of which time is just allowing the bananas to freeze).

Churro Puffs, Makes eight servings

• 1/4 c. water
• 1/4 c. milk
• 4 T. butter
• 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 3 T. 1-2-3-4 streusel
• 2 T. cinnamon sugar
• 1 c. dulce de leche
• 6 large ripe bananas for banana soft serve
• Chocolate syrup, for garnish

Slice your bananas and put them in a single layer on a piece of waxed paper. Slide them into the deep freeze.

Preheat the oven to 400. Combine the water, milk and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

When the butter is melted and the mixture is steaming hot, add the flour all at once.

Whisk quickly until the mixture comes together in a ball.

Take the dough off the heat and whisk in the eggs, one at a time. (Note – these are farm fresh eggs from a friend so the yolks are a beautiful deep yellow orange.)

When both eggs are incorporated you should have a lovely paste.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet, and top each one with cinnamon sugar and streusel.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. When you take them out of the oven split the tops to let the steam out.

When you’re to serve prep your serving plates with a drizzle of chocolate sauce, top it with a puff and add a spoon of dulce into the bottom of each puff.

Put the frozen banana slices in the food processor and process for two minutes on high, until smooth.

Add a large scoop of banana soft serve into each puff and serve!

Baked puffs may be stored at room temperature for a few hours, and they freeze well. You can recrisp frozen puffs at 350 for 5-10 minutes.

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Four years ago: Stuffed Zucchini
Three years ago: Butternut Squash BBQ Sauce
Two years ago: Double Berry Cookies
One year ago: Coney Sauce, Michigan Style

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Rhubarb Clafouti

by Heather Harris Brady

I have a feeling this is a pretty old recipe, I found it in one of my vintage Farm Journal Pie cookbooks and tweaked it. They call it Rhubarb Popover, which is kind of true, but I like the name clafouti because that sounds more like a dessert.

Either way, it goes together really quickly and comes out of the oven as a lovely crusty amalgamation of fruit and a custard-like center.I think you could successfully sub in blackberries, raspberries, black cherries or pineapple for the rhubarb. I served it warm with scoops of vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries on top, but you could also just give it a quick shake of powdered sugar and call it a day.

This is so easy you can slide it in the oven when you sit down to dinner and it will ready by dessert!

Rhubarb Clafouti, Makes six generous servings

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 c. milk
• 3/4 c. flour
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/4 c. butter
• 1-1/2 c. diced fresh rhubarb
• Powdered sugar for garnish
• Vanilla ice cream, optional

Preheat the oven to 425. Put the butter in a 9″ pie dish and put it in the oven to melt.

Combine the eggs and milk in a bowl, add the flour and beat it until smooth.

When the butter is bubbling, pull the pie dish back out of the oven and pour the batter into the hot dish.

Put the fruit in the center and return it to the oven. Bake about 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.

Cut into wedges and serve. This is best eaten straight away, any leftovers should be covered and refrigerated, then rewarmed.

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Four years ago: Fallen Chocolate Cakes
Three years ago: Lemon Ginger Cake with Saskatoon Berries
Two years ago: Sunday Night Cake with Chocolate Sauce
One year ago: County Fair Lemon Pound Cake

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Mini Cake Doughnuts

by Heather Harris Brady

A new mini doughnut place opened in a town near us and it is an amazing thing to contemplate a case of 30 gorgeous little designer doughnuts. But what’s a girl to do when she wants doughnuts and they happen to be a good 45 minutes away on a Sunday morning? Just whip some up, of course!

These little doughnuts have greek yogurt, so they are nice and moist – the perfect vehicle for any toppings you can dream up. They’re also baked, so you don’t have to deal with deep frying. In the picture above the white chocolate has mini Guittard chips and the chocolate dip has toffee crumbs. Note – you will need a nonstick mini doughnut pan for these!

Mini Cake Doughnuts, Makes about 18

• 1/3 c. soft butter
• 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t. vanilla
• ¾ t. baking powder
• ½ t. baking soda
• 1/3 c. greek yogurt
• 1-1/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 T. milk
• Toppings of your choice: frosting, glaze, couverture, crushed candy, mini chips, coconut, etc.

Preheat the oven to 375. Cream the butter and sugar together well, beat in the egg and the vanilla.

Beat in half the flour, and the yogurt.

Finally beat in the baking powder, baking soda, remaining flour and milk.

You should have a thick creamy batter. To keep the tins as neat as possible I put the batter in a pastry bag. I also greased the pan REALLY well, especially the upright center part of each impression.

Bake about 10-12 minutes, until light golden brown.

The tops get puffy and a little wonky, but that’s a good thing – more surface area for the toppings! Turn them out to cool.

Assemble your toppings and have them ready. I used 1 c. of white and 1 c. of dark chocolate couverture (melted), as well as toffee bits, mini chips and coconut flakes.

These will keep three to four days at room temperature. Freeze for longer storage.

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Four years ago: Strawberry Cookie Cones
Three years ago: Traverse Cherry Pie
Two years ago: Strawberry Lemon Torte
One year ago: Chocolate Pie with Meringue Crust

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Strawberry Hibiscus Pie

by Heather Harris Brady

I came up with this recipe when I was trying to get around using a pie glaze with artificial red dye. I try to avoid the artificial dyes whenever I can, and I was thinking of all the naturally red things I’d made when I hit upon hibiscus punch. The dried flowers give off a beautiful red color and a nice faint floral note that accents the strawberries.

If you have trouble finding the dried flowers in your grocery store any Mexican/latino market should have them. I included a rhubarb cream layer at the bottom of this pie, but if you want to make it entirely with strawberries you can. This is a refrigerator pie, so it’s great for the hot days when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen.

Strawberry-Hibiscus Pie, Makes one 9″ pie

One crumb pie crust (storebought or made with vanilla wafers)

• For the bottom layer:
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 c. diced rhubarb
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/3 c. heavy cream
• 1 pkg. unflavored gelatin, soaked in 1/4 c. cold water
• For the glaze:
• 1 c. dried hibiscus flowers (also called Jamaica flowers)
• 2 c. water
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 pkg. unflavored gelatin
• 1-1/2 quarts fresh local strawberries, cleaned and sliced in half

Make the hibiscus water: Combine the flowers and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then set aside to steep for an hour.

Strain the flowers out with a fine strainer. Reserve 1/3 c. of the water and set it all aside.

Combine the 1/2 c. water and 1/2 c. sugar in a saucepan. Poach your rhubarb pieces over medium heat.

When they are just tender (about 8-10 minutes), take them off the heat.

Add the hibiscus water you reserved earlier, for color, and the soaked gelatin. Let cool to room temperature.

Beat the cream to soft peaks, then beat in the cream cheese.

Fold in the rhubarb mixture…

…and turn it all into the pie shell. Refrigerate until the bottom layer is set (at least an hour).

When you’re ready to finish the pie stir one package of unflavored gelatin into 1/2 c. of the hibiscus water. Heat just until it’s dissolved and stir it back into the rest.

Put your hibiscus glaze into the refrigerator until it’s barely started to set.

Arrange your sliced strawberries over the bottom. I start with one layer and then start tucking them in from there.

Spoon the hibiscus glaze over the top. I did one layer of glaze, let it set in the refrigerator, and then touched it up with a second layer.

Refrigerate until the glaze is set and serve.

This pie keeps nicely in the refrigerator for up to four days.

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Four years ago: Seeded Crackers
Three years ago: Strawberry Sorbet
Two years ago: Sopapillas
One year ago:  Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

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