DoughSeeDough

a balanced plate with room for dessert


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Domo Cake

I would like to take a second and…

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BECCA!

 

Ok, so this cake is (obviously) for my sister’s birthday. She came home over the weekend and we had a dinner for her at my parents’ house. I asked her about a week ago what kind of cake she wanted – fruit? chocolate? She replied “cheese”, as in cheesecake. And then said chocolate fruit. I replied “chocolate cheesecake with fruit?” She said “haha, I don’t think so” and finally ended it by telling me to make whatever I wanted.

Yes ma’am.

I set out and found the perfect, beautiful cake to make – a chocolate raspberry layer cake from Bon Appetit. At the grocery store, I had a change of heart. Why stop at a beautiful cake? I should go above and beyond and cake-ify her favorite thing in the world – Domo.

Yeah, Domo. That weird brown creature thing that is actually really, really cute –

photo from here

So, here’s my edible version of Domo. I’m going to be upfront – this cake was not a quick project. It took quite a few hours to get all the components ready, including my weird sketch of the Domo dimensions (Domensions?). 

domo sketch

I don’t regret a second of it. The look on her face was priceless. We tried to capture her excitement when she first saw the cake, but all the pictures turned out really blurry. I guess bouncing around will do that!

becca & domo cake

Plus, Domo loved it, too 🙂

domo and domo cake

My suggested timeline – set aside one night and the next day to make this cake.

The night before: Bake cake and let cool. Store in cake pan covered. Make fondant and let rest in fridge overnight.

The next day: make frosting, roll fondant, decorate cake.

domo cake

Domo Shaped Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake
cake recipe adapted from Bon Appetit and fondant from All Recipes

for the cake:
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup skim milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs

for the fondant:
8 ounces mini marshmallows
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar
red gel food coloring

for the frosting & filling:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoon heavy whipping cream

2/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

2 Junior Mints, for the eyes
1 teaspoon cornstarch, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons water

  1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9×13 pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper and grease well with butter. Set aside. 
  2. Mix together lemon juice and milk and let stand for 10 minutes.
  3. Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in center.
  4. Whisk together lemon juice/milk mixture with water, oil, and eggs in a medium bowl until well combined. Pour wet ingredients into well of dry ingredients. Whisk until just blended.
  5. Divide batter evenly between the two pans. Bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 – 30 minutes. Cool completely and cover baking pan with plastic wrap. Set aside until the next day.
  6. For the fondant: Place marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for 1 minute. Mix in water and vanilla extract to hot marshmallows and stir until smooth.
  7. Grease mixer bowl and dough hook attachment well with shortening. Place mixture in well-greased mixing bowl. Add in powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and knead on medium-low with dough hook until fondant is smooth. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can do this by hand. Grease hands and kneading surface thoroughly with shortening.  Knead in powdered sugar by hand 1/2 cup at a time. Once all sugar is incorporated, continue to knead for 5 – 10 minutes, or until fondant is smooth.
  8. Divide fondant in half. Form one half into a ball, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Spoon 1/4 teaspoon of red gel food coloring until remaining half of fondant and knead until color is well blended. Add more gel coloring as needed to reach desired color. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day:

  1. For the frosting: cream butter in a mixer on medium speed. Add in powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Beat on low until just combined. Increase mixer speed to medium and add in salt, vanilla, and whipping cream and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  2. To shape Domo: Place 1 cake layer on serving platter, short edge facing you. Trim off 1″ from one of the long edges and set aside (blue line). Trim a 2″ piece from the enter of the bottom short edge to form the two legs (purple lines). Remove the trimmed piece and set aside. Repeat with other cake.
    domo cuts
  3. Take reserved trimmed pieces and form arms. The 1″ section (blue cuts) – 4 pieces formed the arm on the left. The 2″ piece removed for Domo’s legs (purple cuts) turned into the right arm. domo cuts arms
  4. Assemble 1 layer of the arms on the bottom layer of the cake. Spread half the raspberry jam on top. Place other layer of the cake body and arms on top and spread remaining raspberry jam on top.
  5. To frost, fit a pastry bag with a Wilton #233 tip (the grass tip) and fill with frosting. Pipe frosting on sides of the cake first, working in sections. Continue to frost the remainder of the cake.
  6. To decorate the face: Place one Junior Mint about 1.5″ from the left side of the cake and 2.5″ from the top of the cake. Repeat with the other Junior Mint for the other eye.
  7. To make the mouth: Allow fondant to come to room temperature. Combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water and set aside. Dust surface and hands lightly with cornstarch. Take 1/4 of the red fondant and roll to 1/16″ thick. Cut into a rectangle 4.5″ long and 3.5″ tall.
  8. Take 1/4 of the white fondant and roll out to 1/16″ thick. Cut into 8 triangles 1″ wide and 1″ tall for the teeth. Brush the back of each triangle lightly with the cornstarch-water mix and place on arrange four triangles on the top of the rectangle and four on the bottom to make the teeth. Press lightly to adhere.
  9. Move “mouth” to cake. Place in center of the cake, about 1.5″ below the eyes.
  10. Take a deep breath, step back, and enjoy the cutest cake you’ve ever made 🙂

domo cake

And don’t forget the candle. After all, it is a birthday!

domo with candle


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Chicken Pot Pie Soup

I love pie crust.

Love it.

LOVE IT.

I don’t even like pie that much, but I will take a slice of it just to eat the crust. Then I’ll mash the rest of it around on my plate to make it seem like I ate it. Or I’ll shovel it onto my husband’s plate (while at the same time stealing his crust).

I’m that crazy person that will sit and stare at your piece of pie and then creepily ask if I can eat your crust.

Needless to say, this is my kind of soup. It’s filling and creamy and flavorful and… Real talk though. This dish is mainly about the crust. This soup is what makes it acceptable for me to eat massive amounts of pie crust for dinner. As an added bonus, this was super easy to whip together and it made for a ton of leftovers. Leftover soup that is. There will be no leftover crust. Oops.

chicken pot pie soup

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

for the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup skim milk

for the soup:
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (2 cups)
3 celery stalks, diced (1 cup)
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced (1 cup)
1 medium onion, diced (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5 cups chicken broth
2 ears of corn, kernels removed or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

  1. To make the crust: in a large bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortenings until well blended and mixture is crumbly. Gently stir in milk with a fork; mix until just combined. Pat dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven to 425°F. Roll dough out on a well-floured surface to 1/8″ thick. Cut into 15 3″ circles with a biscuit or cookie cutter. Lay dough on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Set aside.
  3. To make the soup: heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add in potatoes, celery, carrots, and onion and cook until onions are soft and translucent.
  4. Stir in flour to coat vegetables well. Slowly stir in chicken broth 1 cup at a time. Bring soup to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until soup thickens and add in corn and peas. Stir and cook until peas are heated through.
  5. Serve soup hot with pie crust.

recipe adapted from Food Network

P.S. Be a crust monster like me a bake up the extra scraps left over from when you’re cutting out the pretty circles. They’re just as tasty 😉

pot pie soup with crust


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Vegetarian Potstickers

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I have a notoriously bad memory. I can’t remember much of my childhood. I can’t recall the names of any of my teachers from elementary through high school, and college professors are getting a little spotty. Yikes. The few memories I do have, I cherish.

One of these memories is of my mom, sister, and me sitting around a kitchen table, folding potstickers. We each had a small pile of wrappers in front of us, small bowls of water, and a communal bowl of potsticker filling in the middle of the table. Baking sheets dusted with flour sat on the table lined with folded dumplings. My mom used chopsticks to scoop the filling from the bowl into her wrapper. My sister and I used spoons.

This time, I stood at the counter alone and folded roughly 100 potstickers filled with tofu, not pork. Mike came in towards the end and helped me. I have to admit, I much prefer the company of my mom and sister to the company of Netflix on my iPad.

So, grab yourself a potsticker buddy or two and get cooking! Or, if you choose to make this alone, choose something better than Toddlers & Tiaras as background noise 😉

If this is your first time making potstickers, don’t be intimidated. It’s actually quite simple. It’s easy as 1, 2, 3… kind of. And don’t forget – practice makes perfect.

potstickers

1) take a wrapper  2) 1 tablespoon filling  3) wet edges with water
4) pinch at top 5) pleat down right side  6) pleat down left side

cooking potstickers

7) arrange potstickers on baking sheet  8) fry in pan – don’t overcrowd
9) cook until brown on the bottom  10) add water & steam to finish cooking

Fair warning – this recipe makes an insane amount of potstickers – over 100 for me. I cooked 1/3 of them and froze the rest to fry up for a quick meal later. To freeze, I simply stuck the baking pan of potstickers into the freezer. Once frozen, I placed them in a freezer bag.

potstickers

Vegetarian Potstickers

10 ounces firm tofu, drained
1/2 medium onion
1″ piece of ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic
2 cups shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
2 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1 cup bean sprouts, chopped
3 teaspoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
freshly ground pepper and salt, to taste
2 packages gyoza/potsticker wrappers

For dipping sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small red chili pepper, thinly sliced (optional)

  1. Crumble tofu with your hands until it resembles ground meat. Place in a strainer and set aside. 
  2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine onion, ginger  garlic, mushrooms, carrot, and celery. Pulse until ingredients are roughly chopped. Place mixture into a large bowl. Mix in cabbage, bean sprouts, and tofu. Sprinkle mixture with sesame oil, soy sauce, pepper, and salt and mix well to combine.
  3. Set up your station: bowl of filling, stack of potsticker wrapper, a small bowl filled with water, and a large baking sheet.
  4. To fold: place wrapper in your non-dominant hand. Scoop about 1 tablespoon of filling into the center of the wrapper. Wet a finger on your dominant hand and lightly trace the outside of the wrapper. Fold wrapper in half to form a half circle and pinch at the top. Starting at the center, make 3 pleats down toward the bottom-right corner. Repeat on the left side. Continue with the remaining filling and wrappers.
  5. To cook: heat a large, lidded saute pan over high heat. Add in 1 teaspoon oil and swirl pan to coat. Add pot stickers, pleat-side up, being careful not to overcrowd. Cook until bottoms are browned, about 5 minutes. Add in 1/2 cup water and immediately cover the pan to contain the splatter. After 30 seconds, when splattering has subsided, slightly crack the lid open to allow steam to escape. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until heated through and water has evaporated. Let cook for an additional 1 – 2 minutes to allow bottom to re-crisp. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.
  6. To make dipping sauce: combine soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and chili pepper in a small bowl. Stir to combine.


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Chicken Curry Rice Noodle Soup (Kow Boon)

We were blessed with the opening of Basil Cafe a little over a year ago. This place is one of my favorite restaurants in the Fox Cities; I haven’t eaten a bad thing there yet. Mike and I went here for Valentine’s Day last year and went there again this year. I tried something new this time – Kow Boon, a noodle soup with a coconut broth and a perfect amount of spice. I got the large (duh) and had leftovers for dinner the next day and breakfast the day after that (don’t judge).

It was so good that I wanted more. But, I realized that 3 visits to the same restaurant in 2 weeks was a little embarrassing, so I decided to try to make it at home. After all, what would I do if this place closed down? Or if we moved? What if I never got to eat this again? 

I labored over this recipe, tweaking ingredients over and over and over to try to match the flavors of Basil Cafe’s dish. All I had to go by was their menu description – “traditional Lao vermicelli rice noodles in a slightly spicy chicken coconut curry soup topped with bamboo shoots, fresh bean sprouts, mint, and cilantro” and the faint memory of how it had tasted. Hours later, I ended up with a huge pot of this delicious soup. Perfect. I will have breakfast, lunch, and dinner set for days. Now, I’m not claiming that this is as good as Basil Cafe’s soup, but it definitely hit the spot.

Chicken Curry Rice Noodle Soup (Kow Boon) | doughseedough.net

Chicken Curry Rice Noodle Soup // Kow Boon

1/2 pound of rice vermicelli noodles
2 chicken leg quarters, skin removed and fat trimmed
1″ piece of ginger, chopped into 3 pieces
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
4 cups water

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red curry paste
2 tablespoons fish sauce
19 ounce can of bamboo shoots, sliced into strips
14 ounce can coconut milk

For garnish:
2 cups bean sprouts
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 bunch green onions, sliced
Cilantro

  1. Cook noodles in a large pot according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.
  2. In a large pot, combine chicken, ginger, salt, pepper, and water. Bring to a boil and cook until chicken is cook through. Remove chicken and strain out solids, reserving the soup base. Return soup to the pot and keep warm over medium-low heat. 
  3. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones, shred, and set aside.
  4. In a medium pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add in onions and garlic and saute until onions are lightly browned. Stir in curry paste and fish sauce and mix until well blended. Add curry to soup base and stir in bamboo strips and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer before assembling bowls.
  5. To assemble: place a “nest” of noodles on the bottom of the bowl. Ladle in soup and bamboo shoots. Top with bean sprouts, chicken, lime wedge and cilantro. Serve immediately.

kow boon


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Butternut Squash Gnocchi

One of my favorite stress-relievers is reading cookbooks, cooking magazines and trolling the internet for recipes. Well one day I stumbled upon this recipe for sweet potato gnocchi on the Food Network website. It was perfect. I had sage I needed to use up! I scribbled out a grocery list and was about to head out the door when it struck me – butternut squash gnocchi. Why was I buying sweet potatoes when I could sub it with something else?

I’ve had this butternut squash sitting on my kitchen counter for months. I’m fairly certain it came from one of our last CSA boxes in… October? Yikes. Good news is that it’s stayed nice and healthy and squash-like. I wish all produce lasted this long!

So, that’s how this butternut squash gnocchi came to fruition. This was a fun weekend project for me. The process of making the dough and then cutting and shaping the gnocchi was strangely therapeutic.

Gnocchi

I decided to make it with two browned butter sauces. I wish I could tell you that one browned butter is better than the other, but they are both delicious. Do yourself a favor and make both! And of course, Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all have a chance to spend some time with those that you love.

gnocchi with sage browned butter

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

1 medium butternut squash, 2 – 3 pounds
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 egg, whisked

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. 
  2. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place squash on baking sheet face up. Lightly coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 90 minutes, or until squash is fork tender and lightly caramelized.
  3. Let cool slightly before scooping out flesh into food processor. Blend until smooth.
  4. Place pureed squash in a medium pot over medium-low heat and cook for about 30 minutes to cook off excess moisture. Move to a large bowl and put in fridge to cool completely.
  5. Once cook, combine 2 cups of squash puree with 1 teaspoon of salt and egg. Stir in flour 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
  6. Move dough to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Divide dough into 6 sections. Roll each section into a long rope about 3/4″ in diameter. Cut into 1″ sections. Gently roll gnocchi with the back of a fork along the tines. Repeat with remaining dough.
  7. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In small batches, cook gnocchi until it floats to the top of the water and is tender, about 6- 8 minutes. (Gnocchi may float to the top before fully cooked)
  8. Toss cooked gnocchi in browned butter sauce, recipes below, and serve immediately.

Cinnamon Maple Sage Browned Butter

1 stick unsalted butter
20 sage leaves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

  1. Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat and cook until milk solids have browned, about 5 minutes. Add sage leaves and cook for about a minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Toss with gnocchi and serve immediately. 

Sage Browned Butter

1 stick unsalted butter
20 sage leaves
1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

  1. Melt butter in medium pan over medium heat until milk solids have browned, about 5 minutes. Add sage and broth and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with gnocchi and serve immediately. 


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Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, folks! If your special someone is a lover of chocolate covered cherries, then this is the recipe for you. In all honesty Mike and I don’t really do much for V-Day.  The most romantic gesture I make is buying him all the half-priced chocolate covered cherries I can find on February 15th. A few months ago I bought a couple of jars of maraschino cherries with the intention of making homemade chocolate covered cherries to surprise him. That never happened.

chocolate covered cherry cookies frosting

I figured the next-best thing I could do is transform them into chocolate covered cherry cookies. After all, what else was I going to do with these cherries?

I was kind of doubtful about these cookies at first because the frosting is spread on prior to baking, but they actually turned out really well! The best thing about these cookies is I’ve used up one jar of the maraschino cherries. I now have only one jar left… and I think I’ll turn it into cherry limeade with a healthy splash of champagne (or vodka). Yum 🙂


 chocolate covered cherry cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
makes 4 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 ounce jar of maraschino cherries, drained, liquid reserved
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in salt, baking powder, and baking soda until combined.
  4. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Slowly add in flour and cocoa powder mixture and mix until combined.
  5. Shape dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets.
  6. Make an indentation in the middle of each cookie with a finger and place a cherry into the middle of each cookie.
  7. For frosting, melt chocolate chips in sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan over low heat or in a glass bowl. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add in 4 teaspoons of reserved cherry juice.
  8. Spoon 1 tablespoon of frosting over each cookie. Bake cookies for 10 – 12 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

recipe slightly adapted from Taste of Home

 


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Creamy Lemon Orzo

I often find myself with a pantry and fridge  full of random items. In this instance it was a pathetically small  amount of orzo and some goat cheese. The perfect solution – a creamy orzo side dish! I loved this so much. I wish I had been able to make more of it so I could eat it as an entree and not a side dish. I honestly cannot even remember what I served it with. Chicken of some sort? Hmm…

In all honesty, I will most likely make a huge pot of this and eat it as a main entree next time.

creamy lemon orzo

Creamy Lemon Orzo

1 cup whole wheat orzo
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup cooked peas
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

  1. Cook orzo according to package directions. 
  2. Meanwhile, whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
  3. Drain orzo and return to pot. Stir in yogurt sauce and crumbled goat cheese and stir until cheese is melted.
  4. Garnish with lemon zest and serve warm.


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Homemade White Bread

027a

Nothing goes better with homemade soups and stews than a freshly baked loaf of bread. I strayed from my tried-and-true bread recipe to try this classic white bread recipe from Cooking Light. This was super easy and I had all the ingredients on hand. The bread was light and fluffy and the crust baked up to a perfect crunch. This bread will definitely make several more appearances in our home.

036a

Homemade White Bread
makes 1 loaf

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm skim milk (100 – 110°F)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Cooking spray

  1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in milk in a mixing large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes or until foamy. Stir in butter. 
  2. Add 4 cups flour and salt to yeast mixture and stir until blended. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, add remaining 1/2 cup flour a little at a time until dough is easy to handle.
  3. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  4. Punch dough down and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll into a 14×7 inch rectangle on a well-floured surface. Roll up rectangle tightly, starting from the short edge. Pinch seam ends to seal. Place loaf seam-side down in a 9×5 inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Cover with damp cloth and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
  5. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  6. Bake for 45 minutes or until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove bread from pan and let cool on wire rack.


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Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond Bar

I finally grew up. I inherited a DSLR from my generous sister, Becca, who has moved onto bigger & better cameras. I started using it just a couple of weeks ago. The trouble is, I don’t know how to use it. Pfft, technology. I’m clunking my way through photos. Each time I make a dish it goes something like this.

Plate food
Poke at it with my fingers to make it look “better”.
Give up because I’m not expert at food plating and presentation.
Set it down and take some pictures.
Too dark.
Mash some buttons on the camera.
Too light.
Mash more buttons.
Too blurry.
Setup a makeshift tripod with my rolled up yoga mat (shut up, it’s all I have).
Still blurry (not surprising).
Prop camera on cake stand.
Snap a few more photos.
Still not great.
Give up and tell myself I’ll fix it in Picasa.
Get to Picasa and can’t figure it out.
Post the picture any way.

Some day I will learn how to use this thing… and how to edit the photo I take. Until then, you’ll have to bear with the cake-stand-as-makeshift-tripod unedited photos.

I’ll make up for subpar photos with stellar recipes, though! I give to you today a fruit & nut bar that will rock your world. It’s inspired by the Cranberry Almond KIND bars, but at a fraction of the cost. It’s filled with amazing goodies – almonds, cashews, dates, cranberries, and cherries.

I was a bit skeptical at first, because the fruit base is a bit unsightly after you blend it all together–
fruit & nut bar paste
But the end result? So good.  Not overly sweet with a bit of tang from the cranberries and just the right amount of saltiness from the nuts.
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Dark Chocolate Fruit & Nut Bar
makes 16 bars
Olive oil spray
1/2 cup cashews
1 1/2 cup pitted dates
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup roasted almonds, divided
1/2 cup puffed rice cereal
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  1. Place cashews in food processor and pulse a few times or until cashews are very roughly chopped. Place into a large, bowl lightly sprayed with olive oil.
  2. Generously spray food processor bowl and blade with olive oil. Place dates, cherries, and cranberries into food processor and blend until a paste forms.
  3. Place fruit paste, 1/2 cup of almonds, and puffed rice into bowl with cashews. Lightly spray hands with olive oil, and hand-mix until all ingredients are well combined. I find it easiest to knead it like I would with bread dough.
  4. Line an 8×8 pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang. Press fruit and nut mixture evenly in pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of almonds on top and press firmly into fruit and nut mixture. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
  5. Lift bars out of pan with foil. Gently peel off foil. Spray a large knife with olive oil and cut bars into 16 bars, approximately 1×4″.
  6. Melt chocolate chips in a small bowl in microwave in 20 second intervals until fully melted.
  7. Drizzle chocolate with a fork over bars. Let chocolate cool and harden before enjoying.


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Spicy Cheese Bread

cheese bread

Nothing says “Madison Farmer’s Market” like Stella’s spicy cheese bread. If you’ve never had the chance to shove handfuls of this deliciousness into you’re mouth, you are missing out. In the summer, Capitol Square is packed full of people cradling delicious, warm bags of cheesy, doughy goodness.

I might go so far to say that this bread was the highlight of my college career.

Being in the real world means I can’t drop everything and jet off to Madison to get this bread whenever I feel like it. And I’m just not willing to shell out $8 + $9 shipping per loaf for it. Fortunately, a pretty tasty replica can be created in your own kitchen.

cheese bread

Spicy Cheese Bread

1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
8 ounces jalapeño cheese, cut into 1/4″ cubes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

  1. Mix together the yeast and water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add sugar, garlic powder, pepper, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper. Mix in the butter and olive oil.
  2. Knead in flour a little at a time by hand or with a stand mixer fit with a dough hook. Add the salt and knead for 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth. Knead in jalapeno cheese.
  3. Grease a large bowl and place dough inside. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for two hours, or until doubled in size.
  4. Grease a round cake pan and place dough inside. Gently press dough to pan edges. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 400°F. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes on bread. Bake for 30 minutes until bread is golden brown. Serve warm.

 

Photos in this post were taken by Rebecca Li