Buddy's Birthday Cake

Buddy requested a red velvet cake for his birthday.

Baked in the flower mold and frosted with cream cheese frosting:

Topped with chocolate ganache:

YUM!

Any red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting recipe will work.

This is the chocolate ganache recipe I use for my cooking workshops:

1. Heat ½ C. heavy whipping cream in DD stainless on medium heat until it is steaming.
2. Remove from heat and add 1 C. semisweet chocolate chips.
   Be sure chips are covered by cream.
3. Let sit for about 5 minutes. 
4. Stir well with whisk or heat resistant spatula until uniform consistency.
5. Let it cool until it is quite thick before putting on cake.

Comfort Food

Sometimes the only thing that will satisfy your appetite is a favorite comfort food.  The other day I was craving my mom's original "TV" dinner, a creation made long before Swanson appeared in the stores: a hamburger patty topped with a slice of onion and a cut up potato and carrot, seasoned with salt & pepper, wrapped up in foil, and baked in the oven. 

I no longer use foil because Al³⁺isn't good for you, and my Demarle Flexipat cooks faster and more evenly.

Here's what it looked like:

  

Have you tried fixing your favorite comfort food in Demarle?

Breakfast Ideas using Demarle

Chocolate Brownie Eggs

With Easter approaching, you may be planning an Easter Brunch. Special occasions provide an opportunity to prepare special dishes or food that is a treat. The parties I'm doing this month feature our egg-shape tray to make cakes and chocolate eggs.  Call me to schedule your cooking demonstration!


Recently, I experimented with preparing bacon and hash browns using the Flexipat® and Silpat® (no pics, sorry). Not surprisingly, the results were great!

If you set the temperature at 375°, you can also prepare both of these side-dishes (first bacon, and then hash browns) on the bottom rack of  the oven while you cook the chile relleno crust-less quiche.

Oven Bacon

Preparing bacon in the oven with your Flexipat® not only eliminates the need to stand over the stove and turn the bacon strips, it does not smell up the whole house.

• Preheat oven to 400°
• Place the Flexipat® on the medium PBS
• Cut bacon strips in half
• Position bacon strips on the Flexipat®; some overlap is OK
• Bake for 15-20 min, depending on desired crispness
• Remove from oven and use the polyamide spatula to take bacon off  Flexipat®
• Placing bacon on paper towels removes excess grease
• Serve and enjoy!

Clean-up: Use paper towels to absorb the bacon grease in the Flexipat® prior to washing.  I am always amazed that I can cook something at a high temperature in the oven with this bake-ware and not have stuck-on food. As always, clean up any spills on your PBS immediately, and it will continue to look brand new.

Oven Hashbrowns

This quick and simple idea using prepackaged frozen hash browns makes hash browns that are crisp without frying.  I used the large Silpat® and PBS.

• Thaw frozen hash browns in refrigerator overnight
• Preheat oven to 400°
• Place Silpat® on the appropriate size PBS
• Toss hashbrowns in Demarle Stainless Steel mixing bowl with enough oil to coat them
  I used grape seed oil because it has a high smoking point and I like the nutty flavor
• Season with sea salt
• Spread hash browns on Silpat®, either in individual portions or as one mass. Do not pile too high.
• Bake for 10-15 min
  
• Remove from oven and use the polyamide spatula to remove to serving dish
• Serve and enjoy!

Hockey Puck Soup

I love to make home-made soup, especially during the winter months. Not only does it warm my tummy after filling the house with tempting aromas, there is much to share or save for later. True comfort food. One of the things that sold me on Demarle products was the idea of  freezing leftovers in the trays, and then storing them in freezer bags. It is so much healthier than using plastic ware that leeches chemicals into foods upon reheating. My favorite is the Round Tray, which holds six 8-ounce portions. The frozen bricks resemble hockey pucks, hence the nickname "hockey puck" soup.

Here's how you do it:

1. Place Flexipat tray of choice on the medium perforated baking sheet.
2. Fill wells with soup.   
3. Cover with the medium Silpat®
4. Place in freezer until portions freeze.
5. Remove from freezer and uncover.
6. Immediately pop out the frozen hockey pucks and place in a freezer bag.
7. Store hockey pucks in freezer.

To reheat, microwave a hockey puck in a bowl covered by the octagonal Silpat® or warm in DD stainless on your stove top over medium-low heat.

Cheesecake Made Easy

Over the holidays, I made my first cheesecake using the large round mold that Cheesecake Factory utilizes to bake their product commercially. It is a little intimidating to imagine that you can peel away the flexi-mold and slide the cheesecake out intact, but you can.

I got this recipe from the internet and modified it, but the result was so tasty that my sister-in-law requested it.  So, I'll share it with you, as well.  The texture is very light for a cheesecake, and the lemon flavor makes for a tart dessert. 

 

Lucious Lemon Cheesecake

Modied from Kaaren Jurack @ allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
CRUST:
1 1/4 cups ginger snaps, finely ground (GF: 1 7-oz pkg Pamela's Ginger Mini Snapz)
3/4 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted

FILLING:
4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
juice of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

TOPPING:
2 cups sour cream (I substituted Mountain High Yoghurt)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon lemon extract
 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine crumbs, almonds, and sugar in a bowl; stir in melted butter. Press onto the bottom and about an inch up the sides of the large round mold; set aside. 
2. In a second mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low speed just until combined. Add lemon juice, lemon peel, and vanilla; beat just until blended. Pour into crust.
3. Bake at 350° F for 60 minutes or until center is almost set. Remove from the oven; let stand for 5 minutes while you combine topping ingredients; spread over filling. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. 
4. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Refrigerate overnight. 
6. Remove from mold by peeling the side of the mold down and sliding the cheesecake onto a serving plate.
7. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before slicing.

 Savor one luscious bite at a time:

 

The Ease of Cooking with Demarle Products

I prepared several desserts for a church function this week.  I was thrilled anew with the ease of cooking in  Demarle non-stick flexipans and trays. It is so easy to make batch after batch of muffins, cakes, and cookies.

• The baked goods pop right out of the pans or slide off the Silpat^®
• The clean up in hot, soapy water goes so fast.  Just shake the tray or mold dry and move on to the next baking project.

If you haven't tried this amazing product, call me to schedule a show 'n go or a party. Excelled host rewards mean you get extra free product this month.

Healthy Traditions

One of the things our family did during Thanksgiving this year was to start a new, healthy food tradition.  If your family tradition includes ham and all of the fixin's for Christmas Dinner, you might want to try this recipe.

Healthy Holiday Yams

From Kristi Weber

This simple recipe provides a tasty alternative to high-calorie candied yams.

Ingredients:

6 medium-sized yams

¼ C oil (I used grape-seed oil)

1 T cinnamon

¼ t nutmeg
Demarle Tools:

Paring knife & Santoku knife

Magnetic Measuring Trio

Mixing Bowl

Flat spatula from set of 3 spatulas

Large PBS and Silpat®

Directions:

Peel washed yams and cut into ½-1 inch cubes.

Put cubed yams into mixing bowl.

Combine oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg in small ramekin or measuring cup.  Mix well.

Add to yams and toss with flat spatula, completely coating pieces with oil mixture.

Spread cubed yams in a single layer on Silpat®.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes.

Serve while hot.