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Family Friendly Fridays: A Review of Small Batch Baking For Chocolate Lovers

May 6, 2011 By Julie 55 Comments

Debby Maugans is my new best friend. No I’ve never met her, but let me just say this. Any woman that can put together a cookbook like the one she did, most certainly should qualify for best friend status.

I recently received her newest cookbook for review entailing a treasure of recipes for small batch baking. But we’re not talking just any old recipes. We’re talking all chocolate, all the time recipes. With everything from strawberry chocolate tarts to chocolate chip cookie souffles to white chocolate lemon creme brulee to this beauty pictured above, the diva milk chocolate layer cake, she fills my chocolate sweet tooth like no other cookbook ever has. And get this, it’s all done in manageable proportions. The recipe for that cake you see above makes two of those little chocolate gifts; one for me and one for my husband. One indulgence and that’s it. No extra cake waiting around to taunt your waistline day after day. Just one glorious craving fulfilled in a personal sized portion.

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Family Friendly Fridays: Boston “Black Forest” Cream Pie

March 11, 2011 By Julie 25 Comments

Who wants some Boston Cream Pie? How about some Black Forest Cake? How about both? Pie meet cake. Cake meet pie. Don’t they look happy together? I like to think of their relationship as a little slice of heaven.

It’s been awhile since I cranked out a killer dessert so I figured it was high time. That, and I really needed a serious hit of chocolate. Who doesn’t every now and then? Enter into the pie picture my friend black forest cake. Super duper chocolaty goodness with a cherry or two thrown in for good measure. Booyah.

Let’s review. A Boston cream pie is typically a sponge cake with pastry cream in the middle and ganache poured over the top. A black forest cake is a decadently chocolate cake with layers of whipped cream and cherries sandwiched between. Cake. Pie. Cake. Pie. Pake? Cie? Hey, call it whatever you want, I call it good and gone. I’ve dressed this little lady up in a chocolate sponge, added cherries and cream to her middle and ganached her from head to toe. If you thought plain ol’ Boston cream pie was good, prepare to be one up’ed.

Have I got you ready for your own little slice of pie heaven?

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Family Friendly Fridays: Homemade Animal Crackers

March 4, 2011 By Julie 51 Comments

If you have small children then you are probably more than intimate with the almighty animal cracker. My pantry is never without a bag of these little beauties. They’re perfect for pacifying a cranky hungry toddler, they travel well, and they have the same soothing effect as a cookie, only there’s the added benefit of them not being quite as big as the real thing which ultimately allows for multiple handouts. (Aka… more handouts = greater spacing between crackers = happy child for longer period of time = happy adult for longer period of time). Heck, I’ve even been known to indulge in a handful or two of these sweet little treats when little eyes aren’t following my every move.

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