Cheater's Chocolate Mousse

For Valentine's day, my husband and I decided to forego the crowded restaurants and instead we got takeout and had a picnic on the beach. I had to work that day, so I didn't have time to make a meal, but I did have time to whip up the simple chocolate mousse my husband had been requesting. Nothing says love like chocolate.

I also happened to have some graham cracker crumbs lying around due to the fact that digestive biscuits apparently weigh a lot more graham crackers. Do not try to substitute them one for one. Trust me! But you can use those extra crumbs to add some interest and texture to your chocolate mousse. I layered in the crumbs as I put the mousse into the glass. Simple and delicious.

I called this cheater's chocolate mousse because I used a package of plain gelatin to thicken it. It's really foolproof. And if you have an electric mixer, it comes together in no time. If not, your family and friends will know you really love them after you spent ten minutes frantically whisking. Use the best chocolate you can afford. Even if that's only store brand chocolate chips, don't worry. It will still taste amazing.

We loved watching the sunset over the Pacific and stuffing our faces with some of our favorite foods. I put the mousse in a pretty glass for you, but you know I piled a whole mess of it into a plastic container and threw two spoons in our cooler backpack to take to the beach. It's more romantic if you share.

Cheater's Chocolate Mousse
Recipe from 1001 Fast Easy Recipes


1 packet unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or chips
1 tsp vanilla
1 pint heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

• In a medium saucepan, sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/4 cup water. Leave it alone for 2 minutes to let the gelatin absorb.
• Add the corn syrup and cook over low heat for five minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the chocolate is melted and everything is smooth.
• Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the whipped cream in two batches. A few streaks are okay. 
• Spoon it in to whatever you want to serve it in. Fancy crystal or a bucket. It doesn't matter. You can also layer in some graham cracker or cookie crumbs or other fun stuff at this point.
• Refrigerate for two hours, then try not to eat it all.

Cookie Pizza

Sometimes you get called in to work on your day off. Sometimes you have last minute house guests arrive well after your normal bed time. Sometimes life gets crazy. When that happens to me, I know I need something sweet. Dessert is always the answer. But it's been a long week, and my feet hurt, so I need it to be simple.

Depending on your level of fatigue, this can be made with all store bought ingredients. I love baking from scratch. I think scratch sugar cookies beat out the stuff from the tube any day. But they take work. And planning. And I already told you I was tired. Sheesh!

You can also top this giant cookie with just about anything you want or have lying around your kitchen. I used peanut butter as the "sauce" of my pizza, then peanut butter chips and m&ms for the toppings. You could even put fruit on it if you want, I guess, but don't call me to come over. Sugar people. It's what I need.

Simple and sweet. Oh, and fun. Did I mention fun? This cookie pizza is dessert and kindergarten art project all in one. If you have actual tiny humans in your house, by all means, press them into labor by making them decorate their own masterpiece. If not, you can go to town on it yourself. Don't forget to go all Jackson Pollack on it with the hot fudge before serving.   I promise, everyone will be happy.

Cookie Pizza
Recipe from 1001 Fast Easy Recipes

18 ounces of your favorite sugar cookie dough
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup m&ms
Hot fudge sauce
(All measurements are approximate. Get creative, go crazy)

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Grease a 12 inch pizza pan, then spread the cookie dough onto it. I used my hands to press it out evenly. Leave a one inch border to avoid the dough spreading beyond the pan as it rises.
• Bake on the bottom rack of your oven for 20 minutes.
• Remove it from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes
• Spread the peanut butter evenly over your now cooled giant cookie.
• Sprinkle on the peanut butter chips, m&ms and any and everything you see fit.
• Use your pizza cutter to slice it up into wedges.
• Drizzle some hot fudge over each slice before serving.

Scotcheroos

What do you do when you come home from the grocery store and realize that you bought butterscotch chips instead of peanut butter chips? Well, first you curse your stupidity, then you search the 27 page list of links you've saved over the months for a recipe that will use up those butterscotch chips. It will take a while because you're not really a butterscotch type of person. But you have people coming over for dinner, and how can you, the self-proclaimed baker, not have something for dessert? Eventually, though, you'll find these.

Scotcheroos are a crisp rice treat mixed with peanut butter and topped with a layer of chocolate and butterscotch. My dinner guests each had seconds. Judging by the yummy sounds and the rapid succession with which they were consumed, especially by my husband, who ate three in a row the next day, I'd say they were a success for just about everyone.

If you are a butterscotch person, try these scotcheroos.

Peanut Butter Muffins

I had this awesome plan to make a cookie pizza and share the experience with you. But then life happened, and cookie pizza did not. The husband wanted to go for burgers at Teddy's after work and then walk around Diamond Head. This unplanned adventure led to my first time seeing a humpback whale. It was from a distance, but still totally amazing. Cookie pizza can wait.

I first made these peanut butter muffins in Taiwan in my oven the size of your average dorm room microwave. It was a special request for a friend. They turned out moist and delicious. They are the perfect portable snack. I should know. I wrapped each one up in plastic wrap, put them in a shopping bag, and carried them all over Taichung City on foot, passing out muffins to friends and acquaintances in People's Park, at TGI Fridays, and later to complete strangers at La Ble D'or. This is a beer only establishment with a French name, a Taiwanese staff who wear German outfits, and Spanish music playing in the background. The perfect example of cognitive dissonance that I lived with on a daily basis during my two years as an expatriate.

But back to those muffins. They are delicious both before and after a giant beer. The giant beer makes it seem okay to eat four of them, though. They're topped off with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar for a touch of extra sweetness. Next time I make them, I think I'll hide some jelly inside. Because... um... why not? It would taste amazing. Make them. Share them. Horde them. It doesn't matter. You won't be able to stop eating them.

*Photos 2 and 3 by Gillian Logie

Quick Lemon Cream Dessert

Are you in love with Nigella Lawson?  I'm in love with Nigella Lawson.  Completely in love.

She is gracious, witty, and beautiful.  And it seems she never skips dessert.  Her books are full of quick little things you can throw together from your pantry to satisfy your sweet tooth.  This is only part of what makes her so brilliant.

I've adapted her recipe for Lemon Meringue Fool to fit the choices at my American grocery store.  I've never heard of a meringue nest, and couldn't find one at the store.  Making one for myself sort of defeats the purpose of making this quick and easy.  So, I went with shortbread cookies instead.  They're chewy and buttery and completely delicious.  They add a lovely texture to the creamy tart dessert.

This dessert couldn't be easier.  Thin out some lemon curd with limoncello or lemon juice.  Whip up some cream.  This will replace your work out for the day if, like me you have to whip the cream by hand because you broke your mixer the week before making homemade ice cream.  Blast some cookies to rubble in your food processor, then fold the three together.

Put it into your prettiest glasses, or put it in a bucket.  Either way, it's going to taste amazing.  Nigella has gorgeous vintage martini glasses, but not everyone can be so lucky.  I put an extra dab of lemon curd, some more cookie crumbs, and a shortbread cookie on top.  And then I scarfed down the whole thing in about two minutes.

Fast, easy, delicious.  What more do I need to say?

Lemon Cream Dessert
Recipe adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson.

150g lemon curd
1 Tbsp lemon juice (or limoncello if you have it)
250ml heavy cream
15-20 shortbread cookies

• In a small bowl, stir together the lemon curd and lemon juice to thin it out a bit.
• Whisk the cream until it just reaches stiff peaks.  It will stiffen up more as you mix in the other ingredients.
• Fold the lemon mixture into the cream in two batches.  It should be streaky, so don't over mix it.
• Stash the cream in the fridge while you put the shortbread cookies into the food processor.  A zip top bag and a rolling pin work just as well.  Pulse the cookies until they are coarse and chunky.  Not too fine.
• Fold most of the crumbs into the lemon and cream, but hold a few back to sprinkle on top.
• Once everything is incorporated, divide it into four glasses.
• Add a dab of lemon curd, cookie crumbs, and a shortbread cookie.
• Stash them in the fridge until you're ready to devour them.

Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream: A Delicious Disaster

I am not fortunate enough to have my own ice cream maker, but one of my blogging heroes, Michelle at Brown Eyed Baker , told me I could make homemade ice cream without one.  I had been eager to try it out for ages, but...  Well, I'm sorta lazy.

Things didn't go exactly as planned.  I had to switch to a larger pan.  The recipe said medium sauce pan, but I guess my idea of a medium sauce pan is different.  It also said stir occasionally.  My ice cream mix came out with delicious little lumps of cake that stuck to the bottom of the pan.  I don't know if those cake lumps are supposed to be there, but I fully approve of them.

Then came the bit where you let the ice cream mix freeze and then mix it with your hand mixer.  Make sure you have a nice powerful hand mixer if you do this.  After the second freeze, I ended up blowing out the motor on my hand mixer, which totally sucks because I work at the mall and it will take me months to save up enough for a new one.  Oh, AND as I was putting the completed ice cream back in the freezer, my cake holder fell off the top of the fridge and broke.  This was the point at which I sat down on the kitchen floor and wanted to cry.

But even with all that, this ice cream was amaze-balls!!!  We can't stop eating it.  It freezes quite hard, so leave it out of the freezer for a good 10 to 15 minutes before you try to scoop it.  It's super creamy, and a little sticky.  I made my frosting blue because I hate pink.  And that's the best part about making your own ice cream.  It's exactly the way you want it. If you want me to make this for you, you can pick your favorite color.

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Tart and Finding My Voice

Everything I know about baking and cooking I learned from watching Food Network.  Growing up, I was never interested in being in the kitchen.  I barely had time to eat, let alone make a cake.  But these days it's all I can think about.  I've constantly got baking on the brain.

So, I made you this chocolate raspberry ganache tart.

I made this for my very first customer here in Honolulu.  Usually the stuff I bake is for my own personal enjoyment, and if there's anything left over, our co-workers get cookies constantly pressed upon them, lest I eat them all by myself.  But this one was for a co-worker's mom's friend's birthday party.  Did you follow that?  Don't worry, it's not really important.

The thing you don't want to overlook is how incredibly decadent this tart is.  Holy monkey, it's a lot of chocolate.  Gorgeous, silky, heavenly, make you swoon chocolate.  Oh, and raspberries.  They're up there, too.  Normally those would be left on my plate, but like I said, this wasn't for me.  I hear normal humans like that sort of thing though.

See that crooked bit?  That's what happens when the tart shifts around in your cake carrier in the car and then you have to try to fix it later and pipe on more whipped cream to make it look slightly less wonky.  It was a perfect circle at my house, I swear.  I can be a perfectionist for sure, but when it comes to dessert, how something tastes takes precedence over looks every time.

Trust me, you don't want to leave out the fresh whipped cream.  It cuts the chocolate ever so slightly and adds a light airy contrast to the dense ganache.  They compliment each other perfectly.  This tart would be perfect for Valentine's Day, but don't wait for an excuse.  Just try it.

*Photos by the awesome Jamie Sweet