Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes with Marshmallow Honey Butter

 You're dying, right?  I know!  These pankies are pretty outrageously good.  And I'm picky about raisins.  But in these, they shine...without outshining. 

If you've paid any attention to my sources, you might be saying, wow, she's really cooking a lot from Joy the Baker.  It's true, I'm in love with her cookbook, and we're still having a good honeymoon.  But this week especially, because her first chapter is called pancakes pancakes pancakes...and lesser breakfast items.  How could that not show heavily during Pancake Week?

Then there's the butter.  Dessert Club member Sheri made some killer Marshmallow Honey Butter to fill her winning Russian Rose Bread, and I just had to try it.  What better palate than pancakes?

Also.  My 6-year-old has really terrible allergies in the spring.  Someone told me if you eat local honey it helps reduce allergic reactions to pollen, so I bought some at the market where we got our Halloween pumpkins.  Couldn't hurt, I figured.  Turns out, she doesn't even like honey.  But we've been having a good time using it up anyway, and if she happens to ingest any, well, we'll take any help we can get.  She did like this honey butter, at least. 

 Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes (print recipe)

Makes about 3 dozen small pancakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
2 T packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Big pinch freshly ground nutmeg
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 T pure maple syrup
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled plus more for the griddle
1/3 cup golden raisins

1.  Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200 degrees F.  This will help keep the cooked pancakes warm while you finish the entire batch.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Set aside.

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, maple syrup, and melted butter.  Add the buttermilk mixture, all at once, to the flour mixture and fold together with a spatula until all of the flour is incorporated.  Fold in the raisins.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

4.  Heat griddle over medium heat and add a touch of butter to melt.  Spoon or pour batter onto the hot griddle.  Heat until the bottom is browned and the top is bubbly.  Flip and cook through, about 2 minutes on each side.  Place on a heatproof plate in the oven to rest until ready to serve. 

Recipe from Joy the Baker by Joy Wilson

 Marshmallow Honey Butter
Makes 1 cup

1/2 cup butter (I used salted), softened
1/4 c honey
1/4 c marshmallow fluff

In an electric mixer on medium speed, whip ingredients until fluffy and well-combined.  Serve with pancakes or pretty much anything in the world. 

Recipe from Dessert Club member Sheri Wadman

Chocolate Cookie Cupcakes with Raspberry Fluff Frosting

 The picture of this cupcake really speaks for itself.  It also says, "Kari can't lay an Oreo straight."  But it's artistic.  And my 4-year-old was helping. 

But LOOK at this!  A chocolate cupcake with a whole Oreo inside?  I am embarrassed I had to see this in a Martha Stewart magazine.  I don't experiment with recipes very often but I should have been able to come up with this one.  Either way, we all have it now, and it is AWESOME (sung in falsetto voice.) 

Kids love it, and they love to help make them.  This is on my birthday party short list.  So fun.

Now shall we talk about the frosting?  Butter, raspberry jam, and marshmallow cream.  So fluffy.  More AWESOMENESS (falsetto again.)  I shared with friends and the reports came back the kids loved the frosting, too.

 

But.  You can do almost any frosting here, you know.  Anything goes with Oreos!  Maybe a cookies & cream frosting?  I made these a second time and experimented with an Irish cream frosting; I loved it.   I didn't write the recipe, but it was roughly - 6 T soft butter, beaten with about 2-3 T Irish cream creamer (the liquid kind, like you pour in coffee or, in my case, warm milk) and about 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, adding more sugar or creamer as need to get the right consistency.  Delicious. 

Chocolate Cookie Cupcakes with Raspberry Fluff Frosting (print recipe)
1 cup (2 sticks) plus 2 T unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
12 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies
3 T seedless raspberry jam
3 cups marshmallow topping
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.  Melt 2 T butter; let cool.  In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Lightly beat egg and egg yolk and add, along with melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla and 1/2 cup hot water; whisk until smooth.  Spoon 1 T batter into each muffin cup and top with a cookie.

 2.  Top each with 1 T batter.  Bake until cupcakes are puffed and set, 15 minutes, rotating pan halfway through.  Let cupcakes cool in pan on a wire rack. 

3.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup butter and raspberry jam on medium-high until smooth.  Add marshmallow topping and confectioners' sugar and beat until fluffy and smooth, 3 minutes.  Transfer mixture to a pastry bag with a 1/4" tip or a quart-size zip-top bag; with scissors, snip a small hole in one corner.  Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and serve immediately. 

Recipe from Everyday Food

Banana Whoopie Pies

This is one of those posts where the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. I made these for a "light" dessert for a dinner party we attended - they are portable, there is kid appeal, but mostly they're just fun, really delicious, and not too big or heavy.

I made Martha's proscribed cream cheese filling and yeah, it was good, but I just felt it needed something to be real good whoopie pie filling. So I added some marshmallow creme - can that ever go wrong? (don't answer) - and in this case it was just the thing.

Sometimes I think I should start another blog just for banana recipes. They are all so good, I never get tired of them. And hey, these are even good in lunches! Wrap individually and store in the fridge for up to a week - send them in kids lunches and won't they be the envy of the table!
Banana Whoopie Pies (print recipe)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup mashed banana (1 large or 1 1/2 small)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup marshmallow creme1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Combine banana and sour cream in another bowl.

2. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed, until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and 1/2 tsp vanilla, beating until incorporated. Add banana mixture in 2 additions, alternating with flour mixture.

3. Transfer batter to a pastry bat fitted with a 1/4 inch plain tip (or a gallon size Ziploc, then snip off a corner.) Pipe batter into 2-inch rounds on baking sheets, spacing about 1 1/2 inches apart.

4. Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. Slide parchment, with cookies, onto wire racks. Let cool.

5. Beat cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and remaining 1/2 tsp vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Stir in marshmallow creme until the filling is homogenous. Pipe or spoon 1 T cream cheese filling onto the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with the remaining cookies. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediately. Makes about 2 1/2 to 3 dozenRecipe adapted from Martha Stewart

My First Fudge

Can you believe it? I'd just never made fudge before. Along with brioche, eclairs and crepe cake. Fudge is something I buy at specialty shops on vacation and get on goody plates at Christmas. I love it; it's like squares of thick frosting. I can eat a lot of it. Which may be why I've never made it.

Not true. The reason I've never made it, is because once when I was young (maybe 13?) I tried. I had some recipe that required the boiling product to reach "soft ball stage," which I had very carefully read up on, but try as I might I couldn't get a soft ball to form in my cup of water and the mass overcooked and it was all a waste. And I was scarred. Soft ball, my foot!

So until now I've just let others cook my fudge for me. But I had this jar of marshmallow creme in my cupboard (I had bought it for some recipe I never ended up making), and it had a recipe on the back, and I was having one of those crappy days when a couple hunks of solid frosting sounded OK, so I whipped this up. Thanks to my reliable candy thermometer, no soft balling was required.

I think there are a lot of ways to make fudge, but I think the final product is always good and all pretty much the same. As was this. It looks and tastes like fudge. Which is really good. And which makes a crappy day quite a bit sweeter.

My First Fudge
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 can (5 oz.) evaporated milk
12 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tsp vanilla

1. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil.

2. Bring sugar, butter and milk to a full rolling boil in a large saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 minutes or until 234 degrees on candy thermometer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

3. Add chocolate and marshmallow creme; stir until melted. Stir in nuts and vanilla.

4. Pour into pan. Cool and slice into squares. Makes 3 pounds.
Recipe from the Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme jar

Click here for printable recipe

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake

What I don't get is why I didn't used to like cheesecake. When I was younger cheese turned into cake seemed wrong. But now it seems...Oh. So. Right.

I think this is the biggest cheesecake I've made (in my NEW 10-inch springform!) Definitely the most successful. It is divine! One person I served this to said it was better than the Cheesecake Factory. I understand he was being polite and possibly exaggerating, but I'd say he wasn't far off. Only it served up a little messy because I didn't have wax paper between each slice (how do they do that?) But I did try a new trick: slicing with dental floss, and that did a pretty good job.

Anyway. This cheesecake is fabulous. If you like cheesecake (who doesn't?) and lemon (who doesn't?), make it. Love the toasty marshmallow meringue and definitely serve it up with fresh raspberries if available. Wowzah.

Lemon Meringue Cheesecake
Crust:

1 3/4 cups crushed shortbread cookies (about 24 Lorna Doones)

6 T unsalted butter, melted

3 T sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cheesecake Filling:

2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, softened (that's 40 ounces or 5 (8-oz.) bars)

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

1/3 cup whipping cream

1 T vanilla

2 T fresh lemon juice

2 tsp pure lemon extract

1/2 tsp lemon oil, if available

Zezt of 1 lemon, finely minced

Finishing Touches:

Store-bought lemon curd

1 (7-oz.) jar marshmallow creme

Raspberries

Mint leaves

1. Preheat oven to 325. For crust, mix all ingredients and press into bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Wrap outside of pan with foil to ensure no leakage of batter into water or water into cake. Set a roasting pan filled halfway with water in the oven.

2. For cheesecake filling, in a mixer bowl, blend cream cheese with sugar and flour. Add condensed milk and blend well. Then add eggs, egg yolks, whipping cream, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon extract and lemon oil and blend well on low speed, making sure no cream cheese is stuck at the bottom well of mixing bowl. Fold in lemon zest.

3. Spoon filling into prepared pan. Place cheesecake gently in water bath. Bake 45 to 60 minutes or until cheesecake is just set. Turn off oven, open oven door, and let cool in oven at least 1 hour. Refrigerate cheesecake overnight.

4. To garnish cheesecake, the next day or once the cake is well-chilled at least 8 hours adn 1 1/2 hours before you want to serve it, unmold cake and cover with half of the lemon curd. Then add marshmallow creme in dollops.

5. Preheat oven to 425 and position oven rack to upper third position. Place cake in oven briefly to brown top (you can also use Broil setting but watch it carefully - I broiled and it took less than 2 minutes.)

6. Serve cake, offering remaining lemon curd, whisked so that it is smooth. Garnish with fresh raspberries and a few mint leaves.Recipe adapted from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman