Chocolate Semifreddo and a Winner

If you have been with me for years and years 

you will remember that we went to visit 

my husband's cousin in Bologna, Italy.  

My daughter had just finished culinary art 

school and she came with us.  His adorable 

cousin set up an opportunity to have two 

beautiful ladies, one a countess, teach us 

some cooking classes in her home. 

(Me, Victoria, Kirk's cousin Tonya, Antonella and my daughter Amanda)

We began the adventure by going shopping 

at the small local stores with them and then 

on to cooking.  For dessert they taught us 

a semi-freddo, which is a creamy half frozen 

dessert, almost like a frozen mousse. 

Click here to see that post. 

I started that post by saying Bologna is known as 

"The Fat One" because foods from Bologna are 

rich, and semifreddo certainly qualifies for that.

I hadn't made it again until we recently 

went to a restaurant and ordered it for dessert.  Each bite was so creamy and delicious that I decided I hadto go home and make some.  

At the restaurant they offered a slice of white 

chocolate semifreddo and a slice of chocolate 

semifreddo.  I decided to make just a chocolate 

and to serve it in individual dishes rather than 

a traditional loaf pan since I didn't have one 

here in Cabo.

I found a fabulous recipe from Family Style Food

and we have made it three times now!  

(Covid pounds!!!)

I made a few slight changes to her 

recipe for ease and considering what 

ingredients I had.  I also divided it into 

6 individual dishes instead of 4.   This is the most 

luxuriant dessert ever and not difficult even 

though there are a few steps.  It also lasts well 

in the freezer so you can take one out later and 

indulge again and again.

Chocolate Semifreddo Recipe

Crumble one and a half Oreo cookies per small 

serving dish and divide into six dishes. 

2 T. plus 1/4 C. sugar

1/4 C. water

1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 T. cocoa powder (sifted)

4 egg yolks

1 C. whipping cream

3/4 C. mascarpone cheese

Place the 2 T. sugar and 1/4 C. water into a small 

saucepan and heat until the sugar has dissolved.  

Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips 

and cocoa powder.  Stir until smooth.  

Remove the melted chocolate to a large bowl 

and allow it to cool for about ten minutes.  

Place the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with the 

remaining 1/4 C. sugar and beat with the whisk 

about 5 minutes until it becomes light and forms 

a ribbon.  

Fold the egg mix into the chocolate until well blended.  

Wash and dry the mixer bowl and whisk and 

then add the whipping cream and mascarpone cheese 

and beat until soft peaks form.  Gently fold the 

chocolate mixture into the cream until it is 

well blended.  Spoon into your dessert dishes or 

a loaf pan, if you prefer. 

Freeze for at least 4 hours until firm.  Garnish with 

whipped cream and chocolate shavings and a 

little raspberry sauce if desired.  

It should be served semi frozen, so remove it from the 

freezer for a few minutes before you eat it. You can 

unmold it or just eat it straight from the bowl - we 

started to just eat it from the bowl - drawing a line 

through the center so we could share it - haha!  

Amazing - wow your friends and family or just 

yourself with this one.  

Now to the winner of our MacKenzie-Childs giveaway 

Barb from the Sewing and Knitting Loft  

was chosen randomly and 

is the winner of the beautiful tea towel. 

 She told me she doesn't often comment, 

so it was a good thing 

she did this time!  Congratulations!

Ombre Bunny Mini Cakes

I am just fascinated with any dessert that is individual 

and beautiful and these are just magical.  

Individual desserts just seem more special, 

and with the layers of pink and white - these 

just made me smile while I was making them.

Fortunately, I had all the ingredients at home to 

make the Classic White Cake 

from Cake by Courtney.  

She is local here in Utah, but she posts so 

many of her wonderful recipes online.  

I made my cakes in 4 - 6 inch pans lined with 

parchment paper, then cut the layers in half, 

and finally cut with a round biscuit cutter.  

A full recipe made 6 mini cakes.  

The only thing I changed with her recipe 

was using almond flavoring for my frosting 

rather than vanilla.  

With four layers, they are so tall and wanted to 

become Leaning Towers of Easter - so I 

used bamboo skewers to hold them upright. 

The ears were rolled out of fondant, and I used 

a bunny cookie cutter to cut the ears.  A little 

light corn syrup and a sprinkle of lustre dust 

finished the ears off. 

They were as yummy as they look.  I 

doubt any will last until Easter Sunday, 

but it is always fun to spread holidays out a little. 

Too Easy Panna Cotta

The first time I tried Panna Cotta I fell in love, 

so why has it taken me so long to try making it?

We made it for a Pinterest Sunday Dinner, where 

everyone has to try something new off Pinterest.  

It is a really fun idea to get everyone participating 

and stretching their cooking skills.  

The kids fell in love with it too, and without 

degrading it any, I explained to them that it 

was like making cream Jello!!!  It is that easy!!!!!

What took me so long?

You just soften the gelatin on the half and half, 

warm it up until the gelatin dissolves, then 

stir in a little sugar, and heat it a touch until 

the sugar dissolves.  Remove and add flavoring! 

Cool it just like Jello and enjoy!  

Panna Cotta Recipe

3 C. half and half

1 pkg gelatin 

1/3 C. sugar

1 tsp. clear vanilla

pinch salt

Topping

Passionfruit syrup

Raspberry syrup

Fresh Raspberries

Place half and half in a saucepan and sprinkle the 

gelatin on top.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Whisk in 

the gelatin and heat on medium for a few minutes 

until the gelatin dissolves.  Don't let the milk come 

to a simmer or boil.  Remove from heat and whisk 

in the sugar.  Heat for a minute or two to make 

sure the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat 

and add vanilla and salt.  

Pour into serving dishes and refrigerate about 4 hours 

or until set.  When set, top with desired sauce and 

fresh fruit.

Passionfruit Syrup

1 C. passionfruit concentrate (I buy mine on Amazon)

2 C. sugar

4 T. cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 C. cold water

Bring the passionfruit and sugar to a boil in a saucepan 

and dissolve the sugar.  Meanwhile mix the cornstarch 

in cold water and then whisk into the syrup.  Boil for 

a minute to thicken.  Let cool.  This will keep a long time 

in the fridge.  

Raspberry Puree

12 oz. pkg frozen raspberries

1/2 C. sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Let the raspberries thaw and then place them in a blender 

with the sugar and lemon juice.  Whirl it until smooth.  

Press the puree through a fine mesh sieve.  

The passionfruit was my favorite.  We love to keep 

some of the syrup in the fridge at all times.

Next it is Chocolate Panna Cotta! 

Hubby wanted me to make some more 

the very next day.

Chocolate Limone Brownies

The tang of lemon with chocolate is right up

there with the tart of raspberries paired with

chocolate!  

One of our favorite places for pizza is

Pizzeria Limone and they have a lemon

frosted deep, dark and rich brownie

that I just can't get enough of, so I

decided to make a copycat recipe.

These were easy to make and they have just the right

amount of lemon to give it that punch against

chocolate.  If you like lemon and chocolate together,

these are going to become your favorite go to brownies.

I made mine is a huge 12x18 inch pan, so I tripled

the brownie recipe.  That gave me about 60 brownies

and I only needed about 30 for a neighborhood

"Walk and Talk".  We do this during summer months

and two or three homes are designated as the stopping

spots on a Sunday evening.  Food is served at the spots

and neighbors take turns making the items.  I was asked

to bring brownies, and I wanted to bring something unique

as others were bringing brownies also.  

We also had a dinner for our Young Single Adult

group that we are in charge of, so I brought a huge

plate to that, as I had so many.  They were gobbled up

first thing at both places.  I did make a little sign

designating them as lemon brownies, as I have a

son who doesn't like lemon (can you imagine?) and

I didn't want them wasted.  

Brownie Recipe

(For a 12x18 metal pan - cut in half for a 9x13)

4 1/2 C. flour

1 1/2 C. cocoa

6 C. sugar

2 tsp salt

Mix the above with a whisk.

Stir together

3 C. vegetable oil

2 T. vanilla

12 eggs

Stir into the flour mix.  Add 3 C. semi-sweet

chips, or a combination of semi-sweet, milk, and

white.  The chips are optional, but make it really

chocolatey.  

Stir together.  Grease the bottom of pan and spread

batter in pan.  Smooth out.  Bake at 350 for 40-50 

minutes.  You can tell brownies are about done when

you begin to smell them.  

Let cool.

Lemon Cream Frosting

1 C. softened butter

6 C. powdered sugar

Rind from 2 large lemons, finely grated

Juice from 2 large lemons

Additional water or milk as needed

In a large mixing bowl, mix the butter, powdered sugar

and lemon juice and rind.  Add water or milk 1 T. at

a time until you get a nice soft consistency.  Beat for

about 5 minutes.

Spread evenly over cooled brownies.  Let sit until

the frosting develops a crust.

Chocolate Glaze

2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C. butter

Melt together for 1 minute in microwave safe

bowl.  Remove and stir.  Melt for additional

30 seconds if needed.  Stir until smooth.  Pour over

the frosting and smooth lightly with an off-set spatula.

Refrigerate until chocolate is set.  

When you want to cut the brownies, let them come

to room temperature so that the chocolate doesn't

break while you cut them.  Run a sharp, long knife

under hot water and quickly wipe it dry with a paper

towel.  Make a lengthwise cut, then repeat the heating

and drying of the knife for every cut.  This will give

you beautiful sharp edges.

Store tightly covered.

These would be great with some ice cold lemonade

on a hot summer day!

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  I hope you try them.

Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova

Chocolate and peppermint just speak Christmas

to me, so when I first had this fabulous dessert,

I had to make it myself.  I made this and blogged

about it a couple of years ago, but this one is even

more Christmas party worthy, that I had to

blog about it.

The recipe originally came from

Williams Sonoma but

here is my adapted recipe.  It really is

easy to make, but does take a little time.  I

actually recipes like that for when I want a

shopwstopper of a dessert. 

Chocolate Peppermint Pavlova

Meringue Rounds

12 egg whites, room temperature

3 1/2 C. sugar

2 T. cornstarch

1 T. lemon juice

1 T. vanilla extract

Place parchment paper on two really large

baking pans.  Draw 7 inch circles on the paper.

The meringues will grow so don't have them

too close together.  On my large pans I could

do 3.  My pans are 15x21.  (If you don't have

that big of a pan, you could do this process half

at a time, whipping only six of the egg whites

at a time, and then baking and repeating, but

I don't want to spend that much time waiting around.)

In a clean bowl - free from any oils, whip the

egg whites until stiff peaks just begin to form,

then slowly incorporate the sugar mixed with the cornstarch,

 about a tablespoon

at a time, and continue to do this (takes a while) until

all the sugar is incorporated. The egg whites should be 

stiff and glossy.  Remove the whip attachment and fold

in the lemon juice and the vanilla.

Spoon a couple of large dollops

on the circles, and spread the meringue almost to the

edge with a spoon and flatten out the top

with a spatula.  Try to not have any real thin edges

or spots.

I did three per pan, as these are fragile and you

might have one or two break.

Bake at 200 for 1 1/2 hours.  Turn off oven

and let meringue sit in oven for

another hour.  Remove from oven

and place pan on rack and let cool, then peel

off the paper gently, using a spatula to help

lift them.

(I have since changed this from their recipe. 

 The original recipe had

you bake the meringues for 1 hour at 300 degrees

and then remove them immediately.  That caused

the meringues to be browner than I wanted and

caused a lot of cracking.  The longer time at a

lower temperature gave me white meringues with

little or no cracking.

Chocolate Ganache

Heat 2 1/2 C. heavy whipping cream in

the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes or until

scalded.  Pour over 3 1/2 C. semi sweet chocolate

chips.  Let sit for a couple of minutes to melt the

chocolate, then whisk until smooth.  Place the bowl

in the freezer for a couple of minutes, then give the

chocolate a whisk.  The ganache is going to begin to

cool around the edges and you want to whisk it all 

together.  Keep doing this until it is a soft spreading

consistency, like pudding.  This is a quick way to

cool the ganache down.

Meanwhile chop 10-12 oz. of peppermint

bark.  I used Ghiradelli's.

Place a dollop of ganache on your cake platter.

Lift a meringue round with the help of a spatula

and center it on your cake plate.

Spoon 1/4th of the ganache almost to the edge of

the meringue layer.  Sprinkle about 1/4 of your

peppermint bark on top of the layer.  Repeat three

more times.  (William's Sonomas called for 5

layers, but I ran out of ganache and this is plenty tall.)

The meringues will crumble and break around the

edges as you cut it to serve, but no one will care

because this is out of this world delish!

Use some shards of the peppermint bark

to decorate the top.

I wanted this one a little special, so I decided to add

some glittering truffle balls.  These are just 

Lindt truffles that I glitterized.

For the gold, dip a soft bristled brush in clear vanilla,

almond, or lemon juice and then into your gold

luster dust and paint the truffle.

For the pink, paint your truffle with clear vanilla 

and then sprinkle disco dust over the vanilla.  It

will stick to the vanilla.

The last bit of decoration I added were white

chocolate wings.  Simply melt some white chocolate

discs and smear some on parchment paper using

the back of your spoon.  Sprinkle crushed candy or

sugar while the chocolate is still wet.  Place in the

fridge to harden.

Absolutely heavenly!  This one is worth the time

and effort.

Christmas memories in a bite!!

I will be posting this with

Pink Saturday

Strawberry Pie with Margarita Glaze

The fresh strawberries are so sweet right now, and

I always crave a fresh strawberry pie this time of

year.  I just love the tang of the berries with a sweet

glaze, and I created a new glaze that had my mouth

singing.

We have strawberries growing in the garden,

but they are just flowering, so these strawberries

were from the store, but with this glaze they 

didn't disappoint.

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Margarita Glaze Recipe

9 inch baked pie shell - make your favorite, I did a an Oreo

Cookie Crust

7 C. strawberries (the large container from Costco

made two pies)

2 T. cornstarch

3/8 C. white sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. almond (because I like a hint of almond in everything)

3 T. Strawberry Margarita Mix - the liquid in the quart

bottle used for making Strawberry Margaritas.  Ours is by the

soda pop section.

Slice 6 C. of strawberries and place them in a large

bowl.  Chop 1 C. strawberries and place them in

a blender or food processor with the sugar and

cornstarch.  Blend until smooth.  Remove and place

in a small saucepan.  On medium heat, bring to a boil

and cook until thick.  It is going to be pretty thick.  Remove

from heat and add the vanilla, almond, and Strawberry

Margarita mix.  This will thin the mix down.  Let cool.

Toss berries in the glaze and place in your pie shell.

Pile them high and decoratively place a few in

the center in a circle.

Refrigerate and serve with whipped cream, ice

cream or plain.  

The extra tang of the Strawberry Margarita Mix made

the best glaze I have ever had on a fresh strawberry

pie.

 I ended up making two pies.  One I made with sliced

berries, and the other I made with whole berries.

We ate both of them, but there just wasn't enough glaze

on the one with whole berries to satisfy my sweet tooth!

Give me more surface to put this yummy glaze

on!  We were licking our plates.  

Grab some fresh strawberries, while they are sweet

and fabulous, and make a pie.

"Cut my pie into four pieces, I don't think I could eat eight!"

Yogi Berra

I will be posting this with

Dishing it and Digging it