Last year at this time I couldn’t find a Girl Scout to save my life. It was like they were all trying to earn the Ninja badge or something. The one girl I did finally found made a killing as I panicked that I would not find another girl and cleaned her out. Seriously, I bought so many, I still have some from last year.

But this year. The year I am choosing not to buy them, these girls are everywhere. Swarming at the grocery store and changing shifts every hour or so, there are that many troupes. Which is awesome that Girl Scouts is so popular but darn it all, I’m trying to be good.

Now I’m not a total stick in the mud. I do donate straight cash to every troupe I run into. That way I avoid the cookies and the troupe gets my direct donation. See, they only make $0.70 for every box they sell. But if I straight up hand them $5, they get to keep the whole thing. They are happy and my jeans are happy they don’t have to stretch.

Of course, when you run a baking blog avoiding Girl Scout cookies is kind of stupid. I mean, I’m still going to be eating bad stuff. Oh well, in my mind it makes sense.

All these Girl Scouts everywhere reminds me that Girl Scout uniforms are about as ugly color green as one can get. And of camping.

Ah, camping. Oh how I loved it as a kid. Tromping through creeks. Picking up rocks, sticks, bugs, etc… Getting excited to see a chipmunk.

Then I grew up and realized, the ground is hard. It hurts to sleep on the ground. My back gets out of whack and I limp after I wake up. And of course, where the fuck am I suppose to pee?

But the one thing I still enjoy of course is S’mores. This little ice box pie is a product of me being seduced by the mini graham cracker crust at the store. I liked the idea of not having to make my own (just call me Sandra Lee). The only time consuming part was making the marshmallow ice cream. I had planned on using mini marshmallows on the top, only to discover when making these that I only had the large ones. Oh well, some much for the Be Prepared part of Girl Scouts. I think they should change their motto to Make Due With What You Have. I think this would be far more appropriate in real life.

Mini S’mores Ice Box Pies (or yet another excuse to light stuff on fire)

2 packages of mini graham cracker crust (6 come to a pack) or 1 regular sized graham cracker crust
½ batch Marshmallow Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (recipe follows)
Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows)
Marshmallows (about 15-18…you’ll want some just to eat)

Marshmallow Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
A pinch of salt
½ cup granulated sugar
2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups  heavy cream
6 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 ounces Marshmallow Fluff
Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla beans into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Place the soft ice cream into the bowl of an electric stand mixer(or use a large bowl and beaters). Beat in on medium-high speed the 10 ounces of marshmallow. Beat until fully incorporated, about 3 minutes. Place into a freezer friendly container and freeze for at least 3 hours.

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

Chocolate Glaze

6 ounces milk chocolate
4 TBSP unsalted butter

Break chocolate into small pieces and place in a small stainless steel bowl over a pot of hot(not boiling)water. Melt the 4 TBSP butter in a small saucepan, and skim off the white foam that rises to the top. When chocolate is just melted, stir in the clarified butter(discard the white solids left behind). Set aside until chocolate is 86F.

To assemble:

Evenly distribute chocolate glaze to bottom of each pie crust. Dip marshmallows into the remaining chocolate if desired. Let set up in fridge for 10 minutes.

Set ice cream out so that it gets soft. Soft enough that it can be piped through a pastry bag. Pipe ice cream into the prepared crusts. Cover lightly with foil and place in freezer to re-freeze. Leave at least an hour.

Using a culinary torch, toast marshmallows. Place on on top of each pie.

The month of love is upon us and so I thought it would be best to spread some of the wonderful knowledge obtained over the years in the locker room. Don’t panic men of the world, not spilling secrets, just helping you out on a few things (I promise).

Men are not into the details. They just don’t think this way.

If you ever watched the movie Legally Blonde there is a great scene where the lead character Elle is asking about her shoes. “Don’t stomp your little last season Prada shoes at me, honey” is what the gay guy says to her about her shoes. Turns to her straight ex and asks what kind of shoes am I wearing…he says “black”. Your husband or boyfriend may be trained by now, I mean even my husband can pick out a Coach bag (though he could not tell you if it was real or fake) but overall, men are just not paying attention.

Before you go off saying that if he loved you or heck even liked you he would notice. Yeah, not so much. In some ways this is good and you should go with it (think back to all the times you have said “this old thing” and gotten away with it). First off, if your husband/boyfriend is bad about not noticing what outfit you wore on your first date that you had 7 years ago, you should just be happy that after 7 years have gone by you are still together. Nagging on him because he didn’t remember you were wearing the red Marc Jacobs dress with the small slit down the right leg with the T-strap nude heels really doesn’t get anywhere.
And if he does remember the outfit, it’s more likely just how your boobs looked in it, than the outfit itself. But really what are you gaining? Do you love him more because you remember he was wearing a black cashmere sweater, white button down J. Crew shirt (that no doubt some ex-girlfriend bought him), and jeans?

Some may find it unromantic but I have lists. Amazon.com. Anthropologie. Tiffany’s(a girl can hope). Nordstrom’s…they all have wish lists with my name on them. This takes stress away from my husband. He appreciates it greatly. I get what I want and am therefore happy. I am happy, therefore he is happy. He has lists too. I greatly appreciate it as well.

I recently forgot this rule. I forgot that men don’t take big giant, giant, in your face everyday for over two years hints.
Case in point. I have a small love of Louis Vuitton handbags. I own a couple. I always want more in my consumer driven life. So for over two years I had what I thought was a decent sized picture of the Louis Vuitton Damier Azur Hampstead PM hanging up on my cork board which hangs over my computer. In the computer room. That we both share. Clearly he would have caught on. As a woman I would think so. As a man, no. And I should have remembered that.
When we came into some bonus money I had made a comment/joke(though truth in humor) about how he should get me my purse now.
“What purse?” What purse I thought to myself, giving him the lovely WTF look.
“The purse in the picture above my computer.”

 He stared.

“How long has that been up there?”
“Over two years.” 
“Really?”
Needless to say, I own that purse now. The hints did not work. Hints never work. Stop hinting ladies.

Women, however are good at taking hints. So when my friend R started to reminisce about a bread pudding I had made for him and his friends a few months back I knew what he really meant was, please make us some bread pudding. So I did. Though I made it in a flavor I wanted. Brown sugar with apples and a nice toffee sauce.
We all know I love bread pudding and this one is no exception. I added a little Lyle’s Golden Syrup and it added a nice caramely flavor to it. Mmmm. So very good.

 Brown Sugar-Apple Crossiant Bread Pudding with Toffee Sauce

4 large croissants or 6 small ones
1 pint heavy cream
4 egg yolks
¼ cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup apples, diced (you could probably used dried as well)
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F

Tear the croissants into pieces. Place half of them onto bottom of a prepared baking dish (buttered 8-x-x8).

Sprinkle bread evenly with ½ cup raisins and ½ cup apples.

Mix the egg yolks, brown sugar, Lyle’s Golden Syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Then stir in the heavy cream. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

Pour ½  the custard over the bread. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard.

Place remaining bread on top of the soaked bread. Then sprinkle with remaining apples and raisins. Pour the remaining custard over and again, press down on the bread pieces until they are soaked with the custard.

You will most likely have extra custard depending on how stale your crossiants are. Don’t feel like you have to use all the custard.

Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath. Bake the bread pudding for 45 minutes until golden on top. Cool 10 minutes and serve warm.

Toffee Sauce

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup whipping cream

Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add cream and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over bread pudding warm.

First off, Happy Groundhog Day (go six more weeks of Winter)! If you are a loyal CCbP reader than you know today is my favorite holiday. For cute Groundhog Day cupcakes, go here.

Ebay, like Amazon.com is evil. Evil because you can find just about anything on that site. And I often do. The thing I seem to search for the most though is clothing. And not just clothing, Anthropologie clothing. For months I had been stalking a skirt that I wanted for years (yes, I wear skirts…dresses too, want proof…go here). It was never in my size at the store and when it finally was, I was flat broke. Sigh.

Finally, a few days ago, there it was. In my size and from a seller with good feedback. I jockey back and forth with someone who apparently wanted to skirt as much as I did, but in the end, I won (was there ever any doubt). And the brown skirt all covered in different colored bows will be mine!

And though a rare find on Ebay is nice, a rare find in a person is even better. In this case a goat. I know, a goat is not a person. It is to me. See, that is what I call the people I find who will eat pretty much anything I throw their way. And when you can find a true goat, one that eats ANYTHING you throw your way…that boys and girls is a rare find.

Nothing makes someone who bakes/cooks more happy than finding someone who will eat whatever you make. No, there’s nuts in there comments. No, I don’t really do coconut. No, I don’t like white chocolate. Just…thanks. Thanks for making me food. Ahhhh, so very, very nice and very, very rare.

This here cake is the result of me having a true goat again. You eat key lime. Sure. You eat raspberries. Sure. You want cream cheese frosting (though really, who says no to that). Sure. Sure is a good thing to tell a girl who wants to bake.

My raspberries were less than flavorful on this one, mostly because it isn’t the time of year. So I did throw in a little extra raspberry puree between each layer of cake to try and give it a little more flavor. Fairly straightforward cake. I used the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe and just took out the vanilla and replaced it for key lime juice. And before one more person asks, why I use self rising flour in the recipe…because that is what they used. Simple as that.

Graham Cracker Cream Cheese Frosting Covered Key Lime Cake with Raspberry Mascarpone Mousse Filling
Key Lime Cake

1 ½ cups self-rising flour
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup milk
4 TBSP key lime juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 6 (4 ½ -inch diameter) spring form pans with parchment paper. And spray with baking spray (or grease and flour).

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.

Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and key lime juice.

With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Equally distribute batter among pans, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 23-27 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Adapted from More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen

Raspberry Mascarpone Mousse:

2 eggs, separated
4 TBSP sugar
4 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
5 ounces heavy cream
2 tsp. powdered gelatin + 2 TBS water
1/3 cup raspberry puree (sees removed)

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, stir and let sit to bloom.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the sugar, add egg yolks and whisk until well incorporated.

Heat the gelatin for about 10 seconds in the microwave and quickly whisk it in the mascarpone batter.

Add the raspberry puree.

Whip the egg whites until stiff, fold into the mascarpone mixture. Whip the heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, and fold into the mascarpone.

Adapted from Tartlette

Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup key lime juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 cups powdered sugar (depending on the consistency you are going for)

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, about 2 minutes. Add key lime juice and vanilla while mixer is on low until fully incorporated.
Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.

To assemble: Cake, mousse, cake, mousse, cake. Frost the heck out of it. Cover with crushed graham cracker pieces if desired.

So the In-Laws have left and I have been doing my best to get back into the swing of things. Not easy to do. I love having people visit but hate having my routine get all thrown out of whack. And it is extra out of whack since there is no hockey right now so I am not score keeping at night. Though that means more baking time.

Thought I would be nice to the husband and make him something with peanut butter and chocolate since I haven’t really done much with his favorite flavor combo in awhile. This is about as rich as it looks in the photo. Now, in the real recipe, you don’t want to use as much mousse as I did in the photo…it was just for photographic purpose. If you used that much it would be a little too much in my opinion.

I did have a slightly amusing moment while out getting the Peanut Butter Cups. I stopped off on way home to the Starbucks to get my afternoon Refresh Tea. While standing in line I notice that the barista and what appears to be her boyfriend arguing. Which then turned into a shouting match, in which he called her a whore.

I really wanted to point out the the guy, that though she may be a slut, she is most likely not a whore, as I doubt she was getting paid for putting out.

But since the guy looked a little unstable, I felt it best to keep my mouth shut this time around.

Sadly, the took the rest of the argument outside. However, I don’t feel that she will be having her job there anymore. Perhaps I should offer them both a piece of the torte to make two very unhappy people get in a better mood.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Torte

6 brownie rounds (recipe follows)

peanut butter cream cheese mousse (recipe follows)

lots and lots of peanut butter cup pieces (I chopped up about 15 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups)

chocolate ganache (recipe follows)

Brownie Rounds

7 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup cocoa powder ( I used Green and Blacks)

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

½ semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F.

Butter and flour Six 4 ½ -inch Diameter Spring Form Pans. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar, about 2 minutes.

Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat another minute.

Pour in cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix on low speed until fully incorporated.

Fold in chocolate chips until completely distributed throughout the brownie batter.

Using measuring cups, pour a heaping 1/3 of a cup into each of the 6 prepared pans. If there is any batter left over, try to as evenly as possible, add to the prepared pans.

Bake for 20-23 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Mousse

½ cup whipping cream, chilled

5 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup plus 2 TBSP powdered sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter (I used Jif…duh)

Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the whipped cream on high until stiff peaks form.

Place into a bowl and set aside.

Add the cream cheese and peanut butter and whisk on medium speed, until fully incorporated. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined.

Add whipped cream back into bowl and whisk on medium high until peanut butter mixture and whipped cream are fully incorporated and the texture is light and fluffy.

Place into a medium sized bowl and set in fridge while brownies fully cool. At least 30 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache

4 ½ ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely

½ cup heavy whipping cream

Place chocolate in a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan bring cream to a boil. Once the boil starts, pour over chocolate.

Let sit 5 minutes.

Whisk until mixture is smooth and glossy.

To Assemble the Torte:

Remove brownie from spring form pans. If still too warm, place in freezer for about 10 minutes.

Place one brownie circle on a plate. Add about a 1/8 cup of peanut butter mousse (I added much more to mine and actually doubled the recipe…but for photo reasons only. That much filling would be too much).

Scatter a handful of peanut butter cups.

Place another brownie round on top of the that. Then add another 1/8 cup peanut butter mousse. Then peanut butter cups.

Place third and final brownie round on top of second layer. Add a ¼ cup for the top layer of peanut butter mousse. And more peanut butter cups.

Pour ½ the ganache over the top of the torte. It might take some peanut butter cup pieces with it down the side. Just add more on top, you know you wanted to anyway.

Repeat and make a second torte. You should have two total. You can share…but why would you?