Category Archives: Misc

I love key lime pie. I feel confident in saying it’s my favorite dessert.

I have never made it myself, but have always thought about it. After I bought these pans awhile back, I knew I would be making mini key lime pies with them.

I have had amazing key lime pie, and okay key lime pie… I don’t know if I’ve ever had a bad key lime pie… but I didn’t know where to start to get a good one. I did some online searching and learned there are a couple different ways to make it. Some use sweetened condensed milk (something I have never even purchased before), some have cream cheese, some use lime jello or limeade concentrate.

Based on texture, I decided to go with a sweetened condensed milk version. I found this recipe by JoyofBaking.com, and had to adapt it a little because of the available ingredients at my grocery store.

Key Lime Pie – adapted from JoyofBaking.com

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp granulated sugar

6 tbsp butter, melted

3 large egg yolks, room temp

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup key lime juice (It takes about 20-25 key limes. I used the bottled stuff.)

2 tsp lime zest (you can use regular limes for this)

whipped topping of choice

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Spray bottom and sides of pan(s). You can use an 8 or 9 inch springform or pie pan, but I decided to use 3 4″ springform pans. It was the perfect amount of filling for my 3 pans.

2. Mix together melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar. Press into bottom and 1/2 up sides of pan(s). Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until it’s golden brown at the edges. (My mini pans only took about 5 minutes.)

3. While the crust is baking, grate the lime zest. My grocery store did not have key limes, so I bought bottled key lime juice and used regular limes for the zest. (It takes 20-25 key limes to get enough juice, so I don’t know that I would want to do all that extra work anyway.) I like my zest in smaller pieces, so I always chop it up after I zest it.

4. When the crust is done, remove to a wire rack and let cool. With your mixer and your whisk attachment (regular beaters are fine if you have a hand mixer) beat the egg yolks for 2-3 minutes. They should be light and frothy.

5. Open the can of sweetened condensed milk and slowly add to your egg yolks while the mixer is going. It should beat for about 3-5 minutes total. You want it to be light and “fluffy.”

6. Scape down the sides of the bowl and add the key lime juice and zest. Beat for a bit more, until the juice is fully incorporated. (I got a bunch of zest stuck on my whisk so I had to scrape it and mix a bit more by hand after I stopped the mixer.

7. Pour the filling into your pan(s), then bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the filling it set. Even with my little pans this took about 12 minutes.

**My mini pans were dripping in my oven, which ended up creating smoke by the time I took them out. Next time I would set them on a cookie sheet or something when I put them in the oven.

8. Let cool on a wire rack, then cover and chill overnight (or at least for a few hours).

9. When ready to serve, remove the springform ring (if necessary) and top with a dollop of whipped topping. I just used the frozen stuff, thawed out. It was light and didn’t take away from the perfect tartness of this pie.

I don’t think I ever need to try another recipe, this one was absolutely perfect! Very tart, smooth creamy texture, and a perfect crumbly crust. I used the bottled key lime juice, and it was easy and perfect. The recipe for key lime pie on the juice bottle was actually identical to this one. That’s how you know it must be perfect!

*Note* Real key lime pie is not green, but yellow. The juice (and the inside of a key lime) is like a pale yellow color. The egg yolks are yellow, and the sweetended condensed milk is yellowish. If the pie is green, food coloring was added.

Found these babies at Target. My wonderland. Also the most dangerous place for me to go aside from Michaels. I haven’t been to Hobby Lobby yet, but I hear it will be amazing.

They are mini springform pans! Each one is 4″ across.

Still trying to decide what to make first with these! Any suggestions?

I took a poll on my facebook page. Rolos or mini pb cups? Truth is I am going to use both. I jsut didn’t know which would come first… Rolos won by a large margin, which actually surprised me.

I loved this recent idea from cookies and cups, and I had previously seen this from the same genius woman. Wow. I mean, I love candy, but I never would have thought to bake it into stuff!

Instead of cookies, I wanted to go with a bar theme, but I wanted (for once) to make it from scratch.

The good news? It was just as easy as something from a box!

Rolo Blondies – modified from this recipe that I found on Pinterest.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

a bag of Rolos

Directions:

1. Melt the butter. (Watch it though. I went to long and had a butter boil-over.) Set butter aside to cool slightly.

2. If you also had a butter boil-over because you didn’t listen when I said watch it, go ahead and clean your microwave while it cools.

3. Unwrap some Rolos. I used 21, and it could have had 3x more. Do what feels right to you. Cut each one in half, top to bottom.

4. Put brown sugar in large bowl (or stand mixer). Add the cooled melted butter and beat until combined.

5. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and vanilla, then add to sugar mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure all sugary goodness is incorporated.

6. In a separate bowl (we’re making a kitchen mess, aren’t we?) mix together flours, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. If you have a measuring spoon that 1/8 tsp kudos to you, I had to wing it with my 1/4 tsp.

7. Slowly add dry stuffs to your sugar stuffs. Slowly. You don’t want a flour cloud in your kitchen in addition to your dirty bowl mess.

8. Scoop about half of the batter into an 8×8 pan. (If you have only 9×9, that’ll work, just cook it less because it will be thinner.)

9. Lay your Rolos caramel side down on top of the batter. I spaced mine a bit and used 42 halves (21 Rolos), but I think next time I will pack them right up against one another. Seriously.

10. Scoop out the rest of the batter and spread it as much as you can across the top of the candies.

11. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. If you’re using a 9×9, I would say check it after 20, but it could take 25.

12. Let cool completely before cutting. Okay you can taste it before it cools completely.. I would wait at least 20 minutes though so it can set up properly. But it cuts prettier if you wait to cut it until it cools. If you don’t care about pretty, then heck, have at it!

These would be really good with other candies too I think. The original recipe had M&M’s. Walnuts would be good. Or white chocolate chips… Basically this is an awesome base blondie recipe for manipulating however you want. If you try it, let me know – I’d love to hear what you put in it!

In the cookie world, icing is everything. And there are different kinds. Probably more than I even know. I just wanted to share a little info that I have learned since diving into this cookie world myself…

Most decorated cookie creators out there use what is called Royal Icing. All of the recipes I have seen include the same basic ingredients: powdered sugar, water, egg whites or meringue powder, and flavoring. In this type of icing, it is the meringue powder that makes it dry hard.

Royal Icing is a cookie creator’s favorite because it dries hard (very hard), holds its shape well, and can be thinned or thickened to the desired consistency by adding more or less water. The cookies are outlined with thicker icing, then filled in with thinned icing – this is called “flooding.” Also, it’s white to start – which makes coloring it easy. But, royal icing takes a long time to make – not recommended for someone who does not own a stand mixer! (I have memories of my grandmother holding a hand mixer for like 10 minutes making us the strong cement-like frosting to hold together our gingerbread houses.)

Here are a few googled images of cookies with royal icing:

*** I just pulled these out of google. The first picture is from Annie’s Eats, the second from Sweetopia.**

A few cookie decorators out there live on the wild side and go a different route. Instead of royal icing, they use was is called Glaze, or Glace. Most recipes include these ingredients: powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and flavoring. In this type of icing, it is the milk that makes it dry hard.

Glaze does not hold its shape as well as royal icing, and it also does not dry as hard. It dries just hard enough for stacking, moving and displaying, while still being moist when you bite into it (rather than crunchy). To thicken or thin glaze, more or less milk is used. Just like royal icing, thicker for the outlining and thinner for flooding it. But with glaze, thick icing it a hand killer! Very hard to squeeze out… Unlike royal icing, glaze is fast and simple to make. And it dries shiny, whereas royal icing is a flat color. The shine is because of the corn syrup. Also, glaze is more clear than white, so white food coloring must be added to acheive the bright white color.

Here are a few googled images of cookies with glaze:

*** These were just pulled out of google. I could not find a source for the first picture. The second is from i am baker.***

Now I thought it would be a good idea to explain the above before I explain what I use. See, in terms of “normal” in the cookie world, I’m just plain weird! I have actually never attempted to make royal icing. I think it kind of scares me. It is so precise and complicated, and I tend to do recipes that are easy and fast. Also, I personally think that cement-hard frosting is just not appetizing. But maybe I just haven’t had any that was “professionally” made and flavorful, I don’t know.

What I use is something similar to glaze. Except even simpler. Just powdered sugar and milk. That’s it.

But here is where I get even weirder… for my outlining and details, I do not use a thicker version of the same icing like all other cookie decorators. I use frosting. Real buttercream frosting. It hardens well like my icing – not too hard, but perfect for stacking and moving.

Some might think I am crazy for making 2 different things everytime I decorate, but it works for me.. and I think the taste screams in my favor!

I have contemplated trying to make glaze the right way… but I don’t know, I feel like maybe the flavoring and corn syrup might just make it too sweet. I’ve also thought about trying to merge the 2 different icings above… glaze with a little meringue powder to make it just a tad harder? Maybe someday I will be adventurous, but for now I think I’m going to stick to my silly, tastey, unconventional icing ways!