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Bourbon Chocolate Sauce

November 28, 2014 by laurenpacek 10 Comments

Ahhh bourbon chocolate sauce. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

This recipe was on the blog Kleinworth & Co.

You’ll need:

1/2 cup half & half
2 tbs brown sugar
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup bourbon (I used Bulleit)

In a small saucepan, combine the half & half and brown sugar. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is totally dissolved and the half & half starts to bubble a bit. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add the chocolate chips and vanilla extract to a glass bowl. Pour the hot half & half mixture over the chocolate. Stir vigorously until smooth.

Add the bourbon and stir to combine.

The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Though I’d highly recommend tucking into this sauce with just a spoon (kidding, sort of), I’ll show you what you can do with this soon. Hint: it involves cheesecake.

Stuffed Strawberries

May 14, 2013 by laurenpacek 3 Comments

My cousin, Sarah, made these adorable and delicious stuffed strawberries for my other cousin’s (her sister’s) bridal shower this past weekend.

You’ll need:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
strawberries (amount depends on how big yours are… but ~2 of the clamshells you’d get at the grocery store)
vanilla wafer cookies, crushed

Combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Put in a piping bag with desired tip or put into plastic zip top bag and use as a makeshift piping bag.

Wash strawberries and remove the hulls. Using a paring knife, at the end where the hull used to be, hollow out a bit of the berry. Discard or snack on removed strawberry innards.

Pipe cream cheese mixture into the hollowed out berries. Top them with the crushed vanilla wafer cookies. Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon & Blood Orange Curd

February 8, 2013 by laurenpacek Leave a Comment

Last night I decided to get my curd on. I had a surplus of Meyer lemons, and Sean had brought a large bag of blood oranges home from work. It only seemed natural.

I found the recipes on Cookie + Kate. Please head over there for the recipes. I made the Meyer Lemon curd exactly as the recipe states. Next time around I would consider using more honey, or switching to sugar again. I made the blood orange curd with ~1/3 cup of sugar instead of the honey.

Lemon on the left, blood orange on the right.

Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad

July 16, 2012 by laurenpacek 1 Comment

This Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad is a staple at picnics, cookouts, and the like. There are a lot of different versions floating around, but I found this recipe for Strawberry Jello Pretzel Salad on allrecipes.com.

You’ll need:

2 cups pretzel twists or small sticks, crushed
3/4 cup butter, melted
3 tbs sugar

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 (8 oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 (3 oz.) packages strawberry-flavored Jello
2 cups boiling water
2 (10 oz. ) packages frozen strawberries (it’s nice if these are sliced, rather than whole)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir together the crushed pretzels, melted butter, and 3 tbs of sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Feel free to use light cream cheese or that neufchatel business, if you’d like. Fold in the whipped topping. Smooth this mixture across the cooled crust.

Dissolve the Jello in boiling water. Stir in the frozen strawberries, and set this bowl in the fridge for just a bit. You want your Jello mixture to set a bit before adding it to everything else. Otherwise things are a runny mess.

After the mixture has attained the consistency of egg whites, pour and spread it over the cream cheese layer. Then refrigerate this dish until it has set.