Recipe: Cherry Mashers by Joanna Gaines

 

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One of my favorite parts of the holidays is making sweet treats with my mom. She was watching a video in which Joanna Gaines was making her Aunt Mary's cherry mashers dessert, so we thought we'd try making them.

Ingredients

• One 7.2-ounce package Betty Crocker Home Style Fluffy White Frosting Mix (see Cook’s Note)
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) margarine, at room temperature
• One 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• One 20-ounce package chocolate almond bark, broken into smaller pieces
• One 11.5-ounce bag milk chocolate chips
• 2 1/2 cups dry-roasted salted peanuts, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the frosting mix, powdered sugar, margarine, maraschino cherries, vanilla, and condensed milk. Starting on low speed, then gradually turning the speed to medium, beat until the mixture has a fluffy consistency, about 4 minutes.
3. Form the cherry mixture into 1-inch balls using a small (.75-ounce) cookie scoop. Place on the prepared baking sheet and freeze until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
4. To make the chocolate coating: In a medium saucepan, combine the chocolate bark, chocolate chips, peanuts, and vegetable oil and melt over medium heat, mixing to combine.
5. Working in batches, remove the cherry balls from the freezer and dunk them one at a time with a fork or spoon into the chocolate mixture. Allow any excess chocolate to drip off over the pan, then return the balls to the parchment paper.
6. Refrigerate until completely hardened, about 20 minutes.
7. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

TIP: If you can’t find or don’t want to use the powdered frosting mix, omit the mix and decrease the amount of sweetened condensed milk to 3 tablespoons.

One thing that was tricky about this recipe was that, in the video my mom showed me, Gaines does not use the frosting mix (like in the tip above). So that threw us off. Even in the official recipe, while it says to see "cook's note," nowhere does the page say "cook's note." It's the "tip" I've included above. So this recipe is a little confusing. 

The cherry center is very soft even after being in the freezer for a few hours, so you have to move quickly. And we only melted a bag of chocolate chips and one bar of semi-sweet chocolate to cover the chocolate centers; we didn't bother with the peanuts or sprinkles. It got a bit messy with all the melted chocolate.

But what was even messier: as I was carrying the tray of these desserts down the spiral staircase to put them in the freezer, I fell down the stairs. I'm actually amazed how many of the desserts survived my fall, but my pants were covered in chocolate, and I was left with quite the bruise on my lower hip:

So these desserts had to be worth it! I thought they were good, but they are really rich. They are more like candy than cookie, so the smaller, the better. My mom said she probably wouldn't bother making this recipe again, but I thought they tasted pretty good, even if they didn't quite look like the picture:

Recipe: Raspberry Jam Shortbread Bars

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I recently tried to make raspberry oatmeal bars, and that was quite a flop. So I wanted to try again and make this raspberry jam shortbread recipe from the Sweets by Elise blog.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 large egg, cold
• 2.75 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup raspberry jam

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 325° F. Line an 8-inch pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl with mixer, combine cold butter, sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, and egg together until smooth.
3. Slowly add flour to the dough, mixing until butter turns slightly creamy. Batter will be sticky, not crumbly.
4. Transfer 3/4 of the dough into prepared pan, pushing it down with hands to smoothen and spread it. Dough should be pressed firmly into the pan.
5. Spread the raspberry jam over the dough. Crumble the remaining dough over the jam, making sure to evenly disperse it over the filling. Ensure the edges of the pan have enough crumble, as the bars will be difficult to handle without crumble around the sides.
6. Bake for 37-45 minutes or until the crumble on top is golden brown.
7. Allow to cool before glazing/slicing. 

Now for how it actually turned out...

I didn't have any almond extract, so I just used 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract. At no point did my dough look "creamy" or "smooth." It was crumbly the entire time. And my raspberry jam was so liquidy that I didn't even spread it: I poured it over the dough in the pan. So there was no leaving any edges like the recipe suggests; even adding some corn starch to the jam didn't help. And after 40 minutes, I still didn't have a golden brown topping, but I was afraid to overcooked it, so I removed it from the oven even though it was still a little blonde. I didn't bother making the glaze (the full recipe includes the instructions for that); I figure I can always used store-bought icing if I feel like icing these.

While it doesn't look great (actually looks almost identical to my previous recipe), this one tastes much better and the soft texture is divine. It's a little dry, but not nearly like the other one. I also think I might have used oats that could have been stale or too old, so that didn't help with the other recipe, so I didn't have to worry about that with this one. I would try to make these again, but maybe with a higher-quality jam that actually has some substance to it.

Recipe: Easiest Ever Raspberry Jam Bars

 

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After my work holiday party, there was a lot of leftover raspberry jam. I hate to let food go to waste, so I immediately looked up recipes that call for that ingredient. This was the second recipe I found (via the Recipe Tin Eats blog), and with the word "easiest" in the title, I knew that was the one I'd make!

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 cups rolled oats (not quick, instant, or steel cut)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup raspberry jam

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° (fan forced) (Note 1)
2. Spray a 9-inch square tin with oil and line with baking/parchment paper with overhand (so it can be lifted out once cooked)
3. Mix together all ingredients except for the egg and jam.
4. Add the egg to the mixture and mix in fully. 
5. Place 2.5 cups of the mixture into the tin and press into base. Spread the jam (Note 2), then use your hands to crumble the remaining mixture over the top (Note 3). 
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is deep golden. Remove and allow to cool in the tin before lifting out of the tin using the baking paper.
7. Cut into squares (can make 16 smaller or 9 larger!). Serve at room temperature. 

Notes

1. If you have a standard oven that is not fan forced/convection, then it will take around 40 minutes to bake. Go by the color on the top - it should be deep golden brown. 
2. If your jam is not soft and easy to spread, pop it in the microwave for 1 minute to soften.
3. The mixture will be a bit clumped together, so use your fingers to crumble it onto the top. The better your crumble it, the softer the top will be once baked, so when you bite into it, it doesn't press down and make the jam ooze out.

I do not have a convection oven, so I baked mine for 40 minutes. I didn't actually read the other notes until after I had already put the thing in the oven, but I had heated the jam for a little bit (not totally spreadable, but certainly not as solid) and I think "crumble with hands" is pretty self-explanatory.

But... I think I used too much jam, and maybe didn't save enough of the crumble mixture for the top:

Speaking of oozing... The jam was not contained. So then it was just a thin layer, which meant each bite is really mostly the flour-oatmeal mixture. And that part is quite dry. I think this would be served best with ice cream to help moisten everything. Not my proudest baking moment... but not as bad as this monstrosity. 

Postmodern Jukebox Christmas Show

 

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Last night a friend and I went to the Strathmore to see Postmodern Jukebox in concert. I saw the group perform last year and loved the show, so I knew I wanted to see this performance, too. 

Each show features different singers (I think a lot of performers are part of the broader group!), so some of these videos might not be the exact people we saw that night. But you'll get the idea! These were some of the holiday songs they featured:

Gunhild Carling was my favorite performer of the night. She could sing, dance, and
play several different musical instruments, including three trumpets at one time! Image found here.

While this show was part of their Christmas tour, they didn't only sing holiday songs. My favorite was Gunhild Carling's version of Madonna's Material Girl. The thing I like best about PMJ is how they transform modern hits into 1920's jazz songs, and she did that perfectly.

I also really enjoyed Caity Gyorgy's version of Taylor Swift's Love Story (this is her in the video):

Sarah Potenza has a very strong voice, and she brought it with her own rendition of Huey Lewis' song The Power of Love:

And it was not until I heard PMJ sing this song that I learned the lyrics were "Radioactive" (I thought he was singing "Ready to rock you" this whole time!)

Their final encore song was Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass, which was really fun:

And one of the best parts about seeing PMJ is not only the singing, but the tapdancing! Check it out:

This is the tap dancer we saw last night (I think his name is Jabu Graybeal):

Such a fun show. As long as they keep coming to this venue, I'll keep buying tickets!