This recipe yields a dreamy effect! When I say dreamy, I mean that it’s rich, decadent, and tastes joyfully good. It’s super easy to upgrade your brownie box mix with a few changes.
Follow the directions on the Duncan Hines Brownie Mix and mix in the Bailey’s Irish Creme. Pour in half of the batter in an 8 x 8 square pan, scoop in the Cherry Preserves, and using a fork, swirl the Cherry preserves around. Pour the remaining batter on top and repeat the steps. Garnish the top with the chocolate wafers and Maraschino Cherries.
I am so excited about the launch of our new gourmet cookie mix line. We currently offer two flavors; our Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies and White Chocolate Lemon Cookie. The Vanilla Sugar Cookie and Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Mixes be available in 2021.
Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Mix Baking option 1: 2 jumbo-sized eggs and two sticks of unsalted butter Baking option 2: Use 1 cup of coconut oil (I used Trader Joes) and ¾ cups of Aquafaba liquid, aka chickpea liquid. Our vegan baking option, which is also my favorite option. You will taste the coconut oil; however, it’s not potent to the point that you will lose the cookies’ taste. In my opinion, this cookie has a softer texture. Baking option 3: Use 1 cup of coconut oil (Trader Joes) and two jumbo-sized eggs. Baking option 4: Lastly, use ½ stick of melted butter (cooled) and two jumbo-sized eggs. This option results in a thin and crispy cookie. Yields 10 Jumbo Cookies or 16 standard size cookies.
Fun option: Scoop some vanilla ice cream in between two of our baked cookies, freeze for an hour to firm up, and you have a delicious ice cream sandwich.
White Chocolate Lemon Cookie Mix
Baking option: Two tablespoons of water, two sticks of unsalted butter, and two jumbo-sized eggs. I do not recommend using coconut oil as a vegan replacement as the coconut oil is very potent. You may not be able to taste the lemon flavor.
New Cookie Mix Line I am so super excited to announced that my new cookie mix line has launched. After recuperating from COVID19, I was exhausted; even though I tested negative after a 40-50 day battle, my body didn’t fully recuperate. With the support of my Start, Small Think Big Family, I could pivot my business and launch a cookie mix product line.
My favorite flavor is my Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies (2 lbs mix), a little salty, a lotta sweet. I love the vegetarian baking option for this cookie. You add 2 eggs and two sticks of butter baking 2 inches apart on a double parchment lined cookie sheet. Or you can recreate it the way I love it with 1/2 cup coconut oil and 3/4 cup Aquafaba (can chickpea juice). The coconut oil is slightly strong, but I love the taste and texture.
The White Chocolate Lemon Cookies (2 lbs mix) is perfect with tea or a chai latte. The lemon flavor is a little tart, a lotta sweet. You mix 2-4 tablespoons of cold water, 2 sticks of butter, and 2 eggs. I do not recommend the vegetarian option above as the coconut oil conflicts with the lemon flavor. Basically, you won’t taste the lemon, but the cookies are nice and soft.
The Vanilla Sugar Cookie Mix is perfect for making those holiday shaped inspired cookies. This flavor will launch in late December.
Of course, I am launching a few more flavors in 2021. We offer a trip around the world in every bite. Our upcoming 2021 cookie mixes are inspired by countries I have visited, my diverse friends, and my family.
Our cookie mixes retail from $29.99 to $39.99 complimenting our various gourmet and exotic flavors.
BLACK FRIDAY through CYBER MONDAY-2 cookie mixes for $49.99 plus free shipping. This is a $19.99 savings!
This class is for kids ages 10-16 years old to build their confidence in the kitchen, create tantalizing sweets, and connect with other youth in a safe environment. After registration, a supply list will be emailed to the email address on file. Fa La La La over into the kitchen!
This week’s activity is going to be focused on cooking and baking from around the world. We are going to explore what other countries enjoy during the holidays. Parents feel free to join in on the reindeer games to assist with transferring items in and out of the oven. A few days after registration, you will receive a welcome packet detailing the ingredients needed throughout the week.
I am offering a PM class so that our friends on the West Coast and Mountain Time have an opportunity to participate. We will build your child’s confidence in the kitchen. Class time is a buffer based on class size. The price includes a Welcome Kit that will be shipped to your home for your new chef!
Class DATES December 28, 2020, to January 1, 2021 The class is from 2 pm to 5 pm EST/EDT. You can register here DelorCakery
A few months ago I assisted another chef with her sugar masterpiece for the Salon Du Chocolat Fashion Show at the New York City Jacob Javits Convention Center. It smelled so good walking into the convention hall. There were chocolate cookies, chocolates, bonbons, candy melts, hot cocoa, and more everywhere. My favorite vendors were Beyond Chocolate & Mozart Chocolate Liqueur. This was a chocoholics dream come true. I was so happy to see my new found friend Ashton Pina on-site showcasing chocolate for Madecasse aka Beyond Good Chocolate. Ashton connected with me offering an opportunity to infuse our brands. I was so excited about this collaboration.
I’ve been setting you all up for the win! You will need the Dark Chocolate Ganache Recipe and the Persian Caramel recipe to bring this entire recipe together. It’s the ultimate sweet payoff!
Iran is formerly known as Persia, and the major language is known as Farsi. “Persian poetry is some of the most beautiful poetry in the world and the Persians cultivated four unique types of poetry; the “epic”, the “ghasideh” a purpose poem, the “masnavi” a narrative poem, and the “ghazal” a lyrical poem”.
Persian Desserts. The first thing that comes to my mind is a myriad of bold & alluring colors, nuts, the aromatics of saffron and rose water, honey, and pistachios. I decided to release my favorite rich dark brownie recipe infusing it with the taste of Persia. It’s so rich and nutty that it’s Beyond Good! I hope you enjoy it.
Materials
Tabletop or handheld mixer
Spatula
Mixing bowls
Beyond Good Vanilla
Beyond Good Vanilla Bean
Dark Chocolate Brownie Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups Dark Cocoa Powder
6 eggs
1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon Beyond Good Vanilla
1 Beyond Good Vanilla Bean Pod
2 cups Beyond Good Chocolate Melts
½ tablespoon salt
Directions:
In a mixing bowl or using a handheld mixer, combine salt, sugar, and eggs beat on high. You want to beat this mixture for 2-3 minutes until its light and fluffy with peaks. Add the vanilla. Using a knife cut open the vanilla bean pod and scrape with a teaspoon. You can save your pod to make your own vanilla later on.
Slowly combine the cocoa powder and all purpose flower.
Add the melted butter
Garnish (optional):
Dark Chocolate ganache drizzled with my Persian Caramel Sauce
2 1/2 sticks unsalted plant-based butter room temperature (not too soft)
2 cups organic granulated sugar
3 large vegetarian fed eggs brought to room temperature (Wilcox eggs)
3 large egg yolks brought to room temperature
¾ cup Thai coconut milk
1 ½ cup of sweetened shredded coconut
1 tablespoon coconut flavored vanilla
Materials:
3-9-inch cake pans
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position a rack in the center of the oven. I like to use Pam flour baking spray to coat my baking pans. Line each baking pan with round paper parchment to protect the bottom of your baked cake.
In a mixer, combine the butter, sugar and vanilla mixing on high slowly adding in each egg at a time and then all of the egg yolks. Mix on high until its light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, mix the baking powder, salt, and all-purpose flour to aerate evenly. This step will allow the baking powder to evenly distribute throughout your mixture which contributes to an evenly baked cake.
Gently add in the dry mixture to the wet ingredients mixing with a paddle attachment and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Slowly add in the coconut milk and scrap down the sides of the bowl. Also, bring the mixer to a halt and scrap the bottom of the bowl. If you have mixture at the bottom of the bowl that did not incorporate you need to adjust your mixer settings.
Gently fold the shredded coconut into your mixture using a spatula. Do not use the mixture attachment. If you over mix you don’t want all of your shredded coconut at the bottom of your cake. Pour your mixture evenly into the three pans and bake.
I have an entire line of cookbooks and magazines. I’m a huge fan of Food & Wine. I thought to myself I bet a lot of people are seeking recipes not realizing that they have everything they need on their bookshelf and in their kitchen pantry to create tantalizing joy. If you don’t have an at-home library, that’s great this blog is your new library. Welcome!
I received the idea to explore Persian culture from a dream. I saw a beautiful floral rose background with my brownie on top with the perfect amount of caramel sauce, nuts, and dates. I have brand new Cardamon pods in my kitchen cabinet sitting there inquiring when am I going to use them. I decided that the day has to come to explore this spice.
Cardamon is a tricky spice. With the right infusion, it can be citrusy, minty, spicy, and/or highly fragrant. It pairs well with cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ginger. In terms of health, Cardamom is good for digestive challenges.
Persian desserts are often topped with delicious dates, nuts, dried fruit, etc. This recipe has all of the sweet Persia in it! Have fun and enjoy the videos!
This recipe has been adapted from The Best of Food & Wine Vol. 14 with a few modifications.
In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over moderately guilty. Remove from heat and add the tea and cardamom. Let steep for 30 minutes. Strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Keep warm over very low heat.
Wipe out the medium saucepan and add the sugar, corn syrup, the vanilla bean and seeds and 3 tablespoons of water. Insert a candy thermometer and simmer the mixture over moderately high heat until it reaches 292 degrees Fahrenheit, about 7 minutes. Reduce the heat and stir in the warm cream, the butter, and honey and cook over moderately low heat until the caramel reaches 220 degrees Fahrenheit, 1 to 2 minutes.
Remove the vanilla bean from the caramel and stir in the Rosewater. Transfer to a heat proof container and let cool slightly. I used a glass mason jar to cool and store the caramel sauce. Serve the caramel sauce over ice cream or a warm brownie.
A few years ago I tried out the Keto lifestyle with delicious results. The problem is that’s all I had delicious results no seriously I didn’t lose a pound. As a matter of fact, I gained weight and couldn’t figure it out. See, Keto is not just about no carbs there is a thing called personal macro calculator which I completely overlooked. You’re probably wondering how such a smart woman didn’t know about Macros. If you are wondering such, that’s like expecting that people with degrees have the answer to everything in life and I am here to politely educate you that we do not. Now, back to my story. I was so excited about the results that I did not pay attention to the details of the journey. Got it? So, I ended up overdoing it on soft cheeses, not counting macros and calories. I had purchased a keto recipe book and went wild on the recipes with the high cheese and cream content. It was delicious though. Some Keto recipes will have you going over your personal macros in one meal. This is not beneficial to you. The cheese is very high in fat and contributes to high cholesterol challenges. So, let’s break down some aspects of this recipe that makes it Keto and why.
A word to the wise, you should always consult with your physician and/or a Nutritionist prior to starting any health loss regimen.
Almond flour
It is crushed almonds with the skin removed through a process known as blanching. For example, A serving (1/4 cup or 28 grams) of almond flour has around 160 calories, 6 grams of carbs and 3 grams of fiber. Making this (measurement) only 6 total carbs or 3 net carbs per serving.
Stevia
When you’re on Keto sweeteners with a low glycemic index is important to keep your blood sugar down. Stevia has a glycemic index of zero and will not interrupt ketosis.
Heavy Cream
Regular whole milk has 12 grams of carbs per cup whereas heavy cream has 4 grams of carbs per cup.
Eggs
6 grams of protein and less than 1 gram of carbs
Finally, here it is the delicious Keto Berry Muffin recipe.
1. In a large mixing bowl combine heavy cream, egg and vanilla extract and whip on high. I used my handheld mixer to keep it simple.
2. Mix and stir in the almond flour, erythritol or stevia and baking powder with salt and instant coffee powder. I added ¼ cup of warm or hot water to activate the instant coffee versus biting into coffee minerals.
3. With the help of an ice cream scoop, scoop out from the batter and bake the muffins in a preheated oven at 350 F or 180 C degrees for about 15-20 minutes.
4. Serve and enjoy. I like my muffins hot out of the oven!
Thank you to my good friend Yunmi for our friend’s date night out and thank you to your cool husband for recommending this beautiful restaurant. Thai Villa brings the culture of Thailand to you in an opulent style. When we walked into the dining area, for a moment I thought I was inside of a 24carat gold statement necklace. I love gold! Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines right next to Italian. I love it more when cultures infuse their dishes. The interior has this immensely large & beautiful gold ornament attached to the ceiling hanging above the wooden dining tables and chairs. Thai Villa creatively combined rustic and opulent, where I felt as if it wasn’t for our winter coats that I was in a restaurant dining in Thailand.
The staff is very professional, friendly, classy, and attentive. The servers were dressed in chut Thai which simply means Thai clothes. Chut Thai for women usually consists of a pha nung or a chong kraben, a blouse, and a sabai. Historically, both Thai males and females dressed in a loincloth wrap called chong kraben. Men wore their chong kraben to cover the waist to halfway down the thigh, whilst women wear their chong kraben down the waist to well below the knee.
The first dish brought out was a plate of steaming vegetable dumplings garnished with sesame seeds known as Pak Mor Puk. The dumplings were purple…fun! The aesthetics were very pleasing to my eyes and mind you I am blessed with 20/20 Vision. You want this review! Vegetable crepe dumplings. Chives, cabbage, jicama, black mushrooms, and bamboo shoots and served with roasted bell pepper-peanut vinaigrette dipping sauce.
Inside beautiful Thai Villa
Our entrees were eggplant basil with chicken and beef noodles with chopped asparagus referenced to as Pad See-Ew served with fragrant Jasmine rice. Jasmine rice is one of my favorite rice flavors. As a matter of fact, it’s the only type of rice that I buy. The Eggplant Basil is Thai chili, eggplant, onion, bell pepper, and basil leaves. This dish is very spicy. The Pad Se-Ew is broad noodles, Chinese broccoli, and egg with thick soy sauce and beef.
Overall, we had a wonderful experience at Thai Villa. Thai Villa is an underrated gem in the heart of E19 street in New York City.
Where has the Cake Executive Officer been? I acknowledge that I have not been consistent for the past two months. My goal is to improve the experiences of my readers as I want you to be able to see a recipe, be inspired, and jump in. Also, I want to see photos of any recipes that you have attempted so I can share it. You might just inspire someone else to jump in and try to experience cooking or baking in the kitchen possibly for the first time. I know people who are afraid of decorating cakes. They are open to baking cakes but fear holds them back from attempting to work with fondant. If you have used play-doh or made dumplings your already in the game.
What you can expect from me in 2020 are more restaurant and kitchen utensil reviews as well as healthy dessert recipe options. I want my blog to be transparent where bakers who are vegan, vegetarian, diabetic, or maybe just exploring healthier options can be inspired by what I am offering.
I’ve been up to a few great things one of those being visiting another state. Our visit to Boston started with the Staypineapple Hotel. A good friend and I decided to visit Boston, MA for the first weekend in 2020. Our intention was to start the new year off by traveling to let the universe know that we intend on traveling more throughout 2020. I’ve been to Salem, MA for a day but never got to travel throughout Massachusettes. Staypineapple Hotel made it very easy to fall in love with Boston. On Friday night we arrived at the hotel to meet a very friendly, courteous, and professional staff. They offered us pineapple sugar cookies and water infused with sliced pineapples. We went up to our room and upon entry, everything was yellow and white just like their website. Staypineapple has branding down to a science. I love it and appreciate it even more as a fellow entrepreneur. The room is equipped with a Keurig coffee pot, a large screen television mounted on the wall, fresh clean robes, and bathroom tissue shaped like a pineapple. Our room even smelled like fresh pineapples.
Staypineapple Hotel Boston, MA
Bellavitano Merlot Cheese
Singing in the rain!
On Saturday morning, we went down to the main area to venture out for the day and it was raining. The front desk staff heard us and gave us each a very large Staypineapple Hotel. Marketing Geniuses! The staff told us in the summertime they give you Staypineapple bikes to ride around in the city during your stay. We were on our way to The Friendly Toast however the lines were super duper long. We decided to have breakfast at Flour Bakery. We both tried the French Toast. So, if you don’t have a hearty appetite I offer that you share the French Toast. The French Toast is sold as one toast which is really a very large slice of bread sliced into two. We realized that we could’ve shared.
We went into the hub of Boston to catch the train to visit Witching Heights in Salem, Massachusetts. The train station was bubbling with excitement as a game was about to begin in less than two hours. Boston knows how to represent their teams! We arrived in Salem where we spent the day visiting shops and museums and mini-malls.
When we arrived back at the hotel we decided to have dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, The Trophy Room. By that time, I was grumpy I needed nourishment. I ordered a bunless burger with fries and blue cheese dipping sauce on the side. God Bless Bleu Cheese! Joy was a crispy plate of fries and that sauce. I completely ignored the delicious burger, until two hours later. My friend had the fish and chips. In terms of the taste, let’s just say we’re from Brooklyn, NY and we season differently in New York. However, the fish had the perfect amount of crispy batter over it.
On Sunday morning, we sadly checked out… not before my friend ushered right back over to Flour Bakery to nab some desserts to go.
