Summery Sweets

With those summer days rapidly coming to us spending time with friends and family is essential. When my friends and I hang out, our one request is to have FOOD. This video has three easy dessert recipes for summer. Whether you're toasting marshmallows around a fire, eating ice cream around the pool, or or having a fancy tea, these three desserts are perfect for summer

3 Summer Dessert Recipes

Summer is approaching and what better way to celebrate than make some delicious cold smoothies? Learn a simple recipe by clicking the link down below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsK5K5W79TM

As everyone knows, my favorite flavor of all is pumpkin. So I thought I would demo my pumpkin pie for everyone!  Here is a link to my video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYtRGY9pbUk&feature=youtu.be

The Art of Meringue

Meringue cookies are those light and fluffy, simple seeming cookies that we all love biting into. They can be found in tubs at our local grocery stores, but in my house they are made from scratch. Although these cookies seem so effortless, there are actually quite a few challenging techniques in making them. Part of the reason is because the batter is meringue, and meringue can be under whipped, over whipped, too stiff, or too soft, etc. After watching the inspiring and talented Martha Stewart making her wonderful striped meringues, i was intrigued and knew I needed to try the recipe out.
 I was determined to create the perfect little stripes that Martha did on her cookies by painting food coloring on the inside of the bag before putting the meringue mixture into it. Martha said this was a difficult skill- great. If Martha Stewart said it was hard, then it was HARD. But, to my amazement, i painted some strange lines in the bag, ultra- carefully scooped in the meringue, and piped out the most delicately swirled meringue cookies I have ever seen! It was a success.
The only changes i made to the recipe were not using vanilla bean because really- I am not paying fifteen dollars for a tiny dried out bean that we can hardly taste. So i also wanted mine to be lemon meringue so i added in a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract to my meringue batter. it is important to make sure the extract is added in after the sugar has been melted into the eggs and the eggs are being beaten. It seems to work better than adding it to the hot mix. Another important tip for making this recipe is using extreme care when scooping the meringue into the intricately painted piping bag, as to not smear the lines and end up with all one color meringues. Her is the link to Martha's recipe that also includes a video:
http://www.marthastewart.com/899362/meringue-swirls

Delicious Salted Caramel Apple Pie

For those of you that enjoy the bold taste of sweet and salty,I have a feeling that this tasty apple pie recipie will become your favorite.

INGREDIENTS

Pie Crust

1 2- crust pie crust

• Salted Caramel
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) fresh unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup fresh heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt(recommended: Maldon sea salt flakes)

• Apple Filling
• 4 to 6 lemons
• 5 to 6 medium to large apples.

• Apple Filling Seasoning
• 1/3 cup raw sugar (castor, unrefined, large granule sugar)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters

• Assembly
• 1 egg beaten
• Raw sugar, for sprinkling on top
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (flake)
• DIRECTIONS
• To make the pie crust: 
• Prepare one 2-crust batch of your favorite all butter pie crust. Roll the bottom crust to fit a 9-inch pan, and cut the top crust as a lattice, approximately 1-inch in width or as desired. Chill the rolled crust while you prepare the salted caramel and apple filling. 

To make the salted caramel: 
Cook the sugar and water together over low heat until just dissolved. Add the butter and bring to a slow boil. Continue cooking at a low boil until the mixture turns a deep, golden brown color, almost copper. 

Once the mixture has turned a copper color, remove it from the heat and immediately add the heavy cream - the mixture will bubble rapidly and steam - be cautious as the sugar will be very hot. 

Whisk the final mixture together well over low heat and sprinkle in the sea salt. Set the caramel aside while you prepare the apple filling. 

To make the apple filling: 
Juice the lemons into a large mixing bowl. Core, peel, and thinly slice the whole apples.
Dredge all the apple slices in the freshly squeezed lemon juice to prevent browning and to add flavor. Set the prepared apples aside. 

To make the apple filling seasoning: 
In a large measuring cup or small mixing bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and Angostura bitters. Sprinkle this mixture over the apples in the mixing bowl. Use your hands to gently mix and coat the apple slices. 

To assemble the pie: 
Preheat the oven to 380 degrees F

Gather your rolled pie crust, salted caramel, and apple mixture. Begin by layering 1/3 of the apples in the bottom of the crust so that there are minimal gaps. Pour 1/3 of the caramel over the apples. Add 1/3 of the apples and caramel for a second layer, and then add a third layer of apples, and then the caramel again. My suggestion is to save a small portion of the caramel to pour on top once the lattice is assembled. 

Assemble the lattice crust and flute the edges of the crust. Pour the last bit of caramel on top. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and lightly sprinkle with raw sugar and sea salt. 

Bake the pie on a baking sheet larger than the pie pan for 20 minutes (otherwise the caramel will bubble over and burn on the bottom of your oven). Reduce the oven temperature to 325 to 350 and bake for 25 to 35 minutes. You can test the apples for doneness with a long toothpick or small knife. The apples should be just soft. 

Let the pie cool, then slice and enjoy.

A Cafe of Experiences

Recently a little cafe opened up near where I live. I thought it was perfect because it was located a couple of minutes away from my house and is located right on the main street of the hustle and bustle of our popular town hangout center. One beautiful and clear Friday evening, my parents and I decided to walk around the dimly lit streets and came across the little cafe. The annual carnival was in town so after all the activity, we were searching for a place to relax and something to fill our bellies. The exterior of the cafe was warm and the atmosphere inviting. The warm yellow lights adding color to the pavement outside making the area seem more cheerful than it already was. From standing outside of the door I could see a few plush couches, a display filled with mouthwatering desserts and another display containing a colorful array of gelato.

Ice Cream Heaven!

Baking sweets can be fun and entertaining but sometimes you just want to go out to have a tasty dessert. I personally love going out to ice cream with friends and family every so often. While Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone may be delicious, one ice cream parlor personally stands out from the rest- Farrell's. Farrell's is a restaurant and an ice cream parlor but they are mostly known for their ice cream. Farrell's was founded in 1963 and has been a success ever since. The ice cream they offer isn't your normal size serving you would normally get; everything is massive. The amount of ice cream that you get when you order just a simple serving or shake can be intimidating. Even better than the huge amount of sweets is that it tastes amazing too! Farrell's has some of the best ice cream that I have ever had. Farrell's is also a family friendly place with something always going on like a birthday song. The employees know countless amounts of songs modified to sing for a birthday that when I went, there was almost constant singing and I only heard one song ever repeated. When it's your birthday you also get a free birthday sundae! Who can resist a free ice cream sundae? I went when it was my birthday and it was a lot of fun and the employees were all really nice and funny. At first I didn't really see the fascination with Farrell's, I just figured that it was like any other ice cream parlor but it was a lot more fun than I would ever anticipate that a restaurant/ ice cream parlor could be. If there is a Farrell's near you then you have to go try it and if you already have, you should go again!  Overall, Farrell's has amazing ice cream and a fun atmosphere and it should be on everybody's bucket list!