Memorial Day weekend always feels like the official start of summer. I’m sure I would feel differently if I was a teacher or if Matt and I had kids in school, but for us, come Memorial Day we are in full summer mode! Up here in Boston it usually means we will have warm weather from here on out without any random 50 degree “spring” days – not that I want to jinx it. It also means summer barbecues and outdoor eating are sticking around for the next few months. I love the casualness of a barbecue and it goes well with my new-found love for easy entertaining.

If you know me, and especially if you’ve been to dinner at my house, you know I tend to… over-do it when it comes to food. Everything from scratch, multiple courses, me barely sitting because I’m making sure the fresh ravioli will be ready the same time as Matt is done searing the sous vide steak. Sound familiar? I love cooking, and I especially love cooking for other people, so when I have a chance to go all “chefy” and put my pent-up absorption of Top Chef season viewings to good use I go to town.

However, in the last six months or so I have realized how amazing it is when you have people over and keep things simple. The food is still delicious, everyone still has a great time and best of all I (and my sous chef, Matt), get to fully enjoy the company. I have completely embraced grocery store shortcuts and I don’t plan to go back anytime soon. I still love to have at least one thing I get a little “chefy” with, whether it’s some homemade bread or a crazy dessert, but it doesn’t need to be the whole meal.

That’s where this Flag Fruit & Dessert Platter comes in. This is the perfect easy entertaining dish to serve at Memorial Day barbecues, Fourth of July parties or anytime you’re feeling patriotic. As I’ve mentioned in the past posts, Babu and I used to make a flag cake every July 4th so I’m always looking for new ways to reinvent the iconic red, white and blue dessert. I thought it would be fun to do a snack board that’s easy to put together and make ahead of time, whether you’re hosting or bringing it to someone’s house. I went with a sweet and salty theme, although feel free to get creative if there are other treats you would prefer to include!

For the red stripes I used cherries, strawberries and watermelon. For the white stripes I used store-bought yogurt covered pretzels and Chex Mix Muddy Buddies. I wasn’t able to find these in the Market Basket by me, but I might not have been looking in the right spot. Does anyone else get overwhelmed in there? I found both things at 7-11, although I know Trader Joe’s carries yogurt covered pretzels and the Flipz brand also has some. You can certainly make your own Muddy Buddies as they are just Chex cereal covered in chocolate, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar, but I was trying to keep it simple. A word of warning if you buy the Muddy Buddies – do not buy the cookies and cream flavor. Actually, let me re-phrase – buy the cookies and cream flavor to eat because it’s delicious, but do not buy it for this platter because it has speckles of Oreo that would throw off your white stripe.

The blue stars are where I went a little “chefy”, but it’s not even really that fancy because it’s still so simple. Matt loves gummies so I wanted to include them in this dessert platter somehow. I tossed them in with the blueberries for the blue star portion of the flag board. These are lemon-lime gummy bears that I dyed blue. If you would rather another flavor you could substitute with a different fruit juice, such as orange or grape, but don’t use pineapple because the enzymes do something to the gelatin that makes them not turn out right. Making homemade gummy bears is something I’ve been wanting to try for a while and I finally went for it after reading the reviews on these cute animal silicone molds. The gelatin, juice and honey mixture gets heated in a saucepan then piped into the molds using a big dropper that comes with the molds.

After 20 minutes in the fridge to set they pop right out of the molds, cute smiles, paws and all! I highly recommend these molds if you want to try homemade gummies, otherwise feel free to go full simple and buy them at the store! I have another easy entertaining recipe to share on Wednesday so stay tuned! In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite recipes on Lemon & Mocha that each include some sort of grocery store shortcut:

Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto

Crab Dip Puffs

Best Slow Cooker Cocktail Meatballs

Chicken Cacciatore with Mushrooms & Artichokes

Babu’s Coffee Cake

Summer Berry Trifle

Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Crunch Chocolate Brownies

Triple Berry Naked Angel Food Cake

Flag Fruit & Dessert Platter

 

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Ingredients

for the platter

• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Watermelon, diced
• Cherries
• White yogurt covered pretzels
• Chex Muddy Buddies

for the gummies

• 3 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
• ⅓ cup lime juice
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Blue food coloring

Directions

for the platter

1. Wash and dry the berries and cherries. Place your bowl in the top-left corner and fill with blueberries and blue gummy bears. Lay the cherries horizontally on the top of your platter for the first stripe. Follow with a horizontal stripe of the yogurt covered pretzels. Then a stripe of the strawberries (you can hull and cut this if you prefer) followed by a stripe of the Chex Mix Muddy Buddies. Finish with a horizontal stripe of the diced watermelon at the bottom of the platter.

for the gummies

1. Place the silicone gummy molds on a baking sheet that will fit in your fridge. I use two toaster oven sized pans. This will fill up one and a half of the silicone gummy molds in this post.
2. Combine the gelatin, lime juice, honey and lemon zest in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk until the mixture has melted and combined. Add a few drops of blue food coloring and stir to blend. Use the dropper to fill the silicone gummy molds. Place in the fridge and let set for 20 minutes. Pop them out of the molds then serve or place in the fridge in an airtight container.

Notes

I didn’t put amounts for the platter ingredients because it will depend on the size of your platter. The platter pictured here is roughly 11-inches by 17-inches. I used roughly 7 ounces of yogurt covered pretzels, 5 ounces of Muddy Buddies, 3 cups of cherries, 3 cups of whole strawberries, 3 cups diced watermelon, and ½ pint of blueberries.

To prep ahead of time place all the fruit in their spots except for the watermelon. Place the gummy bears in their spot as well. Cover and put in the fridge. When ready to serve, add the yogurt covered pretzels, Muddy Buddies and watermelon (their juices will run on the platter).

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How fun are these Funfetti Mini M&M Piñata Cupcakes (see what I did there)?! I’ve been seeing this style cupcake on Pinterest for a while now where you bite into it and everything falls out like a piñata, but I thought it would be even more fitting if the piñata style cupcakes actually mimicked the look of a piñata.

I dyed my vanilla buttercream with food coloring and then layered the frosting in stripes with a thin pastry tip to look like the crepe fringe on a piñata. I used a round tip 5 from this set.

The best part of these cupcakes is that they are filled with mini M&M’s! Mini M&M’s are one of my favorite types of M&M’s because you get to eat a whole bunch of them. Their rainbow coloring also adds to the fun factor.

I use Funfetti box cake mix for this recipe because I have yet to try a homemade version that compares. If you know of one, comment below! Another reason for the box mix is when you have a lot of decorating involved sometimes it is just easier to have the cake ready to go in a few minutes.

The inspiration for these Funfetti Mini M&M’s Piñata Cupcakes was my friend’s 30th birthday! My friend Lauren loves Funfetti, is obsessed with M&M’s and we also have this thing with piñatas. On my 21st birthday my friends gave me a piñata named Paco. Paco became our mascot and lived with us for all of junior year and then moved with us to our apartment senior year. Below, Paco is seen celebrating Cinco de Mayo with Lauren, my friend Katelyn and myself. In a goofy way he holds a special place in some of our best college memories and I can’t help but smile every time I see a piñata.

So make someone smile this weekend and celebrate with these Funfetti Mini M&M Piñata Cupcakes!

Funfetti Mini M&M Piñata Cupcakes

 

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Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 box Funfetti cake mix, batter made according to package
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4-5 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• Food coloring
• 1 cup mini m&ms

Directions

1. Bake the Funfetti cake mix into 24 cupcakes following the instructions on the package. Let cool completely.
2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla and salt. Beat for 3 minutes, scrapping down the sides as needed. If the frosting is too thick, add more milk. If it’s too thin, add more sugar. Divide into 4 small bowls. Dye with the food coloring. I used regular blue, regular red, neon orange and neon green. Place into piping bags fitting with a thin tip. Set aside.
3. Use a cupcake corer or a knife to remove the middle of the cupcake. Cut the top of the cupcake “core” you just removed and set aside the rest. Fill the cupcake with about 2 teaspoons on mini m&ms - enough so it is almost to the top of the cavity with enough room for the cake “core” top. Place the cake “core” top on the m&ms. It should look like you never even cut it open other than the circular cut line. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.
4. Frost the crepe paper frosting on the piñata cupcakes. Starting with the color you want on the bottom (for reference, this was my red), pipe a straight line starting at the bottom quarter of the cupcake down to the bottom of the cupcake. I found it easiest to start in the middle and then work my way out to either side. Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes. Taking the second color (this was my blue), pipe a straight line starting at the halfway mark of the cupcake down to just over the first color. Start in the middle then work your lines out to either side. Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes. Take the third color (this was my orange), and pipe a straight line, this time starting at the top quarter mark of the cupcake down to just over the second color. Work your way out to both sides and repeat for the remaining cupcakes. Using your final color, which will be the color you want on the top (this was my green), pipe a straight line starting at the top of the cupcake down to just over the third color. Continue your straight lines out to both sides and repeat for the remaining cupcakes.

Notes

The moisture from the cupcake softened the m&ms and the coloring on the m&ms rubbed off. For the best impact, make and serve these cupcakes on the same day.

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Before you run away thinking I’m a crazy person for putting vegetables in my chocolate I have to tell you that you cannot actually taste the zucchini in this bread. As anyone who has tried zucchini bread before knows, even though there may be a ton of it in the bread all the zucchini does is make the loaf incredibly moist. So take that soft and sweet loaf, add in chocolate chips and cocoa powder, and the chocolate-addict in me is absolutely hooked.

I was a little skeptical of this recipe when I first tried it, but all that went away when I tried my first slice. I found myself eating it for breakfast, snack, dessert – you name it – until the next thing I knew it was completely gone. Based on the ingredients and a note from the original recipe author I know this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread will freeze well, but I have yet to have a loaf make it to that point. Although you could always make two loaves and freeze one to have on hand, which is an excellent idea.

This recipe calls for instant coffee powder or espresso powder. As with my Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes, you cannot taste the coffee flavor; it just acts purely as an enhancer to the chocolate. You can certainly omit it, but I highly recommend to include it to help bring out that rich chocolate taste of the loaf.

Matt is the only coffee drinker in our house and he drinks espresso every morning. Since I don’t typically have instant coffee powder or espresso powder (which is not really for drinking, it’s a specialty ingredient used in baking) in the house, I found this awesome hack by Bright Eyed Baker to DIY my own espresso powder. Lay used espresso grounds on a baking sheet then bake on your oven’s lowest temperature for about 1 hour, or until they are toasted and crunchy. Then run through your coffee grinder to make a fine powder. Voila! Espresso powder and no wasted grounds!

So espresso powder hacks aside, this Double Chocolate Zucchini bread is perfect for using up all those extra zucchinis everyone tends to have in the summer, but don’t wait until then to try it!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

 

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Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1½ cups shredded zucchini, about 2 zucchinis, lightly patted dry
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder, or ¼ teaspoon espresso powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, instant coffee and ¾ cup of the chocolate chips. Stir to combine and set aside.
3. Whisk together the eggs, vegetable oil, yogurt, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl until combined. Pour into the flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Fold in the shredded zucchini. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Top with the remaining ¼ cup of chocolate chips.
4. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let bread cool completely in the pan on a wire cooling rack. Once cooled, removed from the pan. Store in an airtight container for 5 days or even longer in the fridge. Bread also freezes well and can be thawed in the fridge.

Notes

You can be flexible about the yogurt in this recipe. If you would prefer full or low-fat yogurt instead of the nonfat feel free to substitute. You could also use regular non-Greek yogurt or vanilla yogurt instead of plain.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Don’t worry, I promise this cake isn’t scandalous. Definitely delicious, but certainly not scandalous. It is called a naked cake because the sides aren’t frosted, but I will get to that in a bit. Last month we celebrated Matt’s 30th birthday!

When Matt and I first started dating during our sophomore year of college we celebrated his 20th birthday – that’s a whole decade of birthdays! We had only been dating for a few weeks, but I made him these very literal cupcakes.

I’ve clearly come a long way- ha! I’ve made Matt many birthday desserts over the years, but I wanted this one to be extra special.

I decided to turn one of Matt’s favorite desserts, this Summer Berry Trifle, into a layer cake. The cake layers are angel food cake that have been brushed with a simple lemon syrup to keep them extra moist and bursting with light lemon flavor. The creamy filling and topping is a sturdy whipped cream. Basically, the base of a cream cheese frosting folded in with lots and lots of Cool Whip to make it light and fluffy. Piled in the middle and on top are sweet fresh berries. I used a combination of strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Altogether, they make a fresh and light cake – perfect for eating a big slice.

When you get a big bite of the syrup-brushed cake with the cream filling and the berries it is completely magical.

Now, to the scandalous aspect of the cake. A naked cake simply means that there is little or no icing on the sides of the cake, letting the layers bare all. The layers of whipped filling in the middle and on the top of the cake are thick enough that you really don’t need the additional filling on the sides of the cake. Leaving the cake naked lets the beautiful berries in the middle of the cake peek out. It also saves you time from having to try to make the sides look perfect and smooth – a win-win!

I think a cake this delicious is great any time of the year, but it is especially fitting for a summer gathering with berry season soon approaching. Enjoy!

Triple Berry Angel Food Cake Trifle

 

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Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 box angel food cake mix, batter prepared according to directions on box
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon lemon or almond extract
• 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 16 ounces reduced fat Cool Whip
• 8 ounces strawberries, washed
• 1 cup blackberries, washed
• 1 cup raspberries, washed
• More berries for topping, if needed

Directions

1. To make two round cakes, I lined two 9” round pans with parchment paper. I divided the batter between the two prepared pans, making sure not to fill them more than ¾ full. You will most likely have some excess batter. I weighed them with my kitchen scale to make sure they would be even layers. Bake at the temperature specified by the box for 20-30 minutes. The cake is done when the top is dark golden brown and the top cracks are dry not sticky. When it’s done baking, tilt the pan on its side. I leaned mine up, cake facing down, against a raised cooling rack. Once it’s completely cool, run a knife around the edges of the pan then carefully remove.
2. Over medium-high heat in a small saucepan heat ¼ cup of the sugar and ¼ cup of the lemon juice. Stir frequently while heating until the sugar dissolves. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the lemon extract. Set aside.
3. Beat the remaining ½ cup of sugar and the cream cheese on medium speed with a mixer until fluffy. Fold in the Cool Whip until smooth. Stir in the tablespoon of lemon juice. Take one of the cooled angel food cake rounds and brush the top with the lemon syrup. Spoon a bunch of the whipped filling onto the cake and smooth with a spatula. Put half of the berries in a single layer on top of the filling. I left the blackberries and raspberries whole, but I halved and quartered the strawberries depending on how big they were. Dollop some more of the whipped filling on top of the berries then carefully smooth it out over the berries with a spatula. Top with the second angel food cake layer. Brush the top with the lemon syrup. Spread a thick layer of the whipped filling on top and smooth with a spatula. Top with the remaining berries. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

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Look at that crispy gooey marshmallow! Look at it nestled up against the tart and creamy lemon curd! Have you ever seen lemon curd look more mouthwatering than this? I’ve already shared lemon curd paired with puff pastry, as part of a parfait, and even spread on a waffle so I wanted to come up with a completely different use for the citrusy treat I shared on Monday. Enter this Lemon S’mores with Soft Gingersnap Cookies. Even though spring just started, the cold temperatures in Boston already have me daydreaming about summer. Between the bright lemon curd and the charred marshmallows, these s’mores combine spring and summer in the best possible mash-up.

If it’s still a little too chilly to warm up the fire pit for a traditional roasted marshmallow, you can use your broiler or – carefully – use your gas grill. Roasting the marshmallow in the broiler doesn’t take much time so make sure you watch it carefully. You can broil the marshmallow right on top of one of the cookies or on a small piece of nonstick aluminum foil, but do not put the lemon curd in the broiler. If you still want that roasting on a stick experience you can be like me and – carefully – roast the marshmallow on a heat-safe skewer over a low flame of your gas grill. Mmmmm.

I still haven’t gotten to the best part of these s’mores. Well, one of the best parts. Yes, I know there’s only three components, but don’t make me choose! The soft gingersnap cookies are so amazingly delicious. I’m not kidding when I say they are soft; they’re just like out of a bakery. The exterior is soft; the inside is soft; they’re chewy and sweet and the ginger, molasses and spices come together perfectly. Can you tell I’m a little bit excited?

When I was deciding what cookie to use for the s’mores I knew a traditional graham cracker wouldn’t cut it. I didn’t want a crunchy cookie; I wanted the s’mores to have a soft perfect-bite quality, similar to a whoopie pie. If you want the classic graham cracker crunch then cinnamon graham crackers would pair well, but I would definitely recommend the soft gingersnap cookies for the most ideal lemon s’mores experience.

The recipe below is for a full batch of the soft gingersnap cookies as well as how to make one s’more. The s’mores are pretty big so I would suggest planning on one per person. I would definitely recommend making the full batch of soft gingersnap cookies because, trust me, you will want s’more of those. This recipe wraps up my week on lemon curd here in the Lemon & Mocha kitchen – just in time for Easter! Do you have a favorite way to enjoy lemon curd? Or, which of these are you going to try first?! Enjoy!

Lemon S'mores with Soft Gingersnap Cookies

 

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Yield: 24 cookies; 1 s'more

Ingredients

for the soft gingersnap cookies

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar, plus additional for rolling the dough
• 1 large egg
• ¼ cup molasses

for the s’mores

• 2 cookies, per s’more
• 2 teaspoons lemon curd, per s’more
• 1-2 marshmallows per s’more, depending on size of marshmallows

Directions

for the soft gingersnap cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the egg and molasses and beat to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
4. Place a few tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Use a medium cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon of dough; roll into a ball then roll in the sugar before placing on the baking sheet. Continue, placing the cookie dough balls about 2” apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are puffy and the edges have started to lightly brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet then carefully move the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool.

for the s’mores

1. Pick two cookies that are of equal size and slather one of them with the lemon curd. Roast your marshmallow or marshmallows. Place the roasted marshmallow(s) on the cookie with the lemon curd then sandwich with the other cookie, pressing down while you pull out your roasting stick or skewer.

Notes

This recipe is for a full batch of the soft gingersnap cookies as well as how to make one s’more. The s’mores are pretty big so I would suggest planning on one per person.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments