Date Night Dinners - Dessert Edition

2/28/2014 tringel 0 Comments

I know this is a little late, but in my defense my mind was in a haze from the sugar coma after last nights date night "dinner." Now I know what you are thinking. Last week I was telling you all about how Brenden and I were tired of sweets and rich, extravagant food from multiple celebrations the weeks prior. But you can't just quite cold turkey! So, when my parents invited us out to dinner we decide it was the perfect night to have a baking session to feed out withdrawal cravings (yes we will be attending the next Addicted Dessert Eaters Anonymous meeting, don't worry).

So we began the night with a lovely dinner at Bertucci's. Yum! I got the new chicken parm casserole, Brenden got a pork stuffed calzone, and we all tried a bit of the butternut squash, caramelized onion, and eggplant topped pizza my mom got (that is my fav). I was quite satisfied when I was finished and wasn't sure if I had it in me to do dessert. But as soon as I got home that changed, of course. After all my stomach is made of compartments.

Brenden and I thumbed through the numerous dessert pins that have been piling up on my board, but of course we couldn't decide. So we thought. Why not have a dessert sampler night. We chose three recipes, made a small portion of each and made ourselves a little sampler plate. It was genius. And amazingly delicious. Each desert was better and better.

Of course we chose a cannoli-esq dessert, being my favorite and one of Brenden's top five favorite desserts…I think. Plus, we were still trying to perfect our own recipe  - though nothing will ever be as good as Vaccaro's. But we are getting closer. The trick is to fold the cream, not stir, or else the cream will get runny and you will lose the wonderful texture that comes with the cannoli cream (thanks Arthur for the tip).

We then chose to do something with chocolate and peanut butter, because after all, what is better then combining the two. We went simple and made some graham cracker bites. They were really much easier then I thought, and so worth it. I don't need to buy the Starbucks chocolate covered grahams anymore. And, these gave peanut butter balls a run for their money.

For our third dessert we chose to do a cookie. We new we wanted to bake cookies, I mean, they are a classic. The problem was figuring out what kind of cookie to do. So we went with the classic theme and started with a plain chocolate chip base, and then chose a recipe that added a little flair to them. And let me say, a little flair goes a long way! These cookies were so good. They were gone in the blink of an eye. The perfect amount of sweet. The perfect amount of salt. Great constancy. Amazballs is what it was!

Cannoli Cups

Recipe adapted from createdby-diane.com, Cannoli Cones

Ingredients

• 3 sugar cone cups
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 15 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• desired amount chocolate chips, cinnamon, nutmeg for garnishing

Directions

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over low heat or in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments.
2. Dip cone cups upside down into melted chocolate so the edges are covered and the cone is about 1 inch.
3. Use a spoon or knife to even out the chocolate around the edge on the outside and inside.
4. Place cone sups on wax paper and set aside.
5. Whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form
6. Fold in the ricotta cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.
7. Fill each cone cup with cannoli cream.
8. Top with garnishes.
9. Enjoy (Note: the cone cups will get soggy if left for too long with cannoli cream filled in them, but you can save the extra cream and enjoy by the spoonful).

Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Covered Grahams
Recipe adapted from picky-palate.com, Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwiches From Disneyland

Ingredients

• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1.5 Tbsp oil
• 5 honey graham cracker halves
• 5-10 Tbsp peanut butter

Directions

1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over low heat or in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments.
2. Coat each graham cracker with chocolate and place on wax or parchment paper.
3. Put the chocolate coated grahams in the freezer for about 10 minutes to cool quickly.
4. Once chocolate covered grahams have hardened, spread 1-2 tablespoons (or as much as desired) of peanut butter over the top of each dipped graham cracker.
5. Return to wax or parchment paper and place back in the freezer for 10 more minutes.
6. After 10 minutes remove from freezer and carefully coat (as if painting) the peanut butter layer with the melted chocolate. Be patient and gentle.
7. Place back on wax or parchment paper and repeat steps 3 and 4 to touch up any missed areas or to the chocolate look prettier.
8. Cool on final time and enjoy (keeps well).

"Monster" Cookies
Recipe adapted from sugarcooking.blogspot.com, Pretzel Cookies With Chocolate Peanut

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup thin pretzel rods, broken into pieces
• A few sprinkles of sea salt

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together.
3. Once fully combined, add the beaten egg and vanilla extract.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until well combined. 
5. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and pretzel's.
6. Cover dough and refrigerate for about an hour.
7. Preheat the oven to 350F. 
8. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
9. Scoop out large tablespoonfuls of the dough and place on the baking sheet in balls.
10. Sprinkle the top of each dough ball with sea salt.
11. Bake for about 12-15 minutes.
12. Cool and enjoy.