Truffles

Hey I'm back! It's just been really crazy these days and it was just really bad so sorry for the long wait! So I decided to make truffles today. My very close friend just ended her long relationship with her boyfriend and just to cheer her up I made some bitter-sweet chocolate truffles for her! The bitter-sweet part was just an inside joke between us!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 2 tbsp of pure vanilla extract 
• Some extra chocolate for coating

Directions:

• Chop up all your chocolate and gather them into a heat safe bowl. The finer you chop, the faster the chocolate will melt.

• Heat up your heavy cream in a sauce pan until it is simmering.

• Add you cream over your chopped chocolate and let it sit for 3 minutes. Then, start the stir until smooth.

• Add in your vanilla and stir until smooth. Loosely wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

• After the 3 hours, use your table spoon and scoop out a piece of the chocolate and roll into a ball.

• After you're all done with all the chocolate, chop up the extra chocolate and heat it over a double boiler. Melt until smooth.

• Drop your truffle into the chocolate and roll with your fork. Lift it up and plop it down to your wax paper.

• Scrape the remaining chocolate and add it to a ziplock baggie, then cut a corner and drizzle across your chocolate balls. Chill for 3 hours. Enjoy!

-Ellenia

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Today I made some smoothie because it's crazy hot here at my parent's house. This is also my mom's recipe because it's my favorite, it's healthy and quick. Hope you like it! Warning, I'm going to be having a lot more non-oven recipes for the time being because it's way too hot to turn on the oven at my parent's house. When I get back, I'll show you all the recipes I've been saving over the summer!

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas
• 10-15 strawberries
• 1 1/2 cup of mango juice (I bought mine from Costco, you can puree your own mango juice)

Directions:

• Freeze any of the fruits for a more chilled drink. Put juice in refrigerator to chill.
• Put your bananas, strawberries, and mango juice in your blender.

• Press 'puree' on your blender until they are all incorporated.

-Ellenia

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I came back to my parent's house for the summer and for a snack I said I would make a grilled cheese sandwich. But my mom doesn't make it the way I do and she told me how she made it. And I have to tell  you, the way my mom makes it is exactly what it's called. And surprisingly it was actually pretty good! (And yeah, my mom eats sandwiches with a fork... I never figured out why but she does that with most of her sandwiches.)

Ingredients:

• Cheese
• 4 slices of milk bread
• A stick of unsalted butter

Directions:

• Get out your griddle and heat it over medium-low heat. Butter a little part of the griddle and lay down a slice of bread on the spot.

• Let it heat up a little bit for about a minute or two. Then lift your bread and butter the same spot again and flip your slice of bread.

• Lay down a cheese slice on two of the bread and let the cheese melt and then put your second slice of  bread on top.

-Ellenia

Pancakes

I'm now the new head of breakfast where I live so I'll have a lot more breakfast recipes from now on. Not only breakfast but just a little bit more than usual. Well if you think about a breakfast in America, I usually think of pancakes. I've actually never made pancakes so I decided to make just a really basic pancake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp white granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large egg

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit so you can put your cooked pancakes in them so they will stay warm.
• In a large bowl, mix your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

• In a smaller bowl, mix your milk, oil, egg, and vanilla.

• Pour your wet mixture into your dry ingredients and mix. Don't over mix and a few lumps are okay.

• Heat up your griddle to medium. Get a paper towel and dip it in some oil. Rub your paper towel to oil your griddle.

• Pour in about a ladle full of your mix onto your skillet. Wait until you start to get bubbles. Once a few of them start to pop, flip it over.

-Ellenia

2nd Blog: The Paper Box

Hey guys! I have a second blog called The Paper Box, and it's about me and the crafts I will be doing throughout my summer. Most of these crafts are from pictures off the Internet, but I will be recreating them from my point of view. I will still be putting up more baking posts every Wednesday like I have been doing but if you're ever bored, check out my second blog, The Paper Box! Thanks!
 http://hscthepaperbox.blogspot.com/

-Ellenia

Sweet Treats: Beard Papa's

Today some of my upperclassmen came to our house to eat dinner. They brought some treats with them and they were Beard Papa's cream puffs! I've been meaning to go to their booth at Americana everytime I went there but I've just never been able to for some reason. So I was thrilled when I saw the yellow package!

-Ellenia

Disney Cookie Cutters

A few days ago, my friend and her sister went to Disney Land. And her sister and I are really close and we both really like to bake, but she always tells me that she can't bake. But when she went to Disney Land she got me some cookie cutters because she knows I bake a lot! So when she comes over, we're planning on having a Disney themed movie night with all our girlfriends! ^^

Mickey Mouse Cutter

Mickey Mouse's Hand Cutter

Star Cookie Cutter

-Ellenia

Mocha Chocolate Cake Roll

This is actually my first made-from-scratch recipe from a long time ago. All the previous things I've ever made were ready made packages. When I made this and showed it to my family, they couldn't believe an 8th grader made something as impressive as a cake roll. This is the cake that made me want to make more and more so I would have the same reaction from my friends and family.

Ingredients for Cake:

• 2 egg whites
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, unsalted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda

Ingredients for Filling:

• 1 tbsp instant expresso
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1-ounce semi-sweet chocolate, grated
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 15X10in jelly roll pan (cookie pan) with non-stick cooking spray. Then line the pan with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a clean, oil-free bowl, beat your egg whites until you have stiff peaks. Set aside. (Note: Beat in one direction.)

• In a large bowl, combine your egg yolks, sugar, butter and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until creamy. Scrape bowl often.
  

• Reduce your speed to low and add the last 2 eggs, flour, water, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Clean your whisk attachment and put it in the freezer along with a medium size bowl. (Note: Metal bowl it best.) Put in your heavy cream in the fridge.

• Add in your stiff egg whites and fold it in completely.

• Pour your batter into the pan and spread evenly. (Note: Drop it on your table to smooth the batter. Be careful when you drop it.) Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

• Immediately loosen sides of the cake and let it cool for 10 minutes and sprinkle powdered sugar on top. Prepare a lint-free kitchen towel by generously sprinkling powdered sugar on top.

• Turn the cake over onto your towel. Very carefully, remove the parchment paper. Roll up your cake from whichever side you want to. Preferably the shorter side, but today I used the longer side. Let it cool, seam side down, for 30 minutes.

• Dissolve instant expresso with your water and set aside. Chop up your chocolate and set aside. Take out your whisk attachment and bowl from the freezer and heavy cream from the fridge.

• Beat the heavy cream and gradually add in your powdered sugar. Beat until you have stiff peaks.

• Add in your expresso mixture and grated chocolate. Mix well. 

• Carefully unroll the cake and spread filling evenly. (Note: Don't put as much filling on the edges as the middle.) Carefully roll up the cake again but without the towel. Slice and enjoy!

-Ellenia