Waffle Corn Bread

I whipped up some corn bread "muffins" and decided to make them fun by using my Waffle Tray.  Why is it that food is more fun and seems to taste better when it looks good?

Beautiful Brownies

I made some brownies in my Square Savarin tray last night and was planning on decorating them, but decided they were too beautiful to decorate.  It wasn't very hard to talk myself out of more work.  Aren't they pretty?!  I totally wowed the moms at my son's school this morning with these.  It feels good to be a fake Martha sometimes.

Pizza in the Deep Flexipat

Contributed by Brenna Hansen! 

Brenna made pizza in her Deep Flexipat as well as on her Silpat.  Here's her recipe for Weight Watchers pizza.

Weight watchers pizza dough:

1 1/2 c warm water ( 115' F)
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast (1 packet)
1 T olive oil
4 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 1/2 ts salt

Combine water and sugar. Sprinkle in yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in oil.
In mixer, combine flour and salt. With machine running, slowly pour in yeast mixture. Mix until ball forms and is sticking together.
Remove from machine and knead by hand on roul pat until smooth and elastic.
Let raise in the large round mold with octogonal silpat covering the top until double in size. (about an hour).
Punch down dough then cut in half. Roll out on the roul pat. One half dough will stretch into the deep flexipat.  I used the other half of dough to make 3 smaller round pizzas. You can refrigerate or freeze dough in a floured ziplock bag.
( 1/12 of dough: 174 cal, 2 g fat, 0 sat fat, 34 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 5 g protein) mmmmmmmmmmmmm! Serve with your choice of toppings. I like spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce (less carbs and tastes better, I think!) and just a small amount of mozzerella, chopped peppers, pineapple, tomatoes, and olives! Add chicken for extra protein!

Strawberry Lemonade

What a fun way to treat your friends to a nice cold lemonade.  Puree some strawberries (frozen or fresh); add a touch of sugar depending on how tart your strawberries are.  Make sure your tray is on a perforated baking sheet, then fill the tray with the strawberries (any shape will do, but you want the shapes to be small), and freeze.  Tada!  It's that simple.  Put a few strawberry-cubes (or hearts, in this case) in a glass and fill with lemonade.  As the strawberries melt, you end up with a wonderful strawberry lemonade drink.

The Pizza Bowl!

Here it is!  The pizza bowl.  These are simple and tasty and good for you!

Have you tried the Demarle herbed pizza dough?  I think I've talked about it before.  It's so, so yummy!  That's what I used for these pizza bowls, but you can use whatever pizza dough you usually use (but seriously, you need to try the Demarle dough!)  I used the Round Tray here, but you can use the small, medium, large, or the new grande mold (or hey - use the muffin or mini muffin and make amazing little hors d'oeuvres - brilliant!).  Just use whatever size of mold you want your pizza to be.  Roll out your dough so it's about 2-3 inches wider in diameter than the bottom of the mold you'll be using.  You want your dough to drape over the sides about an inch all the way around.  Put your mold or tray upside down on your perforated baking sheet.  Roll out the dough pretty thin - about 1/4 inch thick, and drape over the bottom of your mold/tray.  Like this:

Bake these beauties at 350 for about 15 minutes or until they start to turn golden.

In the meantime, choose your filling.  I used a variety of veggies and cut or diced them into small pieces. Use whatever you'd like.  If you must know what I used, here's my list:  red, yellow and orange bell pepper, asparagus, yellow squash, red onion, tomato, spinach, basil, olives and salami.  It was a veggie party.  And the salami wanted in too.  Gotta get that protein - HA!  I put all my cut up veggies in the Large Round mold, sprinkled them with some Demarle Rosemary, Basil and Thyme herb blend, and baked them til they were tender-ish.

Fill your bowl with some of your veggies, top with mozzarella cheese, drizzle with some Demarle balsamic vinegar (yum!) and there you have it.

These are great because you can personalize the pizzas with whatever you want.  Instead of baking all the veggies together, put the chopped veggies out and let your kids fill a cup in the muffin tray with their choice of "toppings".  Bake them all at once and scoop the veggies from their muffin cup into their pizza bowl.  Kids love this concept of the pizza bowl.  My son had a blast helping me roll out the dough and bake it on an upside down tray!  My nieces and nephews couldn't contain themselves choosing their toppings and filling the muffin tray.  They loved making these and eating them too!  And it's all veggies!

Don't stop at pizza!  Use pie crust and make something fruity for dessert.  Get creative and let me know how it goes!

Banana Bread

One of my friends told me she made her banana bread in the bundt mold and it was fabulous.  It took me awhile, but I finally tried it!  The bundt mold doesn't have to be tucked away and used for cakes only!  

What have you made in your bundt mold?

Twix Bars

I just realized I didn't take a pic of the individual bars - oops, sorry.  I got this recipe from my fantabulous friend's blog.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it!!  I had to make a couple minor changes because I'm lame in the kitchen and didn't have corn syrup or shortening, but I'm not convinced that changed the taste much (I used sugar and water for the corn syrup and butter for the shortening).  They turned out great!  I used my checkerboard mold and, of course, didn't bother with the buttering, foiling, buttering, and watch what happened...

 

Boink!  Out they popped!  This is after I refrigerated them for faster cooling, but we were too impatient and started digging in to them before giving them time to cool (I cut that part off the picture - haha!), and I still had no trouble getting them out of the mold - even with sticky caramel!  

I took some pics for you to enjoy...

Pressed the cookie crust down into the mold and baked.

Poured the hot caramel sauce over the baked cookie crust.

Gently spread the chocolate over the caramel.

I transferred the mold onto the small
perforated baking sheet to it would
fit in my fridge better for cooling.

Kettle Corn!

I love kettle corn!  I made up a batch of this kettle corn and snuck it into the movie theater the other night.  Don't tell.

This recipe is on page 41 of the Beginnings & Endings cookbook.

Pour 3 Tbsp water and 1/3 cup raw sugar in the Large Round mold and swirl around until it's mixed together.  Microwave for about 2 minutes.  Add 1/3 cup popcorn kernels and swirl around to coat the kernels with the hot sugar syrup. 

Cover with the Octagonal silpat and microwave for about 4 minutes - just be sure to listen for the popping to slow.  

Remove right away and quickly sprinkle with salt while mixing with a spatula.  Yum!

Tasty Spaghetti Sauce

I found this recipe for Tomato & Mascarpone Pasta and it looked easy enough to try.  ;)  Her blog is amazing, by the way!  I found it by way of purchasing "YummySoup" - anyone heard of that?  It's a recipe organizing "app" for Mac.  It's changed my life!

Anyway, the pasta and garlic bread were fantastic and so easy!  Instead of the Italian herbs and basil that she suggests adding to the sauce, I used Demarle's Rosemary Basil & Thyme Herb blend.  MmmMmm!  I also made my own mascarpone, which was simple.  I'd tell you how, but I'd have to find it.  Just do a search for "mascarpone substitute" and you'll find what you need.  Or if you can find it in your grocery store, even better.

Easy Dinner

Chicken thighs seasoned with Herbes de Provence and Lemon Dill green beans

At a recent cooking show, one of the guests was very excited to find out that Demarle at Home sells "Herbes de Provence".  She shared with me a "recipe" for yummy chicken that I had to try.  I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs and simply sprinkled the herbs directly on the chicken.  Demarle at Home actually has a recipe (right on the front of the Herbes de Provence packet... I guess I missed that before) that says to make a paste out of the herbs and olive oil and rub generously on the chicken, so you could do that too.  I baked the chicken on my Silpat, but I definitely should have used my Deep Flexipat.  There was more juice that cooked out of the chicken than I was expecting and I made a mess of my oven.  The chicken tasted great and you can't get any simpler than that for dinner!

I also made up some Lemon Dill green beans easy as pie (well, a lot easier than pie, actually).  Wash and trim your fresh green beans and place them in a mold (I used my Large Round, but any mold will do).  Add 2 Tbsp. of water to the mold and cover using a Silpat (like the octagonal).  Microwave for 3-5 minutes until tender but not overcooked (aka mushy).  Sprinkle with olive oil, Lemon Dill herb blend, and Sel Gris French Grey Sea Salt to taste.  Toss gently and serve immediately.

Scottish Oatcake

My son did a report on Scotland at the end of 3rd grade.  We had to find some Scottish food to serve to his class and decided on Scottish Oatcakes.  I used my Deep Flexipat and Beechwood Rolling pin to spread it out evenly.  We baked it, then cut it using the Polyamide Spatula and popped out the squares.  Super easy!  

Oatcakes are a traditional Scottish food that are pretty bland, but I like bland, so I thought they were yummy.  There are different recipes all over the internet, but we used this one because of it's simplicity (I wanted my son to pretty much make them himself if he could).  

Here's my little buddy with his oatcakes at his desk.

The many uses of the Round Mold!

I have found that I tend to use my Large Round Mold most of all for my basic dinner cooking needs.  Here are a couple of ways I've used my round mold in the last few months (I'm really bad at posting soon after taking pics!)

 Did you know you can steam veggies using your Demarle molds?  All you need to do is place your fresh veggies in the mold, add 1-2 Tbsp. of water, cover the mold using the Octagonal Silpat and microwave for 3-5 minutes (you can even steam them by baking if you'd prefer... maybe for 20-30 minutes..??)  You don't necessarily need to use the Round Mold - use any mold shape you have!

Here I had frozen chunks of a butternut squash I cut up months ago.  I put the frozen squash in my mold and used my convection microwave's fast bake option to bake them for about 30 minutes.
They turned out perfectly yummy!

I love that I can use my molds in my microwave and oven!  I don't have to worry when I'm using my convection/microwave option and it makes it so easy to melt butter directly in the mold in the microwave then add other ingredients and throw it in the oven.

This is some sort of taco bake.  If I can find the recipe, I'll post it for you.  All I remember is that it had tortilla chips on the top.  :)

Baked Sweet Potatoes

After washing and poking my sweet potatoes, I placed them on my octagonal silpat directly on the turntable in my microwave.  It's been so long since I did it that I'm not even sure how long I baked them anymore.  Sorry.  Thirty minutes, maybe?  I don't ever make baked potatoes, so I'm at a complete loss.  Anyway, the beauty of it all is that all that sticky goo that oozes out of the potatoes stayed put on my silpat and then just peeled or washed right off (I had to peel it just for fun!).  Check it out:

Amazing!!

Daisy Mold Success

My lovely friend Astrid West sent me this email.  It put a big smile on my face.  Thanks Astrid!

"Besides my children,  this is the prettiest thing I have ever baked!  Thanks Camille and Rachelle!" 

White Chocolate Raspberry Tartlets

 These tartlets are so easy and so yummy!  They're sure to wow your crowd! 

*With your tartlet dough cut and shaped in the mini tartlet tray, gently prick each tartlet with a fork so they don't bubble when baked.  Then prebake your tartlet dough at 425 until golden (8 or so minutes); let them cool.

*Mix 1/2 a tub of cool whip with 1 individual serving cup of your favorite yogurt (I used white chocolate raspberry here).  This will give you loads of filling, so halve the cool whip if you'd like.
*Once your baked tartlet dough is cooled, either use a spoon or pastry bag to fill your tartlets.
*Top with a piece of fruit.

They're addicting!!

For Hosts:
This recipe is on the C list menu and the dessert specialty class

Lasagna

I had a customer ask me about making lasagna in the round mold a couple months ago so I tried it out.  Since then, I've made it a couple of times!  It's just taken me a while to get it posted.  I used the large round mold and yes, I used the lasagna noodles that you don't have to boil.  Certainly using the noodles that you boil would be "easier" because they're flexible, but all I did was break apart the noodles and piece them together so they fit nicely in the round shape.  My husband had to "walk away" from putting the noodles in this way because, well, I guess he's a bit OCD when it comes to his lasagna (he lived in Italy for a couple of years).  I reassured him that once it's baked he would never know that the noodles were actually in pieces and not one big strip.  Guess what?  He couldn't even tell the noodles were in pieces - it tasted fabulous and clean up was AMAZING!

Lemon Squares

 I had to come up with something quick and easy to take as a treat to cub scout pack meeting.  Lemon squares!  I made them in my Checkerboard Mold.  I stressed for a minute wondering how I was going to get them out, but then I had the idea to cut them while in the mold, using the checkerboard as a guide.  I DID NOT use a knife!  I used my nylon spatula and just pressed down into the cake.  Then I bent the mold back and out they slid.  It was a very exciting moment.  :)

Baked Pancake

My sister gave me this recipe.  It was quite yummy - but how can you go wrong with pancakes and syrup?  I make my pancakes from scratch, grinding my own wheat with every batch.  If you want my recipe, email me, but you can use whatever pancake recipe you usually use, then add a cup of syrup to the batter.  First put some butter (and I say "some" because you can add up to a whole stick if you're really daring - I think I did about 3-4 Tbsp) into your mold (I used the large round) and microwave it until the butter is melted.  Make sure your mold is on your perforated baking sheet, then pour your batter (with syrup mixed in) into your mold.  Bake at 350 for... 35 minutes?  Honestly, I don't remember - just watch it until it's not jiggly.  It's a great way to make pancakes all at one time.  Mine actually tasted a lot like those refrigerator bran muffins.  I have no idea why it tasted like that, but I love those things, so we quite enjoyed this meal.

Chef's Choice Mustard Chicken

Whoa!  It's been a long time since I posted!  That doesn't mean I haven't been baking and taking pics - I'm just a lazy blogger!  This was a delightful meal.  It's found on page 30 in the catalog and it uses the Demarle Hot and Sweet Mustard.  We don't have a "doodad" to julienne our veggies, so my hubby slaved away and cut the carrots and squash in little strips (what a guy, right?).  That made this meal a bit more labor intensive than it should be but YUM, was it good!

Quiche Lorraine

I made Quiche Lorraine using a recipe from Cooks.com for a brunch with some fantastic friends.  I made it crust-less and used my square savarin tray (baked for 30 minutes at 350) so it would be in individual servings.  And yes, once again, I failed to take a picture.  But trust me, it looked great and tasted amazing!  So for those friends that wanted the recipe, here it is.  If you want the exact version I made, I totally left out the onion and skimped on the cayenne and black (except I used white) pepper.  Oh - and never mind that I used heavy whipping cream in place of half and half.  I didn't use that much bacon either.  And while I'm at it, I used extra cheese.  So there you have it.  More fat, less protein (does bacon count as protein?) and no crust.  No wonder it was so flipping amazing!  ;)

As a side note, I also made some cucumber sandwiches for the brunch.  I used Pepperidge Farms thin sliced sandwich bread and I cut it using the scallop edge dough cutter from Demarle.  I thought they looked cute, and I really did intent to take a picture.  Ah well, next time.  However, if you're looking for other fun ideas using your dough cutters, here you go.

Follow-up... I made the quiche again in the Sunflower Mold... and took a pic!  Beauty!

Sticky Buns

Contributed by Jan Smith.  Thanks Jan!!

Doesn't this look amazing?!  Jan is a new fan of Demarle at Home products and she's already put her Flower mold to great use making cakes and sticky buns!  She used this recipe from Cooks.com to make these rolls, however, she used Rhodes frozen cinnamon rolls instead of the bread (thawed over night in the fridge) - and of course, she didn't have to butter a pan!  She said clean-up was a breeze.  Of course!  I'm definitely going to try this!

1 lg. pkg. vanilla pudding
1 stick butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tbsp. milk
chopped nuts (any type, pecan are best)
2 loaves frozen bread (allow to thaw and rise)

 

In a saucepan, melt butter and add pudding, brown sugar, cinnamon and milk. Stir until smooth and add nuts.Break up 1 loaf of bread. Put in flexipan, then spread all the sauce mixture over entire pan. Then break up second loaf on top of first loaf. Let rise a second time, about 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Flip pan on 9x13 inch serving dish and enjoy.

Sunday Morning Sweet Rolls

Rob decided to make sweet rolls on Sunday morning.  He dutifully got out the Bosch and mixed up the dough.  He did a great job too!  Except the dough was super-d-duper sticky!  I saw this as a chance to put my Demarle to the test.  We let it rise in a "hosed down" bowl for the allotted time (if you've been to one of my shows you know that "hosed down" means sprayed to the max with Pam).  Sure enough, it still stuck to the bowl... but the trickiest part was getting it off my hands!  I thought I'd have to add flour to my Roul'pat, for surely there was no way this dough wasn't going to stick.  Guess what..... NO STICKING to the Roul'pat!  I was in awe!  It didn't even stick to my Beechwood rolling pin!  It looked like it was going to stick to the rolling pin, but nope!  It was amazing - truly!

I wanted to try baking the rolls in a variety of ways just to see which one worked the best.  I put rolls in my Deep Flexipat, on my Silpat and in my Round Tray.  They were all fantastic - I don't know that I preferred one over the other.  And actually, the Round Tray was just because I had a few extras that I didn't know what to do with.

This bowl was hosed down... think of what it would have looked like if it hadn't been!  I should have taken a picture of my hands... except I had to wash them before picking up my camera.

My son wanted to roll out the dough...in his Harry Potter costume.

No sticking!

I put rolls in my Deep Flexipat - it worked beautifully.

I put rolls on my medium Silpat - it worked beautifully.

I put a few stragglers in my Round Tray - it worked beautifully. (I filled the empty shapes with water before baking)

These ones went to friends.  Yum.

These ones went in our bellies.  Yum.