Oreo Truffles

Our friends had invited us for a Christmas dinner last year and I volunteered to make dessert(no surprises there!) I was itching to try out this recipe and a Christmas party seemed just the perfect reason. Its one of the easier recipes I've made. The tricky part is coating it with chocolate, but a few trial and errors and you'll manage. 

Recipe

Ingredients:

18 Oreo cookies (DO NOT use the double stuffed ones)

4 ounce Philly cream cheese (at room temperature)

8 ounce Bakers semi sweet chocolate bars(You can use Hershey's or Ghirardelli too)

2 ounce Bakers white chocolate

Crush the cookies in a food processor till fine. Add the cream cheese and mix well. It should form a sticky dough. Keep the dough in the fridge for atleast an hour for it to bind well. After an hour, make bite size balls (this recipe should make approx 20 balls). Line the cookie balls on a parchment paper and refrigerate for atleast 4 hours. 

Melt the semi sweet chocolate in a double boiler. While you melt the chocolate, keep the cookie balls in the freezer, for about 10 mins so they set well.

Using a spoon and a fork dip the cookie balls in the melted chocolate. Be very quick else the cookie balls start melting in the hot chocolate. The spoon helps the cookie ball coat well and the fork helps remove the excess chocolate.

After coating the truffles, place them on a tray lined with parchment paper.

While the truffles cool down and the chocolate sets, melt the 2 ounce white chocolate in a double boiler. Add the melted white chocolate in a ziplock bag and snip one end of the ziplock.

Drizzle white chocolate on the truffles and you have yourself beautiful truffles ready to be gobbled down!

Carrot Cake

I didn't know I could bake till I moved to Dallas, to be a homemaker. It was a whole lot of free time at home and a lot of the food network that made me take the plunge. I want to dedicate my very first post to my mom who would have turned 52 this January. I remember having long conversations with her describing each cake I baked and how she would listen ever so patiently.
I first ate a carrot cake at an office party and totally fell in love with it (with the cream cheese frosting actually :) ) It's a shame it took me 2 years to finally bake one myself. This recipe makes a 6" cake which is perfect for two. You can have your cake and eat it too ! Literally.

Recipe

Cake Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (I like a strong cinnamon flavour, you can reduce it to 1/2 teaspoon too)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar(you can use white sugar too)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 carrot - grated fine
1/4 cup + 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
3 ounce cream cheese (softened)
2 tablespoons butter (softened)
6 tablespoons white sugar (powdered)
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions:
To prepare the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 6" round cake pan. You can grease the pan with cooking spray too if you wish to save a few calories. Using an electric mixer, beat together the oil and sugar for about a minute. Add the egg and beat for 30 seconds. Next add the vanilla extract, cinnamon powder and the grated carrots. Beat for about 30 more seconds till the carrots are well incorporated  Next add the all purpose flour and baking powder and stir it into the wet mixture. Do not over mix the flour into the mixture. Finally stir in 1/4 cup chopped walnuts into the batter.
Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes(time may vary between 20-30 minutes depending n your oven). Insert a toothpick to check if it comes out a little moist. Allow the cake to cool on a cooling rack.
To prepare the frosting: Add all the frosting ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Make sure the cake is completely cooled before you frost it. Spread the frosting evenly over the cake. Garnish it with the remaining 1/4 cup chopped walnuts and cool it in the fridge for about 2 hour.

"Carrot cake counts as a vegetable" so enjoy!
(The original recipe can be found at http://www.dessertfortwo.com/2011/04/carrot-cake/)