Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturdays: Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Even before this series started, I'd never purchased anything from the little bakery section in Trader Joe's.  It's easy to miss, tucked in the back of the produce section.

This week, we decided to give the baked goods a try with Trader Joe's Pink Lemonade Cupcakes.  Trader Joe's describes these as "moist lemony cupcakes with a tangy lemonade flavored cream cheese frosting."

For $3.99, you'll get a box of four cupcakes.


My take: I loved these.  They are honestly better than some $3.50 a piece cupcake-shop cupcakes I've had.  I'm a frosting girl through-and-through, but if I'm going to have a cupcake, the cake part better not be dry.  The cake here is moist (I know, you hate that word...but it's true) and tart with the perfect crumb.  The frosting....oh, the frosting....tangy, sweet, lemony, utterly delicious.  Looking at the ingredients, I noticed that the frosting is colored with hibiscus powder, and that make me love them even more.
Overall rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kiddo's take: Simply put, these cupcakes taste a LOT like lemonade! The "pink" is a nice touch, of course, but there's not that much difference between pink and regular lemonade. The richness of the cake combined with the tanginess and sweetness of the frosting leaves the taster with a delightful aftertaste- which might incline you to eat the whole package. These are quite possibly the most accurate representation of lemon-y-ness I have tasted in a cupcake.
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's Pink Lemonade Cupcakes: be sure to stop by the bakery table and pick up a box!

Raspberry Poppy Seed Bread

Quick breads.  Oh, you evil temptresses.


I try *not* to bake quick breads often because I love them so much.  My muffin top should probably be referred to as a "quick bread" top.

Mr. E will tell you, I've had a long standing love affair with Starbucks pumpkin loaf.  He seems ok with it.


Sometimes the call of the quick bread is too strong and it must be answered.  Such is the case today.

This Raspberry Poppy Seed Bread is sweet, moist, studded with crunchy poppy seeds, and tart raspberries.  It's topped off with a simple lemon glaze.

The recipe calls for frozen raspberries, so you can make it all year long.  Also, it makes two loaves.  One for you, one for the neighbors.  Or, two for you. 


Let me give you a little hint...I think the bread tastes most delicious when it's been left to sit (wrapped and refrigerated) for a day or two.


Raspberry Poppy Seed Bread.  When the call of the quick bread can no longer be ignored.

{Find the recipe over at Imperial Sugar.}

Vanilla Bean Almond Macarons? Oui! Oui!

Kiddo rarely asks for my help these days...unless you count help with his hair, help finding his shoes, help ironing his shirt...especially with school work.


Last week, he came home from school and said that in his final French class of the school year, they'd be having a party with French food and could I... 
Before the sentence was out of his mouth, I think I shouted, "MACARONS!"

An excuse to make macarons?  I'm on it!

And yes, I packaged them in leftover treat packaging from Christmas.  Not pictured, the snowflake cellophane. 


I used Mindy Cone's book Gourmet French Macarons for recipe inspiration this time, and I always love to read Stella's wisdom on mac making each time before baking them.

For me, making a template on parchment by tracing circles is key for macarons of even(ish) size.  Last time I made macarons, they lifted so neatly off of the parchment that I wiped down the sheets and saved them.  Good idea IN THEORY, except that apparently I didn't store them so nicely and they got wrinkled.  

Of course, I tried to use them still...and this happened.  Misshapen macs:

Don't be like me.


{You'll find a picture of a (non-wrinkled) template in this post.  Also, you'll need a scale for this recipe...this is the one I have.)



French Vanilla Almond Macarons
{adapted from Gourmet French Macarons}

for the macarons:
200 grams powdered sugar
110 grams almond flour
100 grams egg whites
pinch kosher salt
35 grams superfine (caster) sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

for the vanilla bean buttercream filling:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 TBSP milk

Use a 1 and 1/2" cookie cutter to trace a templates on 2 sheets of parchment paper.  Flip the paper over and line cookie sheets.  You should get about 20 circles per sheet.

Process the powdered sugar and almond flour in a food processor until finely ground.  Sift the mixture.  If more than 2 tablespoons remain in the sifter, too large to sift, process again.  If 2 tablespoons or less remain, just pour those larger pieces into the bowl with the sifted mixture.  Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and pinch salt on medium-low for 3 minutes.  The mixture will look slightly foamy.

Increase the speed to medium and whip until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes).  Slowly, pour in the superfine sugar.  Once all of the sugar has been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl, increase the speed to medium high and whip another 3 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Add in the vanilla bean paste and beat on high for one more minute.  The meringue should clump in the center of the whisk attachment.  Tap the beater on the side of the bowl to release the meringue.  Remove bowl from the mixer.

Dump about 1/3 of the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold with a silicone spatula.  Once that is incorporated, add the remaining mixture and continue folding.  You want to deflate the egg whites, so no need to be super gentle.

Stir just until the batter comes to a lava-like consistency.  You'll want to drop a ribbon of batter back into the bowl and have it incorporate back into the rest in 20-30 seconds.  Batter that is too stiff will leave you with peaks on your macarons...too loose and the batter will run when piped.  Towards the end of folding, evaluate every 1 or 2 stokes.

Transfer this mixture to a piping a fitted with a large round tip, such as a #12.  Pipe the batter onto the parchment-lined sheets using the templates as a guide.  The batter will spread just a bit.

Once the sheets are filled, rap the sheets on the counter, rotating the sheets and rapping a few times. ("I said a hip hop, Hippie to the hippie, The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it to the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie, to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat..." not that kind of rap.)
Let the macarons rest for 15 minutes or so while the oven preheats to 325.

Bake the macarons for 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through.  Check for doneness by gently lifting he macarons from the parchment.  If they release easily, they are done.  If not, pop back in the oven for another minute or two.

Cool on the pans, then gently lift from the parchment.  Use a thin spatula if needed. (The vanilla bean paste can make these a little stickier than normal.)

Refrigerate the cooled shells, or fill first, then refrigerate.  

Make the filling:

Cream the butter and powdered sugar together until fluffy.  Add in the vanilla bean paste, almond extract and salt.  Mix until combined.  Beat in the milk until smooth.

Transfer the filling to a piping bag, snip off the tip.  Pipe onto the bottoms of half of the macaron shells.  Sandwich with the remaining shells.
Refrigerate at least 12 hours before serving. (OK, go ahead and test a few.)  Macarons tastes best after they've been refrigerated 1-2 days.  

WARNING: this makes more filling than you'll need.  I found myself eating the extra straight out of the bowl with a spoon. 

Macarons?  Oui!  Oui!

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturdays: Milk Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels

I know, I know.  It's Sunday.  Forgive me?  We promise to be on time next week.  Maybe.

This week's installment features Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels. 

The pretzels come in a 12-ounce, foil (difficult to photograph) bag and cost $3.29.  TJ's normally has a cute little description of the dessert on the package, but must have thought this one was self-explanatory. ;)




My take: These were hit or miss for me.  I tested several (it's a rough job).   Sometimes I would eat one and think, "meh"...and others hit just the right note of sweet and salty.  When you bite into the pretzel, the "nugget" of peanut butter comes loose.  That peanut butter nugget looks a lot like cat treat, which didn't add to the experience.  These are good, but not my favorite.  I probably would not be tempted to purchase them again.
Overall rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kiddo's take: I love the fact that there is a balance between the chocolate, pretzel, and peanut butter, leaving you with a taste that is just the right amount of chocolate, not too peanut butter-y, and a bit of saltiness and crunchiness. These taste delicious! I could probably eat an entire bag of these in about a minute.
Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels: split decision!!!

Gold Chevron Stenciled Floral Thank You Cookies...say that 3 times fast.

For the past few months, I've been having stencil angst.  Yes, actual angst over an actual piece of plastic for cookie decorating.  For real.


Maybe you feel this way, too....but sometimes I see pictures of other decorated cookies that are utter perfection and I'm paralyzed.  Cookie paralyzed.


For example, I love the look stencils can give cookies (you can find some really great ones here).  I ordered several and read up on the best way to use them.  Then, I gave it a try, didn't think they were "perfect" enough, and tossed them.

I stashed the stencils away, but I thought about them a LOT. 


Fast forward to last month...we spent a few hours at our town's art festival.  The art was beautiful, inspiring, creative...and guess what?  Not perfect.  Actually, the art that was more quirky, less perfect, more real was the art that was my favorite. 

And hello, Bridget.  These are cookies we're talking about, not the Sistine Chapel.

When I had the chance to make some thank you cookies, I busted out the stencils again.  No airbrush, no special stencil magnets, no angst. (Ok, a little angst.)

I guess what I'm trying to say here is...don't let the fear of imperfection keep you from creating.


In the end, I kind of love that the stenciling on the cookies is a little wonky. 

Let's make a deal.  Let's try to not be paralyzed by the fear of imperfection.  Maybe we won't strive for wonky, but let's embrace it and find the beauty in the rustic, the homemade, the flawed.

To make these gold chevron stenciled floral cookies ;), you'll need:

• sugar cookies  (any shapes will work)
  
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor  Turquoise, Ivory, Electric Pink, Peach, Avocado
  
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and tips, #2, #3, #4, #1, leaf (such as Ateco #349 & Ateco #68), and star (such as Wilton #15 & Ateco #96)
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• chevron stencil
• gold food coloring spray

Use  #2 tips to outline the cookies with ivory and turquoise icing.  Reserve some of this piping consistency icing before thinning.

Thin the ivory and turquoise icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  (Reserve some of the white icing for piping details later.) You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles.

Fill in the outlines with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.

Let the cookies dry at least one hour.


For the "thank you" cookies: Use star tips to make rosettes with the star tips in the pink icing.  Use #3 or #4 tips to pipe the base of swirly flowers in peach icing.  Switch the tips on the pink to #1 and add a swirl on top of the peach icing.

Use a leaf tip to pipe leaves in the avocado icing.

Pipe working using a #1 or #1.5 tip.  (I used both 1 & 1.5 PME tips.)

Let the cookies dry, uncovered, 6-8 hours or overnight.


For the chevron cookies: Let the base color dry completely before stenciling. Place the cookie on a small plate and the plate on a cookie sheet.  Rest the stencil lightly over the top of the cookie, and spray a light coating of gold spray evenly over the top.  Gently lift the stencil off of the cookie, and blot it before placing it onto another cookie.


Pipe on flowers and leaves as described above.

Be not afraid.  Go forth and cookie! 

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturdays: Hold the Cone Mini Ice Cream Cones

Our Trader Joe's dessert review this week starts in the freezer section...with the Hold the Cone! Mini Ice Cream Cones (chocolate variety).

Trader Joe's describes these as "filled with rich chocolate ice cream and chocolate flavored coating."


Each package contains 8 mini ice cream cones and sells for $2.99.


My take: I was prepared to not like these. Frozen "treats" (with the exception of Blue Bell ice cream sandwiches) usually underwhelm me.  The mini cones?  Oh my goodness.  I loved them.  The chocolate ice cream is creamy and soft, and each cone is filled with just a bit of chocolate at the bottom...a happy little bonus.  This box was in our house for about 18 hours before we'd eaten them all.  Plus: "Hold the Cone!"  Bonus point for the cute name!
Overall rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kiddo's take: This is just like Dairy Queen, except smaller! The delicious chocolate shell yields easily, revealing a decadent chocolate ice cream. The waffle cone complements the ice cream well, adding a crunchy element to the mix.
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's Hold the Cone Mini Ice Cream Cones: stock your freezer!!!

Repeat after me...

"Do not bake cookies before dinner. Do not bake cookies before dinner. Do not bake cookies before dinner..."

Today was one of those days.  You know those days when you're just HUNGRY all day?  Not the best day to decide to make a batch of cookies *before* dinner.  I won't tell you how many of these cookies I consumed (I lost count), or how much of the cookie dough I tested (probably illegal)...let's just say,  it wasn't a good idea.

What WAS a good idea, though, was this recipe.  Whenever anyone asks what my favorite kind of cookie is, I don't hesitate.  I always answer "chocolate chip."  But...if you were to have asked me at 7:34 this evening, I would have answered "Banana Nut Cookies."

These cookies combine the best of both worlds....banana bread and cookies.  

Heck, I'm perfectly ok with you slathering them with butter.  (I'm so glad I didn't think of that as I was inhaling them earlier.)

If you're into cookies for breakfast (and if you are, I like you so much), these make the ideal candidates. 


Banana Nut Cookies
{makes about 50 cookies}

2 & 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract)
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350.   Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg together.  Set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and sugar.  Add in the eggs and vanilla bean paste; mix well.

Beat in half of the bananas, then half of the flour mixture.  Repeat.  Stir in the pecans.

Scoop 2 teaspoon dollops (I use a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop) onto the prepared pans.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the tops bounce back when lightly pressed.


Cool on the sheets for 1-2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

{adapted from a sweet vintage cookbook, Cooking for Young Homemakers, copyright 1959}


Do not make until AFTER you've eaten dinner.  The end.

A week late and a peso short.

(my version of a day late and a dollar short.)

So, I had good intentions of having these cookies ready for Cinco de Mayo.  It was an exceptionally busy week around here prior to May 5th.  You guys...I do not do busy well.  My mom was so good at being busy...she did it all with an smile AND kept the house clean.

I planned, though.  I actually baked the cookies ahead of time and popped them in the freezer.  There was a fundraiser I was helping with on Saturday night.  Cinco de Mayo was on Monday.  No problemo, I thought.  I'll wake up Sunday morning, make the icing, decorate the cookies, and have them up on the blog on Monday.

Funny thing, plans.  For a number of reasons...EXHAUSTION, a car dying, a laundry pile that had to be tackled, grocery store run (we were down to some questionable cheese, a few eggs, and a can of pumpkin), and a long nap (I mentioned exhaustion, right?)...those cookies just didn't get decorated for Cinco de Mayo.

You know what, though?  Guacamole is a year-round thing.  Please tell me you don't ONLY eat it for Cinco de Mayo.  People, it's vegetables that taste good!!!  (I know, I know...avocados are fruit, but they're green.  Work with me.)


The avocado with angel wings cookie is just an Easter egg cookie baked with angel wings on either side.  (Place the shapes right next to each other before baking.  They will fuse together.)  The angel wing cutters are from Truly Mad Plastics...and the egg is one I've had forever.  The wings are prone to breakage, though, so don't plan on shipping these cross-country.

To make Holy Guacamole cookies, you'll need:

• cut-out cookies 
• royal icing, divided and tinted dark avocado (avocado mixed with super black), bright white, avocado, and orange-brown (terracotta mixed with warm brown) All colors are AmeriColor gel paste food colors
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and icing tips: #4, #2
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks

Use a #4 tip to outline the avocado with the dark green icing. Use a #2 tip to outline the wings with white.  Reserve some of this white icing before thinning the rest.

Thin the lighter avocado and white icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles as needed.


Flood the outlines with the thinned icing.  Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Let the icing set for at least one hour.

Use the orange-brown icing to make a pit.  Outline with the piping consistency icing and then thin and flood as above.

With the white icing, add detail piping to the wings.

Let the cookies dry uncovered 6-8 hours or overnight.



Serve for dessert after eating the real thing.  Ole! 

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturdays: Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar

I love that kiddo and I have a routine now...every Thursday or Friday after school, we pop into Trader Joe's and pick out our dessert to review.

You would think this would be an easy process, but I can tell you that it's sort of agonizing.  We want to try EVERYTHING.  Now.

This week, we headed straight for the candy bar section by the registers and decided on the Milk Chocolate Truffle bar.

Trader Joe's describes this as "made with caramelized milk, resulting in an extra creamy, smooth texture."  A 3.5 oz bar will set you back $1.99.


My Take: I judge all milk chocolate against Hershey Bars and Kisses.  Hershey's may not be the fanciest, but in my mind, it is the quintessential milk chocolate.  Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar is as described: smooth, creamy and tastes quite rich.  I dare say, it tastes "luxurious."  The caramelized milk adds just a hint of coffee flavor...or maybe I'm just craving a latte.  This is a chocolate bar to savor, although, I wolfed down half of a bar in about 2 minutes flat.  Giving it 4.5 stars only because I still think I'd reach for a Hershey bar over this if they were side by side.
Overall rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Kiddo's Take: Based on my many experiences at Godiva (due to my mom's free chocolate card), I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a truffle from there and this Milk Chocolate Truffle bar. You can distinctly differentiate between the semi-hard outer layer and the rich, creamy, and of course, milky, inner part. All in all, if you are looking for a truffle in bar form (and a lot of it), this is what to get.
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate Truffle Bar...yep.  Throw one in your basket while you're near the registers waiting to check out.  Eat it in the car on the way home.  We'll never tell.