donika

I came up with this recipe because I simply miss my peanut-butter-balls, I’ve grown a intolerance to peanuts, I break out in hives and rash so I avoid it now but miss all my peanut butter recipes. Yes I know there is the ‘non’ peanut spreads but I don’t care for it.

Lotus biscoff is sweeter than peanut butter but has a similar consistency and I like the taste of the spread, so I thought to experiment and have some fun with it. Next time I make them I think I will add some biscoff crumbs or graham crumbs to the mix and see which I like better. Tastes fine to me like this, but wonder how it would be if I added the cookies.

Because of the sweetness I couldn’t use that much icing sugar to help it set, so I thought what would help it harden and white chocolate came to mind, so I used that.

It doesn’t make many balls, as the jar of biscoff spread is small, you will end up making around 15 -18 but if you make the balls smaller you can make more.

I used 4 tbsp white chocolate chips and 2 tbsp icing sugar.

In a small pot over hot water over the stove top I melted the biscoff spread with the white chocolate chips, then stirred in the icing sugar, if the sugar gets clumpy beat it with a wisk.

Refrigerate for a few hours to harden.

Then using a cookie scooper, scoop out into balls you may shape them with your hands to make perfect rounds, place the balls on a wax paper or parchment paper lined pan.

Place the balls back into the fridge for an hour.

You may wonder why I didn’t coat them with white chocolate, I thought the chocolate would cut down the sweetness and it did, if you rather coat them in white chocolate feel free to do so. You can use dark or milk chocolate as well, I used dark but added a little milk chocolate to add a touch of sweetness to the bitter dark.

You can use any of kind chocolate to coat them with, I had chocolate candy melts and since they harden quickly I figured I use it, if I had chocolate bark I would have used that instead but we don’t have that in Canada. To a bowl I added dark chocolate candy melts I used half the bag worth, added 1 tbsp of milk chocolate chips and melted it, I used a double boiler but if you have a microwave, you can use that.

For the garnish I used white candy melts, melted and crushed up Lotus cookies.

Store in the refrigerator.

This cookie is perfect for when you have leftover brownies or if you are a fan of brookies!

I use my brownie recipe for this, I prefer the updated version (check out post) but you can use any brownie recipe for this or if you have store bought ones, that is fine too.

Cut the brownies up in bite size pieces and add 3 to each cookie at the 7 minute mark; I do this so that the brownie doesn’t dry up in the oven the whole baking time also I like the way the cookies bake alone.

For the cookies, you can use 1 cup butter but if you want more of a bakery style use 3/4 butter and 1/4 cup vegetable shortening like Crisco.

I use only 1 cup chocolate chips for this recipe because of the brownie bits, but if you want to use this recipe without the brownies then add another cup of chocolate chips.

For the cookies:

• 1 cup unsalted softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla or 1 pkt vanilla sugar
• 2 and 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• brownie bits

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy; this takes a few minutes. Add in eggs one a time and beat until light and fluffy, then add in vanilla. In a measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and combine until it turns into cookie dough; do not over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Place parchment paper to baking sheets, and scoop up the cookie dough, I use 2 scoops for one cookie and slightly flatten them, I bake 6 cookies on one sheet at a time.

At the 7 minute mark, remove the cookies from the oven and place 3 brownie bits on each cookie, bake for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from oven, transfer to cooling rack after 2 minutes of resting time on the baking sheet.

Repeat until cookie dough and brownie bits are done.

When I was a kid my two favourite treats were napoleons from the bakery, and boston cream doughnuts from the doughnut shops. Both are custard filled desserts so I guess you can say I really love my custard haha!

When my kids were younger I used to make this cake often, but it’s been a while since I made it and figured I’d share it with you today.

Plan this ahead so you don’t rush, as both custard and cakes need to be cool before assembling.

You can make this with a cake mix or use your favourite vanilla cake recipe.

For the pastry cream you will need:

2 cups whole milk

4 egg yolks

1/4 cup corn starch

2/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp butter

vanilla bean or 1 pkt vanilla sugar

In a pot, heat the milk until hot, meanwhile in a mixing bowl or measuring cup whisk together the yolks and sugar, add in the cornstarch and mix with a whisk until nicely combined. Take a vanilla bean pod and scrape a little bit off and add that to the custard, if you don’t have any you can use vanilla sugar.

Temper the egg and sugar mixture by adding a few ladles of hot milk, stirring with a whisk. Then pour the mixture into the pot with the rest of the hot milk.

Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly so it doesn’t burn on the bottom. It will start to thicken up in a few minutes. Once it stops bubbling, it is done; it should be thick custard. Add the butter, and once it melts stir it in. Transfer to a bowl, and when it is still warm but not hot cover with plastic wrap directly on the custard.

Refrigerate until cold and firm.

Bake your cake, follow instructions on cake mix or bake homemade vanilla cake in two 8 inch cakes pans. Make sure to grease the pans well and use parchment paper for the bottom for easy removal of cake.

Cool cakes down, and once they are cool, add one cake down on your platter and transfer the custard on top ( I just flip the custard over from the bowl), then add the other layer of cake on top and refrigerate until you’ve made your ganache.

For the ganache, you should use whipping cream (35%) but if you don’t have any, 10% half and half works fine for this as a topping.

When making ganache, you need a 1:1 ratio of cream to chocolate. So if you are using 1 cup cream, use 1 cup chocolate. I use semi sweet chocolate chips for my ganache but you can use whatever chocolate you have.

You won’t need a cup worth of ganache for this, so I would say use 1/2 cup of each cream and chocolate.

Heat the cream in a double boiler, once its hot add in the chocolate and stir until fully combined.

If you don’t have any kind of cream, you can use cool whip as well. Melt down 2 cups of cool whip and stir in 4 oz of chocolate. I have done this many times it works out great.

Now that you have your ganache, pour it over the cake and spread with a spoon until it reaches the edges.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

It’s best served the same day as custard will crack, but if you want to hide that, whip some 35% cream with a little icing sugar or use frosting and ice the edges to close up the gap and spread the ganache later on.