May 26: National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

It was like seeing a thousand bursts of falling stars, contrasted sharply against the dark night.

It was that feeling of making the green light that would otherwise cause you to be late (Hello SoCal traffic!)

It was like that first touch of rain against the dusty soil during a long and tiresome drought. 

It was the feeling of getting ten hours of continuous sleep right after finals.

All those emotions above combined, yeah, that's what the first bite of this blueberry cheesecake tasted like. There's simply no other way to describe it.

The finished product, in all it's glory.

It took a little while to make, and then it had to be refrigerated over the whole night, but the patience involved, it was worth it.

So here's this fabulous recipe. You won't be disappointed. That's a promise I am willing to make. And I don't break promises.

The Crust:

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs (about 6 graham crackers)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4 tablespoons melted butter

Directions for crust:
1. Crush up graham crackers. I did this by putting them in a thick bag and lightly pounding them with a dough roller.
3. Mix in the sugar.
4. Add melted butter until the mixture is well moistened.
5. Press firmly into a 9inch spring form pan.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
7. Remove and let cool.

The Cheesecake Part:

Ingredients:
-3  cups thawed or fresh blueberries
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch, separated
- 24 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 5 eggs

Directions:
1. Place the blueberries and 1 tablespoon cornstarch in a food processor and blend until well chopped up.
2. Place in a pot on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn heat to low and let simmer for 6 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside and allow it to thicken while you make the rest of the cheesecake.
3. Place all the cream cheese in a bowl and using a mixer, mix until smooth and creamy.
4. Mix sugar, remaining cornstarch, and salt. Add to the cream cheese mixture.
5. Add in eggs one at a time, blending well after each egg. This will ensure that your cheesecake is fluffy!
6. Pour batter over prepared crust.
7. Gently pour 1 cup of the blueberry puree over the batter and gently swirl with a knife to create a beautiful design of your choosing!
8. Bake at 325 degrees for 70 minutes, or until middle barely jiggles.
9. When done, place on a wire rack to cool, but do not turn off oven yet.

Grinding up those blueberries.

Ain't she a beauty? Aren't those great swirling skills I have?!

 The Topping:

Ingredients:
- 8 ounces sour cream
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Rest of the blueberry puree

Directions:
1. Mix sour cream, sugar, and blueberry puree.
2. Pour and spread evenly over the cooked cheesecake (that is cooling on the wire rack) and place back into the oven for 10 minutes.
3. Remove cheesecake from oven, run a knife along the sides to separate from the pan. Cool at least 8 hours in the refrigerator or overnight. Once it has been refrigerated for 8+ hours, remove the sides of the spring form pan.
4. EAT EAT EAT! Cover leftovers with plastic wrap.

The sour cream mixture will melt into the cheesecake, so you will be able to see more of the blueberry topping once it has cooked.

Like this.

Note: It's even better if you take the first bite with your eyes closed, that way you can savor it even more.

Note: The recipe I based this off of said to use wild blueberries. Like tame blueberries are even a thing?

I'm going to be making this again. Don't worry. It was rich and creamy and so very blueberryish.

Making this, made me want to open a bakery even more. One day, I keep telling myself. One day, I will own my little bakery.

And until that day, I will make peace with making all these goodies.

So here's to the future.

I can't wait.

April 13: National Peach Cobbler Day

Peach Cobbler! MHHHMMM smells good to me!

Jazzy J's Super Easy Peach Cobbler Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 1 cup milk (or almond milk)
- 1 cup flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3 cups peaches
- 1/2 cup butter
- cinnamon and sugar to sprinkle on top
- optional: vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Directions:
1. Mix the milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.
2. Put the butter in the bottom of a 13" by 9" pan. Put the pan in the oven while it is heating to 375 degrees until the butter has melted and covered the bottom of the pan.
3. Pour the batter on top of the melted butter. DO NOT STIR.
4. Add the peaches on top. I drained out about 75% of the peach juice because I didn't want my cobbler to be mushy. DO NOT STIR.
5. Sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon and sugar on top.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes.
7. Top with whipped cream or ice cream if desired!

See? This recipe was super easy and it was really good. I imagine it would be even better if you added some blueberries in it.

It should be noted that I didn't quite have enough peaches. I only had about 2 cups because someone (Mom!) decided to eat some ahead of time. I put in the recipe 3 cups because I believe 3 cups would have been peach perfect!

Still...topped with a little bit of vanilla ice cream, this cobbler was a hit. I'll be making it again soon!

April 10: National Cinnamon Crescent Day

My friend Rachel came over to help me celebrate this day!  There was one minor incident when I misread the ingredients and put in 3 tablespoons of cinnamon instead of 3 teaspoons of cinnamon. It was very cinnamon-y. You know I like cinnamon so I was OK with it, but it was still pretty powerful!

JazzyJ's Ultra Cinnmon-y Crescent Rolls:

Ingredients:
- 1 roll of crescent dough
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 TEASPOONS cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together to create a thick paste.
3. Unroll the crescent rolls so they form triangles.
4. Spread the cinnamon mixture evenly on the triangles.
5. Roll up to create crescents. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes.

Do you see the crescent roll on the bottom left? That's because I tried to roll the crescent roll up the wrong way. I couldn't figure out why it looked funny. I looked over and of course, Rachel had rolled the perfect crescent. But it's okay, I figured it out.

These were super easy and quick to make. They were really cinnamon-y and delicious. I'd make them again.

April 6: National Caramel Popcorn Day

So while this isn't totally related to today, it's a funny story. You all know how I like funny stories.

So I went to the grocery store today to buy necessities (like 50% off Easter candy!). I also bought some healthy food. Anyways, I go to checkout in an "Express" lane that says "Approximately 12 items or less." Perfect. I have exactly 10 items. This shouldn't take long at all. WRONG. I failed to notice that the guy in front of me was buying about 12 individual chickens, and about 20 other items. UGH. But it was too late to retreat and go to a different check out. I was stuck.

This man continues to be very particular about how his items are bagged. You can put two individual chickens in a bag but no more. All the bags have to be paper. You can only put food items together. He does not want his beer in a bag, but he wants an extra bag to put the beer in later. I felt bad for the cashier helping him. She finally gets him all rung up and low and behold, he spends forever counting out the correct change.

Finally it was my turn. Why am I telling you this? Because I was so frustrated by the time it was actually my turn to be helped that I failed to notice, that somehow one of his items ended up in my bag. (Okay, maybe I was a little too preoccupied making sure my Easter candy was 50% off). I get home and see a carton of milk. I AM ALLERGIC TO MILK! I don't drink milk. I only drink almond milk. I don't even know the last time I had regular milk. At first I laughed about it until I realized that I actually paid for this milk. Great. I paid for some milk I am not going to drink. And it was low-fat! Who even drinks low-fat? But at least it was organic. I mean, if I were to drink regular milk, I would buy organic milk. But I don't drink milk. So now I'm stuck with a carton of low-fat organic milk which I'm not going to use. If you happen to live near me, and want some low-fat milk, it's all yours! Please stop by and get it. Why couldn't I have accidentally bought someone's cookies or candy or something yummy like that?

Anyways, check out this caramel popcorn recipe!

Here it is! In all it's delicious-ness!

JazzyJ's Snazzy Caramel Popcorn Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 bags popped pop corn
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

The sauce cooking.

 Instructions:
 1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Pop the popcorn and place it in one or more large and shallow baking dishes.
2. Melt the butter and add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Mix until well blended. Let boil for 4 minutes without stirring.
3. Add the baking soda and vanilla and stir. Remove from heat.
4. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn, stirring so it is well mixed.
5. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. Let cool, break into pieces, and enjoy!

Before cooking.

This. Was. Delicious. Seriously. It was really good. I couldn't stop eating it. I will be making this again. It beats popcorn any day.  It was easy even if it did take a little while to cook. It was worth the wait.

April 3: National Chocolate Mousse Day

Christopher Henry was very excited to celebrate this day!

Until he realized, it wasn't about a moose eating chocolate. Poor guy. He was disappointed. I let him eat some anyways.

Christopher Henry argued that today should be about celebrating him, because he is a chocolate colored moose. Ohhhhh Christopher Henry...



JazzyJ's Light and Fluffy Chocolate Mousse Recipe:

Ingredients:
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 8 ounces heaving whipping cream
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Any toppings you might want (shaved chocolate, crushed Oreos, whipped cream...)

Melting the chocolate.

Instructions:
1. Put a metal mixing bowl in the freezer.
2. Using a double boiler, melt the bittersweet chocolate, stirring often until completely melted. Take off heat and set aside.
3. Get the metal mixing bowl out of the freezer, and beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
5. Using a whisk, blend the chocolate into the egg white mixture.
6. Add the chocolate egg white mixture into the whipped cream and gently stir until well blended.
7. Cover and refrigerate for an hour before adding any toppings and serving.
8. Serve some to Christopher Henry (He made me put that in here!)

Melted chocolate

The cream all whipped up.

Stiff egg whites.

Adding in the chocolate.

The finished chocolate mousse, ready to be refrigerated!

Let me tell you, this was sinful! There were some arguments on this recipe because some people believe mousse should be light and fluffy and others believe it should be creamy and smooth. Just so this doesn't disappoint anyone, this is very light and fluffy. And chocolately. And high in calories. And very very delicious. It's a light dessert that would be a great addition to finish off any heavy meal, because it is just so light and fluffy! Christopher Henry gives it two antlers up!

April 2: National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day

I strongly dislike peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I only like peanut butter in chocolate candies. And I don't like grape jelly at all. So this wasn't really a fun day for me to celebrate. But I sucked it up and made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I took one bite. And that was it.

I did however remember a funny story involving me and peanut butter. I was probably 9 or 10 and I decided to make a home made bird feeder. How does one do that? They put peanut butter on a pine cone, roll it in birdseed, and hang it in a tree. Well I didn't ask anyone for help nor did I tell anyone what I was doing.

The next day I hear my mom ask, "Does anyone know what this stuff in the peanut butter is?"

I innocently answered, "It's pine cone."

Because obviously it was pine cone. Little JazzyJ had no idea that you were supposed to put a scoop of peanut butter in a bowl, and then use that peanut butter to put on the pine cone. I simple put some peanut butter on a pine cone using a knife, dipped the knife back in the peanut butter, and repeated. After explaining to my mom, she threw out the peanut butter and told me never to do that again. My dad had no part in this conversation.

So the next day my dad asks, "Does anyone know why a pine cone is tied to a tree outside with a piece of string?"

Clearly, he had no idea that it was a bird feeder! I was insulted. The peanut butter must have fallen off/been rained on/been eaten, so to him, it simply looked like a pine cone dangling from a string on a tree. Oh my the mind of a child!

April 1: National Sourdough Bread Day

April 1. A new month. It also happens to be April Fool's Day, but sadly, this year, I didn't actually pull any jokes on any one. When I was in elementary school, I hid marbles in random pairs of my dad's rolled up socks. He found some of them immediately. I guess he doesn't routinely rotate through his socks, because he was still finding marbles occasionally a year later!

I thought I would make sourdough bread today because I love using our bread machine. However, I then realized I either had to make sourdough bread starter a week ago, or use a sourdough bread starter from a store. I had neither. Good thing I had some frozen sourdough bread in the freezer though. That was a life saver.

I simply defrosted it, popped it in the toaster for a bit, lightly buttered the bread, sprinkled a bit of cinnamon and sugar on top, and there you go, tasty sourdough bread!

March 17: National Saint Patricks Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I decided to celebrate by eating green food for dinner. I had a dinner consisting entirely of green beans and broccoli. Okay, I admit, I was exhausted from work and wanted an easy dinner, but hey, it fit today's theme. I hope you all remembered to wear green.

Green items I wore today: green shirt, green earrings, green hair bow, green mascara, green underwear, green eyes (which, coincidentally, I always "wear")

I had on green eye shadow but I looked a little scary so I had to veto that.

I also made a delicious green dessert.

This is green ice cream! I promise! It's just a faint green!

JazzyJ's Green IceCream Delight For Saint Patrick's Day

Ingredients:
- 1 half gallon green ice cream (I used mint cookie ice cream but mint chocolate chip would work as well)
- 1 Oreo cookie crust (you can find these at most grocery stores)
- Oreo cookies (smashed to pieces)
- A variety of green sprinkles

Directions:
1. Let ice cream sit out enough to soften so it is easy to scoop.
2. Scoop ice cream into the  Oreo cookie crust and smooth so it looks nice and even.
3. Smash up about 8 Oreo cookies. I put them in a ziploc bag and gently hit them with the back of an ice cream scoop.
4. Sprinkle the smashed Oreo pieces on top.
5. Decorate with green sprinkles! Remember: You can never have too many sprinkles.
6. Put back in the freezer for a while so it hardens again.


Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

And here's a close up! See? Lots of sprinkles!

March 13: National Coconut Torte Day

I love coconut. And chocolate. So I decided to make a Chocolate Buttercream Coconut Torte for today! It was a good choice. I was a little nervous after the Blueberry Popover incident/failure, but I am confident to say that I have redeemed myself. This cake tasted like something I am sure royalty eats! It was very fancy and I felt like I was eating a true delicacy!

Isn't she a beauty?

Before beginning this baking adventure, I might recommend putting on a cute pair of slippers. I think the reason this torte was a success was because of my cute slippers!

Here is some fun information about tortes. What exactly is a torte you may ask? (I did actually ask this.) Tortes are normally flour-less or near flour-less. They are thinner than cakes and sometimes are made out of ground nuts. They are very fancy.

Personally, I think the reason why I like tortes so much is because they sound like turtles. We all know I love turtles.


Coconut Torte Recipe

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup coconut flakes
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tbsp. rum (optional)


Directions:
1. Grease an 8 inch springform pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup coconut flakes on the bottom and on the sides of the pan. However, I couldn't figure out how to get the coconut flakes to stick to the side of the pan, even when greased, so I just sprinkled them on the bottom and it turned out fine.

At this point, you may question why your mother has four different, yet similarly sized springform pans when you cannot ever remember her using them. Maybe she only bakes with them when I am out of the house?

2. Stir together the rest of the coconut (1/2 cup), flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form and then gradually beat in 1/2 cup sugar.

4. Beat the egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and rum until thick and pasty.

Note: It is important that when you add the melted butter into the egg yolks, it is cool. If not, you risk the hot butter cooking the eggs. We are not making an omelet here, we are making a torte.  You don't want it to turn out egg-y.

Another note: You may decide, since you have the rum out, to take a swig. You may then quickly remember that you are not a pirate, and that rum tastes better in cakes or in mixed drinks. You may need to recover by drinking some water. This is nothing to be embarrassed about. 

5. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture, and then into the flour. Don't over mix.

6. Spread mixture in the springform pan and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes.

7. Let cool until completely cool once out of the oven, then remove the sides of the springform pan.

8. The recipe I loosely followed (which should be noted that this recipe showed no pictures which I thought was a little sketchy) said to cut the cake into three equal layers. Well that's a joke! This cake was about one inch tall. How was that supposed to turn out well? I cut mine into two layers and just frosted between the layers and on top. The recipe also said to put chocolate shavings on top. Yes, because I have time to make my own chocolate shavings - NOT. Anyways, as you will see from the pictures, I only had two layers and no chocolate shavings and it still was something to admire!

Springform pan covered in coconut!

Ready to bake!

Baked!

See how thin it is? And you are supposed to make three layers out of this? I think not!

The two layers. If you look at the one to the left, you will see it is very coconut-y, that's what was on the bottom of the pan which was covered in coconut.



Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
- 3 tbsp milk or almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons rum (optional)
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon (see below)

So I realized that while I love cinnamon, and add it to almost anything, I have never added cinnamon to frosting. So I did today. I added about 2 tablespoons cinnamon to the frosting, and well, it gave it a kick! I was a fan! Only for the adventurous though :D

Mix the softened butter, cocoa powder, vanilla and rum together. Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk until you like the taste and consistency. Then add the coconut and stir well.

Frost between the cake layers and on top and then enjoy!

March 10: National Blueberry Popover Day

I love blueberries. My dad has several blueberry bushes and every summer I eat approximately 87% of them by myself. I refer to them as "my blueberry bushes" even though I have little to no responsibility for their care. Anyways, because of my blueberry "addiction", I was stoked for today.

Are you prepared to laugh? This was my first "fail" of a baking recipe. I blame it on the fact that I used a muffin pan instead of a popover pan. I guess popover pans are actually important. It's on my list to buy one in the near future though. A lot of people rave about them and I'm never actually had one.

Zesting that lemon!

Lemon Blueberry Popover Recipe:

-1 cup of milk (as usual I used unsweetened almond milk)
-2 eggs
-2 tbsp melted butter, separated
-1 cup flour
-zest from 1 lemon
- juice from 1 lemon (I ended up with a huge lemon so I only put in the juice from half of it)
-1/2 cup blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 400 degrees. Mix milk, eggs, and 1 tbsp of melted butter together. Then add in the flour, zest, and lemon juice.
2. Place the popover pan (or in my case the muffin pan) in the oven for a few minutes to warm it up. Then pour a little bit of the remaining 1 tbsp melted butter into the bottom of each hole. Fill each hole 2/3 of the way with batter. Top with blueberries.
3. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn heat down to 350 degrees and bake for 15 more minutes.
***DO NOT OPEN OVEN WHILE THEY ARE COOKING***

4. Take out of oven and slit the tops with a knife to let steam escape.
5. If you are me, and you have now realized that this is a FAIL, you should probably laugh about it.

Did you notice I got new mixing bowls?

I did end up eating two of these, but they were a little "heavy" and they were very short. They tasted like a condensed muffin. However, pictures I have seen on the internet look very airy and fluffy and delicious.I imagine, they would taste a little like you were eating a cloud.

See? BIG FAIL!

I'm not giving up. Once I get an official popover pan, you better believe I will be trying this recipe again.

So, knowing me, I had to tweak the recipe. I added about two tablespoons of cinnamon to the batter because...well cinnamon. Cinnamon is good! You know how I pretty much add cinnamon to anything. I also probably added too many blueberries to the tops of the popovers (blame it on my blueberry addiction), so that could have possibly weighed them down. I then added a cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of the popovers. Once again, that was not in the recipe.

A limp, very short, condensed muffin thing.

I will update you the next time I make these with a real popover pan. I may even stick to the original recipe. 

February 3: National Carrot Cake Day

I'm not a huge fan of carrot cake because I'm a firm believer that vegetables and dessert should not mix. But, I found a recipe that was actually pretty good! It's even low fat!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs + 4 egg whites
• ½  c. vegetable oil
• ½ c. applesauce
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 T ground cinnamon
• 8 oz. crushed pineapple, juice drained
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

 Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 ½ -3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

A cute bunny heard it was carrot cake and hopped on over to help.

 
Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F . Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2.     In a large bowl, beat together eggs and egg whites, oil, applesauce, sugars and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots and pineapple. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

3.     Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

4.     To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake. 

I personally do not like pecans so I decided to leave those out.  

Uh oh! Bunny left behind a "surprise" on the cake!

The piece of cake that Bunny claimed as his own was later given to my dad to eat. Dad wondered what the extra crispies on top were. Hahah.

 

February 1: National Baked Alaska Day

I had never heard of Baked Alaska until a few days ago. To be honest, I thought it was a fish dish. I guess I always picture fish coming from Alaska so I just assumed that's what it was. I wasn't excited to celebrate this day until mom told me it was a rather fancy dessert. Any type of dessert is a winner in my eyes!

Pluto gives this dessert two paws up!

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon  vanilla extract
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 3 large egg whites at  room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• 6 cups Neapolitan ice cream
• Meringue (see recipe below)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray.
2. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and the egg yolks in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; whisk, on medium speed, until pale yellow and thick, about 10 minutes. Add vanilla, and fold in melted chocolate just to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, combine egg whites and pinch of salt in bowl of electric mixer; whip, on medium speed, until frothy. Add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar; beat until stiff. Fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
4. Carefully pour batter out into prepared cake pan. Bake until cake is set and top is dull, about17 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on a wire rack.
5. Spray a 5-cup-capacity metal bowl with cooking spray; line with plastic. Pack base of bowl with Neapolitan ice cream.  Pack firmly, cover surface with plastic wrap, and place in freezer. Freeze until ice cream is very hard, at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours in advance.
6. Place cake on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Remove ice cream from the freezer, and invert bowl over cake. Keep the ice cream covered with plastic wrap, and return ice-cream cake to the freezer.
7. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Fill a pastry bag, fitted with a star tip, with meringue; pipe onto ice cream, or spoon meringue over ice cream and swirl with a rubber spatula. If ice cream starts to soften, return cake to freezer for 15 minutes.
8. Place in oven, and bake until meringue just starts to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from oven, and serve immediately.

Note: One recipe recommended using a blow torch to brown the meringue. Due to the fact that Pluto is highly flammable and I am slightly clumsy, we elected to brown the dessert in the oven instead.

Mixing the cake batter.

      






 

Mixing the melted chocolate in.

Meringue Directions:

• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• pinch cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Fill medium saucepan one quarter full with water. Set the saucepan over medium heat, and bring water to a simmer.
2. Combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of electric mixer, and place over saucepan. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Test by rubbing between your fingers.
3. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whip, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use meringue immediately. 

Ready for the meringue!

     

YUMM!

Pluto makes a great helper!