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The BEST Valentine’s Day Recipes from Willow Bird Baking

The BEST Valentine's Day Recipes from Willow Bird Baking
Thanks, Foodie, for sponsoring this post showcasing the BEST Valentine’s Day Recipes from Willow Bird Baking.

Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite food holidays. Everything’s so CUTE and CHOCOLATE and CUTE and PINK. Since it’s my fave, I go all out on heart day recipes. See the caption under each recipe for a description and difficulty level.

Red Velvet CHEESECAKE-STUFFED Cake Balls

That’s right. They’re STUFFED WITH CHEESECAKE. This was one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. You should pretend it was yours. Difficulty level: Intermediate.

Gooey Chocolate Coconut Cream Skillet Cake

Not all of the best Valentine’s desserts are red. This is a romantic favorite, eaten straight from the skillet! Difficulty Level: Easy.

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

Brownies + sticky Buns = Love. Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Raspberry Cheesecake Morning Buns

Incredibly indulgent Raspberry Cheesecake buns that are perfect for breakfast or dessert! Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Gooey Chocolate Skillet Cake Ice Cream Sundae

Another incredible, chocolate skillet dessert that’s quick and simple to make. Difficulty Level: Easy.

Samoa Monkey Bread with Ganache Dipping Sauce

So romantic. Trust me. Difficulty Level: Easy.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade

A sweet, puckery way to brighten your sweetheart’s day! Difficulty Level: Easy.

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

A little sassy, a little sultry, a lot delicious. Difficulty Level: Easy.

Lemon Cheesecake Morning Buns

The absolute 100% perfect Valentine’s breakfast. Like, don’t even wake me up if these aren’t sittin’ in the kitchen. Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

The Ultimate Moist, Fluffy, Ridiculous Coconut Cake

Coconut is for lovers. Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes

A fun dinner idea for your Valentine. It’ll look like you skipped right to dessert! Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Heart-Shaped Palmiers

Another lovely savory treat for Valentine’s Day. Difficulty Level: Easy.

Chocolate & Coconut Cream Pie Bars

I would marry someone immediately if they made me these. And I weren’t already married or whatever. Difficulty level: Easy. (NOT ME, THE BARS.)

Gooey Carmelitas

I don’t know if you should make these, actually. Your girlfriend might love them more than you. Difficulty level: Easy.

(Freshly Picked!) Strawberry Cream Pie

A stunning and indulgent pie. Difficulty level: Intermediate.

Strawberry Coconut Cream Pie

Mike likes this version with coconut cream even better. It’s nuts. Well, really it’s strawberries. Whatever. Difficulty level: Intermediate.

Itsy Bitsy Berry Cream Pies

Teensy, adorable mini pies! Difficulty level: Intermediate.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

This recipe is easy if you make it over a few days. It’s got some serious curb appeal! Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Thick Chocolate Cake with a Big Red (Velvet!) Heart

LOOK AT THE HEART. Difficulty level: Easy with the right cake pan!

Chocolatey Red Velvet Pull-Apart Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze

Another idea I’m unabashedly proud of. Difficulty level: Intermediate.

Gooey Butter Strawberry Shortcake

This is one of my favorite desserts everrrr and so easy to make! And so pretty! Difficulty Level: Easy.

Brownie-Bottom Coconut Chocolate Cream Cake

This dessert seems fussy, but it’s incredibly easy and everyone loves it! Difficulty Level: Easy.

Want some amazing Valentine’s Day recipes from other blogs around the interwebz? I have you covered there, too. Here are some I collected:

February 3, 2014 by Julie Ruble | 8 Comments

other

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

Sometimes you know you’ve gone too far.

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

Sometimes you’re unwrapping another stick of butter and cracking another couple of eggs and you realize you’re only making a half-batch of the recipe and —

You have two options. You can stop right where you are, go to Zumba, and repent. Or . . .

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

You can keep going and hope there’s room in the world for a new Paula Deen (except minus the racism scandal part. Just the butter part. And the “y’all” part. And I wouldn’t mind the awesome Savannah mansion part.)

Well sign me up for my cooking show, y’all.

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

Because that’s exactly what happened here. Whenever I’m developing sticky bun recipes, I always make a full batch of yeast dough and then make two different half-batches of filling so I’ll have two new recipes to share. When I was working on this one, I realized that a half-batch of the brownie batter filling (that’s right: BROWNIE BATTER FILLING) had an entire cup of butter, a cup of cocoa powder, a cup and a half of sugar — and my head exploded.

But I still baked them, duh. And I still ate them, DUH. And they were wonderful: gooey, chocolatey, caramelly, pecany (…?) awesomeness. And so I’m sharing them with you in the only format I can excuse myself for: as a half-recipe!

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

The recipe below will make the full batch of yeast dough, but only a half-batch of the filling. Choose another filling that you love for the other half of the dough or make two batches of these to freeze one for later. Whatever you do, don’t tell my Zumba instructor.

Thanks.

One year ago: Quick & Easy Sides: Roasted Carrots and Asparagus with Garlic-Lemon Aioli
Two years ago: Pork Bulgogi Bāozi (Steamed Korean BBQ Buns)
Three years ago: Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies with Honey Cardamom Cream Cheese
Four years ago: Nanaimo Bars

Gooey Turtle Brownie Sticky Buns

Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking with filling adapted from these brownies
Yield: 12 buns plus dough for more

This recipe makes twice as much yeast dough as you need (I don’t recommend halving yeast recipes). Roll and fill half of the yeast dough to make these buns and then use the other half to make another kind! Need inspiration? Try these or these or these or these or these or these! Alternatively, you could use the extra dough to make a second batch of these buns and freeze it for later. To freeze some of the unbaked rolls, just wrap them well before the second rise and freeze them. Once frozen, pop them out of the pan all together and store in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap and in a zip top bag or wrapped in foil. When you want to bake them, stick them back in a greased pan, thaw them in the fridge overnight, proof for the instructed amount of time, and bake like usual.

Bun Ingredients:
1/4 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 cups milk minus 2 tablespoons, room temperature
5 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup cold shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for after baking

Half-Batch Filling Ingredients:
(or try your own favorite brownie batter scaled for a 9 x 13-inch pan, provided it’s a pretty thick batter)
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
bittersweet chocolate chips
caramel sauce
1 cup toasted pecans*

Glaze Ingredients:
melted chocolate chips
caramel sauce
toasted pecans

Directions:
*To toast pecans: spread pecans on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for around 6-7 minutes, tossing occasionally, until fragrant. Chop while still warm.

Mix the warm water and yeast in a medium bowl and let the yeast foam for about 10 minutes. Put 2 tablespoons white vinegar in a measuring cup and then add milk up to the 2 cup line. Set this aside. In a separate large bowl (or the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook), whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and cut the shortening into the mixture with two knives or a pastry cutter until the shortening looks like small peas. Stir yeast mixture and milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well, kneading just a few turns. Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly sprayed with cooking spray, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and store in refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, in a medium bowl, mix melted butter and cocoa powder until cocoa is dissolved. Mix in the sugar and then mix in the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until just combined. Stir in the vanilla, flour, and salt, mixing until just combined (don’t over mix). Set the batter aside while you roll out your dough. Don’t stick it in the fridge like I did, because it hardens. Oops.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly spray a baking dish (I use an oval dish that’s smaller than a 9 x 13-inch, but just use whatever will fit about 12 buns close together) with cooking spray. Turn half of the chilled dough out onto a floured surface and roll it into a large rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. Spread the brownie batter gently and evenly all over the dough and sprinkle on chocolate chips and toasted pecans. Drizzle on caramel sauce. Gently roll the dough up into a spiral and cut it into rolls, placing them close together in your prepared baking dish (at this point, you could wrap and freeze the rolls for later if you wanted).

Cover the rolls with a clean dish cloth and let them rise in a warm spot (I set them on my oven’s heat vent) until they’ve nearly doubled, about 2 hours. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until browned on top (if you take them out at just lightly golden brown, they may still be doughy in the center). Brush with 2 tablespoons melted butter and return to the oven for 1 more minute. Drizzle rolls with chocolate and caramel sauce. Sprinkle on toasted pecans. Serve immediately.

January 27, 2014 by Julie Ruble | 18 Comments

cakes

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

Thanks to Werther’s Original® for sponsoring this recipe post!

I secretly love making resolutions at New Year’s. Really, I love resolutions all the time. I love GOALS! They make everything seem so clear, concrete, focused. You know that feeling when you get to check tasks off your to-do list as you complete them? Every check is so satisfying — even if it’s just the first item (and even if that item happened to be, “Make a to-do list.” You know you do that, too!)

I even love all the little logistical details that come along with goals. I love tracking progress, measuring my advances in various ways, keeping track of data, adjusting my efforts based on data. Oh man. I just get this nerdy thrill out of it. It’s the same nerdy thrill I get in an office supply store. You guys get that, right? Tell me you get that, please.

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think it’s part of what makes me an effective teacher and part of what helps me grow as a person. I also think the resolutions and goals we set for ourselves can become a distraction — a way of procrastinating on the real, hard, nebulous work we need to do.

I bet you know what I mean. Do you ever clean your kitchen to avoid doing the laundry? Dust your bookshelves to avoid going to the store? Plenty of otherwise productive things can be used to avoid our real needs. I sometimes tell my students, “Don’t ‘study’ to procrastinate from studying. Don’t ‘read over your notes’ when you know you should be doing math problems to really understand concepts. Don’t spend an hour making pretty flashcards when you know you should be quizzing yourself for most of that hour. Don’t lie to yourself.”

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

Goals are fun because we can tell ourselves to eat fewer sweets when we really need to find a way to love ourselves, to change our whole outlook and lifestyle. We can tell ourselves to read a certain number of Bible chapters a day when we really need to make time to commune with God again — that quiet space where we sit with Him in humility and openness. We can tell ourselves to spend less money when we really need to examine our priorities, look at our possessions with new eyes, and change how we value things.

Don’t get me wrong. Eat fewer sweets (uh, start after this mug cake, though. Trust me.) Read the Bible. Spend less money. Those are all great goals if they’re right for you. But also value yourself enough to be vulnerable to big, real changes in your perspective. What’s been knocking on the door to your heart or conscience lately? Let it in and listen.

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

Here are some things I’ve been considering resolving:

1. Practice mindfulness: sit with feelings for longer, observing them and seeking to understand them fully before reacting to them. To accomplish this, I can picture myself going outside more each day, observing my surroundings more than I do now, talking less than I do now. I imagine more baths, more music, and more time spent throwing my dog’s rubber squeaky toy. Just being where I am.

2. Start living a more humane life. I want to think about the food and other items I buy and how they affect the environment. I especially care that the food I’ve purchased for so long has caused undue suffering to animals. While avoiding any perfectionism or obsession, I want to make better choices, buying meat and produce from places I trust. It might hit me in the pocketbook, but I’ll pay more to know I haven’t participated in unethical practices.

3. Listen with a totally open heart to God. This means being willing to abandon doctrine I’ve grown up with my entire life if it conflicts with what I know about freedom in — and willing service to — Christ. This is something that’s been in the works in my heart for years, and indeed, this past year I feel like I’ve made great strides. Christ didn’t die so I’d follow a set of rules and it hurts real people — real souls — if we as a Church keep pretending like He did. I’m sure I’ll write more on this in coming posts. It’s weighing on my mind.

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

I can’t decide if those goals are distractions or if they’re the real life work I need to do this coming year, but either way, they’re a good start for me. I’m hoping for more discernment as the year unfolds. I also want to break down this year’s goals (whatever I end up settling on!) into a few things I can do monthly (I got this idea from the unsteady), so I can keep track of my progress and make sure my goals are meaningful. Oh, is my nerd showing again? Lemme just tuck that back in and move on to the cake!

OH BOY, what a cake! Imagine you’re home in your jammies and a dessert craving hits. You could just have a bowl of vanilla ice cream. You could have a handful of chocolate chips. OR YOU COULD GATHER UP A FEW THINGS FROM YOUR PANTRY AND HAVE THIS CHOCOLATE MONSTROSITY.

I made this one for Mike in just a few minutes, snapped some photos (which involved Mike drizzling chocolate while I said, “More. More. A little more. Still more.”), and bam! he was digging in to a decadent dessert à la mode.

What are you considering for your New Year’s resolution?

One year ago: Spiced Crispies (Chivda, or Indian Snack Mix)
Two years ago: Brown Butter Cookie Dough Pretzel Bars
Three years ago: Magic Bars
Four years ago: Taco Stuffed Crescent Rolls

5 from 1 reviews

The Ultimate Gooey Caramel Brownie Mug Cake Sundae

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

5 mins

Total time

10 mins

I took an already-great mug cake from one of my faves, America’s Test Kitchen, and pumped it up! I added some espresso to deepen the chocolate flavor and a slew of my favorite toppings from my pantry to create a dessert as decadent as one it takes hours to make. Throw this together at home when you want a special dessert but don’t want to get out of your jammies! I used a big espresso mug for this cake, but you can use any regular size coffee mug that’s microwave safe. Different microwaves may require different cooking times, but your finished cake should look set up but very moist.

Author: Willow Bird Baking, adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chocolate chips (half bittersweet and half semisweet)
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 square of your favorite dark chocolate bar

Topping Ingredients:

3 Werther’s Original® Baking Caramels
2 teaspoons milk
melted chocolate chips
vanilla bean ice cream or gelato
crushed toasted nuts
crushed cookie
whipped cream

Instructions

Place butter and chocolate chips in a coffee mug and heat on half power for 15 second intervals, stirring between each interval, until melted (about 45 seconds total). In a separate small bowl or ramekin, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate small bowl or ramekin, whisk together the egg, vanilla extract, and espresso powder. When the chocolate is melted in your mug, stir in sugar and cocoa powder. Stir in the egg mixture. Stir in the flour mixture. Stir well to eliminate lumps.
Microwave the mug on half power for 30 seconds (I set mine on a plate just in case there’s spillover). Stir. Microwave on half power for 35 seconds (the cake will rise over the top of your mug like a giant soufflé, but stay calm.) Press the square of chocolate bar down into the center of the cake (I broke mine into two pieces), being careful not to burn your fingers. Microwave on half power for 40 seconds. Let the cake cool in the mug for 2 minutes while you prepare your toppings.
Melt the chocolate chips by heating on half power for 20 second intervals, stirring between each, until melty. Melt the Werther’s Original® Baking Caramels by placing them in a small bowl with the milk. Heat on 30 second intervals, stirring carefully between each, until melty. Top your mug cake with a big scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crushed toasted pecans, a crushed cookie (I used a Biscoff cookie), and the kitchen sink. Just kidding about the sink. Enjoy!

December 31, 2013 by Julie Ruble | 40 Comments

cakes, other, pies and tarts

Willow Bird Baking’s 13 Best Recipes of 2013

Willow Bird Baking's 13 Best Recipes of 2013

Happy New Year! My head is spinning with thoughts of resolutions and responsibilities for the upcoming year, but let’s relax first and just enjoy some edible reflection, shall we? You guys have good taste. Here are Willow Bird Baking’s 13 Best Recipes of 2013, as chosen by your visits. At the end, I’ve included a few recipes that didn’t make the “Most Popular” list but are actually some of my favorites from the year!

Want to gather lots of amazing recipes from other blogs, too? I’ve just created a Best of 2013 Recipes Pinterest board where you can see “Best of” posts from some of my favorite blogs. This is one of the best times of the year to gather top eats from around the internet! While you’re there, make sure you follow me on Pinterest. I’m kind of a food lover, in case ya didn’t know. My pins are gonna make you hungry.

Without further ado, Willow Bird Baking’s 13 Best Recipes of 2013:

1. Lemon Cheesecake Morning Buns

These things totally deserve their “Most Popular” title. They are absurd.

2. The Ultimate Moist, Fluffy, Ridiculous Coconut Cake

YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT COCONUT.

3. Pumpkin Cheesecake Pillow Popovers

These use premade crescent dough! So easy.

4. Key Lime Pie Cheesecake with Sky-High Meringue

Tangy, sweet, and stunning! Such a show-stopper.

5. Gooey Chocolate Coconut Cream Skillet Cake

DID I MENTION HOW I FEEL ABOUT COCONUT.

6. Strawberry Coconut Cream Pie

CO.CO.NUT.

7. Boozy Icebox Cake

It’s like regular icebox cake, but (duh) better!

8. Bailey’s Hazelnut Chocolate Tiramisu

Bailey’s makes any dessert totally nuts.

9. Chocolate Poke Cake with Whipped Coconut Icing

COCONUT, Y’ALL (and my new favorite frosting in the universe).

10. Biscoff Spread Gooey Butter Cake

I don’t know what got into me, but I have no regrets.

11. White Sheet Cake with Fluffy Whipped Icing

Just like those awesome sheet cakes you buy at the store (with the fluffy frosting, not the weird crusty stuff).

12. Lasagna Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Hearty, delicious meal.

13. Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake

Pumpkin and Tres Leches: two of my faves combined.

…And a few of my personal favorites from this year:

1. Samoa Monkey Bread with Ganache Dipping Sauce

It’s a crime that this recipe didn’t go viral. It’s nuts!

1. Buttery Coconut Almond Pull-Apart Bread (with Heavenly Coconut Cream Glaze)

Coconuttttt.

1. Flan Tres Leches Cake

For when you can’t decide between making flan and making tres leches cake, and also you’re feeling a little crazy. So good.

1. Limoncello-Spiked Shortbread Icebox Cake with Fresh Raspberries

The shortbread makes all the difference here! And the Limoncello, obv.

1. The Ultimate Sausage Breakfast Buns

Pure decadence. Don’t skip the syrup drizzle.

1. Gooey Carmelitas

Gooey, chocolatey masterpiece.

1. Lemon Raspberry Gooey Butter Cake

Bright, springy, fresh! I love lemon.

1. Sausage & Corn Chile Con Queso Taco Ring

Again, HOW did this recipe not go viral? TASTE IT. JUST TASTE IT. It’s like the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

1. Dutch Roomboter Banketstaaf (Flaky Pastry with Almond Filling)

This is also the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Don’t question me.

Don’t forget to see what others have cooked up on my Best of 2013 Recipes Pinterest board. Happy happy happy almost-2014!

December 30, 2013 by Julie Ruble | 4 Comments

other

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

If you missed the last post, we’ve been talking about how it feels to have your life plans pulled out from under you — to step off the airplane to begin your vacation in Italy only to find that you’ve been flown to Holland instead.

It’s easy to say that you just have to adjust and learn to appreciate Holland. But how do you actually do it?

The answer is radical acceptance. Have you ever been super late to an important event — a wedding, a birthday party — and found yourself stuck in traffic? You know that moment when, at the height of your agitation, your dashboard clock finally convinces you that you’re never going to arrive on time? The moment when you finally accept that reality? You call and offer your apologies and then sit and watch the line of cars in front of you creep along. And even though you’re still frustrated, there’s a peculiar relief that floods your body upon accepting reality. Suddenly, you can turn the radio on and watch the raindrops on the window. You’re released from the clutches of angst. That’s what radical acceptance does for you.

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

Some things are harder to accept than being stuck in traffic, but the principle remains the same. Radical acceptance is the beginning of finding peace with a difficult situation.

Radical Acceptance: Help for Dealing with Suffering

Here are some things to know about the concept:

1. Radical acceptance starts as a choice you make. It sounds so easy to say, “Just accept it!” In fact, you may have had someone say to you at some point, “Just get over it!” That’s not radical acceptance. That’s someone else imposing their timeline on you. Radical acceptance begins as a choice from your heart and mind. “Accepting” sounds too big to be possible in some circumstances, but begin by “turning toward acceptance” with a declaration. I literally say out loud, “I’m choosing to radically accept this.”

2. It’s called radical for a reason. Some things don’t seem possible to accept: a death, the loss of a relationship. Even when you can’t comprehend the idea of accepting what’s happened in your life, you can “turn toward acceptance.” It may be the last thing you want to do, but sometimes it’s exactly what you need.

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

3. It’s not a magic wand. You know when the Psalmist and Peter — and probably umpteen other folks in Scripture — instruct us to cast our cares on the Lord? I don’t know about you, but I’m always the one going back and picking up my big sack of worries again and again, even after I’ve supposedly given it to Him. For this reason, radical acceptance isn’t just a one-time wave of the magic wand that fixes everything. In our traffic example, you might be able to turn toward radical acceptance once and find relief. In more extreme situations in life, you might have to turn toward radical acceptance over and over and over. Every day you might need to wake up and turn toward it all over again.

4. Radical acceptance doesn’t mean approval. You don’t have to like what happened to you or believe that it should have happened. You don’t have to believe that you deserved it. None of that is necessary to accept. Acceptance isn’t approval — it’s just admitting that reality is reality. When you’re avoiding acceptance, you’re weaving your pain into a sticky web of suffering and brooding over the should’ves, could’ves, would’ves. When you radically accept reality — even if you don’t approve — you allow yourself to feel the present pain and then let it go. You don’t have to like the truth to accept it, and accepting it doesn’t hurt you.

5. Sometimes suffering feels safe because it’s what you know. Sometimes the most difficult part of letting go of suffering and turning toward acceptance is leaving behind the warm cocoon of pain that has become your home. Not a hospitable home, admittedly, but a home nevertheless. It might feel safer to continue to suffer. It might feel more reverent of what you’ve lost to continue to suffer — as though the size of your pain shows the size of your love. Recognizing these thoughts in ourselves and realizing that they’re keeping our anguish alive will allow us to turn toward acceptance. Suffering isn’t helping us or others.

6. You have to radically accept that sometimes you’ll fail to radically accept. You are going to handle things badly. You’re going to miss a flight and throw a temper tantrum in the terminal. You’ll neglect to order the present soon enough for Christmas and be huffy about it for a week. You’ll be snippy to your husband for putting the dishes in the dishwasher “wrong” (because we all know there is a right way and a wrong way to put dishes in the dishwasher). And you’ll look back on these things and feel like a failure. Why couldn’t you just be ZEN and ACCEPT ALL THE THINGS and RISE ABOVE? Because you’re human. You can apologize to people you hurt, but then turn towards radically accepting that reality, too. All you can do is keep practicing.

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

6. Dessert cures a host of evils. Okay, really, this has very little to do with radical acceptance and a lot to do with good, old-fashioned comfort. I needed some of that this week. It’s been cold and rainy and I’m coming down with one of those sore-throat-coughy type illnesses. I wanted something rich and indulgent and a little bit grown up.

These mocha mousse bars are so insanely good. They combine a buttery shortbread crust, fudgy bittersweet ganache, creamy coffee mousse with a splash of Bailey’s Hazelnut Liqueur, and a dark chocolate covered espresso bean. If you love tiramisu or a good mocha, you’ll love these bars. Enjoy — and accept.

What’s the most difficult thing you’ve tried to accept lately?

I’m far from a therapist, but I’ve been sharing thoughts lately based on personal experience handling hard times. Read the full series, Managing Life’s Difficult Emotions:
1. Welcome to Holland: Dealing with Life’s Unplanned Detours
2. Radical Acceptance: Help for Dealing with Suffering
3. Opposite Action: Changing Actions to Change Emotions

One year ago: Moist Fluffy Coconut Cake
Two years ago: Winter Breakfast Chili Over Eggs in Sourdough Bowls
Three years ago: Southern Pimento Cheese with Lavash Crackers
Four years ago: Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Spiked Mocha Mousse Bars

Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: 9 servings

I was surprised by how quick and simple this recipe turned out to be — and how amazing! I loved spiking it with creamy Bailey’s Hazelnut Liqueur. Forget buying a fancy coffee; why not make a fancy coffee bar for dessert?

Crust Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons icing sugar

Ganache Ingredients:
6 tablespoons heavy cream
about 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli’s 60% cacao chips)

Coffee Mousse Ingredients:
1 3/4 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water
4 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons Bailey’s Hazelnut Liqueur (or Kahlúa)
2 cups well-chilled heavy cream
chocolate covered espresso beans (optional, for topping)

Directions:
Make the shortbread crust: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9 x 9 in. baking dish with a foil sling. Cut the butter into the flour and icing sugar and press into the baking dish (I used a food processor to cut the fat into the flour — about 6 pulses — and then the bottom of a glass to press the mixture into the pan). Bake 18-20 minutes or until light brown. Set on a wire rack to cool.

Make the ganache: While the shortbread is baking, place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan (or microwave it for a couple of minutes). Once the cream reaches a simmer, pour the cream over the chocolate and let it stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk in small circles until a smooth ganache has formed. Set it aside until your crust is finished and has cooled for a few minutes, and then pour it over the crust (it’s okay if it’s not cooled all the way). Place the chocolate covered crust in the fridge to chill until the ganache is set into a firm layer.

Make the coffee mousse: Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set aside as an ice bath (I just stopped up my sink and used it). Place 2 tablespoons of water in a small saucepan and sprinkle the envelope of gelatin evenly over the top. Let it soften for 2 minutes. Add in the sweetened condensed milk and instant espresso powder. Heat the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the gelatin is dissolved and the mixture is smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat, whisk in the Bailey’s (or Kahlúa), and then transfer the saucepan to the ice bath. Cool, whisking frequently, until the mixture is cold and thick.

In the meantime, whip the chilled heavy cream to stiff peaks. Stir about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cold espresso mixture to lighten it up, and then pour this mixture into your remaining whipped cream, folding it in gently until there are no streaks. Pour this mixture over your chilled ganache. Chill the entire dessert until it’s set up nicely (a few hours). Lift the bars out of the pan, slice into 9 servings, top each bar with a chocolate covered espresso bean, and serve.

December 9, 2013 by Julie Ruble | 27 Comments

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