In the bowl of stand mixer combine the butter, both sugars, salt, fancy molasses and whip together until pale and fluffy, about 10 minutes
Mix in the milk and the vanilla extract until combined
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Add in the flour mixture by ¼ cupful, beating between until combined, until all the flour mixture has been added
Fold in the chocolate chips. Add sprinkles, or nonpareils, to your liking
Scoop, or spoon, into sterilised mason, or kilner, jars and add some more sprinkles for that extra festive touch. Wrap as you like if you’re gifting to someone- I usually bow and tag the jars with festive ribbon
Cookie dough is best eaten at room temperature
How To Store: Keep this Edible Gingerbread Cookie Dough in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Eat it up within 2 weeks!
* To heat treat your flour for safety, place it in a bowl and microwave it in 30-second intervals until the flour temperature reaches 165 F (74 C). Mix with a spoon between intervals. Mine usually takes around 3 bursts. Allow to cool before using. Or you can bake it for 7-8 minutes in a preheated oven at 350°F
Edible Cookie Dough Christmas Trees
If you’re not gifting this edible cookie dough (how could you not? It’s the Season of Giving!) a fantastic way of using this delicious treat are these adorable Edible Cookie Dough Christmas Trees. Fun and easy to make, you can also get some little helping hands involved too!
Ingredients
Additional waffle/ sugar cones
White, or semi-sweet chocolate, melted
Festive sprinkles
Method
Line a baking tray with baking parchment or foil, and set aside until needed
If your edible cookie dough is still soft enough, fill a place in a piping bag and snip the end off.
Pipe the cookie dough into your cones. (If the edible cookie dough is a bit too stiff to pipe, you can use a butter knife, or small spoon, to fill the cone instead)
Coat the outside of your filled comes with the melted chocolate, either by dipping in a deep bowl, or coating using a spoon
Place on your prepared baking tray and let the chocolate set for a minute or two (this will help the sprinkle stick better). Add festive sprinkles to finish your Christmas trees off and allow for the chocolate to fully set
To serve/ eat, push a popsicle stick into the cookie dough, for ease of holding and enjoy!
Place the cookies in a food processor and blend to your desired cookie butter texture. The finer the crumb off cookie the smoother the final result will be
Transfer the processed cookie crumbs from the processor to a medium pan and combine with brown sugar, evaporated milk, water, ground cinnamon, dark corn syrup, and salt
Heat over a medium heat, stirring until the mixture is well combined, the sugar has dissolved and the cookies crumbs have almost dissolved. If the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat to a simmer
Remove from the heat and place in a heat proof bowl. Leave to cool for 5 minutes
Add in the coconut oil, stirring carefully until melted and almost incorporated
Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until it is fully emulsified and thick
Transfer to a sterilised glass jar and transfer to the fridge to allow the mixture to set. This allows the dispersed coconut oil to fully set within the mixture
To use remove the cookie butter from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for best taste
I adore peaches. Nothing sums up Summer quite like the heady waft of a ripe peach just before you bite in, followed by the trickles of sweet juice running down your chin. Ahh Summer days! Needless to say as a result I’m a sucker for all things peach- bakes and desserts. One of my favourites being Peach Cobbler. Being synonymous with the American South there’s a deluge of recipes of the sweet peachy dish which has been baked into the history and hearts of people, each tweaked in accordance with individual family traditions and tastes.
You will of course by now know of my love for the unexpected in baking, turning things on their heads. So why not Peach Cobbler- but make it cake? Yes, I know it’s been done before…but featuring tea as an ingredient? Welcome to my world!
For those of you who followed my adventures in the kitchen of Food Networks Canada’s Great Chocolate Showdown, you’ll of course remember there was a Tea Challenge- where bakers were tasked with incorporating a selected tea into their desserts. The perfect springboard for this recipe!
This recipe gave me the perfect opportunity to work with Pluck Teas. Pluck Teas is an award-winning female-founded Canadian small business and tea maker, producing premium quality tea blends in Toronto for tea drinkers who value quality and sustainability. Hand-blended in small batches with several of the brand’s favourite ingredients (like lavender, grapes and ginseng) grown and dried in Ontario, ensuring that the product is fresh while also reducing the brand’s carbon footprint.
I’ve created this Peach Cobbler Cake using their “Just Peachy” tea blend. “Just Peachy” is one of Pluck’s black teas – a delicious, soft, and fruity infusion featuring a full black tea character layered with luscious ripe peaches. Perfect for a Summer tea treat!
Layers of tasty cinnamon sponge filled with juicy Ontario peaches, peach flavoured crunch, enrobed in sumptuous brown butter buttercream, and finished with a delectable caramel drizzle. All infused with Pluck “Just Peachy” tea blend. Everybody likes tea and cake, right?
*This is a sponsored post
Ingredients
Cinnamon Sponge Cake
2/3 cup milk, room temperature
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract, or paste
Cake Syrup
1 cup water
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
1 cup white sugar
Peach Filling
5 Peaches, diced
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
¼ teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1 Tablespoon corn-starch
Peach Crunch
20 Golden Oreo Cookies
1 sachet (85g) Peach Jell-O powder
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
¾ cup butter, melted
Brown Butter Buttercream
1/3 cup whole milk
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) butter (divided in to 2 sticks and 1)
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
5 cups powdered sugar
Caramel drizzle
1/3 cup boiling water
1 sachet Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” tea*
1 Tablespoon liquid glucose, or light corn syrup
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup heavy cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
*Pluck Tea “Just Peachy” sachets used here are from the “Just Peachy” Iced Tea selection. If you are using “Just Peachy” loose leaf it is 2 ½ Tablespoon equivalent (along with using a tea steeper ball where required)
Method
Cinnamon Sponge Cake
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 8″ cake rounds and line with parchment
In a small pan combine the milk and tea sachet. Gently heat the milk to just below boiling. Remove from heat, set aside to infuse until needed later
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Set aside
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 10mins)
Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla
Alternate adding flour mixture with cooled milk/ tea infusion, beginning, and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of cooled milk/ tea infusion). Fully incorporating after each addition
Spread batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops.
Bake for approx. 35mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean
Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely
Caramel Drizzle
In a large pan, steep the tea sachet in the boiled water for 15mins.
Remove the tea sachet, add in the sugar, and glucose (or light corn syrup if using). Swirl the sugar to ensure it is fully soaked with the tea infusion
Heat over a low heat until the sugar is melted, gently swirling the occasionally
Increase to high heat to bring to a boil, allow to boil for 1 minute, then reduce to medium heat and simmer for 7 minutes
Remove from heat, add the heavy cream and salt. Take care here as the mixture will steam and bubble. Whisk at a steady pace to combine the mixture. If the caramel seizes around your whisk don’t worry continue to stir until almost combined
Return the pan to a medium heat and simmer for a further minute to fully melt the caramel. If the caramel bubbles too high, reduce the heat
Your caramel should now be smooth. Remove from heat, and gently stir in the butter pieces a Tablespoon at a time, ensuring each is fully melted before adding the next
Once all the butter has been added, transfer to bowl to cool fully
Cake Syrup
Combine all the syrup ingredients in a pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar
Increase to a boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes before removing the tea sachet
Set aside to cool until needed
Peach Filling
In a large pan combine the chopped peaches, brown sugar, lemon juice and tea sachet
Bring to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally and taking care not to break the tea pouch
Once boiling reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes
After this time remove the tea sachet, add in the corn starch. Continue to simmer until the mixture has thickened
Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl to cool. The mixture will thicken further as it cools. Set aside until needed
Peach Crunch
Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a baking tray with baking parchment
Place the Oreo cookies in the bowl of a food processor, and process to a medium crumb
In a medium bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and the Jell-O powder. Stir to combine
Add in ½ cup of the melted butter and stir to combine. You’re looking for texture similar to cheesecake crumb base (damp sand). If the mixture is too dry, add the remaining butter a Tablespoon at a time until the desired texture is achieved
Once ready, spread the crumb on to the prepared baking try and bake f or 7- 8 minutes
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool until needed
Brown Butter Buttercream
In a small pan, combine the milk and tea sachet. Heat until just below boiling, remove from heat and set aside to infuse until needed
In a pan, heat 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter until fully melted. Continue to heat until the butter starts to foam. Take care in case the butter bubbles up too much. If it does, reduce the heat until it subsides, then return the heat. Continue to heat the butter, stirring constantly, until you noticed it start to turn a light brown and smell a nutty aroma. Transfer the browned butter to a heat proof bowl, chill until cool and almost set
Once cooled, combine the brown butter and remaining stick of butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, along with the salt. Beat until smooth and fully combined
Add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating between each addition until fully combined
To the butter/ sugar mixture, add the milk/ tea infusion a tablespoon at a time. Beat rapidly between each addition to whip the buttercream
When all the milk has been added increase to a high speed and whip for 2 minutes until light and fluffy
Set aside and start assembling the cake
Cake Assembly
Gently brush the top side of each sponge layer with some of the cake syrup. Use enough so that the layers feel moist to the touch
Place the first sponge layer on a cake board, syrup side up. Spread a layer of butter cream over the top. Pipe an additional border around the edge of the sponge layer
Inside the buttercream border, spread some of the peach filling. Top this with the peach crunch sprinkled over (breaking up any large pieces)
On top of this place the next sponge cake layer and repeat the process with fillings and the third/ top layer
Apply a crumb coat of buttercream to the cake, before a final coat of buttercream, finished to your preference
Finish the top sponge with any remaining peach filling and a final sprinkling of peach crunch before drizzling with the caramel sauce (to your preference)
*I like to pipe a border around the edge of the top layer to keep the final peach filling/ crunch layer in place
1 3/4 cups whipping cream, whipped to semi-soft peaks
2/3 cup pistachio nuts, toasted and chopped
1 tbsp rosewater
2 ¼ cups fresh raspberries
Additional fresh raspberries, to decorate
Sicilian pistachios, chopped (optional)
Method
Grease a 9″ x 5″ x 2 1/2″ loaf pan. Line with baking paper, or cling wrap, allowing 2” overhang on both long ends. If you use baking parchment, you’ll get a smoother finish to the final result; using cling wrap will result in an interesting cracked/ wrinkled appearance
Place eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water over low heat
Whisk for 4 to 5 minutes or until thick and creamy. Remove from heat. Whisk the custard for a further 5 minutes or until cooled to room temperature
Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Gently fold in the whipped cream, toasted pistachios, rosewater and two-thirds of the raspberries
Pour mixture into prepared pan. Cover and freeze overnight or until firm
To serve, remove from the freezer and ley stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before turning out onto a plate. Top with remaining raspberries
Slice using a gently warmed knife into slices, plate and garnish with raspberries, and Sicilian pistachio slivers
In a bowl combine the pineberries and maple sugar, mixing well. Set aside to macerate on the countertop for at least 30 minutes before serving
Vanilla Cream
Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream, sugar and vanilla extract on medium-high until stiff peaks, about 3-4 minutes.
Chill in the refrigerator until needed
Biscuits
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, mixing well
Using a large hole cheese grater, grate in the butter, then cut using a pastry cutter, or knife, until mixture resembles a coarse meal. You will still be able to see the butter in pieces pea-size or slightly smaller
Make a well in the centre of the dry mix
Mix together the lemon juice, vanilla, milk and the egg
Pour into the well and mix until just combined to a dough ball
Lightly flour a countertop, transfer the dough from the bowl and roll (using a floured rolling pin) to 1 inch thickness
Cut out biscuits with 3inch biscuit cutter and place on parchment lined baking sheet
Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with the egg wash
Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of the biscuits
Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack before serving
To Serve
Slice each biscuit crossways in half
Spoon some of the vanilla cream on the bottom half
Top with a generous amount of the maple macerated pineberries
Top with the other half of the biscuit
Repeat with additional dollops of vanilla cream and macerated pineberries
Crumbs In My Beard 