Stormy Day Baking

You can tell I'm stressed because I'm trying to make time for baking and calm my mind. Last weekend I was able to bake for Easter. This weekend Jon and I spent the weekend at home because we were threatened with a big storm. As I sit here we have only had some intense rain, but nothing huge. I'm kind of disappointed. I LOVE thunderstorms. After we made some yummy waffles this morning, we ran off to the store to get all the fixings for a nice dinner and dessert. There was a recipe I saw in Martha Stewart's Raspberry-Cream Sandwiches in her cookie book YEARS ago and I've always wanted to make them but never had access to full vanilla beans. My sister-in-law made sure I got some in our wedding gift. Today was the day to try the recipe out.

Martha Stewart's Raspberry-Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 C sugar plus 2 t sugar
1 large egg
2 t pure vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped and reserved
6 oz (1 cup) fresh raspberries
7 1/2 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to  350*. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.

Mix butter and 1 1/2 cup sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg, extract, and vanilla seeds; mix until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture.

Scoop batter using a 1 inch ice cream scoop, space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes and let them cool on parchment papers on wire racks.

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This was my first venture with real vanilla.

My awesome vanilla from Trina! (Yay!)

Super flavorful vanilla beans! Delicious!

The Raspberry-Cream Filling is a yummy white chocolate raspberry ganache. The recipe in my cook book called for 1 1/3 cup of raspberries and the online version only calls for a cup and I can see why. I think the extra 1/3 cup creates too much raspberry puree and throws off the balance of the liquid and chocolate. The filling didn't set up as much as I would have liked. Next time I won't use as many raspberries. The flavor was delicious but I would have loved for it to have been thicker. 

Directions:

Puree raspberries and remaining two teaspoons sugar in a food processor. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl, pressing to extract juice; discard seeds. Set mixture aside. 

Melt white chocolate in a heat proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat, whisk in cream in a slow stream. Slowly whisk in reserved raspberry mixture. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. 

Beautiful creamy white chocolate

Spread 1 heaping teaspoon raspberry cream on the underside of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies. 

I served these for dessert after the dinner we made for us and our parents. We served them with ice cream. Delicious! 

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Dinner:

  Jon and I made a yummy dinner. I haven't been home much because of work and school. I wanted to spend some time this weekend making something that required more than a half hour to make when we were both hungry home from work. We made Alton Brown's Pork Wellington and I made some potatoes that were inspired by Pinterest. It was a great success. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pork-wellington-recipe/index.html

http://pinterest.com/pin/6614730672937786/

Today was a delicious success. I'll be making a cake next weekend for a birthday so I get to bake again. I'm glad that after 3 whole months of barely baking that I'm making a come back in April