whoopie pies

I'm not entirely with it, I think. Maybe it's because I think I should be on summer vacation, maybe it's brain fog, maybe.....I just don't know....
But I reviewed a book for Amazon

 and actually made whoopie pies.... so I thought I'd share a few photos with you. The recipe was quick to put together and used ingredients you most likely already have. They do suggest you use parchment paper and I have to agree - it makes the clean up so much easier.
My beloved loved them (after they were out of the fridge. I stuck them in the fridge to begin with because I was tired and it was late). My younger son and my youngest sister also gave them the thumbs up. So if you like whoopie pies, this is a shameless plug  for the book. Nope, I don't get a kickback from the authors. However, if you do use the link I provided, Amazon pays me a referral fee from the cost of the book.
They have a lemon whoopie pie that looks interesting. I think the next time I make the whoopie pies, I'll use more instant coffee. These were supposed to be mocha, but I didn't add enough instant coffee (what can I say, I don't like coffee). But next time I will.
I also made brownies this week. I did something a little different - I had left over vanilla mousse from my beloved's cake and I put a half a cup of it in the brownie batter. Again this is the  Hershey recipe with the exception I melt the butter and add the cocoa in it to give the cocoa a chance to bloom. The brownies seemed somehow richer, but not overly rich.

The mousse reminds me a bit of vanilla ice cream, but not frozen. I still have more left, I'm thinking of using it in the coconut cake I'm making for my sister-in-law today for her birthday. Maybe mix some coconut with it and use it as the filling between the first and second layer.
These are photos of my honey's birthday cake. It got eaten up relatively fast, believe it or not

The mousse reminds me a bit of vanilla ice cream, but not frozen. I still have more left, I'm thinking of using it in the coconut cake I'm making for my sister-in-law today for her birthday. Maybe mix some coconut with it and use it as the filling between the first and second layer. I used the mousse in the buttercream frosting I made for the cake.

This is how the filled cake looked when it was sliced. The mousse held up much better than the Baviarian cream has in the past.






_enjoy_

more disasters in cooking;)

Yup, it's true.  I had more disasters this weekend in cooking. But it happens to the best of us (and the worse of us, too).
Here's the latest. Every Memorial Day weekend Sunday, I make a big to do over the Sunday dinner. I know I'm not going to cook a big meal on Sunday until after Labor Day - and since it's my love's birthday weekend (usually), I try to make it special.
This time it was going to be roast chicken. I had a nice Purdue Oven Stuffer and I was looking forward to roasting and eating the chicken.
So I prepped the chicken and put it in my slow cooker. This slow cooker has a light on it so you know you turned it on and I made sure it was on. I baked some bread in the bread machine and it smelled pretty good. It didn't occur to me I couldn't smell the chicken. My sense of smell is not that good, but still......
About 7 hours later, I decided to remove the chicken from the slow cooker so we could eat supper. When I turned the chicken over (I roast mine breast side down so all the juices drip into the breast), I noticed the pop up timer was not popped up.  I thought that was weird. Than I stuck the chicken with a fork. It was still raw inside. Definitely not cool.
I debated whether to try and nuke it or put it in the oven, but my fear of having a chicken sitting out on a very warm day and the chicken stayed raw made me decided to trash the chicken as well as the slow cooker. I was not a happy camper, I had to rustle up some canned chicken breast and make a quick chicken and rice dish. Not what I wanted, but what could I do? Just the thought of eating that chicken turned my stomach, so I figured it wasn't worth it. 
Now my slow cooker has died without even giving me a warning. I got to start the process of finding another slow cooker. If anybody's got any suggestions on brands or types of slow cookers, I'd be glad to hear them. 

But I do have photos of my love's birthday cake. It turned out fine the second time around.