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Strawberry Shortcake

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Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry shortcake recipe layered with ripe berries and silky whipped cream. Each cake is made with whole wheat flour for the ultimate dessert with benefits!  Jessica Gavin

Shortcakes

  • 3 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 tbsp kosher salt
  • 12 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces, 1 ½ sticks
  • 1/2 heavy cream
  • 2 large eggs

Strawberry Filling

  • 1 pound strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and quartered
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice, squeezed
  • 1 tsp mint, cut into thin strips (chiffonade)

Whipped Cream

  • 1 1/2 Cups heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • powdered sugar, for dusting

Strawberry Filling

  1. In a medium sized bowl, combine strawberries, honey, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add fresh mint, mix and refrigerate.
  2. This will help the berries release their natural juices and infuse the flavors of the mint and lemon.

Shortcakes

  1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, ½ cup sugar and salt, stir to combine.
  2. Add the cold and cubed pieces of butter into the flour mixture. Using your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until pea-sized shapes.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk ½ cup cream and eggs.
  4. Pour liquid into the flour mixture, and mix with a fork until large clumps begin to form.
  5. Use your hands to gently form a ball and flatten into a 7-inch disc.Wrap dough in clear plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  6. Using additional flour as needed, roll out the dough into a 1-inch thick disc.
  7. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut the dough and place cakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  8. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes.

Whipped Cream

  1. In a large chilled bowl, beat 1 ½ cups of chilled cream and 2 tablespoons sugar with the vanilla until medium peaks form.

To serve

  1. Slice the cooled biscuits in half horizontally. Spoon the strawberries over the bottom halves, add whipped cream and place the other half of cake on top. Dust the tops with powdered sugar.

Whole wheat, all-purpose or gluten-free flour can be substituted for white whole wheat flour.

Rose Champagne Macarons

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Rose Champagne Macarons

Dress up your macarons with rose buttercream and a Champagne jelly center. Taste Made 

For the Macarons Shells

  • 300 grams ground almonds
  • 300 grams pure icing sugar (without corn flour added to it)
  • 110 grams liquefied egg whites
  • 300 grams caster sugar
  • 75 grams water
  • 110 grams liquefied egg whites
  • Pearl Colour mist (wilton)
  • Red colour mist (wilton)
  • 2 drops deep pink americolor food gel Frosting
  • 1 batch fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting
  • 2 teaspoons rose essence

For the Rose Champagne Jelly

  • 400 ml Rose Champage
  • 5 tbsp powdered gelatin + 5 tablespoons cold water

  1. Rose Champagne jelly

    Add the gelatin and water to a mixing bowl and mix together until well combined. Allow to sit for 5 min. Microwave for 15 seconds to melt and set aside.

    Add the champagne to a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 5 min. Add melted gelatin and mix until completely dissolved. If it doesn’t dissolve completely, add to microwave for another minute and mix again.

    Transfer to a large baking tray and refrigerate for 4 hours (at least)

    Once the jelly is set, use a small piping tip to cut out circles of jelly. Set aside in the fridge.

    Macarons

    Add the icing sugar and almond meal into a food processor and process until well combined. This will help get rid of any lumps in the sugar. Alternatively, you may sift the two together. This must be done at least 3 times.

    Empty the almond mixture into a large mixing bowl, add the first portion of egg whites and mix until it forms a paste. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

    Add the sugar and water into a small saucepan. Give them a very gentle stir to get them mixed together. Bring to a boil on medium high heat, then turn down to a simmer. Add a candy thermometer to the pot to help you measure the temp of the syrup. As the syrup bubbles away it will splatter small bubbles of sugared water on the sides of the pot. Use a pastry brush dabbed in a little water to brush those back into the syrup. This will help prevent the syrup from crystallising. When the syrup reaches 115C, add the second portion of egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and start whisking them on medium/high speed to help break them apart and get them a little frothy.

    When the syrup reaches 118C, pour it over the egg whites in a slow and steady stream. Whisk to stiff peaks for about 6 min. Add the COLOUR and vanilla extract at about the 3 min point, whisk into the meringue for a couple of minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down, then whisk for an extra couple of minutes. When you can turn the bowl over and the meringue doesn’t fall out, you know you’ve reached stiff peaks.

    Grab a spatula full of the meringue and fold it into the almond-sugar mixture, mix until well combined. This allows the mixture to thin out a little before you add the rest of the mixture. Fold everything together by going around the bowl with a spatula then through the middle (as demonstrated in the video). Continue folding until the batter gets thin enough that it drips off the spatula and falls in a ribbon. It should take about 10 seconds for the ribbon to disappear into the rest of the batter. That’s when you know the batter is ready to pipe.

    Spoon the batter into a piping bag with a round tip.

    Pipe rounds of batter about 3.5 centimeters (1.38 inches) in diameter, spacing them 2 centimeters apart on (flat) baking trays lined with baking parchment. Sprinkle with sprinkles.

    Gently tap the tray on the work surface covered with a kitchen cloth. Leave to stand for at least 30 minutes, until a skin forms on the shells. They shouldn’t be sticky when you touch them. It’s at this point that you can preheat a fan forced oven to 180C (360F)

    Bake for 12 minutes. If you feel your oven is causing the macarons to brown on one side (usually the side closest to the fan) turn the tray around about half way through baking. Once they’re baked, let them cool completely.

    To prepare frosting combine buttercream and rose essence and mix until well combined.

    Spray the macaron shells with the pearl spray. Let them dry for 15 min before you spray one side with red mist.

    Fit the end of a piping bag with a small French tip. Place a piece of jelly in the middle of one of the cookies. Frost a double swirl of frosting around it. And sandwich with the other cookies.

Dessert Recipes | Macarons

Beauty Editorial – Make Up

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Beauty Editorial - Colorful Make Up by Multiple Artists

| Olivia Mairn by Ian Jacob for Imirage Magazine |

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Olivia Mairn by Ian Jacob for Imirage Magazine – Retouching Lidiya Gubatenko

Mardi Gras Carnival – New Orleans USA

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Mardi Gras Carnival in New Orleans - US

Mardi Gras, also called Shrove Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday, in English, refers to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

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Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

These colorful chocolate-dipped strawberries brighten up any dessert spread. Plus, kids love them. Chowhound

  • 1 1/2 pounds bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 2 pints large whole strawberries, stems attached, washed and completely dried
  • 1 1/2 pounds white chocolate, finely chopped, for making strawberry tuxedos (optional)

  1. 1-Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper; set aside.

    2-Place the dark chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan containing an inch of barely simmering water. (But make sure the bowl does not touch the water.) Stir constantly until melted.

    3-Holding the strawberries by their stems, dip them one by one into the chocolate, letting any excess drip off and placing them on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened, about 20 minutes.

    4-To make strawberry tuxedos: First melt the white chocolate (rather than the dark chocolate) as directed in step 2. Dip the strawberries in the white chocolate and place them on the lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened, about 30 minutes.

    5-Line a second baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Melt the dark chocolate in a separate bowl. Holding the white-chocolate-covered strawberries at a 45-degree angle, dip one side into the dark chocolate, then dip the opposite side, forming a “V” or heart-shaped jacket. Place the strawberries on the second baking sheet and refrigerate until the dark chocolate has hardened.

    6-When the strawberries are ready, transfer a small amount of the melted dark chocolate to a small resealable plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Remove the tuxedos from the fridge and pipe three chocolate buttons on the white “shirt” of the strawberries. Refrigerate again to harden.

You can dip strawberries in quickly melted chocolate, but there’s a chance that the chocolate will bloom (or separate), causing white streaks. To prevent this, we recommend tempering the chocolate. 

Barranquilla Carnival – Colombia

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Barranquilla – Colombia
Barranquilla’s Carnival (Spanish: Carnaval de Barranquilla) is one of Colombia’s most important folkloric celebrations, and one of the biggest carnivals in the world. The carnival has traditions that date back to the 19th century. Four days before Holy Month, Barranquilla decks itself out to receive national and foreign tourists and joins together with the city’s inhabitants to enjoy four days of intense festivities. During the carnival, Barranquilla’s normal activities are paralyzed because the city gets busy with street dances, musical and masquerade parades. The Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed a Cultural Masterpiece of the Nation by Colombia’s National Congress in 2002. Also the UNESCO, in Paris on November 7, 2003, declared it one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Carnival of Rio de Janeiro – Brazil

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Carnival of Rio de Janeiro – Brazil

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (Portuguese: Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro) is a festival held every year before Lent and considered the biggest carnival in the world with two million people per day on the streets. The first festivals of Rio date back to 1723. It is celebrated in honour of the gods and to respect the great waters
The typical Rio carnival parade is filled with revelers, floats, and adornments from numerous samba schools which are located in Rio (more than 200 approximately, divided into five leagues/divisions). A samba school is composed of a collaboration of local neighbors that want to attend the carnival together, with some kind of regional, geographical and common background.

Skinny Girl Chocola-Tini

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Skinny Girl Chocola-Tini

The Perfect Chocolate Cocktail

  • 1 part Skinnygirl Bare Naked Vodka
  • 1 part Mocha Liqueur
  • 1 part espresso
  • 1 tsp chocolate syrup
  1. Rim glass with chocolate syrup 
  2. Swirl the bottom of a martini glass with some chocolate syrup 
  3. In shaker filled with ice, combine first 3 ingredients, strain then pour into rimmed glass and enjoy

Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash

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Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash

Cheesy Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash is a totally crave-worthy lightened up version of the classic! – Peas and Crayons –

  • 2 medium spaghetti squash (6-7 inches long)
  • 2 cups cooked shredded chicken*
  • 1 cup freshly grated cheddar and/or mozzarella cheese
  • 1/3 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1 jalapeno, diced (seeds, stem, + veins removed)
  • 1/4 chopped green onion (divided)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • ranch or blue cheese dressing for drizzling (optional)
  • extra grated cheese for topping

  1. 1-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.

    2-Slice your spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. For easy cutting, feel free to stick each squash in the microwave for 5 minutes to soften it up just a tad. The knife slides through way easier this way!

    3-Next grab a lipped baking sheet or a rimmed baking dish and line with foil.

    4-To prevent sticking, rub the cut side of the squash with a teeny bit of olive oil and place face down on your baking sheet.

    5-Roast for 30-40 minutes, or until tender and easily pierced with a fork. Cooking time will vary a bit depending on the size of your squash, and the exterior of the squash will be visibly softened.

    6-The squash can be roasted and stored in the fridge for a few days if you’d like to meal prep and plan ahead for a speedier dinner. You can also make the whole shebang one weekend and pop it in the fridge until about 30 minutes before dinnertime. Wind up with a little bit leftover? It reheats marvelously the following day! Now let’s get back to the recipe!

    7-While the squash roast, cook chicken via your favorite method or squirrel away leftovers from the previous night’s dinner.

    8-Shred your chicken and combine in a medium bowl with your cheese (I used cheddar and mozzarella), hot sauce, melted butter, Greek yogurt, jalapeño, green onion, salt, and pepper.

    9-Using a fork, scrape the spaghetti squash bowls to release the delicious strands of squash and mix with your cheesy buffalo chicken mixture.

    10-Top each squash with a little extra cheese and place face-up on your baking sheet. Cover the baking dish in foil, leaving a little room at the top (like a tent!) so the cheese doesn’t stick.

    11-Bake at 350 degrees F for around 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. For golden bubbly cheese, remove the foil at the end, then change oven setting to broil on high and broil for 2-3 minutes.

    12-Garnish with chopped green onion, a drizzle of your favorite dressing, and even extra hot sauce!

I roasted 1lb of bone-in skin-on chicken thighs but you can use anything you have on hand and use your favorite method: crockpot, rotissere, baked, poached… this recipe is a great use for leftover chicken too!

Serve with celery sticks or a veggie salad for a delicious crunch and extra veggies!