Yo-Ho-Ho! Run Pecan Cookie Bars with Sea Salt:  Ryan & MJ

No pirate grub be complete without a sweet treat.  Our mates Ryan & MJ brought a dessert wit' our fav'rit ingredients - rum, pecans, 'n o' course sea salt.

Aft grub we left th' galley 'n went t' brave th' storm.  These carousers love a good storm!

Recipe:

http://bakingthegoods.com/2013/09/26/rum-pecan-cookie-bars/

BROWN SUGAR SHORTBREAD CRUST

1. all purpose flour - 2.5 cups
2. brown sugar, lightly packed - 1 cup
3. unsalted butter at room temperature - 1 cup (2 sticks), plus more for greasing pan
4. salt - 1/2 teaspoon

PECAN RUM FILLING

1. halved pecans - 2 cups
2. maple syrup - 1/2 cup
3. brown sugar - 1/2 cup
4. unsalted butter at room temperature - 1 tablespoon
5. eggs at room temperature - 2
6. pure vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
7. spiced rum - 2 tablespoons
8. coarse sea salt - 1 tablespoon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Lightly toast the pecans for 7-8 minutes.
3. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with room temperature butter and a pastry brush.
4. Beat 1 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar with electric mixer on low speed until creamy and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Whisk salt and flour together.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Mix just until the dough starts to come together, do not over mix.
6. Lightly press the crumbly dough evenly in pan.
7. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown and center springs back when touched lightly.
8. Meanwhile, place the remaining brown sugar and maple syrup in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.
9. Remove from the heat and add the butter, rum and vanilla.
10. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the eggs and whisk until smooth. (Do not add the eggs while the syrup is hot or they will begin to cook)
11. Add the pecans to the mixture and evenly pour the mixture over the baked cookie base. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the filling has set.
12. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
13. Sprinkle with a coarse sea salt.
14. Cut evenly into 32 bars, 8 rows by 4 rows.
15. Wrap in gold foil, and place inside a treasure chest if you are after that full pirate booty experience. Finally, enjoy with a refreshing rum and coke.

Creme Brulee - Remixed:  Ann & Jason

Similar to Kim & AJ taking on baked mac 'n cheese, Ann & Jason decided to challenge themselves with making a dairy-free creme brulee.

Made with coconut milk instead of heavy cream, the taste did not disappoint.  However, the consistency left a bit to be desired!

Recipe:

http://www.fooduciary.com/coconut-milk-dairy-free-creme-brulee/

To make 8 we doubled the below recipe (which left a bit extra).  Instead of the vanilla beans, we used vanilla extract where 1 bean = 1 teaspoon extract.

Ingredients

• 5 egg yolks
• ½ cup unrefined cane sugar plus 1 tbsp for each ramekin
• 1 can full fat coconut milk
• 2 vanilla beans

Instructions

1. To start, begin heating about 6 cups of water in a tea kettle. You'll need this hot water when we go to bake the creme brulee.
2. Turn the oven to 325.
3. In a small saucepan heat the coconut milk on low.
4. While that's warming up, use a mixer to whip together the egg yolks and sugar until the yolks are light in color.
5. Slice the vanilla beans lengthwise and scrape out the vanilla bean pulp.
6. Whisk the pulp into the coconut milk.
7. When the coconut milk begins to simmer, remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour a small amount into the egg yolk mixture as you stir. This will help temper the eggs.
8. Allow that to sit for just a short minute, then add the rest of the coconut milk and stir until well combined.
9. Place 5-6 ramekins in a shallow baking dish and fill each with the coconut mixture.
10. From the tea kettle, pour the hot water into the baking dish so that the water comes roughly to halfway up the ramekins.
11. Very gently place the baking dish into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the custard is has set but still wiggles a bit. Let cool.
12. When the ramekins have cooled to the point you can handle them, sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the top of each dish and use your butane torch to heat the sugar until brown and crisp.
13. Of course we want to sneak in healthy produce wherever we can, so top it off with a dash of your favorite berries that you just picked up at the farmer's market. :)

Black and White Truffles:  Heather & Eric

Heather & Eric spoiled us with an incredible assortment of black and white truffles.  I am pretty sure I tried one of each :)

They included ______, Oreo truffles, and vegan truffles for Kim (and the rest of us enjoyed them too!).


Recipes:

Oreo Truffles:
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/easy-oreo-truffles-95085.aspx

Makes 48

36 Oreo cookies, finely crushed, divided
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
4 pkg (4 oz each) semi-sweet chocolate, broken into pieces and melted

Reserve 1/4 cup cookie crumbs.  Mix cream cheese and remaining cookie crumbs until blended; shape into 48 (1-inch) balls.  Freeze 10 minutes.

Cover rimmed baking sheet with waxed paper.  Dip cream cheese balls into melted chocolate.  Place on prepared baking sheet.  Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.

Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

Vegan Truffles:
http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-truffles-33995

Makes 50

3/4 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup cold water
1 lb bittersweet chocolate
cocoa powder

Put cashews and cold water in a blender and blend at high speed for 1-2 minutes.  Scrape the sides down and blend again until the mixture is the consistency of heavy cream.

Meanwhile, in a double boiler heat the chocolate until it's all melted.  Cool the chocolate until it's comfortable to work with and fold in the cashew cream (making sure not to stir too fast or you'll create bubbles).

Cool in the fridge for 2 hours to set.

Take out a small ball, roll in cocoa powder and store in fridge/freezer.  Repeat until done.

Fluffernut S'more Brownies:  Kim & AJ

Dessert was a creative concoction of graham crackers, brownies, peanut butter and marshmallow that came together in one beautiful hand-held treat!

After dessert, we stayed with the camping tradition and continued to drink into the wee hours of the night before we passed out on our sleeping bags and air mattresses spread throughout Heather and Eric's house.  House camping at its best!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
Graham Cracker Crust:
2.5 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
10 Tbs melted butter (vegan)

Brownie:
1 box vegan brownie mix

Filling:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff

Topping:
1 bag dairy free chocolate chunk chips

Instructions:
Graham Cracker Crust:
If needed, grind graham crackers in food processor or mash inside a plastic bag to get crumbs.  Combine crumbs, sugar, and melted butter and mix until well blended.  Place cupcake liners into muffin tin.  Press graham cracker mix into bottom of each of the cupcake liners.  Place tin in refrigerator while preparing the rest of the ingredients.  You may want to cover it with plastic wrap.

Brownie:
Follow instructions on the box.  Set finished mix aside.  Get tin with graham cracker crust from fridge.  Fill each cupcake liner with brownie mix until the cup is 2/3 full.  Bake in the over according to the instructions on the box, but only for about 12 minutes.  Brownies will rise.  When finished baking, remove tin from oven.  Use a regular sized spoon to depress a rounded divet into each of the brownies.  Do this gently while brownies are still hot.  Allow the brownies to cool for about 5 minutes.

Filling:
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the peanut butter for about 30 seconds.  Stir in marshmallow fluff.  If needed, heat the mix a little more to get a good blend.  Spoon the filling into each brownie cup.  Let it cool for 2-3 minutes.

Topping:
Top each cup with a dairy-free chocolate chunk.

Serve at room temperature.

Apple Cobbler:  Ryan & MJ

For dessert, Ryan & MJ made a delicious apple cobbler with an added touch of creativity - they placed a blueberry layer on top of the cobbler to serve as a layer of water over the apples through which you must bob :)  Served with vanilla ice cream and a caramel sauce this dessert did not disappoint!

Recipe:

Mascarpone & Dark Chocolate Cream in White Chocolate Cups Plus a Surprise Visit!:  Heather & Eric

We finished off our evening with a beautifully crafted Italian dessert masterpiece - Mascarpone and Dark Chocolate Cream in White Chocolate Cups - made by Heather and Eric.  In the words of the Mafia, "these were f***ing beautiful!"

We also got a surprise visit from Tony who had some bad luck and was found "swimming with the fishies".

The night finished with some awesome Mafia impersonations done by the gang :)

Recipes:

Coconut Sticky Rice with Mango & Fortune Cookies:  Ann & Jason

When I heard we were on dessert for Chinatown, I was immediately committed to making homemade fortune cookies.  I would worry about what to pair with them at a later time.  After looking through several recipes, I was happy to see that it wouldn't be as hard as I had originally thought to make them :)



The fun part was coming up with the fortunes.  Unfortunately, I lost the original fortunes Jason and I wrote together between our original January scheduled Chinatown and our rescheduled March date and as such had to come up with some on my own without my sarcastic husband's input... fortunately, they still turned out pretty good :)

The fortune cookies weren't quite as easy as the recipe lead on.... apparently you should be able to start out making 2 or 3 at a time and increase from there.  I started with 2 and had to revert back to making 1 at a time and never got to increase it....fortunately they cook fast so it didn't take too long to make them.

We decided to pair the fortune cookies with coconut sticky rice.















The difference between sticky rice, or sweet rice, is that you steam it vs. the traditional boiling method.  There are rice steamers that you can buy, or if you are feeling inventive, you can create one out of a large pot, an oil splash guard, and a bowl.  It worked great!!

Dessert is served!!!

Recipes:

Fortune Cookies:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/9684/fortune-cookies-i/

Sticky Rice with Mango:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sticky-rice-with-mango-12066

Vampire Milkshake Shots:  Ryan & MJ

Ryan and MJ delighted us with individual Vampire Milkshake Shots - a milkshake with fresh strawberry puree and chocolate syrup.  We dipped our fangs in and devoured these with a decadent lust!

Recipe:

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/745225032/bloody-good-vampire-non-alcoholic-milkshake-shots/?locale=en_US

Butterbeer Ice Cream:  Jesse & Rachel

After our Quidditch match we headed straight to the Leaky Cauldron to indulge in some delicious Butterbeer ice cream!  We were a bit frightened by the dark mark tattoo we saw on the witch serving us, but decided the ice cream was worth the risk.  Luckily, there was no sightings of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and we were able to enjoy our Butterbeer ice cream to the last bite!

We closed the night in by enjoying our magial beers and playing several rounds of Exploding Kittens!







Recipe
Ask Jesse & Rachel :)

Smoked Blueberry Crumble:  Heather & Eric

Since this was our first 6-member Culinary Couples, we had agreed that "well.... I guess we don't need dessert....."  However, after we finished dinner, Heather told us that we had a "surprise guest" for the evening - and low and behold - she had made us dessert!  Thank goodness!!!! ;)

This dessert took the Smokin' theme to a whole new level - if you have thought about eating a campfire, this was it!  Absolutely ridiculous.

Recipe:
http://grillingwithrich.com/blueberry-crumble-done-on-the-smoker/

Mint Julep Pie:  Ryan & MJ

Ryan & MJ finished off the night with a chocolate, bourbon, mint julep pie.  Think of the delicious Mint Julep drink combined with a Girl Scouts Thin Mint, all wrapped into a delicious pie crust.  This dessert was the perfect end to our evening.

Since we live on the west coast, the Derby had already finished but, as promised, none (well maybe one) of us watched it ahead of time.

We placed our bets and watched the race and true to form, it was the "Fastest two minutes of sports!"













Ann & Ryan both placed bets on the favored horse - American Pharaoh.  When he crossed the finish line, the dollar bills were flying and we got to enjoy our Blue Ribbon PBRs in honor of #18!

Recipe:
http://www.butterandbrioche.com/dark-chocolate-mint-julep-pie/

Ice Cream Wafflewiches:  Heather & Eric

Heather & Eric brought a cooler full of waffle ice cream sandwiches - Blue Belle Rocky Road ice cream sandwiched between two delicious waffles, half dipped in chocolate and nuts!

We found out the next day that Blue Belle had a recall due to listeria.  Good thing that same day there was an article published about the bacteria-fighting properties of maple syrup - our Kentucky Waffles saved us - good thing we had so many ;)

Recipe:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/ice-cream-wafflewiches/a49dcf13-0bc9-4360-b568-677fb663d14f

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie:  Katie & Denis

I'm not going to lie, there was a small piece of doubt in my mind that I may be tired of peanuts by the time dessert came.  Rest assured, when we saw Katie & Denis's Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie, all doubts flew right out the window.  I actually, may have been the first person, and only one of a few, that finished my entire piece!  Chocolate and Peanut Butter make the perfect pair... Maybe they will want to be the next couple to join Culinary Couples! :)

After dessert, things got a little "nutty"!  Denis took us back to the days of college drinking games starting with King's Cup, we took a quick break to have a nice stroll down to QT for two more 30-packs, and ended the night playing hours worth of Rock Band. 

Going to bed at 3am, I thought there was no way I was going to make it out on our planned bike ride the next morning, but I have to say, peanuts are an amazing source of energy and powered me through it!

3rd Place Winner:  Culinary Couples Year Two - Best Dessert!


Recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/black-bottom-peanut-butter-mousse-pie-235617