Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Caramel Squares

These chewy treats have a cookie base and a caramel topping full of hazelnuts and candied orange. Half of each square is dipped in dark chocolate. Gooey goodness. You can order a dozen squares for $8 and expect them to be eaten quickly!

Glazed Chocolate Cake with Sprinkles

This is a tender and moist chocolate cake with a silky chocolate glaze, all topped off with some fun shimmering sugar, perfect for holiday celebrations. A 9-inch,  one layer cake is available for $27. A 9-inch, two layer cake is available for $36.

Chocolate Almond and Raspberry Tart

Everyone has different preferences when it comes to food and desserts. I'm no exception. There are things that I like and others that I love. This tart definitely falls under the latter. I LOVE the combination of chocolate with raspberries. Quite frankly, the almonds in this case don't hurt either. This tart is a has a crunchy chocolate base, a surprising almond layer in the middle and a smooth chocolate ganache blanketing the almond. On top of that is a layer of fresh raspberries that are glazed with raspberry jam and kirsch brandy. The garnish is toasted almond slices. It is a beautiful addition to any holiday event. This 9-inch tart provides 8-10 servings and is available for $38.

Double Chocolate-Peppermint Crunch Cookies

These cookies are basically chocolate cookies with chocolate chips and a hint of espresso and peppermint. They have a chocolate topping and are sprinkled with crushed peppermint candy for a festive touch. They're very similar to a brownie in texture. Available for $7 per dozen.

Holiday Menu

After a short post-Thanksgiving break, I'm back and working on all kinds of holiday treats! In the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting about what new items are available. I can be contacted for orders at yourbusybeebakery@gmail.com .

Coming up this week:
Double Chocolate-Peppermint Crunch Cookies

Chocolate Almond and Raspberry Tart

Glazed Chocolate Cake with Sprinkles

Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Caramel Squares

Angel Slices



Here's the Latest

We're just under the wire here and getting ready for Thanksgiving. We've added a few new yummy dishes before it's too late.

We've added an Apple Crostata.  It is the more rustic appearing of the various apple options. We also have the apple and grape pie and the apple pie with oat streusel that have appeared earlier on this site.

Next up, I put together a Pecan, Bourbon, Butterscotch Bread Pudding for an office potluck Thanksgiving. Yes. It is as good as it sounds. I was told that some of the ladies wanted to "divorce their husbands so that they could marry the bread pudding."

Lastly, it a Buttermilk Lemon Chess Pie.  The lemon flavor is subtle and the filling is a kind of custard.

 I will be taking orders until 5 pm Tuesday evening. Wednesday will be a busy baking day and deliveries will be made on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Nice and fresh!

Kolacky

Kolacky is a Central European cookie.  There are tons of options for fillings including prune, poppy seed, nut/honey, apricot, peach and raspberry. The most distinguisihing feature of this cookie is the dough. It is simple and includes only cream cheese, butter, sugar and flour. The dough isn't especially sweet but it works when countered with the filling and the powdered sugar dusting.  Think of it as a soft pillow for the filling to rest on!

Banana Upside-Down Cake

Where is the rum?  It's in the cake and it's in the bananas. It's bananas!  I know!

So why should the pineapples have all of the fun? Why can't the bananas be happy?  How better to make bananas happy that to give them some butter, brown sugar and rum! 

Once they've had their fill, I can just tuck them in under a nice blanket of cake with cinnamon, nutmeg vanilla and more rum and you can have a little slice of paradise.

Here's to happy bananas!  Cheers!

Apple Pie with Oat Streusel

This could easily be called The Great Deflating Pie.  That's probably a good thing. Apples get soft when they get baked, so when the filling first gets added to the crust, it is an eye-popping  mountain of apple. While baking, the apple softens, the voids between slices are filled and the mountain of apple lowers into an even, dense, layer of apple goodness (with some golden brown sugar, cinnamon and allspice mixed in).

Oats are rolled into the outside of the crust and the topping (thankfully tolerant of all of these volume shifts) is a streusel of golden brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, butter and oats.

It's a wholesome, homey comfort dessert perfect for this time of the year.

Vanilla-Spiced Caramel and Pear Tart

Sometimes you bake something and you know it's special. This is one of those times. This tart is made with a puff pastry and the filling includes butter, vanilla bean, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, sugar and egg. There isn't that much filling because I needed to leave a lot of room for the pears! Believe me, these were some happy pears. Before swimming in the filling, they had already spent some quality time in butter and sugar, with cinnamon, star anise, cloves and vanilla bean.

Yum!

 

Pumpkin Pear Crisps

This is a perfect solution for dessert or a non-traditional breakfast!

A pumpkin pear crisp is a compote made of pumpkin, pears, maple syrup, golden raisins, lemon juice, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla.  It's topped with a crispy crumble of oats, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, dark brown sugar and cinnamon.  The combination of pumpkin, pears and spices is wonderful!

It can be prepared as one large dish or in individual containers.

New Additions!

I'm still gearing up for Thanksgiving and adding new dishes regularly. This week we have a few more goodies to add to the menu. These are available for purchase, along with last week's offerings. I can be contacted at yourbusybeebakery@gmail.com.

Apple Pie with Oat Streusel

Banana Upside Down Cake

Kolacky

Pear Crostata with Figs and Honey

Stained-Glass Ornament Cookies

Poached Apples with Vanilla Yogurt

This is definitely one of the most luxurious desserts this week.

The base of the dish is Greek style yogurt with honey and the seeds of a vanilla bean. Placed on top of that is an apple that was poached in a Syrah (a fruity red wine) with sugar, orange juice, orange peel, lemon peel, cinnamon and star anise. It's topped with a syrup made from the Syrah mix.

The combination should be assembled immediately before serving. Orders for this will be filled by providing separate containers with each of the three elements for assembly when served. While samples included portions of an apple, each serving should be an entire apple, cored, but intact, for an elegant individually plated dish.

Peanut-Pecan Butter and Oatmeal Cookies

Cookies are great!  You know you want something sweet but getting an entire slice of cake or pie sounds like too much. You'll just eat one cookie. Nevermind the fact that one cookies become two, then three, then... well nevermind. Either way, they're delicious and you want some.

Today we have peanut-pecan butter and oatmeal cookies. I basically made peanut pecan butter by mixing ground toasted pecans into the peanut butter. Add oats, some brown sugar and vanilla and we've got a very yummy little cookie!

Grape and Apple Pie

Why should apples have all of the fun? What about grapes? Grape and Apple Pie?  Can I call it a Grapple Pie? Call it what you want to call it, but it's great pie and it is bubblelicious!

The crust is home-made. The dough is a little bit tricky to work with but definitely worth the effort.  No pre-made crusts in this kitchen. I realize that may mean that I'm a glutton for punishment but I don't care. I just like it better. It tastes better and there is more flexibility in terms of pie size and decor. The filling is simple, having apples, grapes,sugar and flour.  The tragedy is that it is almost too pretty to eat. When I cut this one up to give away samples, it kind of broke my heart.

Gateau de Sirop

While many of us think of apples and pumpkins in the fall, we sometimes forget that it is also sugarcane season. That of course depends on where you live. For some people, this time of the year means smelling sugar cane being burned and loads of debris on the road from it being carried away. What to do with all of that sugar cane?  A lot of it gets turned into syrup, similar to a sweet but mild molasses.

A Gateau de Sirop is a traditional Cajun syrup cake, popular this time of the year when cane is being harvested in abundance in Louisiana. Add the syrup to a cake with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, sour cream and buttermilk and you're basically looking at a very moist, subtle gingerbread. Top it with a little bit of powdered sugar and you're set to go!

Chocolate-Dipped Dates Stuffed With Spiced Nuts

I love hors-d'oeuvres! If I can combine that with some kind of dessert, then I'm a happy camper.

I've taken salted and roasted almonds and coated them with orange peel, honey, cinnamon and allspice, at which point, they're ready to be stuffed into the dates. These are Medjool Dates, common in Morroco, and commonly considered the "king of dates" or the "crown jewel of dates". They are exceptionally large, sweet and succulent. After being stuffed, each date is coated in bittersweet chocolate and an additional almond (also coated in chocolate) is placed on top of the date. The entire thing gets another sprinkle of orange peel. It's sweet, savory, juicy and crunchy all at once, a perfect holiday snack!



New Items!

Folks, we're having a small change in direction. While I've enjoyed exploring all kinds of breads and biscuits and bready cakes, we are getting into fall. That means, apples, pears, and pumpkins and all kind of yummy desserts. It means holiday dinners, dinners with friends and pot lucks, While I realized that I needed to make decisions about what to plan to make and bring to various events, I realized that you're probably in the same boat. So, throughout the holiday season, I'm going to be offering various seasonal desserts that can be purchased. Below is a first installment, with more details to come throughout the week and more options to show up weekly. Sign up on the blog for updates and contact me at yourbusybeebakery@gmail.com with any questions or suggestions.

Enjoy!

New this week:

Chocolate -Dipped Dates Stuffed with Spiced Nuts

Gateau de Sirop

Grape and Apple Pie

Peanut-Pecan Butter and Outmal Cookies

Poached Apples with Vanilla Yogurt

Pumpkin-Pear Crisps

Vanilla-Spiced Caramel and Pear Tart

Currant Biscuits

Currant biscuits bring us a little sweetness. They have little dried currants, a little extra sugar and are topped with cinnamon sugar. Yum!

I have a few tips for forming the biscuits. The dough needs to be rolled out evenly. When you cut the shapes, cut straight down instead of twisting. Space the cuts as closely as possible to minimize scraps. You can roll out the scraps and make more biscuits but the more you do this, the tougher the dough gets. Placing them upside down on the baking sheet gives you straighter sides and brushing the tops with eggs or milk gives you  some extra browning.

Cheddar Biscuits

Everyone wants a cheddar biscuit! They’re no different from regular biscuits except that I get to add a ton of cheddar to the dough. I should have added even more.

So far, all of these biscuits have been mixed using the biscuit method. This means mixing all of the dry ingredients, cutting in the shortening, combining the liquid ingredients separately and then mixing it all together. It only gets kneaded lightly. Different people like different variations of their biscuits. If you like a flaky biscuit, use more shortening and don’t mix it in as thoroughly. If you like a tender, crusty biscuit with less volume, don’t knead the dough.