Patriotic Desserts

I recently joined another food challenge of sorts, Whip It Up.  Each week a topic guideline is given, and I have to prepare a new-to-me recipe and post it.  I’ve already been posting a recipe each week, so this just means that I’ll have to make something NEW, rather than posting from my constantly increasing stash of recipes and food photos waiting to be posted.  I figure that between Whip It Up, Daring Bakers, and Daring Cooks, it will at least guarantee that I’ll be trying 6 new recipes a month, which should help me from losing my touch in the kitchen now that I am no longer living with Husband.  I suspect that, rather than my routine cooking 7 nights a week, I will be resorting to cereal or popcorn for dinner since my hours in the lab are going to increase even more in an effort to finish as quickly as possible.

This week’s theme is “Holiday Food”.  And, given that today is a holiday (and one of my favorites, to boot – I am a huge sucker for a good fireworks show, and living in D.C., I have the best at my doorstep!), I opted to make some appropriately colored desserts for a gathering I am attending pre-fireworks festivities.  (I’m also bringing a triple batch of my spinach and artichoke dip – recipe here, for those who missed it the first time.)

First up, a red, white, and blue colored trifle.  The inspiration for this came from Sandra Lee, but her ‘semi-homemade’ concept is a little too semi for my tastes – if I’m baking, I want to bake.  So, I used my own most favorite devil’s food cake recipe (rather than box mix) and made my own vanilla pudding and mixed it with the CoolWhip (rather than just two tubs of cool whip).   But, if you want to cheat and use premade cake mix, I won’t judge (too harshly). :)  And then, because it sounded like fun, I decided to try my hand at chocolate covered pretzels.

4th of July Trifle

Ingredients (red for cake, blue for pudding):

• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 1/2 cup water, warm
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1 bottle red food coloring (if you want a reddish tint to the cake)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 3 eggs, separated
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 (8-ounce) tub frozen whipped topping
• 2 quarts blueberries
• 1 quart strawberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 9x13 inch cake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light.  Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by vanilla and melted chocolate.
4. Combine buttermilk and water.  Working in two or three additions, alternate adding liquid mixture and flour mixture to the mixing bowl.  Add bottle of food coloring.  Mix just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan.
6. To prepare pudding, mix sugar, flour, and salt in top of a double boiler.  Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk.  Cook, uncovered over boiling water, whisking constantly for 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Cool in refrigerator.
7. Once cool, slowly fold frozen whipped topping into vanilla pudding.
8. Cut cooled cake into 1” squares.
9. To assemble trifle, layer bottom of trifle bowl (or large glass mixing bowl, if your trifle bowl is in storage of your parents’ basement…) with half of the cake squares.  Squish down with hands to form a solid layer.  Spread half the pudding mixture over the cake.  Top pudding with 1 1/2 quarts of the blueberries.  Top the blueberries with the remaining cake squares, followed by the rest of the pudding mixture.  Cut tops off strawberries and place, cut side down, around the perimeter of the bowl.  Pour remaining blueberries into center.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

These were so simple to make, and so delicious!  Dip pretzel rods in melted modeling chocolate for candy making (I found the Melt ‘n Mold brand at Safeway).  I melted the chocolate in a tall and skinny juice glass, and then tipped the chocolate to the very edge and rolled the pretzel in it.  Lightly scrape the sides of the pretzel on the lip of the glass to remove excess, then sprinkle with desired toppings (sprinkles, nuts, etc.).  Since I was going for a 4th of July theme, I used red, white, and blue colored sugar crystals and piped on frosting, which I tinted red and blue with food coloring (I fear my hand will be blue for days!).  The icing didn’t stick as well to the chocolate as it does to cookies or cakes, so it wound up sliding a bit and looking messy… but… they’re fun, festive, chocolate covered pretzels, and that’s all that counts!