Recipes For You

Nov 23, 2020

More recipes courtesy of Xavier baker, Maria Freese!

XAVIER ICED SUGAR COOKIES

For the cookies:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
10 oz white sugar
1/2 cup eggs
1 lb. 2 oz all purpose flour
2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract (if anyone has a nut allergy, make sure the extract you are using is artificial and safe for you, or just omit and replace with extract of your choice)

2 teaspoons cream of tartar (can be replaced with baking powder, cookies will be a little bit softer)

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher/large flake salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add all other ingredients, mix slowly until dough is crumbly. Turn mixer up to medium speed, mix until dough comes together and is slightly tacky.

Bake at 300°. Bake times may vary depending on your oven but we bake ours for 13 minutes for a 1 1/2 oz cookie. Cookies should be turning golden brown around the edges and the centers slightly domed.

Allow to cool thoroughly before icing.

Poured fondant icing:
5oz white candy melts

4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup very hot water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt candy melts in microwave. Use short bursts, if you leave them in too long they will burn and seize up. Once they are melted, add the rest of the ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed. If the icing starts to get too firm, just zap it in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds until it goes back to the desired consistency.

To get that bright, wild marble effect you see on our caf cookies sometimes all you have to do is heat the icing up until it is runny. Put a few drops of food color on the surface of the icing and swirl it on top, don't mix all the way in. Dip the cookies in the swirls of food color. Add color as desired. You can also dip the cookies, let the icing set and then paint them with food color for a watercolor effect.

THE HOFF DINING HALL HOT FUDGE CAKE RECIPE

For the cake:

1 box chocolate cake mix

1/2 package chocolate pudding mix

1 cup milk (in addition to the ingredients for the box cake mix)

Whisk pudding mix into cake mix. Prepare mix according to package instructions, adding the milk in with the water. Bake per package instructions (pudding makes the batter thicker, this may affect bake time slightly so check it a few minutes before it should be done).

For the simple syrup:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

Boil water and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Poke a few holes in the top of your cake and pour syrup over cake. The cake should soak up all the syrup, if you have puddles after a few minutes pour off excess.

The hot fudge sauce! We make ours from scratch and once you've done homemade you'll never go back to store bought:

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

3/4 cup cream (whipping or heavy, doesn't really matter)

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

Heat cream, sugar and butter to a simmer, make sure butter is completely melted and sugar dissolved. Remove from heat, whisk in chocolate chips until melted. Whisk in corn syrup and vanilla. Pour enough hot fudge sauce over the cake to cover the top (or drown the cake in it, I don't judge).

Pop the finished hot fudge cake in a warm (not too hot) oven for a few minutes and you're ready to dig in!

 

OREO MOUSSE

This one is going to be easy because I really can't find a substitute for a couple of the ingredients we use that would be sold in grocery stores so we are going to use Kool Whip. Should taste pretty much the same though. What really gives it the taste and consistency is our homemade cream cheese icing/filling. You're basically making a simple cream cheese mousse and adding crushed Oreos.

For the cream cheese filling:
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip butter for about 15 seconds until smooth. Scrape bowl and beater/paddle. Add cream cheese, whip until combined with butter. Scrape bowl and beater/paddle. Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla (start slow or you'll have a mess). Scrape bowl and beater, mix for another 15 seconds or so. Don't overmix, it will start to get runny.

For the mousse:
Mix equal parts cream cheese icing and Kool Whip. Then mix in as much crushed Oreos as you want. We don't really measure the Oreos, we let our hearts tell when enough is enough. I'm always nagging my bakery co-workers, more Oreos! The bosses nag at me, think of food cost! Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind...and making Oreo mousse is one of those times.

Sidenote: if you have leftover cream cheese icing this stuff is delicious on pretty much anything you'd use regular icing on. Grocery store cream cheese icing tastes like chemicals from all the stabilizers they use to make it shelf-stable...once you try this you'll never go back to store bought!