This past Sunday, I opened my home to a group of beautiful young ladies for a cooking class. They were no specifications as what they wanted to cook so I had carte Blanche. Since I wanted to be a hands-on cooking class, I decided to teach them appetizers. I thought that it would be something that they would enjoy and benefit for their entire life if they hosted parties, showers and luncheons. I did not know any of them. All i knew that they were all seniors in high school , and they were very excited to come. They stayed for 2 hours during which we prepared a variety of appetizers and desserts. I had divided my kitchen in 3 stations so the girls could rotate every fifteen minutes to different stations and learn to make a different dish.
They learned to make wonton purses, Brie phillo cups with raspberry chipotle, lasagna cupcakes, Mozzarella and tomato skewers, Chocolate Cookie Cupcake with Bittersweet chocolate Ganache, Chocolate strawberries and lime tartlets. Lots of food as you see. Once they cooked it, they were given some time to enjoy what they made. It was priceless to see them place the food on trays and taste what they had made. You really could see pride in their smile.
They left the cooking class happily and thanked me a million times before leaving. The next day Lisa saw a few of those ladies again at school and they thanked her again for a wonderful time. I am so glad they did;-) What an honor to have left a little mark in the lives of those young ladies;-)
Today I will share with you a variation of the chocolate cookie cupcake that I made for them. I t was excellent, but resembled the “Little Pot Of Gold” that i posted a few weeks ago. So here is a new recipe, equally decadent and easy. I hope that you will try them;-)
- 1 pack of vanilla cookie dough from Nestle ( 24 mini cookies)
- 24 Reese cups/ or dove milk chocolate/ or even caramel
- 1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips such as bittersweet Ghiradhelli chocolate.
- 1/2 cup of hot heavy cream.
- colorful sprinkles.
- Refrigerate the dough before using so it is will much easier to use.
- Turn the oven to 350.
- Warm up the heavy cream in the microwave for 2 minutes and when it is hot, pour it over the chocolate chips. Stir vigorously so as to melt the chocolate chips and create a fluid chocolate ganache. Make sure it is free of lumps. If you still see lumps, microwave the mixture for another 30 seconds.
- When it is completely free of lumps, pour this ganache inside a pastry bag with a dented tip and place it in the fridge to cool.
- Place a roulpat on your counter. Detach a cookie from the cookie log and with the palm of your hand, press down on it to make it flat.
- Place this flattened cookie inside the opening of a mini cupcake mold that you would have placed on top of a perforated sheet.
- Repeat this process with all the sugar cookies.
- Place a reese cup or a dove chocolate inside the cups.
- Place the mini muffin tray into the oven and cook the cookie cups of 11-13 minutes ( 9 to keep them soft, 11 to have firmer cups).
- When the cups are cooked, remove the tray from the oven and cool completely.
- Take the ganache from the fridge and pipe the chocolate over the chocolate cups to make a beautiful topping. Decorate with sprinkles.
Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!
Cecile's Cuisine 