Strawberry Dream Cups

This recipe here epitomizes summer time decadence. Its a vanilla infused blondie on the bottom with creamy strawberry mousse on top. You do have to turn on your oven to bake the blondie but it bakes so quick you'd hardly have time to feel the heat. The mousse whips up really quick in less than ten minutes!
I used strawberry preserves for the mousse but you can experiment with all different flavors of preserves. The blondie recipe is from Smitten Kitchen and the mousse is my own. This dessert is perfect for a summer evening. Try it out today and let me know how you liked it!

Strawberry Dream Cups

makes 6

Blondie

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup flour

- Heat oven to 350 degrees and spray ramekins with cooking spray.

- Mix melted butter and sugar with a whisk until combined.

- Whisk in egg, vanilla, and salt.

- Whisk in flour until no streaks of flour remain.

- Dive batter equally amongst ramekins.

- Bake @350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

- Remove from oven and cool completely.

Strawberry Mousse

8oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

4oz whipped topping, slightly softened

3 tsp strawberry preserves

pink food coloring, optional

- Mix cream cheese and sugar until combined.

- Add in whipped topping, mix until combined.

- Now add in preserves, mix until well blended.

- Finally add in food color if using.

- Spread mousse on top of blondies in ramekins equally.

- Top with fresh strawberries if desired.

- Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

- Dig in and enjoy.

** If using fresh strawberries, after you cut them place them on paper towels to absorb excess juices. After a few minutes you can proceed to place them on your dessert.

White Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Bean Blondies

Such a long name right?? Well I wanted to incorporate all the leading ingredients into the title. These blondie's were an experiment on one of my favorites brownie recipes. I wanted to achieve the same dense chewy texture the brownies had in a blondie. To be honest this was my third experiment. The first one where I used butterscotch was a total disaster and so was the second one where I used white chocolate chips, they were too sugary...something like bite sized diabetes. I realized this recipe needed tweaking badly. The texture was achieved somewhat but there was an over abundance of sugar and the graininess that came along with it.  Anytime I make these brownies using semi sweet chocolate they are perfect and when I used the butterscotch or white chocolate they were over the top sweet. This third time I started making some changes on paper and rolled up my sleeves for the last time testing this recipe hoping that third time would be the charm...and it was! The white chocolate chips and butterscotch contain more sugar so I had to reduce and even change some of the sugar and that helped tremendously. For these white chocolate brownies I wanted play with the flavor and added in some Tahitian vanilla beans that i had on hand. The result of this last try was a dense, chewy, blondies with rich vanilla and white chocolate flavor. I also want to say that I didn't use any high end white chocolate just some regular nestle white chips that my sister bought for me. As for the vanilla beans....it created such a floral-y vanilla scent and taste for these blondies...one bite and I felt like i was strolling through Paris in the spring. I will definitely say these are a must try...hope you enjoy.

White Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Bean Blondies

Makes 24 bars

12 oz white chocolate, chopped or in chips

2 sticks of unsalted butter

3/4 cup ganulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean scraped

4 large eggs

1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

- Line 17in brownie/bar pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray,

- On the stove or in a microwave melt butter, chocolate, and sugar. Whisk until smooth. 

- Whisk in vanilla extract, vanilla bean pulp, and salt.

- Begin to whisk in eggs one at a time until combined.

- Stir in flour until smooth.

-  Pour mixture into prepared pan.

- Bake for 25 minutes or until crust is entirely set.

-  On a sheet pan that is larger than the brownie pan spread ice in it.

- When brownies are set, remove from oven and place brownie pan onto ice.

- After 15 minutes allow brownies to cool for an additional 10-15 minutes in the refridgerator or freezer.

- Remove from the fridge or freezer, remove from baking pan, and cut into bars.