Homemade Samoas

It is that time of the year again when everyone on Facebook is talking about all the delicious Girl Scouts cookies they are selling, buying, and eating, and here I am, stuck in the UK, with none.  I got lucky last spring, when one of my friends sent me an amazing Easter box full of delicious treats including two boxes of cookies (which my lovely dog ate one of ..) but this year neither us were that lucky, and I was sad.

That is.. til I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade Samoas.  Usually I might scoff at the idea of spending hours in the kitchen slaving away over something I could buy (that would be easier, and probably cheaper!).  But as we can't buy them here, I figured I might as well try out the recipe.

I made half of the batch into the original "donut" shape, then made half into little rectangles to save on energy.  Making the original shape definitely requires a labor of love and lots of tedious time in the kitchen.  But it turns out if you are willing to accept rectangular Samaos, the recipe is surprisingly easy, and amazingly delicious!  They taste just like Samoas, and maybe even better.  My only complaint might be that the recipe is TOO easy, and thus I've made two batches this week, and need to start running again.

S'more Mini Cupcakes

It turns out that s'mores are an American treat that has not made it across the pond.  In fact - over here we can't buy graham crackers or Hershey's chocolate bars, and even big marshmallows are hard to find.  So when I got my Smitten Kitchen Cookbook this fall, I was pretty excited to find a recipe for a s'more cake inside!  I made it last fall with some imported graham crackers, and it was pretty delicious, but I thought it might be even better in bite size form.  And while the frosting was delicious and super fun to toast with a blow torch, it didn't really taste like marshmallow to me.  Below I've adapted the recipe to be made into mini cupcakes, with British ingredients - ie I've replaced graham crackers with digestive biscuits.

I'll admit this cupcakes don't quite taste like s'mores, but they are delicious and cute!  And with the little bit of extra frosting, I recommend making a British homemade s'more in the process - layer up a digestive biscuit with some chocolate, pipe on some of the leftover marshmallow frosting, and torch it up.

Note - the frosting recipe below does require a candy thermometer.  If you want an easier approach - just buy a jar of fluff - I've heard you can find it at Tescos here.

Peanut Butter Nutella Blossoms

One of the classic American cookies I used to make back in the states was the Hershey's peanut butter blossom. A delicious soft peanut butter cookie with a Hershey kiss on top.  While I didn't make them too often, distance makes the heart grow fonder.  As soon as I no longer had access to Hershey kisses, I suddenly wanted them.  That, and peanut butter is way less common over here, so anything with peanut butter in it is a good thing.  Then one night, I suddenly woke up, poked the husband awake, and whispered - "Nutella peanut butter blossoms" and fell back asleep.  (Yes, I dream of things like peanut butter and chocolate).  And so a delicious recipe was born.


While I was originally thinking these would be a delicious substitute for the classic in their absence, I have to admit these may actually now be a replacement.  I think they are worth making even if you are in the states and have access to Hershey kisses.  They are easy to make, and even more delicious than they look.  I may have made them twice last week... oops.

Intro

Welcome to my new blog! Here I will chronicle my trials and tribulations as I navigate attempting to bake american classics in a foreign country.  I will blog about recipes that require ingredient substitutes and variations on american recipes, to make them work abroad.
I'm a vet student most of the time, but long hours of studying and stress require cookies and cupcakes in large numbers.  So while I may not post frequently, I will try and always post deliciously.

(One of my favorite cakes to bake growing up - the Godiva chocolate raspberry cake).