Breakfast on a Lazy Saturday

D worked last night, so I got up at 7 and picked him up from the fuels branch. I then came home and promptly went back to sleep. At some point, he came in and went to bed. He'll be out till 4 or 5 this afternoon. I got up around 10, took Diesel for a walk, and then came home and stared in my fridge for a while, trying to decide what to eat. I grabbed the dough with the spanish wrapper that I could only hope was puff pastry, a half empty tub of ricotta cheese, and some cherries. I unrolled the dough, cut it into squares, and let it start to come to room temp. I mixed the ricotta with some powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest and a dash of salt. I then sliced and pitted the cherries. Spooning the ricotta into the squares of pastry, and adding a couple of cherry halves, I pinched them up into little packets, and threw them in the oven at 400 for what eventually turned into something between 20 and 30 minutes. They were so much tastier than I could've hoped! I enjoyed them with a cup of coffee and some milk.

Mocha-Filled Cream Puffs

I made two desserts for the challenge, but this one I decided should not be considered...

I ate this with two friends. We decided, and tested to prove later, that the recipe turns out better with a few squirts of Chocolate sauce and about 1 cup of whipped cream mixed into the cream filling. You could probably do away with the coffee as well. of course, then, it would just be cream puffs, not mocha cream puffs. But here is the original recipe.

Chocolate-Filled Cream Puffs
Ingredients:
CHOCOLATE CREAM FILLING(recipe follows)
1 cup water
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
Directions:

2. Heat oven to 400°F. Heat water, butter and salt to rolling boil in medium saucepan. Add flour all at once; stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture leaves side of pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth and velvety. Drop batter by spoonfuls into 12 balls (about 1/4 cup) onto ungreased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. While puff is warm, horizontally slice off small portion of top; reserve tops. Remove any soft pieces of dough from inside puff; cool completely on wire rack. Fill puffs with CHOCOLATE CREAM FILLING. Replace tops.

CHOCOLATE MOCHA CREAM FILLING

1-1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 Tbs Powdered Instant Coffee

1. Stir together sugar, cocoa, coffee, cornstarch and salt in medium saucepan; gradually stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils; boil and stir 1 minute.

2. Remove from heat; gradually stir about 1 cup hot mixture into beaten egg yolks. Return all egg mixture to saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, just until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Pour into bowl; press plastic wrap directly onto surface. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or until cold. Do not stir. About 3 cups filling.