That is the literal translation for dulce de leche, milk candy.  Sounds good either way you say it and these sweet little mini cheesecakes are the perfect vehicle for the sweet stuff!

I’ve used the cute little mini cheesecakes molds and told you where you can purchase them before, back in December when I made THIS RECIPE. Also I’ve told you how to make your own dulce de leche from sweetened condensed milk back in April when I made THIS. But you can also purchase ready made cans of dulce de leche in the Hispanic section of most grocery stores.

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You’ve heard of the “Six Degrees of Separation” before, right?  The idea that everyone is six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, “a friend of a friend” can, on average, connect any two people in six steps or fewer. It was originally set forth by Frigyes Karinthy and then popularized by a play written by John Guare.

That really has nothing to do with today’s recipe, I just love the idea of that, how connected we all are… OK, on to macarons, French macarons to be exact. These are a completely different breed than the coconut macaroons you might be more familiar with.  Those are easy to make, these are not!  And the only reason we even attempted them in the teen class graduation last week was because one of my long-time students, Steven, requested to make them. Steven has been coming to Les Petites Gourmettes since he was 8 years old… he is now 16 and drives himself to class.  How time flies!!!

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Two weeks ago when I posted a picture of all the tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and garlic that we’d be using in classes, a loyal follower asked to see a picture of what my refrigerator looks like at the start of classes.  I said, “Oh no you don’t!” I assured her that it was so full, one had to worry about things falling out when opening the door, and that my extra freezer in the laundry room was so full that I had to use duct tape to insure that it would keep closed – embarrassing but true! But she insisted that she would enjoy seeing the fridge, so I told her I’d post a picture before the next set of classes… the day has come…ouch!

Above is the new set of tomatoes, potatoes, citrus, and friends and below……. is the fridge – don’t judge, it’s my job.  And you will never see a picture of the duct taped freezer, and that’s final!

Now on to prettier and tastier things….

Ganache (pronounced /gah NAHSH/) is a rich mixture of chocolate and cream which can be used as a frosting or filling. Depending on the intended use, different ratios of chocolate to cream are used, to create anything from a light glaze to a dense and rich chocolate truffle. Although ganache is exceedingly luxurious, yet it is what I like to call “easy-breezy” to make!  Ganache was developed in the mid-1800s, and both France and Switzerland claim the credit for the invention.

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One of my favorite comfort food desserts is pineapple upside-down cake, well it’s actually a toss up between that and my famous carrot cake. For their graduation luncheon, the teens in last week’s class requested  “cake, cupcakes, pineapple upside-down cake, macarons, and ‘something’ chocolate”.  After compiling all of their suggestions, I settled on pineapple upside-down cupcakes and macarons filled with chocolate ganache.  The easy cupcakes are here today and the much more complicated and patience needed macarons will be posted on Tuesday.

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What makes something suddenly become a fad, the new “in” thing, all the rage?  Especially when it’s something that’s been around forever?  And when I say “forever” – I’m talking more than 200 years.  And what I’m talking about are cupcakes!

According the source of all modern knowledge… Wikipedia… “The first mention of the cupcake can be traced as far back as 1796, when a recipe notation of “a cake to be baked in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simms. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.”

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Apple Pie is the picture of Americana. Tarte Tatin is a classic French dessert, basically an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. And Apple Strudel, a perfect blend of spices and apples enclosed in a delicious flaky pastry is considered to be the national dish of Austria… along with Wiener Schnitzel. The German name is Apfelstrudel. Whatever you call it, apple desserts are true national treasures.

Oh, and by the way, this is my 600th post… how time does fly!

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Yesterday in class we made the Samoa cookies, today we are using those cookies to make some seriously out of the world cupcakes. I would say, “Hey, don’t let the 7 1/2 sticks of butter (nearly 2 pounds!) between the recipe for the cookies and this recipe for the cupcakes, scare you off”… but I would be lying, it totally scares me!  According to my math (and my math is iffy at best-since I married a CPA and I rarely use that part of my brain) that is about 2 tablespoons of butter per cupcake! So let’s just agree that one cupcake would serve as your dessert for several days and not buy into the guilt.

Speaking of guilt, I’m going to add a little “Linda’s Psych 101″ into today’s post.  This is what I feel about “guilt”… it is a wasted emotion. I’ve heard it said that “The Jewish people invented guilt, and that the Roman Catholics perfected it.” I would have to agree, and here is one Roman Catholic who wants to abolish it!

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Yesterday, May 30th -Memorial Day 2011, was the first day of our 2011 Summer Classes. It marks the beginning of Les Petites Gourmettes’ 17th year. Seventeen years, that’s a long time! But it’s only about half as long as Girl Scout Samoa cookies have been around.

Today in class, the kids made homemade Samoa cookies, well kind of.  More like the top layer of Samoa cookies, the caramel-coconut-chocolate part, minus the crispy bottom cookie part. I’m including the full recipe (bottom and top portions) here.  The only reason we skipped a part was because of time restraints. We are going to use the cookies for our Samoa cupcakes that we are making today.  That recipe will be posted tomorrow.  If you want to make the cupcakes and if you don’t still have a box of Girl Scout Samoa cookies in the cupboard, and don’t want to make your own, you can purchase Keebler Coconut Dreams Cookies instead.

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I’ll be on Channel 12 Valley Dish today at 3:30 making a memorable Memorial Day Turkey Slider Bar with fabulous toppings. Tune in if you can, if not, the recipe will be posted here tomorrow…

Instead of a traditional birthday cake, I made Connor cupcakes this year. Since we were going out to dinner instead of eating at home, it seemed easier to pack up a few cupcake to have at the restaurant rather than an entire cake. Connor’s favorite ice cream is Cookies ‘n Cream, so that was the inspiration for the cupcakes. It is unanimous – these are winners!  It takes about 1 1/3 package of Oreo cookies to make 2 dozen cupcakes.  If your family is like mine, no one will complain about the 2/3 package of extra Oreos hanging around.

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First and foremost, I must thank my amazing guest blogger of the past two days; my gorgeous, generous, gracious, and very talented daughter, Marissa. It was a joy to have two full days off without any stress or guilt. Yes, it is strange but true, I feel guilty when I don’t post. Not because any of you, my kind and loyal followers make me feel so, just my own self-imposed desire to be a true “daily” blogger.  Take for instance, last Friday and Saturday. I was overwhelmed and overworked preparing for a cooking class birthday party I was holding on Saturday night. I had not only the usual recipes to type and copy and the food to shop for and prep – but also a house to clean, furniture to move, linens to press, centerpieces to make, china, crystal, and cutlery to polish, a table to set, and weather to fret over.  Posting was out of the question and I felt bad about that. But the class went off without a hitch, (in part, thanks to my perfect assistant, Marissa) the dinner was lovely, the weather cooperated, and the guests left educated, full, and happy.

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