Welcome to my new blog, Gems from Joani. My posts will include lots of tips and shortcuts – “gems” – for cooking, entertaining, home organization, and creating a comfy home for your family and friends. As I mention in the “about me” page, my love for cooking and entertaining came from my mom who passed away over 13 years ago – hard to believe it’s been that long because I still think of her everyday. I almost always think of her when I’m in the kitchen. She was a great cook, and more importantly, she was a welcoming hostess. She loved hosting friends and family in her home and planning the menu, prepping the food, and serving everyone more food than they could possibly eat. I’ll have plenty of stories about my mom throughout this blog because she is behind many of the things I prepare in the kitchen and she is my inspiration for hosting and entertaining.
I really have to give credit to my good friend from college, Kelli, for giving me the idea to start this blog. She was at my house helping me get ready to host a bridal brunch for one of our close family friends. All the time, while I was cooking and prepping, Kelli kept telling me that I should have a blog because I have so many cooking tips and entertaining ideas. She started video taping that same weekend “for the blog”. That was over 8 months ago, but all along I kept jokingly saying, “you’ll see it on my blog”, when I gave someone advice or a tip of some kind. So, it was always at the forefront of my mind, but I thought I didn’t have time to really get started. Well, along came Coronavirus, and my lay off from my job, and suddenly time was the one thing I had a lot of!! So, thanks to Kelli for planting the seed months ago, and even helping me come up with the name, Gems from Joani is finally here.
So, in Kelli’s honor, let me share one of the videos she took during the bridal brunch preparation for my first post. Since we are all stuck at home right now more than usual due to the Coronavirus, this will be a tip for an easy dessert you can serve your family as a treat at this crazy time. If you have kids at home, they can even help you with this one. So, enjoy this first treat I have for you, and please visit my blog often for more “gems”.
This video shows me making Strawberry Brownie Bites. These are so simple, all you need is:
- Store bought brownie bites or homemade brownies if you like to bake
- Strawberries, sliced
- White frosting, make it if you want but the kind in the can is “stickier” and works better
- White chocolate chips or white almond bark (almond bark, also called CandiQuick, can be found in the baking aisle of your grocery store, usually in the same area as chocolate chips)
Place a small dab of white frosting on each brownie. Place one or two slices of strawberries on top of the frosting. Take a handful of white chocolate chips or two squares of white almond bark and put inside a sandwich size ziploc bag. Close the bag all the way except for about an inch at the end of the “zipper” for air to escape. Put the baggie in the microwave and cook on high for 1 minute. Open and check if it is melted enough. Just touch the top of the bag over the chocolate with your hand and press down – if it is melted enough it will “cream together’ easily. If not, cook another 30 seconds and it should be fine. Take the bag out of the microwave and squeeze all of the white chocolate into one corner. Cut a small hole in that corner and drizzle chocolate over each Strawberry Brownie Bite as shown in the video. That’s it, you’re done and they are delicious.
You can do the same thing with raspberries if you prefer, but don’t slice those (they are too delicate and will fall apart), just cut them in half. Another tip, since raspberries are so delicate, do not wash them in a metal colander because they will bruise easily. Use a plastic colander if you have one, or rinse them in the container they came in, gently dump them onto a small stack of paper towels (don’t use a kitchen towel because the raspberries will stain) to drain/dry. You can pat them gently on the top to dry them as well. Don’t wash raspberries until you are ready to use them because the moisture will make them get too mushy when stored in the fridge and you’ll end up throwing them away!
Raspberry Brownie Bites
These are made with small squares of homemade brownies instead of brownie bites. Either one works fine – use whatever you like or whatever you have.