Carpe Diem Eating - Desserts Stuffed in Other Desserts

Carpe diem is a Latin saying that is usually translated to mean "seize the day", and interpreted to mean make the most out of the time you have by doing something extraordinary - YOLO, as the kids used to say. Carpe Diem Eating is about food combinations that shouldn't work but do; food creations that work so well, you're amazed they haven't been done before; and food creations so extravagant and extreme that you owe it to yourself to try it. This leads me to a poker game I regularly attend. Two of the best home cooks I know were there, and as the chip stacks rose and fell at a recent game, the conversation turned to one of their attempts at making the dessert sensation known as the pake, or piecakein - a pie baked into a cake. Jay, the game's host, had tried to make a coconut cream pie inside a Swiss chocolate cake, with a plan to do the same but with a Devil's food cake the following weekend. He said the coconut pie would have been better if he had pre-baked the pie crust to better support everything as it had sunk during the baking process. Tim, the other cook, suggested using a pie with a top crust for better results. Soon all sorts of tasty combinations were being through about: a caramelized banana pie inside a peanut butter cake; apple pie inside a spice cake; strawberry rhubarb pie inside a lemon cake; coconut cream pie in a pineapple upside-down cake. I was fascinated listening to this, mostly because I do very little baking at my house, and also because I was looking at a 7-4 off-suit at the time, with the blinds at 800 and 1600, a dwindling stack in front of me, and hitting nothing on the flop. Both insisted making the pie/cake combo was as easy as finding a recipe for your favourite pie, and baking a cake around it using your favourite box of cake mix, and the method did remind me of a dessert I have tried in the past from the Vulgar Chef's "Eat Like Shit Cookbook".  I like it because my baking skills are not to the point I can bake a pie on a whim, and the pre-baked goods I use as the substitute are just as good. Here is the recipe, edited for those who don't need the shock value of profanity in order to cook.

Oreo and Peanut Butter Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 box red velvet cake mix
• 1 package OREO^® cookies
• 1 jar peanut butter

1. Mix the red velvet cake mix according to the instructions on the box (I like to use milk instead of water, and substitute melted butter for the cooking oil). 
2. Drop a small amount of the cake mix into the slots on your muffin pan.
3. Cover an OREO^® with some peanut butter. Stack another cookie on top of it and cover that with some peanut butter as well. Drop the cookies into one of the slots on your muffin pan. Cover with more red velvet cake mix (completely) and bake according to the instructions on the box. To make sure they are fully cooked, stick a toothpick in the cupcake- if it comes out clean, you're good to go.

The Vulgar Chef vs. Thug Kitchen

Two popular cookbooks, "The Eat Like Shit Cookbook" from the Vulgar Chef (aka Kyle Marcoux), and the Thug Kitchen's "Eat Like You Give a F*ck" both share the same gimmick - edgy profanity.  Without the attitude and the curse words sprinkled throughout each publication, there is nothing that separates these publications from all the other cookbooks already out on the market. The Vulgar Chef uses the same Mornay cheese sauce that my favourite cookbook uses for macaroni and cheese; the basic vinaigrette recipe from the Thug Kitchen is no better than the one in everyone's favourite cookbook. Does that make the recipes in these books any less appealing? Not at all. "Eat Like You Give a F*ck" has a lot of great vegetarian foods inside and depending on how long you can tolerate the hardcore shtick, it would make a great source for those times a meatless dish is required. Meat lovers and food porn fans can't get enough of Marcoux's creations, as his food mashups are inspired. He was even featured on "FrankenFood". With that in mind, here are two recipes from each of these cookbooks that caught my eye, cleaned up for the easily offended.

Thug Kitchen's Carrot Cake Cookies

Ingredients

192 g flour (whole wheat pastry or white)
64 g packed light brown sugar
58.5 g chopped walnuts
58.5 g raisins or chopped candied ginger (optional)
5 g baking powder
2.5 g salt
2.5 g ground cinnamon
2.5 g ground ginger
2 medium-sized carrots, shredded
118 mL milk (regular, almond, nondairy, whatever)
59 mL olive or grapeseed oil

1. Preheat oven to 190 ℃. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger until you no longer see lumps. In a separate bowl, mix the shredded carrots, milk, and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until there are only a few dry spots. Fold in the nuts and raisins (or chopped candied ginger) and stir until there aren't any dry spots.
3. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheet for about 18 to 22 minutes, until the bottoms are golden brown.

The Vulgar Chef's Drunk as Fuck Mussels with Smokey Ass Garlic Onion Butter

Ingredients

900 - 1360 g mussels, cleaned and debearded
64 g chopped red onion
60 g fresh chopped garlic
32 g corn kernels (can or off the cob)
32 g thinly sliced fresh or pickled jalapeño
32 g chopped fresh basil
237 mL bourbon or white wine
1 chopped medium-sized tomato
butter (half a stick)
olive oil
cooked and chopped bacon
crumbled blue cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. Run the mussels under cold water, and rinse or scrub any debris on the shell. Yank the beard (the thin, sticky membranes hanging out of the shell) out. If you spot any gaping mussels, check for signs of life by picking them and squeezing them a few times or knocking them with another mussel. The mussel should slowly close itself back up. If it doesn't, toss it in the trash. Soak the remaining mussels in a bowl of cold water for 30 minutes.
2. Heat 14g of butter and 14 g of olive oil in a large pot at medium heat. Add the garlic, jalapeño, basil, onion and let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Toss in the mussels and give everything a good stirring. Throw in the bourbon, tomato, and corn and cook until the mussels open up.
3. Melt the remaining butter. Once the mussels open up, throw in butter and give everything one final mix. Serve in a bowl, and top with the blue cheese and the bacon.