Recipe Testing and Development Looking for a new marketing twist to showcase your food products? We will develop recipes to package with your new or existing product line. Need someone to develop your idea into a recipe for publication? We have the experience to take a new idea, develop, test and write the recipe to match the design style of your publication. Chef Mary Ellen’s “Le Cordon Bleu” culinary school degree and strong creative instincts give her test kitchen the edge when developing new ideas for food products, cookbooks and industry publications. Mary Ellen spent four years with the Los Angeles Times Food Section Test Kitchen preparing, testing and editing recipes submitted from famous and not so famous restaurant chefs, writers and cookbook authors around Los Angeles and the world. Developing and testing her own recipes for the Los Angeles Times resulted in two recipes winning “Top Ten Recipe of the Year” awards in the Times food section. Mary Ellen is available for recipe testing and development on a contract or freelance basis. Home Page Personal Chef Services Contact Page Cooking Classes Affiliations Site Map

Chocolate Mascarpone Strawberries This recipe was developed by Mary Ellen and was published in the Los Angeles Times food section. Servings: makes 24 strawberries 12 large strawberries with stems attached ¼ cup mascarpone cheese, softened 2 ounces cream cheese, softened ¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted, plus more garnish ¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted 3 tablespoons milk 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (optional) Rinse the strawberries and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut each in half starting at the top stem end. Combine the mascarpone and cream cheeses, the one-fourth cup sugar, cocoa, milk and Grand Marnier in a bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer to thoroughly blend. Fill a pastry bag with a star tip or snip off the end of a re-sealable plastic bag and pipe a star or dollop of the mixture in the center of the cut side of each strawberry. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.