1x a week

I Made Them!!

2009-11-15T10:17:00.001-08:00

Wow….it’s been so long since I baked but I knew I could commit once a month and although last month I was too sleep deprived to even take a shower or eat a proper meal, this month we’ve developed some semblance of a schedule.

So, this month forced our house to venture into the realm of sweet potatoes – an item both my husband and I have never been fond of, but what better way to give them another chance than in a cupcake.

The overall making of the cupcakes was easy – and I let my 4 year old son measure all the dry ingredients. My 4 year old daughter added the liquids, laid out the cups and helped pour the batter into the cups. I have to say, they turned out well.

My son was very excited and kept looking in the oven…

My 13 year old daughter made the candied pecans and toasted the marshmallows in the oven under the broiler.

So, the difficulty was in the assembly! WOW what a royal, sticky pain in the tush!!! To be fair we didn’t have an offset spatula but still – transferring the marshmallows was a mess, funny, but still quite the mess.

Taste: Not bad – they reminded me more of a spice muffin rather than a cupcake. Oh, and the sweet potatoes…we loved them! We made these as we were cooking dinner and I had extra sweet potatoes so we threw them into our mashed red potatoes and the kids INHALED them! Go figure, we all like sweet potatoes =)

Cupcake Time…Almost

2009-10-15T08:43:00.001-07:00

Okay, so the 15th snuck up on me…and I’m supposed to have a cupcake recipe completed by today. Well, this little person has all my days (and nights) blending together!!

So, these cupcakes for this months MS challenge sound good and I really want to give them a shot – so hopefully he’ll give me a chance to get to my kitchen today…if not I’ll have to wait until my dear husband gets home and maybe this evening I’ll be able to make them up!

Finally back…

2009-08-20T16:13:00.001-07:00

Now that my pregnancy is at the very end…my cravings for sweet has gone through the roof…and the smell of baked goods no longer makes me nauseous! Which, means the scale hasn’t been as friendly to me these last couple weeks.

I can’t wait to start baking and posting, but trying to keep everyone’s waistlines in mind, I may not be baking weekly…and if I do, I have to remember to cut the recipes in half so that we can all enjoy our sweet treats but not keep excess around after a day or two!

So, wish me luck and look forward to all sorts of challenges

Back in Cyberworld

2009-04-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

A quick update from me – I’m cautiously optimistic that I’m back in cyberworld again!!! I’ve had three hard drives put into my computer since it arrived on my doorstep brand spanking new 11 months ago.

I’ve had 2 hard drives die within 6 weeks. This last time I sent the whole computer back to Dell – and was without a computer for 3 weeks just to get a new hard drive. Let’s just say, after my experience with Dell and their technical support and their laissez faire attitude about defective hard drives (“oh, we’ve had a lot of issues…) this will be the very last Dell computer we purchase, and we’ve been loyal (we’ve bought 5 computers from them). If I have to re-install all of my programs one more time I think I’m going to scream – especially ones with a finite number of installs before you have to call the company for a new install code.

Beyond that – I'm finally through my first trimester and much of the queasiness has passed. BUT, for some crazy reason, I seem to be pregnant with a health nut. I only get nauseous around greasy food and sweets. I told my husband that I’m just not sure this is our offspring ;)

So, I’m going to TRY and get back into the kitchen soon and hope to start posting again NOW that I’m back online.

No Baking yet...

2009-03-03T14:40:00.001-08:00

Well, things aren't going much better - I still have an unhealthy friendship with our toilets and every garbage can in the house - oh and my bed (which I'm not complaining about too much...lol). There are some great recipes coming up in TWD - my husband is practicing an amazing amount of patience and understanding with our lack of baked items and I really hope to be back to normal soon.

No Cake Slice or TWD for 2/24

2009-02-21T12:39:00.001-08:00

All the ingredients are sitting in my kitchen, but with hubby's birthday and an last week's TWD cake combined with my morning sickness - there's no way on this planet I am baking anything right now. I can't even cook dinner because just being around food makes me queasy. Hopefully by next time I'll be back to normal.

Back to the Real World!!

2009-02-17T09:54:00.001-08:00

Wow, you just don't realize you have an addiction until you are yanked, torn, dragged away from it with no allowed use for several days. My goodness! I feel like I've been living in the dark ages, and that notion, in all reality, is quite silly, BUT it doesn't make it any less true. My hard drive died (again - this time by human fault not computer malfunction) and I was without a computer for 4 days! Holy batman that's a long time!!

So, my TWD almost didn't happen....again. See, when you discover, much to your jaw dropping surprise that, oh, just say for the heck of it, you're pregnant....AGAIN, and morning sickness has kicked in full force, food, in general sounds horrific. So, baking, cooking, eating - anything to do with food at all just doesn't sound appealing.

But, I pressed on because I'd been DYING to try this cake for some time now.

I had a couple of issues -

I could not get the temperature of the boiling sugar about 220 degrees. Not sure what happened but I let it sit there quite some time - maybe my thermometer is broken, I'm not sure.

The cake turned out awesome but the frosting, not as fantastic. The frosting as soon as it was done tasted like - well, hubby said it tasted like cough medicine. BUT we persevered, put it on the cake and put it in the fridge for an hour, and afterwards, the frosting lost that weird aftertaste.

My frosting wasn't as fluffy. I assume I didn't mix it long enough.

My cake didn't crumble...it all just stuck together, so there's big chunks of crumbled cake pieces decorating my cake...lol.

Overall, not as good as I hoped but not as bad as I thought it would be when I first tasted the frosting. I would definitely make the cake again, but use a different frosting though. I really can't wait to see how other people fared!

Okay - so, this picture makes it look a bit worse than it actually was!! I had just cut a super tiny slice for one of my little ones and it smashed down part of my cake. With that being said, it's easy to see that my cake was a far stretch from the cover of our cooking bible. Yes, I still have a looong way to go, but it was still fun to make!

Also - my hubby is having a birthday this week and his two favorite cakes are Champagne cake and black forest cake so if any of you know of any good recipes, please let me know!!

Thanks =)

Come back on Wed.

2009-02-09T22:04:00.001-08:00

Ahhh - - - another round of dr. appts. and one of my babies has a bladder infection, plus more dr. appts. for me today and tomorrow. I will be making floating islands hopefully tomorrow =) I can't wait to read everyone's stories in the meantime.

TWD - World Peace Cookies

2009-02-03T09:06:00.001-08:00

YUMMM!! These cookies were so freaking good. I'm a salty sweet snack kind of girl, so this week promised to carve a special little spot in my heart. Please go to Jess at cookbookhabit for the recipe! Thanks for the great pick this week!

But, alas, wicked germs tried to thwart my date with these cookies. Let me highlight Thursday night through Sunday:

Thursday night:

Child #3 - lost a battle with the stomach flu - in the car (the 3rd time my poor husband has had to clean the car for this very reason in two months). Finally to bed at 2 am

Friday Morning:

Child #2 awake at 5:15 am - ear pain and wakes big sister (child #1). Child #1 comforts her and they sleep on Child #1's floor. Yes, child #1 is a HUGE HELP.

Take Child #2 to dr. for ear infection. Get home, notice goop in eye, suspect pink eye but refuse to drive 45 minutes back to dr.

Husband - stomach flu and I sleep (if you can call it that) on the couch.

Saturday:

I am now on day 3 of less than 4 hours of sleep. My throat starts to hurt. Child #3 still very sick, though no longer throwing up. Intuition waves a flag, I listen. Hubby takes him to doctor - immediately pointed to ER. After several long hours at ER child #3 comes home with pink eye and VERY bad strep throat.

Sunday:

Hubby and I go to dr. We both have strep. Sunday night Child #1 complains of sore throat --yep, strep.

Yes, waaay more than you wanted to know, I'm sure. But, now you see how important it was to me to make my cookies - the recipe sitting there teasing me all weekend. Finally, today, after two naps, I started to feel like a human being again, my kids were bouncing off the walls and feeling better, so I pulled up my sleeves, scrubbed my hands and dug in.

I only had bittersweet chips and they weren't mini's. I didn't care. I was also terrified that they'd turn out like my lime meltaways which were an abysmal disaster. I've been so traumatized by that cookie mess that I've not dared another refrigerator cookie recipe. Oh no, no way. After reading other reviews, I froze the dough and promptly forgot about it for two hours.

My cut frozen dough:

My cookies right out of the oven - hmm - weird shape:

I cut them and had no issues with crumbling and cooked them. They didn't melt into nothingness!!!!!! OMG, I was so happy.

The result:

One of my favorite kinds of cookie - the salt is just a tease and you can tell it's there but it doesn't take over the other flavors. I absolutely love these and are my favorite Dorie recipe so far!!!

Ack! No TWD Again!

2009-01-27T08:53:00.001-08:00

Okay, so when I saw this recipe I knew I had my work cut out for me. My family is NOT a big fan of ginger and my baking partner (hubby) doesn't even like the smell. Well, I knew I could overcome his objections but I wasn't counting on the wrinkle nose face from my other baking buddy, my 12 year old daughter.

So, I buckled - the pressure was insurmountable and I had to pass on this weeks cake.

But I promise - unless there is some crazy, unforseen catastrophe I will be back next week with another TWD!!

I'm off to see how everyone else did this week.

No TWD

2009-01-20T17:05:00.001-08:00

Between The Cake Slice and making a marble pound cake from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard, we're pretty caked out. So, we decided to choose and the banana cake won out in the family vote. I'll be back with a new TWD next week!

My swirl pound cake - when I recover from the grueling session with my personal trainer, I'll post my other cake this week.

The Cake Slice - Banana Cake with Praline Filling and White Chocolate Ganache

2009-01-20T16:58:00.001-08:00

So, this was my first Cake Slice attempt and it sounded so good, I couldn't let myself forget like I have in the past couple of months.

Even with the multiple step process, my baking partner (my hubby) and I put this together over the weekend. And we only made one mistake!!! WOW!

This mistake? Well, we are trying to eat better and I decided to cut the cake down to smaller 6 inch rounds and we made all the correct recipe reductions for the cake. But, something happened and when we went to make the ganache, and the praline filling, I followed the original recipe. Again, not a problem EXCEPT I didn't buy enough white chocolate for the FULL recipe, and it didn't dawn on me until the very end when I couldn't taste the white chocolate that I realized I'd only cut the white chocolate in half but kept the pecans, heavy cream and vanilla at the full amount.

Thankfully the overall construction and flavor were not hampered, we just didn't get the full ganache flavoring.

Overall, it was wonderful and a huge hit. The banana flavor was not overpowering which was nice, and it all blended together nicely.

Visit Gigi and Katie for the recipe or you can purchase the book: Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes (Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne). The The Cake Slice Bakers will show all the different takes on this cake!

Wow - in this picture, the cake looks like it is about to tip over, but it's not, I promise!!

TWD Savory Muffins

2009-01-12T22:34:00.001-08:00

Looking forward to a change of pace, this weeks recipe from EZRA POUND CAKE was corn and pepper muffins. Many comments suggested that this would be a perfect partner to Chili. Having never made either, I thought, why not?

The muffins were a cinch to put together, but because hubby and the toddlers aren't fans of spicy foods, I left out the jalapeno (boo hoo...I LOVE hot food!) and was sorely missed. There was just something missing (ahem - the jalapeno!!) and next I would DEFINITELY not leave it out.

Sorry - had to include this to prove that I can cook and keep a relatively clean counter =)

They did go well with the Chili though, so thanks all for the great tip!!

TWD French Pear Tart

2009-01-05T11:45:00.001-08:00

This is why I love being part of TWD - I bake things that I normally wouldn't try on my own. I've always classified pies and tarts to be similar and my pie making ability leaves a lot to be desired. So, I've never attempted a tart, not to mention I didn't own a tart pan until last week when I discovered our local restaurant supply store. Instead of buying one large tart pan, I bought 4 mini pans.

Anyway - back to my tarts.

This week's recipe was courtesy of Dorie Greenspan herself!! So, it made my foray even more exciting knowing that the author of our book picked the recipe for the week.

TASTE TEST: Incredible! Another household hit - not overly sweet and great flavors. These are definitely worth making again.

I made a few variations -

I used 4 mini pans
I ran out of almonds and had to use walnuts, the only other nut on hand. I really have to buy almonds at Costco - I run out ALL the time.
Because of the smaller pans, I didn't use all the almond cream or the dough.
My cooking time was decreased about 13 minutes - probably because of the smaller pans.
Oh, and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how the world we were supposed to lay out the pears, so I tried to make mine look like the spokes of a wheel - key word: 'tried' =)

Here is what my crusts looked like:

The crust was very simple and straightforward.

Here are my tarts before baking:

And my final product:

Cream Puffs

2009-01-01T11:10:00.001-08:00

Danny and I stayed home and had a quiet New Year's Eve. Not wanting to sit around doing nothing, we decided to bake. Yep, my hubby likes to bake with me which, when he has time, is a lot of fun.

We decided to make one of his favorites, cream puffs - mainly because we didn't have to go to the store.

Using my new cookbook from Christmas - Martha Stewart's cooking School, we got to work.

First we made the pastry cream:

Our vanilla bean:

The pastry cream before it gets covered and goes in the fridge:

While the cream sits in the fridge for 2 hours, we started on the dough:

So, after we make the dough, we are supposed to pipe the dough onto baking sheets. We've never used piping bags before and we made a very rookie mistake - an overfilled pastry bag. Oops:

This mistake made for a very difficult piping process, but hubby did pretty good!

Next, we use our fingers to put on an egg wash before we slide them into a 400 degree oven.

After sitting in the oven for about 12 minutes, decrease the temperature to 350 for another 20 minutes until golden.

After the puffs cool and the pastry cream sits for two hours it's time to whip heavy cream and fold it into the pastry cream. Fill another pastry bag and pipe the filling into the puffs.

We made a chocolate glaze and dipped the cream puffs...but our chocolate was a bit grainy for some reason. I don't think we let the the sugar mixture come to a full boil, but we dipped half into chocolate and just dusted the other half with powdered sugar.

All in all, it was a long time consuming process. Each individual step was pretty easy but stringing them all together our cream puffs took over two hours to cook. They're not my favorite desert in general but these turned out good. The pastry cream was excellent and can be used in so many different things. Danny loved them and said they were excellent.

Recipe from Martha Stewart's Cooking School

Cream Puffs -

1 cup water, plus more as needed
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
4-5 large eggs
For puffs
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
sunflower or other neutral tasting oil, for plastic wrap
1/3 heavy cream
1 recipe pastry cream

Heat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the center. Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats.

Combine the water, butter, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour. When flour is combined, return to heat. Dry the mixture by stirring constantly over heat until it pulls away from the sides and a film forms on the bottom of the pan, about 4 minutes. Transfer mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on low speed, about 2 minutes, until slightly cooled. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, on medium speed, letting each one incorporate completely before adding the next. Test the batter by touching it with a flexible spatula or your finger, then lifting; it should form a string. If a string does not form, lightly beat the last egg and add it, a teaspoon at a time, until the batter is smooth and shiny. If you have added all the egg and the batter still doesn't form a string, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it does.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain round 3/4-inch tip with the dough and pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds (3/4 inch high) onto baking sheets. Beat together egg and the water; use your finger to rub egg wash over entire surface, being careful not to let it drip onto the baking sheet (it will inhibit rising), and flatten tips.

Cover one sheet with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator. Bake the other sheet 15 minutes; reduce oven heat to 350 degrees. Bake another 20 minutes more, or until puffs are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to let cool coompletely. Return oven heat to 400 degrees and repeat process for remaining batch.

Whip heavy cream to medium peaks in a small bowl. Stir pastry cream to soften. Add whipped cream to pastry cream in two batches, folding to combine after each. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a coupler and plain round tip. Insert tip into the underside of each cream puff, and fill. Cool completely before dusting with confectioners' sugar or dipping tops in glaze, as desired.

Pastry Cream -

2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean,
3 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Bring milk, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla seeds, and salt to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking to disperse seeds.

Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in cornstarch, 1 tablespoon at a time. Ladle 1/2 cup hot-milk mixture into yolk mixture, whisking. Add remaining milk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time. Pour mixture into pan, and heat over medium-high, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil and is thick enough to hold its shap when lifted with a spoon, about 2 minutes. Stir in butter and vanilla.

Remove from heat and pour mixture into a bowl; place plastic wrap directly on surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days).

Turtle Brownies

2008-12-23T11:23:00.001-08:00

There are several things that can make me happy when I bake. They are:

Chocolate
Nutella
Anything with citrus
White Chocolate
Caramel

So, turtle brownies hit on two of my five favorite things! Yumm. Never made them, this will be a first.

Letting my mixer do the hard work:

my homemade double boiler - glass bowl on a pan of of hot water:

The batter before it goes into the oven:

My finished brownies before the turtle topping:

The brownies were easy - now I'm waiting for them to cool and then I'll begin the caramel. I've made caramel several times in the past, so hopefully it'll be pretty easy! One of our favorite things to make is caramel popcorn so that's where I first learned to make it.

I took pictures throughout the boiling process showing the browning of my sugar/water mixture:

about 5 minutes into boiling:

about 9 minutes into the boiling process:

at about 10 minutes:

at about 12 minutes, and at this point I took it off the heat. The color started reaching a nice amber color:

After I added the cream, vanilla, and sugar - LOTS of bubbles:

And I just tossed in the nuts - I ran out of pecans and had to add walnuts to get to the full cup of nuts:

Pouring it over the cooled brownies and beginning to spread:

The final product before I put it in the fridge:

And sweet final goodness:

So, what did I think: YUMMM!! These are rich, sweet and insanely addicting. My only issue is that my brownies sunk a bit in the middle and a lot of the caramel pooled to the center making a thicker caramel layer in the middle. Not bad, but I wish I could have gotten a more even distribution. I will definitely make them again BUT not often - just looking at them and I gained a few pounds. Dangerous!

From: Martha Stewart's Cookies Cookbook

For the batter:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
3 ounces good-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans (about 4 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 325. Line a buttered 8 inch square baking pan with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang. Butter lining (not overhang).

2. Make batter: Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl.

3. Put sugar and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, milk, and vanila, and mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until well combined.

4. Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center of brownies comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, 27 to 30 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

5. Make topping: Bring sugar and the water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. When mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring, and wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Continue to cook, swirling pan occasionally, until medium amber, 5 to 7 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and immediately add cream, vanilla, and salt. Gently stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until smooth. Add pecans; stir until caramel begins to cool and thickens slightly, about 1 minute.

7. Pour caramel over cool brownies; spread with an offset spatula. Refrigerate until cold, 30 minutes to 1 hour.

8. Let brownies stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes before serving. Lift out, and cut into 16 squares, wiping knife with a hot, damp cloth between each cut. Brownies can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Gingerbread Blondies

2008-12-19T10:35:00.001-08:00

Okay...so, I've heard of blondies, but never knew what they were. And to be honest, I'm still not 100% sure. All I know is that I made them and I'm in love. Complete head over heels in love. Once fall hits, I become a gingerbread junkie. If there is "Gingerbread" in the title, I'm there - first in line - pushing and shoving, there's just no shame in me at times.

So, never having made a blondie -curiosity peaked and a gingerbread blondie at that - it was only a matter of time. Oh, and did I mention they have white chocolate? Yes, I nearly swooned reading the title:

Gingerbread-White Chocolate Blondies

Okay - so I'm not ashamed to admit that I was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures. I kept putting it off and my poor husband had to grab the last blondie and take a picture for me. Yes, quite pathetic, I know.

Anyway - the flavor was out of this world divine. YUMMMM! But, getting to the final product was not a pretty picture. You know you're in trouble when you set off the smoke detector. Not good.

You see, although Martha Stewart's recipe told me to use a 12x17 baking sheet, I, having so much practice making these (never) and with my perfect track history of producing beautiful final products (umm - yeah right) I thought there was no way that she (yes, she being Martha) could be correct. So, I used a smaller ribbed cookie sheet because the dough was so thick and was not spreading across the bigger sheet.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. LOL -

and from another angle:

Now, I'm not sure if you can see what happened, but let me explain. The dough expanded.......a lot. And overflowed. All over the bottom of the stove. And the excess burnt - smoked a lot - a whole lot. And when I opened the oven, the smoke escaped and made friends with the smoke alarm causing a wonderful high pitch toe curling noise. A noise so loud my two 3 year olds voiced their extreme displeasure until we could pull the battery of our shrill friend.

BUT the flavor was worth it. Yet again, I lose points in visual appeal, but that's okay - more for me ;)

Martha Stewarts White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondie from Martha Stewarts Cookies cookbook:

2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 c plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 c unsulfured molasses
1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped best-quality white chocolate (10 ounces)
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 12 x 17 inch rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Spray the parchment and set aside.

2. Whisk together flour, soda, salt and spices in a bowl.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars on medium-high speed until creamy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla and molasses and mix on medium speed until combined. Add flour mixture on low speed until combined. Stir in white chocolate.

4. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake until golden on edges, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pan; cut into 2-inch squares. Blondies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.

TWD Buttery Jam Cookies

2008-12-16T09:50:00.001-08:00

Another hesitant recipe - almost skipped it, but then would have felt bad because at least last week, I had a really good reason - the stomach flu made the rounds.

So, pushing out of my chocolate comfort zone I braved the newest TWD recipe knowing full well my family is a firm believer the less ginger the better.

I followed the recipe exactly except I used strawberry jam instead of the suggested apricot.

The verdict: YUMM! BUT there's no way in this world I could get 70 cookies from this recipe - not like we need 70 cookies anyway!

BTW - I received a great package from my TWD swap partner! HOW FUN!!! It's so nice to get mail, fun mail - not bills. I can't wait to try the recipe she sent me.

Linzer Sables

2008-12-02T22:10:00.001-08:00

Here's the link for our chosen recipe: Living the Life

And here's the second recipe in a row I would not have tried had I not been part of TWD!

I'm very excited to try these! My dough is in the fridge, but I'm slightly concerned that even in the furthest stretches of my imagination I'm never going to be able to get 50 single cookies or 25 sandwich cookies from my rolled out dough. Nope. I have two of this size dough rolled out. Granted, I was able to roll out another dough with all the leftovers but I could only make 25 cookies or 12 sandwiches.

Obviously I didn't roll them out evenly as the tips on my stars are burnt, but not too bad. I tried to keep a holiday theme since we're in December. :)

So, because we are Nutella freaks, I, of course, filled our sandwiches with Nutella. For me, they were okay. I probably won't make them again. For one, they are very messy and when you bite them they break and make a mess. The flavor's fine, but for all the extra calories, they're not something worth some extra time at the gym for. My hubby liked them, probably due to the Nutella ;)

Twofer Pie - TWD

2008-12-01T14:45:00.001-08:00

Here is the link for (click the name) La Casserole Carrée who was lucky enough to pick this recipe!

Alrighty...

So, I missed two weeks of TWD...that doesn't mean I didn't bake, but I always forget to take pictures. So, this time I remembered and maybe this is the week I should have forgotten.

My pie, not so hot. As of now, it's not done...it's in the oven, but let me point out the error of my ways:

1. I forgot to cover my crust so it wouldn't burn

2. I left it at 450 degrees for longer than 10 minutes. You see, this happens because I'm so busy cleaning up my mess and I lose track of time. And yes, I do make a HUGE mess when I cook. I really do need to learn to clean as I go.

3. Not sure what happened, but my pie overflowed making a big mess (see #2 above).

So, my pie is in the oven at 300 degrees and we are now at 35 minutes and the color leaves a LOT to be desired. It's dark...much darker than it should be. So, I'll take some final pictures and post it soon. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Hmmm...yeah, not so pretty. Well, to be honest, that seems to be the general theme for me...lol.

BUT my crust looked pretty!

The filling also looked nice, oh except when it seeped over the edge...

And an actual slice...

So, moving beyond the lack of visual awe, how did it taste? This is a pie I NEVER would have made...I do NOT like pecan pie at all, and figured it would be just too sweet.

Not so! I loved it and the twofer pie had a great flavor of pumpkin and the pecans but neither seemed overpowering. The general consensus was solid approval. This just may make it on to my yearly Thanksgiving menu as it was very easy to make, and I'll keep learning from my mistakes (plenty to learn from!).

No TWD

2008-11-10T17:07:00.001-08:00

So, this week I passed on the recipe. I thought we'd get to it, no problem, but all of a sudden it was Monday. How does that happen??? I mean, for some reason, I lose track of time more on the weekend than during the week...go figure!

So, I'll be back with TWD and rice pudding. But, I've got to admit, I'm definitely not looking forward to this recipe, but I'm going to make it because the whole point of joining TWD is to expand my horizons and make things I wouldn't normally make if given the choice.

~Steph~

My TWD Rugelach

2008-11-03T23:23:00.001-08:00

Okay, besides biscotti, I was most excited to try this recipe! Why? Well because my husband is a self proclaimed chocaholic and nearly everything I bake will include some form of chocolate. Needless to say, Rugelach would have been very low on my baking list had it not been for TWD.

I had to read other people's comments and got some fabulous suggestions, so I made two batches, with two different flavors.

Batch #1 consisted of strawberry jam (all I had on hand), chocolate chips and pecans.

Batch #2 consisted of Nutella, dried cranberries and pecans.

Impressions: Batch #2 with the Nutella was excellent. I'd want to try it with dried cherries and almonds next time. My oldest daughter preferred batch #1. I really enjoyed them and would like to try them again with apricot jam, golden raisins and almonds.

They were easy to make and we'll definitely be making them again, they were super easy!!

THE DOUGH:

BATCH #2 - I cut first and then spread on the filling.

BEFORE THEY WENT INTO THE OVEN:

MY FINAL PRODUCT - NOT SO BAD...APPEARANCE IS BETTER HERE!!

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

2008-11-03T23:05:00.001-08:00

Okay, before I post my photo, I have to be up front. Visually appealing food and I, we're more like oil and water. We have yet to find a way to co-exist as happy partners. Someday, with lots of love and lots of practice, I believe we'll make it.

But, for now, my family understands that my food isn't always nice to look at and sometimes can be downright disgusting. As my eloquent pointed out immediately after spying my freshly decorated cupcakes, "Eww, that looks like dog poo." Yes, sweetheart, thank you for that visual as I take my fist bite.

And from a different angle:

Maybe it's just the photographer. Well, unfortunately that would be me, again, on my shoulders. But, alas, as soon as I get my new camera, I'll be cleaning up my photography skills as well.

So, besides the less than stellar appearance, how do my chocolate cherry cupcake taste? OMG, they are the best friggin cupcakes I've ever made, and my homemade chocolate fudge frosting, EVEN BETTER. I hate homemade frosting that tastes like powdered sugar, and this is the only one I've ever made that turned out divine!

A couple notes on my changes:

I had to use the cranberry juice cocktail
In the frosting, I didn't have chocolate cream liqueur so I made a small amount of ganache instead.
My husband HATES coffee, but I used it anyway, and it can't be tasted at ALL. But I'd love to know why there's the addition of coffee? Definitely curious!!

Both recipes come from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes:

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

1/2 C unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 C granulated sugar

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 C canned cherry pie filling

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 C cherry juice or cranberry juice cocktail

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. In a small bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar an doil. Mix in cherry pie filling, vanilla and almond extract. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and cherry juice making three additions of flour mixture and two of juice, beating until batter is smooth. Mix in vinegar.

3. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

1 1/2 confectioner's (icing) sugar

3/4 C unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 C unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsp chocolate cream liqueur

1 tbsp strong brewed coffee

pinch salt

1. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, butter, chocolate liqueur, coffee and salt until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary.

2. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.

Pumpkin Muffins

2008-10-22T20:40:00.001-07:00

Sometimes the planets align and something I bake turns out, not just in flavor, but in appearance as well. If you've read my past posts, you'll see that my food appearance leaves much to be desired. Much.

My pumpkin muffins were well received. The golden raisins were the key. I would add more next time, and another blogger (I'm sorry, I can't remember who at the moment) drizzled chocolate over the tops. I'm so there next time!

The only thing I noticed is that this made 12 muffins, but I had more dough leftover so I made mini muffins for the kids.

Whisking the dry ingredients

The raisins and pecans - definitely more golden raisins next time.

Add them in at the end

Bake - and ta da:

My 1st TWD - Almond Biscotti

2008-10-14T13:06:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been busy baking, but haven't posted much as of late. I'll try to get everything up in the next few weeks.

I love the idea of baking with the same thing as everyone else, especially since I have so many baking disasters. Maybe this way I can find out where I go so abysmally wrong sometimes and maybe I can actually fix my mistakes! Hallelujah!!

So, this week, my first week was with Almond Biscotti. I've been DYING to try Biscotti, ever since I saw Giada make it one day and realized it didn't look too hard. What a perfect opportunity.

So, I finally got to it on Monday, at the last moment and even though I had read over the recipe a handful of times, I apparently wasn't paying attention to what I read.

Ahh, in the very first step...add baking powder. Shoot. I just ran out making a cake and forgot to pick some up at the store. After a moment of internet research, I found that I could mix Cream of Tarter and Baking Soda at a 2:1 ratio to get the same thing. Awesome, I'm back in it.

Made my dough went to add my almonds...obviously I didn't look at the bag REAL close because what I thought were almonds were actually pecans. A bit late now. What the heck, I crushed them a bit and added them instead.

Other than those two adjustments I followed the recipe exactly. My first baking time could have been increased about 5 minutes because I had a hard time transferring one of my logs to a cutting board. I had no problems with the other log. My second cooking time followed along with what Dorie suggested.

So, how did they turn out? Hmmm...flavor a 10. They are a universal hit in our house and that says a lot, especially since there's not even a hint of chocolate in them!

Appearance - this is my major issue in the baking world. My baked goods do not appear as they should and no amount of squinting can make it better. My biscotti were too thick, I will cut them thinner next time for sure. Not only that, they were a bit flat. Not real 'biscotti' looking, more like a shortbread cooking look going on here.

Final Result - Will become a regular in my house. There are so many ways to fix them up and they go great with coffee, tea, hot chocolate...

Chewy Molasses Crinkles

2008-09-15T15:12:00.001-07:00

Here we go again...another weekend, another recipe. Such hope for perfection....

Dan was craving Molasses cookies and I had seen one in Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. So, of course, after my last cookie mishap, I decided to give it a shot:

Here is what we need:

Next, put butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 c granulated sugar in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Mix in eggs one at a time, followed by the molasses and oil.

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and salt:

Cover dough with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour or overnight:

Preheat oven to 325 F. Put remaining 1/4 c granulated sugar in a bowl. Using a 1 3/4 inch ice cream scoop, form balls of dough. Roll balls in sugar to coat, and space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are flat and centers are set, about 17 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

And now, here is my final product:

Sigh....yes, they went flat, just like my other cookies. The only thing mistake I can think of is that I over mix my batter and deflate my poor cookies. They taste fantastic, they do pass the taste test, but still, I'm failing miserably at presentation. So, Martha may send me an email some day forbidding me to ever use her cookbook again. I can't say I blame her...

Recipe (Martha Stewart's Cookies pg. 83):

1/2 C unsalted butter, room temperature
1C packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 C granulated sugar, plus 1/4C for rolling
1/2 C unsulfured molasses
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 C All purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. coarse salt

1. Put butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 c granulated sugar in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time, followed by the molasses and oil.

2. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and salt. Cover dough with plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 325 F. Put remaining 1/4 c granulated sugar in a bowl. Using a 1 3/4 inch ice cream scoop, form balls of dough. Roll balls in sugar to coat, and space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are flat and centers are set, about 17 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.

Banana Bread

2008-09-08T18:33:00.001-07:00

Redemption (from Dictionary.com):

an act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed.
deliverance; rescue.

You see, I feel a bit better...I made banana bread and it turned out...and it didn't look too bad either. I feel I have redeemed myself somewhat. We had almost a half-dozen nearly brown banana's and what better way to use them up than throwing together a loaf of aromatic banana bread? I adapted the recipe from allrecipes.com: Banana Bread Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I can't wait to get a new digital camera and a flash so I can start taking really good pictures of my food as well! But, my bread turned out very well, tasted good, and was a hit with the entire family. Finally, a bit of redemption...at least until next time!

Lime Meltaways Recipe

2008-09-03T19:18:00.001-07:00

I forgot to post the recipe for my Lime Meltaways and the following lime cheesecake, and I want to credit those who created the recipes (because I'm not brave enough to "wing" it on my own yet).

Lime Meltaways

Martha Stewart's Cookie's Cookbook, Pg. 121

3/4 C unsalted butter, room temp.
1 C confectioners' sugar
2 Tbl fresh lime juice
1 Tbl. pure vanilla extract
1 3/4C plus 2 Tbl. all purpose flower
1/4 Tsp. coarse salt

1. Put butter and 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar in the bowl. Mix on medium until pale and fluffy. Add lime zest and juice and vanilla, mix until fluffy.

2. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. Add to butter mixture, and mix on low speed until just combined.

3. Divide dough in half. Place each log on an 8x12 in. sheet of parchment. Roll in parchment to form a log 1 1/4 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log. Refrigerate logs until cold and firm, at least 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove parchment from logs; cut into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Space rounds 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake until barely golden, about 13 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool slightly, 8-10 minutes. While still warm, toss cookies with remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a re-sealable plastic bag. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Key Lime Cheesecake recipe from Allrecipes.com

This is the recipe I used to make my very tasty cheesecake.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
24 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 eggs
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
2/3 cup key lime juice

Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.
In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not overbeat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.
Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate cake overnight, and up to three days.

Both recipes are tremendous...I just have to fix my mistakes!

Cookie Challenge

2008-09-01T17:49:00.001-07:00

Okay, I will admit right off the bat that my baking skills are not exceptional, but I've always thought that I am about average. After this past attempt, I may have to reconsider my own confidence when it comes to the kitchen!

I just bought Martha Stewart's Cookie cookbook and so many of them look delicious. Before I decided to start a food blog, I made AWESOME snickerdoodles! They are some of the best cookies that I have ever made, if I don't say so myself. Of course, I have no pictures, no proof, and after you read about my Lime Meltaway cookie disaster, you will probably doubt the authenticity of my Snickerdoodles.

So, anyway...I LOVE lime, and lime in a cookie can't go wrong, can it?

I followed the recipe, made the dough, put the dough in the fridge to chill, just like it said. The only delineation I made in my cookies is that my two rolls were quite a bit smaller than an inch and a half in diameter. I'm still not sure if that was my mistake. I cut the cookies, baked them and this is how they turned out:

Please note what happened when I tried to pick up a cookie...it just crumbled!

This is a close-up (Yes, my photography skills need some serious improvement as well). My cookies fell very very flat!

So, since eating these delicious smelling cookies were out of the question, my hubby suggested using the cookies as a crust for a cheesecake. Perfect! So, right away, I found a key lime cheesecake recipe out of one of my cookbooks, and put it together.

And here is THAT product:

Now, besides the HUGE crack running through it, I thought, visually it turned out looking quite well. I was so excited to cut into it...

Hmmm....not so pretty anymore! Let me point out my mistakes:

Undercooked
I forgot to grease the pan before I put in the crust, so it stuck...bad.

As for flavor - my "crust" turned out very good! The cheesecake had a wonderful tart flavor.

I have a lot to work on....yes, my baking skills need some improvement. At some point, I will revisit my cookie recipe and try it again. I REALLY want to try those cookies!