Deedle Dumpling

Strawberry Shortcake on a Skillet?

2011-02-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

Last summer I took on a job teaching a summer camp where I, along with 2 other Culinary Coaches, taught kids how to cook. The company is called Kitchen Kid. It is pretty much the funnest job I have ever had. During the school year the owner also runs after school programs at several schools around the LA area. Since I was student teaching I didn't have a chance to teach but she has given me the opportunity to write the curriculum for the classes. My lessons plans revolve around a "secret ingredient" usually some kind of produce that is in season. I have written lessons on apples, squash, cucumbers, peppers, etc. This week she asked me to write a lesson plan on strawberries. For each lesson plan I have to come up with a recipe that the kids can make in the classroom. Each coach has a portable stove top but no oven. Being a baker this has forced me to try to stretch my imagination. Each recipe has to be either nonbake or able to be made using a skillet.
The first recipe that came to mind for strawberries was of course strawberry shortcake. Is it possible to make it using only a skillet? Believe it or not, YES! It is possible and I have done it! Not only did it work it was also delicious! The outside of the biscuit was nice and crisp while the inside was light and fluffy. A wonderful contrast with the strawberries and vanilla bean whipped cream.

I used the scone recipe from Joy of Baking but instead of putting them in the oven I heated a skillet on medium to medium low heat. I cooked each side of scones for about 2 1/2 minutes then had to flip a couple more times to make sure they weren't burning but were also cooked all the way through. Each one took about 6-7 minutes or so. I tried the first one by melting butter in the pan, not a good idea. Just use a dry pan. You could dip the scones in cinnamon sugar before putting them in the pan to give them a sweeter crust.

Polka Dot Birthday

2011-02-21T11:15:00.001-08:00

She LIVES! I know, it has been almost a year since I have posted anything on here! School honestly took over my life. But now that I have graduated and am currently somewhat unemployed I have found a little time to bake again. I have definitely missed it.

Yesterday was my friend Ariane's birthday. I love this girl and so I figured I'd throw a little party together for her. This little party didn't end up being so little. It turned out perfect! Lots of friends and good food. I made hamburger and hotdog buns, cookies, and a cake to celebrate. This cake is a new favorite of mine. Ariane asked for either a confetti cake or the traditional yellow with chocolate frosting. I decided it had been too long since I had had a real good yellow and chocolate cake so that is what I chose. I like to make my cakes tall so I used a recipe from Sky High: Irrestible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. The cake was almost as moist as I had hoped and wasn't quite as yellow as I remember yellow cake being. But it was still tasty enough for me to indulge in 2 slices... yeah I know, that is just how I roll. Next time, however, I think I will try this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Supposedly it is the best! The frosting on this cake, however, was pretty much delectable and SO easy! It is a must try!

Sorry for the not-so-fabulous photo. I have
gotten out of habit of setting up photo shoots
for my food and had to take it with my iphone.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Makes an 8-inch triple-layer cake; serves 12 to 16 or makes a 6-inch triple layer cake with leftover

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

3 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Steps:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch or 6-inch round cake pans or spray to coat with vegetable oil. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and grease the paper.

Put the eggs and yolks in a medium mixing bowl, add the vanilla and 1/4 cup of the buttermilk. Whisk to blend well.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl; whisk to blend. Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup buttermilk to these dry ingredients and with the mixer on low, blend together. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Add the egg mixture in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake the cake layers for 28 to 32 minutes for the 8-inch cake pans, or 25-30 minutes for the 6-inch cake pans, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the layers cool in the pans for 10 minutes; then carefully turn out onto wire racks, peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely.

To assemble the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread 3/4 cup of the fudge frosting over the layer right to the edge. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and use all but 3/4 cup of the frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. (If using 6-inch cake pans, you’ll have quite a bit of leftover frosting.) Place the remaining 3/4 cup frosting in a pastry bag with a medium star tube and pipe a shell border around the top and bottom edges of the cake.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

4 cups confectioners’ sugar (no need to sift)

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 tablespoons half-and-half

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Source: adapted from Sky High: Irrestible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne

Maple and Brown Sugar Granola... Bread

2010-06-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

So Dustin has this new obsession with Granola. Every morning without fail he will wake up and pour himself a bowl of maple brown sugar granola. We were buying it and going through a box in a week but then discovered it is so much cheaper and tastier if I just make it myself.

I have been using Alton Brown's recipe, because I love him, but with a few alterations to fit our liking. Try it! You will not be disappointed. :)

Ok, so the bread... I was seriously putting off doing my homework and decided that I owe it to myself to make a nice tasty loaf of bread. I didn't want to make just my same standard so I looked through the bookmarked bread recipes I have been wanting to try. Nothing sounded better to me than Better Baking's Maple Granola bread. I also knew Dustin would love it!

With 1 1/2 cups of granola baked in... WOW! You cannot go wrong with this one!! If you don't have time to make the granola try Cascadian Farm's Maple Brown Sugar Granola. It is almost as good as homemade.

Gone NUTS!

2010-05-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

My most recent concoction... Rich and moist chocolate cupcakes filled with fluffy peanut butter filling and topped with chocolate ganache. To DIE for! I may need to go run a few laps around the gym after these babies, they are addicting!

My new found love!

2010-04-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

So didn't know what I was missing in my life until I discovered Indian food when moving to L.A.

Dustin and I have a new favorite cheap Indian restaurant by our house that we frequent quite often. They serve the most amazing naan there. Being the breadaholic that I am I thought I would try to make it myself. Result... amazing! So soft and perfect for dipping into the chicken cashew curry I made to accompany it. If you don't believe that you can make your own naan I dare you to try! You will be surprised with the amazingness that comes out of your kitchen. :0)

Garlic Naan
Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Cake Pops!

2010-04-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Fun to make, even more fun to eat!

Learn how to make them at Bakerella

http://www.bakerella.com/dont-lick-bite…/

Too tired to think of a creative title...

2010-03-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

I signed up to do a charity auction a few weeks ago and decided to auction off cakes since I don't own anything anyone would really want. :)
Anyway, despite my crazy school schedule I decided to make two different cakes. I didn't really know what I was doing when I started but just went with it. I would suggest not ever doing that. I ended up making 3 types of frosting and 2 different fillings and one extra cake (which I was ok with :)
Here is what I came up with:

First:
Dark chocolate cake, peanut butter filling, buttercream chocolate frosting

Second:
Dark chocolate cake, whipped chocolate ganache filling, French buttercream chocolate frosting (my preference).

I am happy with how they turned out but I think I would have saved myself some time if I had planned a little more ahead. Below you will find the recipes I used. The peanut butter frosting is to die for and I usually don't care for peanut butter in my desserts.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake (Hershey's)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake rounds or one 13×9×2-inch baking pan.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the first six ingredients (sugar through salt); add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin); pour into prepared pan(s) and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes our clean. If baking cake rounds, allow rounds to cool slightly before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. If using rectangular baking pan, allow cake to cool completely before icing.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Alton Brown

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

No School + Rain + Deprived Husband = Baking Fiend

2010-01-18T15:20:00.000-08:00

Ina Garten's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Paige's Pioneer Bread

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Being a school teacher during this holiday really pays off. No school for me today :). I had school every day last week except for Wednesday (Saturday from 9-5) so I have been going through baking withdrawals. It even came to the point where Dustin and I actually finished two loaves of store bought bread before I even got to making any. That is sad for me. Anyway, I woke up this morning to it raining cats and dogs! I have been in California for about 3 years now and have never seen it rain like this. What better a day to stay in and bake! I made some yummy 12-grain bread which I now call Paige's Pioneer Bread since she always asked me to make it for her and I never did... sigh. Sorry Paige. Maybe I will send you some to warm your heart while you are in Idaho freezing to death.

A few weeks ago I had made Cinnamon Rolls for Dustin to take to his class (he is also going to school). His professor had not been able to make it that day and told Dustin he was bummed that he did not get cinnamon rolls. Unfortunately I did not have the time left before Dustin had to go to class to make cinnamon rolls but decided to bust out a coffee cake, one I have been wanted to try for some time.

The Barefoot Contessa's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the streusel:

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

For the glaze:

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons real maple syrup

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for 4 to 5 minutes, until light. Add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and sour cream. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter until just combined. Finish stirring with a spatula to be sure the batter is completely mixed.

For the streusel, place the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a bowl and pinch together with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Mix in the walnuts, if desired.

Spoon half the batter into the pan and spread it out with a knife. Sprinkle with 3/4 cup streusel. Spoon the rest of the batter in the pan, spread it out, and scatter the remaining streusel on top. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Carefully transfer the cake, streusel side up, onto a serving plate. Whisk the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup together, adding a few drops of water if necessary, to make the glaze runny. Drizzle as much as you like over the cake with a fork or spoon.

Well it turned out perfect! The only thing I changed was the glaze because I didn't have any maple syrup. I used powdered sugar, milk, and maple extract but I'll bet Ina's is fabulous.

So, I have finally decided I should stop and get on with my day. I have so much homework to do it is frightening. My vacation has ended and now this is what I have to deal with...

This is the moment I REALLY miss my dishwasher (Dustin) oh and my other dishwasher too. Now it is just me and my scrub brush. Wish me luck!

My Favorite Time of Year! Time for Baking!

2009-12-17T00:11:00.001-08:00

Finals are over and a new term started 3 days after the last one ended... Yeah, it is a crazy schedule. But now I am on my Christmas break and am now catching up on the baking I have not been able to do for about 3 months. I am in heaven.

Today we had a Holiday party with my second graders. Dustin came and played the guitar and sang Christmas songs with them while I passed out these cookies. They were so fun to make and pretty dang tasty. My kids were pretty much bouncing off the walls after our little party. I guess they call them "sugar" cookies for a reason.

It has now become a tradition to make our decorations on our Christmas tree. This tradition may have to do with the fact that we are broke but we have decided that it is pretty precious too. The only problem with making gingerbread men and living in California is that it is so moist the gingerbread men will get too soft and fall off the tree. I am pretty sure we are left with about 5 hanging and started with about 20.

I asked Dustin what we should give to our neighbors for Christmas gifts and he suggested these...

These started as an experiment but have now become a favorite. They are chocolate walnut and butterscotch pecan cookies. I found that if you roll the cookie dough in nuts and then bake the cookies stay nice and thick, super soft on the inside but have a nice crunch on the outside.

Hopefully more to come! We are driving to Utah on Friday to spend the holiday with Dustin's family. There will be a lot of goodness going on in the kitchen. I can't wait to share it with you! Have a very Merry Christmas!!

Pumpkin Time!

2009-10-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

No matter how crazy busy I am with school I always have to make time for pumpkin treats. I am student teaching at a school in Culver City right now, which I love so much. The school had their fall festival on Saturday and I volunteered to bake something for the cake walk and bake sale. The woman in charge asked if I would make muffins because any cake or cupcake frosting would melt in the sun. I decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. I went to a cake decorating store and got the idea for this! Precious!! These sold like hot cakes! :)

Mickey and friends...

2009-07-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

July 8th Dustin and I had our 3 year wedding anniversary. To celebrate we decided to go to our favorite place in the world... Disneyland. Ever since I was a little girl my family and I have been lucky enough to have a wonderful friend who works at Disneyland let us in for free. Anytime we go Dustin and I always like to bring her some kind of gift. I decided to put together a gift basket for her.

Here is what the basket consisted of:

Mini and Mickey sugar cookies (these were so fun to make!)

Irish Cream Brownie (the most deadly brownie EVER!)

Chunky Monkey Muffins

I also threw a loaf of white bread in there to top it off.

Thanks Gayle you are wonderful and we love you!

Fire Cracker Cakes!

2009-06-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

Do you remember those delicious popsicles that look like fireworks? Some are just called Fire Crackers, others are called Bomb Pops. Anyway, I was playing around the other day with a white cake recipe and came up with what I call Fire Cracker Cakes!

These turned out really cute and yummy! I just split the cake batter up in three little bowls and carefully dropped blue and red food coloring in two of them. I then layered the colors on top of each other. I swirled some to make a really fun tie dye effect.

I topped the cupcakes with a simple buttercream and a dot. :) I love dots. Some people think they are gross but I think they are oh so chewy and delicious.

I was going to do a glaze for the bundt cakes and it probably would have looked cuter but I was too lazy to make another frosting.

If you are looking for a fun treat to make for the 4th try this one out. It was easy and cute!

Deedle Doodles

2009-06-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

There is really nothing more delicious than a snickerdoodle cookie. Every time I bite into one I am taken back to when I was in elementary school and my mom would make them for our bake sales. They were always one of the first things to sell out, they are THAT delicious!
However, I have always found myself wanting for more cinnamon in all of the snickerdoodles I have had. I love cinnamon! It always reminds me of Christmas time. Anyway, so I have been experimenting with recipes here and there and have finally figured one out that I am completely content with. I now call them Deedle Doodles. It is a good thing I figured out the recipe when I did because I had a client order snickerdoodle cookies from me this week. They stay nice and poofy, not too flat (which is a MUST for me) and have about 1 TBL of cinnamon in the batter and are then rolled in cinnamon sugar. YUM!

My mom's recipe is probably the best traditional snickerdoodle recipe ever try it out and see what you think! :)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with
an electric mixer on high speed. Add the egg and vanilla and
beat until smooth.

2. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and
cream of tartar.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees while you let the dough rest for
30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator.

5. In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon for the
topping.

6. Take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a
ball. Roll this dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and press it
onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat for the remaining cookies.

7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes and no more. The cookies
may seem undercooked, but will continue to develop after they are
removed from the oven. When the cookies have cooled they should be
soft and chewy in the middle.

This recipe says to cook them only 14 minutes, but I am much happier with 16. 14 makes them more raw than soft.

Makes 16 to 18 cookies.

Chocolate + Chocolate = Romance

2009-06-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

While on vacation in Colorado to see my family one of my most favorite people in the world, Dawn Anne Gill, asked me if I would be willing to make her an anniversary cake. Her and her husband would be going to Vail for a romantic getaway and she wanted to surprise him with a delicious dessert. Her husband is a chocolate lover so I decided to overwhelm them with it. Their cake consisted of chocolate genoise, whipped chocolate ganache, chocolate buttercream and covered with dark chocolate shavings. Chocolate, Chocolate and more chocolate!

I haven't heard from her yet to find out if she and her husband liked it but, Dawn Anne, I hope you and Brian had a wonderful and romantic anniversary! :)

I <3 Raspberries!

2009-05-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorite people in the world asked me if I would make a cake for her husband's birthday. Her only instructions were that it had to have nuts and chocolate frosting. Her husband will not eat anything without nuts including any dessert. So my task was to make a as nutty as possible (being a crazy nut myself I figured it would be pretty simple:). I made a vanilla walnut cake with chunks of walnuts inside and frosted it with a chocolate buttercream. I still wanted to make it a little more nutty so I covered the sides with toasted walnuts. It is amazing the fabulous flavor toasted walnuts can give. If you have not had toasted walnuts I would HIGHLY suggested toasting up a few.

Earlier this week I had made this cake for us to try just to make sure the flavors would meld. I wasn't planning on adding any fruit to it but Paige suggested that raspberries would put it over the top. She was right! So that being said I added them to the top of this one and it turned out beautiful. I really do think that raspberries can make anything taste and look better!

Milk... does a body good!

2009-05-26T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hello :)

Well another cake, yes, I know, we are all kind of getting sick of me posting cakes. I will do something different next I promise! Anyway, when I asked my brother in law Byron what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he quickly told me a tres leches cake. Hum... I have never made a tres leches cake before but I am always up for a challenge and always willing to try something new. I searched for a recipe that I thought sounded legit and decided on Emeril's tres leches cake. I have tried a few of his dessert recipes and they have not failed me yet.

The cake turned out even better than anticipated! I have only had tres leches once in my life and have now decided that it is one of my most favorite indulgences. So moist and sweet, it is hard not to fall in love. I do have to warn though, as many warned me while I was reading recipes, if you are watching calories in any way I may stay away from this one. However, it really is well worth it's weight in gold. :)

I skipped Emeril's frosting and decided to go straight for the whipping cream. I made mine a vanilla bean whipped cream and then threw on a plethora of delicious berries. I say that you should think of any event you could celebrate and make this cake.

Oh! And Happy Birthday Byron!

Link to recipe here!

Friendly Flowers

2009-05-16T22:20:00.001-07:00

This week I got a job to make a cake and cupcakes for 2 year old Daisy's birthday. Her mom ordered red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting as well as a 2 tiered cake. Inside the cake alternated with chocolate cake and banana cake, filled with whipped chocolate ganache and covered with dark chocolate ganache. I made the little daisies and bows out of gum paste. Daisies really are the friendliest flower. :) They are just so happy!

A Sweet Treat for Sweet Ladies :)

2009-05-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to my Mommas!!

This was a little invention of my very own. I needed strawberries in my life and my mother in law LOVES my angel food cake so I decided to make individual angel food strawberry mousse cakes. It turned out to be a delicious and beautiful combination. Oh the sweet fluffiness!

Mom, I made this for you too. I wish you could have been here with me to try it. Happy Mommy's Day, I Love you!

Old King Cocoa

2009-04-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

My newest concoction... This one may be a winner and I think it will be added to the Deedle Dumpling Bakery menu.

Rich Chocolate cake filled with a whipped fluffy chocolate ganache and topped with dark chocolate ganache and chocolate shavings. Pretty much Chocolate Bliss!

Back in the Game... with peanut butter and honey cupcakes

2009-04-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I have come to the conclusion that I have really missed doing this. Since I have started Deedle Dumpling I have been baking up a storm, experimenting, playing etc. I think it is time that I depend on you guys to give me some feed back on my concoctions! :) As soon as I do find some winners I will post them on my new and upcoming website deedledumplingbakery.com.

Yesterday Dustin and I had some friends over for dinner. Dustin made us one of his famous Polish dishes while I went ahead and did my regular assignments, bread and dessert. I made a whole wheat french bread loaf but I could not decide what I should make for dessert. I figured since I have a few guinea pigs coming over that I would take advantage of their taste buds. :) So I tried something that I have always wanted to try, peanut butter and honey cupcakes.

I am a honey FREAK as many of you know. I have been called Winnie the Pooh for pretty much my entire life. Any time I eat honey I seem to have it all over myself and you would be amazed at the amount I am able to consume and put on a piece of bread.

Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are one of God's gifts to man in my eyes. I have never heard of a peanut butter and honey cupcake so I decided to try it out.

I kind of threw together my own peanut butter cupcake recipe and it was ok, but not fabulous, in my opinion. It was not peanut buttery enough and I really wanted a cake to be very light and kind of melt in your mouthish (I don't think that is a word). The frosting, however, was rather interesting. I tried a honey buttercream at first but it really didn't end up having the honey flavor that I wanted. I wanted the frosting to taste like honey only. So I whipped up some egg whites and added a 1/2 cup of boiling honey to it. And since egg whites have no flavor I figured that the only thing going on would be the honey. It was such a beautiful frosting. Very glossy and had a nice smooth texture.

Verdict: I will have to experiment with the peanut butter cupcakes a little more but I think I may have found a winner with the frosting especially with the honey drizzle on top. Perhaps I will add peanut butter chips inside the cupcake as well. They were pretty yummy on top of the frosting though.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-03-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

For some reason I had this strange desire for an upside down cake for Valentines day. I had never made one before. Dustin and I adore blackberries and they are so pretty that I decided to experiment with those. The cake was super moist and the combination of the cake with the berries was amazing. The color of the baked berries was very nice as well. Dustin and I split the cake in half and had it with vanilla ice cream. It was divine!

The Jewels of Primary

2009-03-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

At the end of January my counselors from the primary and I decided we needed to plan a dinner for our wonderful primary teachers to let them know how thankful we are for all they do and for their patience with us.

The dinner turned out fabulous! We were supplied with some of the most delicious lasagna I have ever had (courtesy of the famous Amy Cooper) and this amazing cheese and bread platter made by Emily ( I still need that recipe from you by the way). I was assigned the bread and also volunteered to do the desserts. I always try to look for excuses to make dessert. :)

I decided to make my most favorite chocolate cake which is a dense chocolate with a thick layer of ganache. I what more lovely thing to top it off than chocolate covered strawberries. I think I want it to be strawberry season already...

Since the chocolate cake was so heavy I also wanted to make a lighter dessert to balance things out a little. I made my mom's famous angel food cake with strawberries and super thick whipped cream. I had both desserts, of course.

The night turned out fabulous and it was so fun to spend time together with everyone outside of church. I love you all! Thank you again for all your hard work.

Greek Celebration Bread

2009-03-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

I have to play a little catchup here! Ok, let's rewind to Christmas. I wanted to make something really special for Christmas dinner and also wanted it to have some kind of meaning. I decided to make a Greek Christmas celebration loaf. This bread is traditionally baked using the most expensive ingredients and served on Christmas Eve when the head of the household blesses the loaf and each person at the table gets a slice, drizzled with honey. Each region of Greece has its own variation, although it is customarily decorated with a cross wherever it is made. It has all of my favorite spices, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Oh the essence of Christmas time.

The bread was rich and delicious with a nice moist crumb. My family gave it great reviews. I believe I will be adopting this Greek tradition

Under Construction

2009-02-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

Please stay tuned! :)

Happy Birthday Kelly and Merry Christmas Law Offices of Ryan Harris!

2008-12-24T11:09:00.001-08:00

My most recent concoction for Kelly's birthday and our Secret Santa Celebration. I asked everyone's favorite ice cream flavor then made them each their own mini ice cream cakes. I put a cookie crust on the bottom then layered it with ice cream, ganache and topped them with chocolate or peppermint whipped cream (depending on the type of ice cream).

The first batch was more of an experiment since I really didn't know what I was doing so they didn't turn out nearly as good as the second batch.

I also made chocolate truffles out of Christmas shapes to top them off. They turned out cute and yummy.

Happy Birthday Kel and Merry Christmas Law Offices of Ryan Harris!

Wesołych Świąt

2008-12-24T10:49:00.001-08:00

Or... Merry Christmas in Polish. Dustin and I participated in a Christmas Concert about 2 weeks ago in Del Mar. This concert was filled with songs from countries all over the world. After we sang we departed to the cultural hall where there were tables set up for each country. Each table had Christmas decorations as well as traditional food that is eaten during Christmas time. Dustin and I were assigned to set up a table for Poland. Dustin served his mission in Poland so we had a lot of fun things to put on the table.

I made a very simple cookie that is traditionally made at Christmas time in Poland. They are called Kolaczki. The way I made them was very simple and probably isn't the way they really make them in Poland but they will do.

There are a few different ways you can fold these.

The ones below are how Dustin showed me how to fold them. I think they are even cuter this way.

I filled them with raspberry preserves and apricot jam.

Here is the recipe I used.

Ingredients:

3 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup any flavor fruit jam
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add flour slowly until well blended. Shape into a ball and chill overnight or for several hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Roll dough out 1/8 inch thick on a floured pastry board. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares and place 1/2 tsp (approx) of jam or preserves. Overlap opposite corners and pinch together. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool. Sprinkle lightly with confectioner's sugar.

Give Thanks

2008-12-24T10:29:00.001-08:00

Before I go ahead and post all of the things I have made for Christmas I wanted to post the things I made for Thanksgiving.

For treats I made banana bread with dried cranberries and white chocolate. It was a combination I just threw together but turned out pretty tasty. I got these little bread pans at Michael's for a dollar each.

Whenever I have dinner with the Mackays I am usually assigned to make bread. This is also what I prefer. I love trying out new types of bread. This year I made poppyseed challah and corn bread. One thing I did learn was that braiding bread dough is not as easy as braiding hair. It took me about 20 times to get it right.

Strawberry Chocolate Truffle Tart

2008-11-08T22:34:00.001-08:00

I have become a chocoholic!!

I don't know what it is but lately I have been craving chocolate!! So when I had the opportunity to have some friends over for dinner I took advantage and made this Chocolate Truffle Tart I found on one of my favorite food blogs. Now, I can't take credit for these pictures being that they are the pictures from the blog I stole the recipe from. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera handy when I served this up after dinner. Mine looked similar except for I don't have a tart pan so I had to use a pie plate. Definitely not as fancy. I did do the strawberries and drizzle of chocolate as well as a dusting of powdered sugar. It was like you were biting into the creamy goodness of a truffle. Chocolate craving satisfied... until tomorrow night... :)

You can find the actual recipe here.

Halloween Sugar Cookies

2008-10-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it is getting closer and closer to my second favorite holiday of the year! I love Halloween! I love the decorations, the costumes, the scary movies (my scary movies consist mostly of Disney's Blackbeard's Ghost and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad), and making sugar cookies. I have made sugar cookies with my family since I was born. Dustin, however, does not get as excited about this as I do. But at least until I have children he is going to have to deal with it and treat this tradition as one of his own. He was pretty much acting like the Halloween Scrooge at the beginning but eventually I got him into the kitchen to decorate with me.

Being also that we are both artists (Dustin more than me) we always find that decorating anything becomes a bit of a competition. Which one can have the most creative cookie? I am pretty sure Dustin won with his black and orange striped cat but I was pretty proud of my ghost.

Don't forget to decorate your cookies this Halloween! If you don't have a good sugar cookie recipe this one from Joy of Baking is pretty good.

Sugar Cookies:

3 1/2 cups (490 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For Sugar Cookies: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking.

Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you may want to sprinkle the unbaked cookies with crystal or sparkling sugar.

Bake cookies for about 10 minutes (depending on size) or until they are brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing, if desired. Be sure to let the royal icing dry completely before storing. (This may take several hours.)

Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper.

Makes about 36 - 4 inch (10 cm) cookies.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

2008-10-23T23:05:00.001-07:00

In light of the fall season I made apple cinnamon muffins. I used a recipe from my favorite baker ever, Marcy Goldman. These were very moist and full of fally flavor. Since I live in California and don't really get to see fall I will just have to eat it instead. :)

Calzones with a Basil Dough

2008-10-22T20:43:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to make is calzones. I have tried so many different dough recipes but always seem to come back to one, my mom's. It is so delicious! I added some fresh basil to this recipe to give them that little Italian kick.

The filling is fresh spinach, mushroom and ricotta with a basil spread.

I had some dough left over so I decided to make a loaf. We can never have too many loaves of bread in my house. Dustin and I go through an entire loaf in about 48 hours. I think we are carb addicts!

This is the same dough recipe I often use for my pizza. Sorry it took me so long to post this for you Carly! Just a word of caution though, I have never measured out my flour. I just add it until it reaches the right consistency or when the dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl but still sticks to the bottom.

2 1/4 t yeast
3/4 c warm water
drizzle of honey
2 T Olive oil
1/4 c honey (I usually put in 1/2 c since I am obsessed with honey!)
1 1/2 t salt
1 c Warm Milk
2-3 c Whole Wheat Flour
2-3 c All-Purpose Flour

Let yeast dissolve in water along with the drizzle of honey. Let the yeast get poofy for about 10 minutes. After yeast has poofed add oil, honey, and salt followed by one cup of wheat and one cup of white flour. Mix together. Add warm milk. Continue to add flour until the dough comes to the right consistency.

Continue to knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth.
Form the dough in a ball, lightly spray a bowl and put dough in the bowl moving it around to coat the dough so it doesn't stick to the bowl. Let dough rise for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down and, depending on what you are wanting to do with the dough, make that shape. If you are making bread make the shape and let rise again for about 30-45 minutes or until doubled.

Bake at 400 degrees

For pizza about 10-15 minutes. Make sure and keep an eye on it after about 10.
Calzones take about 15 minutes but watch those closely as well.
Bread should bake for about 15-18 minutes.

Oh Ashley, what a slacker!

2008-10-08T21:37:00.001-07:00

Ok, I know... I have been the biggest slacker ever! It's not even that I have stopped baking, I am pretty much baking 2 or 3 times a week but taking photos and posting have not been on my priorities list for quite a while. But that time of year is coming... what time of year you may ask? Well, once fall hits it is baking season (at least in my world)! Pumpkin, apple, gingerbread, cranberry etc. There is nothing better than holiday baking. So... in conclusion, I promise I will do better these next few months and will be posting some fun recipes so stay tuned! :)

Here are the most recent baking excursions I have taken part in. My most favorite was for my boss' birthday. I asked him what kind of cake or dessert he would like and he asked for cupcakes or snickerdoodle cookies. Well, I decided to make things a little more interesting by making snickerdoodle cupcakes. I threw a deliciously moist cinnamon sugar muffin together with a cinnamon penuche frosting and wallah! a snickerdoodley cupcake! The frosting was almost like candy. It was delicious!

Of course I couldn't just make one type of cupcake so I used one of my favorite ingredients to during this type of year and made a pumpkin chocolate chip cupcake with a touch of cinnamon cream cheese frosting on top. YUM! The cupcakes were super moist and dense.

Lastly, one of my favorite things in the world are s'mores! I grew up on s'mores and could pretty much live off of them if necessary. So why not make a s'more cupcake? (I have pretty much decided that anything can be made into a cupcake flavor) I used a graham cracker cupcake and filled it with a rich chocolate ganache. I had a hard time trying to decide what I wanted to do for the frosting. My mom, being the brilliant woman that she is, told me to use actual marshmallows and toast them in the oven. What a wonderful idea! So easy and no frosting was needed. I slid three marshmallows on top of the cupcake, drizzled the marshmallows with melted chocolate and then sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs. Um... this might be one of my favorite creations yet!

The other night Dustin and I bought salmon to grill and I asked him what he would like to go with it. He said, "I want yummy soft rolls." So, I made him Parker House Rolls. These rolls pulled apart a lot like croissants. If you are watching your waste line I would suggest maybe not making these as they are soaked in butter before they are baked. If anyone is working on gaining weight so she can get pregnant like someone I know... these are PERFECT! :)

No, that is not doughy in the middle, that is actually how these pulled apart!

So fun and poofy!

Alright... Last thing. I wasn't planning on blogging about this but once I saw it I couldn't help but grab the camera to display. Sunday morning Dustin and I had his family over for breakfast while we watched General Conference. We made buttermilk pancakes with a homemade buttermilk syrup, fruit and topped with fresh whipped cream. WHOA! The buttermilk syrup is definitely the highlight of the dish. My sister-in-law Jen introduced me to this syrup and I don't think Dustin or I will ever go back to any other kind of syrup again.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! If any of you make something fun and delicious take a picture and send it to me! I want to show you off on my blog! :)

If any one wants any of these recipes just let me know! I would love to share!

It is done!

2008-08-23T01:11:00.001-07:00

Doesn't she look beautiful! :)

This is how we REALLY felt...

Welp... I did it. My first wedding cake. Probably one of the most stressful tasks I have ever taken on but actually I think I would do it again. I always like a good challenge and I learned so much the first time around that I think it would probably go a little smoother the next. I did learn some interesting things about myself while in the process though:
1. I seem to swear like a sailor when I am baking and stressed out (and I never swear).
2. I should never drink a caffeinated beverage right before I am about to do the intricate work on a cake. I was bouncing off the walls and my hands were shaking (I never drink caffeine either).
3. I have the greatest family in the world and they went out of their way to calm me down when it came down to the end.

I am sure I learned other things but I will just get to the pictures now...

First layer: coconut cream
Second layer: carrot
Third layer: chocolate with a sour cream ganache
Fourth layer: white cake with strawberry filling and chocolate ganache.

Before the decorations

This is really not how I was feeling. This was probably the fakest smile ever! If you look closely you can see the vein popping out of my forehead. This is a sign of craziness! :)

Oh the cutting of the cake... what a wonderful thing. They were so sweet about it at first...

They cut such a nice piece and fed it nicely to eachother...

There was a little smearing of frosting on the face but not too bad...

And then they loved each other... however, that was not the end...

...

...and there went my first piece of art...

It was ok though. It filled it's purpose and was delicious!

Happy Birthday Rob!

2008-08-14T22:56:00.001-07:00

Ok... I need to apologize! It has been FOREVER since I have posted. Honestly, I think I burned myself out and needed a break. However, I have a new project. I was asked to make my little sister's wedding cake for her wedding next Thursday. I have never made a stacked cake before so this was all new to me. I have been practicing flavors and trying to get the stacking thing down. Here is my first endeavor. I made this for one of my favorite people's birthday, Robert May. Decorations... courtesy of my wonderful, artistic husband. Don't we make a good team?! :)

The top layer is a white cake with coconut cream filling, the bottom layer is a chunky carrot cake filled and covered with cream cheese frosting. It was pretty delectable if I do say so myself. :)

Happy Birthday Rob!

The ULTIMATE IceCream Cake!

2008-06-16T20:07:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Derek!

He originally asked for a Dairy Queen cake... but then I thought to myself... "I can do better than that..."

This is what I came up with:

Layers of Irish Whiskey brownies, cookies and cream ice cream, mint chocolate chip ice cream, layers of... my secret ingredient... , covered with a thick layer of whipped cream and surrounded by pirouette cookies.

***Caution*** may cause slight hang over following consumption :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

2008-06-16T20:03:00.001-07:00

If you are a banana-peanut butter lover this cake is for you!

4-Layer rich banana cake with peanut butter frosting and covered with dark chocolate ganache and white chocolate stripes.

Challah!

2008-06-10T07:30:00.001-07:00

Growing up my brothers and sisters and I were always very well educated in the traditions of the Jewish religion. Many of you may think that is strange since we are not Jewish and never have been but it is because of my mom and her love for the Jewish religion that I have learned to love their traditions and culture. If anyone walked into our house at Christmas time you might be slightly confused. Among the Christmas tree, stockings and nativity you would find a beautiful silver menora and dreidels. I love it!

So yes... I have played with dreidels. :)

Anyway, my mom also has a Jewish cookbook that she uses occasionally. One of my favorite recipes she makes is her challah bread. I think I was missing her yesterday because I had a sudden craving for it. I bust out my Peter Reinhardt's Baker's Apprentice book and made his version of the rich egg bread.

I don't have the recipe available to me right now but if you would like it email me and I would love to send it to you.

If you want to read the history or tradition of Challah bread go here.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter INTENSITY!

2008-06-08T12:00:00.001-07:00

As many of you know... Dustin is obsessed with peanut butter so whenever I want to make him a treat I try and make it as peanut buttery as possible. These chocolate muffins were so rich and yummy to begin with but I decided to add a peanut butter filling just to put them a little over the edge. I think Dustin was pretty pleased with the results. :)

Luck oh the Irish

2008-06-03T22:05:00.001-07:00

Some of you are probably thinking... "It isn't St. Patrick's Day! Why in the world is Ashley making cupcakes with 4 leaf clovers in it? What a weirdo!"

Well, I can explain... Ever since I started working for The Law Offices of Ryan Harris we have had the same UPS Man, aka "Irish." Actually his name is Tim but if you saw him you would understand why we call him Irish. He is tattooed from head to toe with leprechauns and clovers. He also has a skull and crossed baseball bats on the back of his head with the Red Sox above it. He is OBSESSED with Notre Dame and the Celtics. He is Irish through and through. He would come into our office everyday going off about how Notre Dame this or the Red Sox that. He and the guys I work with would get in some pretty heated arguments about their teams. I took a beating from him last season when his Red Sox beat my Rockies in the World Series. But we have learned to love him!

Irish's birthday was coming up but we would be moving offices before we would be able to celebrate it. Since we were moving offices Irish would no longer be out UPS man :(. It was very sad. So, i took that opportunity to make him minty Irish cupcakes. They turned out precious and yummy! They were very different from anything I have ever tasted before. This was because of the REAL mint leaves used in the chocolate ganache. It really hit you when you took your first bite but would grow on you the more you ate. The realy mint was used in the ganache while there was peppermint extract used in the buttercream. Next time I think I will stick with either the real mint or the peppermint as opposed to using both. My taste buds got a little confused with both types of mint going on. I think I might try using a chocolate mint leaf (courtesy of my mom's garden) and see how that turns out.
Enjoy!

Mini Carrot Cakes

2008-05-28T21:48:00.001-07:00

I guess I have been into mini things lately. Here are my mini carrot cake cupcakes and cake. They were super moist and yummy!! It was the first recipe used from Tuesdays with Dorie and I was not disappointed.

Bill's Big Carrot Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola or safflower oil
4 large eggs

What You'll Need for the Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just

started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.

If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:

Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting. Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.

Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:

This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:

The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pie...

2008-05-25T12:38:00.001-07:00

Well I went a little crazy yesterday... Nothing new :)
I decided that I need to work on my pie skills but couldn't decide which flavor I should make. Why not make them all? I had a whole bag of cherries that needed to be used so I started with cherry pie. All the recipes I looked up failed me so I decided to go and get a plethora or different fruits and make a few mini pies. The pies go as follows...

Cherry Strawberry Rhubarb pie (adapted from this recipe)
Fresh Strawberry Pie (adapted from this recipe)
Peach Apricot Lattice Pie (my own concoction)
Lemon Meringue pie (adapted from this recipe) I had a lot more filling left over with this one so I got creative at the end

FYI: These AMAZING flowers you see here (my favorite flowers in the world) were a surprise from Dustin on Friday night. Candlelight dinner, flowers, and a new dress... where is he trying to go with this? :) He is so wonderful!

Cups of Clouds and Sunshine :) YUM!

Half of lemon cleaned out, filled with lemon curd and topped with meringue

Lemon Meringue cookies

2008-05-22T01:17:00.001-07:00

Sweet Expiriments

2008-05-22T01:08:00.001-07:00

Ok, I am not brave enough to post this recipe yet but these are my new concoctions. I have never really expirimented too much with my own recipes before so I want to perfect it before I let anyone else try it.

This cookie has a very cakie texture but is also super moist. Half of the batter I made simple cookes but the other half I went kinda crazy. I wanted my cookies to be perfect circles (I am kind of a perfectionist) so I threw some of the batter into muffin pans and some into ramikens. I also decided to do a few mix ins. I threw some cream cheese swirls in some (as you can see below), some white chocolate chips in some, and also topped a few with dark chocolate (Dustin preferred the chocolate ones).

As soon as they came out of the oven I popped them out of pans and realized that I was kind of an idiot. If they are in muffin tins they aren't going to cook like cookies, they will turn out like muffins! Duh! However, even though they looked kind of funny they sure did taste good! I think I will call them my

Strawberries 'n' cream cookies.

Strawberry cookie topped cream cheese frosting, fresh strawberry, and dusting of powdered sugar.

Strawberry white chocolate muffin cookies :)

Strawberry cream cheese swirled muffin cookies

Popcorn... YOU!

2008-05-14T11:39:00.001-07:00

No, I didn't make popcorn, I am playing popcorn. If you have no idea what this is than just think of it as tag.

The game is Sixes Tag and these are the rules:

1. you link back to the person who tagged you.
. . . My sweet new friend, Annie
2. post these rules on your blog.
. . . Check!
3. share six unimportant things about yourself.
. . . See Below, but only if you want to know some really random facts about me.
4. tag six random people at the end of your entry.
5. let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.
6. enjoy the results.

Six UNimportant things about me:

1. I really want to LOVE hot dogs but can't bare the taste of them. I will just keep trying.

2. I get ecstatic every time I see a hummingbird.

3. My favorite food... honey. However, I can never eat it without getting it all of over myself and anything else within a 50 ft radius of me. This is why my nickname is Pooh.

4. I LOVE cartoons... my favorites are probably Gargoyles and Batman. DORK!

5. Someday I am going to live on Mainstreet in Disneyland.

6. I have a secret crush on Cary Grant and have been addicted to his movies since age 10.

Well that was fun... Now you know what a nerd I really am! :)

Popcorn... Katie, Adele, Natalie, Leanne, Mariah, and Carly.

Let's make Doughnuts!

2008-05-13T22:45:00.001-07:00

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T20:02:00.001-07:00

On search for the perfect Mother's Day dessert I came across Marcy Goldman's Swiss Chocolate Strawberry Scone Cake. Can we say YUM!? I had never heard of a scone cake so of course I had to make it. After making the batter you add enough flour to it so it is kneadable. You then place the dough into two 8 inch cake pans and top with chocolate chips. It smelled exactly like chocolate chip cookie dough and fresh cookies when it came out of the oven.

I wanted to make the cake as pretty and tasty as possible so I decided to make chocolate covered strawberries to finish it off.

The cake was a hit with with the Mackay family and my mother in law! We all had our individual slices and then took our forks to the rest of it and picked away until it was gone. I was happy with the cake however I think if I make it again I will switch up the type of cake I use. I liked it but, being a scone, it was a little dryer than I would have liked. My mom has the best angel food cake recipe EVER so I believe I will replace the scone cake with that.

Buttermilk Honey Bread

2008-05-11T14:15:00.001-07:00

Probably the softest and best white bread I have ever made! Perfect for Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or slathered with butter and honey (my favorite!).

Check out the recipe here.

And yes... this is the amount of honey I put on my bread.
This is why I am known as "Pooh" at my house. :)

My Mom

2008-05-08T20:03:00.001-07:00

My mom is one of my best friends in the world! I have never met a better woman and hope someday that I can be as genuine, strong, and selfless as she is. Not only is she all those things... she is also crazy! :) Every time we are around one another we are the biggest goof balls and pretty much frighten every one around us with our dorkiness. No one understands me like she does. She has always been there for me through every happy moment to every struggle. I owe my mom everything and I hope someday to be the kind of mom that she has been for me.

I love you mommy!

Growing up one of my favorite things was coming home to the smell of my mom's freshly baked bread. I was so spoiled by my mom's homemade bread that I can rarely eat any kind of the store bought brands. My mom would let me help her in the kitchen whenever she baked which is where I found my love for baking.

Bread baking is pretty much my passion so whenever I find a new recipe I like I get super excited to try it. My goal in life is to find that perfect crusty on the outside and fluffy, chewy, and moist on the inside, with incredibly flavor, bread. This is probably the closest I have gotten to my goal. This bread had incredible taste and texture on the inside. The outside was super crusty right when it came out of the oven but became a little softer once it cooled. I pretty much decided that I am going to have to get a brick oven to achieve my ultimate goal but this will definitely do for now.

Marcy Goldman's French Country Bread

I also got this recipe off of Marcy Goldman's site, BetterBaking.com. Every single recipe I have tried from her has been incredible! I am sorry I can't post the recipe but you can purchase each recipe individually if you don't want to buy a membership.

Death by Chocolate

2008-04-30T08:08:00.001-07:00

It was my brother in law Matt's birthday on Sunday and I had Dustin ask him what his favorite type of cake is. Matt loves chocolate so I decided to make the most deadly chocolate cake ever. The recipe I used was from my new favorite place Betterbaking.com. You have to pay for a subscription, but I am tellin you, her recipes are worth it.

The recipe is called Terre Etoile's Chocolate Sour Cream Fudge Cake. The cake is so dense and moist and is definitely not for the light hearted. To make it even more deadly, I decided to cover it with a rich chocolate ganache. To Die for!

P.S. I know the flowers are girly but they were just so pretty and springy! :)

"It Doesn't Matter if You're Black or White"

2008-04-28T14:27:00.001-07:00

I got this AMAZING recipe from Alex at work whose mom owns a bakery in Arizona. My attempt at her black and whites did not turn out as pretty as hers did but I am working on it. I mixed them up a little bit by throwing some cinnamon sugar in a couple of them making them snickerdoodles.

They were made with cake flour which made them a more cakie and moist consistency. I will probably do some experimenting with the white and dark chocolate frosting because the frosting I used was a little too sweet.

Pucker up!

2008-04-15T22:08:00.001-07:00

I was at my mother in law's home the other day when we found this recipe in her Gourmet magazine. We have both had this obsession with lemons the past few weeks so there was no question that I had to make it right away.

I will say however that this cake did not come without it's problems. The only spring form pan I have is 9 inches while the recipe calls for an 8 inch. In result, I could only make two layers instead of three. The result didn't turn out as pretty as I hoped but the cake was rich and sweet and the lemon curd was tart and creamy.

The whipped cream was supposed to be made using lavender but there was none to be found. So instead I decided to add strawberries which gave the cake a strawberry lemonade flavor.

I highly recommend this one, especially if you have the necessary ingredient and equipment to follow the recipe correctly.

Crepes for Dinner

2008-04-07T20:35:00.001-07:00

This is something I just threw together for dinner tonight. It is a combination of ricotta, mozzarella, and asiago cheeses, spinach, stewed tomatoes, garlic, and chicken all wrapped up in a basil crepe. I was afraid it would turn out to be a little dry since it didn't have a sauce but it was surprisingly rich.

Basil Crepes

2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour, preferably bleached
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 T dried basil
2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus 2 to 3 teaspoons butter for coating the pan

Daddy's little girl

2008-04-04T15:42:00.001-07:00

When I was growing up I would often wake up to the smell of cinnamon raisin bread toasting in the toaster. It was always cinnamon raisin bread with a tall glass of chocolate milk for my dad for breakfast (unless we had chocolate chip cookies then he had those with the chocolate milk :)

The smell of cinnamon raisin bread is very nostalgic for me so when my father in law told me how much he loved it I jumped at the opportunity to make it for him. I used the recipe from Peter Reihhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" which is my new favorite bread book of all time. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to bake bread. The pizza crust and ciabatta recipes are also exceptionally good.

Recipe coming soon!

Going Bananas!

2008-04-01T23:24:00.001-07:00

Well, Dustin and I are now officially poor as church mice. Ya know on Disney's Robin hood where all the animals are sent to jail because they can't pay their taxes? That is us. Can you picture it? We realized how difficult it is to be self employed and to pay taxes. Note to self... take out taxes whenever you receive a paycheck or the end of the year will be the death of you.

We really wanted dessert tonight so I scrounged around looking for anything to satisfy our sweet tooth. I found some black bananas in the freezer and decided to make some banana nut muffins. I used this recipe from Taste of Home but made a few alterations on half of the batter. Dustin is obsessed with peanut butter and chocolate so after I filled muffin tins with batter I put a dollop of peanut butter on top and used a knife to swirl the peanut butter around then topped them off with a few chocolate chips. I didn't get a picture of these ones because they were gone before I even got the camera out. So good!

Banana Nut Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Combine the eggs, bananas, applesauce and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Coat muffin cups with cooking spray; fill two thirds full with batter sprinkle with nuts. Bake at 375° for 15-18 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly touched. Cook for 5 minutes longer before removing to a wire rack.

Green for Good Luck!

2008-04-01T22:10:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patricks' Day!

There are only so many days in a year that you can spread, frost, or dye baking creations with different colors. This year I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity the color my foods green. I didn't go too extreme but green can also be an unappetizing color that may scare some.

I have made cinnamon rolls a dozen times and have tried a different recipe every time. I used the recipe from Joy of Baking. Find the recipe here.