Xplicit Sweetness

Best of Both Worlds

2009-03-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Now here is a super easy treat that will amaze everyone and make them say, why didn't I think of that?! That's exactly what I said to myself when I saw these on Genesis of a Cook. You should definitely check that blog out, lots of yummy stuff on there.

Anyway, the great thing about this is you can make these any variation you want. You can even use a box mix of brownies and a tub of cookie dough if you are too tired to make it all from scratch. In this case I used the brownie recipe from GoaC and then used the Toll House recipe on the back of the bag as the cookie dough for the tops of the brownies. It's super easy. I suggest trying these. They are wicked good.

Brownie Layer

3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cookie Layer

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13x9 in baking pan.

2. For brownie layer, melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Add sugar and cocoa; stir to blend. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs and vanilla. In a bowl, stir together flour, salt and baking soda; stir into chocolate mixture and add chocolate chips. Spread into baking pan.

3. For cookie layer, grind oats in a food processor or blinder until fine. In a medium bowl, combine the ground oats with the flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. In another medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla and lemon juice. Add the eggs and mix until smooth. Stir the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Add the chocolate chips.

4. Take the cookie mixture and add dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie layer. Press down lightly.

5. Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches in comes out almost clean. Cool completely before cutting. Cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.

Super Bowl Cupcakes

2009-03-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

The name here is actually deceiving. While these cupcakes were for a Super Bowl party, they were in no way, shape, or form geared towards football. Not like my football playoff cupcakes anyway.

One of Glenn's coworkers asked if I could make her a dozen cupcakes and deliver them to her for her party and of course I said yes. She wanted 6 of my Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes and 6 of my Mariner Mousse Cupcakes. Both were made easily and boxed up, ready for delivery.

If you would like the recipe for the Strawberry Lemon cupcakes, go here. If you would like the recipe for the Mariner Mousse Cupcakes, go here. Enjoy!

p.s. Since I was too lazy to go through my own archives to find the recipe for the Mariner Mousse Cupcakes, I came across this neat writeup from the Seattle PI which I thought was beyond awesome. They like me there, maybe I should move to Tacoma, WA like I've been thinkin. Sweet!

V-Day Cupcakes, Desperately Late

2009-03-03T15:47:00.001-08:00

I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass by without giving everyone at work a Valentine from me. My valentines are in the form of cupcakes, as you can see. Red Velvet cupcakes to be exact. Here is the recipe...

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 Tablespoons red food coloring (you can omit this, I usually do)
1 teaspoon white vinegar (lemon juice is okay too)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Wow...

2009-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

I guess Wow is really the only way to describe my reaction once I realized it has been nearly a month since my last post. What's going on here?!?! Even though February is a short month, I try to look back and explain my absence and I don't come up with much. Last week was AIMS testing, so there's one reason. The rest of the month? I'm not so sure! We have been "remodeling/redoing" our bathroom this month too, but it's not like we've been working non-stop. It's a really cool "green" project though. Almost everything in the bathroom is either repurposed, vintage, or local. Yay! Anyway... I apologize, to myself I suppose, for being so lazy.

I think the easiest way to do this is to gather up all my pictures and post them along with recipes. No stories or recaps this time around. Too much to do. So here goes.

Oh!!!!! Before I forget... I was at Urban Outfitters the other day when I spotted the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking on their sale table. Talk about a sale. I just got a 30 dollar book for 5 bucks! If you have an Urban by you, stop by and maybe you'll get lucky like me.

Birthday Cupcakes: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

2009-02-03T10:24:00.001-08:00

These are a mouthful, both to say and eat. They are also a pain to make. Well, I take that back. I enjoy baking and this was like making cupcakes and cookies, but all rolled in to one, so it was technically double the joy of baking. I had assumed that we would be back in time from the SuperBowl (sorry Cardinals) to make these, and we were because we left at half time. However, it took me about 3-4 hours from start to finish to get these done. Amazingly enough I finished in time to watch The Office afterwards. Sweet!

These cupcakes were for the February Birthdays at work. As usual, I got no suggestions. After a little bit of prying and prodding I was able to get a suggestion for pistachio or chocolate hazelnut. While both sound fantastic to me, and my Hazelnut Kahlua Nutella cupcakes were some of my favorite, I opted out of those fearing other people may not be too keen on them. Finally, it hit me! I've been dying to make these Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes for AGES! So I did. I didn't get to do the cookie dough frosting though. Doubling the recipe for the cupcakes cleaned me out of my brown sugar. Light and Dark.

Fantastic. Everyone loved these and they were a great big hit. I even ate one of my own creations! I usually don't have one of my cupcakes, and I am not really sure why, but this time I did and it was wonderful. I loved it. I definitely suggest that anyone looking to impress people with a cupcake should try these. They may be time consuming but they are pretty easy. People will really appreciate the creativity and yumminess that goes into these.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes
recipes found on Hello Baker

Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Alton Brown
yields 30 balls and a lot of mini cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter
2-1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

*** Roll approximately 30 balls of dough into the size of a marble (you can do larger if you want, just compensate by adding less cupcake batter in the end) and freeze the balls until ready for cupcakes ***

*** If you want to make mini cookies, scoop out dime sized pieces of cookie dough and bake for about 7-10 minutes ***

Brown Sugar Cupcakes
from Cupcake Bakeshop
yields appx. 30 cupcakes

1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 C milk
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds after each.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
Measure out milk and vanilla together.
Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.
Add about one third the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined.
Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.
Place previously prepared frozen cookie dough ball (mine were fairly big) into cup liners, then fill about half to three-quarters full of cupcake batter.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched. (Testing by using a toothpick would be insufficient because of the gooey cookie dough in the center).

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Frosting
recipe by Me
yields enough to frost all cupcakes

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
3 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3/4 C mini chocolate chips

1. Cream together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add in vanilla beat paste and beat together until incorporated.
3. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
4. Stir in mini chocolate chips and frost cooled cupcakes.

Cupcakes in Arizona: Cake Cafe

2009-02-02T10:40:00.000-08:00

I went to this place ages ago, except I didn't have a blog then, so I didn't review it. I am now. First I will start off with the appearance of the Cake Cafe. Glenn and I spotted this place in a generic looking strip mall that had some balloons and a sign out front advertising the new bakery. Awesome! We went inside and we're turned off by all the tacky gifts lining the wall. The place looks like a 12 year old girl decorated it, and that's not a good thing. The display for the "Famous Cupcakes" was really small, one of those clear containers you usually see with muffins or bagels inside them. It really looked like an afterthought.

Now these "Famous Cupcakes" have got me stumped as to where the name came from. I'm not sure who decided these were famous, but I can't really vouch for that. I got a peanut butter chocolate cupcake and Glenn got a chocolate mint cupcake. Having just been back from Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica about a month prior, we were eager to recreate the flavors we had there. Mission not accomplished. My chocolate cake was dry and tasted off. Reviews on Yelp suggest that this is because they used cake mix, and I have to agree. That's probably it. The frosting however, I liked because it was super sweet and peanut buttery. The grainy texture was a little irritating, but the flavor was still good. Opponents of super sweet will not enjoy these. Glenn also had a chocolate cake and the accompanying "off" taste. He also wasn't sure if the mint was in the cake as well as in the frosting. He enjoyed the frosting, but quoted Yummy Cupcakes as being far superior.

I'm sorry Cake Cafe. I really want to like you. I try to support local business, but only if they are putting out a product Arizona can be proud of. Try making your cakes from scratch and taking them out of the oven a few minutes earlier. Those simple tips can do wonders for your business. Until then, I will continue to make my own cupcakes.

Not Too Pretty

2009-01-28T06:18:00.000-08:00

These certainly won't be winning any beauty contests anytime soon. In fact, I think they kinda look like poo. Really. Moving on...

Sometimes, or all the time if you are like me, you just need to have some sweets. Especially if you are watching Jack Bauer kickin butt on 24. You have to keep your blood sugar up just to watch the show. Of course I didn't have anything on Monday, so I had to make something. The only quick and instantly gratifying thing I could think of was to make cookies. That way we could eat a little dough to satisfy us for the time being, and then bake the cookies later. Perfect plan. I even had a recipe bookmarked that I wanted to try.

These were pretty easy cookies to make, and they didn't require a lot of bowls and cups. That is ALWAYS a good thing. (I'm trying to be more conscious of how many dishes I create because I can't always dump clean up on Glenn.) To make these more (or less I should say) interesting, and more palatable for Glenn, I subbed peanut butter chips for the white chocolate chips called for in the recipe, and I omitted the cloves (ewww.)

These cookies turned out great. I loved the substitution of the peanut butter chips, it really balanced out the richness of all the chocolate. I would definitely recommend making these cookies.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
recipe from Food Network

1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C (1 stick) butter
6 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60%)
2 large eggs
1 yolk
1 C packed brown sugar (I used 2/3 dark and 1/3 light)
1 T vanilla extract
1 C semisweet chocolate chips
1 C peanut butter chips

In a small bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. Using a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add bittersweet chocolate and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and allow the rest of the chocolate to melt.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and vanilla until no clumps remain. Pour in chocolate/butter mixture and whisk until smooth. Stir the flour mixture in using small additions. Try to incorporate the flour mixture as quickly as possible without overmixing. Gently stir in the chocolate and peanut butter chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to scoop. Overnight works really well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray) and scoop dough into balls about the size of ping pong balls (1-1.5 oz each). Place each ball about 1.5-2 inches apart. Bake for about 13-15 minutes. The top should look dry and may start to crack. Allow cookies to cool on a rack.

Birthday Cupcakes: Strawberry Filled Lemon Cupcakes

2009-01-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

Yay! It's birthday time in the office again. Funny thing is, no one told me about it. I noticed an email the day of the supposed party, but no one asked me to make cupcakes. Then 20 minutes after the party was supposed to happen, our Assistant Principal of Operations and Resources went off on a rant with our School Secretary saying that I need to be the official birthday baker. Wait, what? I thought I already was? Confusing. Turns out I am now, or still am. Whatever. He gave me some money to finish out the rest of the year's birthdays, so here I am making cupcakes for the January birthdays.

As usual, when it came to deciding what kind of cupcakes to make, I asked for suggestions. The only one I got was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a request to make it filled. Then when admin heard about it, they shot down the chocolate. In light of my parents bringing me a billion bags of citrus, I suggested lemon, that way I could use up some of the beautiful lemons my parents brought me. Lemon it was. Then on the way home I decided to do a strawberry puree filling, much to Glenn's chagrin. Oh yeah, there is a lemon cream cheese frosting too.

Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Filling
yield 30 cupcakes

3 C all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 C sugar
4 eggs
3/4 C milk
1/2 C sour cream
3 T lemon zest (appx 2 lemons)
1/4 C lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line 30 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 3 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating very well after each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix together milk and sour cream in another bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the milk/sour cream. Mix until well incorporated. Add lemon zest and lemon juice, mixing just until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups to about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
Strawberry Puree
yield appx 2 1/2 cups

1 1/2 lbs. strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1/4 C sugar

Puree strawberries in a food processor. Pour into a saucepan and add sugar. Cook at medium to high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Allow to cool before filling.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
yield enough to generously frost 30 cupcakes

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
3 T fresh lemon juice
5-7 C powdered sugar

Beat together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add in 2-3 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Blend in the lemon juice. Add the remaining powdered sugar according to your own consistency preference.

Football Playoff Cupcakes

2009-01-17T21:43:00.000-08:00

Wow. Who would have ever thought that I would be making cupcakes for a football playoff viewing get together? I really hate football. I find it a stupid boring sport with very little athleticism involved. To top off my hatred, I really can't stand their playoff system. There is no way you can truly determine the best in the NFL in so few games! Oh well, that's why I don't watch it. This time, I will, but only because Glenn accepted an invitation from a coworker of his who invited us over. I'll get over it.

I wasn't sure what kind of cupcakes I was going to make, but Glenn suggested I decorate them to look like a field, with green frosting (grass) and white lines (the yard lines). I thought it sounded like a good idea. Then I wanted to put a football of some sort on them. Since I don't have a mini football cookie cutter we went to the baking supply store to find something. We searched and searched in there and came up empty handed. It looked as though they'd been cleaned out in anticipation. Feeling defeated, I got in line to pay. Then, of course, I glance over and notice a rather large display with all the football crap. Ugh. I grabbed some sugar footballs and was on my way.

I finally decided on German Chocolate cupcakes. This decision was based mostly on the fact that I planned on enjoying these, and I wanted a different kind of chocolate this time. I've made German Chocolate cupcakes before, for my Baseball Cupcakes World Series actually, and I LOVED them. I thought I just used the recipe on the box of the German Chocolate baking bar. I did not. That explains why I didn't remember beating egg whites separately and then adding them later. Aside from the shrinkage that always happens when I fold in egg whites (why is that?) they still taste wonderful. I just love the smooth sweet flavor of the German Chocolate. Yum. This is the recipe I followed this time. For the other recipe, that in my opinion produced better cupcakes, go here.

German Chocolate Cupcakes
yield 16 cupcakes

2 oz Baker's German's Chocolate (1/2 pkg)
1/4 C water
1 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 pinches salt
1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened
1 C sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 16 standard sized muffin cups with liners. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a medium to large sized bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Microwave the water and chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Add vanilla and chocolate/water to the creamed mixture. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold in to chocolate batter. Fill tins 2/3 full and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cupcake Wednesdays: Pina Colada Cupcakes

2009-01-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

Pineapple and coconut are hard to mess up. They compliment each other perfectly with the sweet/tartness of pineapples and the sugar sweetness of coconut. Since these were the first cupcakes I would be bringing to work after our winter break, I thought I would do something a little different. Plus, it is about time I expanded my repertoire. Pina Colada cupcakes it was.

The recipe I began using seemed pretty good, but then I realized that there were no eggs. That would be fine, but I didn't seem to find any other stabilizing ingredient in there so I added a couple eggs. The batter tasted really good actually, sweet and pineapply. I was sure these would be great. They rose pretty well in the oven and retained very low domes. The taste test was a let down though. Don't get me wrong, I don't think these are bad. Glenn does. They just need a lot of work. I want the pineapple flavor to be strong. I want the coconut to just peek through. I want the frosting to be a standout. I got the frosting part right. I added pineapple and coconut flavored rums to a cream cheese frosting base and got a perfectly smooth icing out of it. I rolled the tops in coconut to make them pretty. These still aren't what I am looking for. I will certainly be tweaking this recipe so I can have a hands down hardcore awesome Pina Colada Cupcake recipe. Until then, these will work just fine.

Everyone at work who tried one seemed to love them. I got lots of compliments. The coconut was a turn off to some people. Other people, like one of the counselors I work with, had 4 or 5. He usually eats 2 or 3 so I am not sure if that means anything.

Pina Colada Cupcakes
yield 24-30 cupcakes

(1)
1/4 C Malibu Coconut rum
1/4 C Parrot Bay Pineapple rum
1 1/4 C crushed pineapple
1 C coconut milk
1/2 C oil
2 T vinegar
1/3 C pineapple juice
4 eggs

(2)
2 C sugar
2 2/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Extra coconut for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 - 12 cup muffin pans with liners. In a medium to large bowl, whisk together all of (1) until thoroughly combined. In a large bowl whisk together all of (2). Add all of (2) to (1) and whisk until combined and very smooth. Distribute batter into muffin cups, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 20-24 minutes. Allow to cool then frost cupcakes and garnish with coconut.

Rummy Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
2 1/2 T Malibu Coconut rum
2 T Parrot Bay Pineapple rum
2 C powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl until smooth and creamy. Add more or less rum to taste (this is already fairly strong) and add more or less powdered sugar according to your desired texture.

Pocketful of Zest

2009-01-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

My parents live in a neighborhood that was previously inhabited by a very productive citrus grove. Then, like every other neighborhood in the East Valley, some developers came in and decided to get rid of all of it. Fortunately, they struck a deal with the land owners that required all lots to retain at least 2 citrus trees. Most lots have 5 or 6. My parents however, have 12. I think, give or take one. Funny thing is, the neighborhood is called Orangewood and my parents do not have a single orange tree in their yard. They have some grapefruit trees, some tangelo trees, and even a little lemon tree they planted a while back. It's just refreshing to see a little bit of preservation in a city that generally eliminates everything in its path in order to make more houses.

This weekend my brother Jeff stayed the night with Glenn and I, and my parents dropped him off because they happened to be seeing the show Chicago at the theater a block from our house. Before they left, my dad asked if we wanted any grapefruit. Glenn being the grapefruit lover and myself having a recipe with grapefruit to try, gave that a definite yes. Also, since the recipe required the zest of a grapefruit, and I just got a new Microplane zester, I was all over trying it (in case you were wondering, the Microplane was AMAZING, I want to zest everything now.) That being said, I made this grapefruit yogurt cake last night. Luckily I was able to get Glenn to eat the zested grapefruits so they didn't go to waste.

Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs
3 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest (approximately one large grapefruit)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup grapefruit juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and grapefruit juice and pour over the cake.

Food That Looks Like Food

2009-01-11T20:22:00.001-08:00

For some strange reason, and I am not sure why, I have a fascination with cookie cutters. I don't even make roll out cookies all that often! You could call my fascination and obsession and not be far off base. I have 12 clear shoe boxes underneath my bakers table that are packed with cookie cutters. Then I have a cute cookie jar with one cookie cutter for each month in the kitchen. Animals, food, holidays... you name it, I have a cutter for that. I love them all equally and have started to catalog them to prevent me from buying duplicates. Somehow I managed to avoid duplicating when I bought 24 new cutters at the Sur La Table sale. 56 cent cutters!!!

I think my obsession worsened when I got the book Cookie Craft for Christmas. All the beautifully decorated cookies in there are so inspiring, yet I still haven't made any like theirs, using the flooding technique. To my defense, I didn't have a key ingredient for stabilizing the icing, but I have since purchased some. I even have a few select cookies that I baked off that have been sitting on the counter ready to be expertly decorated when I have time. We will see. For now, you can see my food decorated like food cookies along with some animals and my favorite, the skull and crossbones. I started out strong, but started to get tired an hour and a half into it, and you can tell. These were made from my very favorite sugar cookie recipe, given to me by my mom. They are perfect, thick, soft sugar cookies that taste even better when given a healthy dose of your favorite frosting on top. Enjoy!

Mom's Sugar Cookies

(1)
1 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 C sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

(2)
4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Frosting
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C very soft butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix all of (1) together in a large bowl. Add all of (2) gradually. Refrigerate dough for an hour or 2. Roll out dough very thick, about 1/4 inch, and cut into shapes. Bake for 8-11 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Mix all frosting ingredients until very smooth. Frost and decorate cooled cookies.

Happy 2009!!!

2009-01-04T20:51:00.000-08:00

Where on earth does time go!?!? Happy New Year to all. I hope that 2009 brings everyone happiness and success in the kitchen (and out.) Now, anyone who knows me knows my feelings on "New Years Resolutions." They are awful, vile devices that set you up for disaster. It's just too much pressure. However, that being said, I think it is a safe and rather reasonable for me to make a couple blogging goals for '09. Goal number one: take better food photos. Goal number two: update blog(s) regularly, and I mean like at least twice a week. Finally, goal number three: create and maintain a new blog that is more informational.

So far, I'm working on it. I've been off of work for the past two weeks so it has been hard for me to do anything but be lazy. However, I have created that new blog and added one post to it, so we will see about maintenance part :o) Anyway, do me a favor and check it out. I would love to hear any thoughts, comments, or suggestions that you might have. Again, Happy New Year everyone. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year.

Cupcakes for Christmas!

2008-12-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, I'm a little late. Trust me, I have my reasons. Long story short: backed up sink = three hours with a plumber = sink being vacuumed out = the worst smell on earth = me on the verge of tears and vomit while frantically getting ready for our fourth annual Chrismakuh Party. So cut me some slack. Anyway, I did manage to make these cupcakes in time for the party, whew. These are my basic chocolate cupcake with a wonderfully sweet but tangy cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 C salted butter (the added salt is a nice complement)
1/2 C + 1 T Hershey's Special Dark cocoa sifted (I only had regular,boo)
3/4 C water
2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C buttermilk
1 1/2 T vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 12-cup muffin pans with liners and set aside. Over low heat, melt butter in a medium sized saucepan. While butter is melting, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. When butter is completely melted, add in cocoa and whisk until very smooth. Add in water and whisk again. Turn off heat and whisk in the sugar until the batter has a smooth appearance. Add in the buttermilk and vanilla extract, whisking again. Add in one egg at a time, whisking until thoroughly combined after each addition. Very slowly add in the dry ingredient mixture, whisking very well after each addition (this batter tends to clump up, and it is essential to get it as smooth as possible). Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full (flat tops) to 2/3 full (domes) and bake for 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake will come out with a few crumbs clinging to it or completely clean when they are done. Allow to cool on a wire rack completely before filling and frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting 8 oz cream cheese
1 T vanilla bean paste
4 T milk
2-3 C powdered sugar (it all depends on how you like it)

Allow cream cheese to soften beforehand. Beat cream cheese until it's as fluffy as you can possibly get it. Add vanilla bean paste and milk and beat some more. Add powdered sugar gradually until you reach the desired consistency. At this point, you may want to add more milk or more sugar, you make the call. Beat everything together until smooth and creamy.

Granola Does A Body Good

2008-12-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

Granola is typically good for you. Not the kind that I like though. I like the sweet crap. The sweeter the better. Fresh and Easy has really good granola, but I was in the mood for something really sweet and satisfying for my ever constant sweet tooth. I had bookmarked a recipe for cocoa coconut granola that sounded really tasty to me, but I didn't have all the ingredients. Instead, I was inspired to create my own, thus spawning my wildly unhealthy but oh so tasty personal blend of granola. Behold, I present you with Peanut Butter Chocolate Coconut Granola (with white chocolate chips sprinkled in) That's a mouthful. Let's just call it Super PBCC Granola.

Super PBCC Granola
note: this could probably use a little bit more honey, but I was running low as it is; also, feel free to raise the oven temperature to get crispier granola faster (I think i overbaked some parts of my granola, but it is still super yummy)

(1)
3 C rolled oats (the fat kind, not the instant crumbly looking stuff)
1 C rice krispies
1 C corn flakes (break them up a little bit)
1 C coconut (sweetened is better)
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

(2)
1/3 C honey
2 T vegetable oil
2 T butter
2/3 C chocolate chips
1/2 C peanut butter

2/3 C white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a large baking pan (it needs to have a lip around all the edges) Combine all of (1) in a large bowl until well mixed. In a small saucepan combine all of (2) and heat over low heat until it is very warm. When mixture is warmed, drizzle over dry ingredients and stir to thoroughly combine. I used my hands to do this, it seemed easier. Spread evenly over baking pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring at 15 minute intervals. Allow granola to cool until it is slightly warm. Stir in white chocolate chips and then finish cooling in a refrigerator.

A Cookie Class!

2008-12-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

Last month or so I got an email from somebody in the school district announcing the annual Holiday Cookie Class. Hmmmm, sounds very appealing. December 8th, 3:30-6:30 pm, at Independence High School. Learn from an accomplished baker and take home 14 dozen cookies for 55 bucks. I immediately asked my mom if she wanted to go, but she works till 6 every Thursday. Boo. I just didn't want to go by myself, so I just set my hope of going on a faraway shelf.

About a week ago, one of the secretaries in the attendance office asked if I had heard about it. Ummm, yeah. She asked if I wanted to go with her! YAY! I talked to Glenn and wrote my check and sent it through interoffice mail. Hooray. December 4th is now here and I am excited. I even get to leave work 30 minutes early. The tentative list of cookies we will be making is as follows: Blackberry and Oatmeal Bar Cookie; Chewy Ginger Cookies; Dark Chocolate and Mint Crackle Cookies; Spritz Cookies; Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies; Mocha Double Chocolate Chip Cookies; Key Lime Holiday Cookies; Styx and Stones; Chocolate and Mint Bark; Peanut Brittle; Peanut Butter Balls; South of the Border Balls; Rum Balls; Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Wow! That's a lot. Granted a good portion of those aren't technically cookies, it is sure to be a fun class. I will update later with photos and a class recap.

*** Update *** I'm truly sorry to report that the class was a HUGE disappointment to me.

Let's start off with the good. It was very well organized, with the mise en place already taken care of for each recipe. We were given the complete recipe book ahead of time. We got to bring home a ton of cookies at the end of the time. We started relatively close to the start time.

Now for the bad (it's a long list) the recipes were left in huge quantities and not reduced down to normal production sizes. I mean, who has the means and space to make 30 dozen cookies at home?!?! The class size was too large. With so many people there, a lot of people were stuck "assisting" like I was, opening bags and scooping out jars. Seems a bit silly to me. The chef only read the recipes to everyone in the very beginning and said go. Excuse me? Shouldn't you be sharing techniques and tips with us? I can read very well thank you. Half of the recipes were no-bakes. I came to the class to make cookies, not stir a bowl of stuff and then stick it on a pan. There is no talent or technique to be found in making a no bake cookie. We took lots of stuff home, but most of it was no good. Let me break it down for you:
Blackberry and Oatmeal Bar Cookie - they were well done and baked well, but a little plain in flavor. The group that did these did a good job
Chewy Ginger Cookies - these were overbaked, causing the molasses to take on a weird smokey/burnt flavor, overall not bad, but definitely not very good.
Dark Chocolate and Mint Crackle Cookies - certainly the prettiest of the bunch. I noticed it was a difficult dough to work with, but the ladies did a nice job. There's fresh mint in them.
Spritz Cookies - Cute to look at, but boring in flavor and a bit on the dry side.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies - done well, but the recipe is for a cookie that is way too cakey for my liking. I preferred the ones I made for Thanksgiving.
Mocha Double Chocolate Chip Cookies - I hate coffee and won't try these, but they are completely flat and a few are overbaked. They seem fairly plain though.
Key Lime Holiday Cookies - Glenn says they were made of zorbees. I said it was like a sahara desert in my mouth. The lime flavor is nowhere to be found.
Styx and Stones -the ONE cookie I made. A no bake. It was too sticky and never set up properly. Taste wise it is decent, but nothing special.
Chocolate and Mint Bark - A definite favorite. Out of all the stuff that was made, Glenn requested I get rid of everything but leave the bark at home. I'm working on it.
Peanut Brittle - they did a good job with this one. It doesnt stick to your teeth, but the flavor is lacking. It's a bit plain.
Peanut Butter Balls - SALTY.
South of the Border Balls - poorly written recipe. The lady I helped with this was so frustrated because she did everything right, but the recipe was mush. She couldn't roll it in to proper balls. It's a coffee flavor, but too heavy. Glenn had one last night and spit it out. He got an upset stomach from sampling.
Rum Balls - Done well, but I don't like the taste.
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies - another no-bake. Weird gummy texture because of the melted marshmallow.

I am very sorry that I just lined someone's pockets with my 55 hard earned dollars. The class was a waste of my money. Instead of giving all of this to my neighb0rs for our yearly holiday treat plates, I brought these to school in hopes that I could get rid of it all. I didn't learn anything. I didn't bring home any useful recipes that I don't have to breakdown into tenths. I was totally looking forward to this class, but was very let down.

Glenn says I should just do my own next year. Have a cupcake class. I think that is a good idea, but I'm afraid I am not a very good teacher. I'm trying to set a cupcake party up with my mom, maybe I can practice there.

BOTTOM LINE - DONT GO TO THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE PRESENTED WITH THE OPPORTUNITY

Let's Make Whoopie... But Not Really

2008-12-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

What is with the name Whoopie Pies? When I told Glenn and my brother what these were called, they both laughed at me. Quite honestly, it's embarrassing to say. That's probably because on the old Newlywed Game the host always talked about "makin whoopie." Ewww.... what a creepy thing to say. I really am curious where on earth the name for these cookies came from. Let's see if Wikipedia has anything to say about these.

Unfortunately, wiki is really of no help other than telling me that the cookies are of Pennsylvania Dutch origin and are commonly known as "gobs." Okay, what else can we find?

What's Cooking America gives us a little more in depth account of these strangely named "pies." These treats are more like cake than they are cookies or pies. They are traditionally very large, almost hamburger sized. People in Maine like to claim that they were weaned on Whoopie Pies (obviously these are very well loved there.) The most common flavor is chocolate but people love to experiment with seasonal flavors. An interesting fact is that an authentic whoopie pie is made with vegetable shortening and not butter. Yuck. I will stick with butter. In an effort to be economical, the Amish people originally made these using leftover batter. And finally, according to Amish legend, when Amish children discovered these treats in their lunch bags, they shouted "Whoopie!"

And there you have it my friends. I have to say I feel better knowing all that. I just knew it had to have some sort of interesting origin. It's a strange name. I actually kinda sorta like it now. Anyway, my inspiration for making these was a lone can of pumpkin in the pantry and my mom wondering why I wasn't bringing dessert to dinner, when she assumed it was a given. As a side note, I was told my dad freaked out when he heard I wasn't bringing anything and ran out to the store and bought two pies. I was told I didn't need to because Glenn's mom was taking care of everything. I decided to make them Thanksgiving morning about 2 hours before we left. Yay!

I whipped these up really quickly. From start to finish, I think it only took me an hour and a half, and that includes cooling and assembly. The batter is really easy to mix together, the filling is easy, cooktime is short, and if you throw them in the fridge, cooling time is fast too. These really are nice little treats. They are simple, soft, and sweet. It's nice to have a quick standby if you ever need to make something a tad bit more impressive than plain ol cookies.

Recipe from Cooking with Anne

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies
Note: I scooped mine smaller and ended up with about 2 dozen 50 cent piece sized complete "pies" I also did not have pumpkin pie spice so I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg.

Cakes:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1/2 stick butter
4 oz. cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix together melted butter, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, pie spice and eggs until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well until a thick batter forms. Drop by spoonful onto parchment lined cookie sheets. You need 24 cakes for 12 pies. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 - 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cakes comes out clean. Cool completely and make filling.

Blend softened butter and cream cheese with vanilla. Add powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread on 12 cakes and top each with another cake.

Turkey Day Corncakes

2008-11-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

Well, sorry, but the name for these sucks. They aren't really cupcakes, but I suppose that all depends on your definition of cupcakes. I prefer to define them as solely sweet treats, but to each his own.

I'm not sure why I decided to make these, or even what inspired me. It may have been while I was reading Hello, Cupcake and saw the decorating ideas for the fake TV dinner. Then I thought of mashed potatoes, and how I could make "frosting" out of that. Then I thought that cornbread would make a good base for a cake. Then add turkey, a little cranberry, and voila! You have Thanksgiving Day in a Cup!!! Maybe I will call them that instead.

The more I thought about these, the worse of an idea it became in my mind. Cold mashed potatoes are nasty, and so is the crust that they get after being left out in the open air for too long. So I made a compromise. Stick with the original idea, but instead of "frosting" them, I will do the cone method and fill them with a cranberry chutney. I don't even know what chutney is really, but I will make something up. All I know is I should cook the cranberries and add some spices and sugar. Anyway, check it out. You can't say no to T-Day in a Cup.

Thanksgiving Day in a Cup

"Cupcake" Base
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
2/3 C sugar
1/2 C cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 C milk
2 eggs
1/3 C oil
3 T butter, melted
3/4 C deli meat turkey, chopped
extra sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 18 standard sized muffin cups or lightly spray with cooking spray and line with paper liners. Set aside

In a medium sized bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. In a separate, smaller bowl, thoroughly combine all the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing well. The batter will be slightly lumpy. Gently stir in the chopped turkey.

Scoop batter into muffin cups until they are 2/3 full. Do not overfill as this batter is fairly runny and will spill over if overfilled. If desired, sprinkle extra sugar on top for a little crunch (I like to use raw sugar). Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cranberry Chutney
2 C whole cranberries, washed and drained
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1 1/2 T water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ginger

Stir all ingredients together in a small saucepan until cranberries are coated. Cook over medium to high heat for 10-20 minutes. Depending on the consistency you want, the less it is cooked, the more solid the cranberries will be and the sauce will be more liquid. The more it is cooked, the mushier the cranberries will be, but the sauce will be thick and slightly gelatinous.

Assembly

Cut a small 1 inch diameter conical shape out of the top of the cakes. See here to better understand the "cone method" of filling cupcakes. You can choose to cut off the pointy part or you can just smoosh it into the cake a little bit and not waste anything.

Using a very small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, fill the cake centers with cranberry chutney and replace the top of the cake. These can be served warm or at room temperature. A quick microwave can bring back nostalgic memories of T-Days past.

Another Order!

2008-11-25T07:23:00.000-08:00

Last night, I got sucked in to the world of Oprah. I have to admire the woman for being so generous. There aren't enough filthy rich people who freely give to the poor people like me. Last night she had someone do some home makeovers for people in need. Then, thinking out loud, I said that Oprah should give me my bakery. Glenn said I should send her some cupcakes. Hmm... not a bad idea. I think I might actually make cupcakes and send them to Oprah sometime.

Right now I am getting really frustrated with certain things. I want a bakery so bad it hurts. I spend every moment thinking about how I want to design the inside, what I want it to look like, what I want to name my cupcakes... you get the idea. It's all nice to think about until you feel like your dream keeps floating away. This stuff costs money. A lot of money actually. I don't have that money. I can't get a loan, at least not right now. My patience is terrible. Then I go and watch shows like Kitchen Nightmares and see people having restaurants they don't deserve to have. If I had a fraction of their money, I could have my bakery and thrive. It's all I want right now. Actually, for once in my life, it is something I am 100% sure of. Well, I take that back, because I had no doubts about my husband. But as far as material things go, this is it. This is what I want to do with my life. This is what I love.

I really needed to get that out there. My husband can only hear me say it so many times. He's so supportive, and I think he wants it as bad as I do. His reasoning may be different, but ultimately, he wants to make me happy. I'm so lucky. I suppose I should stop complaining.

I get so excited when someone asks if they can "hire" me to make cupcakes for them. It's so exciting and it kind of validates my love of baking. One of my coworkers, Joette, asked if I could make her a dozen cupcakes for T-Day for her. I didn't really have to ask what kind she wanted, because I already knew her answer. Red Velvet. Yay, I love tasting the leftover batter. It's so tangy and sweet and perfect.

Here's the recipe for the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting that I am making for Joette. Hooray 15 bucks for 12 cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 Tablespoons red food coloring (you can omit this, I usually do)
1 teaspoon white vinegar (lemon juice is okay too)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

Muffins for My Stud Muffin

2008-11-23T16:38:00.001-08:00

A long time ago I found this chocolate lovers cookbook for $5 at Borders. Of course I bought it. After going through it in the car, I decided it definitely wasn't worth any more than what I paid for it. One recipe did catch my eye, combining two of my favorite things, Peanut Butter and Chocolate. I made the muffins, I ate the muffins, and I did not like the muffins. They were too bland, not sweet enough, and they just gunked up my palate. There was a positive though, because Glenn liked them. He actually liked them a lot and he still thinks to this day that I am absolutely crazy because I think these muffins are awful.

Now you definitely want to try them don't you? These will certainly appeal to some people. I have a serious sweet tooth, and the sweeter it is, the better it is for breakfast. These are hearty and dense muffins, so be prepared.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Muffin Cakes

2 C self rising flour
1/3 C raw sugar
1 1/2 C dark chocolate bits
1 egg
1 C crunchy peanut butter
2 T strawberry jam
1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter, melted
3/4 C milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir raw sugar and chocolate bits into the flour until combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, melted butter, milk, jam, and peanut butter. Mix thoroughly.

Make a well in the center of the bowl with the flour and pour in the liquid mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir everything together until combined. Be careful not to overmix or muffins will be very tough.

Scoop equal portions of dough into the muffin cups. The recipe makes enough for 12 muffins. The cups can be filled completely to the top as this is a very sturdy muffin and will not spill over.

For a nice crunch, I like to sprinkle raw sugar over the tops of the muffins and lightly press down.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

It's Never Too Early For Chocolate

2008-11-20T18:23:00.001-08:00

I feel like I have been slacking with the baking. It is quite taxing to look at my coworkers everyday when they walk by my office, look around, and then give me the puppy dog face. Why the puppy dog face? Well, I don't always bring in goodies. I know, I am absolutely awful. Today was especially bad though because it was a rough day at work for EVERYONE. First thing this morning, all the computers weren't working. Then, around lunch time, we had a lovely drug scandal to deal with. I swear, kids are so stupid. I decided that Friday would be a good day to have a pick me up for everyone.

After sending Glenn three links for muffins containing chocolate, he chose the one from Nigella Lawson. I've never actually tried any of her recipes before, so this was my first time. Apparently she is British and the recipe on foodnetwork's website is converted from metric measurements. (seriously, why do we have to be the odd ones out in the states and use stupid things like cups and inches? why can't we be normal like everyone else in the world and do meters and grams?) I looked through the comments on the recipe to confirm that these were good and I should try them, and instead I get a bunch of complainers who say that the recipe is wrong and should actually be 1 3/4 C sugar, and that the conversion is wrong. Ummm, say what now? There is plenty of sugar in these muffins... they are muffins after all, not cupcakes. Whatever, I made the recipe as written and these are nice and fluffy muffins with plenty of melty chocolate bites. I was a bit deceived though, because I thought these were double chocolate, but really, the batter is a light chocolate flavor meant to enhance the chocolate chips. These are perfectly not too sweet and chocolatey, perfect for breakfast.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 cup milk
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Special equipment: Muffin tin with paper muffin cases

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl. Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 (I suggest a minute or two shorter in time) minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

Everything Is Black and White

2008-11-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

Our drain backed up again for like the millionth time. Funny thing is, it only seems to back up when I actually do the dishes. I swear I don't do it on purpose. Anyway, I wanted to bake tonight, but a backed up drain makes it really difficult to clean dishes afterwards, so I wasn't sure if I was going to go forward. We went to safeway and bought a bottle of liquid plumber. (Did you know you have to use the WHOLE bottle?!?!) After pouring it down the sink, a couple hours later the back up was back down. Hmmm... I guess I will be doing dishes after all.

The drain is the reason I made cookies and not cupcakes today. Cupcakes are time consuming, but worth it. However, since I have not been sleeping well, I decided to do something that would not require me to be up all night since I wasn't getting started until roughly 7 pm. The cookies took me an hour. Yay.

These cookies are wickedly chocolate in flavor (it uses a cup and a quarter of cocoa!) with a nice touch of super sweetness every time you bite into a white chocolate chip. This is one of my favorite kinds of cookie. My favorite is from Paradise Bakery actually, the yummy little chippers. I used to work there actually, and I had access to ALL of the recipes, but I am apparently too stupid to have written the best ones down. Oh well. These are great cookies, you should try them, and they are really easy to make too.

One more thing. I have discovered the amazing baking ingredient that is Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa. Even better is I have discovered it for only $2.34 at Super Target. But now to the bad news. I only bought one container to try for a certain recipe a while ago. That is when I realized how much I was missing by using regular cocoa. So I went back to Target, and guess what. No HSDC. I ask the boy and he says they receive new stock the next day. We go in a couple days later, no HSDC. GRRRR... I'm getting angry now. I have since been back to the same Target about 5 more times and every single time, no HSDC. I come to notice that they haven't even been restocking their regular cocoa. What is up with this? Hello!!!! Holiday baking people, we need HSDC! How frustrating. Whenever I see it in stock though, I am going to get all Supermarket Sweep on the shelf and just knock every single container of HSDC in my cart. I gotta stock up. Phew.... vent over.

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsps. baking soda
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheet.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addiction. Add the salt and vanilla.

3. In another bowl, combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda and gradually add to the creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until fluffy but still soft. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields about 36 cookies
Recipe Courtesy of Genesis of a Cook

Fourth of November?

2008-11-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

Last week one of the members of STUCO came up to me and asked if I would make cupcakes for them again. Sure, of course. I can't say no to a little extra cash flow.

Me: So, what do you want?
Kid: Um, we need 20.
Me: Okay, you want 20 cupcakes of what flavor??
Kid: Vanilla is cool.
Me: The same ones I made for homecoming?
Kid: Yeah, those are good.
Me: You guys are really boring, I have better flavors than vanilla. What do you want on it?
Kid: Just patriotic stuff... like red, white, and blue.
Me: ... Uh, like fourth of july patriotic?
Kid: Yeah, that's cool.
Me: ... Ok, I guess, I will have them ready tomorrow. Bring 14 bucks.

So yeah. They wanted patriotic cupcakes. I was weirded out. It's November now in case you haven't noticed. The colors of the season are more along the lines of orange, yellow, and brown. Whatever, they really really liked them. I was pretty pleased with the way they came out too. I thought they were cute.

By the way, the patriotic theme was apparently because last week was patriotic week. Okay... whatever. These kids are spoiled. I never got cupcakes in high school. Then again, we didn't have a cool baker like me :o)

Vanilla Cupcakes (yield 2 dozen)

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Beat butter for about a minute until it is light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time until they are incorporated. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk combined with vanilla and mix until incorporated. Repeat and end with the flour mixture. Spoon batter into lined muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Stick To It

2008-11-16T16:36:00.000-08:00

After all of the frivolous grocery shopping that Glenn and I did (spending 40 dollars, but saving 50, on nothing but soda, cream cheese, butter, and all sorts of baking chips) I decided it would be a good idea to put some of that cream cheese to use. At my bridal shower, what feels like a million years ago, my wonderful Gma gave me the Taste of Home Cookbook. While I do not cook, ever, the book contains a wealth of knowledge. It tells you all about different kinds of spices, cuts of meat, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes I just sit down and read all the random facts. Suffice it to say, I really only use the sections that have baking in them. Ever since I first opened the book though, I have wanted to make the Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake that is accompanied by a nice picture.

Well my friends, today I made that coffee cake. I even got to bust out my awesome food processor to make the crumb part, and that was fun. However, when I finished making the batter I was instructed by the all knowing book to put the batter in a greased springform pan, and spread the batter around and 2 inches up the sides. This was not good. The batter is SUPER sticky. I even put on some rubber gloves and greased 'em up with a ton of shortening, and still, it stuck to me. Then I thought to myself, there is no way I am going to get this batter to stick 2 inches up the pan. So I mushed and I mushed and I mushed until I had what sort of resembled crust going up the side of the pan. We'll see.

*** Update - This is really really tasty. However, the bread part of it cooks much faster than the cream cheese part. It oozes everywhere, but it tastes better all runny. I am going to adapt this into a muffin recipe so it is easier to handle and enjoy.

Here is the recipe for your own enjoyment, but don't say I didn't warn you about the stickiness.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

2 1/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3 T packed brown sugar (I added this in for personal reasons)
3/4 C cold butter

Mix flour and sugars together until well blended. Cut in cold butter until mixture forms crumbs. Remove 1 C and set aside to use as topping.

1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, sour cream, extract, and egg to the crumb mixture and mix well until a very thick batter forms. Pour into a greased 9 inch springform pan and push batter 2 inches up the sides (I will be impressed if you can actually manage that.) Set aside.

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 C preserves (raspberry in this case)

Mix cream cheese, sugar, and egg together in a small bowl until very smooth. Pour over the batter and smooth. Spoon preserves over cream cheese filling and spread. Sprinkle reserved crumbs over cake. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes.

I'm Getting Published!

2008-11-12T18:55:00.000-08:00

I WON!!!!!! Yay. It was really exciting. There were about ten or so entries into the contest, a few of which looked very good and/or interesting. There were three judges, City Councilman Mike Nowakowski, Sweet Pea Bakery owner Danielle Librera, and Monica of MacAlpines.

They said my combination of flavors were really interesting and that they worked very well together. I got lots of compliments and congratulations that night. I also won a $3o gift certificate to MacAlpines restaurant as well as my picture taken with the lovely judges and my recipe is going to be published in the Coronado Dispatch magazine. How exciting!

It was doubly nice because my mom and dad decided to show up to support me. Even cooler that they got to see me win! Anyway, I am just being self-congratulatory here, so humor me.

I Cheated

2008-11-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

Ever since watching one of those episodes with that Guy Fieri dude (or however you spell it) I have been determined to both make an authentic Philly Gooey Butter Cake as well as try one. I don't live in Philly, so I have convinced myself I will not taste an authentic one until next summer when we make a stop in Philly. As far as making one goes, I have weeded out all of the "cheater recipes" that use a cake mix and found one that seems authentic, at least to me based off of what I saw on the show. I know it at least has to have yeast in it.

Anyway, last night I discovered that Hulu has added the food network. I promptly watched anything and everything that sounded good to me. Also, for the first time I watched Paula Deen in action. What an interesting woman she is. The particular clip I watched was for Gooey Butter Cake, but the cheater way. Glenn was bugging me to make him something sweet, but we didn't have much in the house that would be quick for me to put together. It was 8:00pm. I asked him if he wanted the Gooey Butter Cake and he agreed. Well, I didn't have yellow cake mix so I used Devil's Food Cake mix instead. (I keep one of those in reserve at all times in case I get a craving for a certain, amazing cake.)

I cheated. So shoot me. I made the cake, which was super easy. It was boring though, mostly because I do like somewhat of a challenge. At least cleanup was easy. Here is the recipe as presented by Paula Deen. She encourages creativity in the way of adding random stuff to the filling, and in that particular clip she added a small can of pumpkin puree. Yum.

Gooey Butter Cake

Crust
1 box (18 1/4 oz.) cake mix (any flavor works)
1 stick (8 T) butter, melted
1 egg

Filling
1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 stick (8 T) butter, melted
1 box (16 oz.) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 pan. To make the crust, combine the cake mix, butter, and egg in a medium bowl and mix with an electric mixer until thoroughly combined. Press mixture into the greased pan and set aside. For the filling, first beat the cream cheese (you can use the same bowl) until it is smooth. Add the eggs, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Mix with electric mixer until very smooth. Pour filling over the crust. Tap the pan on the counter a couple times to get out any bubbles. Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes. It will still be a little jiggly when it is done. Do not overbake or your crust will dry out. Wait about 20 minutes before cutting and serving.

Desserts in the Desert

2008-11-05T20:31:00.000-08:00

On the first Friday of every month, Downtown Phoenix has an event called First Fridays. This is where all sorts of local artists and vendors come together in the heart of Phoenix to show off their craft. Glenn and I participated a while back with me selling jewelry and scarves and him selling his fantastic photos. It was our very first time, but we each sold something and made 50 bucks. Sweet! Since then, Phoenix has cracked down on it's vendor laws and what not, so First Fridays has become less of a free for all for everyone, and more of a centralized gathering. It's still really great, but I do miss the absolute mayhem of the older ones.

Anyway, that being said, there is also an event going on at that same time called 7th on 7th. There is going to be a dessert contest, to which Glenn "suggested" I participate. I am never one to back down on a competition, especially when I am working on getting my name out there so once I get my bakery up and running, people already know me. OH! By the way, here is my site for my soon to be bakery, location TBD, name: Seventh Inning Sweets. Cute huh? Glenn actually created the site, I am so proud of him. He's a stud.

Aside from that, my creation for this dessert contest is a chocolate cupcake with a pumpkin mousse filling and a dulce de leche frosting. I really hope this all tastes good together. I have no idea, it just sounded like a good seasonal idea. I went to the farmers market today in hopes that they would have pumpkin so I could boast that I used a local ingredient, but alas, they did not. Boo. The dulce de leche is cooking away and I just made the "mousse" and it is so yummy! I will share the recipe with you, that way you can say that you knew me way back when I was getting my start winning dessert contests. The winner gets their recipe published in one of our local magazines along with a gift card to a local business.

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 C salted butter (the added salt is a nice complement)
1/2 C + 1 T Hershey's Special Dark cocoa sifted (this kind tends to clump, A LOT)
3/4 C water
2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C buttermilk
1 1/2 T vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 12-cup muffin pans with liners and set aside. Over low heat, melt butter in a medium sized saucepan. While butter is melting, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside. When butter is completely melted, add in cocoa and whisk until very smooth. Add in water and whisk again. Turn off heat and whisk in the sugar until the batter has a smooth appearance. Add in the buttermilk and vanilla extract, whisking again. Add in one egg at a time, whisking until thoroughly combined after each addition. Very slowly add in the dry ingredient mixture, whisking very well after each addition (this batter tends to clump up, and it is essential to get it as smooth as possible). Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full (flat tops) to 2/3 full (domes) and bake for 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake will come out with a few crumbs clinging to it or completely clean when they are done. Allow to cool on a wire rack completely before filling and frosting.

Pumpkin Mousse Filling
1 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C milk
1/4 C vanilla pudding (about 1/2 a packet in a 3.4 oz pacakge)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
8 oz container cool whip, thawed

In a medium bowl combine the pumpkin puree, milk, pudding, and spices. Mix well with an electric mixer on medium for 1 minute. Spoon the cool whip on top of the pumpkin mix. Very gently fold cool whip into the pumpkin.

Dulce De Leche (store bought works as well as caramel ice cream topping)
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

Empty can of sweetened condensed milk into a pie plate or shallow baking dish. Place dish in the middle of a larger baking dish (a roasting pan works best.) Fill outer pan with water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the center dish. Tightly cover the center dish with aluminum foil. Bake at 425 degrees F for 60-75 minutes. When finished it will be a caramel brown color. (the longer it "caramelizes" the deeper and richer the flavor)

Dulce De Leche Frosting
1 stick butter (I prefer salted for this job)
1/3 C dulce de leche
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 T milk
2-2 1/2 C powdered sugar (you may use more or less depending on how you like your frosting)

In a medium bowl, combine butter, dulce de leche, vanilla, and milk. Mix until well blended with an electric mixer. In half cup increments, add the powdered sugar until completely mixed in. Do this until the frosting is at the desired consistency. Spread on cooled cupcakes.

Bwah Ha Ha Ha!

2008-11-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

Again, yes, I am excrutiatingly late on the posting. But hey, I'm still doing it right? That get's me credit. I just wanted to post these darling little creations that I made the night before Halloween. They took FOREVER to make, but they are just too cute! It was my first attempt, so some parts are a bit shoddy, but I am pretty proud of myself for getting them to even look this good. As the night wore on though, I apparently skimped on some details in an effort to get to bed at a semi-reasonable hour. I don't have any recipes to share for this because I honestly don't remember which ones I used. The cupcake is just a chocolate cake and the frosting is a simple buttercream (the kind with powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and butter... and cocoa). By the way, this idea came from the Wilton Cupcake Fun book. There are so many cute ideas in there. You should pick it up sometime if you get a chance.

Happy Halloween... A Few Days Late

2008-11-04T11:33:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what is happening to me, but I am so overwhelmed with pretty much everything at the moment. I am waaayyyyy behind in blogging! Anyway, I made Halloween sugar cookies the day before Halloween. They are my absolute favorite recipe in the entire world. They are soft, light, just sweet enough, and thick. Yum. I hesitate sharing it because I would hate if someone defiled my mom's delicious recipe. I will be a good blogger though, and share it with you. Proceed with caution.

Mom's Sugar Cookies

(1)
1 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 C sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

(2)
4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Frosting
3 C powdered sugar
1/3 C very soft butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 T milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix all of (1) together in a large bowl. Add all of (2) gradually. Refrigerate dough for an hour or 2. Roll out dough very thick, about 1/4 inch, and cut into shapes. Bake for 8-11 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Mix all frosting ingredients until very smooth. Frost and decorate cooled cookies.

I Am NOT On the Bacon Train

2008-11-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

My little brother's (well not so little anymore, he's 17) birthday was November 2nd, and I decided to finally make the Bacon Chocolate Cupcakes that I have been dying to try. What better person to experiment on than my own bacon loving brother? I actually bought him a whole box of bacon stuff for Christmas last year... bacon wallet, bacon bandaids, bacon bacon bacon. So yeah, my bro loves bacon.

These were fairly simple cupcakes to pull together, requiring only 15 or so minutes of my time in preparation. The batter is amazing, and quite possibly the best chocolate batter I have ever tasted. While I was doing that, Glenn was cooking the bacon for me and dry heaving over the thought of chocolate and bacon. I didn't taste the batter post bacon addition though. They baked up absolutely beautiful. They had nice round domes and were quite springy to the touch. I think I have a winner here.

The frosting, oh the frosting... Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa is my new best friend. That stuff makes the most INCREDIBLE chocolate frosting I have ever had. So rich and chocolate and sinful. I loved it. I was kind of in a rush to finish and frost the cupcakes, so I didn't really get to play with the frosting and tweak it like I usually do, but followed exactly, the recipe is amazing.

I finally bought one of those awesome little 1M tips for frosting and I love it. Those swirls are just so pretty, I cannot get over it. After I frosted the cupcakes I put an assortment of plastic "toys" on the tops of them. I wanted all piggies but the cake decorating shop was all out and only had the combo farm animal bags. I stuck a nursing mama pig on one, a lizard on another (to represent my Bro's iguana), a fish (his love of fishing) and then a Happy Birthday pick of course.

Once we finally got around to giving Jeff his cupcakes, he took a bite and we all stared. A little weirded out by this staring, Jeff started to laugh and became overly cautious about eating these "mystery cupcakes." I forgot to add I didn't tell them what kind they were. When we asked them if he could taste something special in them he said "I dunno." When directed to take a hint from the pig on the cupcake, he said "milk?" Needless to say I about died from laughter after hearing that. Finally he crunched into a hearty piece of bacon and exclaimed "Bacon!" I'm not sure if he really liked them, if he ate it beacuse he eats anything, or if he was just being polite. My mom spit a bite of hers out. She was disgusted. I tried one a couple days later at lunch and did the same thing. I'm sorry, that combo is revolting.

I wanted so badly to like bacon and chocolate. I love bacon. I love chocolate. How could they not be great together? Sadly, I cannot board the chocolate bacon train with everyone else. I guess I will remain boarded on the peanut butter chocolate boat with the rest of the world. Here's the recipe in case you are interested. I found it on a blog called A Good Appetite. The frosting recipe is awesome and the chocolate cupcakes are super moist and lovely. I will certainly make these again, sans bacon of course.

Dark Chocolate & Bacon Cupcake

8 slices good thick-cut bacon
1 c unsalted butter
1/2 c Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa
3/4 c water
2 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 c well-shaken buttermilk
2 T vanilla
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 24 muffin tins.
Chop bacon into about 1/2-inch pieces. Cook over med-high heat in a skillet until bacon is brown & crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Pat any remaining oil off the bacon. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, then whisk in cocoa. Add water and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in separately sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the cocoa mixture and whisk until just combined (it will be a little bit lumpy). Stir in bacon.
Fill muffin tins to about 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean. It's a moist cake, so don't worry if a few crumbs stick to your tester.
Allow cupcakes to cool.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

1/2 c unsalted butter
2/3 c Hershey's Special Dark
3 c powdered sugar
1/3 c milk
1 t vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

About 2 cups frosting.

Cupcakes in California (Pt. 3 of 3)

2008-10-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Just down the street, a block or so, from our last cupcake shop we find My Little Cupcake of Studio City. As soon as we walked into the place we were immersed in the incredible smell of baking cupcakes. I can honestly say that in all the cupcake shops I have been in, that is the first one that actually smelled like cupcakes! This shop seemed to be operated by a crazy old French or Russian lady (not sure which) who didn't communicate all that much.

Unfortunately, none of the cupcakes on display were labeled and you were expected to know what each one was after looking at the menu. Glenn very quickly chose the Reese's Cupcake while I pouted because I couldn't see any Red Velvets. I decided on a rather beautiful Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate cupcake that was covered in chocolate shavings. When Glenn asked the crazy lady if they had any Red Velvets, she told us that she just sold the last of them, but that she would check to see if any more were done. After a couple minutes she brought me a freshly baked and frosted Red Velvet. What a beautiful sight. ***Side note: Despite what many reviewers on yelp say about this lady, she was so nice and helpful! I mean, how many places can you go and get a fresh cupcake like that?***

These cupcakes were also victim of the 2 and a half day waiting period. This time however produced much more favorable results. The Red Velvet cake was still slightly moist, telling me that its original freshness must have been wonderful. The frosting was nice but a little too light on the cream cheese flavor for me. In my opinion, a Red Velvet cake should be accompanied by a strong tangy frosting. The proportion of frosting to cupcakes was very skewed in the direction for the frosting, almost breaching my limit, but it was still great.

The Reese's cupcake was not very well liked by Glenn. The dryness factor was a bit more amped up in this cake, letting us know that these were less than fantastic to begin with. The flavor was also nothing special. The frosting was a big letdown for such a big peanut butter fan. It was not peanut buttery enough and it was very grainy. The presentation however was very interesting but it made for a messy treat. Sadly though, the only thing about this cupcake that tasted like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup was the actual candy itself adorning the top of this cupcake.

Glenn and I split the last cupcake, the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate. The cake itself was moist to begin with as it retained a bit of moisture in the end. The flavor was okay but got muddled when eaten along with the frosting that clearly had alcohol in it. The flavor of the frosting was just off and not a pleasant experience. While certainly a beautiful cupcake in appearance, the overbearing alcohol taste and scent had us both discarding our unfinished cupcake halves.

My Little Cupcake certainly knows how to put on a beautiful display of cupcakes. It seems to me though that they are hit and miss when it comes to the actual flavor of the cupcake. I would be willing to give them a second try, but eating them on the day I buy them as intended.

Cupcakes in California (Pt. 2 of 3)

2008-10-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

For our next round of cupcakes we stopped along Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. This time we passed right by our intended destination. After parking and a short walk back from where we came from, we nearly missed our destination again. Finally we open the door to the itty bitty Big Sugar Bakeshop. The decor of this place was adorable and I absolutely loved it in that aspect. They had all sorts of goodies for sale including cookbooks, aprons, and other assorted gifts related to baked goods. The selection however was not so wonderful. There were approximately 6 flavors to choose from, none of them calling out to me especially. I chose Red Velvet (my go to cupcake when it comes to comparing bakeries) and Glenn chose Mint Chocolate Chip.

These cupcakes were forced to wait until Sunday to be eaten even though they were purchased on Friday afternoon. Sadly, that did nothing to help the awfulness that took over.

My Red Velvet cupcake crumbled instantly in my hands. Now I understand that waiting a couple days to eat them deteriorates the moistness and crumb of the cake, but these were just awful to begin with, I can tell. After tasting the cake though, it was clear that these cupcakes just sucked no matter what. The flavor was extremely artificial (ever heard of No-Taste Red food coloring?!?!) and slightly bitter. Very disappointing, and even more so was the frosting. Nothing is worse than expecting to bite into cream cheese frosting but instead getting terrible, over-processed, possibly out of a can buttercream frosting. For the first time in my life, I took a bite, spit it out and discarded the rest of my frosting. I was terribly disappointed with every aspect of this cupcake. Did Glenn feel the same way?

As expected, Glenn's Mint Chocolate Chip cake was also dry, almost to the point of being inedible. Remember we are taking into account that these cupcake were "consumed" 2 days after purchase, but it was evident that these were never moist to begin with. Essentially, the cake was flavorless and the frosting was lacking any serious mint taste. The pale green color of the frosting however was quite lovely.

I am terribly sorry Big Sugar Bakeshop, but your cupcakes SUCK!

Cupcakes in California (Pt.1 of 3)

2008-10-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

During Fall Break at work Glenn and I decided that it was the perfect time to take a trip to California. We had tickets to Game 5 of the NLCS (sorry Dodgers) and we wanted to check out Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios (awesome) and what California trip is complete without a stop at Disneyland? We had such a blast while we were there.

I also like to make a point to visit cupcake shops in any Non-Arizona place I visit. Since Halloween Horror Nights didn't start until 7:00pm, we decided to check out a couple new places, and one I have been to before. First stop, Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica.

I'm going to go ahead and say that Yummy Cupcakes has the best cupcakes in California. Yes, I have tried Sprinkles cupcakes and they taste like crap compared to YC. At YC you are given a huge selection of cupcakes, roughly 15 different flavors some of which alternate on a daily basis. As every cupcake shop should, each flavor is prepared in small batches to ensure the highest quality, and they sure do deliver. Glenn and I chose a total of 3 cupcakes: Fudge Yummy (Glenn), Red Velvet (me), and Peanut Butter Cup (me but shared by us).

The Red Velvet was wonderful. The cake itself was nice and moist with that wonderfully rich cake with just enough cocoa in it. Piled on top of the cake were lovely swirls of intensely good cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese was prevalent in the flavor of the frosting, adding the perfect "kick" to the cupcake. The frosting to cake proportion was definitely skewed on the frosting side, but that is exactly how I like mine. Overall, a wicked good tastebud experience.

The Fudge Yummy was positively reviewed by Glenn. He said the cake was nice and moist, but the flavor wasn't anything extraordinary. However, the lack of cake flavor was more than made up for in the frosting. As I was stuffing my face with Red Velvet, Glenn insisted I try his chocolate frosting covered in chocolate jimmies. Wow, they certainly know how to make a delightfully fluffy, smooth, chocolate frosting. Again, the frosting to cake proportion was skewed in favor of the decidedly decadent chocolate frosting. This time however, the cupcake had a tasty chocolate ganache center (maybe to make up for the not so fabulous cake). Definitely a flavor I would choose for myself next time, if only just for the frosting.

The Peanut Butter Cup unfortunately had to wait to be devoured by us until 2 and a half days later. Despite my efforts, I simply cannot eat more than 1 cupcake a day when I am carsick. Once I was feeling slightly better at home I opened my lovely cupcake box to see my cupcake upside down and a little mashed. Oh well. I split this one with Glenn this time. Both of us found the cake to have a bit of moistness left in it but only due to the fact it sat out for so long. The peanut butter frosting was wonderfully light with a smooth peanut butter flavor. The cupcake was centered with plain creamy peanut butter. Glenn found it to be a really nice complement to the cupcake overall while I found it a bit disgusting because I absolutely loathe SMOOTH peanut butter. I wish I had this cupcake the day I bought it because I am sure it was heavenly then.

If you want the best cupcakes in California, please head over to Yummy Cupcakes. They have 2 locations, one in Santa Monica, the other in Burbank. These cupcakes are so good that even the teeny tiny Hayden Pannetiere buys them. Seriously, just go and forget you ever heard of Sprinkles.

Completely Unrelated and Gratuitous

2008-10-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

I just can't help it. I stumbled across these photos of my dog Rally aka Monstah. I just had to share them because he's my dog and I think he is the cutest ever.

He loves to curl up like a kitty whenever we are just chillin or watchin a movie.

My two favorite boys on earth.

Monstah LOOOOVES the water.

He's always such a happy puppy, he just makes me smile.

Playoffs Make Me Hungry

2008-10-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's true. The playoffs for baseball just seem to go hand in hand with eating. We spent a good couple hours at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the Rays game (woot woot they won! series at 2-1 Rays) and then we hurried home to watch the Dodgers play the Phillies. I had to make something. I really wanted something sweet and I didn't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen so I made cake mix cookies. Definitely a cop-out when it comes to baking, but when you don't have a lot of time or a lot of things in the pantry, these are definitely a sweet tooth satisfier.

They only take a couple minutes to throw together but that still was two minutes too long for Glenn. He insisted that I wear the Manny Ramirez shirt of his that I wore last night, along with the same underwear! Apparently though, I was taking too long in the kitchen and the Phillies scored a run. He blames it on me. To be fair, as soon as I got upstairs they made a double play. Maybe it is me. Superstition and baseball are two peas in a pod. Glenn even shaved his beard yesterday, and they finally won, so of course that means we have to do as much as possible to recreate yesterday. I love it, even with all its ridiculousness, because that is part of what makes October so wonderful.

Back to the sweets... these are simple, quick, and tasty. Pretty they are not. Just make em' if you need a quick sweet fix.

Cake Mix Cookies

1 box cake mix (any flavor you want)
1/2 C oil
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix cake mix, oil and eggs together.
Spoon onto a cookie sheet about an inch or so apart.
Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Cupcake World Series Update

2008-10-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

I introduced the Cupcake World Series about 2 weeks ago. Essentially, all the baseball teams that are/were in the playoffs this season are represented by a cupcake that is in some way inspired by the team. A dozen of each team's cupcakes are baked and presented in a non biased way at my desk at work. The staff then chooses a cupcake for themselves at their own discretion. Each cupcake taken represents a run. The first team to 12 runs (meaning they are all out) advances to the next round.

So far the face-offs have looked like this:

Round 1: Winner - LA Dodgers

Chicago Cub 100 Year Twinkie Cupcakes vs. Bleedin' Dodger Blueberries Cupcakes

Round 2: Winner - Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cupcakes vs. Milwaukee German Chocolate Cupcakes

Round 3: Winner- LA Angels

Los Angeles Angel Food Cupcakes vs. Boston Baked Bean Cupcakes

Round 4: Winner - Chicago White Sox

Tropicana Orange Cream Cupcakes vs. White Chocolate Sox Cupcakes

We're on Fall Break now, since we work at a school, so the series will resume next week. In the meantime, check out the links to the recipes and read up on the color commentary done by my husband. It's apparent how much he enjoys doing this.

Back to Some Normal Baking... For Now

2008-10-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

The Cupcake World Series has been taking up a huge chunk of my time lately, so much so, that even Glenn has helped me on a few occasions with making, baking, and/or decorating cupcakes. What a good guy! It's nice that he has a bit more interest in my baking now that it is almost entirely baseball-centric. It's just more fun when you have someone else in the kitchen.

In none Cupcake World Series news, I actually had a chance to bake something completely unrelated. Well, that's actually not true. The cookies I baked tonight were the inspiration for that cupcakes for the Tampa Bay Rays. A long time ago I made these really yummy cookies with Tang in them that kind of mimicked Creamsicles. What's not to like about that? Since I still had Tang in the cupboard from the cupcakes I made last week and a cup or so of white chocolate chips, I had everything on hand to make these tangy cookies.

Creamsicle Cookies

1/2 C butter at room temperature
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C Tang (you can use any drink mix flavor as long as it is presweetened)
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 C white baking chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add Tang and sugar.
Beat in the egg until incorporated, then add the vanilla extract.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Slowly mix in to the dough.
Stir in the white baking chips by hand.
Scoop by heaping tablespoons (I find it easiest to use a small cookie scoop) and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-16 minutes depending on how chewy or crunchy you want the cookies. I like mine chewy with a crunch on the outside and 15 minutes accomplished that.

I Survived!!!

2008-10-06T08:47:00.001-07:00

In case you were wondering...

That is what 400 cupcakes looks like. Also in case you were wondering...

That is what a person (me) looks like after spending 7 hours making, baking, and decorating 400 cupcakes.

Did I enjoy myself? Do I still love baking? I will answer that by telling you that I made 2 dozen cupcakes on Sunday night for the Cupcake World Series on Monday. Of course I still love it. I enjoyed every second in the kitchen.

I accepted the challenge for a few reasons. One, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Two, I wanted to test my love of baking, and see if I really could see myself doing that for a living. Three, I was making decent money! You wouldn't believe the profit to be made on cupcakes. I charged 70 cents a cupcake (to undercut the cost of the grocery store 75 cents/cupcake) and I still made about 200 dollars profit. No wonder sprinkles is rolling in money! When you charge 3.25 a cupcake you pretty much break even within the first 2 dozen cupcake you sell!

In any event, I had such a blast. My parents came all the way out to see me (an hours drive during rush hour) and helped out until almost all the cupcakes were baked. My mom did a bunch of the mixing and my dad lined the tins and cracked the eggs. We all had a lot of fun, even though I had to remind my mom to turn OFF the KitchenAid before she tilted the head back to scrape the bowl. Needless to say, we had a few laughs. Glenn showed up later bringing me some yummy Taco Bell to keep my energy up. He also did the dirty work; Dishes...ewwwww.

I can't even begin to explain how much I loved doing that and how proud I was of myself and my family for pulling off that accomplishment. Even better is coming to work Monday morning and hearing teachers and students tell me that the cupcakes were amazing. That kind of thing just makes you smile. Furthermore, it tells me that when I do open up my own bakery it will be the right thing for me. Then I will be paid to do what I love.

Here's the recipe for the cupcakes I made:

Vanilla Cupcakes (yield 4 dozen)

5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 sticks butter
4 cups sugar
8 eggs
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Beat butter for about a minute until it is light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time until they are incorporated. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk combined with vanilla and mix until incorporated. Repeat and end with the flour mixture. Spoon batter into lined muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Happy Baking

Hooray for October

2008-10-02T12:53:00.001-07:00

October to most people means the ushering in of a new season. To me though, it is the beginning of a different kind of season, Postseason Baseball. Postseason is truly amazing. This is where we get to see the best of the best in each of the leagues in Major League Baseball. We see lots of heartache and disappointment but we also get to see hope and victory. October is like no other month of baseball. The saying is "there's only ONE October" and that is certainly the way I feel.

In an effort to be more active in my cupcake shenanigans, Glenn developed Baseball Cupcakes, to which I have linked before. In our excitement for October we decided to create our own World Series, which we have aptly named Cupcake World Series 2008. So far, we have had an absolute blast brainstorming what cupcakes are best suited for each time. Keep in mind each cupcake is inspired by a team in a multitude of ways. For example, the Dodgers were represented by "Bleedin' Dodger Blueberries Cupcakes." The recipe, obviously, was inspired by the color of the Dodgers as well as a saying that describes die-hard fans who, "Bleed Dodger Blue."

Last week was the showdown between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Visit Baseball Cupcakes to see what went down.

I've Been Slacking

2008-09-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Regrettably I have not been able to participate in a couple of my baking blogs. I didn't do last week's TWD and I won't be able to do this week's TWD either. I have good reason though! I have to pace myself and prepare myself for the mass amounts of cupcakes I will be making this Friday. 400 to be exact. I am totally gonna take pictures, because honestly, I don't even know what 400 cupcakes looks like! Fun stuff.

Additionally, I skipped this month's Daring Bakers. It did not interest me in the least. I would have made something for nothing as neither Glenn nor myself found "Crackers" to be worth spending time and money on. I am all for experimenting and trying new things to expand my repertoire, but crackers seemed a bit silly. That's that. I'll be doing the next challenge regardless though.

Until later, Happy Baking!

It's Like I'm A Real Baker Now!

2008-09-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love those plastic cupcake boxes? I was telling Glenn that putting my cupcakes in those boxes made me feel like a REAL baker. He just said to me "Love, you already are a real baker." How sweet, but then I added in that a real baker gets paid. I found those boxes at the nearby Wholesale Bakery store that I had no idea existed. It won't be long before I return to that glorious place.

After the successes of Cupcake Wednesdays at work, I have been asked to make cupcakes for the Homecoming Dance. How AWESOME is that?!?!?! 400 cupcakes to be exact. Honestly, I have no idea how I will pull it off. I have a grand total of 3 standard 12 cup muffin pans and one oven. Thankfully the cafeteria manager at school is willing to help me out by letting me use the school kitchen after hours. I can't really refuse an offer to make a couple hundred bucks and do what I love to do.

Tomorrow is going to be the sampling/tasting day for the seniors to make sure they like my goods. If they do, then I get the greenlight to start preparing myself. If not, well I don't really know. It's nice because they're trying to keep the money within the school if possible as opposed to just doing what they used to do and order from the grocery stores. That is really nice I think. Lucky me, I am the one benefiting from this. I would like to think that everyone else is too, because honestly, I think my cupcakes are way better than store bought.

Today I made 4 different kinds of cupcakes and 2 frostings for the samples. It was definitely a challenge to 1/2 and sometimes 1/4 the recipe, mostly because figuring out what half an egg looks like is definitely its own challenge. I made Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting, Traditional Yellow with Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate with Cream Cheese Frosting, and Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream.

I really hope they like my stuff. I was really disappointed in the chocolate cupcakes because they spread out way too much and didn't get a dome top at all. If they want chocolate I will pick a different recipe of mine. In my opinion, the Red Velvet turned out beautifully with perfect domes and everything. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Cupcakes in Arizona

2008-09-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Glenn and I rarely venture into the Scottsdale area mostly because we don't like the people there. There is a reason my mom calls the place "Snotsdale." In any event, we were searching for a new place to eat breakfast before we set out on our trek to find Glenn a new bike and for me to go to the awesome wholesale bakery shop and we found ourselves right in the middle of Scottsdale. After breakfast, Glenn asked me if I wanted to go to Sprinkles since we were actually here, and who knows when we would be back. Well, I can't really turn down cupcakes can I, so we went.

I guess I will never understand all the madness an obsession of this place. It's quite simple inside, which I approve of, but the girls behind the counter are completely clueless if not rude. There is no attempt made to help people or to explain anything, like their idiotic whoever speaks up first gets served first policy. After the man in front of me motioned for me to go ahead, I ordered two cupcakes, Red Velvet and Peanut Butter Chocolate. After waiting 5 minutes, seriously, we were directed to pay $7.02. Ouch.

I had the first cupcake in the car, the Red Velvet and the most irritating thing happened. No, we didn't hit a bump that made my cupcake go flying. However, I did peel off the paper only to have the top of the cupcake fall off. Great, I hate when that happens. Whatever. Flavor-wise, it was decent, but a tad dry and a little dense. The frosting was a huge letdown. My favorite part of Red Velvet is the cream cheese frosting. I'm not sure if they even remembered to put the cream cheese in, it was pretty plain. Plain, but tasty.

The Peanut Butter Chocolate gets a big fat... MEH. The cake was overly dense and had an oddly artificial taste to it. I actually wondered if they used real peanut butter or a flavoring oil or something. Kinda fishy if you ask me. The frosting was a plus though. It was a very complimentary peanut butter fudge flavor that didn't leave a film in my mouth at all.

Sorry Oprah and Paris. These really aren't the best cupcakes. Try Buttercream Cupcakes in Florida or Yummy Cupcakes in Santa Monica if you want to know what a REAL cupcake tastes like. Don't believe the hype and save your wallet.

Cakespy's "Sweet 100"

2008-09-26T12:35:00.000-07:00

I've been seeing that "Omnivore's 100" floating around on various blogs quite often. I contemplated doing one for myself but then realized I am too picky and my list would be boring. However, I found a new 100 list right up my alley. Cakespy has compiled their own list exclusively for those with a sweet tooth. I love this idea. Without further ado, here is Cakespy's "Sweet 100."

1) Copy this list into your site, including the instructions!
2) Bold all of the sweets you've eaten!
3) ~~Cross out~~ any of them that you'd never ever eat.

4) Consider anything that is not bold or crossed out your "To Do" List.
5) Optional: Post a comment here linking to your results--or just post a comment letting us know how many you've tried, or what you're going to try next!

1. Red Velvet Cake
2. Princess Torte
3. Whoopie Pie
4. Apple Pie either topped or baked with sharp cheddar
5. Beignet
6. Baklava
7. Black and White Cookie
8. Seven Layer Bar (aka Magic Bar or Hello Dolly Bar)
9. Fried Fruit Pies (sometimes called hand pies)
10. Kringle
11. Just fried (still hot) doughnut
12. Scone with Clotted Cream
13. Bett, Grunt, Slump, Buckle, or Pandowdy
14. Halvah
15. Macarons
16. Banana Pudding with Nilla Wafers
17. Bubble Tea (with tapioca "pearls")
18. Dixie Cup
19. Rice Krispie treats
20. Alfajores
21. Blondies
22. Croquembouche
23. Girl Scout Cookies
24. Moon Cake
25. Candy Apple
26. Baked Alaska
27. Brooklyn Egg Cream
28. Nanaimo Bar
29. Baba Au Rhum
30. King Cake
31. Sachertorte
32. Pavlova
33. Tres Leches Cake
34. Trifle
35. Shoofly Pie
36. Key Lime Pie (made with real key lime)
37. Panna Cotta
38. New York Cheesecake
39. Napoleon/Mille-Fueille
40. Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cake
41. Anzac Biscuits
42. Pizzelle
43. Kolache
44. Buckeyes
45. Malasadas
46. Moon Pie
47. Dutch Baby
48. Boston Cream Pie
49. Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
50. Pralines
51. Gooey Butter Cake
52. Rusks
53. Daifuku
54. Green Tea Cake or Cookies
55. Cupcakes from a Cupcake Shop
56. Creme Brulee
57. Some Sort of Deep Fried Fair Food
58. Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting
59. Jelly Roll
60. Pop Tarts
61. Charlotte Russe
62. An "Upside Down" Dessert (pineapple upside down cake or tarte tatin)
63. Hummingbird Cake
64. Jell-O from a Mold
65. Black Forest Cake
66. Mock Apple Pie (Ritz Cracker Pie)
67. Kulfi
68. Linzer Torte
69. Churro
70. Stollen
71. Angel Food Cake
72. Mincemeat Pie
73. Concha
74. Opera Cake
75. Sfogliatelle/ Lobster Tail
76. Pain au Chocolat
77. A Piece of Gingerbread House
78. Cassata
79. Cannoli
80. Rainbow Cookies
81. Religieuse
82. Petits Fours
83. Chocolate Souffle
84. Bienenstich (Bee Sting Cake)
85. Rugelach
86. Hamenstashen
87. Homemade Marshmallows
88. Rigo Janci
89. Pie or Cake made with Candy Bar Flavors (Snickers Pie, Reeses Pie, etc)
90. Divinity
91. Coke or Cola cake
92. Gateau Basque
93. S'mores
94. Figgy Pudding
95. Bananas Foster or some other Flaming Dessert
96. Joe Froggers
97. Sables
98. Millionaire's Shortbread
99. Animal Crackers
100. Basbousa

Cupcakes in Florida

2008-09-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Apparently whenever we go out of town I now feel the need to visit at least one cupcake shop. I would love to visit more, but we always have such whirlwind vacations that there is never time. Besides, I have to get at least 4 cupcakes to make a good judgement and Glenn never wants them. A girl can only eat so many cupcakes in 3 days.

On this trip to Florida, we visited Buttercream Cupcakes and Coffee. It was a very cute little place in a small strip of similarly sized stores. There is very little room in front of the display case and with 8 people trying to see the cupcakes, it was a bit difficult. I don't mind that though because I really appreciate small independent businesses. Bigger spaces mean bigger costs. Total, we got 6 cupcakes. I chose 4 of them, which I ate all by myself, and they were Red Velvet, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Triple Chocolate and Vanilla Chocolate Chip. My friend Sandra chose Red Velvet and Oreo.

All of the cupcakes were wickedly moist, and that isn't something most bakeries can master, but these were heavenly. The frosting on all of them was light and fluffy and slightly over proportioned to the cake, but that is how I like mine. My favorite would have to be the Red Velvet. With the cake being as moist as it was and the cream cheese frosting perfectly smooth was to die for, how could I say no?

The service there was decent, but it didn't help that the lady in front of us with her son was an idiot. She asked what every single flavor was like. Really? What don't you understand about lime cupcake lady?

Cupcake Wednesday: Vanilla Overload

2008-09-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

It is time again to celebrate office birthdays at work, and big surprise! Guess who was asked to make cupcakes...again: Me! I really do love all the attention, I try not to let it go to my head. Since everyone here is useless when it comes to suggestions, I decided to showcase one of my new purchases... Vanilla Bean Paste.

Oh my goodness, that stuff is heavenly! I would like to bathe in it if I could, the scent is just intoxicating. In any event, I decided to adapt a vanilla cupcake recipe to suit my desires. For the frosting I made a delicious cream cheese vanilla bean frosting. It was so good! I made minis for the rest of the staff to pick up, and everyone raved about the frosting. Yeah, it was that good. In any event, enjoy my attempt at rolling the edges of the cupcakes in sprinkles in an effort to add some variety to my decorating "skills." Do be warned however, these are not for the vanilla shy.

This recipe was adapted from one that I found on the Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit called 3 vanilla cupcakes. Here is my version

Intense Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
makes 2 dozen standard cupcakes and 2 dozen mini cupcakes

Cupcakes:
18 T butter at room temperature
2 2/3 C vanilla sugar
3 large eggs
4 C flour
2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 1/3 C milk
2 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 T vanilla bean paste

Frosting
1 C (2sticks) butter, at room temperature
6 oz cream cheese
3 T milk
1 T vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ½ C powdered sugar

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes

3. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until well combined.

4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl

5. Combine milk with vanilla extract and paste.

6. Alternating between the dry ingredients and the wet, gradually add to the butter mixture starting and ending with the dry.

7. Fill muffin cups roughly 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake cupcakes for about 22-24 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Fixation Friday: Chocolate Glazed Peanut Butter Torte

2008-09-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

***Sorry about the lack of photos. Blogger decided to rebel while I was away in FL***

Nothing like peanut buttery chocolate goodness on a Friday! Well, actually, not this Friday for me, because I am in Florida. I made this on Monday and used the wonders of blogger scheduling. Anyway...

This Chocolate Fixation recipe was chosen by Shandy of Pastry Heaven. I was SUPER excited to try this because I adore the combo of PB & C. Who doesn't? I have made many different peanut butter and chocolate pies/tortes so I was excited to try this one that seemed slightly different. As opposed to a typical graham cracker or cookie crust that has been pre-made, this one used a yummy brown sugar/butter/cocoa/flour/peanut combo that I found very tasty. Then it required pre-baking, which none of my other crusts have.

Speaking of baking, I made cookies that same day and turned off the oven when I was done with them. Then I turned the oven on again when I realized that I would be baking this crust. Then I got distracted and decided I was done for the day and turned the oven off. 15 minutes later I changed my fickle mind again and I made the crust and put it in the oven. Did you notice something there? Yeah, I never turned the oven back on again. I didn't notice that until I took the crust out and it wasn't very hot. Whatever, there wasn't anything harmful in the crust so I left it warm and partially baked.

Aside from that, everything else for this was super easy. I actually quartered the recipe because I didn't want to have a ton of leftovers in the fridge while we were gone. The best part was that I got to use my super cute mini springform pan! Hooray! I snapped a few quick pictures and then I took it upstairs so Glenn and I could devour it while we watched the terrifically awful made for TV movie "Category 7 - The End of the World" Don't waste your time in case you were wondering. It's too long to be entertaining.

To check out the recipe, go here. By the way, I give major kudos to all those people who take beautiful pictures of their food. Very rarely am I patient enough and strong willed enough to take the time and get a beautiful picture when delectable food is staring me in the face.

I've Hit the Big Time

2008-09-16T20:28:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness! As I am browsing through Cupcakes Take the Cake I screech to a halt. Wait a sec... that is MY picture! Where did that come from? I didn't even submit it? I was so excited! Hehe, I'm a nerd, and my overzealousness proves it. Anyway, you can see me rollin with the big boys here.

Oh yeah, and I also got featured on the U.S.S. Mariner site which is a fan site for the Seattle Mariners. Woohoo!

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers

2008-09-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

Or rather, Triple Chip and Whatever Nuts Are In the Pantry Chocolate Chunkers. I think Dorie's title is a bit better, you know, being succinct is a good thing. Once again, the weekend got away from me, but for good reason. We were celebrating Glenn's birthday, so I suppose it is okay. Now it is Monday (as I am writing this post) and I completely forgot TWD was tomorrow. How is it possible I forget these things when I do them every week?

We're leaving for Florida this Thursday night so we have been holding off on grocery shopping because inevitably everything we buy would be bad by the time we got back on Sunday. So for this TWD, instead of going to the store and buying the appropriate ingredients, I decided to screw it and make do with what I had in the pantry and fridge. Lo and behold, I give you a chocolate cookie packed with peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, chopped hazelnuts, chopped pecans, and chopped walnuts. Who cares if all of that doesn't go together. They smell good.

For once my cookies came out somewhat like the picture in the book. Hooray! I have fat little chubby cookies at last! This was another quick and easy recipe chosen this week by Claudia of Fool for Food and I really enjoyed it. I like when I can come home from work and just throw together a batch of yummy sweetness at a moment's notice. This week's TWD in one word: chunky

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!!

2008-09-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

Hooray for today! It's my lover's Birthday! Today Glenn turns 26, what an old man, especially since I'm not even 22 yet! I'm just kidding of course, he's still got a few more years before the big 3-0 comes around. Sorry sorry, I just can't help it.

For his birthday, Glenn requested that I FINALLY make the Seattle Mariner Mousse Cupcakes that he's been dying to try. Those were actually the first "baseball cupcakes" that he came up with. What else could I do but oblige him?

These cupcakes are a fudge cupcake with added chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The frosting is a light and fluffy chocolate mousse, and I added a little something extra special. I made moose ears! Well, not ears, but antlers, and they are SO CUTE! They were really fun to make and I am really proud of myself. After all, I did have to make these a little "extra special" since they are doubling as Baseball Cupcakes and Birthday Cupcakes.

The recipe can be found here. These are very much like brownies as opposed to cupcakes, so don't be startled by the thickness of the batter or the denseness of the cupcakes when they are done.

In any event, Happy Birthday Lover! I hope that today is absolutely wonderful. I am so blessed to be part of your life (especially as your wife!) I love you forever!

Cupcake Wednesdays: Pink Lemonade

2008-09-09T21:05:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with the (new) tradition, I present you with this Wednesday's cupcake. Pink lemonade cupcakes. Basically these are a white cupcake kicked up with some mashed up strawberries as well as Kool-Aid lemonade powder and some lemon juice. I still have a good amount of tweaking to do until I think they are perfect. I think my stroke of genius came when I decided to brush lemon juice on the cupcakes as soon as they were out of the oven. Brilliant I tell you, brilliant. Anyway, these are quite good. Unfrosted, they are very muffin like, but that isn't a bad thing. Once I get my recipe perfected I will post it.

BTW, I make these the day ahead, obviously, since I am certainly not crazy enough to wake up at 2 in the morning to get these ready before work. So sue me if I post a Wednesday topic on Tuesday.

TWD: Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops

2008-09-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

This one definitely sounded promising. I love Whoppers. I always make myself sick eating them when I get them at the movie theatres. At least now they are in manageable portions. This week's recipe was chosen by Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart (btw I love the color of her blog) and I was excited to try it.

The dough was very simple to make, as most cookie doughs are. However, in my haste to finish before my Pizza Hut delivery came, I wasn't paying attention and creamed 2 sticks of butter with the sugar instead of the 1 1/3 sticks of butter. Oops! I scraped that out, threw it out, and started over. At least I figured out my mistake before I wasted much else right? After that it was all smooth sailing. Baking them was a different story. Maybe my book was messed up or something, but it didn't have an oven temperature. Kind of odd. I guessed 350. I think I underbaked my cookies a bit too much, but I like them still. I like gooey cookies. To me, it just means they will last longer before they dry out.

Thanks Rachel! Good recipe pick this week. This was a great sweet tooth pacifier (aside from the fact that my cookies were severly underbaked and came out flat, very unlike the thick ones in the picture.) I still enjoyed them a lot. The only change was using Nesquik instead of the malted chocolate milk powder, They only had the plain flavor there and I was not about to pay 6 dollars for Ovaltine that I would not use. I will however be finishing off the Nesquik though. Yum! This week's TWD in one word: malty

Fixation Friday: Chocolatiest Crinkles

2008-09-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yay! The first "challenge" of my very own baking group. We make anything and everything chocolate twice a month. I like to call our members "addicts" because really, who isn't addicted to chocolate. I've been really excited to start this group. It isn't strict, there aren't too many rules, and the main point is to have fun and eat chocolate. It can be a complicated recipe, or it can be as easy as chocolate rice krispie squares. Whatever. If you are interested, you can go to the site Chocolate Fixation, and there you will also find the recipe for this week.

These cookies are called Chocolatiest Crinkles. I chose them because I haven't made them since Christmas and Glenn loves them, and I thought he deserved a treat. They are also pretty easy to make too. I tweaked mine a bit. I don't roll them in powdered sugar before I bake them because I don't like the way they turn out. Instead I bake them without any added sugar, but after they are mostly cooled, I sift some over the cookies and it looks like snow. Fun stuff. These are great cookies, I reccommend them to anyone who likes chocolate.

Birthday Cupcakes!!!

2008-09-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

Imagine my surprise after a month of working and bringing in goodies to the staff when my boss asks me if I can make something special for the Dean and her assistant who happened to have birthdays on the same day. Big surprise right? Yeah, I don't think so. Everyday I have a random teacher come by and ask if I have anything. Sheesh. I spoil them, but they may start to hate me if they get fat. You can't fault the baker when you're the taker. Anyway, I love my job. I am so happy to be there and I love the people I work with. I have so much fun with everyone, especially when I bring in treats.

My big dilemma here was I had no idea what to make. As I am sitting in my office earlier today I overhear a handful of people in the office next door to me talking about sweets. Of course my ears prick up, so I walked next door and asked for suggestions. You know what I get as an answer? "Whatever you want, be creative!" Boo. Worst answer ever. My only real stipulation was I wanted to use buttermilk because I have a ton right now. I finally nagged them into suggestions. One, make it gooey, in other words, put stuff in it so it explodes like the eclairs. Okay. Second suggestion, chocolate, because everyone likes chocolate. Third suggestion, oh wait, there was no suggestion. It amazes me how people are so opinionated, but when I ask their opinion about baked goods, they are put into a stupor. I guess sugar does that to you.

Enough of that. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE AND JOETTE!!!!!!!!!!

They probably won't ever see that, but now they can't say I don't care.

Cupcake Wednesday

2008-09-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I do know that it is not Wednesday yet. However, at work we have Late Start Wednesdays where the students can go in for extra help and the teachers can prep or have meetings, whatever, until 9:30 am. I decided that Wednesdays would be the best day for me to bring in cupcakes because that way the teachers who can't normally make it to my office will have time to.

Since Glenn started the Baseball Cupcakes blog for me, I have been making the recipes that he finds for Cupcake Wednesdays. Last week's was Philadelphia Phillie Cream Cheese Cupcakes (pictured below) and this week's was Cincinnati Red Velvet Cupcakes (pictured above.)

The cream cheese cupcakes were a big hit last week and I have a feeling these red velvet cupcakes will be well received as well. Unfortunately my red velvet was more like pinkish brown velvet. Whatever. If you want to see the recipes, head over to the Baseball Cupcakes blog.

***Update: Everyone ADORED the red velvet cupcakes. So many people asked me for the recipe. I had to turn a blind eye to certain returning customers who came back not once, not twice, but three times to steal another yummy cupcake.

TWD: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

2008-09-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Whew... that title is a mouthful.

Like I said last Tuesday, I am totally getting this done on time. I am actually writing this on Wednesday the 27th and setting it to post at 12:01 AM on Tuesday the 2nd. Hooray for me. Enough back patting for me though.

I really enjoyed this recipe. It was so simple to make, but then again, most of Dorie's recipes are. If you can keep everything you need for the recipe close by, most recipes whip up in a matter of minutes. I can't really say the same thing about the pies and such, but oh well. Anyway, Glenn just opened the fridge and went, "Mmmmm... Cookie dough!" As he went to reach for the bowl, I quickly informed him that there's oatmeal in it. As soon as I could finish speaking he looked at me all disgusted like and says, "Why do I let you buy oatmeal? Never again, that's nasty!" In case it wasn't obvious enough, Glenn doesn't like oatmeal. Whatever, I don't make stuff with oatmeal all that much, and when I do, he doesn't need to eat it. It's not like I don't have an alternative form of sweets! The chocolate banded ice cream torte is sitting in the freezer right now, not to mention he just finished a piece of it. He boggles my mind sometimes, but I love him. I'm a major p.i.t.a. for him so I suppose we are even.

Anyway, now that one cookie has made it from bowl to oven to my mouth, I can officially say that I really like these cookies. I made a couple minor changes. First, I used half peanut butter chips and half chocolate chips and second I used dark brown sugar instead of light brown. Both changes made a big difference. Well I don't actually know that, but they sure are enjoyable cookies. They have that deep warmth and richness to them, if that makes any sense, but they feel good to eat. I suppose that's why they, whoever they is, coined the term "comfort food." Since I like my cookies on the chewier side, I baked mine at the minimum time, but I would suggest a minute or so less. I'm really glad I made these despite Glenn's protestations. This week's TWD in one word: warm

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Eclairs

2008-08-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

Um, where did this month go? I would love to know if anybody has an answer for that. Apparently I am still lost somewhere in the middle of the month, and while I made the eclairs quite a while ago, I completely forgot to draft a post for these and have it scheduled to pop up today. Well I didn't and it is post day, so here we go. Special thanks to Tony and Meeta for this fun challenge.

I was fantastically suprised by the simplicity of making cream puff dough, also known as Choux Pastry. I like the term cream puff dough, it's less scary. Anyway, the dough comes together very quickly which is nice. For the glaze, I actually made a ganache type glaze because I was not feeling the idea of making a sauce and then using that sauce to make a glaze. A little overboard in my opinion. As for the cream, I stuck with the recipe given, but I played around with it a little. I made three types of pastry cream, and in turn made three batches of dough to fill. My three types were chocolate, peanut butter (my fave), and raspberry, a tad runny but very yummy.

Since I made three batches of dough, I experimented a lot with the baking process, as I noticed that a lot of people had problems with their pastries sinking in. Despite my efforts, half of every batch of mine sank in. No worries though, I just stuffed them so full of pastry cream that they puffed right back up.

The verdict of this recipe was definitely positive. Well, everyone except Glenn really loved them. He just said they were too much like a doughnut for him. I took all three batches of eclairs/cream puffs to work and they were SOOOOO well received. I work at a school so I have plenty of people to survey. The peanut butter was officially the favorite, those went first. It was a nice thick pastry cream with just enough peanut butter in it. A sophisticated Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is what someone told me. The chocolate chocolate ones were the second favorite. I had a lot of pre-menstrual women come in all at once and snatch up any remaining chocolate eclairs. Those were happy women. The raspberry ones were very well liked but they also got a nasty reputation. The ROTC officer dubbed them pastry grenades, because one bite into them and raspberry pastry cream went everywhere. I admit, they did "explode" a bit, but not that dramatically. I got the principal and a few teachers to get lovely pastry cream smears on their nice clothes. I did have an OxyClean spray handy in my purse so it was all good.

In the end, I was glad I made these. It was nice to try something new, especially something that isn't too difficult and doesn't take an excessive amount of time. Thanks for the pick Tony and Meeta, I had lots of fun.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b]
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly  in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

As if One Weren't Enough

2008-08-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have this blog, XplicitSweetness where I post my baking exploits along with Tuesdays With Dorie and The Daring Bakers. Then I decided to add The Drunken Cupcake to my repertoire. I plan on actually publishing a cookbook about drunken cupcakes, and the site is really just an organizer for me. Anyway, Glenn decided it would be fun to create yet another blog, Baseball Cupcakes. It's a cute idea I have to admit. He's been doing the recipe researching and I have been doing the baking. We're big baseball fans, and it's just another fun thing to do. Anyway, check out my new site(s). They're kinda fun and you might get a tasty recipe to try out of it.

TWD: Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte

2008-08-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Once again, I am totally slacking in regards to TWD. I am barely pulling all this together at the last minute. Next week I swear I will have my post by Tuesday, 12:01 AM. It's not that I don't want to do the recipes, because I want to do every last one. It's just that somehow, ever since I started my new job, my time at home disappears. I am completely clueless as to how this happens though because I don't bring any work home. I'm a counseling secretary at a high school, there is not much to stress about yet (at least until testing comes around) and I don't have any stuff that I could bring home even if I wanted to. I'm baking at the same pace that I always do, but still, my time disappears too quickly and I end up being late for TWD. Oh well, I'm still getting it done.

Anyway, this week's recipe chosen by Amy of Food, Family, and Fun. I had to beg Glenn to let me buy the optional Chambord for this recipe. I LOVE raspberries and I just started dreaming up all the ways that I could use the Chambord in my baking. The stuff smells amazing by the way. Once I got down to it and read the recipe I was a bit weirded out. The eggs. This isn't getting baked at all mind you. I'm also not one to balk at the idea of eating raw eggs in wonderful creations like cookie dough, but the eggs in this recipe just seemed so weird to me. Who am I to doubt Dorie though so I forged ahead despite my doubts. You can see what I am talking about by heading over to Amy's blog to see the recipe.

In the end, I found this process to be easy but a little on the time consuming side, but what do you really expect when you make something frozen? I enjoyed this because it combines two of the best things, raspberries and chocolate, and it's frozen. It's hard to not like something frozen when you live in 115 degree daily weather in Arizona. Yes, woe is me. In any event, I think this would make a great party dessert. It looks rather impressive and it is simple and yummy. Long story short though, I have no pictures for now. I really don't want to mess it up and since it is getting a little on the later side, I am going to wait until it is completely frozen tomorrow and cut it then. I promise it's done though! Just sitting amongst the frozen veggies in my freezer. This week's TWD in one word: cold

The Drunken Cupcake

2008-08-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Now I can see why Glenn can get all sorts of non-sensical things done while he is at work. He can plan a wedding, he can build me websites, he can write baseball articles... the list goes on. Now I have found that I also have a good amount of time on my hands, for the time being, so I have created a new blog called The Drunken Cupcake. So far, there is nothing new on there, just a couple repeats from here, but I wanted to get it started. Anyway, I think people like me better at work when I spike the cupcakes, so I will probably get more regular in the cupcake posting department. Anyway, stop by to check it out and vote in the poll.

TWD: Granola Grabbers

2008-08-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, what to say about these um, cookies, if you will. They weren't bad. They weren't terribly life alteringly good either. They were decent cookies. I can't say that my granola grabbers were the same "healthier" version in the book, but mine were more like the rebellious spawn. I don't care for raisins in cookies, so I took them out and swapped them with white chocolate chips. I didn't feel like peanuts, and Glenn doesn't like slivered almonds, so I took those out as well. I subbed candied pecans in place of both types of nuts, and I must say that it was very wise to do so. My blend of french vanilla granola (courtesy of Fresh & Easy) along with the white chocolate chips, candied pecans, and dark brown sugar instead of light proved to be a tasty cookie.

Glenn took some to work, as usual, and I got the dreaded "they were okay" comment from him. He said people liked them, but definitely weren't crazy about them like they were with my CCCs or the sinful brownies I made. Oh well, I can't be absolutely amazing all the time.

These aren't terribly attractive cookies either... hmmm.

Thanks to Michelle of Bad Girl Baking I ventured out and tried something I probably would have overlooked in the first place. I did enjoy these, and it was a fun process that was really very easy. This week's TWD in one word: crunchy

You Are So Beautiful, To Me

2008-08-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I have finally reached Chocolate Chip Cookie (CCC) Nirvana, and oh how beautiful it is. I think it is a common goal of every baker to find their perfect CCC recipe. For some it is the Toll House recipe, and for others it is a recipe passed down from generation to generation. I was fairly happy with the Toll House recipe, but it wasn't giving me what I wanted. I wanted a big thick cookie that looked beautiful on the outside, but perfectly soft and chewy on the inside. Most importantly, I wanted crispy, but not burnt edges. I figured that just wasn't going to ever happen, so I settled with the old faithful Toll House.

Things change though. Change they did after I found myself browsing Amy's blog South in Your Mouth and I saw that she did a CCC comparison between two recipes, one from David Lebovitz and the other from Jacques Torres. Judging from Amy's pictures, I knew that Jacque's cookies were destined to be mine. I followed the recipe very closely, and despite the protests of my tastebuds and my chocolate cravings, I refrigerated the dough for a full 36 hours.

How did it all end? Like I said earlier, this is Nirvana. The second I took them out of the oven I started dancing around and singing "You are so beautiful, to me! Can't you see? You're everything I hoped for, you're everything I need!" You know how it goes. They looked perfect, but how did they hold up in the taste tests? Glenn says to me, after I stopped staring at him, anticipating his first bite, "It's like you made these in heaven and brought them down here to me." Ahhh, I couldn't be happier, or could I? After the obligatory photo shoot with these beauties, I sat down with a glass of milk, a plate of cookies, and an open mind. My mind was officially blown. Perfectly sweet, chewy, just enough chocolate, and yes, crispy edges. There you have it. I have found my perfect CCC. The search has ended, well, at least until someone tells me there is something better out there. Thank you Amy for inspiring me with your lovely pictures, and thank you Mr. Torres for creating the most unbelievable CCC's I have ever devoured.

Searching For My Lost Shaker of Salt... Salt.... Salt

2008-08-13T16:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is that is going on at our house, but we are now on Round 2 of Drunken Cupcakes. We asked our friend Calogero what his favorite drink was and he said Margaritas. Since it was his birthday last weekend, I decided to make him Margarita Cupcakes. You know what? There are no good recipes out there for Margarita Cupcakes! At least in my opinion. I wanted something that tasted like a margarita, not something that had the essence of margaritas (and I mean a citrusy flavor as opposed to tequila). I ended up making up my own recipe.

How did that go? Let's just say everyone is very happy. Calogero loved them. Glenn loves them. Glenn's coworkers love them, and I already have a few of my new coworkers requesting I bring them some. After I did so, I was told that I am officially "in." This was probably my most adventurous baking endeavor yet. I was really proud of myself. I don't really feel like typing up the whole recipe, but if you want it, just drop me a line and I will eventually get around to getting it to you.

By the way, this is definitely an ADULT cupcake. They are quite alcoholic but are a great dessert for any adult gathering. Woohoo!

TWD: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

2008-08-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the late post, but I just started a new job at a school and I have been taking care of registration there. I have no idea what I am doing, but I am picking it up a little at a time. It's just crazy swamped and I come home much happier than I did at my other crappy job, but it's been a bit exhausted.

I was pretty excited to make this recipe this week. Target had blueberries on sale so I picked up a bunch, and sour cream is always cheap, so it was nice to have a cheap recipe to make. When I was blending everything together in the blender (only like the 3rd time I've used it since we got married) I tasted a little bit of it and spit it out. I really thought this was disgusting. I mean this as no offense to Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, because I was really excited to try this, but really, without the extra cup of sugar that I added to it, I think it was nasty.

Bottom line, I don't like sour cream so this wasn't a sweet enough recipe for me. Glenn liked it a lot, so that is good I suppose. This week's TWD in one word: sour

Million Dollar Cupcakes

2008-08-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe they didn't cost a million dollars to make, and I am not selling them for a million dollars, but these were some pretty expensive cupcakes. These lovelies are called Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. For those of you who don't know what an ICB is, it is a glass of Guiness that gets a shot of Bailey's and Jameson bombed into it. You have to drink it really fast before it starts to curdle. Sounds fun right? Well, I have never had one, but it was Glenn's favorite drink back in his "drinking days" and he just loved it.

I was just browsing the internet the other day when I came across this recipe and I mentioned it to Glenn. He got this smile on his face and he just said yum. Since we were going to go out to a friend's house to have dinner and I was assigned to make dessert, Glenn suggested I make these cupcakes. Needless to say, in a non-drinking home, we didn't have any of the booze on hand. We went out to the grocery store and bought a bottle of Jameson for about 30 bucks, a bottle of Guiness for about 2 bucks, and a bottle of Bailey's for another 20 bucks or so. Sheesh! I seriously cannot believe that I spent that much money to make cupcakes. At least I will have plenty more when I want to make these again. It's strange how much alcohol I have accumulated for baking purposes only.

I'll be honest, and say I was a bit skeptical when making these, but they turned out so beautifully! When I filled the cups 2/3 full, they baked up with perfect round domes on top that didn't sink in after cooling. They were nice and moist and the frosting was delicious. I also added some milk to my frosting and improvised the amounts of Jameson and Bailey's according to our tastes. I suggest you tailor it to your tastes rather than follow the ambiguous directions. If you are in need of a drunken cupcakes, I really suggest you give these babies a shot, you won't be sorry.

TWD: Black & White Banana Loaf

2008-08-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't marble anything to save my life. I've tried a handful of times but I just can't get it. Although, this time shouldn't really count because I, like many other TWD bloggers were cursed with the runny batter. I have a few theories. Too much banana, too mushy bananas, overly melted butter... those are my best guesses. I think my issue was a combo of very mushy bananas, because I let them get black which took a lot of willpower on my part. Bananas are so nasty, especially when they ferment on the counter and look nasty. Also, I stuck my butter underneath the oven heat release vent to speed up the room temperature process and instead got very drippy butter. Anyway, I just can't marble.

Funny story, I thought this week's TWD was actually next week's. When we were at the grocery store, there was a certain item on sale that I bought in preparation of next week's recipe and I made it. I started my draft for the post and checked the TWD site and realized I made the recipe a week early. ARGHH... That's okay, I took a couple bananas from work the same day because I was just gonna make both recipes the same day. Alas, I did not. We left for LA on Saturday morning and I just didn't have the time. I came home to some nasty bananas that were ripe for the baking.

I say nasty bananas all the time because bananas are nasty. I hate them actually. There is an exception though. I will eat bread type things that contain banana, i.e. banana bread, banana nut muffins, probably not cake though. I am a weird person. Aside from that, I like this bread, or cake, whatever. I think it will taste even better tomorrow when all the flavors really have a chance to come out and what not. The crust is super yummy too, mine came out perfectly crunchy. I made a couple additions though; 1/3 cup chopped walnuts in the plain batter, and 1/3 cup chocolate chips in the chocolate batter. Yum! This week's TWD in one word: banana-y

Last Time... I Promise!

2008-08-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Alright, alright, this is getting redundant I know. I just finally got around to working on the website for Chocolate Fixation and it's now underway. Feel free to visit it, but it will be a bit wonky until I work all the kinks out. Blogger wasn't working the way I wanted it so I switched to WordPress and I am still getting used to it. Anyway, I am working on adding members and if anyone wants to join I just need your name that you want to appear along with your email and the name and address of your blog. My goal is to have the site completely finished before September starts. Feel free to email me at bllutes04@gmail.com or just leave a comment.

As You Wish...

2008-07-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

Someone in the house, ahem, Glenn, has been whining for a week now about not having any chocolate in the house. Boohoo. I have been busy baking things with fruit. That is why these are now called As You Wish Brownies. I only wanted to please the one I loved. Gotta love Princess Bride. Whatever.

Anyway, the Fresh & Easy by our house FINALLY opened yesterday so of course we had to stop by. It was so packed! It was awesome though, I love that store, and I also got mucho compliments on my super cool recycled grocery bag totes.

The main point about the F&E side story is that I found Mascarpone cheese there. I can't find it anywhere, maybe I am looking in the wrong places, but I found it anyway. I was so excited I squealed a bit and I did a mini dance in the aisle. Why mascarpone cheese you ask? Well, I came across this recipe a while ago and it looks SOOO heavenly. I finally made it last night. The results? Absolutely sinful. These brownies are so thick that when you add the layer of ganache, they will come all the way to the top of a square Pyrex pan. They are so thick and rich and fudgy and... oh I could go on and on. Just make them. I promise you won't be disappointed.

By the way, I only have one picture because I just couldn't stare at it without digging in.

Daring Bakers: Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

2008-07-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

The time has come to post the Daring Bakers Challenge of July which was, drumroll please... A Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream. This recipe can be found in the book Great Cakes by Carole Walter chosen by Chris of Mele Cotte. To sum it all without boring anyone, this cake was very nutty, expensive to make, and very time consuming. A few of the components were stellar on their own, especially the ganache. All together though, I think this cake is overwhelming.

Obtaining ingredients for this challenge was certainly a challenge all by itself. Filberts, also known as Hazelnuts are not cheap by any means. Finding a pound of them without breaking the bank was an adventure. I hit just about every major supermarket before deciding that I wasn't going to find them in a normal grocery store. After consulting the message boards I decided to try and find a Whole Foods Market by me. Hey, guess what? There are no Whole Foods Markets close to me! A Google search later and we found ourselves in front of an abandoned Wild Oats Market about 15 minutes from home. Argghhh... Finally we gave up and drove about 2o minutes to Tempe and procured a pound or so of Hazelnuts at about 1o bucks a pound. Ouch!

Then I was introduced to the world of mini-bottles that sits by the registers at AJ's. I find these mini liquor bottles to be the most fascinating things, but I do have a weakness for all things mini, except for dogs. I perused the ample selection there and found a couple bottles that were to my liking and purchased them. I made the rum sugar syrup and put it in a container to keep in the fridge. A few days later when I go to grab something, I notice the bag is soaked, and alcoholic. Grrr... my container had a leak in it. I had to make more rum sugar syrup. This time, we were going out near a BevMo so we went in and had fun looking through their extensive selection of mini-bottles, bought a few and went home. What a funny fascination I have with these tiny bottles of liquor and I don't even drink!

Changes I made to the recipe: I used high quality white rum instead of dark rum, I made a raspberry glaze instead of apricot, I omitted the whipped cream layer in the cake, and I made my own buttercream (a simple powdered sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, and alcohol variation) instead of the one in the recipe.

Anyway, when it all comes down to it, I didn't like this cake very much, if at all, but I was glad that I tried it and I learned some things along the way. I also learned that Grand Marnier is wicked good in baked goods! Beware though, this cake will turn your kitchen and sink into a war zone.

Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream
From Great Cakes by Carol Walter

1 Filbert Genoise
1 recipe sugar syrup, flavored with dark rum
1 recipe Praline Buttercream
½ cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 recipe Apricot Glaze
1 recipe Ganache Glaze, prepared just before using
3 tablespoons filberts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Filbert Genoise

Because of the amount of nuts in the recipe, this preparation is different from a classic genoise.

1 ½ cups hazelnuts, toasted/skinned
2/3 cup cake flour, unsifted
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
7 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar, divided ¼ & ¾ cups
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. grated lemon rind
5 lg. egg whites
¼ cup warm, clarified butter (100 – 110 degrees)

Position rack in the lower 3rd of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10” X 2” inch round cake pan.

Using a food processor, process nuts, cake flour, and cornstarch for about 30 seconds. Then, pulse the mixture about 10 times to get a fine, powdery mixture. You’ll know the nuts are ready when they begin to gather together around the sides of the bowl. While you want to make sure there aren’t any large pieces, don’t over-process. Set aside.

Put the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, and beat until thick and light in color, about 3-4 minutes on med-high speed. Slowly, add ¾ cup of sugar. It is best to do so by adding a tablespoon at a time, taking about 3 minutes for this step. When finished, the mixture should be ribbony. Blend in the vanilla and grated lemon rind. Remove and set aside.

Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl of the electric mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed, until soft peaks. Increase to med-high speed and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, over 15-20 seconds or so. Continue to beat for another ½ minute.
Add the yolk mixture to the whites and whisk for 1 minute.

Pour the warm butter in a liquid measure cup (or a spouted container). * It must be a deep bottom bowl and work must be fast.* Put the nut meal in a mesh strainer (or use your hand – working quickly) and sprinkle it in about 2 tablespoons at a time – folding it carefully for about 40 folds. Be sure to exclude any large chunks/pieces of nuts. Again, work quickly and carefully as to not deflate the mixture. When all but about 2 Tbsp. of nut meal remain, quickly and steadily pour the warm butter over the batter. Then, with the remaining nut meal, fold the batter to incorporate, about 13 or so folds.

With a rubber spatula, transfer the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with the spatula or back of a spoon. **If collected butter remains at the bottom of the bowl, do not add it to the batter! It will impede the cake rising while baking.

Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done when it is springy to the touch and it separates itself from the side of the pan. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack sprayed with nonstick coating, removing the pan. Cool the cake completely.

*If not using the cake right away, wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap, then in a plastic bag, then in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If freezing, wrap in foil, then the bag and use within 2-3 months.

Sugar Syrup
Makes 1 cup, good for one 10-inch cake – split into 3 layers

1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. dark rum or orange flavored liqueur

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the liqueur. Cool slightly before using on the cake. *Can be made in advance.

Praline Buttercream
1 recipe Swiss Buttercream
1/3 cup praline paste
1 ½ - 2 Tbsp. Jamaican rum (optional)

Blend ½ cup buttercream into the paste, then add to the remaining buttercream. Whip briefly on med-low speed to combine. Blend in rum.

Swiss Buttercream
4 lg. egg whites
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 ½ -2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier or liqueur of your choice
1 tsp. vanilla

Place the egg whites in a lg/ bowl of a elevtric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until the whites are foamy and they begin to thicken (just before the soft peak stage). Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Then, whisk in the sugar by adding 1-2 tablespoon of sugar at a time over a minutes time. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until the whites are warm (about 120 degrees) and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look thick and like whipped marshmallows.
Remove from pan and with either the paddle or whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and sugar on med-high until its a thick, cool meringue – about 5-7 minutes. *Do not overbeat*. Set aside.

Place the butter in a separate clean mixing bowl and, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter at medium speed for 40-60 seconds, or until smooth and creamy. *Do not overbeat or the butter will become toooooo soft.*

On med-low speed, blend the meringue into the butter, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, over 1 minute. Add the liqueur and vanilla and mix for 30-45 seconds longer, until thick and creamy.

Refrigerate 10-15 minutes before using.

Wait! My buttercream won’t come together! Reheat the buttercream briefly over simmering water for about 5 seconds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful and do not overbeat. The mixture will look broken with some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium speed just until the cream comes back together.

Wait! My buttercream is too soft! Chill the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and rewhip. If that doesn’t work, cream an additional 2-4 Tbsp. of butter in a small bowl– making sure the butter is not as soft as the original amount, so make sure is cool and smooth. On low speed, quickly add the creamed butter to the buttercream, 1 Tbsp. at a time.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months. If freezing, store in 2 16-oz. plastic containers and thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

Praline Paste
1 cup (4 ½ oz.) Hazelnuts, toasted/skinless
2/3 cup Sugar
Line a jelly roll pan with parchment and lightly butter.

Put the sugar in a heavy 10-inch skillet. Heat on low flame for about 10-20 min until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning. Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly. When the sugar is completely melted and caramel in color, remove from heat. Stir in the nuts with a wooden spoon and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble. **Remember – extremely hot mixture.** Then onto the parchment lined sheet and spread as evenly as possible. As it cools, it will harden into brittle. Break the candied nuts into pieces and place them in the food processor. Pulse into a medium-fine crunch or process until the brittle turns into a powder. To make paste, process for several minutes. Store in an airtight container and store in a cook dry place. Do not refrigerate.

Apricot Glaze
Good for one 10-inch cake

2/3 cup thick apricot preserves
1 Tbsp. water

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and preserves to a slow boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. If the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, add water as needed.

Remove from heat and, using a strainer, press the mixture through the mesh and discard any remnants. With a pastry brush, apply the glaze onto the cake while the cake is still warm. If the glaze is too thick, thin to a preferred consistency with drops of water.

Ganache Glaze
Makes about 1 cup, enough to cover the top and sides of a 9 or 10 inch layer or tube cake

**Ganache can take on many forms. While warm – great fudge sauce. While cool or lukewarm – semisweet glaze. Slightly chilled – can be whipped into a filling/frosting. Cold & solid – the base of candied chocolate truffles.

6 oz. (good) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, like Lindt
6 oz. (¾ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier, Cointreay, or dark Jamaican rum (optional)
¾ tsp. vanilla
½ - 1 tsp. hot water, if needed

Blend vanilla and liqueur/rum together and set aside.

Break the chocolate into 1-inch pieces and place in the basket of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer into a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Heat the cream and corn syrup in a saucepan, on low, until it reached a gentle boil. Once to the gently boil, immediately and carefully pour over the chocolate. Leave it alone for one minute, then slowly stir and mix the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Carefully blend in vanilla mixture. If the surface seems oily, add ½ - 1 tsp hot water. The glaze will thicken, but should still be pourable. If it doesn’t thicken, refrigerate for about 5 minutes, but make sure it doesn’t get too cold!

Assembling Cake

Cut a cardboard disk slightly smaller than the cake. Divide the cake into 3 layers and place the first layer top-side down on the disk. Using a pastry brush, moisten the layer with 3-4 Tbsp. of warm sugar syrup. Measure out 1 cup of praline buttercream and set aside.

Spread the bottom layer with a ¼-inch thickness of the remaining buttercream. Cover with ½ of the whipped cream, leaving ¼-inch border around the edge of the cake. Place the middle layer over the first, brush with sugar syrup, spreading with buttercream. Cover with the remaining whipped cream.

Moisten the cut side of the third layer with additional sugar syrup and place cut side down on the cake. Gently, press the sides of the cake to align the layers. Refrigerate to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Lift the cake by sliding your palm under the cardboard. Holding a serrated or very sharp night with an 8-ich blade held parallel to the sides of the cake, trim the sides so that they are perfectly straight. Cut a slight bevel at the top to help the glaze drip over the edge. Brush the top and sides of the cake with warm apricot glaze, sealing the cut areas completely. Chill while you prepare the ganache.

Place a rack over a large shallow pan to catch the ganache drippings. Remove the gateau from the refrigerator and put it the rack. With a metal spatula in hand, and holding the saucepan about 10 inches above the cake, pour the ganache onto the cake’s center. Move the spatula over the top of the ganache about 4 times to get a smooth and mirror-like appearance. The ganache should cover the top and run down the sides of the cake. When the ganache has been poured and is coating the cake, lift one side of the rack and bang it once on the counter to help spread the ganache evenly and break any air bubbles. (Work fast before setting starts.) Patch any bare spots on the sides with a smaller spatula, but do not touch the top after the “bang”. Let the cake stand at least 15 minutes to set after glazing.

To garnish the cake, fit a 12 – 14-inch pastry bag with a #114 large leaf tip. Fill the bag with the reserved praline cream. Stating ½ inch from the outer edge of the cake, position the pastry tube at a 90 degree angle with the top almost touching the top of the cake. Apply pressure to the pastry bag, moving it slightly toward the center of the cake. As the buttercream flows on the cake, reverse the movement backward toward the edge of the cake and finish by pulling the bag again to the center. Stop applying pressure and press the bag downward, then quickly pull the tip up to break the flow of frosting. Repeat, making 12 leaves evenly spaced around the surface of the cake.

Make a second row of leaves on the top of the first row, moving the pastry bag about ¾ inch closer to the center. The leaves should overlap. Make a 3rd row, moving closer and closer to the center. Add a 4th row if you have the room. But, leave a 2-inch space in the center for a chopped filbert garnish. Refrigerate uncovered for 3-4 hours to allow the cake to set. Remove the cake from the refrigerator at least 3 hours before serving.

Leftover cake can be covered with foil and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

TWD: Summer Fruit Galette

2008-07-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

This weeks TWD was much much less of an adventure than the last one. Apparently Dorie's definition of summer fruit involves peaches, apricots, nectarines, and plums. PASS. I would actually call this recipe the Cheap Fruit Galette because when I was at the grocery store I looked for the cheap fruit and bought a considerable amount of it. One pound of strawberries for $1? Check. Two mangoes for $1? Check. Four kiwi for $2? Check. Awesome. I also grabbed a bag of sweetened coconut for good measure and that was pretty cheap too. Apparently I went for some sort of tropical theme here.

I had all of the fruit for this at the beginning of last week, but something in me was reluctant to start making it. Before my strawberries molded over I gave them copious amounts of sugar in a nice Rubbermaid container and then a nice big shake. They were perfect come time to bake. I suppose this was a fairly easy recipe to make, the pie dough is very easy, I just used a pastry blender*. I do have to say though, mangoes are a PAIN to cut, or maybe it was just the one I had. Anyway, I enjoyed this recipe and had no real issues, although it was much prettier pre-bake. I would like to know when I will start assembling heavy, fragile desserts on the pans instead of on a bare counter. Last time, for the Danish Braid, I made it on the counter and had quite a predicament when it came time to lift that heavy thing to the pan. Again, I assembled my galette on a bare counter, but thankfully I had an almost big enough pancake spatula to save me. In any event, thank you to Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs for picking a fun recipe that is very easy to play with according to the season. This weeks TWD in one word: Fruity.

* When I first got married and moved in with Glenn I found this very strange utensil in one of the kitchen drawers that I had never seen before. The best we could come up with is some strange kind of potato masher. I didn't even find out until like a couple of months ago that the strange contraption was a pastry blender. Ever since then I have been excited to use it for stuff, I don't know why though. Kind of a lot of work that a food processor could do for you.

Chocolate Fixation Anyone?

2008-07-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my wonderful husband, I have been getting loads of help in the group creation/blog development department. Glenn has been toying around on Photoshop creating all sorts of fun logos and we are working together to decide what the overall look of the blog will be.

I have ironed out most of the details, I think, for the group.
-First things first, the name is Chocolate Fixation.
-Posts will be done on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month. (Fixation Fridays)
-Recipes can come from anywhere but MUST contain chocolate (white "chocolate" can count)
-Challenge recipes will be emailed on the 4th Friday of the month so there is time to prepare.

I hope this sounds good to other people besides myself. Once I get the site all taken care of, I will post it. In the meantime, if anyone wants to help moderate, please let me know. I would really like to have one other voice helping me out. Also, if this sounds fun to you, email me with your name, email, and blog and I will make sure to add you as a member... hmm, I need a clever name for members. Anyway, I hope others will join me, it will be fun. Happy baking and blogging in the meantime.

Aha! An Inspiration

2008-07-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, when I started gathering ingredients for this week's TWD, I looked at the biscuit topping and went "ugh, that looks so... plain," but I was good and didn't change it. Well, I added raw sugar to the top, but that isn't really changing it. Anyway, after I tasted it, I thought it was delicious and I thought that they would make great scones.

In fact, they do make great scones. I tweaked the recipe here and there, but not much. Here is my interpretation of the biscuit top on the cherry rhubarb cobbler that turned into some tasty morsels.

Brown Sugar Pecan Scones (makes 8-12 scones)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch squares
1 cup milk (whole is best)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
raw sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk together everything but butter, milk, vanilla, and pecans. (I like the inconsistency a fork gets over the uniformity of a whisk.)

Cut the butter into the dry mixture using a pastry blender (pinching with your fingers works well, as does mashing a sturdy whisk into it and turning but be careful not to overwork the dough.)

Add the milk and vanilla and give it a few stirs with a sturdy wooden spoon. Add in the chopped pecans and stir until everything is incorporated. (It is best to stir as little as possible)

Shape dough very gently into whatever you want and place on a baking sheet. Generously sprinkle raw sugar over the scones and press down gently.

Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on how soft or crumbly you want them. I think they are best at 18.

Group Creation Update

2008-07-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, well I have a couple of votes for anything and everything PB & C, but I worry that may get limiting. To accommodate my love of PB & C, and many others, we could do one post a month that has to do with PB & C and then another post that is any other type of sweets, but no limitations, just sweets. Another idea that came up, from Glenn, is that we can discuss/vote on a specific cookbook to work out of, and follow along the guidelines of TWD.

It seems like the guidelines for the group would be like this so far:
- 2 posts a month, one being PB & C, the other being anything else sweet
- completed posts will be made on a specific day agreed upon by the group (probably not Tuesday)
- recipes can come from anywhere ( or from a specific cookbook should we so decide)
- at least one post must be made a month (except for special circumstances etc...)

I suppose a vote should be taken via comments. If doing one PB & C post a month along with another post on a different type of sweet sounds good to you, say so. If you like the idea of just working through a specific cookbook, respond accordingly. Or, if you have any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated. Any combination of these could work as well, but I think two posts a month would be ideal.

Finally, what on earth should this group be called? I'm in full-on blank brain mode and cannot think of anything. Also, if there is any person who is very active in their blogging and would like to help me found this, make sure you let me know and I will set it up so that person can help me maintain and moderate the blog once we get it running. Fingers crossed and we should get this together soon!

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

2008-07-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... well this was an adventure to say the least. First of all, cherries are quite expensive around Arizona. Second, Glenn makes a big deal about how good Rainier cherries are every time we see them, and those are even more expensive than normal red cherries. Third, rhubarb is near impossible to find here. First we checked Target, because we always shop there, then we went to Fry's since we were right by one at the time, then off to AJ's where they had one lone stalk, then to Trader Joe's where we wanted to get all American Psycho style on all the self-righteous hippies, and FINALLY to another AJ's where we found about a pound of rhubarb at last.

I have to say, this was all a bit ridiculous. Everything was easy to prepare and the dough for the topping came together wonderfully and tasted delicious pre-bake. Before I baked it all, I sprinkled a generous amount of raw sugar over the top, which worked out beautifully. However, there are a few changes I would make to the recipe (out of respect of Dorie Greenspan and the copyright laws I won't post the actual recipe). In my opinion, there is too much rhubarb in the cobbler and the next time I would do about 3-4 ounces less and do an equal amount more in the cherries. I would also cut the rhubarb into 1/4 inch pieces as opposed to the 1 inch pieces the recipe calls for. I like my rhubarb more mushy than crisp. Oh yeah, and I halved the amount of ginger in the fruit mixture and added a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Muy bueno. This really was a fun pick because it was SOOOO easy and it made me think twice about what otherwise seemed like a boring biscuit like top.

As for the end result, Glenn and I both enjoyed it. However, it doesn't photograph well (at least not for me). We agree that the rhubarb should be cut much smaller. I also underbaked the cobbler by about 4-5 minutes. Overall, this was a challenge to get everything together, but it was super easy to make and yummy in the end. Before I forget too, I must credit Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake for choosing such a great and easy recipe. This week's TWD in one word: simple.

Mmmm Mmmm Good

2008-07-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

I love PB&C so much that I could never possibly put into words the extent to which that love radiates. Dramatic, yes. Over-exaggerating, no. Anyway, as I was browsing Amy's blog, South In Your Mouth (I will never look at that blog name and not giggle) and I found a work of art. Amy calls it a rut, but I call it delicious.

This lovely dessert consists of a cookie crust bottom, a cream cheese peanut butter layer, followed by some yummy Reese's Cups, topped with a fluffy chocolate pudding, and finally adorned with more crushed cookies. Well I decided to change things up a bit for a couple reasons. My first was that Glenn and I hate Oreo's and even more so when they are in crust form. I asked him to pick some cookies when we were in the cookie aisle at Target, and since the Sausalitos were too pricey, he settled on Market Pantry chocolate chip cookies (the crunchy kind). Good choice love. The second alteration was due to a mistake on my part. I forgot that Cool Whip comes in two sizes and silly me, I bought the small one. Thus, my dessert was a little less fluffy in parts, but in my opinion, that made it better. Here is my version of the Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert:

24 chocolate chip cookies (the crunchy kind)
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip
20 miniature Reese's Cups
1 cup cold milk
1 3.9 oz package instant fudge pudding

Crush 18 of the cookies into fine crumbs and combine with melted butter until it holds shape when pressed together. Press into an ungreased 8 x 8 pan.

Beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and 1 cup powdered sugar in a bowl until very smooth. Gently fold in 1/3 of the Cool Whip. Spread evenly over the crust.

Chop 15 of the Reese's Cups and sprinkle over the peanut butter layer.

Beat the milk, pudding mix, and powdered sugar in a bowl until smooth. Fold in the remaining 2/3 of the Cool Whip. Spread over the peanut butter layer and candy layer.

Top the dessert with the remaining cookies and candy all chopped up or left whole, however you please.

Enjoy! I know we did.

Call Me Crazy...

2008-07-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

I have fallen in love with these online blogging communities of bakers from all around the world. It truly is an amazing thing to see so many people come together over a recipe. Whether it be the Daring Bakers or the Tuesdays with Dorie group, bakers everywhere can come together and learn from each other and share each other's experiences.

Maybe I am crazy, or selfish, or just attention hungry, but I really want to start my own community like those. It may not make headlines or be anything great, but I would love to have a group to call my own and start with a few faithful fellow bloggers. Anyone else share my sentiments? I have no idea where to start, but maybe with some like minded baking bloggers we can produce brilliance.

Call me crazy, but I think it could be fun. What do you think?

Possibilities: I was thinking, well my sweet tooth was thinking, that the group could be all baked goods sweet (forget the savory crap), maybe all things chocolate, or even better, all things peanut butter AND chocolate. I like sweets and if I am going to make a group it's going to be something I like right? I am desperate for ideas, and desperate for anyone that would like to join me.

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

2008-07-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hooray! My very first TWD post (Tuesdays with Dorie)! Alas, the Daring Bakers have not been quenching my thirst for challenges that I might not otherwise conquer without a little pushing. That led me to convince Glenn to run out to Borders and buy me the Dorie Greenspan book, Baking: From My Home to Yours for only $8! What a sweet deal, I couldn't pass it up. As soon as I got it I immediately requested to be added to the TWD group. This leads me to my first challenge. Chocolate Pudding!

I've been reading lots of other people's posts about this and it seems like no one likes pudding! That is absolutely ludicrous if you ask me, but thankfully, this delightful recipe has been changing many minds. It is super rich, wonderfully smooth and creamy, and most of all it has the perfect amount of chocolate. I must say thank you to Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen for picking this yummy recipe.

As for the experience, it was so easy. I didn't feel like making the whole recipe so I easily halved it (with the exception of halving an egg: awkward) and it really didn't take very long. I only got nervous because I have a super mini food processor (3 cup capacity) that doesn't have one of those feed spouts. I was worried the hot milk would sit on the egg for too long without blending, but everything turned out fine. I am considering getting a bigger food processor seeing how much the lovely Ms. Greenspan seems to love hers. This weeks TWD in one word: smooth.

Worst. Recipe. Name. Ever.

2008-07-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

I bought a container of buttermilk so I could make the Blueberry Crumb Cake the other day, and I am now left with entirely too much buttermilk. Unfortunately, the diversity of recipes including buttermilk is pretty much pancakes, waffles, and biscuits. Then lo and behold, I found this recipe for Molten Buttermilk Brownie Goo (seriously disgusting sounding, but quite descriptive) and decided to make it.

I found it on grouprecipes which is a really cool site and I recommend checking it out if you haven't already. It was really easy to make because instead of following the recipe, I just dumped everything together and stirred it. I've never made a dessert quite like this before, so I thought it was really weird pouring something the consistency of water over the thicker batter. I also found it easier to just double the recipe and put it in an 8 x 8 pan since I have no idea what a quart sized pan looks like.

Yummy Biscuits

2008-07-06T13:21:00.001-07:00

For some reason, I always have a craving for biscuits. I'm not sure if it is the sweet honey goodness of Popeye's biscuits or the rich buttery taste of KFC. Either way, I always want biscuits, but every recipe I can find online seems to contain at least one ingredient that I don't have on hand.

I wake up this morning and I am STARVING. I decide that since I just got my wonderful Baking book by Dorie Greenspan, I would try the biscuit recipe that I actually have all the ingredients for. It was super easy, very quick, and in about 20 minutes I was eating insanely good flaky biscuits. It is certainly a no fail recipe that I will probably find myself making again and again.

As a special bonus to myself, and because I always want something sweet for breakfast, I decided to try and mimic Popeye's and I made a 1:1 ratio of butter and honey into a pre bake glaze for the biscuits. It gave them a beautiful golden color with a slight crunch and a delicate sweet flavor. Yummy!

What They Say Is True

2008-07-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

After seeing a few too many TWD (Tuesdays with Dorie) posts and only getting to participate in one challenge a month from DB, I decided that I too needed to belong to the TWD group. Anyway, when Glenn and I were at Borders a week or so ago buying an EReader to occupy us on the trip to Boston, I saw the Baking From My Home to Yours cookbook by Dorie Greenspan on sale for only $8! Wow! It's normally $40 so it was quite a steal. After some convincing, I got Glenn to go and get it for me since I am stuck at work and Glenn is on summer break.

I haven't started TWD yet, but I have practically read the entire 500 or so page book with great enthusiasm. I have mentally devoured each and every recipe in the book, but I found one that interested me in particular. It's a little out of my normal repetoire, but it is now a wonderful new addition. The blueberry crumb cake looked absolutely fabulous to me, so I decided to try it. We had recently made a trip to Target, where the berries were on sale for $2.99 a pint, so I bought some raspberries. A couple days passed, and before I was able to make this, my raspberries had molded. Boo! Off to Target we went again and this time raspberries were no longer on sale, so I stuck with what the recipe called for and I hauled out of there with a pint of blueberries. Aside from the fact that I turned off the oven timer for some reason and had to guess the amount of time left on the crumb cake, this turned out FANTASTIC! It was perfectly moist, just sweet enough, and the crumb topping was ridiculously good. I seriously suggest buying this book, it has too much good stuff to pass up.

Cannoli Heaven

2008-06-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

If there is such a place as cannoli heaven, it would certainly be in Boston, nestled inside a magnificent Italian Bakery called Mike's Pastry. They have roughly a dozen different types of cannoli, each as delicious as the last. My ultimate favorite though is the Florentine Cannolo. For those of you who don't know, and most ignorant Italian restaurants, one pastry is called a cannolo which is singular, and multiple are called cannoli.

Glenn and I first set foot into Mike's a little over a year ago on our honeymoon. We only had mere hours to spend in the wonderful city of Boston, but one of our top priorities was to visit Mike's. Jetlagged and tired from our red-eye flight we set out to find the bakery and proceeded to get lost a few times, sorta, and then in a roundabout way, we finally arrived in heaven. This is certainly a must visit if you ever get the chance to visit Boston, I promise you won't be sorry.

Scotchie Scotchie Scotch

2008-06-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

No, not the drink, but butterscotch. Yum. I actually made these cookies before we left for Boston, but I haven't gotten around to uploading the photos and actually making this post. June has been a busy month for me, a couple trips, a one year anniversary, and let's not forget a grueling Daring Bakers challenge. It may have been a busy month, but it has been a fun month for sure.

Along with the Blondies I attempted to make earlier this month, I was in a butterscotch mood and wanted some cookies to eat at the baseball game so I made some Oatmeal Scotchies. This recipe came from my best friend's mother and it is very tasty. If you like your oatmeal cookies chewy I suggest you bake these at the minimum time and take them out despite what they look like. They last a little longer that way anyway. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Scotchies

1 1/4 cup unsifted flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup softened butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup coconut
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

Cream butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.

Mix flour mixture into creamed mixture gradually.

Stir in oatmeal, coconut, and chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 7-10 minutes and let cool.

Daring Bakers: Danish Braid

2008-06-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

Well the time has finally come to post my very first Daring Bakers challenge! A little background in case you didn't already know, but Daring Bakers is an awesome online community where a lucky blogger member of the community hosts a challenge. This challenge can pretty much be anything in the realm of baking, but it is intended to push bakers out of their comfort zone and to try something new and exciting, something you probably wouldn't randomly select out of a cookbook. Everyone then posts their results on a specific day. The back story is really cool, I suggest heading over to the website to read up on it and maybe join. It's a wonderful concept that brings bakers and bloggers all around the world together, and I am really excited that I am now part of this group.

Anyway... courtesy of Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What's Cookin'? this month's challenge was a Danish Braid. A DB is actually a laminated dough (sounds really scary) that involves folding butter into dough, turning it, and refrigerating it multiple times. I found an awesome explanation on Joe Pastry about what laminated dough is, so instead of me rambling, I suggest you go there to check it out. To keep a long story short, you make the dough, fill it with yummy goodness, braid it up, bake it up, then eat. It sounds scary but it is actually pretty easy once you get it all figured out. It is a time consumer though, I used about three days total to make it all. If you are a fan of pastries, then I suggest venturing out and trying this recipe, it makes a fabulous treat and I am so glad I tried it.

My filling choices were blueberries, raspberry jam, and sweetened cream cheese in one, and turkey & havarti in the other, and both were fabulous. I baked the berry one first, obviously, and found a better braiding technique the second time around. While the berry one seems to be a cracked open ribcage, I can't say I have ever tasted better ribcages.

Tips: If you make this dough and you cannot seem to get the same rolled out measurements as the recipe calls for, don't worry and just use your best judgement. Improvising works here. Also, don't be silly like me and assemble your braid on the counter. Do it directly on the pan it will be baking on, it's ridiculously hard to move it from counter to pan in any sort of graceful movement.

Danish Dough (makes 2 1/2 pounds)

Ingredients for the Dough (detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Ingredients for the Butter Block (beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Note: The challenge was to use the apple filling recipe as provided or make one of your own as long as it is from scratch. I chose not to because I really don't like apples, but here is the recipe anyway. I have heard it is amazing, so maybe I will try it in a pie sometime.

Apple Filling (makes enough for two braids)

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Sad Sad Sunday

2008-06-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

I've been lusting after a particular recipe for a week or so now, but I have been holding back from making it because it is really something that Glenn won't eat. Blondies... they have both white "chocolate" and butterscotch, neither of which Glenn ever eats. In a compromise though, I made him some mint chip ice cream, because I won't eat it, and in exchange I got to make stuff he won't eat. The picture that got me lusting after these beautiful blondes was on South in Your Mouth's blog. Unfortunately though, something didn't go my way today and they just wouldn't bake all the way through. They browned WAY too quickly and the inside was still goo. It was very tasty goo, but it was still goo. Anyway, next time I am just spreading it out in a 13 x 9 pan instead of a 9 x 9. I never have luck with squares anyway. I am almost positive they will come out perfect next time. There WILL be a next time. The flavor of these blondies was way too delicious to not put the effort into perfecting.

And then...

Next sad story is about my love of Flax Seeds. They are super healthy little buggers and 3 Tablespoon of them gives you a ridiculous amount of nutrients and they taste great mixed in with yogurt. I found a recipe a while back for Flax Seed Wheat Bread that looked and sounded particularly tasty. I even got a cute little kitchen scale so I could follow this recipe exactly. I made it today, and well, it wasn't. Entirely too crusty. Maybe it is supposed to be that way, but it seemed too hard and dense for it to have turned out properly. I don't know what I did. I think I will just find a recipe for some tasty wheat sandwich bread and throw some flax seeds in there next time. Oh well, we cannot all be perfect and I only learn from my mistakes. After a considerable amount of pouting to myself at least.

P.S. Forgive me for the crappy pictures, but I wasn't going to bother taking good photos of my disappointments.

Update: Glenn is eating the Blondies as much as I am! Silly boy, pretends he doesn't like white "chocolate" and butterscotch. I can't complain too much though because at least I feel better knowing that I did not devour the pan all by my lonesome.

Happy Anniversary!!!

2008-06-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

Unhinge that jaw...

Happy Anniversary to me and Glenn. This post isn't entirely unrelated, because it does deal with a certain baked good that we fed each other one year ago on this day. I can't believe a whole year has passed since I have been married, but I have to say that it has been the happiest most blessed year I have ever had. I have the most wonderful husband that a girl could dream of, and I couldn't get any luckier.

This is what our cake looked like last year, when it was fresh and tasty.

This is what our cake looks like now, cold and slightly freezerburnt but surprisingly still somewhat tasty. One bite was enough. See what happens to black food coloring after a year?

My First...

2008-06-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it sure has been a while, or it at least feels that way. We left for Seattle at the end of May so I didn't make anything the couple days prior because I didn't want anything to go bad while we were gone. When we got back I was exhausted and preparing for this month's DB challenge, so I didn't do much else in the kitchen. I didn't do much except for make my very first cake, a layer cake. Woohoo!

I saw the post on Bakerella's blog, showed it to Glenn through GTalk and he said "Yes Please" so we went to the store after work and picked up what I didn't have. I proceed to make it, a pain in the butt I decide, and then we taste it. It needs more oil. Maybe a little less baking time too. It wasn't bad, the flavor is fantastic, but it's just a bit dry for our taste, although it did moisten up a good bit after sitting in the fridge overnight. A good cake that I suggest trying out.

How Is This Even Possible?!?!?

2008-05-27T17:09:00.001-07:00

PB&C is never bad, right? Wrong. I found this recipe online from a link on yumsugar that led me to here. From the looks of it, these cookies seem very tasty and combine the two most perfect things on earth, foodwise. Unfortunately, this combination of chocolate and peanut butter proved disastrous. The cookies were as easy to make as cookies are, the pre-bake dough taste test received raves from Glenn, but as soon as they came out of the oven they were defeated. They did not taste good warm. I gave them a chance to cool and they did not taste good cooled either. I am chalking this one up to an unfortunate baking event and so life goes on. Just for future reference on what not to bake in case you ever come across this, here is the recipe.

By the way, this recipe won the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest back in the day, 1951. I guess in 1951 they had crappy tastebuds, because this recipe would come in dead last on my scorecard.

Chocolate Nutbutter Cookies

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups Pillsbury all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.

Beat sugar, shortening, and peanut butter together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Stir together flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually mix in the egg mixture and the milk alternating between the two.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with a fork in a criss cross pattern.

Bake for 6-10 minutes (in my oven, 6 minutes was probably a little more done than I like).

Check Out My Double D's.... Cookies That Is

2008-05-22T15:29:00.001-07:00

The other interesting recipe we found in the Bon Appetit Magazine was called Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies (Double D, get it?) and it was captioned with "these dense chewy cookies will satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving." They weren't lying. These cookies are very intense and perk you up like a cup of coffee. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to throw in some espresso and really give these cookies a boost. Coffee always brings out the chocolate flavor a little better even if you can't taste the Joe.

Double D Chocolate Cookies

nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips, divided (I used Ghirardelli)
3 large egg whites at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray two large baking sheets with nonstick spray.

Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring a couple times.

Beat egg whites to soft peaks using an electric mixer.

Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar gradually. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow cream.

Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl to blend.

Beat dry ingredients into meringue on low speed.

Stir in lukewarm chocolate and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. The batter should become stiff. (Mine didn't so I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes.

Scoop out tablespoon sized balls of dough and place on cookie sheet. A cookie scoop works best for this. Space two inches apart on baking sheet.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until tops of cookies are puffy and cracked.

Soda Bread = Better Than Soda Muffins

2008-05-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

A while back I made soda bread and Glenn and I really liked it. Glenn always brings me home the Bon Appetit Magazine from work and as he was going through it, he spotted a recipe that intrigued him. This was Giant Soda Muffins. Soda Bread is super easy to make and I figured I could just whip those together while the ice cream was being mixed and the brownies from hell were baking because I only need a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Giant Soda Muffins

nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter at room temperature
1 cup raisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a jumbo muffin tin (1 cup capacity) with nonstick spray.

Whisk next six ingredients in a large bowl.

Add butter. Using fingertips, blend butter into mixture until it is incorporated and it starts to forms crumbs.

Whisk buttermilk and egg together. Add to dry ingredients and stir to blend.

Spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 23 minutes.

Remove muffins from pan and cool slightly on rack before serving.

Hell's Brownies

2008-05-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

Before I talk about the brownies, I need to talk about the process of making them. I was bored while Glenn was at the game so I decided to finally try the Jalapeño Brownies that I have been pondering lately. I ran to Safeway and picked up some Jalapeños and a Habañero to substitute for the Thai Chilis. Once I got home, I preheated the oven and started prepping. I washed the peppers and cut them into halves and then removed all the seeds... BARE HANDED! Nobody told me you should wear gloves or coat your hands in oil before you mess with peppers. I chopped away and ended up with some beautifully minced peppers. As I finished up with the recipe, my hands felt extra warm, an odd sensation to say the least. I put the brownies in the oven and forgot about everything until I tasted a bit of the ice cream that was being made in my new KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment, mind you, I used my finger. The first sensation I experienced was bliss, my ice cream was turning out incredibly, but then came the second feeling. Searing pain blazed across my tastebuds rendering me helpless and desperate for milk. After I guzzled my milk, I was awakened to the awful agony surging from my fingertips and radiating from my palms. I figured it would go away, but it didn't. After three hours I was worried, so I went online and found countless home remedies, none of which worked. I gave up trying and sucked it up. The next day, 24 hours later, my hands still hurt. They are still sensitive to extreme temperatures right now, 5 days later, but I can certainly handle that. Moral of the story? Glove your hands if you wanna mess with peppers.

All of that being said, I made the Jalapeño Brownies which were well received by my taste testers Glenn and Becky. I won't even go near them thanks to that awful experience. I also don't like peppers at all, so there's another reason I won't try them. The main problem with the recipe though is that Jalapeños are oily peppers and they made the brownies very difficult to cook, and even after 15 extra minutes of baking time, they were still severely undercooked. I would either use less next time, chop them coarser, or leave em in the oven even longer. If you are a fan of spicy and chocolate, I suggest you try this unexpected combination.

Hell's Brownies

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup chocolate chips
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
5 large jalapeños, minced
6-8 thai chilis, minced (I used one Habañero in place of these)
3/4 cup walnuts (I didn't put these in, I hate nuts in brownies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.

Melt butter and chocolate chips together then set aside.

Whisk or beat eggs with salt in a large bowl until foamy

Add sugar and vanilla and beat until well blended. Add chocolate butter mixture and stir just until combined. Add flour and cocoa and mix until almost blended.

Fold in the jalapeños, Thai chilis and nuts.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and bake until top forms a cracked cruse and the inside looks slightly moist, 30 to 35 minutes. (I did this for 50 minutes and it still wasn't done)

Cool and cut into squares.

More Celebration of Peanut Butter Lover's Month

2008-05-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

Hooray for more peanut butter! I am going to make myself sick eating all this peanut butter, but who cares. I don't like biscotti and that was the second recipe in my book, so I skipped to the third recipe which was peanut butter cookies. Sounds great to me. Only problem is I start gathering my ingredients and realize that I have a half a stick of butter left. Bummer, that means less cookies. Oh well, I just half the recipe and then throw in some chocolate chips for good measure, and these little beauties are what comes out. They aren't bad or anything, I am just not that impressed. A peanut butter cookie is something to savor, to truly experience, and I am just really picky about them. I want them to be soft and chewy and a tad bit too sweet. I just didn't get that from these, but they were still good. Glenn suggested that next time they be flattened more because one bite is a little too much rich sticky peanut butteryness to handle in your mouth. I am still working on developing a better pb cookie recipe, but this will suffice until it is complete.

By the way, trying to figure out what half of an egg looks like is an interesting task.

PB Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar (I used dark brown because it's yummier)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy is best)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sift the flour and baking soda together. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugars until soft and creamy. Combine the egg, flour mixture, peanut butter, and salt. Add the butter and sugar mixture and mix until smooth.

Wrap the dough in foil or parchment and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. (I totally skipped this step)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Shape the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden. (I thought peanut butter was already golden)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Don't Discriminate Against the Shortbread

2008-05-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have never liked shortbread, it's just so plain to me and it is severely lacking in the chocolate and/or peanut butter department. But when I asked Glenn what I should make yesterday, he suggested just starting at the beginning of my 500 Cookies book and knocking out each recipe, one by one. That first recipe just happened to be shortbread. Incredibly easy and incredibly tasty. Needless to say, I actually like shortbread now... I guess as long as I make it myself. I don't like that shortbread is traditionally extremely dry and crumbly. I prefer a little chew to my cookies.

Scottish Shortbread (I don't understand the Scottish part)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons rice flour (I just used regular flour since I didn't have this specialty kind)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
Raw sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and line a 7 x 11 inch pan with aluminum foil. Sift the all purpose flour into a bowl and stir in the rice flour.

Beat the butter and the sugar until smooth. Add the vanilla extract. Work the dough until it starts to clump together, then press it into the pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The shortbread will seem to be done before it is, so ensure that it cooks the full 45 minutes (or if you are like me, you completely ignore this warning and do it your own way).

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the raw sugar, and cut into fingers. Cool for 20 minutes and remove from pan. For an extra tasty treat, dip half of the cookies into melted chocolate.

Is It Supposed to Look Like Brownie Batter?

2008-05-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a new cookie cookbook which is super exciting, not that I need anymore, but this one just begged for me. It was so cute and small and lime green and has 500 cookies in it. I had to have it. Anyway, I am flipping through it and I see these cookies that look almost identical to my favorite Chewy Chocolate Supreme cookie at the Great American Cookie Company. I of course had to try it. So I make it, and taste it, and it is delicious, but when I go to drop it by tablespoonfuls on the pan, it looks just like brownie batter, smooth and slightly runny. I go on and attempt to neatly place this runny mess on the cookie pan and stick it in the oven. I second guess myself and decide to add more flour to the cookie dough so it looks more like cookie dough. When I look in the oven, I begin to think that maybe it's going to run onto the bottom of the oven, but thankfully I didn't. It turns out that they actually kinda sorta turned out how they were supposed to, but it was too late and I had already made my changes. Whatever, next time I will give the chocolate more time to cool, and maybe that will help the runnyness of it all.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (I later added an extra 3/4 cups)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped coarse (i just used 1/2 cup chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate with the butter. Set aside and allow it to cool slightly. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until thick and pale. Stir the melted chocolate into the egg mixture and then gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Drop tablespoons of mixture onto baking sheets and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Slide the parchment paper onto wire racks to cool.