Lady Craddock's Bakery

SMS: Black Bottom Brownies.....

2010-01-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

YUMMY!!! What more can I say? Our recipe of the week, Black Bottom Brownies, was chosen by Cynthia of Bakingtherapest , check out her blog for the recipe. These went together easily, I used Scharffenberger unsweetened chocolate; I usually won't use expensive chocolate on a new recipe but I just had a hunch this would be a delicious recipe. I wasn't disappointed! The only change I made was using mini chocolate chips instead of regular and I only used 6 ounces; I didn't want too much chocolate competiting with the cheesecake layer. I probably got 24 out of the full recipe; the original recipe indicated 12 servings, I think that would have been calorie/sugar overkill!!! DH said these were very good and will be taking the rest to work tomorrow, get them OUT of my site please. Yes, these were delicious, I liked the contrast between the brownie (nice and fudgy) and cheesecake (creamy, moist) layer; they are even better the next day, according to my DH of course.

SMS: Lemon (Orange) Walnut (no nuts) Sour Cream Pound Cake.....

2010-01-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

With all the great reviews I had to make this pound cake! I made mine with oranges because I had two I needed to use and I was too lazy to walk out back and pick lemons. Left out the nuts since I will be sending this to work with DH and I know there are a few co workers that don't do nuts. This was amazing; beautiful crumb, nice flavor and a perfect glaze. I made a mini loaf for DH and me and used a 2 pound loaf pan for the other. Needless to say the mini didn't last very long, LOL. You could use any citrus for this cake; I think lime might be good next time. Thanks to Raeann, who just got back from the Bahamas, of Basically, Baby Boots for picking an easy and delicious recipe. Check out her blog for the recipe and Lenny Kravitz!!!

MSCC: Coconut Cupcakes.....

2010-01-15T16:57:00.000-08:00

I almost didn't make this recipe, I have a great coconut cupcake recipe so why mess with another? What changed my mind was the 7 Minute Frosting, I have never made this type of frosting so why not? Glad I did, the cupcake part was on par with my recipe; great taste with lots of coconut flavor and I love coconut! I liked the frosting, it piped well and was easy to make; my only complaint was that it was very plain, my DH said everyone at work would have prefered a regular frosting. All in all they were good, would use this recipe if I lost my favorite recipe but would change the frosting. Many thanks to Jennifer from Cinema Cupcakes for picking our recipe of the month!

SMS: Chocolate Cream Caramels.....

2010-01-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the late post, I actually made these on Saturday but an invitation for breakfast and a movie, Avatar, got in the way of cutting and wrapping. I have made caramels for years and this was a nice change of flavor, never thought of making chocolate caramels.

These were very good but I prefer a softer caramel; I will make them again but next time cook them a few degrees lower. The candy cut easily and tasted great! This was perfect timing, I just got my order for cellophane wrappers and had plenty (2000), LOL.

On another note, I am happy to see the holidays are over, something was lacking this year; can't put my finger ont it but it just didn't seem like Christmas. Maybe I was baking and cooking for clients and not enough for me, I had loftly expectations of all the holiday goodies I wanted to make. This year I will cut off client baking at the beginning of December.

It's Giant Cupcake season.....

2009-11-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

My Giant Cupcakes have really taken off! I have had so many orders for them I am having trouble keeping up with my posting; but they are fun to make and everyone loves them. Here are a few pictures of the cupcakes.

MS:CC Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes

2009-11-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

This months recipe was chosen by by Karen at Karen's Cookies, Cakes & More and she picked a winner. I used a pan with an indentation on the top to hold the marshmallows; my kitchen torch can be a bit fickle at times and I ended up slightly over doing the marshmallows in a few places but they still tasted great. These were more of a muffin than a cupcake but that's OK with me, I may use this recipe for Christmas brunch. Looking forward to next month's recipe, Gingerbread Cupcakes. I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

SMS: Spiced Pumpkin Cookie Cakes

2009-10-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

This has been pumpkin week, I made Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes for the MS:CC on Thursday and used the left over pumpkin for the SMS recipe; I just love using up ingredients. These cookies reminded me of the cupcakes I made last week, spicy, moist and yummy! Easy recipe with no issues.

I make French macrons occasionally and have a "cheat sheet" to make them all the same size; I just put the parchment paper on top, pipe the batter and you have perfect sized cookies. Even the piping tip was the same size! My cookies took the full 15 minutes and I feel they could have used maybe another minute or so. The frosting was a cream cheese based recipe, so I decided to use the left over frosting from the cupcakes; I just added orange zest and orange extract to the frosting and it was very good.

The recipe made 68 cookie halves and DH is taking ALL of them to work tomorrow, they are that good. I need them out of the house, LOL.

MS:CC - Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

2009-10-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

This was a whirlwind, I just found out I was able to participate in the MS: Cupcake Club and my book hadn't arrived. I really wanted to make this months recipe, so off I went to the book store and bought a copy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I had everything on hand except the cream cheese, not too bad considering the time constraints. Easy recipe and if the batter is any indication, they will be awesome cupcakes; nice spice blend and with the pumpkin puree I'm sure they will be moist. I made half the recipe and got 12 minis and 12 regular cupcakes. I didn't have time to make the cute marzipan pumpkins but used candy corn for the minis and candy pumpkins for the regular. DH tasted them and really liked them, he is taking them to work tomorrow and will give me the results for his office mates.

Many thanks to Kim from What the Whisk for my first recipe with the MS:CC, check out the other blogs at MS: Cupcake Club.

TWD Allspice Crumb Muffins.....

2009-10-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back to baking, just too much going on and it's not even the holidays, yet. Despite having a wedding to attend on Saturday I was able to bake for a few hours on Sunday. I made this weeks TWD recipe and Martha's Brown Butter Toffee Blondies. The muffins were easy to put together and I had no issues, except I forgot I had only 1/4 tsp of allspice left in the jar. As I was searching the spice cabinet I remembered I had whole allspice berries, so I got my spice grinder out and made my own powdered allspice! Wow, what a difference it made using fresh allspice, no comparison to the pre-ground; I always grate my nutmeg fresh and now will do the same for the allspice. The muffins looked so good and the topping was the crowning touch! I can't tell how they tasted because I have to really be good (I hate being good) with my eating; so off they went with my DH to work this morning. He just came home and said the entire office loved the muffins and blondies; actually they renamed the muffins "Crack Cocaine". Many thanks to Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table for a great recipe pick of the week!

SMS Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble.....

2009-10-04T05:24:00.000-07:00

Our recipe of the week, Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble, was chosen by Cristine of Cristine Cooks, check out her blog for this wonderful recipe! With this recipe I have declared that fall is finally here; and the weather is cooperating, we may actually get some rain (sprinkles) in the next few days. The dry Santa Ana winds hit last Thursday but this morning (Sunday) there was a slight nip in the air.

The Apple Crumble was delicious, especially the crumble. I made half the recipe but kept the same amount of crumble because that's what Karen suggested in the Q&A's. Thanks Karen, I'm a crumble lover and the more the better. I used a mix of apples, Granny Smith, Honey Crisp and McIntosh; next time I will make the crumble with just Granny Smith. I like the firmer texture and the slight tartness that Grannies give to fillings. This went together so fast, really, it's one of those, "OMG what do I serve for dessert, I have no time", recipes. I'm sure you could use any fruit you have on hand, like pears, apricots and such. I was thinking of adding some dried cherries or cranberries but I try to make a recipe as written the first time; besides, DH loves apple anything and wasn't sure if he would like the additions. Great recipe and will make it again with the additional crumble, yummy!

SMS Caramelized Onions, Sage, and Cheddar Muffins.....

2009-09-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

These muffins sounded so good and I was ready for something savory! This muffin recipe starts with the basics and then recommends "add ins" to suit your tastes. These muffins were easy to put together, no KA needed either; just put the dry in one bowl, the liquid ingredients in another and them mix. I had to make a few changes because I realized I only had the heavy cream but no regular milk, I substituted buttermilk and added 1/4 tsp of soda to compensate. I had a bag of self rising flour that I needed to use up so I didn't add the baking powder. I cheated and bought a package of frozen caramelized onions at my local middle eastern market, what a time saver and they tasted great. The sage came right out of the garden, so the only thing was to shred the cheese. The muffin batter was very dense but they baked up light and moist. DH and I felt they were a bit salty but that could just be our tastes and is something that can be adjusted next time. Our recipe of the week was picked by Hanaa of Hanaa's Kitchen check out her blog for the recipe and some great tips! I will be making this recipe again, it's that good and can be changed to fit any meal.

SMS Orange Scented Scones.....

2009-09-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited, this was my week to pick the recipe! I chose the Orange Scented Scones; I really like scones and, since my mom was English, they are dear to my heart. Here is a brief history of scones from the Joy of Baking.

There are two ways to pronounce scone; "Skon" and "Skoan". Scones are believed to have originated in Scotland and are closely related to the griddle baked flatbread, known as bannock. They were first made with oats, shaped into a large round, scored into four to six triangles, and cooked on a griddle either over an open fire or on top of the stove. The origin of the name 'scone' is just as unclear as where it came from. Some say the name comes from where the Kings of Scotland were crowned, the Stone (Scone) of Destiny. Others believe the name is derived from the Dutch word "schoonbrot" meaning fine white bread or from the German word "sconbrot" meaning 'fine or beautiful bread'. Still others say it comes from the Gaelic 'sgonn' a shapeless mass or large mouthful.

However you pronounce scone, people either like them or hate them. To the haters they are either tasteless, dry, too crumbly, too sweet, not sweet enough and on and on, LOL. For those who love them, plain or fancy, they are the perfect "go with" for tea or coffee or just because. I, too, have had my share of hockey pucks but when you get a good one, there is nothing better!

Melissa's recipe was very good! The scones were light, airy and easy to make. I felt they needed more orange zest and doubled what the recipe indicated. You could easily use this recipe and add whatever your taste buds are yearning for, chocolate chips, dried fruit or just plain and have some of your favorite jam on top! I hope everyone who baked with me this week enjoyed the scones and will make them again!

ORANGE SCENTED SCONES from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Makes 6 scones

For the scones:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) of cold unsalted butter
½ cup of oat flour or 2/3 cup whole oats (to be ground)
1 ½ cups of AP flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 large egg

For the Glaze:
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar

Place the rack in the center oven. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the cold butter into ½ inch pieces. Keep cold. Place the oat flour in the bowl of a food processor. If using whole oats, place the oats in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a coarse flour. Add the AP flour, baking powder, salt, sugar , and zest, and pulse to combine. Add the chilled butter pieces and pulse until the size of medium peas.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream and egg until smooth. Fold the flour into the egg mixture to combine: the dough should hold together. Don’t over mix.

Turn the dough out into a lightly floured work surface and pat into a flattened round disk measuring 7 inches across. Using a sharp knife, cut the disk into 6 even triangles. Place at least 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.

For the glaze: Brush the scones with the heavy cream and sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack and cool.

SMS Perfect Pound Cake.....

2009-09-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Michelle of Veggie Num Nums for our recipe of the week, Perfect Pound Cake! Check out Michelle's blog for the recipe!!! This was the perfect recipe to finally use my shortcake pan that I just had to have; and of course had not used until this weekend!

The recipe worked great in this pan and as usual I over filled the pan, but I just cut off the cute domed tops and ate them by themselves, LOL. I think I could have had 10 to 12 shortcakes if I had filled the pan properly.

Couldn't decide what to fill the short cakes with.........

thinking, thinking, thinking,....fresh berries with whipped cream, yummy..........

thinking, thinking, thinking,....oh, I know, coffee ice cream with Kahlua sauce.......

thinking, thinking, thinking,....fill the top with lemon curd and clotted cream.......

Well, just plain with a cup of tea, worked for me; at least there are five more to think about!!!

SMS Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake.....

2009-09-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

I'm still studying, but almost done! This weeks recipe was great, thank you to Sarah of Blue Ridge Baker, for a delicious pick, check out Sarah's site for this easy recipe. Was only planning on making a half recipe but decided on the full version at the last minute; I had already prepped the two 5" springform pans for the half recipe and totally forgot I needed the 10" pan, LOL. Amazingly the cake did not overflow the smaller pans; so my cake was much taller than intended. Still tasted wonderful and would definitely make again, but next time in the correct size pan!!!

TWD Espresso Cheesecake Brownies.....

2009-09-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

These brownies got rave reviews from my DH, son, DIL and of course me! The cheesecake layer was flavored with espresso, then you swirled a reserved amount of brownie batter on top. Several had commented that the brownie batter was a little stiff to swirl, so I added about one tablespoon of milk to loosen up the batter and it made swirling a breeze, love those comments! Dorie indicated the brownies would be done when the cheesecake layer was beige in color, LOL; it started out beige with the espresso in it. I went for the slightly brown edges and it was just fine. The espresso was not overwhelming, just the right amount of flavor and the texture was perfect, would definitely make again. I think you could add any flavor to the cheesecake, I'm thinking of adding hazelnuts to the brownie batter and flavoring the cheesecake with hazelnut liquor, yummy!

A Daring Dobos Torte.....

2009-08-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

I decided to make a half recipe, which I am very happy I did, it was wonderful and so rich!!! I just made one large layer in my sheet pan and used a 4 1/2" cutter to cut out the six layers. The chocolate buttercream icing was to die for; this was the first "true" buttercream I have made. The icing was so easy to make and turned out like silk, just melted on the tongue, yummy! The caramel was another easy recipe, just sugar, water and some lemon juice. The tricky part was pouring the caramel on one of the layers for the decorations on top of the cake, but with great instructions it wasn't all that hard! Cake was delicious and is all gone!!!

SMS Mom's Banana Apple Bread.....

2009-08-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Our SMS recipe of the week was Mom's Banana Apple Bread and I had actually bought bananas several days before, so they were really black, yummy! This bread had an apple twist to the recipe; you saute apples, in brown sugar and butter, until they are soft, let them cool and then add them to the batter. The apples made the bread very moist and, for me, almost over powered the banana flavor, not in a bad way, just different. My DH preferred Dorie's banana cake, that we made a few weeks ago, because of a more pronounced banana flavor.

This week's recipe was chosen by Joy of Hot Oven Warm Heart. Check out Joy's blog for the recipe.

TWD Applesauce Spice Bars...

2009-08-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

The TWD recipe of the week was chosen by Karen of Something Sweet. These bars were very easy to put together, no mixer, everything is a sauce pan, how easy was that? My bars were extremely moist and lacked the spiciness I was looking for; next time I would at least double the spices. My glaze was just enough for the 9 x 13 pan. I baked the bars for 27 minutes and think they could have used a few more minutes. Not my favorite from Dorie, but fun to make. My posts may be a bit short for the next few weeks; I am required to recertify every 2 years to keep my personal training certificate current.

SMS Snickerdoodles.....

2009-08-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

Our Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe for this week were Snickerdoodles, chosen by Spike of Spike Bakes , check out her blog, she also made white chocolate cinnamon ice cream to go with her cookies!!!
These were very easy to make; I made the dough the day before and baked them this morning, the house smelled so good!!! They tasted great, just like a snickerdoodle should; I got 18 cookies, I ate 1, DH had 1 (so far) and the rest go to work with him tomorrow. Get them out of the house, away from me, LOL.

I have always heard about White Lily Flour and how soft it is and how it makes the best biscuits; just one problem, can't find it here on the West coast. But when one of my clients said her husband was in Kentucky on business, (well why not), I asked, if he could find the time, could he please, please, bring me back some flour. I'm sure he really needed to hear about finding flour on a business trip; but Saturday morning there it was on the desk, one 5 pound bag of White Lily flour, oh thank you, thank you. Who knew flour could be so exciting, I did try to find some, when I was in Pennsylvania, but no luck. I think it's only East of the Mississippi and mainly in the South.

I made the recipe on the back of the flour bag for biscuits, I had one, and DH ate the rest with some of the preserves we made a few weeks ago. The biscuits were very good!!! The flour really is soft and has a different texture than regular flour; will hoard this flour as long as possible!!!

Another client asked if would make the desserts for a party she is having next week, of course I said yes!!! She wanted mini pineapple upside down cakes, lemon mini cheese cakes and mini cupcakes for the children. I did a test for the pineapple upside down cakes and they turned out GREAT!!! They are a perfect two bite dessert, not too much and there is always room for more.

Eco-Friendly Give A Way.....

2009-08-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a cool give a way I just entered!!! The company is the Marx Food Company and they sell the top of the line, unusual or hard to find gourmet items that can make or break that special meal. They also carry eco-friendly disposable plates made from palm leaves. Here is their description of the product:

These elegant and durable disposable party plates are an eco-friendly alternative to conventional disposable plates. These biodegradable plates are a natural and renewable resource. Naturally discarded sheaths of the leaves of the Adaka palm tree are collected from the forest floor. No trees are cut down. The plates and the disposable cutlery are even compostable!

I hate throwing away paper or plastic plates, so I usually don't use them and just do a ton of dishes after a casual party or BBQ; this is an alternative I can live with. You have until August 17 to enter, nothing to buy! The prize is 25 of the palm leaf plate sets, just in time for the end of summer!!! Just click the link above and enter.

Classic Banana Bundt Cake.....

2009-08-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Mary of The Food Librarian chose Classic Banana Bundt Cake on page 190, from the book Banking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. This was so good, no beyond good, it was GREAT!!! Moist, pronounced banana flavor and just a perfect bundt cake. I made a half recipe with my mini bundt pan, it holds 6 cups, and I had no overflow problems. The cake released perfectly, something I have always worried about with bundt pans until I found the "end all" pan release recipe. I have used this release for about 9 months and it has yet to fail me, if you would like to try it out here it is; you can make as much as you like, just keep the proportions the same.

1 part canola oil
1 part flour
1 part vegetable shortening

Mix together and store in your pantry, if it separates, just remix. For dark cakes you can use cocoa powder instead of flour. I find combining the flour with the shortening first then adding the oil makes mixing much easier.

I suppose I could have cleaned the crumbs off the cake plate for the picture, but why wast such yummy crumbs? After I packed the cake for DH to take to work (seriously, I could have eaten the whole cake myself), I licked the plate clean!!! This is a definite keeper, and I still have 3 ripe bananas; I think I will try some mini loaf pans next. Thanks to Mary for picking such a great recipe!

Back from Pennsylvania.....

2009-08-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Wow I've been back for over two weeks and have not had time to post about my competition/vacation. I am finally caught up with my food posts and baking for the weekend so now a bit about my trip. DH and I went to Pittsburgh for my first masters figure competition; figure is between bodybuilding and fitness. This is the first competition I have competed in that has an age class for 55 and over, I'm 58. The oldest age class out here on the West coast is 45 and over; I really wanted to compete in a class that was more even in age and I had a blast. I enter these events hoping to place but never expect to place, this sport is like other subjectively judged sports, you have to pay your dues and there are some politics involved. But, that said, I won't give up!!! Yes, I work out all year, eat clean all year, have a nutritionist/coach all year; all this for one or two competitions a year. No, I'm not crazy, I enjoy pushing my body to the max and I didn't start working out until I was 52; so I'm a late starter. Anyway, to make a long story short, I didn't place but learned what I need to work on for next year and next year will be here before I know what hit me. I have had two weeks off and tomorrow it all starts over!!!

Pennsylvania is beautiful, I'm ready to move there, LOL. Ya, ya, ya....wait for winter; is it really that bad? I mean, I get tired of no seasons except, well I guess we have them, Hot, Warm, Cool and Warm, maybe those don't qualify. We stayed a few days in Lancaster County and drove all over the Amish areas, I actually saw a covered bridge.

I loved the farms, fresh eggs and homemade root beer. Very simple and clean; I fell in love with a small town called Lititz. Went to the chocolate museum and pretzel museum, what fun!!!

Saw many horse and buggies; finally got to see fire flies and ate shoo fly pie; I'll give the pie an OK, maybe homemade is better. Then on to Philadelphia for just a day, not enough time, but I saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Basically I ate my way through Pennsylvania and it was so nice to just eat what I wanted.

It's always good to get home, but in the back of my mind I see a home somewhere East of the Mississippi with my name on it.

SMS Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies.....

2009-08-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

This weeks pick, Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, was by Stephanie of Ice Cream BeforeDinner, check out her blog, she made several versions of this recipe. I love peanut butter cookies, especially chewy ones, these were chewy but a bit flat for me. Flat in flavor and physical stature, LOL. What I look for in a peanut butter cookie is a strong peanut butter taste, these were mild; I also like a thicker cookie, mine spread and cracked more than I expected, the out of focus picture showes how thin mine turned out.

So I made my favorite PB cookie, Thick, Moist & Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, adapted from The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball. This recipe uses roasted salted peanuts that you process with the flour in a food processor, and a cup of peanut butter.

These are thick and chewy with a pronounced peanut flavor; a definate thumbs up from DH. I always enjoy trying out new recipes, even if I have a tried and true, never fail recipe that I have used for years; you just never know when you will find an even better recipe.

Blogaversary Winners!!!

2009-08-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

In honor of my first blogaversary I had a give a way and today I get to announce who won! One of the questions I had the participants answer was, "What do like about your kitchen?" I really enjoyed what everyone had to say about their kitchens, so I decided to share with you what I like about my kitchen.

There were several good reasons to buy our home, good neighborhood, great schools and all the rest; but the single thing that stood out was in the kitchen, not the kitchen itself. That one thing that sold me was a walk in pantry, god bless the builder in 1963 who thought a pantry might be nice; I could kiss him!!!

My DH totally gutted the pantry and put up new shelves, book case and wine racks, I just love this space. Several times during the year the pantry takes on a life form of it's own; somehow my baking pans are not put away, ingredients are on the floor, my step stool keeps inching closer and closer to the door because too much stuff is in front of it. I have learned the fine art of standing on the step stool and reaching for something without loosing my balance; if I can't find something I figure I must be out so I purchase more. I keep the monster hidden by closing the door, until I just can't stand it any more and actually clean it out!!! You would be surprised how many open bags, containers and jars of things were in there. I have now made my August 1 resolution, put things back (really, who knew) and use ingredients up, what a concept.

Here are the winners of my first blogaversary, I had 19 participant and used a random number generator to pick the winners.

18 5

Random numbers generated Aug 1 2009 at 17:8:58 by http://www.psychicscience.org/.Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

#18 is Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs, she won the book, Enlightened Cakes.

#5 is Tracy of Tracey's Culinary Adventures, she gets the Ice Cream Sandwich maker.

Thanks to all who participated, I had fun and am looking forward to another year of baking AND a neat pantry.

TWD Vanilla Ice Cream, delicious.....

2009-07-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back and what a whirlwind of baking the last few days; I needed to bake, churn and post for TWD, SMS and the Daring Bakers, fun but tired. This weeks cold and yummy recipe, Vanilla Ice Cream, was chosen by Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu. What can I say, simple and delicious, really, with egg yolks, cream, vanilla and sugar, how hard is that. DH and I loved it; we were trying to decide what to put on it and the final vote was, NOTHING, wonderful by its self ! The vanilla flavor was just right and the ice cream was very smooth and creamy. Will make again!!!

Daring Kitchen, Mallow Cookies.....

2009-07-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

This was indeed a challenge, not that it was difficult, just the components had a few glitches, for me anyway. The first glitch was the dough, it was VERY soft, even when cold, and was difficult to roll out. Instructions indicated a lightly floured board, my dough stuck like glue; so I added a bit of flour to the dough and rolled it out on floured parchment paper with saran wrap on top; I also rolled it out a bit thicker; that seemed to work. The recipe stated it made about 24 cookies, right, I rolled half the dough out and already had 42 cookies; that's where I stopped cutting the dough and froze the other half. Maybe they meant the recipe would feed 24 people, LOL.

I have made marshmallows before, using Eileen Talanian's book Marshmallows, Homemade Gourmet Treats; this is a wonderful book and the instructions are very clear with many options for flavoring your mallows, I highly recommend this book. The recipe for marshmallows in our challenge was a bit different so I used Eileen's recipe for vanilla marshmallows and had no problems. The second glitch was with the chocolate glaze, it just would not set up, no matter how long you waited; I even put it in the refrigerator, as soon as you took it out and TRIED to pick one up you got chocolate all over your fingers. Although the cookies tasted good they were just too messy to eat, so into the trash they went!!! All 42 of them!

Not to be put off by either the baking gremlins or perhaps a recipe with a few minor errors, I tried again. This time I used part of Eileen's recipe for mallow cookies, she uses a graham cracker cookie as the base, the recipe is included in the book; BUT she has a shortcut, just soften graham crackers with a damp towel, cut with your round cookie cutter and then pop them in the oven for 5 minuets to crisp them back up; worked like a charm! I then decided to use Merckens Chocolate Melting Wafers for the glaze, that's what they are made for and there were no problems AT ALL with it hardening.

All in all a fun recipe to make, even though I had to throw away the entire first batch. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!!!

SMS Strawberry Grapefruit Preserves, yummy.....

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

My post will be a bit short, we just got back from vacation and I need to post for SMS, TWD and the Daring Bakers, whew, what a homecoming. This weeks recipe, Strawberry-Ruby Grapefruit Preserves, was chosen by Margot of Effort to Deliciousness. Our recipes are from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, we try a new recipe each week with the option of participating or not, as long as we make a couple of recipes each month. This is an awesome group with a limit of 50 bakers, easy to visit each week and comment.

I love making jams, preserves, marmalade and just about anything you are able to put in a jar and can!!! This combination of strawberries and grapefruit was delicious, easy and made 5 pint jars, enough but not too much. Melissa has a master recipe with several options and I would definitely make this again.

First Anniversary Blog Give-a-Way.....

2009-07-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have been blogging for a year, time flies when you are having fun!!! And I've been having fun with all baking I have been doing. It all started with Tuesdays with Dorie, then the Daring Bakers (now Daring Kitchen) and finally Sweet Melissa Sundays. So, in honor of my one year anniversary, I am having a give-a-way. It's easy and won't take you away from your kitchen for too long, just answer two questions, that's all; I said it would be easy.

Here you go:

1. Do you prefer Boy (with nuts) or Girl (without nuts) Brownies?

2. What do you like most about your kitchen?

I will use a random number generator to pick the winners, yes winners, I have two prizes to give a way!!! The first is Enlightened Cakes by Camilla Saulsbury, and the other prize is a Tovolo Ice Cream Sandwich Mold set.

You have a great change to win because I don't get a lot of traffic on my blog. I will announce the winners on August 1 and let you know who won!!! Good luck!!!

Katharine Hepburn Brownies.....

2009-07-07T00:10:00.000-07:00

This weeks yummy recipe was chosen by Lisa of Surviving Oz, thanks Lisa!!! I don't normally make boy brownies (that's what I call them if they contain nuts) but since I can't even have a bite of these wonderful goodies I made the recipe as written. DH really liked them and gets to eat the whole batch, damn him!!! Just so you know I will be gone from blogging for a couple of weeks, I am competing in the Masters Nationals Bodybuilding and Figure competition in Pittsburgh; so, needless to say, I am on a very strict diet plan and baking and not tasting is just not right, boo hoo. Enough about poor me, the brownies were easy to make, all in one pan so it was easy clean up and they cooked in the time stated.

I let them cool and they came out of the pan with ease; DH had his brownie with the brown sugar vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce we made at Sweet Melissa Sundays.

The brownies smelled wonderful and even though they had nuts I just might make them again, nuts and all; how about macadamia nuts?

Giant Cupcake.....

2009-07-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Giant Cupcake pan from Wilton is too cute!!! I would probably not have purchased a pan if a friend had not asked me to make one for her daughter's birthday; but why not? The pan was on sale and I just couldn't resist. I googled for any comments on using this pan and was lucky to find lots of useful information. The main problem is that the base section cooks much slower than the top and then the top is overdone; some suggested cooking the sections separately so the top doesn't dry out or over cook. I tried about three times to see what worked and what didn't, DH enjoyed all the practice runs. I found that cooking the sections separately worked but the sides of the base are dry by the time the center is done; they would be covered with frosting and that might help, but if you cover the base with frosting you loose the cool design. Again, back to the internet and I found the answer at

http://ohsugarcakes.blogspot.com/2009/03/candy-liner-for-giant-cupcake.html.

You make a candy liner out of the base, make a 4" or 5" cake and fill the base with the cake, fill the void between the cake and liner with frosting and voila!!! This turned out great and is a perfect solution. I used candy melts for the candy liner and just followed the directions from the above link.

SMS Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce.....

2009-07-05T00:10:00.000-07:00

My intention was to make just a half version of this recipe but then I got that "look" from DH and decided to make the full version! My reason, to make the smaller amount, is purely selfish; I am competing at the Masters Nationals Bodybuilding and Figure Competition in Pittsburgh in two weeks and I can't have ANYTHING that's not on my diet, waaaaaaa!! I am now doing two hours of cardio a day, eat 1200 calories (a day) and must eat fish at 8:00 AM, yuck. But, it is only for two more weeks, so if I don't post for awhile, that's what is going on. Anyway I digress, back to the ice cream; WOW, DH has eaten about half of the container, gave it two thumbs up and wants more!!! The custard took longer than 5 to 10 minutes to come to 185 degrees in the double boiler and I had to put it in a sauce pan, whisk like hell and the custard finally thickened. Worth the effort and it was really an easy recipe; I added about 2 tablespoons (heaping) of Skore toffee bits just before the ice cream was done churning, very yummy, according to DH of course. I made the Hot Fudge Sauce with no issues except it was very thick and I needed to reheat it to pour over the ice cream; another thumbs up from DH!!!

A big thank you to Karen of Karen's Cookies Cakes & More for a perfect recipe for the 4th of July!

A Daring Bakewell Tart...er...Pudding!!!!

2009-06-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.
Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.
Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.
The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavoured shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.

What a fun and really easy challenge; it also got me back into making jam again, just what I needed, something more to make. I used fresh raspberries for the jam and now have several jars to eat over the next few months, yummy!!!

The tart...er...pudding was delicious and I can't wait to make it again.

You can use any kind of preserves you like so this is a versatile dessert! If you would like to make this tart here's the recipe:

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding
Makes one 23cm (9” tart)Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)Resting time: 15 minutesBaking time: 30 minutesEquipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin
One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)Bench flour250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadabilityOne quantity frangipane (recipe follows)One handful blanched, flaked almonds
Assembling the tartPlace the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.
When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep time: 15-20 minutesResting time: 30 minutes (minimum)Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film
225g (8oz) all purpose flour30g (1oz) sugar2.5ml (½ tsp) salt110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)2 (2) egg yolks2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane
Prep time: 10-15 minutesEquipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened125g (4.5oz) icing sugar3 (3) eggs2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract125g (4.5oz) ground almonds30g (1oz) all purpose flour
Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Honey-Peach Ice Cream.....

2009-06-16T00:08:00.000-07:00

This was just OK for us; not bad but not great, knock your socks off. I pureed all the peaches but it was still chunky; maybe if I had pureed the hell out of it the peach mixture it would have been smoother. I used 1 tablespoon of cointreau to help keep it soft but it still was a bit hard; flavor wise, I think using peach schnapps would have been the better choice. The peach flavor improved after a day or two but was never really peachy. I'm not a fruit ice cream person so will probably not make this one again, but it was still fun; I like to try recipes I normally would not even bother reading. And I love using my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker!!!

Thank you to Tommi of Brown Interior for an interesting recipe to try.

SMS Chocolate Cookies with Toasted Almonds (Pecans)...

2009-06-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy week and I almost decided not to bake, I'm sure, like that would ever happen. My DH came home from the hospital on Friday, he had shoulder replacement surgery, and things were a bit off last night. I don't think I slept at all and had to work this morning; at least I only had one client. Anyway back to the baking, this weeks recipe was chosen by non other than Melissa Murphy the author of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I knew DH would enjoy these cookies and he did, I don't put nuts in my chocolate chip cookies but these added a nice crunch. I used pecans because I couldn't find the almonds hidden in the pantry, and I was not going back to the store. These tasted just fine with pecans, but I wish I had tried them with the macadamia nuts I found in the pantry. I didn't freeze the dough, just chilled it well before baking; they would never have lasted in the freezer so why waste freezer space, LOL. Nice change to a chocolate chip cookie and a very easy recipe.

Check out the other bakers from SMS, we have some amazing members!!!

SMS Bear's Peach Cobbler.....

2009-06-07T00:33:00.000-07:00

I just HAD to make this recipe! Why? Because my nickname for DH is Bear!!! Anyway, he loved this peach cobbler. I must confess, I used frozen peaches, and it still turned out great.

I made a mini, one serving size of the cobbler; but made the whole recipe for the topping. I cut out the topping and froze what I didn't use, now I have a cobbler I can put together FAST! I think you could use almost any fruit you have on hand and just add some sugar, cornstarch and spice.

Would definitely make again. Many thanks to Andrea of Nummy Kitchen for a fast and easy recipe, great pick!!!

TWD Cinnamon Squares.....

2009-06-02T00:23:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe was chosen by Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. This recipe was easy and not too big, I didn't need to cut it in half. I used Cappuccino chips and mini chocolate chips in the filling, yummy. The cake rose beautifully and didn't sink in the middle, stayed nice and flat. For the frosting I used up all my bits and pieces of chocolate to make 6 ounces; turned out great and I got the swirls like Dorie's cake, LOL. A good coffee cake with a nice taste of cinnamon, would make again!

Sour Cherry Pie that didn't...

2009-05-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

I actually found frozen sour cherries at a new market, called Wholesome Choice , this market is a breath of fresh air from our typical chain markets. Beautiful and different produce, I have never seen green plumbs, anyone know how to use them? They have a nice selection of Bob's Red Mill grains and flours; the flours are in the large, 5 lb., bags. Since I found the cherries I was ready to make the recipe of the week, chosen by Michelle of Flourchild, Sour Cherry Pie with Pistachio Crumble.

Couldn't wait to make the recipe, but on Friday I had that feeling of maybe a sore throat and possibly a runny nose; no way, there's a three day weekend ahead. Well the "maybe sore throat" turned into the sore throat that ate Chicago!!! Saturday I couldn't taste anything and decided not to bake; Saturday night, at 11:00, I dragged my tired butt to the emergency room and went home with a bag of drugs; better living through chemistry I say. What happened to my DH? Why didn't HE take me to the hospital? He will be having a complete shoulder replacement in two weeks and is in so much pain he has to take a pain medicine to sleep; couldn't wake him up enough to drive, LOL!!! Anyway, two and half hours later, an In 'n Out burger and a chocolate shake, (hey you need food to take the meds) I was back in bed.

While I was at Wholesome Choice I found some buckwheat flour and remembered my grandmom made the best buckwheat pancakes; she always started the batter the night before and let it ferment. On the back of the package was a recipe for yeasted buckwheat pancakes, yippee!!! I knew what we were having for breakfast on Sunday, couldn't wait; I put the batter together last night. This morning I finished the batter, got the butter to room temperature, maple syrup ready and the griddle was getting hot. Made about a dozen pancakes for DH and me, everything looked great and that's when it hit me. It was either a V-8 or Laughing Cow moment, but I STILL can't taste ANYTHING!!!!! DH said they were very good, damn. That's why there are no pictures of food, but I thought I would show you how my garden looks.

Fresh Mango Bread.....

2009-05-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Easy and fast recipe, many thanks to Kelly of Baking with the Boys for our weekly recipe pick! No problems with the mango they are on sale here, 2 for a dollar; mine were the perfect ripeness, just firm and no strings. I decided on eliminating the raisins and added about 3/4 cup flaked coconut; I also used coconut flour for a 1/2 cup of the flour. I like the moistness of the cake but the mango flavor was missing, I just couldn't taste the fruit. Maybe not use the cinnamon and see if that change helps improve the mango flavor or change the recipe to pineapple, now that sounds good. A very adaptable recipe that you can change to suit your own tastes. Check out the other bakers at TWD and see how their bread came out.

SMS Guinness Gingerbread.....

2009-05-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

The Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe for this week was chosen by Katie of Katiecakes, check out her blog, she has some great recipes! Ginger is another flavor I love, not as much as lemon of course, but it's right up there. I also made my TWD recipe and was surprised to see many of the same spices were used, so it was very easy to put them both together and bake, same temperature. Other than the Guinness stout, I had everything on hand; the recipe used 2/3 of a cup of the Guinness and the rest was consumed while the gingerbread baked; wouldn't want to waste anything!!!

The bread smelled so good while baking, DH kept hoovering by the oven, waiting for it to come out; I reminded him it needed to cool a bit.

After tasting the gingerbread it was a bit disappointing, not very gingery; and I added crystalized ginger to the batter. DH, AGAIN, did not like the bits of ginger in the bread, I see a pattern here, no bits of anything larger than 1/8" from now on. Who knew, after 23 years of marriage, he didn't like bits, LOL; will strain his food from now on. The ice cream I used was a Haagen-Daz new flavor called Brown Sugar, yummy!!! This new ice cream line is called 5 because they only use 5 ingredients, it's really good; they have a ginger flavored one also.

Recipes from the past.....

2009-05-12T01:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I checked ebay, perhaps it was from reading Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters or just curiosity but I won a wonderful handwritten recipe book!!! First, I can't believe someone let this book escape their family; I am sure some family member would have appreciated having this book. Second, I would never let one of my mom's or grandmom's handwritten recipes out of my hands. OK, I'm off my soap box, now on to the book, it's amazing!!! So many dessert recipes, Heavenly Pie, Fudge, Harlequin Cake, Pearl's Angel Food, Dream Bars, Orange Date Bread and so many more. I think Devil's Food Cake must have been popular, there are at least four different recipes. The owner of the book made sure she gave credit to whoever gave her the recipe and sometimes the date and where the dessert or dish was served. Most of the recipes are dated from 1932 to the early 1940's, many mention being served at the Sacajawea Club, I think it might have been a Girls and Boys Club. Here are a couple of references at the end of recipes:

Recipe from Mrs. Duncan, served at her home January 20, 1937. Very cold day 23 below, 10 members present.

Recipe from Pearl Howard, served at a stork shower for Olive.

This is just too cool and her penmanship is beautiful. She wrote a saying in the front of the book and I have to share it with you.

We may live without friends,

we may live without books

But civilized man cannot live

without cooks.

TWD's Tartest Lemon Tart.....

2009-05-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Can you say "Lemons, lemons and more lemons"? This was a great week for me, I love lemon anything, especially tart lemon flavors. Both SMS and TWD recipes for the week featured lemon yummys!!! Thank you to Babette of Babette Feasts for this delicious tart made with a nut dough. I made the dough, divided it into quarters, used my 4" tart pans to make individual tarts and froze the shells until I was ready to make the filling. Easy filling, everything goes into a blender and processed until smooth; I still had chunks (very small) of peel but thought it was OK. I had a lot of left over filling, because my tart shells could only hold so much, so I filled ramekins with the excess filling and baked them along with the tarts. I liked the tarts, they had a very tart filling, which I love, and the little bits of rind were OK for me; however DH did NOT like the bits of peel. I would probably strain the filling next time, just to be sure it was smooth. The nut crust was very good and I would use it again for a tart shell. All in all a good recipe, I just need to tweak it a bit for DH, LOL.

SMS Lemon Icebox Cake.....

2009-05-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our recipe for the week was chosen by Jennifer of Keep Passing the Open Windows and she picked a winner!!! Easy to make and it tasted like a frozen lemon meringue pie; I had no issues with this recipe and made it as written, except I didn't make the strawberry sauce. I can see many flavor options for this cake and it is perfect as a summer dessert!!! I love lemon and was very happy that the TWD recipe for this week is a lemon tart. Check out the other bloggers at Sweet Melissa Sundays and see how their cakes came out.

Tiramisu Cake.....

2009-05-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe, Tiramisu Cake, was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures; it would have been my choice, but I don't pick for a few years, LOL.

Since we didn't need a 9" cake for the two of us, I made a half recipe with no problems. I don't know why, but I bought a set of 3" high cake pans a few years ago, the set consists of a 6, 8, 10 and 12 inch pan. So I finally got to use the 6" x 3" pan, baked for 35 minutes and when cool, split the cake into 2 layers. Although there were several steps to make this cake, each one was simple to make and took no time at all. I used Mascarpone Cheese from Trader Joe's ($2.99 for 8 oz.); TJ's also had the chocolate covered espresso beans, yummy. This was the perfect size for us, with no left overs!!! I really brushed on the syrup and added a bit of Kahlua for extra moistness. Loved the cake, so simple and really delicious. I liked the mascarpone in the filling and frosting, not too sweet, just right.

We really liked the cake and I would definately make it again, maybe in the larger size!!!

Sweet Melissa Strawberry Shortcakes.....

2009-05-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

These shortcakes were very good, almost like a scone; my dough didn't rise as high as I had hoped, but they tasted fantastic!!! I think chilling the shortcakes before baking might have helped, my kitchen was very warm yesterday. My DH thought they were scones and ate 2 of them before I saw what was happening. I made 1/2 the recipe so we won't have any leftovers; only one left and that's for the picture.

Many thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes for picking a great recipe!!!

Daring Kitchen Challenge.....

2009-04-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I love cheesecake and this challenge was to take a basic recipe and put your own creative twist on it. I decided to make a White Chocolate Lemon Curd Cheesecake, yummy!!!

Here is our starting recipe:

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust:

2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs

1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted

2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature

1 cup / 210 g sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

I made my crust from 15 lemon sandwich cookies and 1/4 cup melted butter. To the basic cheesecake recipe I added the zest of 2 lemons and used lemon extract instead of vanilla. I melted 10 oz. of white chocolate, let it cool and added to the final batter. I swirled about 3/4 cup of lemon curd in the batter and then poured into the prepared pan. My cheesecake was done in 45 minutes, the center still jiggled a bit; happily it did not crack! I let it chill for 2 days, then poured lemon curd on top and finished with some whipped cream!!! Loved this challenge, so did DH, we are having seconds as I post, LOL. This challenge was really fun, you can tailor the recipe to what ever your tastes desire; very adaptable. If you would like to see more variations on a cheesecake check out the blog roll at the Daring Kitchen!!!

Chocolate Bread Pudding...

2009-04-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

OK, not my favorite and I like bread pudding. I think it was the bread I used, couldn't find brioche or challah; besides I only wanted to make a 1/3 recipe. I used Texas Toast bread because it is sliced thick, about 1"; but I feel it would have been better with the suggested bread. The chocolate didn't do it for me, I like a more traditional bread pudding. DH said it was OK and finished the bowl, LOL. I only get a taste (very small) of everything I have been making lately; I have a competition next Saturday and my eating has to be perfect, damn. But, on Sunday look out!!!

15 Minute Ginger Snap Torte.....

2009-04-20T01:58:00.000-07:00

Kara from Karacooks had suggested using ginger snaps and pecans for a different flavor, so of course I had to make the torte again. I used Nyakers Ginger Snaps and Green & Black's Ginger Bittersweet chocolate, both from Cost Plus World Market. The chocolate has bits of candied ginger in it, yummy! This torte was great, DH really liked it and all I would change is to add some powdered ginger. I really think you could change this recipe to fit what cookies you have on hand.

Caramel Apple Turnovers with Sweet Ricotta Filling.....

2009-04-19T14:26:00.000-07:00

This is my first Sweet Melissa Sundays post and I couldn't have started with anything better! This weeks recipe was chosen by Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures. Sweet Melissa Sundays is similar to Tuesdays with Dorie except you are required to post once a month; you can post every week if you like, just make the recipe of the week and post. The book The Sweet Melissa Baking Book has about 100 recipes and with taking 2 weeks off at Christmas (which is much appreciated), we will be done with the book in two years!!!
I used Trader Joe's puff pastry because, unlike Pepperidge Farms (they use shortening), TJ's uses flour, butter, salt, sugar, and water; I think it is a much better product. You get 2 9"x9" sheets for about $4.99. Instead of cinnamon I used a new spice blend from Penzeys called Cake Spice, it is a combination of cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves. The taste of the spice, out of the jar, is very good; can't wait for DH to give his opinion. Waiting for them to cool..........

These were very good, DH said he would like more apple in it but that was all; the cake spice was delicious, I may put some inside next time. This was a very good and easy recipe; the filling elements can be made up to 3 days in advance and the turnovers can be frozen for several weeks before baking. Would definitely make again!!!

Chocolate Amaretti Torte.....

2009-04-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

This torte was incredible, no kidding, everyone liked it and had seconds! Will definitely make again; DH said it was a keeper. This went together easily and the glaze was a perfect finish. I made the almond whipped cream, it was delicious, but there wasn't any left for the picture. I loved the taste and texture of this torte, and would like to try it with other flavors of cookies.

Holly from Phe/mom/enon picked a winner for this weeks TWD recipe.

Banana Cream Pie.....

2009-04-07T00:01:00.000-07:00

This weeks pick was by Amy of Sing for your Supper and this was a great pick! I have always wanted to make a banana cream pie and here was my chance. I read the comments about how fast the custard thickened, so I was ready, very happy I did not let it boil, can you say glue. I made a half recipe and did individual tarts, no left overs. I put a layer of custard, then bananas and more custard, then topped them with whipped cream. DH liked the tart but did not love it and I have to agree, it was good but not my cup of tea. I have a few bananas left so I will be making some banana bread this week, yummy! Looking forward to next weeks Chocolate Amaretti Torte chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon .

Blueberry Crumb Cake.....

2009-03-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

Our pick of the week was Blueberry Crumb Cake by Sihan of Befuddlement. This was a VERY good coffee cake and I could have eaten the whole batch myself...but I didn't, I left that to my DH. Easy recipe and instead of an 8 x 8 pan, I used my jumbo (Texas) muffin pan because I was planning on sending the left overs to work with DH, ha ha ha! I had him taste test one of the muffins and he said, "Holy sh** these are good". These had a great crumb topping, I doubled the crumb recipe, because you can never have enough crumb topping. I was packaging the rest of the muffins so DH could take them to work and he asked, "What are you doing? Those are staying right here!". I had one and the rest are history, LOL. Verdict, I would definitely make these again, a total winner. Apologies for the picture, my camera and I are having issues.

French Yogurt Cake.....

2009-03-17T00:03:00.000-07:00

This weeks pick, French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze, was by Lilana of My Cookbook Addiction and what a great recipe!!! The recipe went together easily; the only problem I had was finding Lemon Marmalade, which I never found. My mom always had Lemon, Lime and Orange Marmalade on hand; I had no idea marmalade had become an endangered condiment. So after going to four markets, Trader Joe's and Cost Plus, I decided to use Orange Marmalade, and adjust the recipe accordingly. I used my new shortcake pan which makes individual cakes with an indent on the top; this pan worked out well and the cakes released perfectly!

The only change I made was with the glaze, I diluted the orange marmalade with Gran Marnier (about 3 tablespoons) instead of water. These mini cakes were very good, I made Madeleines with the leftover batter and devoured them as soon as they cooled. The finished cakes were topped with Greek Yogurt and berries, yummy!!! Verdict, will make again, a versatile cake that can be used in different forms.

Lemon Cup Custard.....

2009-03-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe was chosen by Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles. I did a half recipe because there are only two of us and I have a bodybuilding show in three weeks, eek! I love lemons, we have a tree out back, it's just not the right time of year for home grown fruit. This recipe used very few ingredients, just four, and was easy to assemble. My custards cooked much faster than indicated and looked so good. While the custards were chilling I read the Q&A's on this recipe and was disappointed at how many indicated it was VERY eggy; not what I was expecting. Also, several had said the custard did not have much flavor; I was happy I misread the recipe and had used the zest of a whole lemon, plus I used lemon oil. Well DH was looking forward to the lemon custard and couldn't wait until had finished the pictures to have a taste; he took one bite, said it was awful and gave it to me to try. I took a bite, thought of my mom's EGGY custard (which I hated) and threw the rest of the custards in the sink. Needed more lemon flavor or something. I guess I am more of a lemon curd type of person, oh well, you can't like everything!!!

This is all my DH would eat, and that's just not like him!!! Looking forward to next weeks French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze.

Passed on the Armagnac Cake.....

2009-03-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend the Daring Bakers challenge, Flourless Chocolate Cake with homemade ice cream, was due so that is the cake I made, see post below. There are only two of us here and we didn't need another cake to consume. I will make the Armagnac Cake another time and will check other TWDers to see how they liked the cake. This weeks recipe was picked by Lyb of And Then I do the Dishes and I am sure she picked a great one!

Chocolate Valentino, a Flourless Chocolate Cake.....

2009-02-28T00:36:00.000-08:00

The Daring Bakers challenge this month was a wonderful flourless chocolate cake! This was way too easy; and I really appreciated the fact it only had three ingredients! Who new something so good would go together so easily. I can't have any until Saturday night, so DH is the taste tester for this post.

I used my square muffin pans to make individual servings and the pans worked out very well. I saw these pans at Target and waited till they went on sale, so of course I bought two! Used Bakers Joy to spray the pans and they released perfectly, no buttering, flouring or papering required. They rose nicely in the oven and fell just like a flourless cake should, nice and dense.

Chocolate Valentino Cake Recipe, adapted from Chef Wan.

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter

5 large eggs separated

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190CBake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.

Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

After seeing these beautiful strawberries, at my local stand, I just knew I had to make Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream. I was very happy I bought a half flat because I ate quit a few berries while I was baking. OMG, this was so good, and I only get one serving with my cake. I made the custard base the night before and churned it the next day; I think this helped bring out the flavor of the strawberries. This recipe calls for the juice of one lemon and one orange; I was hesitant to use this much juice, but it really brightened the strawberry flavor. The recipe I used was from The Chocolate Gourmand. I followed the recipe as written except added the milk and cream together instead whipping the cream separately; I also added about one cup of chopped strawberries during the final 10 minutes of churning. I used my silicone heart pans to mold the ice cream into perfect portions.

The verdict? DH loved it, his only suggestion was to cut the strawberries a bit smaller; they were very hard in the ice cream. Strawberry ice cream is not his or my favorite flavor, BUT this is really good stuff!!! The Choloate Valentino is an absloute keeper, dense and very chocolaty; will make many times again.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Caramel Crunch Bars.....

2009-02-24T00:39:00.000-08:00

This weeks TWD recipe, caramel crunch bars, was chosen by Whitney of Whats Left on the Table, great choice. Since I like caramel or toffee anything these bars were a big hit for me! These were easy to make and by using my 9 x 9 silicone pan it made the pan prep easy, there was none and the final product popped right out. I figured a little thicker crust would be just fine and it really worked out well. I used Skore toffee bits and used more than suggested, imagine that, LOL. The dough bubbled and did its percolating thing just like Dorie said, it looked a bit like lava. I would definitely make these again, quick, easy and very good!!!

Dorie's Devil of a Cake.....

2009-02-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic cake! I know, I have indicated that I am not a chocoholic, but this is one chocolate cake I will make again! Straight forward and easy to make; I used the full recipe but made small heart shaped bites and heart shaped cupcakes. It was my birthday on the 15th and even though I am in training I had ONE small heart to celebrate. I made a cream cheese frosting because it was MY birthday and I love cream cheese frosting. I used Nestles semi-sweet chocolate chunks that I chopped into smaller pieces and really liked the pockets of chocolate in the cake. Many thanks to Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater for a great recipe!

Dorie's Peace Cookies.....

2009-02-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

I made these cookies last week, but sometimes life just happens, LOL. I am posting these today and I am passing on the Floating Islands; hopefully I will be back on track this week. Anyway, Dorie's World Peace Cookies were GREAT! They tasted like chocolate velvet, yummy. Easy to make, bake and way too easy to eat the whole plate of cookies. I froze half the dough and will wait to bake the rest in a month or so. Big thank you to Jessica of cookbookhabit for picking a winner.

Daring Tuiles.....

2009-01-29T00:55:00.000-08:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Making tuiles was a fun challenge and I would make this recipe again! The batter was easy to put together and used ingredients most homes have on hand. The only thing I purchased was the black sesame seeds, but you could use something else and not have to buy anything. I used the savory recipe from Thomas Keller "the French Laundry Cookbook". We were to use fruits in some way with our tuiles, so I used avocados, they are considered a fruit. I made my tuiles into mini taco shells and filled them with gucamole; very yummy!!! I used a large hanger to shape my tuiles and OMG they were very HOT! All in all a very diverse recipe that you can use for any occasion.

Fresh ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread.....

2009-01-27T00:23:00.000-08:00

DH and I really like ginger, in all forms; I put fresh ginger in my green tea, mmmmmm. So a big thank you to Heather of Sherry Trifle for a great choice. Anyway this gingerbread did not disappoint, I added candied ginger because I couldn't find stem ginger; and I went to the huge 99 Ranch Market that carries everything Asian, you would be surprised what they have! I'm not too sure what they do with some of the interesting things they carry, LOL. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I know wierd, so I did not add it to the cake batter. I used my Mary Ann pan and should have baked it 5 minutes longer. The icing was very good, I didn't have any coffee, so I used some espresso powder mixed with water. Dorie suggested a bit of creme fraiche would go well with this bread. I really liked it with the creme fraiche but DH didn't care for it very much. If you would like to see more wonderful renditions of this recipe check out the TWD blog roll.

Berry Surprise Cake.....

2009-01-20T01:27:00.000-08:00

This weeks TWD recipe I was chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen and was fun to make. After reading all the comments on this recipe, most of them commented on the cake falling, I decided to add a bit more flour and was very careful with my folding. I made two 5" cakes because it's just DH and me; I was very happy I did the small cakes!

My cakes rose just fine and only sunk a bit in the middle.

I carved my little nest and had DH taste what was removed, he said it had no taste, very plain. I told him the filling and syrup would take care of that, he loves raspberries. I thought the filling was OK; I cut the filling recipe in half but used the full amount of sugar, because the general consensus was it wasn't sweet enough. Since I was making a half recipe, I just used the Kirsch straight, why dilute alcohol? ;D And why go to the bother of making a syrup for such a small cake? Anyway, it all came together just fine and looked beautiful, BUT, no flavor, really to be honest not a cake I would make again without changes.

I like the concept, so I'm thinking a lemon pound cake with a white chocolate mousse as the filling, adding what berries you might like. The other cake is in the freezer and will probably not be used. I am looking forward to next weeks recipe, Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread chosen by Heather of Sherry Trifle.

Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins.....

2009-01-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

This weeks pick comes from Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake and it was a good one! I love all types of cornbread or corn muffins; I love corn. I used Ancho Chili Powder, which has a smokey deep flavor, and instead of red pepper I used sun dried tomatoes, yummy. I added 1 cup of corn instead of 1/3. I made the muffins and got about 15, would fill the cups a bit more next time. I was thinking you could make this in a 9 x 13 pan and cut squares of the cornbread and then cover with chili. Another addition would be some cheddar cheese. Check out the other wonderful results from the members at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Another week another Cheesecake.....

2009-01-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

I did make another cheesecake last week for New Year's Eve and the texture was much better, more cheesecakeish! I had no problems with Dorie's cheesecake as far as taste, it was very good; my only dissatisfaction was the texture. Dorie's was more silky pudding like, and if you like that in a cheesecake then it was fine. So I reverted to my mom's recipe but without the sour cream topping she used. This cake was great, same wonderful taste from Dorie's but with the more firm cheesecake texture I was looking for; it also cut beautifully without being frozen. I really do enjoy trying different recipes of family favorites, otherwise how do you know if there isn't something better out there?

Mom's Cheesecake

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup butter, melted

4 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese

1 1/4 cups white sugar

3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

5 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 Tabl. Vanilla

1/4 cup flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C.) Butter a 9 inch springform pan.

2. In a bowl mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press onto the bottom of the springform pan.

3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in cream and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared pan.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours.

Mom never used a water bath but I really liked Dorie's method and will use it again. I read somewhere that you can use a roasting bag to put your cake in instead of aluminum foil and that pretty much eliminates the leakage problem.

I will be passing on this weeks TWD, the pear tart, I need a break from sweets, and I need to start my cutting program (I will still bake for my DH and friends), beacuse my next show is at the end of March. I bought the pears and will make the tart in a few weeks as a late post; will definately make the Savory Corn Muffins next week. Hope all of you have a Very Happy New Year!

Dorie's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake.....

2008-12-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Well here is the last recipe for the year, Tall and Creamy Cheesecake on page 235 from Baking from my home to yours, picked by Anne of Anne Strawberry. This sounded so good, I used the gingersnap crust and the orange filling, very yummy sounding, I love cheesecake and I couldn't wait to make it for Christmas Day dessert at my SIL's. Well, it smelled great cooking and tasted wonderful, but the texture was way too creamy for a cheesecake. Very difficult to cut cleanly unless it was frozen, my picture of the cut piece looks beautiful but it had to be frozen to make a nice cut. Everyone liked the taste just not the texture, no one finished their plate; not what I was expecting for this crowd. After reviewing other cheesecake recipes there seems to not be enough eggs and some recipes add a small amount of flour. Verdict: Not the best cheesecake but great ideas for different flavors. I will be making another cheesecake for a New Year's Eve party using my mom's recipe with Dorie's additions and will post on how this new one comes out.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies from Martha.....

2008-12-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

I was reading Nichi's blog Bakeologie and she welcomed anyone to join and bake some of Martha's cookies, well why not? Cookies are easy for me to give away, I always have takers in the gym. These are some seriously good cookies from Martha Stweart's Cookies book. I have made them before and you really need to refrigerate the dough at least 2 hours like the recipe indicates; overnight would be better. This is a super stickey dough so having it cold helps rolling into balls. Martha's dircetions are very detailed, of course, but you can cut a few steps out. These are soft inside and slightly crisp on the outside. They never last long so I made a double batch this time and put half in the freezer to bake next week.

I am late posting, Christmas shopping got in the way, sorry!

Flurry of Baking.....

2008-12-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

After reading how many recipes we needed to make this month I decided to have an afternoon of baking and try to make as many I could. Whew, I got four done in one afternoon; it's amazing what you can do with no distractions and have total concentration to the tasks at hand. I made the Real Butterscotch Pudding, Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies, Linzer Sables and the Buttery Jam Cookies. While the sugar and linzer cookie doughs were chilling I made the pudding; while the pudding was chilling, I made the jam cookies (really easy). All in all it took a few hours but certainly not an impossible task.

It does help when DH isn't at home and if MacGregor (the cat) is in his kitty condo.

The Linzer dough came together easily, I had everything on hand including the almond flour because I have been making macarons (tartelette's directions from Desserts Magazine #2). The dough is very easy to roll out between wax paper. I read the comments and most indicated they preferred 1/8" thickness instead of the 1/4" Dorie suggested; I tried both thicknesses and feel the 1/4" was easier to cut out. I have one of those adjustable pastry boards to roll out dough to an exact thickness, I know anal, but my dad was an engineer and, well, if a recipe calls for 1/4", it will be 1/4", LOL. I filled them with raspberry jam and lemon curd, very good with both! I would suggest cutting out the center of the cookie after you have placed the cut out cookie on your sheet, much easier; also the dough warms up very fast and I had to keep putting it back into the freezer to make cutting out easier. Verdict, would I make Linzer cookies again, maybe; they are labor and time intensive, because you need to keep putting the dough back into the refrigerator. Since they freeze well, I would probably make them a month ahead of time and not in the middle of the holiday rush.

The Jam cookies were OK, very easy to put together, no chilling or rolling, just drop and bake. I used raspberry jam and could barely taste it in the final cookie; the ginger came through and that is what you taste first. DH will take what are left to work tomorrow; he loves raspberry anything and he could not tell me what I used in this cookie. Verdict, probably not make again, too many good recipes out there to make this one again. If you are pressed for time and make changes, maybe add some coconut and use pineapple jam, or another interesting combination this might be the recipe for you.

Grandma's Sugar cookies were very good! I would definitely use this again but only as a slice and bake sugar cookie. The dough is VERY soft and wanted to stick to the wax paper, I remedied this with flouring the top and bottom of the dough prior to rolling out. Since this dough puffs and slightly spreads during baking you lose the sharp edge of your cookie cutter, not worth the time to roll out, chill, cut out and bake. I used a fluted round cutter and the edges were not crisp or well defined. So if you had an intricate cookie cutter this dough might not work for you. Verdict, will make again, they are delicious!

The Butterscotch Pudding was very good! My dad loved it, and said he could taste the scotch, which if you don't like scotch is not a good thing! I like scotch and enjoyed this pudding, it had a subtle taste and not at all like the "out of the box" stuff I have had before. This is the real deal, and would be great in a trifle with gingerbread and some blackberries. Verdict, would make again.

A big thank you to Heather for the Buttery Jam Cookies, Ulrike for the Sugar Cookies, Noskos for the Linzer cookies and Donna for the Butterscotch Pudding. It's so nice to have a large portion of my holiday baking done. The cheesecake will be dessert on Christmas Day, so I hope all goes well with that recipe!

A Daring Caramel Cake.....

2008-11-29T00:30:00.000-08:00

My second DB challenge was a Caramel Cake chosen by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater. This cake is her signature recipe! The recipe can be found at Bay Area Bites , along with many other wonderful sounding recipes. Helping Shuna this month are Alex (Brownie) from Blondie and Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food, and our alternative baking guru, Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go .

I read all the tips given by Shuna, in the Bay Area Bites and had no problem with making the cake. I used a Mary Ann pan that creates a cake that has an indention on the top to fill with whatever you choose. From some of the comments it sounded like the frosting was a bit sweet so I thought I would just put frosting on top of the cake. Making the caramel sauce was easy, I have been making Fleur de Sel caramels for the last few months for Christmas presents, but the frosting really didn't have a caramel taste. The cake smelled wonderful baking and came out of the pan with no problems. After cooling I frosted the cake and drizzled the caramel sauce on top, I also added chopped pecans. I gave DH the first piece, he had been waiting patiently all day! The first comment was how sweet the frosting was and that the cake didn't really taste like caramel, but was good, non-the-less. I felt it was too dense and had expected something lighter in texture; perhaps it was the pan I used, not sure. Not a disappointment, but not a knock your socks off cake either. The frosting was tooth achingly sweet for my tastes; maybe a different frosting next time. Be sure to follow the Daring Baker link to see other members results!

Second Time for the 2fer.....

2008-11-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

I made the Thanksgiving 2fer pie again with the changes I mentioned in my previous post and it came out perfect! No overdone edges and the filling was fully cooked, my DH's family really liked it, even the one's who don't like pumpkin pie! Very happy I tried it again and gave it a second chance.

Thanksgiving Twofer Pie.....

2008-11-25T04:53:00.000-08:00

This pie was delicious and I want to thank Vibi from http://lacasserolecarree.blogspot.com/ for picking a great recipe for this time of year! If you love pumpkin or pecan pie, this is the recipe for you. It's a combination of the two and it really works out well, the filling was soooo good! If you are interested in the recipe it's from Dorie Greenspan's book Baking from my home to yours, on page 321.
The fillings came together easily with no problems or confusion, the pie shell was another matter. Dorie indicated to use a 9" pre-baked pie shell, but I feel it should not have been pre-baked. I covered the rim with aluminum foil and a pie guard during the pre-baking and during the final baking; my rim was way too brown, as close to burned as you could get without the burn! The flash on my camera makes the rim look lighter than it really was. I think you should use a deep dish pie shell, that is what I used and it worked out fine, nothing overflowed. As to the temperature and time, again I feel they were not quite correct. Most Pumpkin Pie recipes start with the oven at 450 or 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then the temperature is reduced to 350 or 375 for another 30 to 40 minutes, just depends on the specific recipe. Dorie's recipe indicates to reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and bake for another 35 to 40 minutes. My pie had knife holes all over it because I kept checking to see if it was done; finally after an additional 18 minutes the knife came out clean. I will be making this pie again for Thanksgiving for my DH's family, I am so glad I tried it out on my family first, now I will make the following changes.

1. 9" deep dish pie shell, UNBAKED

2. Start at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.

3. Reduce temperature to 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.

4. Cover the rim to prevent over browning.

I still love the filling and know with the above changes it will be as close to perfect as I can make a pie! I plan on posting again with my new pie after Thanksgiving. I hope all of you and your families have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Rice Pudding.....

2008-11-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the box of Arborio rice is as far as I got to making this weeks recipe. I just couldn't bring myself to make something I know I won't eat. And after the comments on this recipe, it seemed there were a few problems with the cooking instructions. This is the first week I have missed since joining, so I'm OK with not making the rice pudding, but I will read as many postings as I can and see how everyone else did with the recipe. I want to thank Isanbelle from Les gourmandises d’Isa for choosing a recipe I almost made; it's not your fault, it goes way bake to my childhood. Looking forward to next weeks recipe, Thanksgiving Twofer Pie, from Dorie Greenspan's book, Cooking from my home to yours, the recipe is on page 321. This year my family is celebrating Thanksgiving on the Saturday before the traditional holiday; so my pie will be put to the test and will be posted next Tuesday!

Kugelhopf.....

2008-11-11T03:58:00.000-08:00

I have looked forward to this recipe since I joined TWD and I want to thank Yolanda the All Purpose Girl for not making me wait any longer! I have no problems with using yeast but something went amiss with this recipe. The dough never climbed the hook and the dough was very loose and runny.

It rose as expected and I slapped it down, put it in the refrig and slapped it down three more times as specified in the recipe. OK, so maybe it was yeast abuse, too much slapping or something but after it rose in the kugelhopf pan and was put in the oven it totally sank! I baked the cake anyway, smelled great, DH couldn't wait to try it. When I tried to take it out of the pan only half came out the rest needed to be coaxed with a knife, no big deal, looks aren't everything. We both took bites, chewed, looked at each other and just shook our heads; no real taste, rather plain, not remarkable in anyway. I had read the comments before making and decided to soak the raisins in Grand Marnier and add the zest of an orange to give the cake some flavor. The orange flavor barely came through, I told my DH I would make it again and see what happens, he said "why bother, it has no flavor and is too bland". I threw the cake in the trash, looked through my recipe books and found another recipe for Kugelhopf that did not require all the rising or slapping down; this recipe came together quickly, rose as it should, baked up to perfection and smelled really good! The cake unmolded perfectly, WOW, can't wait for it to cool. Darn, it tasted just like Dorie's, plain, no big deal. This one ended up in the trash with the first cake, they can keep each other company. I wont waste calories eating something I don't like. So I'm thinking Kugelhopf is just not my kind of cake; I will see what others have done with theirs and maybe try again but will not use Dorie's recipe, the other one I used was much easier and faster for the same outcome.

Rugelach, a pastry for all seasons.....

2008-11-04T00:31:00.000-08:00

Our recipe for this week at Tuesday's with Dorie was Rugelach, chosen by Piggys Cooking Journal. These were awesome!!! My DH said they were "very good, and could he have more?". DH is the taster for all the recipes I try, he's very good at critiquing each recipe and occasionally offering some good suggestions. These will defiantly be made again! Maybe for our Christmas brunch since they can be made weeks ahead of time.

I got a new kitchen toy this week, the Escali Pana volume and weight scale. This scale is made for a baker, it will weigh in grams and ounces like most scales but the great feature with this scale is that it can weigh the volume of ingredients. It will convert to cups and tablespoons for liquid and dry, very cool! I used it to measure the jam in this recipe; I needed a 1/3 cup of each of the jams I used, so I put a Pyrex custard cup on the scale, set the code for jam and just added the jam until the 1/3 cup was reached. No measuring cups to wash, I just heated the jam in the dish and was good to go. The scale comes with a sheet that has dozens of common items we use to bake and cook, each one has a code that you input (very easy to do). The codes are for the different densities of ingredients like powdered sugar, granulated sugar, packed brown sugar, grated carrots, cheese, different flours, syrup and many more. I think between the BeaterBlade and this scale I will be much faster in the kitchen, not that baking is a race, just means I can make more in the same amount of time, LOL.

The dough came together easily in the food processor and I refrigerated it for 2 days instead of 1 but didn't notice any adverse affects. After rolling out and brushing on the jam, the dough became a bit soft and made it a little difficult to roll up. I decided to roll the second piece of dough out on parchment paper, spread on the jam and nuts, put it on a baking sheet and then into the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. That worked perfectly, dough held together and rolled up much easier.

I made a few changes to the basic filling included with the recipe. I used the raspberry jam and pecans but changed the spice to one-half teaspoon of cardamon and an eighth teaspoon of cinnamon. I made another filling using apricot/pineapple preserves, turbinado sugar, macadamia nuts, ground ginger and coconut. I loved the coconut version but could have put more coconut in the filling. DH loves raspberry anything and liked the cardamon/raspberry combo the best! I only baked six of each kind and froze the rest for next weekend; can't wait for Saturday.

Happy Halloween.....

2008-10-30T13:05:00.001-07:00

I love Halloween, really! It's fun to scare kids and decorate the house! Usually we go all out on the outside decorations but this year we have had Santa Anna winds like nobodies business; and when they blow most of the tombstones and cobwebs end up in someone else's yard! So I stayed inside and baked cupcakes for my DH to take to work and for me to take to the gym!

I used my favorite Devils Food recipe from the "Tartine" cookbook and it made about 36 cupcakes. Really good chocolate flavor, I used Dutch process chocolate because this recipe contains buttermilk. I also use low fat buttermilk and it has never been a problem even though the recipe calls for full fat buttermilk. I can't even find full fat buttermilk, anyone heard of that kind of buttermilk? Used the vanilla buttercream frosting from "More from Magnolia" cookbook.

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza.....

2008-10-29T03:53:00.000-07:00

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was homemade pizza dough! And, to try and toss your dough, sure. This pizza dough was so good!!! I don't think we will order in again, and that is saying something because we really like our local pizzeria, Oggi's! My DH said the dough was the best he has had, OK, we don't live in Chicago or New York, we're in SoCal so maybe we aren't pizza aficionados! But we do know what we like and don't like.

This was very easy to make! I made the dough with olive oil and didn't change anything in the recipe. True, you don't see any pics of me attempting to throw the dough in the air; good reason, my first attempt resulted in a big hole in the dough and me almost wearing it, LOL. Not sure what happened but my dough seemed realty elastic and did not want to be twirled, tossed or tweaked.

However, using my rolling pin worked great and we enjoyed a wonderful thin crust pizza. My favorite pizza has no sauce, just olive oil and garlic. Then add mozzarella, Roma tomatoes and fresh basil. Yes, my favorite pizza is a Margarita Pizza and this really filled the bill.=

We ate two pizzas on Friday and have enough for two more for this weekend, can't wait! I should mention that three months ago, before I got into the world of food blogs, I cleaned out my kitchen of all unnecessary items, things I hadn't used in years. The two items that went to the donation station were my pizza stone and peel, go figure! DH just smiled and ordered another stone (sometimes they know when not to say anything) and I bought another peel at the restaurant supply. Who knew......

Well I had a great time with this recipe, thank you to Rosa's Yummy Yums this was fun!

2X Chocolate Cupcakes.....

2008-10-28T00:32:00.000-07:00

This post will be short and very sweet! My cousin is visiting from Germany with her daughter and I have a limited amount of time to see them before they travel to Northern California. These cupcakes came out with no problems and I followed the recipe as stated. I used my own buttercream frosting because it's what DH loves; he took most of them to work and the comments were that the cupcakes were "intense"; not sure what that ment, maybe too chocolatie. I felt they were a bit crumbly (dry), but all in all a good flavor. Next time maybe some applesauce or sour cream to make them more moist. Or, just use my favorite devils food recipe.

Dorie's Pumpkin Muffins.....

2008-10-20T01:30:00.000-07:00

Our TWD group got to make Pumpkin Muffins this week, choosen by Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp! and they were so good!!! The only substitute I made was craisins for the raisins; I'm just not that fond of raisins in baked goods. I made two additions to the recipe, I added chopped crystallized ginger, about two tablespoons and maybe 1/8 tsp. of cardamon.

These muffins were just right on the spices and would be excellent for breakfast, a morning snack or brunch; not too sweet! This recipe made 12 regular muffins and 4 jumbo muffins! I was very happy for the extra muffins!

What I really enjoy about making these recipes each week is the versatility of the ingredients, you can usually use what you have on hand or use what you and your family enjoy.

I will be making these again this week and use up the extra pumpkin; wouldn't want it to go to waste (waist)!

Biscotti.....

2008-10-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

Our treat this week was Lenox Almond Biscotti chosen by Gretchen of Canela & Comino. I usually get biscotti in those holiday baskets and they always seem a bit cement like (probably because they have been in that basket for months) and the one time I tried to make them, well, they were just not great. I know there are wonderful biscotti out there, I just don't want to buy a jar full when all I want is something with my tea. I was curious about the cornmeal in these and after reading the reviews was happy to see my cornmeal was on the fine side. I really liked Dorie's recipe for biscotti, they were not hard and had a nice crunch from the cornmeal.

I used this recipe to try out my new BeaterBlade for my K/A. I saw this blade in the latest Chefs catalog and just HAD to try it out. The blade is an after market paddle attachment that has flexible wipers on the edges; so no more scraping down the sides of the bowl. Did it work? YES, I didn't have to scrape down the bowl at all with this recipe. My only concern is that it is made from a high impact plastic not metal and I am not sure how durable (comes with a 1 year guarantee) it will be, but it does save a lot of time. I am puzzled why K/A has not come out with a wiper paddle like this! You can also purchase it at Amazon , it got great reviews!

I had no problems with this recipe the dough was sticky but not hard to form into the rectangle; I did draw an outline on the parchment to be sure it was 12 x 1.5.

I wanted to make 2 different flavors from this recipe so I cut the dough in half before adding the flavoring. I made a Lemon Biscotti by using lemon extract, the zest of one lemon and added Macadamia nuts. For my Pumpkin Pie Biscotti I used 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice, orange extract and pecans. I dipped the ends of a few biscotti from each batch in white chocolate, because it just sounded good. I liked both versions equally and will make Dorie's recipe again!

Vanilla Anyone?

2008-10-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Since I joined TWD I have been baking like a mad woman! I feel as if I should bake everyday, OK, so what is wrong with that? Well, nothing! But the amounts of vanilla extract I have been going through is amazing and I won't buy artificial flavorings, yuck! Call me a snob, but no way. I started to wonder about making my own vanilla and maybe, never run out again. Off to the Internet I went and I found this recipe for homemade vanilla at The Traveler's Lunchbox , wow, how easy was this? Melissa's recipe is very easy, so easy you will wonder why you haven't been making your own extract before. We had some partial bottles of vodka and what the hell, I'll try anything once, just to see.

Melissa mentions several sites to purchase vanilla beans for a reasonable price, I checked them out and felt this one, Vanilla Products USA , was a good one, they are also on ebay. I think their store on ebay is much better than the actual web site. I placed my order on Monday and my beans are here, two days later, on Wednesday! Beans are as described and smell sooooo good!. I bought 1/2 pound of beans for making vanilla and 1/4 pound of gourmet beans for baking; their prices are unbelievably low, considering what you pay in the markets for 3 wizened up beans. I now have a bizillion vanilla beans all wrapped up, they will last a very long time if kept properly. These beans are plump, fat and full of good vanilla stuff.

So, here is my ginormous bottle of vanilla, ready to be stored in my pantry, all I have to do is wait several weeks, use what I need and top off with more vodka; then add a few vanilla bean pods when I use the seeds for baking.

The spent pods can also be used to make vanilla sugar and salt (?). Who new? Well maybe you have been making your own vanilla but for me this is really cool.

Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake.....

2008-10-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Tammy at Wee Treats by Tammy for picking this weeks recipe! I have been looking fondly at this cake since I bought the book; finally we got to make it! Maybe the kitchen gremlins were around or my kitchen chi was way off, but the cake just didn't do it for me. I did cut the recipe in half, so we didn't have so much to consume...but, it was a bit dry and I didn't care for the chocolate flavor.

I used a 6" springform pan; I like the size for the two of us, gives us dessert for a couple of days, then it is ALL gone. I think it may have cooked too fast because my pan is dark. I will use my cake pan strips and wrap the pan next time I use it. The strips should slow down the cooking on the sides.

My cake did not fall in the middle and looked really nice. Had I known it was a bit dry I would have moistened it with some chocolate liquor or perhaps some amaretto. Although I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I didn't care for the peanuts on this cake; maybe pecans, hazelnuts or cashews next time. All in all a fun recipe to play with and I am very happy I bought the smaller springform pan and actually used it, LOL.

I used the extra caramel sauce when I served the cake.

Creme Brulee ala Orange.....

2008-09-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

I love Creme Brulee, always have! But my DH has never been that impressed with it, so I decided to change the flavor for him. Instead of using one of Dorie's wonderful flavors I decided to use orange zest and Gran Marnier liquor.

I zested one large orange and put the zest in with the cream and milk, brought it to a boil and let it steep for 30 minutes. Then strained the liquid into a 2 cup measuring cup. I put the cream back on the stove and brought it to a boil. Instead of the vanilla I used Gran Marnier liquor. Everything else was the same as the recipe. I finally got to use my kitchen torch that someone gave me 2 years ago and it worked...perfectly caramelized sugar.

Ready for the oven...

Cooling....please hurry...yummmmmmmmmmm!

DH loved the flavors of the orange zest and the liquor; he actually wanted more! I have never made creme brulee but this was so easy I will make it more often. Many thanks to Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake for a fun recipe.

Lavash with Mango Ginger Cream Cheese Dip.....

2008-09-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

I am a new DB and this is my first challenge, WOW, this was fun! And what a nice change to make something savory. I already had the book and probably would never have tried the lavash recipe, just because I bought the book to make bread. The lavash was very easy to make and came together quickly.

I love recipes that indicate weight and measurement; I feel weighing is much more accurate in baking. In the past my "chi" for the day would determine if the flour in the cup was spooned in with care or dipped with gusto, so I was probably off by a few ounces more or less in my recipes.

It took about 12 minutes to kneed and have the dough at 81 degrees; then off to the garage, because that is the warmest place in the house, to rise. After the 1 1/2 hours the dough had doubled and I was ready to roll out. I use a LARGE silpat mat to roll out dough 'cause I have tile and hate cleaning grout. I sprayed the mat with oil and shaped the dough into a rectangle; I started rolling and when the dough measured 12 x 15 it was still very thick! The recipe did say paper thin, so I cut the dough in half and rolled each half very, very thin. I sprayed the dough with water and using many of the suggestions on the forum, rolled my seeds and spices into the dough. On first half I used cumin seed, Gram Marsala and sea salt. I cut this half with a pizza cutter into strips.

The second half I used poppy seeds, smoked paprika and sea salt. I really rolled this half thin and then put it into the refrigerator while the first one baked. I baked this half whole and broke it into serving pieces when it had cooled. I think the next time I make this recipe, and I defiantly will, I will try olive oil, instead of water, and see if the seeds and seasonings stick better. Also, may put the seeds into the dough when kneading.

This recipe is adaptable for any taste, just use your imagination. I can't wait for the holidays to serve this with different dips and spreads.

Speaking of dips!!! Here is a recipe I came up with when I decided to use the cumin and Gram Marsala on the lavash. I kept thing of chutney and cream cheese, something with an Eastern flavor; my DH said it was very good and I hope you do to!!! I really wanted to use Major Grey's Chutney but this was all TJ's carried; use what flavor chutney you like.

Chutney Cream Cheese Dip or Spread

8 oz Cream Cheese room temperature

1 - 2 Tablespoons milk, or more

9 oz bottle of Mango Ginger chutney, I used Trader Joe's

3 Tablespoons caramelized onions*

Salt and Pepper to taste

Using a hand mixer, mix cream cheese until smooth. Add milk to desired consistency, or leave out all together and use it like a spread. Add the bottle of chutney and mix until well blended. Add the caramelized onions, keeping a few out for garnish, and blend by hand until mixed in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours. Let sit out for 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with onion.

If you would like a more tangy taste you could use Greek yogurt.

* You will need about 1/4 cup (or less) of thinly sliced onions. In a small frying pan put about 1 tablespoon of butter and let melt on med/low heat. Add onions and slowly saute until very dark brown and caramelized. Don't rush. Let cool and use.

Dimply Plum Cake...

2008-09-23T03:24:00.000-07:00

I really liked the change this week, I was actually getting a bit tired of cookies and chocolate. I can't believe I just made that statement, but I speak the truth! My market had the Italian prune plums; they were very small, so I see how Dorie got 8 of them on her cake! However, when I went to Whole Foods yesterday, their plums were a bit larger and looked much better than what I purchased at my local market!

This is a great base recipe that opens up many uses for fruits from all the seasons. I have decided, after using plums in several recipes, I don't really care for cooked plums and would definitely use peaches, apples, berries or whatever my imagination comes up with the next time I make this cake!

The cake came together fast and the directions were accurate, didn't change a thing. I used the Cardamon because I love the flavor and always have it on hand; it adds such a sweet, mellow interesting flavor in baked goods.

You need to eat the cake the day it is made, it really is best when fresh. The next day the cake seemed denser and dryer, so I don't think I would make it ahead of time for a breakfast or brunch. Many, many thanks to Michelle of Bake-en for choosing a fun and different recipe.

Dorie's Chocolate Chunkers.....

2008-09-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

Another yummy cookie that everyone liked! I took some to work and my boss said "now that's a cookie". The only change I made was to use Craisins instead of raisins because I had a bag open and needed to use them in something. I'm glad I used the Craisins, they helped cut the sweetness; if I made these again I would not add the chocolate chips just because of how sweet they were. These are very rich, chocolaty cookies; one or two were enough, they were very filling. The cookies did not spread very much when cooked, so I gave them a slight tap with a spatula when they came out to flatten a bit. I left them on the parchment paper on racks to cool down before trying to remove them. They definately need to be cool or they may crack! Thanks to Claudia at Fool for Food for picking a winner!

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops.....

2008-09-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

I love Whoppers! They are my go to candy when I go to the movies; I just can't stop eating them! I made the recipe as written except I did not add the bittersweet chocolate, the recipe seemed to have enough chocolate without the extra chips. I know, I know, but as I explained before, I am not a chocoholic! These cookies came together fast and disappeared fast; so fast I had to make them a second time. They actually did disappear from my camera and the serving plate. In the second batch I added more Whoppers and just rough chopped them, did not get too crazy about quartering each one like I did in the first batch. I got 36 nice sized cookies and would have had about 3 more except the dough tasted really good!!!

MacGregor to the rescue.....

2008-09-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

Several years ago my mom was very sick and constantly in the hospital; since I am an only child I had to take care of my dad and his needs plus mom and her illness. Dad felt bad that he couldn't help, but he had given up driving several years prior and relied on mom to take them everywhere. At the time I had a full time job, was president of my quilt guild and had a home to keep clean; my husband helped when he could but his work took a lot of time. Needless to say I was pulled in every direction and thought life couldn't get much more hectic! When I came home I was always greeted by J.J., my cat of 18 years; what more can I say, he was my buddy. He always knew when I needed a nudge and a rough lick on my nose; he could always get me smiling and feeling better! My mom passed away a few years ago, a couple of weeks after Christmas and then J.J. had to be put to sleep two weeks later, he lasted long enough to help me through my mom's passing. I felt nothing could ever replace J.J., but my husband felt I should look for another cat (he does know what he is talking about.....sometimes, LOL). I went to different animal shelters but could not bring myself to replace J.J., just wouldn't be the same. A few months later there was a cat show and I asked my husband if we could go and just see (as in, I think I am ready) what cats might be for sale. The cat show was large and believe it or not, there was only ONE kitten in the whole show for sale, and it was a Scottish Fold, the breed of cat I had always wanted! He was four months old and was very different from J.J.; he knew he was special and was probably not sure if he wanted me for a mom. He had no choice, he came home with us and we adapted to him, LOL. I named him MacGregor, he is Scottish after all. At times my husband changes his name to pain-in-the-ass, but I have see him scratch Mac's head when he thinks I am not looking. Mac definatly has an attitude and a personality! I have taught Mac to sit and give me a high five; in return he expects me to feed him at 3:30 in the morning seven days a week, who has who trained? Mac is now my buddy, we understand each other; he came to my rescue several years ago and when his time comes I know I will never be able to replace him. But, another cat will come along and maybe not replace, but fill the gap just as well.

Chunky Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies.....

2008-09-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

I love cookies!!! Who doesn't and it's easy to find homes for them, so I had no problem with a recipe that made 60 cookies. The only problem I had with this weeks recipe was I forgot to take pictures of the final plate of cookies and now they are all GONE. I do have some in progress pictures, but that's it, sorry. Instead of 9 ounces of chopped chocolate I used 4.5 ounces of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and 4.5 ounces of Skor Toffee Bits. The two flavors went well with the oatmeal and peanut butter; I will make these again with ALL toffee bits because I really like the taste of toffee or caramel. Don't get me wrong and please don't send hate mail, lol, but I don't eat a lot of chocolate; I know weird!

Here they are ready for the oven, again I used a #40 portioning scoop and got 60 cookies. A portioning scoop or disher really makes it easy to make perfectly sized cookies! I let the dough cool for 2 hours in the refrigerator and did not pat down, they came out perfect, slightly crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle. Thank you for a great pick to Stefany of Proceed with Caution.

Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte.....

2008-08-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

So far all the recipes have been interesting and fun to prepare, and this one was no exception. I used one of the optional ice cream flavors and since there are just two of us, I decided to make individual servings instead of one large torte. I made the Burnt Sugar Ice Cream (page 432) and added 1/2 cup of Skor Toffee Bits 5 minutes before the ice cream was done churning. The toffee bits gave a bit of texture to the ice cream and tasted very good! I did not have small individual molds and when I priced them at the restaurant supply they were $4 each, so off to Home Depot I went and found large PVC slip fittings the size I needed for 95 cents, LOL. I lined the fittings with parchment paper; the only problem with these molds was I had to put them in a sandwich bag and then into HOT water to loosen them enough to push out of the mold. Not really a big deal but something you need to think about if you were to do several for a dessert course; maybe unmold them ahead of time and just leave in the freezer until serving time. I then plated them in a pool of homemade caramel sauce and sprinkled them with coarse sea salt! I found the ganache to be a bit firm and I think my layers were too thick, I might make this again but with thinner layers of ganache and more of the ice cream layers. This was the first time I have made ganache, it was easy and tasted yummy! I will use the leftover ganache to make chocolate truffles, leftovers are good!

Granola grabbers...

2008-08-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

At first I wasn't thrilled about these cookies, they just didn't sound like my kind of cookie! Boy was I wrong, these are really good and they were gone before I knew what happened. I can usually tell how good a cookie will be by how the raw dough tastes (yes I taste, more like eat, the dough), well.....I am suprised there was any dough to bake, LOL. The only change I made was to use macadamia nuts instead of peanuts because that is what I had on hand and since they were not salted I added 1/8 of a teaspoon more of salt to the recipe. I always use a #40 disher to make evenly sized cookies and got 40 cookies.

The baking time was accurate if I used my oven on convection mode and even with convection I rotated the sheets. My final sheet I used the regular baking mode and they needed about 4 more minutes. You don't want to over cook these (one cookie in the back corner was slightly over done) or they will become a bit crisp, which was not bad but I prefered the more chewy texture.

I let them cool for 2 minutes and then moved them to the cooling rack, hopeing they didn't take too long because they smelled sooooooo good!

Finally cool and my DH can't wait to try one; OK, we both want to try one or two or more.............. Thank you to Michelle of Bad Girl Baking for picking a winner!

Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream...

2008-08-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait to try this recipe, I love blueberries and Trader Joe's had 2 pounds of fresh berries for a great price! From the get go I decided to double the recipe because there is nothing worse than really liking something and then it's ALL gone! I used 2 cups of berries and then placed the rest on wax paper on a sheet pan and froze them; I now have enough for another double batch. Have any of you tried the Handi-Vac by Reynolds? This is really a great vacuum sealer for the price. We have used the Food Saver vacuum sealer for many years and it is great for the freezer, but if I open a bag, use part of the contents then try to reseal it can be a pain in the you know what. The Handi-Vac uses resealable plastic bags, like the Glad storage bags, so when you take something out and need to reseal, it is very easy. The first week I got mine I sealed everything, bulk nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, and my extra frozen berries; anyway I have digressed, back to the ice cream. I have used my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for many years and it works very well and you can't beat the price; I have two freezer bowls and that helps when making large or double batches. Directions were straight forward and I did not make any changes or additions. My blender made a very smooth mixture (even though Dorie indicated it would not be completely smooth). When it came out of the blender I tasted it and felt it needed a bit more lemon juice. I don't care for overly sweet anything, so next time I may cut the sugar to a 1/4 cup, taste and adjust accordingly. My berries were quite sweet and I should have just reduced the sugar in the beginning. I liked the sweet/sour combination with the sour cream and my DH said it tasted very good and he is not a big blueberry lover. I think this recipe would work well with almost any berry and since DH loves raspberries that is what I will use next time; I will however use my food mill to remove the seeds. Perfect recipe for this time of year, thank you to Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity.

Black and White Banana Loaf ...

2008-08-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe recipe turned out as expected, a nice moist banana loaf! I try to follow a new recipe exactly as written, but since I only had light rum on had that is what I used. I feel it was not a significant change and everything turned out fine. I read all the comments before I made the loaf and did not encounter any of the problems many of the members mentioned. My batter was fine, the chocolate batter was more dense than the light batter but that did not present any difficulties in marbling the loaf. I baked my loaf for the full time, tenting with foil for the last 20 minutes. Cooled in the pan for 15 minutes, then unmolded and let cool to room temp. The texture of the chocolate marble was a tight, moist crumb with a slight rum taste. The light marble was a loose crumb and I felt the banana flavor was more pronounced in this batter. Marbling was the fun part and perhaps it is my slight OCD that made it turn out so well, LOL. I made 3 layers in the loaf pan, alternating the batters in each layer, similar to a checker board (3 spoonfuls light with 3 spoonfuls of dark), next layer the opposite. I then zig zaged a knife through all layers.

Ready for the oven..... Cooling, can't wait!!!

Died and gone to heaven.....

2008-08-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

I am constantly looking for great ingredients on the Internet only to find the shipping costs would be prohibitive. A recipe, from Cannelle et Vanille, for pate de fruits, sounded yummy but the fruit puree required a $50 shipping charge because they were frozen. And, in Dorie's book she suggested using Defours puff pastry if you could find it, again it was frozen and required insulated shipping. Well, two weekends ago, I was in Culver City (Los Angeles) for my competition, and during the afternoon break my future DIL suggested we go to a wonderful gourmet/restaurant supply store, Surfas, she knew I would like. OMG!!!!! They have EVERYTHING you could possible want, yes, they had the fruit puree, yes, they had several items from Defours, yes, I did some damage within my time constraints. I did not have a cooler with me so I decided to go back ASAP. Unbelievable selection of honeys, preserves, chocolates, pastas and so much more. The cooking supply area is like being in a candy store; I finally bought a Madeline pan and they have the muffin pans I have coveted for a few months. So, I am going back this Saturday, cooler in back of car; DH will be out of town and won't see what comes back, not that he cares, he knows how much I love to bake. Fortunately it's only 40 minutes away and Penzeys Spices just happens to be on the way to Surfas, imagine that!

Summer Fruit Galette...

2008-07-29T16:14:00.000-07:00

Another easy recipe using available fruits! I think my fruit, Pluots, were too ripe as the crust sprang a leak and the juices oozed out, (note to self, use a lipped sheet next time). Although it wasn't as pretty as I would have liked it did not last very long. It tasted great, I like Dorie's pie dough, it is easy to roll out. I found my splatter screen was 13" and one of the pot lids was 8 1/2" which made measuring a snap. I decided I needed to make another galette and used nectarines that were firm. This made a much better presentation, but the dough still leaked a bit, not as much as last time. I liked the ginger marmalade, it went well with the fruits I chose. The bottom of the galette stayed crisp, that was nice. This recipe is so easy for Summer parties, I have decided to make 2 double batches of the pie dough and freeze them so I can put one of these together in just a short time after the dough thaws. I may add additional flour to the dough and see if that helps the leaking; will not use as much custard either as that may have contributed to the problem. All in all a VERY good recipe and everyone who received a piece liked it very much. Thank you to Michelle in Colorado Springs, for a winner!

My New Love, Friands...

2008-07-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

I found a post about a tutorial on making French Macaroons, went to the site and found an online Dessert Magazine (free) with incredible dessert recipes and photos. The first recipe to catch my eye was Summer Berry Friands, WOW. These were quick to put together, and tasted wonderful. I could not find friand pans and was not paying $3 - $4 for timbal pans, for a recipe I had never tried; so, at Crate & Barrel they had 2.75 ounce condiment cups for .95 cents. I bought 8 and they worked great! I have since found silicone friand sheets for $18.00 and may purchase them that way. The tutorial for the macaroons is informative and I plan on making some soon.

Ready for the oven...

Just finished baking!

Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler...

2008-07-22T05:55:00.000-07:00

This was a quick and easy recipe! Thank you to Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake for choosing a fun recipe. I was not sure if I wanted to make this one or not; I have never liked rhubarb and my mom always made me eat it. She grew it in the backyard and then stewed it, yuck. The first few bites were OK, then a weird tart taste and then no way it was going down my throat, but I figured if Dorie made something with rhubarb it must be good, hopefully. The cherry rhubarb combination was very good, I think I would use more ginger next time because it didn't come through as much as I would have liked, maybe some fresh grated would be a nice addition. I added a teaspoon of Kirsch (cherry liquor) and I would add more next time, if I make it again. My husband liked the cobbler but felt the topping lacked something, again the ginger was not as pronunced as we would have liked, maybe the addition of cinnamon or allspice or maybe cardamon. It tasted too much like wheat bread for us, just our taste buds I guess; I might try all regular flour next time, just to please our palate.

Saturday's Show...

2008-07-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my big day, I have been dieting for 16 weeks, working out 6 days a week for 7 months and doing cardio 2 x 45 minutes 7 days a week for 10 weeks, whew! Looking forward to some cheat meals next week and baking more often. I have finally figured out that life is a balance between what you want to do and what you should do. These competitions keep me in check and give me a goal to work towards a couple of time a year. I will be taking the rest of the year off from competition and will be working on next year; I am planning on 2 shows in March and 1 in October. That means I can get through the holidays not having to diet so hard, that's not fun. Anyway, will post on Tuesday, I have already made the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler, taken pictures and just have to put it all together in the post.

Chocolate Pudding

2008-07-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

This is my first TWD recipe and it turned out great! My DH gets to eat the lions share of the pudding; and from his comments after eating the first ramekin I don't think it will last very long. I like using the bittersweet chocolate because the pudding did not have that cloyingly sweet taste. I made the recipe as written but did have a problem with too much liquid in the food processor. Dorie's directions indicated to add the warm milk mixture slowly while the processor was running; I have a 14 cup food processor and I had to stop adding the milk or it would have overflowed. I had just under 1 cup more milk to add, so I just finished the whole pudding in the sauce pan with no problems. I topped the pudding with unsweetened whipped cream and grated a bit of bittersweet chocolate on top. This would be excellent in a tart or pie shell, with whipped cream on top! I think I will use chocolate with coffee flavor next time for a different taste.

Getting Ready...

Cooking...

Ready for the refrigerator...

Skor Toffee Baking Bits

2008-07-11T17:18:00.000-07:00

I have been looking all over for Skor Baking Bits, they have disappeared from all my local markets. I checked with Hershey and they informed me they are no longer available in markets. What would we do without the Internet? A quick search and there they were; of course I had to buy 12 lbs., LOL. I have frozen 9 lbs. and the rest are in sealed bags; at least I have the toffee bits. I like to put them in chocolate chip cookies, sprinkle them on frosting or ice cream sundaes.

Chocolate Pudding ala Dorie

2008-07-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have gathered all my ingredients and will be making the pudding tomorrow. I was glad I read the comments and checked the size of my food processor. Fridays I finish early and can bake all I want, I usually leave work around 10 am, but I start at 5 am, which means I get up at 3:45, LOL. It's very humid here today, something we are not used to in Southern California; yes, we are weather weenies. I'm still eating very clean and have only 9 days to go for my competition. Can't wait for French Toast Sunday morning, then we can go to the fair the following week, yummmmmm! Anyway, my DH is looking forward to the Chocolate Pudding and is quite happy I joined TWD. I will try to catch up on previous reciped as best I can, till tomorrow, happy eating!

My New Oven...

2008-07-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have a new oven! My old one cooked so uneven it was frustrating to say the least; everything took twice as long to cook. I can't believe the features this oven has, 7 baking levels, 3 racks and a proofing feature for yeast breads and such. My DH said we should make sure it worked and maybe I should make some brownies, LOL! Yes, it worked and they were done at the time the recipe indicated. I compete in figure competitions and my next one is in 2 weeks. I can't have anything good to eat, just clean eating for a few more days; but wait until it's over, I will be baking all the time. Well, not all the time, I still have to eat healthy. Don't get me wrong, I don't make recipes healther, I make them with full butter, sugar and such. Desserts or treats are just not an everyday occurance, so when I make them, I enjoy them! Today is the 4th of July and I am making a 3 berry crisp; yes, (I know I shouldn't), I will have a small serving, it is a holiday afterall.