Tranquilitea Party - Adventures in Baking & Tea

Still here!

2010-04-02T10:57:00.002-06:00

On the off chance anyone is wondering if I'm still here, I am! But with moving, herb school, and everything, I haven't had a chance to bake. And I don't really anticipate baking much over the next little while. But in the mean time, check out my herb school blog, oldsongresung.blogspot.com!

Daring Bakers: Tiramisu

2010-02-26T22:21:00.004-07:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.
Tiramisu is a traditional Italian dessert, but in all my years studying Italian and going to department dinners, I don't think this dessert ever came up. I think I first learned about it only by accident a few years ago. So I suspect it's not really that big of a deal in Italy, but maybe I'm wrong. I've never actually been to Italy. Someday when I've made my millions as a farmer (hah hah), Florence is at the very top of my list of places to visit (I might have a mild obsession and crush on Dante).Whatever the case, this was so much fun to make. It's a good thing I took a day off of work to make the tiramisu, it's another one of those projects. We had to make from scratch our own custards (zabaglione and pastry cream), our own lady fingers, and even our own mascarpone cheese. I think the mascarpone is the best part: it's really expensive at the grocery store, but super cheap and easy to make on your own. (Note: I found out, like others did, that the cream never did get to a high enough temperature in the water bath, so I just put the pot of cream straight on the burner, and it turned out fine.) Great challenge!

Meyer Lemon Mania!

2010-02-20T09:31:00.000-07:00

I wasn't even supposed to be buying anything. I was just there for moral support. But then there they were. A bag of perfect little meyer lemons. How could I say no?

In case you didn't know (and I didn't): Meyer lemon = regular lemon + mandarin orange

You can see why they would be so popular; recipes with meyer lemons are all over the place. They're lemon-y, but sweet and less harsh than a regular lemon. And they're so cute and little! See Rule #7

Meyer Lemon Souffles

(adapted from America’s Test Kitchen)

5 T flour

¼ c sugar

Pinch salt

½ c milk

2 T butter

5 eggs, separated

2 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced

Pinch cream of tartar

Another ¼ c sugar

Combine flour, sugar, salt and milk in medium sauce pan, off heat.

Cook until it starts to come together, constantly stirring, until the mixture pulls away from pot.

Transfer to bowl. Add 2 T butter and egg yolks. Add lemon juice and zest. Whip egg whites with cream of tartar, until foamy, add ¼ c sugar, beat until shiny. Whisk whites into milk mixture.

Pour into small ramekins (makes ~10). Break surface tension by running finger in circle through top in dish. Bake at 400 F for 12 minutes.

Meyer Lemon Blondie Bars

Mousse

3 egg yolks

3 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced

¾ c sugar

¼ c butter, cold and cut into pieces

½ c whipping cream, cold

Combine egg yolks, ½ lemon juice, zest, and sugar in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking continuously. Cook for about 7 min, or until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and strain. Add the butter and stir until combined. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until cold.

Whip the cream. Fold into the lemon curd. Refrigerate until brownie base is ready.

Brownie Base

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour, sifted
1/3 cup butter (melted)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix brown sugar and melted butter. Add egg and mix well. Add dry ingredients, a little at a time, until mixed well.

Line a 9-inch pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray. Spread out dough in pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Use a toothpick or fork to test if it is cooked in the center. Let cool. Remove from pan and spread mousse on top. Freeze and then cut.

Meyer Lemon Baked Alaska

Ice Cream

(Adapted from Half Baked)

1 T Meyer lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 pinch salt

One (or two if they're short) round layer white cake with lavender in it.

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/2 c sugar

Zest lemons directly into food processor. Pour in sugar and process until the sugar is faintly lemon-colored and the zest is finely ground. Pour the measured juice into the sugar/zest mixture. Blend until the sugar dissolves. Add milk and cream and blend. Chill for about an hour; the product may break up, but just stir it back together. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

Line a bowl with plastic wrap; press the ice cream into the bowl, and freeze.

Preheat the oven to 500 F. Beat the egg whites until foamy; add the sugar and continue beating until shiny and stiff. Cut the cake layer to the same diameter as the bowl; place the cake on top of the ice cream and invert onto a cardboard cake round. Spread the meringue on top. Bake for about 90 seconds, until just browned. (The meringue and short baking time will allow the ice cream to remain frozen.)

Random Fruit Gallette

2010-02-01T17:49:00.004-07:00

Yes, blueberry, blackberry, pear, and pomelo. That's what was available at the market in the middle of winter. Fortunately, they make a pretty good combo!

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

2010-01-27T10:34:00.003-07:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

These ought to have been easy, right? Believe it or not, I messed up every layer! First, I didn't make my own graham crackers. We were supposed to make them gluten free, and I really wanted to do it, but as I don't bake gluten free at all, I couldn't justify buy expensive flours I would never use again. And I'm lazy, it was easier to just use graham crackers from the cupboard.

Second, I followed the recipe exactly for the second layer, but the texture was like sand. I had to add more cream, but when the mixture was finally soft, it was also starting to separate.

Third, I ruined two batches of chocolate (death by seizing) before giving in and making a cream ganache topping (instead of mixing the chocolate with butter.)

See, all these things should not have been so difficult. This is why I make souffle, not chocolate chip cookies.

They are pretty sweet, lots of sugar, but I took them to work the next day and all my students and professors loved them! Great challenge!

Cherry Chocolate Cake

2010-01-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

When you're a kid you don't get tragedy. Personal pain, yes, but the stuff on the news, the stuff that makes your mom cry, it doesn't really inspire emotion. Or maybe that was just me. But I think I'm only just starting to feel other tragedies, instead of just see them.
And then I was thinking,what are the statistical probabilities that I would be born in poverty, live through a natural disaster/war, or both? I imagine the're pretty high. I remember hearing once that if you make more than $25,000/year, you're richer than 95% of the world. It blows my mind, I'm so used to seeing just one way of living. All this around me seems normal. But in reality, only 5% of the world's population understands "living" the same way I do. It's a little overwhelming. Just do the best we can, I guess, and send what I can to Haiti.

Winter Tea Party

2010-01-09T10:50:00.006-07:00

Well, now I know. Apparently by January it's no longer apple cider season. I was pretty disappointed in the only cider I could find, but better than nothing. And hopefully the cider was overshadowed by the meringue mushrooms, my favorite part ;) Buon anno! (Two month count down!)

Mulled Cider
1 gallon cider (not apple juice)
3 T orange juice concentrate
1/4 c brown sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 T cloves

Steep the cider with the other ingredients for an hour, or to taste.

Caramel Panna Cotta
Panna Cotta (from David Lebovitz)
4 cups (1l) heavy cream (or half-and-half)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 packets powdered gelatin (about 4 1/2 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water

1. Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan or microwave. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

2.Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

4. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least four hours.

Caramel
180 grams heavy cream
1/2 t vanilla
45 grams sugar
60 grams egg yolks

Bring the cream and the vanilla to a boil. Reserve.

In the meantime, make a dry caramel with the sugar. Deglaze the cooked sugar with the heated cream. Be careful because it will bubble over if all the cream is added at once. Whisk so all crystalized sugar has dissolved. Pour this caramel over the egg yolks and whisk. Return this to the pan and cook for 1 minute.

Meringue Mushrooms from Martha Stewart

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

2009-12-27T20:46:00.006-07:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

So maybe I went a little overboard making a gingerbread farm (upwards of 15 hours over the last four days :p ), but I couldn't help it. I'm not really a decorator, I'm a baker. Flavors, ingredients, recipes, that's what I can do. Artistry? Not really. But I thought if there was anything I could pull off, it would be a project that's more architecture and engineering that happens to look like art.

And everyone around my house appreciated that I spent four days baking something that wouldn't expand their waistlines in the end (cause ain't nobody eatin' this baby).

I used Anna's recipe, but was cautious about adding all the flour since so many people noted the dough gets very dry. I ended up about one cup of flour short of what the recipe called for. I used a box inside the farm house to hold it up (I know, I know, but the green house is holding itself up!), and I use a lollipop recipe for the glue. I used cake crumbs for the dirt, and the "glass" (more lollipop syrup) is lightly colored greed, but it's hard to tell against the board. The herbs are actually herbs: lavender, mint, sage, rosemary, chamomile. And if you look closely on the porch, there's a tea pot on the table, made by my sister!

Great challenge! Watch for it, this'll be my farm for real in a couple years!

Gingerbread Cakebites

2009-12-12T16:32:00.005-07:00

For the neighborhood Christmas party everyone is supposed to bring candy for the dessert. That means no cake, no cookies, no brownies! I love candy, granted. But not just candy. So I used Bakerella for inspiration, and will bring candy looking gingerbread cakebites, and shortbread.

Gingerbread

1/4 c butter
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c molasses
1 1/2 c flour
1 t powdered ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t allspice
1 t baking powder
1/2 c milk

Cream butter with the brown sugar. Add the molasses and eggs. Combine the dry ingredients. Alternate adding in the dry ingredients and milk in thirds until all combined. Bake at 350 F for 30 min.

To make cake balls, see Bakerella.

Shortbread
1 c butter
1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c corn starch

Cream the butter until very light, about 2 min. Add the sugar, cream for another 2 min. Stir in the flours and salt until combined. Roll the dough into balls, and bake at 300 F for 20 min.

Look what finally bloomed! And it's only been two years...

Oatmeal Cookies and Gingerbread Custard

2009-11-10T22:11:00.007-07:00

I've been wanting to make a simple oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recently. You probably haven't noticed, but I tend toward more "complicated" desserts. Complicated for you, maybe. But let me tell you, I've made more bad batches of chocolate chip and sugar cookies that I really like to admit. There's just so much leeway. In any case, they just don't come out the way I want them. (I'm still on the hunt for a sugar cookie like from Schmidt's and chocolate chip cookies like from Paradise.) But today I found the perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe. Warning, it has molasses in it. But I'm here to promise that it's a really interesting/good addition.

Aran made an inspiring bisque the other day, and I just had to have some pudding with the cookies. I thought I might try a gingerbread flavor, just to add to my mild autumn obsession.

Aran's pictures reminded me of these little bowls I bought a few years ago at Ten Thousand Villages. TTV is a non-profit fair trade organization that sells handicrafts from poor artisans all around the world. I volunteered at one of their stores in high school and college; someday when I retire, (yeah, right) I think I'll spend almost all my time there (the rest here); they'll get sick of me, but too bad, this place is awesome.

They're from Nepal. One step closer to actually going to Nepal.

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
(adapted from Memories in the Baking)
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup molasses
1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line sheet pans with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
Using a mixer, cream the butter and both sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and the molasses. Beat until blended.
With mixer on low, add the flour mixture, and beat just until blended. Stir in the oats, chocolate chunks, and pecans until evenly distributed.
Drop the dough by tablespoons onto prepared sheet pans, about 2" apart. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes. Yield: 5 dozen cookies.

Gingerbread Custard
(adapted from Cannelle et Vanille)

500 g heavy cream
200 g whole milk
100 g sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 T cloves
1/2 t shredded ginger
6 egg yolk
1/4 c molasses (or to taste)
30 g chocolate

In a medium saucepan heat the cream, milk, sugar, and spices until the flavor has steeped through the milk (maybe 20 min.).
Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and molasses in a medium bowl. After the cream mixture has steeped, temper the milk mixture into them while whisking. Return this mixture to the sauce pan and cook for a couple of minutes while constantly stirring until lightly thickens.
Place the finely chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Place a fine sieve over the bowl and pour the custard over the chocolate. Mix until all the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth cream.

Botanical Gardens (part 3)

2009-10-30T08:04:00.000-06:00

I just can't get enough of how beautiful it is this time of year. Hope you don't mind one last set of Red Butte pictures!

Scary spider! At least it's not a rattler.

I love all of the next three - which do you like best?

Daring Bakers: Macarons

2009-10-27T00:01:00.004-06:00

After all this time, the DBers is finally doing macarons! And after all those times I've made them before, I still managed to mess up three batches before getting these right. Sorry, you don't get to see the insides (they never really cooked up right, I blame the oven temperature, I think it was off. It certainly couldn't be something I did...)

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
More fun texturizing in PS

Cafe Mocha

Pumpkin Cream

Saffron with Pomegranate Jelly

Yes, I'm pretending I'm as fancy as Pierre Herme.

Botanical Gardens (part 2)

2009-10-25T20:41:00.008-06:00

These are from Red Butte Botanical Gardens. It's incredibly beautiful up there this time of year, on the benches of the Rockies. I didn't used to think Salt Lake was beautiful, just a bunch of grass and trees that didn't belong. But Red Butte exposes and accentuates the natural beauty of the local horticulture.

Oh yeah, and I did some baking sometime in the past couple weeks!

Chocolate spice souffles with Lena. Congrats on being done with chemo!

Original above, some crazy PS-ing below!

Herb garden.

Botanical Gardens (part 1)

2009-10-17T22:04:00.009-06:00

A wide aperture lens and some hints from PW have distracted me from my baking...

The original above, photoshopped below, which do you prefer?

The magic of texturizing (original above, PS-ed below)
I like the details in the PS-ed (above), but the soft texture
and muted colors are so comfortable in the original (below).
Happy Fall!

Life Crisis

2009-10-14T10:03:00.002-06:00

Yes, I'm being indecisive about my blog background. Me and my big life crisis. I promise a not so stupid post soon...

Daring Bakers: Vols au Vent

2009-09-27T18:30:00.008-06:00

First things first, whip out Wikipedia:

"A Vol-au-vent (French for "windblown" to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry. A round opening is cut in the top and the pastry cut out for the opening is replaced as a lid after the case is filled. Vol-au-vents can accommodate various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit, or cheese, but they are almost always savory."

Almost always savory my butt. Of course mine aren't "savory". Anyways, ....

Remember when I tried puff pastry before? Remember how they didn't really work... Ok, ok. They didn't work at all. Well, I actually paid attention to the recipe this time; I chilled and rolled and turned just like Julia said. And it worked! Not as nice looking as some other bloggers (I haven't even checked my favorite bloggers yet today. I wanted to post before I looked at theirs and felt embarrassed by my own.)

See, they looked puffed!(ish)

They're really very good. My only issue? They're awfully buttery. I mean, I know. The recipe calls for an entire pound of butter, but it was a little overwhelming. At least I can claim some small amount of success. And now I'll go back to store bought.
Bon appetit!

My friend and I did not believe the "place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells" part of the directions.
But it is necessary, see?! These came out lopsided!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Zucchini Cupcakes and the Farmer's Market

2009-09-16T21:27:00.002-06:00

Look at how beautiful these tomatoes and plums and raspberries are. La Tartine Gourmande agrees the purple black cherry tomatoes are gorgeous. They're better than jewels, aren't they?

I made these cupcakes a few weeks ago, and beats me what I put in them, but I'm sure any number of googled recipes are good. It's a fluffier version of zucchini bread. I put a slice of plum in the bottom of the cupcake before they were baked, and topped them with cream cheese buttercream and a raspberry. All the best ingredients from the Farmer's Market. :)

Daring Bakers: Dobos Torte

2009-08-27T09:33:00.001-06:00

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

I completely forgot that today was DB day, until I starting seeing the posts pop up this morning. In fact, my first thought was, "Cheaters, why are they posting today?" And then, "Ohhhh.... crap." I did do the challenge, I just forgot all about it. It's been that kind of month. :p

This cake, however, is NOT to be forgotten. This is probably my second favorite DB challenge ever (after the Yule Log). It is a pain (but that's why it's fun!), and it didn't come out perfect (how do you get the caramel to not just sink into the cake wedges?), but the spongy vanilla cake with the subtle chocolate buttercream was perfect. I don't like vanilla cake as a rule, especially with chocolate buttercream, but the torte is not only an exception, it is a rule unto itself. Mmm mmm.

Recipes found here.

Strawberry Mango Macarons

2009-08-20T21:33:00.005-06:00

Still missing all the dancing...

500 Days of Summer was fabulous...

March can't come fast enough...

Either I'm getting very impatient, or I've encountered an inordinate number of idiots recently...

Currently obsessed with Lost in Austen ... where is my magic bathroom door to Mr. Darcy?...

Unfortunately, the mangos in the buttercream weren't very good, otherwise these would have been quite lovely...

And, hint hint, Daring Baker's this month is wonderful...

Strawberry Macarons
3 stale egg whites
125 g confectioners sugar
70 g almond flour
35 g strawberry powder
40 g granulated sugar
optional: little bit of pink food coloring

Sift together the confectioners sugar, almond flour, and raspberry powder. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until foamy, then start slowly pouring in the granulated sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff. Fold the food coloring and 1/3 of the egg whites into the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the egg whites. Do not over beat. The consistency should be flowy, but if you lift a spoonful out of the batter, it will break off, not drizzle off.
Pipe the macarons onto your silpat mat or parchment paper. Set the oven to 320 F. Let the macarons sit for 10 min or so. Place in oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes at 320 F. After that, turn the oven down to 270 F, and prop the oven open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Bake for another 7 - 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the silpat/parchment. Let completely cool before filling.

Mango IMBC
2 egg whites
3 oz granulated sugar
2 T water
2 (more) T granulated sugar
6 oz unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 c mango puree (or to taste)

Bring 3 oz sugar and the water to 245 F in a pot. Meanwhile, start whipping the egg whites. After they are foaming, slowly add the 2 T sugar. Whip to firm peaks. When the sugar reaches 245 F, slowly pour it into the meringue, while still beating. Continue beating until cool, about 10 min. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating, at least 5 min. It will "curdle" at first, but just keep going! Add the mango.

Hannah's Perfect Pavlova

2009-07-30T17:53:00.007-06:00

In my last post I mentioned that I'd been at a Scottish Country Dance camp recently. I met tons of fabulous people. One of these fabulous people is Hannah. In my schedule booklet there were a couple pages at the end to write notes - ostensibly dance notes. But what did I write on them? Recipes of course! Recipes I stole from Hannah ;D

If you've been to your farmer's market recently then you know that it's currant season. I adore red currants. I used to buy them from the produce vendor on the street in St. Andrews. Amidst the rain and dark clouds, a handful of little bright red berries really picked up my day. So I couldn't resist buying an entire case of red currants (and a little basket of white) at last Saturday's market.

But even after making 5 jars of jelly, there were still lots and lots of currants left. I also have some mascarpone waiting to be used for something exciting, so Hannah's pavlova is perfect. She auctioned one at camp for, I can't remember how much, but at least $150. I had told her that I struggle with baked meringues, but I have to say, no problems at all with her recipe.

Hannah with her pavlova at Pinewoods '09
(pic yoinked from Meyer, it was the only one I could find!)

Perfect Pavlova

5 egg whites
pinch salt
1/4 t cream of tartar
1 1/4 c granulated sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 225 F
Beat the egg whites, add the salt and cream of tartar when the whites start to get foamy. Continue beating to soft peaks. While still beating, slowly add the sugar. Continue beating until firm.
Pipe the meringue onto parchment/silpat mat. Bake for one hour or until just browned. Turn off the oven, and leave in with the oven door closed for two hours.

Mascarpone Cream Filling
1 pint whipping cream
8 oz mascarpone cream cheese, room temp

Beat the cream and mascarpone together until thick. Spoon into the hollow of the pavlova. Top with berries.

Strawberry Mousse Cups and Pinewoods '09

2009-07-23T17:04:00.003-06:00

It's hot hot hot, and while chocolate always sounds good in theory, a fruit dessert was really the best option. A nice light happy dessert to finish our discussion of the dark and depressing Wuthering Heights ;)

Ok, not exactly food related, but I just got back from the Scottish sessions of Pinewoods Dance Camp, and I'm sad it's over :(

Key Lime White Chocolate Pots de Creme and Elderflower Cupcakes

2009-07-04T14:43:00.005-06:00

I keep reading that if you keep whipping your Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC), it will work. Just keep whipping, just keep whipping (a la Dorrie from Finding Nemo). Ok, ok. So I tried again, and after what seems like too much beating (regular buttercream can get over whipped), it finally looked right. The flavor still throws me off a teeny little bit, because it tastes so strongly of the butter, but I can get over that. The texture is so amazing, I could overlook anything else.
But now I have an IMBC with nothing to put it on, and lots of leftover egg yolks. I had a request for cupcakes, and I've been wanting to make pots de creme, so why not do both. Happy Fourth of July!

Key Lime White Chocolate Pots de Creme

10 oz white chocolate
1/2 c whole milk
1 c heavy cream
6 egg yolks
2 T granulated sugar
3 tsp key lime juice

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. While melting, combine the whole milk and cream in a pot, and heat until just before boiling. Whisk the yolks and sugar until light in color; add the melted white chocolate (it will act like it is seizing, but just keeping stirring, it will be ok). Slowly pour in the heated cream while whisking. Return the mixture to the stove, and continue cooking over medium heat until it coats the back of your spoon, stirring the whole time. Add the key lime juice. Strain the mixture into cups (to remove any bits of cooked egg). Let set up in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.

Italian Meringue Buttercream
2 egg whites
3 oz granulated sugar
2 T water
2 (more) T granulated sugar
6 oz unsalted butter, room temp

Bring 3 oz sugar and the water to 245 F in a pot. Meanwhile, start whipping the egg whites. After they are foaming, slowly add the 2 T sugar. Whip to firm peaks. When the sugar reaches 245 F, slowly pour it into the meringue, while still beating. Continue beating until cool, about 10 min. Add the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating, at least 5 min. It will "curdle" at first, but just keep going! Add flavoring (I added 2 T elderflower syrup.) Can be frozen and used later (it thaws beautifully).

Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

2009-06-27T09:25:00.003-06:00

I almost forgot that today is DB day! Sheesh. This is what happens when you don't do the challenge last minute.

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.

Tarts with lemon curd, or raspberry jam, or chopped cherries. Recipes found here. And I'm completely sold on this crust ...

Obsessions

2009-06-25T18:20:00.005-06:00

More macarons. I know, I know. This time with dehydrated pulverized raspberry powder and lemon curd mousse. Ob-sessed.

They're dried - can't tell, can ya?

Oh, yeah. This dress from The Sartorialist is haunting me, and I can't wait for 500 Days of Summer to come out... will have to go thrift store shopping to alleviate some of the obsession.

Raspberry Macarons
3 stale egg whites
125 g confectioners sugar
70 g almond flour
35 g raspberry powder
40 g granulated sugar
little bit o' pinkish food coloring (the meringue pales the rasperry powder)

Sift together the confectioners sugar, almond flour, and raspberry powder. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until foamy, then start slowly pouring in the granulated sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff. Fold the food coloring and 1/3 of the egg whites into the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the egg whites. Do not over beat. The consistency should be flowy, but if you lift a spoonful out of the batter, it will break off, not drizzle off.
Pipe the macarons onto your silpat mat or parchment paper. Set the oven to 320 F. Let the macarons sit for 10 min or so. Place in oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes at 320 F. After that, turn the oven down to 270 F, and prop the oven open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Bake for another 7 - 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the silpat/parchment. Let completely cool before filling.

Lemon Curd Mousse
3 egg yolks
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
6 T sugar
4 T cold butter, cubed

2 t powdered gelatin bloomed in 2 T cold water
7 oz whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks
little bit o' yellow food coloring (again, the cream pales the lemon curd)

Combine the yolks, lemon zest and juice, and sugar in a sauce pan. Cook on medium high for about 8 minutes, whisking constantly, until it is thick. Stir in the butter. Remove from heat and strain to remove any bits of cooked egg. Let cool slightly.
Stir in the gelatin. Let cool until room temp. Fold in the whipped cream and food coloring; use immediately.

I Can Has Cheezburger?

2009-06-21T22:51:00.000-06:00

Ha ha! Aren't these amazing?!?! Were you confused for a second? Did you think I'd gone crazy, not only posting about "real" food, but thinking that I'd started eating meat again??? Don't worry, it's all desserts! Yellow cupcake "buns", brownie "patty", frosting for the ketchup, mustard and lettuce, and sugar cookie "french fries". Brilliant!

All the credit goes to Bakerella, of course. Check out her post for all the details (including the awesome template for the tray and fry holder.)

This one goes out to my dad! Happy Father's Day!

Carmalized White Chocolate Macarons

2009-06-15T18:26:00.001-06:00

Recently, David Lebovitz posted a recipe for Caramelized White Chocolate. I think people all over the world drooled onto their keyboards as they read his post, and immediately bought the highest quality white chocolate they could find so as to make said sinful looking confection. I sure did, anyways.
No pictures of the caramelizing process itself. It is ugly and not picture worthy. He talks about needing a white chocolate with a high cocoa butter content, and I'm fairly sure my white chocolate doesn't have a content that high. My caramelizing process was not nearly so pretty as his. Down right fail-looking, in fact. The chocolate turned that nice caramel-y color, but it got lumpy and gross looking, like it had seized horribly. I mean, a seriously irretrievable chunky looking mess. But, he also says if it looks a little lumpy (a little!?!), to run it through the blender and it will be fine. Well, lo and behold, if you puree that mess long enough it turns back into lovely smooth melted chocolate.
Add about half the chocolate's weight in warm cream, and you get the irresistible ganache for the middle of these macarons. Oh yeah, I'm still disgustingly obsessed with the macarons. I'll eat them until they make me feel sick. They make me write in flowery adjective-filled sentences. AND!!!, I finally got the hang of the real macaron recipe. They looked right before, but they were wrong on the inside. Now they're the right inside and out! So ridiculously obsessed. No joke, these little cookies are going to be the next big thing. Macarons will be the new cupcake.

Big thanks and hugs to Michelle for playing photographer with me and helping set up and take the pictures. If you squint you might just be able to see her holding up the backdrop in the pictures ;)

Macarons
120 g aged egg whites (about 4 eggs worth)
200 g confectioners sugar
115 g almond flour
2 T cocoa powder
55 g granulated sugar

Sift together the confectioners sugar, almond flour, and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until foamy, then start slowly pouring in the granulated sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the dry ingredients. Add the rest of the egg whites. Do not over beat. The consistency should be flowy, but if you lift a spoonful out of the batter, it will break off, not drizzle off.
Pipe the macarons onto your silpat mat or parchment paper. Set the oven to 320 F. Let the macarons sit for 10 min or so. Place in oven and bake for 5 or 6 minutes at 320 F. After that, turn the oven down to 270 F, and prop the oven open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Bake for another 7 - 8 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to remove from the silpat/parchment. Let completely cool before filling.

Daring Bakers: Cherry Strudel and a road trip

2009-05-27T20:06:00.003-06:00

There is nothing particularly sophisticated about my version of this month's challenge, but then, farm life isn't exactly sophisticated, either, is it? Well, that's how this Daring Baker will probably be living the rest of her days.

What to do on a farm? Plenty!

I spent Memorial Day weekend in CA visiting my grandma and other family. Grandma has twenty acres of good land that she's going to let me turn into an herb farm. Farmer's markets, local organic herbs for restaurants, herbal medicines and consulting, that kind of stuff. Did you ever read Daughter of the Forest or Garden Spells, or watch Practical Magic? Something to that effect. (Oh, and if you haven't read those books or seen that movie, you should. You're missing out.)

This is the farm. A little barren now, but you just wait!

The little gal is only two days old in these pics.
Her mama won't accept her so we got to feed her.

I also visited this herbal studies school, where I'll be applying and hopefully attending starting next March.

Gorgeous, no?!

So while I certainly appreciate and enjoy the pictures from other bloggers who laboriously create and decorate their yummy looking treats, that's not really who I am. I'm really looking forward to embracing a more natural, traditional, simple way of living. If you're in the Bay Area or Central Valley, hopefully you'll be seeing me at the farmer's markets in a couple years!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

For the basic recipe check out Coco Cooks or Make Life Sweeter!, and I filled mine with fresh, hand-pitted cherries.

Profiteroles

2009-05-06T21:40:00.002-06:00

Hmm, I thought about taking a fancy picture, but a couple friends stopped by just as I was pulling them out of the oven, and we just couldn't wait!

Scones

2009-05-01T21:32:00.004-06:00

Scones and jam with a good book on a gentle Saturday morning. Divine.

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake

2009-04-27T02:47:00.004-06:00

Look, it's spring!

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

I got the pictures downloaded from the new camera just in time! This is by far THE BEST cheesecake recipe I have ever tried. And I've tried lots. I made the recipe just as written, no special high altitude or humidity alterations. I baked it just as long as the recipe said. And they came out perfect. Ok, so one cracked a little, but they didn't fall, leaving a huge crater cheesecake. The texture is amazing (I credit that to the full cup of cream in the recipe! But seriously, it's cheesecake, if you're wanting low-fat, don't make cheesecake.) I will never ever use another recipe again.Since we were given so much latitude with creativity, I went a little crazy. First stop, Turtle Cheesecake: plain cheesecake, topped with homemade caramel, chocolate, and pecans. Second stop, Passionfruit Lavender Cheesecake: plain again, topped with passionfruit jelly and lavender. Third stop, Cheesecake Brownies. The pictures of the first two cheesecakes were taken during the initial stages of me getting used to the new camera, so I'm sorry, they're kindof ugly. The brownie pics (and flora) were taken a week later, and in natural light, which definitely improved the results. High-five for another amazing DB Challenge ;)

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.

Brownie base from David Lebovitz

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T07:32:00.001-06:00

Finally, it's spring! You must think I'm such a slacker, I've hardly been posting at all the last while. But don't doubt me yet, I have lots of pictures waiting for you. I have a new camera that I'm playing around with (yay!), but I don't have the software on my laptop yet. So it might be a while longer, but in the mean time, I couldn't not celebrate Earth Day!

The mints are already taking over, the oregano is hearty, the sage and lavender and chamomile and rosemary are just waking up. Even the blueberry bush is still wick! I'm trying my hand at eggplant again this year, and added carrots and peas, too. I'm volunteering for our local botanical garden this summer, and I cannot wait to get outside!

Lovely photos courtesy Country Living

Grace

2009-04-06T23:16:00.000-06:00

I suppose it's only natural, but a lot of my friends (and probably lots of people in general) are feeling overwhelmed by life right now. For good or bad, we always wish for something better. John Steinbeck says in his novella, "The Pearl",
"For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have."
Much of what I'm hearing and reading from my friends has an underlying sentiment that says "I'm doing everything I can, but it just isn't enough".

Passionfruit italian buttercream macarons. Yoinked the photo from Marilee, thanks!

In a church meeting a couple weeks ago the idea of grace was discussed. I've been thinking a lot about grace since then. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi writes, "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."
Back to Steinbeck's book, though I haven't finished it yet, it is, unsurprisingly depressing. A large pearl, the "Pearl of the World" is found by a poor fisherman. The pearl represents not only worldly wealth or filthy lucre, but also hope for a better future for the fisherman and his wife and baby. The fisherman dreams mostly of the education he will be able to afford for his son. He tells the villagers his son will read and write and know numbers, "he will know and through him we will know." Is it wrong for the fisherman to want this? Is it wrong for a person to dream, to want something better for herself and for humanity? None of my friends that are struggling are selfish. Their wants and dreams are for good things for themselves and for the world. But the things they want seem so big, maybe impossible to fully achieve.
But like Nephi said, God does not expect us to do it all. Whether or not you believe in the God I believe in, or any god at all, I hope this is obvious. No one expects you to do everything. But perhaps the more elusive idea that Nephi is trying to convey is that Christ's grace will make up for what we cannot do. It is not as though life will be "good enough" after all we have done. Christ's grace gives us the strength and gladness of heart to live an amazing life, such as it is.

Strawberry mango verrines with homemade granola.

Well, I didn't mean for this to be such a long essay, but all I really wanted to say is when you dream, dream big, no regrets, His grace is sufficient.

Daring Bakers: Homemade Lasagna

2009-03-26T12:22:00.016-06:00

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

I kinda broke the rules on this one. We were supposed to make handmade spinach lasagna noodles and pair it with a white (béchamel) sauce and optionally a ragu sauce. I've considered posting "dinner foods" on here before, but since I haven't yet, this wasn't going to be the first time. I did handmake my noodles, and I did use a white sauce. But they were chocolate noodles and the sauce was just mascarpone cheese. Unfortunately, the least tastey part of my lasagna was the pasta. It smelled and tasted chocolate-y right up until I boiled it, but once boiled it lost all flavor and just tasted like regular old pasta. I've had chocolate pasta before (from the Pike Place market, one of the best places on earth!), and it too only tasted like regular pasta after being boiled. So I wasn't really dissapointed, and I planned ahead knowing I'd need to compensate. Thus the feuillete layer (really just chocolate covered rice crispies, but why not use a French word!).
Well, at least I can cross "homemade pasta" off my list. Definately not doing it again, at least without a machine. All that rolling left my hands bruised and my arms sore!

Layers:

Chocolate Pasta (replace 1/4 c flour with 1/4 c cocoa powder, and 1 T cinnamon, use 2 more eggs, and oh, yeah, don't put in spinach!)
Feuillete (cover rice crispies in melted chocolate and press thin between two sheets parchment paper)
Sliced strawberries
Mascarpone cheese

ICE Challenge: Nuts and Seeds

2009-03-23T12:22:00.011-06:00

It was almost spring for two days over the weekend. Now it's snowing. It's time for some serious sunshine. Here's my winter-needs-to-be-over-poem for you to enjoy (and mock, feel free)...

Skirts and grass, you know my love
Strong with courage
it's easier to dream in the sun.
Pink and brown lead to green
and green
With some rain, not cold
Eat better, sleep better, run better, run faster
Then pause, and live.
I smell your sweet lilac breath
Wishing for those library days of yesterday
Wishing for those stargazing evenings of tomorrow
Dreams are easier in the sun
Life is dreams in the sun.
Dreams are life in the sun.

I'm finally doing the Iron Cupcake Challenge again this month. This month is nuts and grains. I've always wanted to incorporate more healthy desserts into my menu, and while this isn't "healthy" by any stretch of the imagination, there are some healthy components, so it's not all guilt! The cake is a yellow cake with polenta and quinoa. I've mentioned polenta before, but chances are you haven't heard of quinoa. It's seems to be a a food that only vegetarians/vegans know about. It's a South American (pseudo)grain that is high in complete proteins. It's one of the best foods you can eat if you don't eat meat. Unfortunately, it's also gross. Not just bland, the flavor is really unappealing. BUT, put with other foods so the flavor is covered up it's really good. It has an unusual crunchy texture that I really enjoy given other flavors are involved. So I threw a handfull of quinoa in the batter, and suddenly you have a protein rich cake!
The mousse is only slightly nutmeg flavored, and the overall flavor of the cake is pretty gentle. A nice light dessert, you definitely won't feel overwhelmed (or incredibly guilty!) eating one.

Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup polenta
1/4 cup cooked quinoa
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp
2/3 cup whole milk, at room temp
6 T butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a large roll pan and cover with parchment paper, spray again. Or prepare as for regular cupcakes.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat butter and sugur until light and fluffy. Whisk in eggs, milk and vanilla. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir until just combined. Add the cooked quinoa.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread out thin. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean and the cake is browned. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Cut out circles the size of your finished cakes.

Nutmeg Mousse

160g heavy cream
160g whole milk
2 whole nutmegs
4 medium-sized egg yolks
80g granulated sugar
25g cornstarch, sifted
2 tsp powdered gelatin
240g whipping cream

Pour the milk and first part of the cream into a saucepan. Add the nutmegs. Heat to boiling, then turn the heat off, cover and let infuse for at least 30 minutes. Then remove the nutmegs. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until white, thick and fluffy. Add the cornstarch, beating carefully to ensure that there are no lumps. While whisking vigorously, pour some of the milk into the yolk mixture to temper it. Put infused milk back on the stove on medium heat. Pour yolk mixture back into the milk while whisking vigorously. Keep whisking vigorously until mixture thickens considerably. I've seen that you are supposed to cook it until it coats the back of a spoon, and if you run your finger through the layer on the spoon the line stays. If your cream curdles a bit, just whisk it and then strain. Add the gelatin and let it melt completely. Let cool. Beat the second part of the whipping cream and fold into the cooled egg yolk cream. Let set up a bit (~ 1 hour).

Assembly
(I used cupcake molds with removable bottoms.)

Cut out parchment paper to line the sides of the molds. Place one cut out piece of cake in the bottom. Spoon mousse on top. Place on more layer of cake, and then spoon one more layer of mousse. Let set up in the fridge at least 2 hours. Optional: roll the top edge of the mousse in finely chopped pecans, and decorate with a flower (I used primroses).

Our March ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:
A Bunnycake Easter Plushie by DOGBONEART, http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21636297.
A whimsical piece by CAKEASAURUS, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5729584.
as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
a collection of all new printed cupcake liners, 200 in all from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery, http://www.acupcakery.com/
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!
Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com . And as a special thank you, we would like to once again thank DIANAEVANS - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5599270 for her participation in the February challenge. An incorrect link was posted and we want to be sure that she gets the recognition she deserves. Thanks again Diana!

Chocolate Chip Souffle

2009-03-16T20:03:00.006-06:00

I tried really hard to think of a good anecdote to go with this post, but I got nothin' for ya. I'm really blocked right now. Feeling stifled, I guess. Nothing particularly inspiring has come my way recently. At least nothing I've noticed. That is, perhaps, the problem. I'm usually so anxious for spring I start anticipating it in January. But these last couple months I haven't been jonesing for gardening, or the farmer's market, or sandals, or grape hyacinths. So please, leave me inspiring comments - something to help me get my groove back :)

Chocolate Chip Souffle

45 g butter
55 g
200 g whole milk
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
1 t vanilla
1 T cornstarch
45 g sugar
1/4 c chopped good quality chocolate

extra butter and sugar for coating

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the bread flour and cook for about 2 minutes to make a roux. Add the hot milk and whisk It will thicken to a paste. Transfer this mixture to a clean bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, continue mixing the roux base to cool it down slightly before we add the egg yolks. When steam stops coming off but it is still warm, add the egg yolks one a time and mix.

In the meantime, start whipping the egg whites. When they are medium peaks, start adding the sugar slowly. Whip to stiff peaks.

Add the vanilla and cornstarch to the roux and egg yolk base. Fold in a third of the meringue to the base and mix to lighten it. Add the chocolate and the rest of the meringue and fold gently.

Brush inside of ramekins with room temperature butter and coat the sides with sugar. Fill the ramekins with souffle base almost to the top.

Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes depending on the size of the ramekin.

Chocolate Tartlettes (and I'm giving in)

2009-03-02T22:16:00.002-07:00

I give in, but I'm changing the rules...

The first however many people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done sometime this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own!I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? ***My rule change: Well, of course, you know it will be food. If you live not close to me, it'll be something that ships well. I also want you to give me an adjective or noun to describe what I'll make for you. An ingredient, a flavor, a feeling, a season, a shape. Be creative, be specific!***

I'm nixing this rule, but if you really want to re-post, go ahead. (The catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, win a homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play! )

*************
You can't tell, but the tartlettes also have a layer of caramel cream on the bottom. I gave the tartlettes to a friend, so I couldn't cut into them to show you, so you'll just have to trust me ;)

Chocolate Tartlettes

Crust
1/2 c crushed Oreos
2 c flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c ice water

Cut the shortening into the oreos, flour and salt. Cut in the water. Knead briefly until the dough comes together (you may need extra flour). Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour. Roll out dough and pre-bake for 15 min at 350 F.

Caramel Layer
adapted from Eric Kayser’s Sweet and Savory Tarts
150 g sugar
125 g cream
pinch salt
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 T flour

Heat the cream and salt on the stove. Meanwhile, dry cook the sugar until it is caramelized. Pour the cream over the caramel, stir until combined. Let cool slightly. Whisk the egg, yolk, and flour together. Slowly pour the caramel into the egg mixture, stirring so it doesn't curdle. Pour into the cooked tart shells and cook for another 15 min at 350 F.

Chocolate Bavarian
found here

Pour the chocolate onto the cooled caramel filled tart shells.

Italian Meringue
150 g sugar
75 g water
110 g eggwhites

Melt the sugar and water on the stove until it reaches 245 F. Start beating the eggwhites when the sugar reaches 225 F. Beat to soft peaks. Add the sugar syrup and continue beating for another 10, until the meringue cools. Spoon on top of the chocolate layer. Brown with a kitchen torch.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Valentino & Rose Gelato

2009-02-28T08:29:00.005-07:00

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.

I get it, most people I've tried to encourage rose flavor on have said, no thanks, it just tastes like soap. So Americans aren't into rose as a tongue experience. But, rose flavor to me means Paris. La Vie en Rose, and all that aside (though I do love that song), the first time I had rose as a flavor was in Paris. We had just toured Sacre Coeur, and at the bottom of Montmartre we stopped to get lunch. Something "traditional" I think, but I don't remember. And then, just down the way was a gelateria. I got rose flavored thinking, well it couldn't hurt to try. It was perfect. Yes, it tasted like perfume, but not in a bad way. It tastes like summer, and small winding streets, and natural elegance. It tastes like a fabulous daydream. It makes you want to never go back to your paper pushing desk job again, but give it all up to become a painter. Well, I guess there are a lot of things that make us want that last one, but rose in particular.

We were asked to pair the cake with a homemade icecream of some sort. What would go better with a decadent, rich, flourless chocolate cake than rose gelato? And it was divine. The cake is best made the day before. Day one it is "egg-y", but day two it sets up so thick and fabulous. As our hosts directed, we have to use a high quality chocolate, because that's really all you're going to taste in the end. I bought a new bag of Callebaut dark chocolate. Though the bag didn't say, I think it must have been their lowest % cocoa solid chocolate, the Otovalo. So smooth and heavenly. I kept sticking my finger in the melted chocolate while it was cooling - I couldn't help myself. And I can normally help myself with chocolate. I don't like M&Ms, Hershey bars, or generic chocolate chips (ie, American chocolate). But good quality chocolate like this is a whole new story.

PS, Picasa is my new favorite toy. So much fun with picture collages!

Chocolate Valentino
from Sweet Treats by Chef Wan
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
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

1. 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.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. 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).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. 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. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake 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.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Rose Gelato
adapted from David Lebovitz

2 c whole milk
1/3 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 c Rose syrup

1. Make a slurry by mixing the 1/4 cup of the milk with the cornstarch, mixing until the starch is dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

2. Heat the rest of the milk in a medium-sized saucepan with the sugar.

3. When it almost starts to boil, stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook at gentle simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat, scrape into a bowl, and chill thoroughly, preferably overnight.

5. Once chilled, whisk in the pistachio paste and just a few drops of citrus juice until smooth.

6. Freeze the gelato in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions

Red Velvet Starfruit Cupcakes and what the %#@!??

2009-02-23T06:22:00.004-07:00

Ok, let's tackle this chocolate cake recipe thing again.
I went to the library and stocked up on cake books. I wanted to compare buttermilk chocolate cake recipes, see how everyone's are different. First off, they're all the same. Are your recipes really different when one calls for 8 oz chocolate and the other calls for 6 oz, but everything else is the same? Maybe, but seriously, I don't know how cook book writers don't deal with copy write problems more often.
In any case, this is the standard: chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, buttermilk. Ingredients vary slightly, but not enough to notice. Baking is more about the right texture, than about exact amounts most of the time. One day you'll need more flour or less because of a variety of reasons. So the recipes are really all the same. Except one I came across that wanted me to separate my eggs, and fold in the beaten egg white at the end. I thought, cool!, I'll try that. WRONG!!! Massive FAILURE. Someone with more egg chem. knowledge than me will have to explain why the cupcakes rose on the sides, but not in the middle. (Like they fell, but they actually never rose to begin with.) Also, all the recipes call for baking soda, which I used, and immediately regretted. Can you taste the baking soda in recipes? Nobody else seems to get what I'm talking about. But when you bake something that has baking soda in it, I'm telling you, it tastes awful, really sour.
Right, well. Back to the standard recipe, no separated eggs and baking powder instead this time. Seems to be going all right, and then this happens:

What the #&@%!?!?!?! Looks like I stuck my fingers in them, doesn't it. I didn't though! These cupcakes are from the last batch, where half turned out fine, and the other half did this. :P I'm blaming the oven - I cannot think of any other reason. Fortunately, most of the cupcakes turned out all right (not very domed, though. Any takers on reasons for that problem?) And they tasted amazing, and the frosting would have made up for anything. These are for you, Britt! Happy Bday through the nets. :D

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Adapted from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

8 oz chocolate, melted and cooled
2 sticks butter, at room temp
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 c buttermilk
1 T red food coloring
2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Cream the butter with the sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between. Add the vanilla. Add the melted, cooled chocolate and the food coloring, mix until combined. Combine the dry ingredients; add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in thirds to the batter.
Bake at 350 F for 20 min.

Starfruit Buttercream

1 starfruit, peeled and pureed
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
4 c confectioners sugar
4 oz cream cheese, softened

Beat the butter and shortening until very light (about 5 min). Add the sugar slowly. Add the starfruit and cream cheese, and continue beating until very whipped.

Les Chouquettes Canelle

2009-02-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

Luigi Pirandello was an Italian playwright and author. At least that's what wikipedia's intro says about him. I think of him more as a philosopher, though. He believed that people are made up of layers upon layers with no solid core. We're made up of layers we give our selves, and layers others give us. It's a little too existential for me. I think we all have unique cores that tie us to God and to each other. But on top of that I think it is like Pirandello believed. We put on layers, personality traits, characteristics, habits, whatever you want to call them, that are labeled by ourselves and by others. I realized the other day that I've let go of one of my layers. I don't categorize myself as a scientist anymore, something that I've held onto for nearly a decade. It was particularly hard to let go of because it is a layer most everyone I know also puts on me. But when I think of my symbolic self, that word doesn't belong anymore. In my journey to define the self I'm happy to let go of this piece of fabric. Now, instead, I'm trying on a "baking layer" in a larger more influential way. Perhaps I'll discover at some point that baking should remain a smaller piece of fabric, but for now I'm enjoying knitting a bigger layer, which includes sharing it all with you on this blog.
Another thread to add to the square, chouquettes. Essentially cream-less cream puffs. Cream puffs are choux pastry, and if you've never thought to try the bread-y part of your cream puff without the cream, then you're not missing anything. Choux is rather bland, and I didn't really understand why there is a whole separate dessert dedicated just to the choux. But I added a bit of cinnamon (canelle) for flavor, and my opinion has completely changed. These little guys are ADDICTING! Everyone at work and home loved 'em. Definately a keeper.

Chouquettes

3/4 water
1/4 c cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 T sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup flour
1 T cinnamon
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Combine water, cream, salt, sugar and butter in a medium sauce pan and cook until the butter has all melted. Add the flour and cinnamon all at once and stir over medium heat for another minute until the batter comes together and doesn't stick to the sides of the pot.
Transfer the batter to a bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes until it no longer steams.
Add the eggs one at a time mixing well with a hand mixer each time.
Pipe or spoon a teaspoon of the choux (batter) onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle pearl sugar (or crushed up sugar cubes because you can't really get pearl sugar in the US) on them. Bake at 400 F for 25 minutes, or until dry.

Papaya Souffle and Macarons

2009-02-10T21:32:00.006-07:00

Raindrops bang like rocks
On my windowpane
I thought they'd never stop
Never see the sun again

And I've been sleeping in
For way too long
Mmm, wake up, enough's enough
Yeah, those days are gone

I'm gonna throw out my raincoat
Mmm, I hope it's all right
Gonna go find me a rainbow
And hang it up in the sky
Blues pass me by

Kelly Sweet Raincoat

Papaya Souffle
adapted from Cannelle et Vanille

90 grams butter
110 grams flour
400 ml whole milk
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
90 grams sugar
140 grams pureed papaya
Butter, room temperature
Sugar

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the bread flour and cook for about 2 minutes to make a roux. Add the hot milk and whisk It will thicken to a paste. Transfer this mixture to a clean bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, continue mixing the roux base to cool it down slightly before we add the egg yolkd. When steam stops coming off but it is still warm, add the egg yolks one a time and mix.

In the meantime, start whipping the egg whites. When they are medium peaks, start adding the sugar slowly. Whip to stiff peaks.

Add the papaya to the roux and egg yolk base. Fold in a third of the meringue to the base and mix to lighten it. Add the rest of the meringue and fold gently.

Brush inside of ramekins with room temperature butter and coat the sides with sugar. Fill the ramekins with souffle base almost to the top.

Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes depending on the size of the ramekin.

Papaya Buttercream Macarons
adapted from Veronica's Test Kitchen

300 g almond flour
300 g confectioner’s sugar
110 g egg whites
300 g sugar
75 g water
110 g egg whites

Mix TpT with the first 110g of egg whites. (TpT means equal parts almonds and confectioners sugar.)

Bring water and sugar to a boil until it reaches 245F(118C). When the syrup reaches 239F/115C start whipping your egg whites to soft peaks at high speed and then lower to 2^nd speed. Once sugar syrup reaches 245F(118C), pour it on the whipped egg whites. Continue whipping the whites until the meringue reaches 122F (50C) and incorporate it with the almond mixture.

Preheat oven to 356F(180C).

Pipe macarons on a silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes. Take them off the paper/silpat and pipe with the filling.

Buttercream

1/2 c softened butter

2 c confectioners sugar

4 T papaya puree

Beat the butter until smooth. Slowly add the sugar. Add the papaya and continue beating until completely incorporated.

Chocolate Birthday Cake

2009-02-08T21:40:00.004-07:00

The results from the cake mix poll are in: the majority of you are OK with box mixes. Again with my dilemma, though. I like the consistency and chocolate flavor of a box cake, and the real problem is, I've yet to make a from scratch chocolate cake that I'm completely happy with. The consistency is too thick, or too dry, or too egg-y. Or the flavor is dull, or you can taste the buttermilk. If you know of a great chocolate cake recipe let me know, but I'll warn you, I'm gonna be skeptical because I've tried dozens and haven't found one I like yet.

This is the latest attempt. My little brother just turned 18 (not so little anymore), and he wanted a dense chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream. After making the batter, I tested it first by making mini cupcakes, and was disappointed. I fiddled some with flour and chocolate amounts, and was happier with the density and flavor, but it's a little dry. The raspberry filling is just raspberry jam (I'd have done homemade there, too, but he just wanted from the jar, oh well!). The buttercream was the best part. I used the last of my dark chocolate Callebaut, and dang if that stuff wasn't so expensive I'd use if for everything. Mmm mmm!

And what's up with the pictures? Sorry, I was even using the good camera...

Chocolate Cake
adapted from Joy of Baking

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup (60 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 cup (240 ml) boiling water
3 1/4 cups (465 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter, or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, and line with parchment paper, two - 9 x 2 inch deep (23 x 5 cm) round baking pans. Set aside.

In a stainless steel or heatproof bowl place the chopped unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and cocoa powder and stir until they have melted. Set aside to cool while you make the batter.

In a separate bowl, whisk to combine, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is fluffy (this will take about 3-5 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate mixture and beat to combine.

Add the milk and flour mixtures in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat only until the ingredients are incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Butter or lightly spray a wire rack with Pam before inverting the cakes onto the rack to prevent the cakes from sticking. Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
150 g chocolate, chopped
1 c butter, room temperature
4 c confectioners sugar

Melt the chocolate. Mix with the confectioners sugar. Beat the butter in 1 T at a time until fully incorporated. Beat at least 5 more minutes until completely mixed and fluffy.

Tiger Shortbread

2009-02-05T22:20:00.001-07:00

I made these for a friend who had an operation the other day as a get better soon treat. They're really just a version of Millionaire Shortbread, but I think they look like tigers! And so in honor of tigers, I leave you with the scorned and un-pc Little Black Sambo, a favorite story in my family for a couple generations.

(Get better soon, Lena!)

"And by and by he met a Tiger. And the Tiger said to him, "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!"

Shortbread

1 c softened butter
1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c corn flour

Cream butter and sugar until you see the butter change color (aprx. 5 min). Add salt, and flours and mix by hand until the dough comes together. Press into a lined 7x11" (or whatever size you want) pan and bake for 25 min at 350 F. Let cool.

Salted Caramel Cream
from Cannelle et Vanille

360 grams heavy cream
1 t vanilla
90 grams sugar
120 grams egg yolks (about 6 yolks)
1 1/2 t gelatin softened over 2 T cold water
pinch fleur de sel

Bring the cream and the vanilla to a boil. Reserve.

In the meantime, make a dry caramel with the sugar. Deglaze the cooked sugar with the heated cream. Be careful because it will bubble over if all the cream is added at once. Whisk so all crystalized sugar has dissolved. Pour this caramel over the egg yolks and whisk. Return this to the pan and cook for 1 minute.

Add the softened gelatin and strain through a fine sieve. Let cool and then poor on top of cooled shortbread. Let firm up (about 2 hours) and then cut. Drizzle with melted dark chocolate.

Pain au Chocolat

2009-01-31T15:39:00.003-07:00

I don't speak French, I know practically nothing of French culture and history. My mom lived in southern France for a couple years in her twenties, so I do know a couple of children's songs that my she taught me when I was a kid. Everyone knows Frere Jacques, but do you know Alouette or Ansi Font? But that pretty much sums it up. Oh, I guess I can count to ten, but every little kid who watched Sesame Street can count to ten in different languages.

I've found recently that my baking has leaned toward the French side of life, though. I suppose that makes sense, as many of the great pastries and desserts hail from a French tradition. But for whatever reason, my own baking interests have not been particularly French in the past. There is one pastry that I remeber my mom giving us a version of as children, Pain au Chocolat with warm sugar milk.

Pain au Chocolat is essentially a crossant with chocolate inside. I was inspired at the last minute to make some for my book club this morning. Again, I should have picked something that I knew would work in case the Pain au Chocolat didn't "pan" out (ha ha, sorry), but sometimes when I want to do something, I do it! Well, it didn't turn out at all like it was supposed to, (they were not at all croissant flaky-like) but fortunately the bread was still good, and I just didn't say anything! ;)

My recipe comes from Jacques Torres over at the Food Network. I know I used too little butter (I spazed and wasn't paying attention to what was going on), so I'll have to try again sometime soon and see if I can't get actual croissants. This is a good regular bread recipe, too, though!

Daring Bakers: Tuiles

2009-01-29T07:58:00.005-07:00

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.
Another French-word-I-don't-know-how-to-pronounce to add to the list: tuile. According to our hosts,
"Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are gently molded over a rolling pin or arched form while they are still warm. Once set, their shape resembles the curved French roofing tiles for which they're named. The Dutch angle: traditionally this batter was used to bake flat round cookies on 31st December, representing the year unfold. On New Years day however, the same batter was used but this day they were presented to well-wishers shaped as cigars and filled with whipped cream, symbolizing the New Year that's about to roll on. And of course the batter is sometimes called tulip-paste...."

Attempt #1
No picture included because they ... failed!!! I tried chocolate tuiles first time 'round, and because the batter was already dark I couldn't find a happy baking time. Not so good :P

Attempt #2
Uncreative, yet considerably more successful. Plain/vanilla triangles rimmed with piped chocolate batter and rolled into a traditional cigar shape. I got impatient, however, waiting for my chantilly to set up, and as you can see in the picture, it's kindof droopy. Ok, but I couldn't seriously finish with these.

Third and final attempt
Our lovely, inversion-induced week long break from the weather followed by refreshingly uncharacteristic rain, is now gone. Sigh. Back to the cold and the snow. But I will not be dismayed. I embrace the beauty that winter does bring: a snow flake. Inspired by Wilson Bentley, my last go isn't quite what our host had in mind (sorry, not paired with something light), these snowflake shaped tuiles are my homage to the things I do like about winter.

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

Sunday Brunch

2009-01-26T08:02:00.001-07:00

It was my turn to have the ladies over for VT this month. I didn't read the message/thought until the morning of, but you can bet I had a menu planned way in advance! This isn't my usual tea party group of friends, so I got to introduce formal tea to a new group! I'll admit it, I usually go overboard with the food for tea parties, so I pulled back this time and decided to go with biscotti and blood orange verrines. I've never made either of those before, and that's not a good when you're planning on immediately serving something, but fortunately both worked out great.
A word about verrines: The lovely Tartlette and Cannelle et Vanille both ocassionally have posts about this kind of dish. I had to google it, though, to figure out what in the world they were talking about. Serious Eats tells us, "A verrine is an appetizer or dessert that consists of a number of components layered artfully in a small glass. (The word verrine refers to the glass itself; literally it means "protective glass.")" So really it's just a small parfait. Leave it to the French to give the exact same idea a different name because the size is different. In any case, I had a hankering for orange, and blood orange seems to be the fruit du jour, so I did a blood orange jelly with yogurt, nectarine and crumble. I didn't want the biscotti to distract from the tea, just to enhance it. So I did a basic version of Giada's popular biscotti with a bit of cinnamon. And we had a lovely time!

VERRINES

Blood Orange Jelly
adapted from Epicurean.com

1 1/2 tablespoons gelatine
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange rind
1 1/2 cups orange juice

Soften the gelatine in the cold water. Dissolve it in the boiling water. Add the sugar and salt and stir until dissolved. Add lemon juice, orange rind, and orange juice, cook for 3 more minutes. Pour the jelly into mold. Chill until it is firm. Clever idea from Tartlett e: Divide evenly among glasses and position them at an angle in an empty egg carton. Let set a couple of hours in the fridge.

Yogurt Layer

2 c vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 c heavy cream

Beat the cream to stiff peaks. Fold into the yogurt. Spoon onto the firm jelly.

Crumble

1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c oats
3 T flour
2 T cold butter

Mix the brown sugar, oats and flour. Cut the butter into small cubes. Work the butter into the oat mixture with your hands until it is course crumbs. Bake at 350 F until just browned. (If it starts melting, pull it out, it will still be ok!) Let it cool, then break up and sprinkle on the top of the verrines.

BISCOTTI
adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 T cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour and baking powder and beat just until blended. Stir in the almonds.

Form the dough into a 4-inch wide 1-inch tall log on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until light golden, about 40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.

Place the log on the cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.

A Two-fer

2009-01-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

I have a confession and a question. I use box cake and brownie mixes. There, I said it. Now, the question is, is it cheating to use box mixes? They certainly save time, and perhaps this is the worst confession of all, but I like them. I'm generally ok with the taste and texture of box mix cakes/browies. But they require absolutely no culinary skill, and who knows what kind of preservatives are in there. So, what's your opinion on box mixes?

The reason I ask is because I try to do straight homemade all the time, at least for my own satisfaction because I like starting from scratch, it's more fun and interesting that way. But I didn't have time this week and had to resort to a box chocolate cake mix. I had a request to make dessert from my mom for her group of ladies, and I had a birthday party. The ladies group was small and I wanted to do something fancier, and the birthday party was large and informal, so something more finger food style was necessary. The ladies group was Thursday night, and the birthday party Friday night. But I have class on Wednesday and Thursday nights, so I needed something that would be fast to put together, and would work for both events. That led to parfaits for the ladies, and cupcakes for the birthday. The parfaits have chocolate Bavarian, then crumbled cake, then strawberry mousse, topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. The cupcakes are filled with the strawberry mousse, and frosted with the chocolate Bavarian and chocolate shavings.

Bavarian and Mousse recipes here (substitute 1 cup pureed strawberries for the boysenberries)To assemble the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake. Fill in the hollow in the cupcake with the mousse. Cut off the bottom of the cone and place back on top of the cupcake. Bytheway, I really need to get a better camera. Can you tell which pictures were taken with my old boring digital camera, and which were taken with my dad's fancy scmancy camera?!!!

Lemon Blueberry Polenta Cake

2009-01-10T16:27:00.001-07:00

Have you ever heard of polenta? Probably, but it's not a common food in SLC, so I'd never come across it until a few months ago. And suddenly it was every where! Like when you learn a new obscure word, and then you hear everyone saying it. In case you don't know, polenta is ground dried corn. Polenta is also what it is cooked into, usually a sort of patty or a porridge. It is a staple of traditional Italian food, but has an historical association with the poor peasants. (You'd think I'd have heard of it sometime in all my Italian classes in college, but Dante never mentions it in the three cantiche, and he is the standard for any other piece of literature in Italy.)
In the last few days it's been brought to my attention that I am the source of much weight gain around me. This seemed a perfect opportunity, then, to use polenta in a healthy(ish) dessert. I googled around for polenta dessert recipes and came across this recipe. With a little alteration, I decided on a polenta cake with blueberries, a Italian meringue bassed yogurt icing, and a sprig of thyme for decoration. With rave reviews from the fam., I'm quite pleased with my vaguely healthy dessert!

Cake
(adapted from Alpineberry)
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup polenta
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp
2/3 cup whole milk, at room temp
6 T butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan. Line bottom with a parchment paper circle and butter paper.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat butter and sugur until light and fluffy. Whisk in eggs, milk and vanilla. Add egg mixture to flour mixture all at once. Stir until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean and the cake is browned. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife around edge of pan to loosen cake. Invert onto a cake rack. Remove parchment paper.

Icing
30 g egg whites
75 g sugar
25 g water
1 T lemon zest
3/4 c vanilla yogurt
2 T lemon juice

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and heat to 230 F.
Whip egg whites to a soft peak. Add the sugar syrup and continue beating until cool. Add lemon zest half way through.
Add yogurt and lemon juice.

Rice Pudding Parfaits

2009-01-08T22:08:00.010-07:00

I spent Fall semester of my junior year at St. Andrew's University in Scotland. I know that sounds all romantic and adventurous, and while I loved my time there, every experience like that has it's down side. Scotland's downside: freakin' cold and wet. I was there from October through December, and I don't think I could feel my fingers and toes the entire time. I remember being grateful for the first few weeks every time I'd go outside and see that the ground was wet, but it wasn't raining. And then I realized the ground wasn't wet because it had just rained, it was just that humid. I remember sitting through countless lectures soaked through because no amount of rain gear can protect you from the wind and rain. BUT, I traveled a ton, met fabulous people who I'm still friends with (thank you, facebook!), and had some amazing desserts (not meal food, I don't care what shape the potato is on your plate, it's still potatoes every single meal!).

One of those fabulous desserts that I got hooked on was rice pudding. I lived on rice pudding from a tin and lime crisps finals week. So this time of year when it's cold and wet and dreary I'm always drawn to the warm creamy comfort of rice pudding. (The lime chips they sell here in the US just aren't as good as the UK's.) I was also feeling the need for some light refreshing fruit (Christmas gets all the heavy desserts). And I also wanted caramel, but my family insisted that I not do caramel with the fruit, so that necessitated two kinds of parfait. Even though I meant to avoid a heavy dessert, chocolate Bavarian cream was the obvious pairing for caramel, and the fruit component is boysenberry mousse because boysenberries are on sale at the local market. Though this "little" project took all evening, it was totally worth it. Yum!

Rice Pudding
3 c whole milk
1/2 c arborio rice
pinch Fleur de Sel (or red sea salt in my case b/c I can't find Fleur de Sel)
1/3 c sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and simmer for up to an hour until the rice is soft and the milk has cooked down.

Chocolate Bavarian Cream
from Cannelle et Vanille

60 grams half and half
5 grams sugar
1 egg yolk
2 grams gelatin softened over 1/2 T cold water
125 grams milk chocolate, finely chopped
100 grams heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

In a small saucepan, bring the half and half to a boil. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar. Temper the hot half and half into the egg yolks and whisk. Pour this mixture back in the pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and add the softened gelatin.

Strain the custard over the milk chocolate that we have finely chopped into a clean bowl. Let the custard melt the chocolate for a minute and then gently whisk until a cream is formed and all the chocolate has melted. When the chocolate mixture has cooled to the touch, fold in the whipped cream.

Bosenberry Mousse
(adapted from The Food Network)

Meringue

30 g egg whites
50 g sugar
16 g water

Pate a Bombe

1 c pureed bosenberries
40 g egg yolks (about 2 egg yolks)
10 g sugar

3/4 teaspoons gelatin sprinkled over 1 Tbl cold water
100 g heavy cream, whipped

For the pate a bombe, cook the pureed until bubbling. Ribbon yolks and sugar, temper with purees and cook until 185 degrees F. Add gelatin, strain, cool. For the meringue, whip egg whites into soft peaks. Cook sugar and water until 235 degrees Fahrenheit. Slowly add sugar and continue to whip on high speed until cool and stiff peaks form. Fold half the cream into meringue and half into the pate a bombe. Fold mixtures together.

Salted Caramel Cream
from Cannelle et Vanille

180 grams heavy cream
1/2 t vanilla
45 grams sugar
60 grams egg yolks
3/4 t gelatin softened over 1 T cold water
pinch fleur de sel

Bring the cream and the vanilla to a boil. Reserve.

In the meantime, make a dry caramel with the sugar. Deglaze the cooked sugar with the heated cream. Be careful because it will bubble over if all the cream is added at once. Whisk so all crystalized sugar has dissolved. Pour this caramel over the egg yolks and whisk. Return this to the pan and cook for 1 minute.

Add the softened gelatin and strain through a fine sieve.

Passionate Chocolate

2009-01-04T19:51:00.005-07:00

As I've mentioned before, I've never actually eaten a macaron before from someone who actually knows how to make them (ie, not me). I googled "macaron Salt Lake City" and only one website came up, Les Madeleines. They started out as a cupcake bakery a few years ago (wonderful creative flavors), and it appears they've moved on to add sandwiches, drinks, and other pastries, including macarons. I finally got around to going again over the weekend to try her macarons. The are different from how mine turn out. Mine are considerably more hollow. Perhaps I'm overbaking (a tendacy of mine). Anyhow, the macaron flavor they had was passionfruit. I also got a passionfruit cupcake. I don't think I'd ever considered passionfruit before, but it is wonderful. Unfortunately, it isn't exactly the time of year for passionfruit. After some searching at a few markets, I had to settle on passionfruit juice frozen concentrate.
I also have a lot of egg yolk left over from all the macarons, so I figured the best solution was a passionfruit mousse. (The Yule Log has completely turned me onto to homemade mousse.) And as I was falling asleep last night the rest of the dessert came to me, as if it was meant to be: passionfruit mousse with a chocolate chantilly on a walnut crust.

Walnut Crust

1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
4 Tbl melted butter

Combine graham cracker, walnuts and butter. Press into the bottom of a aluminum foil lined 8x8 inch pan. Bake at 350 F for 10 min. Let cool.

Chocolate Chantilly
(from Flore of Florilège Gourmand)
1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream 35% fat
3.9 oz (110g) milk chocolate
1 tsp (8g) glucose or thick corn syrup
3/4 cup (180g) heavy cream 35% fat

1. Chop the chocolate coarsely.
2. Heat the 160g of cream to boiling and pour over the chocolate and glucose syrup.
3. Wait 30 seconds then stir the mix until smooth. Add the remaining cream.
4. Refrigerate to cool, then whip up.
5. Spread onto cool crust. Refrigerate.

Passionfruit Mousse
(adapted from The Food Network)

2 egg whites
5 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1-ounce water
1 loose cup passion fruit frozen concentrate
1 peeled, cored apple, pureed
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons gelatin sprinkled over 1 Tbl cold water
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Ribbon yolks and sugar, temper with purees and cook until 185 degrees F. Add gelatin, strain, cool and fold in half of the whipped cream. Whip egg whites into soft peaks. Cook sugar, corn syrup and water until 235 degrees Fahrenheit. Slowly add sugar and continue to whip on high speed into stiff peaks, set aside. Combine purees and bring to a boil. Fold remaining cream into egg whites. Fold mixtures together and spread on top of chocolate chantilly. Chill in freezer.

Blackberry Macarons

2009-01-01T16:33:00.007-07:00

Ok, I admit it. I am obsessed. I LOVE macarons. Before I'd ever made them I thought, sure, they're cute and it looks like you can do a lot with 'em, but really? They're just meringue. I have no special reason to want to like them. But they are so much more than "just meringue". Last time I made them I had to give the rest away because I was eating them until I felt sick. And I never do that, in fact I rarely eat much of what I make. But these little cookies have me hooked :)

A local market was advertising blackberries for cheap (in the middle of winter!), so I had to get some and make blackberry macarons. I'm also completely addicted to the whipped chocolate caramel ganache from the French Yule Log. I lightly mashed the berries and cooked them down until they weren't runny. Same macaron recipe as last time (Italian meringue style). I piped the ganache around the edge of one macaron and filled the middle with the blackberry and topped it off. I didn't add any sugar to the blackberry, so the sweet of the macaron and chocolate perfectly offset the tart from the berries. The ganache is very winter, and the berries are very summer, the contrast is great.

Macarons: see this post

Ganache (from Flore of Florilège Gourmand)
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
5 oz (135g) chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened

1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

Daring Bakers: French Yule Log

2008-12-28T08:16:00.002-07:00

This isn't the Yule Log of which you're thinking (can't end in a preposition). No little mushrooms and holly berries. This is a complicated, time consuming masterpiece of a dessert. It was awesome! It took me all day Christmas Eve, and then some of Christmas morning after needing to be frozen over night. But I'm getting ahead of myself. A French Yule log has these components, all of which had to be homemade: Dacquoise, Mousse, Ganache, Feuillete, Creme Brulee, and Icing. Look at all those fabulous French words! Yay! This is everything a dessert should be. It was like doing a puzzle, this challenge was fabulous.
Kristinepoe (a new Daring Baker, no blog posted yet), posted some pictures on the Daring Baker's website that inspired me to do it her way instead of the way the recipe was originally writen. My log has a White Chocolate Mousse instead of chocolate, and a Chocolate Creme Brulee instead of vanilla. She mentions, and I agree, the chocolate creme brulee tastes odd with cocoa powder; next time I'll put in chocolate instead of cocoa. I also had a really hard time getting the creme brulee to set up. It took turing up the oven a full 100 F higher and baking almost 2 hours extra. Perhaps this is a problem similar to what I've had with the cheesecakes?
The rest of the Yule log layers are to die for, though. The white chocolate mousse, heavenly. The whipped chocolate caramel ganache, divine. Ahhh. Those two in particular I'll have to use in other recipes. For the Feuillete I used gingerbread crisp cookies instead of the gavottes; the ginger added a nice note.

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

Iron Cupcake Earth: Chocolate with a Twist

2008-12-27T10:15:00.007-07:00

This months Iron Cupcake Earth challenge is Chocolate with a Twist. So, as a continuation of my last post with the Chcolate Truffles, I decided my twist would be more chocolate! Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes. I placed one truffle inside the cake batter and baked it inside. I wasn't sure if it would melt away completely and make a weird gooey cupcake, but it worked! The truffle stayed together in the middle of the cupcake and the flavor difused throughout the cupcake. Mmm. Then I frosted the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream (not chocolate buttercream, that would be toooooo much), dipped them in cocoa powder and decorated them like my truffles. I wish I had a better way of photographing, these pictures don't really do the cupcakes, or the truffles, justice. But they did look pretty cute!
Voting begins 8PM December 29, you can vote for me (Tranquilitea Party) here. :D

As always, this months prizes and sponsors:

BETTY TURBO - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5002976
as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!As an added bonus for December we have adorable cupcake pincushions complements of SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY, http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html.Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; the CUPCAKE COURIER http://www.cupcakecourier.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com

Chocolate Truffles

2008-12-18T19:09:00.006-07:00

After I started college and first moved away from home, returning home for breaks was when my mom and I would go on adventures around SLC. Granted, SLC is not that big a place and I'd lived there my whole life, but for whatever reason that was when we started exploring the "off the beaten path" areas around the valley. One of the first shops we came across is called Xocolate. I'd never had chocolates fancier than See's before that (the cheap stuff you see during Valentine's). The truffles at Xocolate are exoctic flavors and are art work unto themselves. Not your everyday chocolate covered peanut glob. We would go every time I came home to get a handfull of their fancy truffles.
Skip forward a few years and we first heard of Lavender Days, a festival at the lavender farms in the middle of Utah. They have baking, aroma therapy, gardening, a western village, a medieval village (including a very real jousting tournament!), and dozens of essential oils. We bought a packet that included lavender essential oil. (An essential essential oil!) And that's when it finally dawned on me to make my own truffles, starting with the Xocolate inspired lavender truffle.
So now it is tradition to make chocolate truffles for Christmas gifts. (Ok, this is only the second Christmas I've made them, but in true Bryn Mawr style, anything done more than once is a tradition!) Along with the essential oil flavors, I've moved onto flavored syrups by Monin. Though meant for cocktails, they work very well for baking, too. I wish I had more time, I would do dozens more flavors, but these have taken me all week and it's almost Christmas already, so these will do for this year. Buon Natale!

Rose Macarons (4th time's the charm!)

2008-12-14T09:25:00.008-07:00

Yes, you read that right. Macaron, not macaroon. Macaroon = coconut cookie. Macaron (one 'o') = French meringue cookie. After a dozen wasted egg whites and three wasted evenings, I have beat the meringue. (Ha ha, get it!? I 'beat' the meringue ... sorry ;) )
I had never even heard of these cookies before a few months ago when I started blogging and suddenly they were everywhere! These beautiful little sandwich cookies of all variety of couleurs and parfums. I tried a few flavors and colors the previous failing times. Recently I got some flavored syrups (for this years chocolate truffles, post coming soon); one of the syrups is Rose, and it is absolutely divine. I wanted to make cookies for the ladies I get together with each month, and what would be better than pink rose flavored happiness?
Except for proof that my oven bakes horribly unevenly (I tried to hide that the cookies are lopsided in the pictures), they came out perfectly, little feet and all! I used an Italian meringue because it is supposed to be a more stable meringue, and I wanted to make an Italian buttercream filling. Like I said, I've never actually had macarons before. I know these look right, hopefully they taste right too! Here is my version of My Food Geek 's macaron recipe.

Macarons
from www.myfoodgeek.com

Meringue
90 g egg whites
35 g sugar
75 g (ground) almonds
75 g confectioners sugar

Syrup
150 g sugar
50 g water

Combine the syrup ingredients in a saucepan and heat to 230 F.

Divide egg whites into 30 g and 60 g. (Eggwhites should be left to sit for a day so they are room temperature. I never plan that far ahead, though. I lightly whisk my eggwhites in a bowl set in hot water until they are room temp. Not the best, but it seems to be good enough.)

Whip 60 g eggwhite and 35 g sugar to soft peaks. Add the sugar syrup. Beat for another 10 - 15 minutes until the meringue is completely cooled and shiny.

Grind almonds in a food processor if they are not already ground. Add the confectioners sugar. Combine the remaining 30 eggwhites with the almond mixture. (This is also a good time to add food coloring.) Divide the meringue in half; add one half to the almond mixture. Fold together (Helen from Tartlette says not to use more than 50 strokes. An over mixed batter will yield flat cookies.)

Pipe onto a silicon mat or parchement paper. Bake at 320 F for about 10 minutes, or until the
dome of the cookie barely slides against the feet.

Christi's Rose Italian Buttercream
The other half of the meringue from the macarons
4 T shortening
3/4 c confectioners sugar
4 T rose syrup

Combine all the ingredients and whip until combined. (As the name implies, Italian Buttercream should have butter in it. But everytime I make it I think it tastes awful. Maybe that's just me. But I like it better with only shortening.)

Done is Good

2008-12-04T17:57:00.001-07:00

In college at Bryn Mawr there is a tradition called "Done is Good". Everybody on your hall gets together one evening a couple weeks before finals for a Done is Good Tea. (Note, this is where the idea of tea parties came from. Not that we ever drank tea or ate scones, but I'm sure they did in the past and Bryn Mawr is obsessive about traditions.) We would eat candy and pizza and makes lists on construction paper of what needs to be done before you leave for break.
It's really just the old checking off technique. Check. Done. Yay! And every time you check something off you get a piece of candy!
My list this holiday season is mostly food (hence the reason I'm posting about it here) and is mostly fun stuff, so I'm calling it my Done is Fun list! Merry Christmas!

Daring Bakers: Caramel Cake

2008-11-29T08:00:00.004-07:00

Daring Bakers is another blogging bakers group I joined a few weeks ago. Daring Bakers are given a recipe each month that can be modified, accessorized, and individualized any way you like. Thousands of bakers around the world all using the exact same recipe, but getting different results. I love this connection with all these bakers so close yet so far away!
This months challenge is Caramel Cake and comes from Shuna Fish Lydon at http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006/12/24/cara mel-cake-the-recipe/.The challenge was chosen by Delores at http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/ with co hosts Alex (at http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/) and Jenny (at h ttp://forayintofood.blogspot.com/).

I was in a pomegranate mood, and thought it would be a fabulous complement to caramel. I still think it's a good complement, but this is not going be a recipe I'll make again. It is sooooo sweeeet! Don't get me wrong, I love sweet. Obviously. So for me to say this is too sweet, I really don't know how you're supposed to eat it. Other Daring Bakers have been discussing this problem the last few weeks, so it's not just me. You'll have to really like sugar to be able to handle this cake. The cake is a basic yellow cake with caramel mixed into the batter.
The frosting is a browned butter caramel frosting. I love browned butter frosting, but I don't think it is a good choice for this cake. First of all, it is a strong flavor, and with more caramel in the frosting on top of a caramel cake, whew! Way too much. Second, it's a beige frosting on a brownish cake. BOR-ing. That's where I thought the pomegranate would come it particularly handy. I made a separate pomegranate buttercream to add to the browned butter caramel buttercream. A tart flavor and different color to offset all the yellow and caramel. Unfortunately it was around midnight when I got to actually frosting the cake. I'm not an artist, I'm a baker. So the late hour and my lack of artistry added up to quite an ugly cake. Especially after seeing Cannelle Et Vannile's cake. Blah, ok, here it is...There was a second, optional part to this months challenge, Golden Caramels. These caramels call for an ingredient called Golden Syrup,

From what I've read from other Daring Baker's, I'm lucky to have actually found it, just sitting there at Albertson's (though I doubt it's at Acme!). According to a little reseach on the nets, Golden Syrup is essentially light molasses. While I don't doubt the necessity of molasses in gingerbread and I'm an Anglophile in many ways, I don't think I'll ever be convinced of molasses. I added pomegranate juice to these caramels, also, but the molasses flavor overwhelms and makes the pomegranate indetectable. It was a fun expirament with a different recipe and ingredient, but I'll stick to my caramel recipe in the future. Oh, well. Here's to a less controversial challenge next month!

Don't forget to vote for my cupcakes here!!!

Iron Cupcake: Earth CRANBERRY!

2008-11-24T08:00:00.006-07:00

This is my first month as an Iron Cupcake: Earth Challenge Baker. I only discovered this group a few days ago, and was accepted on Saturday evening. My cupcake has to be submitted today, so that left about one hour to come up with an idea, one hour to shop, and a few hours before and after church yesterday to do all the baking. It's like really being on Iron Chef! Craziness!
The challenge for November is cranberry. Gingerbread was the obvious cake base to me. After that it was a little harder. I'm not really the most creative baker; I steal most of my recipes and ideas from Martha Stewart. But no cheating this time, these cupcakes were going to be all me. Thus was born the Cranberry Gingerbread Cupcake with White Chocolate Buttercream.
The point of all of this is to convince you to vote for me!!! over at No One Puts Cupcake in a Corner. Voting begins Sunday, November 30. You can check out the other entries here. The winner of this month's challenge wins prizes from these fabulous people:

Lollipop Workshop
Cookie Sunshine
Lots of Sprinkles (cupcake earrings)
CakeSpy
Sweet Cuppin Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery Supply
Head Chefs by Fiesta Products
Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
Cupcake Courier
Taste of Home books
1-800-flowers

Cranberry Gingerbread Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream

Make 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes

1 ½ c flour

¼ t baking soda

¼ t salt

1 ½ T ginger

1 ½ T cinnamon

¼ c molasses

1 c water

6 T butter

6 T sugar

2 eggs

Cranberry sauce

1 Whisk water and molasses; set aside.

2 Beat butter and sugar; add eggs.

3 Mix dry ingredients. Add flour mixture in thirds alternately with molasses mixture to egg mixture.

4 Spoon batter into cupcake cups. Drop ½ teaspoon cranberry sauce into each cup and loosely swirl with a toothpick. Bake in 350 °F for 15-18 min.

Cranberry Sauce

6 oz fresh or frozen cranberries

½ c water

½ c sugar

In a saucepan dissolve the sugar in the water over medium heat, about 3 minutes. Add the cranberries, let cook another 10 minutes until all the cranberries pop. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

White Chocolate Buttercream

½ c butter

½ c shortening

½ c melted white chocolate

4 c powdered sugar

~ 3 T milk

In a standing mixer, beat butter and shortening until light, about 4 min. Add white chocolate and mix until combined. Add powdered sugar slowly. Add milk until desired consistency is reached.

Another try at Cheesecake

2008-11-23T18:47:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago when I made a cheesecake I mentioned that it wasn't exactly what I was looking for in a cheesecake (Cheesecake Factory being perfection, of course!). Hillary over at Hilary's Random Thoughts suggested that I try this recipe on the Food Network. Yesterday I was trying to think of blueberry recipes since the frozen bags of 'em are taking up too much room in the freezer. So this was a perfect opportunity to try the new recipe and use some of the blueberries. (I also made blueberry scones for breakfast. If you've never had English scones, not the fry bread kind, they are fabulous.)
The only differences between this recipe and others I've tried are that it calls for more sour cream, and less egg white. The baking time was the biggest distinction. I think this might be a typo, though? Are you really only supposed to bake it for one hour at 250 F? Does this work for you, Hilary? My cheesecake was still just soup after I'd followed the baking instructions. I turned the oven back on (it calls for you to let it sit in the turned off oven for another hour after baking), and checked it every half hour hoping to see it set up. After another hour and a half of no change, I gave up and turned the oven up to 350 F. This finally yielded results. I kept it cooking until I was too tired to keep watching it (around 12:30 am), and gave up. I just left it in the turned off oven until the morning, hoping it would work out. Fortunately when I checked it this morning it had set up just fine. I think the problem with my cheesecakes is not the ingredients but the baking method. So unfortunately this did not solve that problem. As I do with most baked goods, I tend to over bake. But with cheesecake it's so hard to tell, so I have no idea how long I'm over baking.
It didn't, however, crack, which is a feat for cheesecakes. It fell a little, but not as bad as last time, so maybe it is getting better. If you haven't noticed, though, the Cheesecake Factory always covers their cheesecakes in whipped cream, so I suspect it's nearly impossible to get a pretty looking cheesecake. In any case, that's what I did, too. They say appearance is 90% and taste is the other 10%, so if that's true this cheesecake is right on. Ok, it's not that bad. The crust is made from ginger snaps from World Market, and the stripes are just pureed blueberries. Perhaps it's more 70/30 (I'd rather go 50/50), and that's pretty good for now.

Lemon Drops

2008-11-22T21:47:00.003-07:00

I've been in Holiday mode for over a month now, and, well, I guess this is why most people wait until Thanksgiving. I needed a break. I was in the mood for a little bit of summer, a little bit of lemon. These are just shortbread with lemon rind in the dough, and a lemon frosting. A supremely simple, yet solidly satisfying summer sweet. In the middle of November. ;)

Harvest Season

2008-11-19T20:00:00.004-07:00

It's that time of year when you finally have to give in and pick anything left in your garden before the frost gets to it. We rake in the leaves, cut down the dying stalks of summer flowers, mulch the flower beds and lay aside the autumn harvest for the long winter months. That last part isn't as important as it was a hundred years ago, but the sentiment and idyllic motions of a harvest are just as, if not more appealing now that it isn't necessary. Most days I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing on the computer at work, I forget where I am. I exist only on the interblag. I love going out into the garden in the evening just to water my herbs and flowers. I need that quiet physical connection with reality. So it makes me sad that part of my day is gone for the next six months, but this time of year, at least, I get to enjoy the literal fruit of my summer labors.
I attempted raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes and eggplant this year. Lessons learned: raspberries like sunshine, but not too much of it. Strawberries are susceptible not only to birds, but to potato bugs. Blueberries need acidic soil and probably won't grow in Utah, but I won't know until next summer if it survives not only the cold but the soil here. Tomato plants should not be bought at Walmart. I have no lesson from the eggplant. If someone wants to clue me in as to how to make your eggplants grow bigger than the "egg" in their name, please let me know.
Herbs: the best part! I have a sage bush that is threatening to take over now. The oregano and thyme will be replanted next year so as not to be literally overshadowed by the sage. The rosemary, parsley, lemon balm and bergamot grew beautifully and without reserve. My basils, sweet and cinnamon, grew just fine until October, when they up and died in the space of just a few days :S. This is the first year I've tried chamomile, and while the plant grew great, I only got two almost flowers. They never actually bloomed. Another mystery if anyone has an answer for me. And, the most varieties of mint I've tried yet: 7! Apple mint, pineapple mint, peppermint, lime mint, chocolate mint, grapefruit mint, and spearmint. The differences between them all are very subtle, but you do notice the undertones that their names imply. Lovely!
As you might have noticed, I love tea. Drying my herbs for tea, then, is the obvious result. I got some other herbs and berries from Whole Foods and in the next few weeks I'll be making and testing homemade teas to give to friends for Christmas. Friends that are close by, I hope you like the teas, and friends far away, if you want a couple tea bags I could mail them to you. Let me know if you want them :).

Scary Cheesecake!

2008-11-10T15:43:00.003-07:00

Ok, so it's not really scary. But it is pretty cool, right?! I can say that because, again, I stole the idea from Martha Stewart. Oh, Martha. Why do I love you and love to hate you? Anyways, my cheesecake isn't as good as Cheesecake Factory, but someday it will be. And in the mean time, at least it looks good!
And now on to holiday baking!!!!

Halloween Cookies

2008-11-01T19:21:00.004-06:00

Martha Stewart may not be the most personable tv cook out there (I tried to find an old episode from her pre-prison days where she has Conan O'Brien on her show - amazing!, unfortunately, I couldn't find it.) However, she has undoubtedly built a fantastic empire, and she and her creative staff know what they're doing. Her website has a "Cookie of the Day" section, that I love! I picked two recipes to try out: Cookie Art and Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies.
The Cookie Art cookies I didn't use the recipe, I just used the "art" part of the recipe. Instead I used shortbread as my palate. All you do is put a few drops of food coloring on an unbaked cookie and blow on the drops to create a splash-like pattern.Again, I altered her recipe a little for the Bat cookies, but only in that I didn't use a bat cut out, because I don't have the tools for it. These cookies are fabulous, though! I've never had dulce de leche before, and I had assumed it would be something like sweetened condensed milk, but it's not. It's completely it's own flavor. These will definately be worth doing any time during the year.

A No Tea Tea Party

2008-10-30T09:32:00.007-06:00

Who says you have to have tea at a tea party? Well, it's autumn, and apple cider is showing up at the food markets, and I want mulled cider and hot chocolate! I have a really fabulous fall tea from The Metropolitan Tea Company that I used at a tea party last fall, but I decided to save that for another day. I also usually go way over the top with food, so this time I thought we could just decorate cookies and call that good.
Mostly it was about the mulled cider, though. You can make mulled cider from regular apple juice, but it's much better with cider. Cid er is the unpasteurized, unfiltered version of apple juice. It's thicker, has a cloudy coloring, and has a more full bodied flavor than apple juice which tastes flat in comparison. I don't have an exact recipe for the mulling spices, I just let the cider mull until it tastes right. The ingredients are brown sugar, orange juice, whole cloves, and cinnamon sticks. I've found that usually cider is only mulled with the spices, but the brown sugar gives it some needed sweetness, and a hint of seasonally appropriate molasses. The orange juice is the surprising ingredient. But the tart from the apple and the tart from a bit of orange really compliment each other. It's perfect. Even just the smell makes me happy. Mulled cider makes me want to put on a big comfy sweater and read a good book. (Although, honestly, lots of things make me want to put on a sweater and read a book, but that's beside the point!)
My avant-garde Andy Warhol pumpkin.
Annie's abstract expressionist spider and spiderweb.

Not Snickerdoodles

2008-10-22T10:56:00.004-06:00

I brought these cookies to work a couple weeks ago, and all day long people were excitedly coming into my office for "Snickerdooles". But I would have to dramatically stop them: "Wait!", I'd say. "They aren't snickerdooles! They're anise cookies! Anise, like black licorice!" And then they'd get this awful, horrible look on their faces. "Black licorice? Seriously? I hate black licorice! Nobody likes black licorice! How could you possibley ruin perfectly good cookies with black licorice!?!?" "It's ok", I soothed. "It's subtle. You probably won't even notice. Come on. Just one bite. I won't hurt..."

Ok, so that's a bit of an over dramatization of what actually happened. But it's more fun to pretend like I'm the wicked queen from Snow White. Anywaaaayys... The cookies were actually quite popular once I convinced people to try them. The cookies are called "Biscochitos". Apparently they are the state cookie of New Mexico. A friend made some last year, and I really liked them, so I thought I'd give them a try. They are a shortening based cookie, which sounds gross, I know. But the shortening gives the cookies a nice, flaky texture. And the anise really is subtle. I ground my anise (by hand, mortar and pestle style, good old timey fun), so it's not like you're taking a bite of anise seeds, it's more smooth than that. Probably not a cookie that I'll make again soon, but it is a different, easy backup.

Pane e Tulipane

2008-10-17T10:21:00.006-06:00

I admit it. I love white bread. Pure, fluffy, simple white bread. One of my favorite things in the whole world is a fresh, warm loaf of french bread from the super market. It is a life goal of mine to create a loaf of bread like that. I know. I hear it all the time. Why make a loaf of bread like the store? Isn't the point of homemade bread to be homemade bread? Well, I just don't like a heavy crumb. This is one of the few times I give props to the bakeries at the grocery store. Crunchy on the outside, light and pull-apart inside. Fragrant, salty, slightly sweet. Tear off a hunk and dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar... oops, sorry, didn't mean to drool.
Buuut, I cannot seem to figure out how to make this kindof bread myself. All my loafs come out heavy heavy heavy. All white bread recipes are pretty much the same. Flour, water, salt, yeast. Maybe some sugar, or an egg, or some powdered milk. It isn't the ingredients that are the problem. It is the rising method. You name it, I've tried that method. Raise once, bake. Raise twice, bake. Raise, kead, sit overnight in the refrigerator, bake. Raise, punch, do a little dance, sprinkle pixie dust, bake. Lather, rinse, repeat. All ineffective. They all come out heavy, sometimes even inedible.
Finally, however, I think I have found a good method. A woman I work with gave me her recipe and I recently fell in love with a fabulous bread book, The Bread Bible. Between my coworkers method, and the Bread Bible's recipe and method, well, you be the judge:
Not to be egotistical, but doesn't that bread look beautiful!? All the little tricks from the Bread Bible were great, but I greatly owe the success of this bread to my coworkers recipe. Wanna know the secret? After you knead the dough, you let it raise for 10 min, then punch it down, then repeat this 5 more times. (One hour total.) The Bread Bible doesn't exactly ever use this method, but it does talk about why this works. I had always been under the impression that punching down your dough is bad, because, well, you're letting the air out! Very scientific reasoning ;) The reason punching is good, though, is because every time your dough rises, the gluten strengthens. Gluten is a protein in flour that traps the air bubble created by yeast in the dough. So stronger glutten actually holds the air in better.
The flavor of this bread was a little dull - I'll add more salt next time. But my quest for the perfect white bread is one large step closer to the goal.

Masala Chai

2008-10-07T19:23:00.004-06:00

I learned recently that what I (and most Americans) call Chai tea is not only redundant, but non-descriptive. Chai is the word for "tea" in the Middle East/India/Asia. Pretty much it's just another English misrepresentation. When we say Chai, we really mean Masala Chai, or Spice Tea. What exactly those spices are seems to be defined by location and culture. There is no set "recipe" for Masala Chai. The only spice that I can find common between all the recipes and articles I looked through is cardamom. I don't know that I've ever considered cardamom by itself, so when I opened up the jar of it that I bought at the grocery store, I was amazed. It is the smell of chai! So in my opinion, any masala chai should be based on cardamom. After that, you name a spice, somebody puts it in their masala chai. I gathered all the spices around that could be used for a homemade chai - peppercorn, cardamom, anise, cinnamon, clove, ginger, and nutmeg, and I used them all! With a roiboos base, it made a very fragrant and lovely mix. (Roiboos is a caffeine free South African plant that has a flavor similar to black tea. It is, therefor, an excellent substitute for any black tea based tea.)

I was doing this late at night, other wise I would have thought about getting a better fabric for the tea bag, but the best I had around was muslin. While the muslin made a very pretty tea bag, it is unfortunately too thick a fabric for a tea bag. I had to steep the tea for a veeeerrryyy long time, and even then it was only a faint flavor. I think next time I'll also use more spices in one tea bag. When I was able to get a cuppa with a stronger flavor I was quite pleased.
It's going to take some more experimenting to find a combination of spices, amounts and ratios, that I'm satisfied with, but overall this was a fun first attempt. I liked mixing the spices, seeing the flavors and scents and colors come together. I'm excited to experiment more with homemade teas - I think I've found my Christmas gifts for this year!

Whoopie Pies

2008-10-06T18:17:00.003-06:00

I was looking for a different chocolate cookie recipe for the Turtle cookies on Saturday. I came across a Martha Stewart recipe that looked perfect. But later that day I heard some good news about Philly, and so I decided to stick with what the cookies were supposed to be for: Whoopie Pies!
These amazing cookies are a Pennsylvania Dutch (Amish) tradition. I had never thought much about their history - I just loved buying them from the Mennonite bakeries at the markets in and around Philly. On What's Cooking In America, they say Whoopie Pies were originally made from left overs, and when the Amish children found the "pies" in their lunch bags, they would shout, "Whoopie!" This is the only history I could find on the internet, but true or not, these cookies are amazing.
The traditional kind is a cake-y chocolate cookie sandwiched with a marshmallow creme buttercream filling. It's not really like having a slice of cake, but it's also not at all like an Oreo. They are their own fabulous thing. I can't believe I hadn't thought to make them before. The recipe made a lot of them, so I gave a plate of Whoopie pies to a neighbor's family because she's from the north east, and I knew she'd appreciate them. But then I got in trouble with my family for giving the cookies away! I guess I'll be making these again soon.
The other fabulous thing about Whoopie pies is their evolution. Because it's really just a cake-cookie with filling, you don't have to stick with the traditional chocolate/marshmallow combination. The possibilities are endless! A very popular version is pumpkin Whoopies pies - I think I'll try that for Thanksgiving. But they might have to be for Canadian Thanksgiving so that I can make them sooner ;)

Turtle Cookies

2008-10-02T11:16:00.005-06:00

I was brainstorming all the things I want to bake yesterday. As you might have noticed from my last post, I love all things autumn. So my list of things to bake was mostly fall themed or flavored foods. Unfortunately, it's hard to feel like eating spiced baked goods when it's 84 F outside. Sigh. So, I had to think of some other creative thing to bake. I'm trying to branch out into recipes that I have invented myself, and to that end, I decided to make Turtle Cookies. Admit it, have you ever seen a cookie that represents all the fabulosity of a turtle candy? If you've never had a "Turtle", you've definitely been missing out. Usually, it is a lump of caramel over a few strategically placed pecans, the whole thing dipped in chocolate. Mmmm...

There is a surprising lack of history on the internets regarding Turtles, but apparently they are originally from Rowntree DeMet’s Inc., a candy company that was bought out by Nestle in 1988. According to this blogger who found a linguist who identified turtles, "DeMet's Turtles was introduced in the early 1920s by Rowntree DeMet's Inc. An employee at the chocolate factory remarked that the new candy, with pecans protruding from its side, looked like a turtle. The name stuck. Nestlé acquired Rowntree DeMet's Inc. in 1988. In January 1996 the name changed to NESTLÉ® TURTLES."

But more to the point, they are seriously one of the best candies out there. Unless you don't like nuts - but it's chocolate and caramel together! How much better can it get!? I used a chocolate cookie recipe from my favorite baking website. Alas (I just used the word "alas", how nerdy am I?), the recipe is only so so. Granted, I probably overbaked like I always do, but still, next time I'll write my own chocolate cookie recipe.

The caramel recipe I got from some website somewhere a long time ago, I don't remember where, though. If you've never made your own caramel (or any sugar candy, for that matter), it is not a simple task. I've made so many of batches of caramel rocks over the years, it's awful. Cooked/melted sugar has stages that it goes through. You have to heat the sugar long enough to caramelize it, and the more you cook it, the harder it will be once it is cooled. That's the hard part. You can't tell how hard it will be while you're cooking it. You have to use a candy thermometer and the "ice water teste". So, one hand is stiring, one hand is dripping caramel into a glass of ice water, and one ... wait, there are no more hands. Well, one eye is watching the themometer. Not a casual process. I wanted a caramel that was more sauce, less wraped candy - something that wouldn't just ooze off the top of the cookies, but still soft and gooey. I think this caramel was just about right. Probably the first time I've made caramel that came out the consistency I wanted!

Assemble cookie/caramel/pecan and tada, a pretty good cookie.

Thanks, Dad, for taking the picture! My photography skills are pretty bad, and as you can see from my other posts, this is much better!

Fall is here!

2008-09-25T10:42:00.006-06:00

It's an enigma to me how to reconcile my love for the autumn season with my extreme loathing of being cold. There's nothing wrong with cold weather, but that invariably means that I personally am cold. However, I am putting aside thoughts of lower temperatures in favor of thoughts of oranges, reds, yellows, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, apple cider, pumpkin pie, sweaters, and Halloween candy. So, in honor of the first day of Fall, Gingerbread Cookies! I made lots of batches last year, and I think I've finally perfected a recipe I'm excited to call my own. They are spicy, but not overwhelming. Soft, not crispy. Cute, but not time consuming. All five of you who actually read this blog, I hope you're excited to decorate gingerbread cookies in a couple weeks!

Rolling out cookies is one of my favorite tactile experiences ;)Some "creative" cookie decorating

Some winners ... and some losers ;)

2008-09-13T20:49:00.005-06:00

Despite a lack of posts, there has not been a lack in baking. Not all the "adventures" from the last month or so were successful. But failure's are part of the fun. As per the scientific method, any result tells you more than you knew before, especially when it's not what you expected! So, in chronological order...

Saffron Cookies:
A friend sent me a recipe for Saffron Cookies. If you've never had saffron, you might have seen it before as a color. Saffron is the stigma from the saffron crocus, painstakingly picked by hand mostly in Iran, India and the Middle East. It is the most expensive spice on the market - the best price I found was $6/gram! But you only need a little to flavor a dish or for dye. The strands are a beautiful dark orange, and when steeped the liquid turns a lovely yellow to orange color depending on how long it is steeped. So, I'd never actually used saffron before, and though it is usually used in savory dishes, cookies are way more exciting! I deviated from the recipe my friend sent, and made a traditional shortbread cookie flavored with the saffron and crushed almonds. I wanted to used cardamom, or coconut, or orange, unfortunately none of those items were around, so I used the almonds. The end result was pretty disappointing, though. I figured it would be bitter, but, whew! The cookies were unpalatabley bitter! Laurel, if you read this, I'm going to try again with the recipe you actually gave me and maybe that will make all the difference!

Panna Cotta Torte:
Another failure! Panna cotta is a dessert from the Piemonte region of Italy, which means "cooked cream". And that's all it is! You cook cream, add sugar and geletin, and then refrigerate it like jello. Fabulous with a fudge or fruit sauce. The panna cotta itself was not the failure. And actually I was fairly pleased with it, but I'm getting ahead of myself. My church group had a cookoff for an activity, and I figured I could make chocolate chip cookies (boring!) or something off beat, but cool! So I decided to steep a tea bag (Mighty Leaf's "African Autumn") in the panna cotta, layer it with a vanilla cake, and drizzle lavender white chocolate on the top. It wasn't perfect (and silly me, I forgot to take a picture), but I was pleased with the outcome more or less. The failure came at the cookoff. People are so boring! Everyone thought it was "cool", ie, wierd. Anyways, guess what won: chocolate chip cookies! And I'm pretty sure they were from a tube!!!! Negative ten points for Salt Lake City. (I think that puts SLC at negative one bazillion points.)

Lemon Cream Tarts:
I went for a simple, yet elegant approach with this one. Really I just wanted this Lemon Cream (a previously tried recipe) and everyone else wanted pie. A sort of compromise. The lemon cream is just whipped cream mixed with sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice. Mmmmm.... I used an egg based pie dough recipe, which is nice because it's more sturdy, but the crust is more like a butter cookie than a pie crust. Still a good crust, though. So, put cream in the crust, add some berries, and tada! An easy, pretty dessert.Plum Upsidedown Spice Cake:
An amazing dessert a la Martha Stewart: http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/baking/recipes/plum_upsidedown_cake.html. This is the perfect dessert for August/September. The spice cake feels like Autumn, and the plum feels like summer, so the mixture of both is wonderful. It's a lovely looking dessert, too. Add some whipped cream, and a cool afternoon, and it's one of my favorite desserts so far this year.

Ta da, Lena! This one was for you! :)

A New Direction

2008-07-27T21:50:00.007-06:00

Since the discovery of googlepages, the existence of this blog seemed unnecessary. But a comment in a previous blog has inspired a new direction for my blog. As might be obvious to you faithful bloggers out there, I'm now going to post my adventures in baking and tea. Yes, yes. I know. There are about a bazillion (the physicist in me points out that a more accurate number is maybe hundreds of thousands... anyways), about a bazillion blogs about various adventures in baking. I probably can't claim to be very original in my love for both baking and tea, either. But nevertheless, since I always take pictures of the stuff I bake, I might as well let you see them and drool (or snicker and think 'I can do better than that!').
So here it is, googlepages for business, blog for fun...

Even though the Salt Lake City Downtown Farmers Market has been open since 14 June, I wasn't able to go until last week. It's really the most amazing farmers market I've ever been to. Not that I've been to tons, but believe me, it's big. According to their website (http://www.downtownslc.org/events/farmersmarket/farmersmarketinfo.htm) there are over 80 farmers, and near 100 crafters and artists. There is a family that sells berries, and in particular, red currants. If you've never had a currant, they're fabulous. Across the pond they are the flavor. Instead of grape Skittles, you get black currant Skittles. I don't know why they haven't caught on over here. So, the woman selling them gave me a recipe for currant pie. The recipe had more of crumble topping, but I can't resist a traditional lattice, so I did that instead. Currants are pretty sour, so you have to put a considerable amount of sugar in the filling. We also had homemade vanilla icecream to help, and it was pretty good. It also makes for a very pretty pie - red currants are just such a pretty fruit!
Tomorrow we're having a little birthday party for a coworker. I, of course, volunteered to make the cake. (They said they'd buy a cake - what a silly idea.) My coworker is in his 50's, and very male. So my usual habit of making "pretty" cakes didn't seem like the right approach. I figured chocolate is always a good plan, but what else? For all that I love fancy baked goods, at heart I love the simple, traditional stuff. Chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream - no filling, no nuthin', that's my favorite. But that's kindof boring. So I figured I'd go with a chocolate on chocolate, intense, but not girly. So in the end, I did a dense chocolate cake with cream cheese filling and light chocolate buttercream, and white chocolate shavings. Exciting without having to pull out the cake decorating tips and royal icing flowers. I was only going to make the one cake, but my family loudly protested, so I made them one, too. It came out like an Orea, my family said. Not exactly my intentions, but why not! A yummy, uncomplicated cake.
PS, in case you're wondering, the Art Market Afternoon Tea went perfectly. I had about 25 people sit down for tea. Not too few, not too many. I had wonderful help from my mom and my sister, so besides being a successful day, it was pretty fun, too. Kindof makes my desk job seem lame. ;)

A Website!

2008-06-18T16:22:00.002-06:00

I now have a website! Check out tranquiliteaparty.googlepages.com

(My html, etc. skills are not so hot, so googlepages is perfect for me!)

More baking...

2008-03-22T10:48:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't mean for this to turn into a gallery of the baking I do on the weekend, but this time it's not all chocolate! Just some more ideas ...

Pricing

2008-03-19T19:42:00.001-06:00

Finally, pricing!

A Tea Party

2008-03-15T10:20:00.000-06:00

In January I had a tea party/Mary Kay party for some friends. Super girly, I assure you! Here are pictures of the party to give you an idea of what the set up looks like. :)

Proof I Can Bake

2008-01-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of a couple of recent baking adventures to prove I'm actually a good baker, and give you an idea of some tea party options. They are, from top to bottom, a chocolate cake (obviously!), cream filled chocolate cup, chocolate coffee cupcakes with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, the other two are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate roses. I promise I do more than just chocolate, too!

2007-12-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

These are some sample menus. I have absolutely no business
experience, so pricing is TBA :)

2007-12-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

"... but Sir Thomas resolutely declined all dinner:  he would take
nothing, nothing till tea came--he would rather wait for tea."
Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

Tea parties are my passion, so I hope to start a tea
party catering business in the Salt Lake Valley in
the near future. Think bridal showers, birthday
parties, book clubs, garden parties, baby showers,
any reason really to get together with your friends
for a nice afternoon.

This is all still very much in the works, but I do
have menu ideas! Keep checking back for updates :)

-Christi