Botanical Gardens (part 3)

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

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)

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)

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

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

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

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. :)