Like June Cleaver in Legwarmers

Greetings from Roller Coaster Ice Show Land

2008-11-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

You've probably noticed I haven't participated in the last couple of TWDs. I need to take a break from the group until after the new year because of my holiday ice show gig. I lucked out and have an apartment with a kitchen with great roommates, but limited access to the grocery store and good baking supplies. I'm going through serious baking withdrawals and disappointed to be missing out on all the holiday baking adventures, but I'm so happy to be doing this show for myself. Really really happy. Sometimes, I guess you just need a year working at a desk to gain some perspective. Don't worry, my pink KitchenAid is in good hands and being looked after by my sister-in-law while I'm away. Thank you to everyone for their sweet and supportive comments!

Happy Holidays!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rugelach

2008-11-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

I had really high hopes for these pastries. They remind me of home-made crescent rolls that you can go crazy with. And I love crescent rolls. My family always had to make extra for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner when I was a kid because I would eat just the rolls. I've seen them at all my favorite places, but have never tried them. And this was definitely a pastry project, but nothing that was out of my league. This rugelach is made with a very tangy and workable cream cheese crust and the fillings of your choice. I cut the recipe in half and made three different flavor combos. Half of my dough I used for the traditional recipe Dorie gives and the other half for some savory combos I was inspired to try after reading her own blog on these little guys. Here were my fillings:

1) Raspberry jam, walnuts, dried cranberries, and semi-sweet chocolate.
2) Pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and Parmesan cheese.
3) Garlic cheese, oregano, sun-dried, tomatoes, and Parmesan cheese.

Everything tasted amazing before I popped them in the oven. The crust, the fillings, especially the raspberry jam with the chocolate, omg......!

Making the dough old-school style.

The sweet half

Some savory bits

All lined up pre-bake.

I'm not sure why, but these did not taste as good as they did before I baked them. The filling burnt to a crisp. We're talking charred-black cranberries and tomatoes. This surprised me because I pulled them out of the oven when the dough was just a touch brown. Once I pulled out all the black burned crispy bits, then I was left with about one bite of okay rugelach. The sweet ones are my least favorite. The savory ones didn't burn as badly and the pesto ones turned out the best. I actually wished I had more because they burned the least and made for a really yummy lunch. I know this recipe is one of those that will take me a few tries to master.

Thanks to Piggy for keeping me on my toes with this week's TWD!

See...I really did those TWDs.

2008-11-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

I was just too busy and sick at the time to tell you about them. Here's a quick flashback on the biscotti and muffins.

Gretchen chose the Lenox Almond Biscotti. This is the second time I've made this biscotti. I love making biscotti. I think it's because there are a million ways to make them and I was so surprised at how easy it was. I kept these simple for lack of time, and ingredients. Just the basic almond, corn meal, and some chocolate chips. I didn't stand them vertically like soldiers, but next time I'm going to try that technique to make them crunchier. They were perfect for munching on while us girls were getting ready before my brother's wedding.

Biscotti log pre Bake #1

Biscotti log pre Bake #2

And this very bad picture of one little lone biscotti was all that was left after my roommate and I enjoyed the leftovers the next couple of mornings.

The next TWD was the pumpkin muffins hosted by Kelly. I love pumpkin, but since I've been sick I haven't been able to stomach the thought of pumpkin baked goods for some reason. Which is very, very sad. I made them for my co-workers and used it as an opportunity to use my new silicone scone pan I got for my birthday. As a result I got muffins masquerading as scones. My boss loved them and said they were the perfect muffins because they were just like muffin tops only, which is always the best part. I used golden raisins and dried cherries, but I think next time I would use cherries or cranberries, and zero raisins.

Muffins dressed up as scones. Just in time for Halloween!

See, I'm not a TWD blogging slacker, after all!

Where in the World are the Pumpkin Kisses???!!!!

2008-11-03T18:59:00.000-08:00

I was browing all the baking blogs out there in internet-land and came across these amazing looking carrot cake cookies over at the Del Sisters Kitchen. Doesn't that cookie look amzing?? I wanted to make it right away. Then, I saw they used Pumpkin Hershey's kisses. Pumpkin?? Kissess?? What?? Omg, it must be the best combo ever. The deal was sealed. I went to buy the ingredients and after 6 weeks of searching, I've finally come to the conclusion that they're not being sold in Colorado. It's killing me a little bit. The afternoon I made these I went to every single possible grocery store, drug store, and Target in a two mile radius of my parents house (where I was borrowing their kitchen and laundry for the day).

Did you know they make candy corn, caramel, marshmallow, white chocolate, dark chocolate, truffle, candy cane, and almond kisses. But I can't seem to find these so called pumpkin kisses. After much distress, no really, this was an agonizing decision, I seriously settled for the almond ones for these cookies.

These cookies are delicious, addictive and so creative! I ate 3 right out of the oven. I think you can go without rolling them in more sugar before baking, because they were very sugary. In fact, everything on these girl's blog is delectable looking. I kind of wished I lived at their farm so I could eat all their delcious creations. Now if Hershey's made a cream cheese kiss these cookies would be carrot cake perfection.

The Muffin Lady and Altitude Attitude

2008-11-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

Back in August I bought this book. Amazon.com and being bored at work is a very dangerous combination. I wanted to get some more info on high-altitude baking, especially on how to alter recipes for high altitude. One of the reasons I chose this book is that the author is local and sells to a lot of my favorite local businesses, including the Tattered Cover, which I go to at LEAST once a week. I've been trying the recipes as often as a I can.

I made the Peach Cobbler first with fresh Colorado peaches from the farmer's market. This was unreal. I brought it to a cook-out for a friend's birthday. Unfortunately, I learned with a group of boys at a bbq, you can't bring a dessert which requires a fork. They ate store bought chocolate chip cookies over the cobbler. No one ate it and I went home, sulked, and ate half of it myself before throwing it down the trash chute so I wouldn't eat it all. Lesson learned.

After another trip to the farmer's market I made some peach bread and muffins. These were really delicious and moist and my mom requested the recipe again in muffin form for my brother's shower. They're really good the first day, but go really bad after that, although I haven't figured out why.

Yesterday I made her banana bread topped with some chocolate and peanut butter chips. I think it's the best banana bread I've ever had. This got divided up so quickly I don't even have a picture.

And now for the rest of the story.....

In September some of my co-workers and I went up to Vail for the weekend for a girl's trip. On Sundays Vail hosts the largest farmer's market in Colorado. As we were walking through all the stalls I instantly recognized my book perched high on a table covered in brownies and cookies. "Are you the muffin lady??!!" I asked. She was indeed the muffin lady and I was so excited. I told her how I just bought her book and the peach cobbler was so good I ate half of it by myself in one sitting.

And you know how you meet someone and they're not at all like you thought they would be? This is a perfect example. The next thing she asked is if I wanted to buy her next book. "But, I just got your first one". I replied. With the her newest book in my face, I had to politely beg off right before my friend took an awkward pic with me and her. Pushy, pushy. Well, her recipes are really good and she did yell after me as I left to e-mail her if I ever had any questions.

On a side note, we ran into this cupcake stand for a local cupcakery. My friends instantly starting chatting up the girl about how we're obsessed with cupcakes and we're going to open our own shop, etc, etc. And you know what she said? "Don't open it in Vail!" Well fine, snarky-pants. We won't try your cupcakes anymore. Another awkward picture that she so wasn't having.

Lesson: Be nice to your fellow bakers. Even if you have a small business to defend. Maybe it's the altitude.

TWD: Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes for Cupskates

2008-10-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to begin with this post. I guess I'll come right out with it. I didn't make Dorie's cupcakes. I only made the glaze for the cupcakes. If this month's TWD challenges don't reflect what a crazy couple of months I've had, I'm not sure what else would. To make a long-story short I resigned from my job today to go back into the world of professional ice-skating. It was a vvvv stressful decision, but now that it's officially made I feel great about it!

So with going back to performing, first things first. I had to break in the new ice skates I bought over a year ago. But before I could even do that I had to get them decorated! My friend K, who's pretty much gotten me ever professional gig I've done including this upcoming one, has a lot of random talents. One in which he paints your ice skates! What did I get on mine??

Cupcakes! So now I have cup-skates! And they don't have any calories! Yes, there is in even a rhinestone on the cherry on the top of the cupcake. I decided to pay K in cupcakes in return. I was going to make Dorie's, but didn't have all the ingredients so I whipped up Martha's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes I saw over at How to Eat a Cupcake. These really were easy and made for a delicious, rich, and quick cupcake. (But, of course, I bet Dorie's are better!)

But I couldn't leave my cupcakes naked! So I also whipped up the chocolate glaze from Dorie's Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcake recipe and topped them off. It was so rich and made for a grown-up chocolatey treat. I packed them in a shoe box and brought them to the rink the next morning. Cupcakes for cupcake skates.

Check out the other TWD-ers and their creative cupcakes here and our host's Clara's adorable Halloween cupcakes here. I especially like the one with the witch-ice cream cone hat. Now that my life has settled down- at least for this week- I'm looking forward to some serious TWD baking this weekend!

I'm on Vacation, but I did TWD... I Promise!!!!

2008-10-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have not been a very good blogger lately. I'm on vacation, and with my the craziness of everything I just didn't have a minute to post the last two recipes. Which I did, I swear!!! I made the biscotti (which is my fav thing to bake) for the girls while we were getting ready for my brother's wedding.

The pumpkin muffins were enjoyed by my co-workers. I baked them in my new scone pan for the fun of it, and they turned out like muffin-tops, which was cool.

For now I'm in the Caribbean and will be back to baking next week!

Too Sick for Baking :-(

2008-10-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Wow- I am sick. Fever- everything hurts-sick. I had to forfeit this week's TWD. I tried to make this weeks Carmel-Peanut Topped Brownie Cake. I really did. I even bought all the ingredients while getting a million prescriptions filled at the grocery store. Instead of peanuts for the toppings, I got peanut-caramel-chocolate cluster candy things to chop up. Ewwww even the thought of all that food is challenging my stomach's stability right now. The thought of baking, or eating, or looking at food has been way too much for my body to handle for the past week. I haven't even been able to bring myself to look at how the other bloggers did with their cake. So, in lieu of being a lame, sick non-TWD-ing girl here are a few random baking-related pics that will hopefully make up for my lack of a carmel-topped brownie cake:

"Our cupcakes are better than sex." How great are these business cards??

Aren't these cookies gorgey?? A family friend of ours makes these as well as real wedding cakes. They were the favors for my brother's shower customized in their colors. And they taste amazing too!
German Apple Pancakes. My very favorite food. Ever. My dad made these for the shower brunch. Honestly, I'm afraid to try to make them myself because my dad = these pancakes. Whenever I used to come home from a long trip, or tour, or show, or something these would always be ready for me in the kitchen.

And now I'm going to get some rest with my new pal Codeine....

Double Tuesdays with Dorie with a Rewind

2008-09-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

Holy ga-moly! Can you say busy?! I have this coming weekend to catch up on all the recipes I've tried and photographed, but haven't blogged about before my brother's wedding and then a much-needed vacation-post sprint incentive at work. Phew-I'm getting tired. And last week I had to be tardy in making TWD's Dimply Plum (or in my case, nectarine) Cake. It was for good reason though.....my very very good friend B from HSM was visiting for the week!!!!!!!! In between hikes, skating fun, Avenue Q, coffee shops, thrift stores, a full on Season 1 Heroes marathon, and oh yeah, work, there just wasn't time for baking. We were going to bake together, but we only had time for sushi-ing together.

Making some homemade sushi for a living room-Heroes picnic!

Last Thursday I drowned my sorrows that my friend was gone by baking this cake. I got to use my new grater/zester that I got for my birthday for the orange zest. I used nectarines instead of plums. Plums are my favorite fruit and they were no where to be found last week :-( Suddenly, I can find them in the stores again. I'm not sure if this cake was really meant to be. The cake tastes pretty good, but I'm not obsessed with it. I've mostly been letting my roommate eat it and when I grab a bite, I don't like any pieces that have nectarine in them. You can find the recipe at last week's host, Michelle's site, Bake-En.

For this week's TWD, after the whirlwind of B's visit I just didn't have it in me to a. buy ramekins for the creme brulee and b. risk my apartment's safety with the broiler action. So I did a rewind. I appreciate Mari's challenge, though! It was actually easy to narrow down which recipe to try, even though there are so many I want to! I got some fun birthday presents: a silicone scone pan, and a hilarious brownie pan, so it was either brownies or scones. I opted for the French Chocolate Brownies and I added a white chocolate glaze.

I love this recipe because it's really a cake masquerading as brownies. Perfect for this Edge brownie pan (my dad picked it out for me, ha). It's designed so that every piece has an edge, which is the chewiest and best part of a brownie, especially with this recipe.

These brownies lived up to their chewey promise! For the glaze, I just melted 2 ounces of white chocolate left over from the cookies two weeks ago and brushed it on the cooled product. You can check out the Creme Brulee recipe on Mari's blog, Mevrouw Cupcake and the French Chocolate Brownies (which look gorgey) on Fool for Food.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate Chunkers

2008-09-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Dorie says these cookies are so good they are only deserving of using the very best chocolate. None of this Safeway brand semi-sweet chocolate chip business. If you're going to be spending all that money on these cookies, they should only be for special occasions. So, it was great timing that the couple's wedding shower I was hosting for my brother and future sister-in-law was this weekend! And you know your desert is a hit when you get asked for the recipe.

I used Ghiradeli bittersweet and white chocolate, in addition to the semi-sweet chocolate chunks and cocoa powder. I got a great look of confusion from the check-out guy at the store when all I bought were 4 giants chocolate bars and 4 Luna bars. I'm sure he was just jealous of the delicoiusness I was about to make.

I also used dried sweet cherries instead of the raisins which were the BEST part of the cookie. I opted for almonds for the nuts. I didn't have time to roast them, but they still added a nice crunch to all the cookie chunkiness. Scooping them into rounds for baking was interesting because there were so many chunks and so little dough holding them all together, but I managed ;-).
I LOVE these cookies. They are tied for my favorite with the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters from a few weeks ago (which also set a 20 minute disappearance record at work when I brought them in after round two of making them). They are decadent, soft, chewy, and have just enough variety. I really recommend using cherries. You can find the recipe over at Claudia's place.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Malted Malteser Drops

2008-09-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

I think every time I opened Dorie's book I would look at this recipe. I was so excited to see it on the list of upcoming recipes so soon after I started TWD. This was a great recipe and a HUGE hit with my co-workers.

I made a special trip and picked up some Maltesers to use instead of Whoppers. I like to pretend I'm Britsh, remember. I actually just threw away a hugh bag of Maltesers not too long ago. My Finnish friend from studying in London sent me a giant box of Maltesers for Christmas and six months later I decided I needed to get rid of the left-overs. They would have really come in handy...

This was the gooey-est dough I've ever made. I ditched my little cookie scooper asap. But it did make soft, cakey cookies, which is my FAVorite texture for a cookie.

See how ooey-cookie-chocolatey-yummy this was! I agree with a lot of the other TWD-ers that it was too choclatey. This cookie put me in a chocolate coma. But that didn't stop me from eating the whole thing, I just needed a whole glass of milk to help me finish it.

I added an extra tablespoon and a half of flour for high altitute. Also, I was a little short on Maltesers (I didn't chop them, just put them in a plastic bag and crushed them with a meat mallet), so I added some more chocolate and malt powder. I think they were too malt-ey with the extra malt I added, so I will definitely cut down on that next time. Thanks to Rachel from Confessions of a Tangerine Tart for choosing this ooey-gooey-Malteser-tastic cookie. See how the other TWD-ers got their cookie on at the TWD blogroll.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

2008-09-01T20:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a serial batter eater. Usually I taste a batter and think to myself, "mmm yummy". When I was making these cookies I was knocked out when I went for that first just-mixed lick. I have never been so surprised by a taste as I was with these cookies. I even semi-cussed out loud. And then I felt guilty for almost saying a bad word over such a wholesome treat. I had no idea the cinnamon would add such a kick. These are great peanut butter, oatmeal cookies with a decadent twist.

I made these for a friend's birthday bbq (his favorite cookies are peanut butter, chocolate chip, so it was a perfect opportunity). Thanks to Stefany for choosing such a kick-ass cookie. You can check out the other TWDer's cookies right here.

My mixer whizzing away...

Some Merlot, and the view from my kitchen just makes these cinnamon, peanut butter, oatmeal, suckers that much better!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

2008-08-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've been having an aversion to ice cream for a while, and thanks to this week's recipe, that has allll changed. Amy with Food, Family, and Fun chose this weeks recipe. Like the last couple of choices, this was a cinch and incredibly delicious! This was a perfect project for my last Friday off because I could do all my chores and errands while the layers were freezing. Basically, this ganache dictated my whole day, but I didn't really mind :-) I cut the recipe in half and made it in a mini 4" springform pan and went with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to go with the chocolate ganache.

My first ganache! This was so easy (and DELICIOUS). I finally got over my intimidation of the word "ganache," and a double boiler. The ganache is even better when it freezes and makes the perfect soft consistency for an ice cream cake. Someone expressed concern for the raw eggs in the ganache, and I actually got really concerned. Completely unlike me, since I have a reallly bad habit of over-indulging in bowl/spatula/spoon batter. I didn't see any pasteurized eggs at the store so I tried Egg Beaters, and they seemed to work just fine.

This was surprisingly easy to get out of the pan with Dorie's warm towel suggestion and I think I did a pretty good job making my layers even! I agree with some of the other Tuesday With Dorie'ers that this was an incredibly hard recipe to photograph for the blog. It was so A. Melty. B. Sticky. and C. Irresistibly Lickable. You can find the recipe on this week's host, Amy's blog.

Lemon Bar Love

2008-08-24T16:55:00.001-07:00

The lemon bug has definitely been going around this summer. First, we made the lemon cake for a contest in baking club at work, and the lemon yogurt seems to be in scarce quantity at the grocery store. Then, when I was catching up with one of my bestest friends, and roommate from Freshman year of college, Mrs. SMGR, she was telling me about the very first thing she made with my parents wedding gift: the Cuisinart food processor. She was describing the lusciousness of the lemon bars she conquered, using the Cuisinart to whip up the crust and how she will forever think of my family when she gets to use it. She is such a sweetheart and rocks my face off. Example: uh...what other bridesmaids get to rock Converse??

So, it was my lucky weekend the other weekend...my old roomie flew out for a wedding and I had her to myself for a whole weekend! It's reallly rare to get one-on-one time with this girl so we seized the day! We started at Pajama Baking Company; a bakery/coffee shop/Market on Old South Pearl I'm obsessed with (Their peach scones are out of this world and everything else they make looks divine.) Then we headed back to my place to make, da-dah, lemon bars.

Since I'm a single girl, and therefore don't have all the kitchen essentials for lack of a wedding registry, I didn't have anything to make the crust with. No Cuisinart; not even a pastry cutter. What to do?? Go to Williams and Sonoma and spend some of those wedding gift cards, or course! Sarah very generously bought me my first wedding present, with her her, uh, wedding present gift cards.

We whipped up those lemon bars, which were just as amazing as she described and now I will think of my very good friend every time I'm getting my dough on with my fancy pastry cutter, just as she will think of me and my family everytime she's getting her Cuisinart on.

Mrs. SMGR accidentely ran off with the recipe, so I will have to have her send it to me for future lemon bar ventures. It comes from her favorite bakery in Santa Cruz that she remembers from growing up and always makes a visit to when she's in town.

Catching up with another college roommate at the close of the weekend, she tells me, "Guess what I did?? I made lemon bars!" I had one for breakfast this morning and they give mine and Mrs. SMGR's a serious run for our money.

Lemon fever, I tell you.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Granola Grabbers

2008-08-19T17:51:00.001-07:00

I really debated doing this week's Tuesday's with Dorie. I've been feeling pretty desert-ed out after licking so many bowls and spatulas with all the baking I've been doing (fulfilling my mom's orders for her work meetings with batch after batch of blueberry muffins and biscotti). Also, thinking of all the ingredients that I would have to buy and my complex about the amount of baked goods I bring in to work. But I had an afternoon off due to a sick-day and remembered all those cute scoop bins of ingredients at Whole Foods I never dig into because they overwhelm me. So, I bucked up and made me some Granola Grabbers! (I should have taken a picture of all my cute little Karleen-half batch of cookie sized baggies of ingredients.)

Because it's Dorie, and we just met I stuck to the ingredients exactly, even though I was very tempted in that isle of deliciously-filled scooping bins. I used nutty granola, raisins, peanuts, pecans, coconut, and wheat germ. I think next time I'll definitely go for some vanilla or pumpkin granola and dried cherries or strawberries rather than raisins.

All lined up and ready for the oven!

Did anyone else's cookies bubble like a mad-scientist experiment?? Next time I won't pat them down like Dorie suggests.

Ta-DAH! I really like these cookies because they're still sweet, but in a very subtle, edible way. They turned out much better than oatmeal/wheat germ-ish, "healthy" cookies I've tried in the past. They're not my favorite, but totally addictive. Mine taste like peanut butter, oatmeal cookies and I never thought I would have loved whole peanuts in a cookie. I will have a lot more fun with this recipe in the future thanks to all the yummy possibilities I found at Whole Foods. Maybe vanilla granola with yogurt chips and dried cherries?? Kudos to Michelle from Bad Girl Baking for choosing this fun, healthy-ish recipe :-)

An Experiment in Biscotti Making

2008-08-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

My mom has started commissioning me to bake things for her: last week I made a few dozen blueberry muffins for volunteers at National Collegiate's for ice skating and this week she's got a kick-off breakfast meeting for her job. I'm going to make the blueberry muffins again since they're out of this world. I got the recipe from my high-altitude baking class and I promise I'll get it posted. But I also wanted something else. I was flipping through Dorie's book and ran over the biscotti and knew I had to make some of those too. Who doesn't love dipping cookies in coffee and tea?? It's pretty much my favorite coffee accessory, but I've never tried them from scratch. I'm going to make the almond biscotti, but decided to try the chocolate almond recipe as a tester before I committed to the idea.

These probably got the best reaction out of anything I've brought to work. My boss even yelled out, "You did not?!!" when she got the announcement e-mail. Now I know what to bring her when I ask for something, mwahaaha. Since I cut the recipe down by 75% I was afraid of burning them and I think I ended up under-baking them so they were more soft than crisp, but it was an experiment and that's what experiments are for.

Biscotti Experiment #1: Success!

And since I'm obsessed with pastries, here are some pics of the dessert we had last night at the Denver Aquarium for my dad's b-day:

Key Lime Pie

Raspberry Cheesecake with sorbet and a fish cookie

These desserts gave me a stomach ache. And so did this:

My brother and his fiance. I heckle them in my head, "Ok, you're in love...we get it already!"

Tuesdays With Dorie: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

2008-08-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

I LOVE making ice cream and I never knew it! If I had known how easy this was I would've started making ice cream a loooong time ago. I only had to wash three (!) dishes. Lucky for me my roommate has an ice cream maker so I could be good and lazy.

Sometimes I dream of baked goods. Actually, most nights I dream of baked goods and one night last week I dreamt about ice cream cakes and knew I had to make a mini-ice cream cake this week. I worked at an ice cream store for one month after college for a filler type of job and it was the best job I have ever had. We used to make the ice cream cakes we sold and I loved packing the tins with rich Cherry Garcia and crumbled Oreos. I started researching ice cream cake methods online when I saw the recipe to finish August for TWD: the ice cream tart. I decided I better wait on the cake idea, so I did the next best thing....ice cream cookie sandwiches!

I like to pretend I'm British and had a whole package of McVitte currant shortbread biscuits on hand to dip in my Earl Grey tea. (I loooove cookies and tea!) But there just isn't time for biscuits and tea when I have to take my tea to go as I'm running out the door in the morning, so I thought they would be much better applied to blueberry ice cream. There really couldn't have been more of a perfect cookie/ice cream pairing.

From what I read I was afraid there was going to be too much of a sour cream taste, but I didn't notice. To me it was a smooth combination of fruity and creamy; perfect for a summer ice cream. To try it out before fall arrives find the recipe in our host Dolores' blog Chronicles of Culinary Curiosity .

Tuesdays With Dorie: Black and White Banana Loaf

2008-08-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

This week is my first Tuesdays With Dorie post and holy bananas this was a delicious way to start things off! One of the reasons I'm trying to taking my baking obsession more seriously is because it forces me to be patient. I've always been bad with patience in general, but it's gotten to a new extreme. I always want to go, go, go, and these baking projects are forcing me to pay attention to the little things again and to take my time. It's a really hard challenge since I can't even sit still for more than 15 minutes at a time anymore. This week's post is definitely a testament to my struggle with patience. And this was just banana bread.

I made a few adjustments to the recipes, just because of a lack of ingredients. We were out of dark rum, but there was plenty of Malibu in the apartment! I wasn't sure about the coconut flavor, but I didn't really notice it. We were also out of Nutmeg (my roommate made some pumpkin bread last week, so I'm pretty sure that's where it went). I know this is a big part of the recipe, but I had to substitute with cinnamon and cloves. They were all we had left in the spice cabinet. It still had a really nice flavor.

I was going to add extra bananas for a more intense flavor, but when I read the other Dorie blogger's experiences with their batter not cooking through I kept to using two small ones. I left the bread in the over for about an hour and fifteen minutes with the foil tent and then about another fifteen without. It was perfect: not gooey or undercooked at all. It was moist and soft and had a very distinct banana flavor. I'm glad there was more white than black because the chocolate flavor was almost too intense.

Now the part about the patience: I didn't want to bother buttering the pan thoroughly and just sprayed some cooking spray on it. Also, I didn't let the bread cool before I tried to take it out of the mold. Two huge mistakes that led to this:

If I had just taken my time and waited for all of that delicious smelling goodness to cool my loaf would not have broken into two very unattractive pieces. At least this gives a good visual of the marbling.

It all worked out in the end. The bottom half of the loaf which stuck to the pan stayed with me and soon after into my tummy, and the rest I cut up into bite size pieces that I took to a BBQ. All ended well in banana bread world, and I will try and remember more patience for next week's ice cream.

You can check out the recipe on Ashlee's blog, http://www.ashleescooking.blogspot.com/, or in "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan.

On a side note I also brought bluberry pasta salad with feta dressing (from eatingwell.com) and puppy chow to the cook-out. One girl had about 20 helpings of the pasta and my other friend exclaimed, "Wow-you're a really good cook!" That was one of the best compliments I've gotten considering back in college my idea of cooking dinner was defrosting frozen fries and microwaving Spaghettios

Baking Clubs and Broomstick Guitars

2008-07-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

So far my blog is pretty lame. It's been a lot of, "one day I made this, and then some people ate it". Well, this is all about to change. First, I get to bake my first Tuesdays with Dorie project this weekend!. I ordered my book, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan on Amazon last week and got all stressed out that I wouldn't get it in time before the first challenge, and then I would get kicked out of the club before I even got started, etc, etc. So, I went to the library to get myself a copy to hold me over until I get mine from Amazon. Holy cow! No wonder you chose this baking book! It's SO accesible. All the recipes look amazing. Dorie's writing is so encouraging and interesting, and I don't feel patronized for having to look up words in the glossary.

I'm super excited about the next two recipes. I was a little nervous, but banana bread is one of my favs (and I've got a stash or frozen ones right now) and the chocolate/marbling twist will be the perfect challenge to start with. I'm making it Saturday and can't wait.

Even more exciting is I'm starting a quick little high-altitute baking course this weekend and next at a great place I found in the Highlands, Generous Servings. http://www.generousservings.com/index.html. Yay, baking class!

I actually did a ton of baking last weekend, none of which I documented. Oops. A couple failed brownie attempts. The first because the reciped SUCKed, the second because I started eating all of it straight out of the pan which was getting out of control, so it went down the trash chute.

We started our first baking club last weekend from work also. We made-up a contest that whoever finished thier call list at work first got to pick what we baked. Lemon cake it was. I also made some snickerdoodles because I'd never made them before. My apartment has never smelled so good. Our co-workers love baking club because they get to eat the products of our labor on Monday morning. They are definitely starting to get spoiled. One of my managers pouted all day because there weren't any chocolate chips in the goodies. He'd walk by my desk and whisper, "chocolate chips, chocolate chips". Spoiled.

On another note:

I love Wall-E because he's not a morning person either.

And I wish every weekend was Harry and the Potters concert weekend!

The Blueberry Muffins Heaven is Made Of

2008-07-26T09:21:00.000-07:00

...Or at least when my dad made them they were. My dad made these this spring for a family brunch and that's exactly what I thought when I took a bite: "Heaven must be made of these muffins". The recipe is from "The Best of America's Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2008". The chefs from Cook's magazine tested all the classics over and over to make the best and most flawless recipes. No wonder they were so good. I wanted to attempt these last weekend, and was a little nervous, remembering how delicious they were the first time around. Like I said before, it's always good to cook with my parents because they show me all sorts of handy tricks. I should have baked these in my dad's kitchen because he would've reminded me to use Alton Brown's high-altitude adjustments which I thinks takes these muffins from yummy to heavenly.

Here's the streusel topping post-mixing. This is the best smelling part of the whole recipe!

Uh-oh. I followed all the rules and my batter still turned blue!

Half-time. I somehow managed to make Smurf muffins.

Right out of the oven. Not so blue anymore- phew!

There are some very important rules America's Test Kitchen outlines to make these muffins their absolute best: 1)Use frozen berries rather than fresh. They will have more flavor. They have to be frozen until the last second and tossed in flour to prevent them from sinking in the batter. If they thaw they will turn your batter blue. My batter turned blue, but I keep them frozen the whole time, I swear! I've got a big bag of dried blueberries for the next go around to see if that works any better.
2)Use only the directed amount of blueberries; too many will add too much moisture and make the muffins soggy.
3)Fold berries just when dry and wet ingredients combine. If you add them too early it turns the batter blue (maybe that was my problem). Too late and you can over mix the batter and make it tough.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins
from The Best of America's Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2008: May 2008

Streusel:

*1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
*1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
*1/2 tsp granulated sugar
*pinch of salt
*7 Tbs unsalted butter, metled

Muffins :
*1 large egg
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
*1 tsp grated lemon zest
*4 Tbs unsalted butter, metled and cooled slightly
*1/2 cup buttermilk
*2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
*1 Tbs baking powder
*1/2 tsp salt
*1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

For the Streusel:

Combine the flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Drizzle with the melted butter and toss with a fork until evenly moistened and the mixture forms large chunks, with some pea-sized throughout.

For the Muffins:

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the over to 375 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk the egg in a medium bowl until pale and evenly combined, about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla, sugar, and zest and whisk vigorously until thick, about 30 seconds.

Slowly whisk in the melted butter; add the buttermilk and whisk until combined. Reserve 1 Tbs flour. Whisk the remaining flour, the baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Fold in the egg mixture until nearly combined. Toss the blueberries with the reserved 1 Tbs flour and fold into the batter until just combined.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups and top with the streusel. Bake until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with a few crumbs attached, 23 to 27 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking. Cool the muffins in the tin for 20 minutes, then carefully transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yummy! I love me some freshly baked carbs!

Cereal and Gluten-Free Cupcakes

2008-07-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

Not one of the most serious of baking endeavors, but certinaly one of the most fun and worth documenting anyways.

Music to bake to: Franz Ferdinad.
Drink to bake with: Cherry Coke Bacardi Slurpee.

It all started with a visit to the Shoppe. (http://www.theshoppedenver.com/) I just read about this place in the new 5280 the day before. It's a cupcake, coffee, cereal shop; all three of my favorite things! My bff and I had to go check it out stat, especially since they advertised a gluten-free cupcake for my gluten-free friend. I had the best cereal of my life called Eff'in Nuts (honey-nut cheerios with walnuts and peanut butter chips) and a cup of coffee the size of my head. I didn't try any of the scrumptious looking gluten-ey cupcakes, but the gluten-free cupcake left something to be desired. The cupcake was more like mousse fudge molded into the shape of a cupcake.

So, not having satisfied our gluten-free cupcake desire, we headed to Whole Foods to buy some gluten-free cake mix and make our own. We went for the 365 brand of chocolate cake. This is my favorite brand of gluten-free baking mixes. The brownies are killer. No really. Best brownie mix ever- in all of brownie mixes. The cake mix isn't as good as the brownie mix, but at least our cupcakes resembled actual cakes.

Here's what the finished products looked like. Gluten-free cakes don't rise quite the same as gluten-filled cakes.

Doty showing what serious work gluten-free cupcakes are.

Ahhh... perfect Saturday afternoon activity.

We attempted to make vanilla frosting, but frosting is my biggest area of improvement. I added way too much milk (soy, which I don't think I should try in frosting again) that no amount of powdered sugar could correct. Overall, with my delcious bowl of cereal from the cereal cafe and taking gluten-free cupcakes into our own hands, I would say the afternoon was a huge success!

Baking Blog: The Beginning

2008-07-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

I can't stop baking. This spring I even packed 5 dozen cookies in my carry-on bag leaving about just enough room for my toothbrush and a shirt when I went to visit my old HSM 29 pals. I show my affection with baked goods. And after going through a crazy insurance season at my new grown-up office job, baking is the one activity that reminds me how to take my time and I relax. Now that I have my new pink KitchenAid mixer this obsession has reached a whole new level. After months and months of google-ing recipes and cooking tips I decided I finally needed to start a baking blog of my own. I'm really good at making some things, and still learning with others. Here's the start of the documentaion of my baked good adventures. I'll mess up a lot, and it might not always look pretty, but there is for sure going to be a lot of tasty recipes.

Here's a pic of my new mixer in all of it's pink glory. The first thing I made with it was Kahlua-Chocolate Cupcakes at my mom's house as soon as we got it from the store. (They're wrapped up in the foil). It's good to bake with my mom because she always has things to teach me. She showed me how to make a killer meringue for the cupcake batter. I don't have the recipe, but I'll have to make sure to get it next time I take a visit home because they were delicious!

Peanut-Butter Chocolate Chip cookies were next. I took them to work in a pink Victoria's Secret box and they were a hit! The recipe was straight out of the KitchenAid mixer book and I just added the chocolate chip part. Everything's better with some chocolate chips.