Christmas

I'm about half done with my baking. Last night, I made a super-batch of cookies, and wrapped most of them. And (miraculously), I still went to the gym!

But my naughty, naughty dog ate about a dozen of the cookies that were cooling while I was at the gym! Deja vu! I think I'm going to have to get a kennel for him again and lock him up while there are tempting cookies... or really, all the time I'm gone, because lately, when he's not eating cookies off the table, he's sleeping on furniture that he's not allowed on. I can't believe I'm having to retrain my dog when he's 7. I think things will be better when it warms up and he can go running with me. (And I'll be glad to get off the treadmill and onto the road again. I'm tired of staring at the cornice over the windows in the mini-gym, and I am terrified of how much harder it'll be to move off the treadmill after months.)

AND, last night while I was waiting (not-so-patiently) for my battery and tail light to be replaced in my car, I found boxes that are the perfect size for packing up my enveloped cookies! I had completely given up, and then there they were, already Christmas-decorated, and the perfect dimensions (and I didn't even have to resort to the internet). I bought one to try out and make sure it was the right size - and it was! So now I can pick them up on my way home (when I also buy more butter. Goodness, I've been through a lot of butter!).

By his time tomorrow, I should be 100% ready for Christmas. How's that for procrastination?

I've been busy, I swear

Finally, a long overdue update on what I've been up to! Because, yes, I finally uploaded pictures!

I have been baking (though not as much, lately), and I have tons to report - monogram cookies for OOT bags, oatmeal cookie bribes, and cupcakes! Stay tuned.

thoughts on baking cookies

scoops:
I bought a ice cream style cookie dough scoop ages ago because I thought it was cute, but didn't use it until this month because it seemed like it would probably be one of those 'tools' that actually just makes things harder and creates more dishes. I was wrong! I used it to make peanut butter cookies, because I wanted them to be fairly uniform... and I fell in love. This is the best idea ever! It does not stick the way I was afraid it would, it washes easily in the dishwasher, and it makes scooping drop cookies a million times faster than just using a spoon (or two)! I love this thing!

parchment paper:
I was really mad that the standard rolls of parchment paper are too wide to nicely cover my cookie sheets in one direction, and too narrow to cover it the other way. I hate either having to fold the extra under or cut it too short and waste precious cookie sheet space. It just seems wasteful to me. Then... through the magic of amazon, I just realized that they sell sheets of parchment paper that are perfect for cookie sheets! How did I go this long without knowing this?! What a month of fantastic discovery! Of course, after all of this headache, I'm really tempted to just cave and spend the money on a few silicone mats so that I don't have to keep resupplying (and because I feel bad throwing away so much parchment paper). I'm just so wary about buying things like that now, after a very bad experience with a silicone bundt pan. Hrm.

busy, busy, busy

I am so sorry for my continued, frequent absence. Here are a few of the reasons (beyond bar-scary-stress)

I went up to a friend's wedding this weekend! It was wonderful, and beautiful, and I have no pictures because I'm lame. At first it was too dark to get good pics with my camera, and then I was (really) too drunk to think about taking pictures. I'm pretty sure there's not even a single picture of me and my man (a groomsman in the wedding) from the whole weekend! How sad!

The wedding was great though, and the couple was awesome! It was the first time I met the bride, and I love her! She's adorable and sweet and open and I want to keep her. I told my man that we have to do stuff with them (after they get back from their honeymoon, and I recover from Bar-zilla mode).

I also shipped my first Etsy order Monday! It was an order of Goodnight Gorrilla cookies. It wasn't too big, but they were a little detailed and required cutting using a template instead of a cookiecutter, and I got in fairly late Sunday night (and did a little ar studying before I got started on cookies). I finished the cookies about 2 am Monday morning/Sunday night. I just hope they like them!

AND a good friend found out the gender of their newest little one Monday. They wanted to have a party to celebrate and share it with everyone. Rather than find out at the doctor's office, they had their nurse call me and tell me the gender, and I made a cake with filling to show the gender (it ended up being pink for a girl). At the party, the new big sis cut into the cake, and that's how everyone found out. Cute, right?

Unfortunately, this was another rushed thing, and I didn't get any pictures! It was an airplane pulling a banner that read "It's A...". I used Dorie's celebration cake recipe, and it went over well. Everyone RAVED about the buttercream. I left it beating (when it says 7-10 at the end) while I took a shower, so it got a good beating, and I think that was key to the super-fluffy nature of the icing. I loved the lemon flavor; I liked that you actually noticed it.

And in a fit of insanity, I decided that the (2 year old) big sister needed a tutu and a tiara that said big sis. I didn't get pictures of the tiara, but I did get a picture of the tutu (although, really, you can't get a good picture of a tutu without a model). I just cut and tied the tulle on a piece of ribbon so she can tie it on and it'll adjust as she gets older (and honestly, it's a little big right now).

This week - Birthday party for another good friend, Wednesday dinner, and the Fourth of July (and 2 full days of mock tests)!

prodigal TWDer : TWD apple cheddar scones

I felt guilty. So I opted for a late(-ish) night, under-the-wire bit of baking and posting. This may have also been helped along by the fact that I've been craving something other than cereal for breakfast.

First, these were delicious! I opted for sharp cheddar after some serious soul-searching in the dairy section of the supermarket, as I tried to decide between what I'd most like and what I thought would be most popular - self-serving won.

Some thoughts on chopped dried apples... They look like scrambled eggs (like the ones you see on a buffet - way too dry)! And they were sticky! They also were very subtle in the scone. I almost forgot there were apples in it.

This also gave me an opportunity to use some of my super-awesome corn meal! I got it in a national park, where it was ground by an historic water-mill. I thought it was so cool at the time, but I've not had nearly enough chance to use it!

TWD: rewind - berry pie

In the interest of getting back on track (and because bar studying/anxiety is frying my nerves), I'm posting last week's this week, and starting next week, I'll actually post the right recipe on the right day - no more awful Wednesday posts, no more rewind posts... I swear. That said, I also have to say that I may be a hit-or-miss with blogging in general, as well as TWD, until at least mid-August, when I'm finished with the bar and have finished moving. But on to happier things...

Mixed Berry Tart!

I liked this recipe. It was a real hit, and it came together very easily. I really wanted to use fresh berries, but I just couldn't justify the cost of berries at the local supermarket. Instead, I went with frozen, and honestly, I couldn't tell any real difference. I imagine that freshly picked berries would be amazing in it though... mmm.

I paired it with some Bryers vanilla bean ice cream, and it was a great combination. The real star of the dish was the topping though. As people were heading out at the end of the night, they were picking 'one last bit' of the topping off. I think that's a great sign!

WOW! (a picture-less post)

As I recently mentioned, I started an etsy shop. I am so thrilled - I got my first 2 orders. I'm still working on the details for my first order (for favors for an August wedding) and I have favors for a kid's birthday party coming up! I can't wait! And someone is already inquiring about regular orders of one of my cookies! Perhaps more exciting than all of that, some of my friends are letting me bake for them! One of my friends is even letting me do cupcakes for her August wedding!!!

I guess mostly I just wanted to toot my own horn. I always imagined that no one would want to pay me to bake - I greatly enjoy it, and this is terribly exciting!

Shameless self-promotion

I am excited about opening a little etsy shop, so I've been doing some baking so that I have pictures of stock for the shop.
I made puppy treats (Hershey was more than a little excited about this one, and stole some while I was trying to snap pictures!) and a bunch of different sugar cookies!

I may not be the best student, but I can be productive.

Studying for the bar sucks. Now that I've got that out of my system, I can update on all of my projects!

My herb garden is actually growing! I'm so proud. My little babies are getting big!

I also decided that I really needed to organize all of my cookie cutters. After pondering it for a few days and wandering the aisles at Wal-Mart looking for ideas, I decided to go with a filing system in picture/shoe boxes. While there is a little extra room on the sides, this actually worked out really well. I was pleased with the results. I can hide them from view, and keep them tidy! I really think that this will keep them easy to find as I need them. I used large index cards as dividers/labels.

I also finally gave in and bought giant (25lb!) bags of sugar and flour and bins to put them in. I has been putting off buying large quantities because I wanted to find the perfect containers for them first. I finally gave in and just bought what I could find. The containers aren't as pretty as the ones I dream of, but they seem to function really well so far. They are even more comfortable to work with than I imagined. Yay!

Over the weekend, I even got out of the house! A friend had a Belmont Stakes party, so we enjoyed Whiskey Sours (my fav!) and there was much merriment. I had planned to take the tartlets I was making for TWD, but as my earlier post mentioned, that didn't work out well. Because I didn't realize this until the last minute, I had to throw something together in a pinch. I had most of the ingredients for Bush cookies, and it's one of my stand-by crowd-pleasers. Unfortunately, I didn't have as many of the ingredients as I thought I did. So, it was 1/3 wheat flour (obviously, this was before my giant flour purchase), had no nuts,and had a combination of semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips and regular milk chocolate chips instead of the chocolate chunks I normally use. End result? Everyone still loved them, but I think that this recipe really is much better with chunks. I love melty hunks of chocolate.

Finally, I set up an Etsy shop, The Stepford Kitchen! I'm still working on getting up listings and setting up the shop itself, but I'm excited. I just worry that others won't love my food as much as I love making them. I'm focusing on sugar cookies, since they won't melt in the crazy heat this summer.

Really, really... TWD coming soon.

TWD - coming soon

I am making this week's TWD, I swear! I was terribly on top of things, and made tartlet crusts as soon as this week's recipe was chosen and posted. ... but I was sloppy, and I left the egg out of the recipe... and then I left them out for a few days, waiting for the perfect opportunity to serve them up. Unfortunately, when I tried to take them out of the pans, they all crumbled!

So, tonight, I try again, and this time, I take them out of the pans in a timely fashion and actually include all of the ingredients called for.

TWD - what to do with left-over brioche

I have an unnatural obsession with creme de fluers from au bon pain. I do not live within 2 hours of an au bon pain, and honestly, that's probably for the best (at least from the stand-point of my weight-gain). However, it has led to a couple of years of wishing I had a recipe (or the skill/knowledge/experience with which to come up with my own recipe) with which to recreate them.

This week's TWD left me with an extra 1/2 batch (1 loaf's worth) of brioche dough to find a used for. It reminded me of my distant memories of creme de fluers, and when I saw that another Dorrite had used her left-over dough for cream cheese and jam rolls. Clearly, this was my sign from above that I should finally try to make a mock creme de fluer. So I did.

I rolled out the dough as if making rolls, only I tried to get it a little thinner, and kept it more rectangular, long but short.
Then I rolled one side over a dollop of cream cheese filling, the other side over it's own dollop, and sealed in the middle and on the bottom.
(I tried adding a middle dollop on a couple of them, but those ended up being the ones that overflowed in the middle. Sad, since I would have liked to have the more 'authentic' three.)
Then I let them rise in the muffin cups overnight - because I forgot about them and passed out.(I used jumbo muffin cups because I was afraid of them rising too much, but now I realize that they would have fit much better in regular sized-cups. These were just short and fat. see photo below.)
Finally, I baked them at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Next time (ie, with the last 1/4 of the dough), normal muffin tins, and only rising for 1.5 hours.

Tuesdays with Dorie!

I stumbled on Tuesdays with Dorie while in class one day perusing other baking blogs. The recipes and pictures were incredibly tempting, so of course, I ordered a copy of the requisite Baking, from My Home to Yours cookbook. Now that I have it in my possession, I'm even more blown away.

This week is my first chance to participate, and they picked a positively irresistible recipe!



Peanut Butter Torte on pages 282-283

Of course, I was still suffering from exam-time brain mush when I made it, so there were some unplanned modifications. I love the way it turned out though! I accidentally added an additional 1/2 cup of cream in the beginning, and I think the end result was lighter and a little less rich. Still it was plenty rich and delicious. The sad effect of this is that it is a bit too mushy when it has been out of the fridge for a bit, so if you do this, definitely cut right out ofthe fridge.


I also made the crust with chocolate-filled oreos, and it is wonderful. I could eat just the crust and be incredibly happy.

I'm a mess.

I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and make the peanut butter torte for this week's TWD so that it would be done tomorrow when people come over. I'll be done with exams forever, so it'll be a good excuse to celebrate and have a piece. It'll also be a good way to get rid of most of it, so that I don't eat it all by myself!

However, during exams, my brain totally shuts off. I accidentally put in an extra 1/2 cup of cream, but I choose to think that will make it more light and fluffy. Then, I accidentally started sifting the powdered sugar over the stove without anything under it. I covered the coils in powdered sugar, and ended up having to clean much more than I intended. Sigh. I can be smart next week.

Earth Day Cupcakes

Here is the idea: Anyone can grow mint! Seriously, it's practically impossible to kill, and it thrives easily. It also can grom from cuttings. SO, I thought, make a cupcake that provides pretty much everything needed to start an herb garden. It has the pot and the mint - just eat the cupcake and throw in some dirt and water.

I did get to make the Earth Day cupcakes, and I'm quite happy with the way they turned out! I used a Chocylit recipe for the rich chocolate cupcakes and for mint buttercream icing, and it was delicious. The cupcake itself was almost more like a brownie. I used the mint extract for the flavoring of the icing, and it was good, but I think I might use creme de minthe next time, just because. The recipe below reflects my minor charges, such as the addition of food coloring, the use of locally available ingredients, changes in cooking time for the flower pots, etc.

Chocolate Cupcakes

24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2-100 gram bars of Hershey 60% cocao

3 sticks butter

2-1/4 cups sugar

8 eggs

1-1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

(24 mini flowerpots)

1. line flowerpots with parchment and place on a baking sheet.

2. break up chocolate and transfer into the bowl of a standing mixer.

3. add butter to the chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water. stir until chocolate melts and butter is combined.

4. remove from heat and stir in sugar. let mixture cool for 10 minutes.

5. beat in an electric mixer for 3 minutes.

6. add one egg at a time, mixing for 30 seconds between each

7. sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into the mixture and mix until blended.

8. scoop into lined flowerpots and bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Mint Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 cup milk

1/8 teaspoon all natural peppermint extract

1 tube of green gel food coloring

1. beat butter until creamy, scrape bowl.

2. add 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar, milk, peppermint extract, and food coloring, beat until combined.

3. add more powdered sugar as needed to get piping consistency.

4. pipe on icing.
4. top with a sprig of mint

Kissing Law School Goodbye

I attended my last class of law school today. In celebration, I had people over last night for a pot luck/game night. We played Catch Phrase like only lawyers can, with lots of yelling, fighting over rules, and insistence that both teams were equally inconvenienced. It's funny - as 1Ls, we were very aware that we were starting to make lame law jokes in every conversation; now, the legal termanology has become such a part of our vernacular that we don't even notice any more. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.

The party was fun, and I enjoyed having people over. And I enjoyed baking and cooking. Roasts are fun and easy. My kitchen was completely destoyed over and over, but is pretty much back to normal now.

Martha Stewart Cheesecake

I have made this cheesecake before, but I've always had to make two out of one recipe because it is intended for a 10" springform pan (and frankly, is a little too much, even for that), and I haven't had one. I finally found a 10" pan at T.J. Maxx, and was super-excited to try it out. It even had a glass bottom, that I thought that would be great, because it would be even prettier for serving.

HOWEVER, I'm not the brightest, and I was cooking about 10 things at once. I set the cheesecake on the stove and turned on a burner for something else. Apparently, I turned the wrong burner on though, and I shattered the glass. Oops.

At any rate, after scraping off the glass, I was left with a great (giant) cheesecake from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. I'm pretty sure it must be healthy, what with the 7 packages of cream cheese. ;)

Master Baker March Challenge Roundup

I loved making all the Easter treats! I suppose that I have more than a little streak of competitiveness. While I am normally quite lazy, a competition moves me to action pretty quickly. Master Baker's March contest is a great example! Here are all the treats that I made with the theme ingredient: Easter Candy!

Reese's Egg Banana Bars

Reese's Egg Granola Banana Bars

Easter Rice Krispy Treats

(made with Peeps and Mini Reese's Eggs)

Mini Reese's Egg Cheesecake

S'more Peep Bars

Mini Cadbury Nest Eggs

...Just posting this makes me want to bake more!

Master Baker March Challenge Part III

I did try the first recipe for banana bars with Reese's eggs. The flavor combination was delicious, and the oatmeal made it simultaneously lighter and heartier, which was yummy. However, it was more crumbly than I really wanted, and even doubling the bananas of the recipe that I based it on, I was looking for a stronger banana flavor. Although it wasn't what I imagined, it was definitely a yummy end result. (Sorry, but I didn't take more pictures. :( )

Reese's Egg and Banana Bars



2 large ripe bananas
2/3 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups quick oatmeal (uncooked)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark)
8 Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs



Finely chop bananas.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat, then stir in vanilla.
Add oatmeal and brown sugar. Heat and stir 5 minutes.
Press 1/2 of oatmeal mixture into the bottom of a greased 9" square pan.
Layer bananas over crust.
Layer Reese's Eggs over bananas.
Cover with remaining oatmeal mixture, and press down lightly.
Refrigerate a couple hours before cutting.


Then, I worked on another combination that I've wanted to try - coconut cookies with a mini Cadbury creme egg on top. I imagined this looking a bit like a bird's nest with an egg in it, but the cookies flattened out as they cooked. I suppose I could reduce the butter in the recipe to try to make it keep more of the shape, but I'm too afraid of losing the amazing taste that it currently has. I think I'm content with the recipe as it is, even if it's more flat than I expected. Within a few minutes of taking them out of the oven, I had already eaten five of them! I'm really pleased.

Nestegg Cookies


1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups unsifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 + 2 cups flaked coconut
4 dozen mini Cadbury Creme Eggs



Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter until fluffy.
Add sugars gradually, beating well after each addition.
Add egg and mix.
Combine flour, soda and salt; then add to butter mixture, 1/4 at a time.
Add vanilla and 1 1/2 cups coconut.
Roll dough into teaspoon-sized balls and then roll in reserved 2 cups coconut.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes.

Planning

Just a couple of things I want to try out:

-coffee cupcakes with the Bailey's icing from the St. Patty's Day cupcakes - basically, an Irish Coffee cupcake. (I love that icing!)
-banana bars with a layer of Reese's eggs (the big, flat ones). (I tried the first version of this tonight, and while I like it, I want something with more banana flavor. I'll post later with the results of test #1)
-coconut nest cookies with a mini Cadbury Creme Egg nestled on top. (I'm most excited about this one).


...But first I should really write this paper.

Master Baker March Challenge - Part II

I felt the need to use more of the reese's eggs. I find peanut butter and chocolate quite inspiring! This time, it was Easter Rice Krispy treats. I used the box recipe as a base, just adding in the eggs and substituting peeps for the marshmallows. I opted for yellow, since it is the closest color to plain white marshmallows, but I imagine that pink, purple or green would be more festive.

Easter Rice Krispy Treats

6 cups rice krispy cereal
3 tbs butter
3 packages of peeps (I used 2 of bunnies and 1 of chicks)
20 reese's eggs

Spray a large casserole pan with cooking spray.

Melt butter in saucepan over low-ish heat.

Add the peeps and stir over heat until all melted. (This part is fun, because you get to watch them dissolve, and they keep their eyes much longer than you'd expect!)

Stir in reese's eggs until melted (this should be much faster).

Remove from heat and stir in rice krispies.

Press into the greased pan using a sheet of parchment paper.

Let cool and serve.

I'm very pleased with the way this turned out! I think it's just the right amount of peanut butter and chocolate - not overpowering, but enough that you notice. I'm incredibly tempted to just eat them all myself. That can't be good.