christmas bake-off part four:

So about those cupcakes.

There were far too many of them. They were given to co-workers, security guards, secretaries, home groupers, and homeless men, but contrary to the "Who has leftover cake?!" notion, well, I had leftover cake.

So our Christmas treat will be peppermint cake pops. I thought they were quite easy to make until I remembered that the cake and frosting had been finished several days prior and mixed into ball-able dough yesterday.

The resulting treat is satisfyingly cute and super rich, with a fun minty crunch of the candy cane at the end.

Find instructions here. I saw no need for the edible wax, used buttercream frosting, and homemade chocolate cake. If you're going through the trouble to make these, why not bake your own cake?

And there was enough chocolate left over to make a little Christmas eve treat for after our special meal--

Frozen chocolate covered bananas.

Merry Christmas to all!

christmas bake-off part three:

A repeat of the Thanksgiving challah for work Christmas pot-luck.

christmas bake-off part two:

It all started with one little cupcake. Cute, right? Not scary at all.
A dark chocolate peppermint cupcake with vanilla buttercream and crumbled candy canes on top. Even used a nice recipe from the sadly defunct Gourmet as a tribute (with added peppermint extract).
But then, they started to multiply-- tiny, minty warriors.

All the while, I feel ashamed. Will I be overtaken by a monster of my own creation?

But I regained control and paired them off, two by two.

One hundred and twenty-six tiny cupcakes later, they became the perfect army of happy homemade Christmas joy.

christmas bake-off part one:

Dark chocolate-dipped peppermint meringues.

A quick dip in super dark chocolate surprised with a nice contrast to the super-sweet melty peppermint meringues. I was inspired by this Martha Stewart recipe, but totally baffled about how to present a sandwich cookie that is pointy on both ends (other than on... is that chicken wire in her picture?).
Highly recommended as a simple, light cookie alternative. And it is-wait for it- gluten free!
Leftovers can be crumbled to top ice cream sundaes or hot chocolate, too.

gingerbread houses are hard.

Leave it to my good friend Marissa to host a gingerbread house-building event! Little did we know cookie and frosting construction would be so challenging. I have a new-found respect for all of the parents (and teachers) who endeavor to make these structures with small children. Crumbling cookies and frosting avalanches followed by an inevitable sugar crash must be quite a chore...

After much experimentation and several glasses of wine, we did manage to build solid cookie homes without the use of Gorilla Glue.

Following are not the most amazing photos, but they are really an adequate representation of the event:

So it began, just a simple home. Spray icing, some trees, a spice drop roof, peppermint doors--


And then, the dinosaurs attacked!


My partner-in-crime's wintery pterodactyl home.

The finished products, side by side; a tiny community rooted in high fructose corn syrup and multi-colored sprinkles.

And somehow secure enough to survive the car ride home. And now, my home is twice as decorated for Christmas as it was yesterday morning.

sweet christmas inspiration

Partridge in a Pear Tree, In Gingerbread

from Not Martha

Pretty Sugar Cookies

from Brookie's Cookies

Peppermint Bark

from Vanilla Garlic via The One in Pink

Eggnog Creme Brulee

from Citrus and Candy

Cranberry Sorbet

from Annie's Eats

A Twist on Spritz

from Hungry Cravings

Fruitcake?

from Food for Poems

Boozy Spiced Cider

from Savory Sweet Life

Holiday Brew Beer Floats

from Caroline on Crack at Bottlerock Downtown LA

Any Christmas sweet traditions you'd like to share? Or new trends to try?

celebration bread

For unknown reasons, Thanksgiving morning left me with some time on my hands. Plenty of prep work was done in advance; my mother-in-law made pecan pie and I finished my pumpkin tart and apple crisp on Wednesday. The side dishes were well on their way, so beyond the bird, my tasks were under control.

But you know me, I like a challenge.

Inspired by a co-worker, I decided to bake a nice loaf of bread. Even though I haven't eaten bread in several years, the process of kneading, watching the dough rise, thumping the loaf for the perfect hollow sound, and slicing the still slightly steaming bread brings me much satisfaction.

Challah.

This Jewish celebration bread made for a festive evening treat. Simple braiding added something special-- the recipe header told me that the braids represent truth, beauty, and purity. The loaf was crusty and light-- surprisingly so for not requiring a starter. I served it with local honey from our failed apple orchard trip.

Fresh bread is always worth the extra effort.-- especially when guests are anticipating turkey and cranberry sandwiches for days to come!

Recipe source: Peter Reinhart's The Breadbaker's Apprentice.

apples to apples, or, why this post doesn't have pictures of pie.

Oh technology, how you've failed me again. Or is nature the root of my distress?

This Saturday, the man, a couple of friends, and their adorable three-month-old baby and I drove from LA to Oak Glen, CA to have a lovely pseudo-Midwestern autumn day of apple picking. It seemed close to the end of prime-picking season, so we checked websites and called to make sure the orchards were open. Still selling? Yep. Baby buckled in? Check. Little cooler full of snacks? Got it.

Anyway, what the website and recorded messages failed to tell us was that the entire Southern California apple crop had been lost in an early freeze in September. Such a letdown! I had started to pout when the man scooted up behind me. "I feel so bad for the guy," he said. "All of his apples died. We should at least buy something from him..."

He disappeared into the crafty-kitsch shop; you know, the one filled with a mix of lace-trimmed kitchen linens, local self-published cookbooks, and little jars of preserves and sandwich spreads. Carmel apples (from fruit "imported" from Central California), little jars of honey and crazy-expensive gallon of pressed cider soon emerged, neatly packed in white paper bags with red tissue, held by a pleased-looking man.

I forced a smile but felt slighted. Not only was I disappointed as my dreams of pork chops and fresh apple sauce went to the freezer, but I also smelled bruised fruit. Who should I blame for my lack of freshly-plucked, shiny-crisp apples? Could I be smug that we still supported the farmer and his crafty shop, or just feel deceived by the his dishonesty about climate change?

I'll get back to you after I'm finished typing my ventings and eating my waxy supermarket apple thankyouverymuch.

a poem:

"so you want to buy my cupcakes."

so you want to buy my cupcakes
that i made a few weeks past
twenty bacon maple cupcakes
lazy baking just won’t last

made them for a party
then got kicked out of the bar
chef didn’t like my bacons
so they ate them by the car

now you want to buy my cupcakes
and how much do i charge?
sugar salt sprinkled bacon cupcakes
the fee? oh, it is large!

six dollars for the bacon
for best maple, maybe twelve
got eggs vanilla flour
could use them from my shelf

but you want to buy my cupcakes?
to sell them at your store?
free meat for life, and then we’ll deal
three steaks a day, or four!

(you know you missed my poems.)

the best kind of sandwich

This week, I threw away two boxes of sugar. Not two whole boxes, only the end of a box of white sugar and dark brown sugar because I couldn't seem to resist digging into them with a spoon. Just because I no longer eat run-of-the-mill baked goods doesn't mean I don't have a nagging sweet tooth. I usually can distract it with ridiculously "healthy" options like fresh fruit or a few glasses of wine, but when there's brown sugar on the shelf, my self control goes out the window. So, the leftover sugar went in the trash.

I baked half of a batch of snickerdoodles for an impromptu pregnant sister-in-law visit and planned on saving the second half for home group bake-off, but the sugar situation threw me for a curve. I couldn't bear to bake the rest without rolling them in cinnamon and sugar first! I scavenged enough packets of raw sugar to bake most of them for home group, but had a bit of extra dough. I tossed it in the freezer and baked it up tonight-- and the six cookies made for a lovely Friday night post-chili dinner dessert.

Accompanied by Haagan-Daz 5-ingredient brown sugar ice cream, it was quite the decadent treat.



At least, that's what I was told while eating my raspberries.

Here's the snickerdoodle recipe, if you're interested.

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup (I know, corn syrup. Just do it.)

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Cream together butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Refrigerate until cool and firm. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until just brown at the edges. Remove immediately from baking sheets.
Let cool and sandwich with the best ice cream you can find. Eat while watching a wonderfully pretentious film like Helvetica.

(Modified from Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles at allrecipes.com)

"How does it compare to Diddy Riese?" I asked the man, who had a belly full of chili, cornbread, and beer.
"Better," he mumbled, then promptly fell asleep.
I'm so manipulative.

flying saucer.

Or flan.
Since our Argentina trip, I've been really wanting to try to make flan. Figured it would be a nice finish for the special birthday meal I've been planning for the man!
I do agree with some of the comments on this recipe from Epicurious, it is very much like a custard.

But we didn't mind. No, not at all.

home group bake off, brownie edition.

I'm not usually much of a brownie baker. I don't eat 'em and the man's face falls when he hears I'm making brownies and not the blondies his mom makes for him...

That to say, this recipe from newly discovered baking/fashion blog Slow Like Honey looked enticing enough to try on home groupers this week. They are made with chopped 70% semi-sweet chocolate and came out super moist with a nice little crust on top.

We'll see if they go over well. If not, I'm going back to the stove top popped popcorn and bag of Twizzlers I served last week.

glazed pumpkin cookies

Continuing with the "pretending it is fall" theme, I made some glazed pumpkin cookies. If I were cooler, they would have been made with fresh pumpkin instead of canned, but....

Here's the recipe, personalized from one I found on allrecipes.com

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh ground cloves
1 tablespoon molasses
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk, plus extra
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (I only baked for 12, then left on the sheet for an extra 2) in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Please serve with hot chocolate.

I think next time I'd like to try this recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies!

"A good thing to do before you're 30."

So, the man's birthday is coming up in a few weeks-- a rather monumental one, at that! He claims that it isn't a big deal, but he's set out to accomplish some things before the big day... and apparently one of those things is baking.
Inspired by some near rotten bananas, he got it in his head to make a homemade loaf of bread.

He asked lots of questions, but I decided to clear out of the kitchen to embark on a exercise-on-demand yoga adventure and let him do it all by himself. He found a recipe online ("Look, it has four stars!" he said), and both of us were impressed with the results.

Here's his recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cups white sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

-Preheat oven to 350

-Grease a 9x5 loaf pan

-In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a seperate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir in banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

-Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I try to stay pretty anonymous, but can't resist posting this proud man picture.

(awesome t-shirt by solid gold hubcaps)

home group bake-off!

Just because I need a challenge, I think I'm going to try to bake weekly, specifically for our Wednesday home group! I think I'm going to try to acquire a cookbook that I can cook through, but this week I did a cheater recipe from the Pioneer Woman's blog for a quick and easy apple tart.

And it was quick! And easy! I don't suppose I would very often make my own pastry shell, so I don't feel too bad about it.

Kind of pretty, too.

This week was the first week of "fall," after all. Tell that to the 98-degree weather we had today! I will still pretend it is the start of fall though and drink tea, wear sweaters, and bake things with apples and cinnamon.

dessert on wheels

Oh gosh, what can't they put in a van? First came ice cream trucks and roach coaches, then taco trucks, and now the current Korean BBQ craze, next, cupcakes?

Yes, Sprinkles Cupcakes got their own van.

I say, good for them.

Now I'm having an angry cupcake craving. The lemon ones were the best. No, the chocolate peanut butter. No wait, the special fall pumpkin ones. Gr.

paris sweets

Mmm, creme brulee and a glass of wine. What more could one want from a last minute trip to Paris? I'll have to try this at home because alcohol and a blow torch sounds fun.

Spiced 'n' Candied Orange Slices

Ok, I know this isn't baking, but it is such a wonderful addition to a dessert that I had to post it... The man even said it could be a dessert on its own-- well, with some ice cream, perhaps.

Spiced 'n' Candied Orange Slices

Just sauteed with some honey, fresh ground cloves, and a cinnamon stick.

Took a bit of the burger smell away from the house.

dough joke

Ahem, ahem.

So, a couple of months ago, a loaf of bread was spotted walking down the street.

Since then, the punchline has been forgotten.

Just a pinch of rosemary and an overnight starter.

lemon cakes with basil lemon syrup

What happens when I hear there's a birthday to celebrate.
So pretty. Here's the recipe. Very, very lemony but in a nice, refreshing way (so I hear). My first dessert with basil!

first strawberries

Saturday afternoon, we decided to venture to Carlsbad to go strawberry picking. What a great place-- right off the freeway, not too expensive, and an abundance of super-ripe berries. We followed our fruit-picking protocal of one in the bucket and two in the mouth and really got our money's worth! Mostly enjoyed the fruit fresh, but had a bit of cheater freezer dough left, so made some more honeyed tartlets.

aspiring flan-maker

I did not make this but will try soon, as it will make the man very happy.

At Cafe Tortoni, Buenos Aires, Argentina

dessert: two ways

Though I have ceased eating most baked goods, I still have a love for making them, so on occasion, I'll be posting here some of my sweeter experiments here for your post-meat-eating enjoyment.

This weekend, I finally made Pavlova, which I have been dying to try since seeing a lovely picture in the April 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine.

Here's the finished product--

Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Berries.

Slightly more ambitious than Friday night's cheater dessert, which was adapted from one of Martha Stewart's old recipes for Honeyed Fruit Tartlets using (gasp!) store-bought pastry crust.

Honeyed Plum Tartlet with Fresh Mint and Lime