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.