Apples to Apples

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
I can't say I was terribly excited about this recipe. I love apples and such, but it just didn't sound very exciting. And honestly, it wasn't. Now things might have been better if I'd paid more attention to the instructions and rolled the thing down the length of the dough, but even then I think I'd prefer puff pastry.
I divided the dough in half and made a savory one as well with some vegetables. Meh. Maybe I'm just not in the right mood.
Everything went well and I found the dough easy to work with. I used bread flour and made sure to give the gluten plenty of time to develop.

Cupcake Decorating Demo

Well I filmed this little video a few weeks ago, but I hadn't quite got up the nerve to put it up. I've only seen myself on film a few times, so it kind of feels bizarre watching myself frost some cupcakes. But perhaps it'll give people a pointer or two on decorating. Happy frosting folks.



Make sure to keep the tip close to the surface of the cupcake, it will start to look messy if the frosting is allowed to fall to the surface.


Rolling the "blob" in sanding sugar.

Study Break

And then I stumbled on this awesomeness.

Mint Chip Cookies

I decided I better start tackling my to do list! Since Arlene over at The Food of Love requested I make these, I figured that was motivation enough to get in the kitchen. Unfortunately when I went to the store, I couldn't find any Andes Mints! I bought some ghirardelli mints, but it wasn't a perfect idea. The flavor wasn't very strong, and the gooey interior caused splotches on the cookies. I also seemed to have over baked them. So while they look lovely, they are just a little too hard for me to love them (not that I haven't eaten far too many, I mean a cookie has to be terrible not to be eaten.)
I think I might give them another shot, but I'll make sure to get the right candies.
Original Recipe

Rhubarb Jello

I've been holding back on posting all of my jello concoctions, as there have been many. But these looked and tasted pretty, so I thought I'd share a quick and easy treat.

Rhubarb Jello

2 cups chopped rhubarb
juice of one lemon
2 cups water
1/3 to 1/2 c honey (depending on preference)
2 packages gelatine
1/2 cup water

Combine rhubarb, honey, lemon, and the two cups of water. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and mash rhubarb.
Sprinkle gelatine over the half cup of water and allow to sit for five minutes.
Strain rhubarb juice, add gelatine mixture.
Pour into molds. I find when using small molds, its easier to fill them in the fridge rather than to try to carry them without spilling.

Chill until set.

Shortcake in a new light

The May issue of Living had a number of delightful looking gelatine recipes in it, and as a girl in love with gelatine I just had to try one out. I didn't follow all parts of the recipe, but kept the spirit of the dessert. I used my favorite white cake instead of the magazines recipe for pound cake, and Bavarian cream instead of pana cotta. I had a few issues in that I rushed the Bavarian so it didn't end up as soft and light as it should have, and the organic sugar I used never wanted to get fluffy when creaming it with the sugar for the cake, but it was still pretty delicious. It tasted even better after refrigerating for a few days. The flavors really melded nicely. This would be a great dessert for a summer dinner party.
The original was made in teacups, but I wanted to make a larger dessert (every now and then even I get tired of individual treats). So pick a fun shape and enjoy.

Strawberry Jelly
14 ounces strawberries, cleaned and quartered
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs 1tsp lemon juice
1 packet gelatine
3 Tbs water
Puree strawberries with the sugar, water, and salt. Strain and mix in the lemon juice (I didn't bother straining it since having it cloudy didn't bother me). Sprinkle gelatine over the 3 Tbs water and allow to soften. Heat half a cup the the strawberry puree, stir in gelatine mixture until dissolved. Add remaining strawberry puree. Pour into desired container and allow to set for at least an hour.

Bavarian Cream

3 yolks
1 packet gelatine
3 Tbs water
3/4 c milk
6 Tbs sugar
generous dash of vanilla
3/4 c whipping cream

Dissolve gelatine in water. To make the anglaise scald the milk and half of the sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Whisk remaining sugar and vanilla with the yolks. Slowly temper in the scaled milk and return the mixture to the pan. Cook over a low heat while stirring constantly, and cook just until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. It can curdle quite easily, so cook carefully. Add the gelatine and strain the mixture into a bowl set in ice water to halt the cooking process.

While that cools whip the cream to soft peaks. Occasionally stir the anglaise mixture as it cools. Once it starts to thicken fold in the whipped cream. Spoon onto strawberry gelatine mixture and top with cake.

Allow to chill for several hours or over night. To unmold briefly dip into a bowl of hot water, or warm the mold with a kitchen torch.

To do list

Cassie over at How To Eat a Cupcake just put up a list of items she has been wanting to bake, after getting the idea from the Brown Eyed Baker. I thought it was fun to see what other people were interested in making, so I thought I'd post a list of all of the bookmarks in my "Recipes to Try" folder so that other people could possibly be inspired by them as well. I don't know if I'll ever get to make everything I've bookmarked, but whenever I want to bake and can't think of what to make I browse around this list. I put the few savory items in bold.

Andes Cookies
Asiago Bacon Potato Gratin
Autumn Leaf Pies
Baileys Custard
Banana Butterfingers Cupcake
Boston Cream Doughnuts
Caramel Maple Cinnamon Rolls
Caramel Pumpkin Gingersnap Cheesecake
Caramel Truffles
Chocolate Banana Cheesecake
Chocolate Ciao
Chocolate Cookies
Chocolate Mousse Torte with Saffron Cream
Chocolate Oriole Cake
Chocolate Roulade
Cocoanut Mango Sticky Rice
Cranberry Shortbread Cake
Cafe de Leche Cheesecake
Five Layer Jello
Florida Pie
Frozen Chocolate Soufflé
Fruit Loops Cupcakes
Guinness Ice Cream
Honey Cake
Honey Shortbread
Kahlua Mousse Cake
Lemon Bars (still searching for my favorite recipe)
Lemon Curd Mousse Cake
Lemon Panna Cotta
Lemon Meltaways
Light Strawberry Cheesecake
Macaroni and Cheese
Malted Chocolate Frosting
Mango Pudding
Orange Brownies
Oreo Cookies
Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies
Pinwheel Cookies
Pomegranate Gelatine
Pop Tarts
Pumpkin Torte
Rhubarb Strawberry Clafouti
Seasoned Soft Pretzels

Whew! That a lot of recipes to try!

Grahams

It all started at Trader Joes. I have a love hate relationship with that place. I love that there is one close to my house (not as close as Pack and Save, but I avoid that place as much as I can). I love the delicious produce. I love the cheese. I even love the beer selection. But I hate how you can't find the basics sometimes. Since I rarely drive I often am on foot, and I really don't want to have to walk around to multiple stores just to do my grocery shopping for one item I'm making. If I lived somewhere were things were closer it would be different, but life isn't that convienent.
So when I went shopping for supplies for last months Daring Bakers challenge I was annoyed to discover they didn't have any plain graham crackers at Trader Joes, just cinnamon. While I love that spicy little bark, I didn't think the flavor would go will with my citrusy desserts. I looked at some of their other cookies, and I debated checking out another store, and then I realized. It's just a bloody cookie, how hard could it be to make?
I found a lot of different recipes on ye olde interweb, but I finally decided on the Fannie Farmer recipe Steph over at Cupcake Project had posted. I figure they both seem like trustworthy women, and they didn't lead me astray. I rolled my cookies a little too fat, so they were more like graham biscuts. But still they were highly delicious.

Graham Crackers
check out the original recipe here to read fun facts and trivia about grahams

4 T butter, softened
1 egg
6 T sugar
4 T honey(used half honey half molassas)
1/2 t baking soda
2 t water
3/4 t salt
1 1/2 C graham flour (I just used whole wheat)
3/4 C all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream butter and sugar, add egg. Stir in the honey and blend. Dissolve the baking soda in the water and add to the butter mixture. Add the salt, graham flour, and all-purpose flour to the mixture and blend thoroughly. The dough should hold together and be manageable. If it is too "tacky" add a little more graham flour. Liberally dust a surface with graham flour and roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch. For convenience in handling, cut the rolled dough into three or four sections that will fit on your cookie sheet. (Steph's note:I am not good at rolling things out. It doesn't come up too often since I mostly make cupcakes. To make my life easier, I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper and rolled the dough directly on the cookie sheets. That way I didn't need to worry about the dough breaking when I lifted it onto a cookie sheet.) I followed her advice and it worked well.
With a knife, score the dough, without cutting through, into 2 1/2 inch squares. Prick each square a few times with the tines of a fork.
Bake approximatly 15 mintues (my fatties took longer). If they aren't crisp when you take them out, don't fret. Thay will harden as they cool.

"Fan Art"

I don't know if you can really call if fan art since my husband made it for me, but I love it! I was surprised with this little digital gift when I got home from class today. Don't I look like I might go fight crime with my rolling pin?