In the Kitchen with the E Circle

Homemade Graham Crackers

2010-03-28T20:27:00.002-04:00

I was intrigued when Sassy Radish posted the pictures and recipe for these honey graham crackers. Graham crackers are a staple snack in our home but the thought of homemade crackers sounded inviting. The recipe was fairly simple. The butter, honey and sugar were beaten for a few minutes. Then the dry ingredients were added. I made the dough one day, refrigerated it, and then baked the crackers the next. The dough was a little crumbly but once it was fully warmed it was much easier to work with. I cut them with a cookie cutter so they'd all be a uniform size and docked them with a fork. Then I refrigerated them for about 15 minutes before baking them. They came out beautifully browned and subtly flavored, just like graham crackers should be. These would be delightful, as Sassy Radish suggests, as gourmet s'mores complete with dark chocolate and homemade marshmallows. Maybe another post!

Pinched Orange Macaroons

2010-03-08T09:14:00.003-05:00

The December issue of Martha Stewart's Living had so many activities and recipes in it that appealed to me but these little cookies sounded and looked delicious so I put them on my to-do list. One free afternoon I finally got around to making them. It was all pretty easy. All I had to do was whip up some egg whites with some almond paste. Add a little orange zest and juice (in place of the Grand Marnier) and some powdered sugar. The most difficult part was getting my hand dirty as I rolled each small bit of dough in egg white and then in powdered sugar. By the time I'd rolled each cookie my hands looked like they were covered in concrete! These baked up puffier and bigger than the ones in the picture so I'm not sure what I did wrong. They were really tasty though. Very sweet and very orange-y. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Really, I could only eat one at a time they were so rich. These are a great gluten-free cookie to serve to any of your gluten-free friends.

Popcorn Brittle

2010-01-21T16:03:00.003-05:00

This Christmas I handed out a few homemade treats to friends and neighbors. One of the things I tried was this Popcorn Brittle a la Cooking Light. I love peanut brittle but it hurts my teeth so I thought this would be a good substitute. It was yummy and easy to make. I wish I'd made more of it. Honestly, it tasted a lot like Cracker Jack. If I make it again I might add some nuts - almonds or peanuts - just to jazz up the flavor a bit.

Chocolate Mint Snowflake Cookies

2009-12-05T11:04:00.002-05:00

If you know me, then you'll find it hard to believe that I have never been to a cookie exchange before this year. I'm not sure how this is possible, but it's true. So, when the invite came for a cookie exchange at a good friend and neighbor's house this year, I agonized over what to make. My favorite holiday cookies to make are usually ornately decorated sugar cookies with an assortment of brightly piped royal icing colors. But I wanted the actual cookie to be more unique since this was meant to be a fun exploration of everyone's recipes.

Eventually I settled upon 3 factors in my cookie making pursuit: I wanted to do a chocolate cookie since they are not as common as butter or sugar cookies, a pairing of mint would somehow be nice, and a sandwich style cookie would be different (hopefully) than the norm. Regardless of what I made, I knew the decoration would be my favorite part, so piping something was a given. I stumbled upon a nice, chocolate sandwich cookie recipe from Martha Stewart and I had my base (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chocolate-sandwiches). The main tweaks were adding peppermint extract to the white chocolate creme filling and using small snowflake cookie cutters instead of just cutting into squares. Also, I did pipe snowflake patterns on with royal icing (peppermint flavored as well) instead of drizzling with white chocolate.

The results were wonderful! These little snowflakes were just the right size for a party where you're eating lots of cookies. The chocolate mint pairing was delicious and I'm trying not to eat anymore as I type this blog entry.

Pumpkin Seed Packets

2009-10-30T20:32:00.003-04:00

Jonathan's kindergarten class held an Halloween party this year. All the parents were asked to bring in a 20 items to put in a favor bag so that each child would get a collection of fun trinkets at the end of the party. We were asked that the item not be candy as they would get plenty of sweet stuff at the party. I went to Target thinking I might get stickers or glow sticks but when I got there I was just unimpressed. Everything was stamped "Made in China". I knew things would either break in five minutes or just add to the collection of junk that every parent hates. I went back home frustrated. Then I went online and found a website that listed "green" alternatives to candy treats at Halloween. Band aids, cookie cutters, coins, acorns . . . seed packets! I knew I had it! Jonathan LOVES to plant seeds. This was a perfect idea. But when I looked up seed packets they cost about $1 to $3 a packet which was too steep for my budget. Then I hit on a great idea. I could make them! We had seeds air-dried from a pie pumpkin. I'd been meaning to salt and roast them but never had gotten around to it. I found a template for a little seed packet online and cut them out of an old paper bag. These I glued together and then wrote on them with a permanent marker. The pumpkin was a quick outline that I then dabbed with orange finger paint. On the back I wrote directions for planting and watering. No plastic! No chemicals! No candy! Just pure fun of planting pumpkins. Now that's a treat!

Easy Donuts

2009-10-17T21:14:00.002-04:00

Lest you think I'm all about homemade, fresh, from scratch all the time, let me show you what I made today. Easy donuts. I saw this "recipe" in Real Simple a while ago and when my son asked me to make donuts today I was thankful it popped into my head. I took some Pillsbury biscuits from the refrigerated section of the supermarket, cut holes in the middle with a little biscuit cutter, and fried them up in some vegetable oil. Easy peasy. Well, it would have been easy if I'd not made my oil quite so hot. The outsides cooked faster than the inside so a few were a little underdone in the middle. Oops. The ones we ate, though, were delicious. Almost as good as an HOT-AND-NOW Krispy Kreme donut. I made a glaze out of powdered sugar and milk and then sprinkled them with sprinkles, of course! Yum!

Mini Apple Pies

2009-10-08T11:20:00.009-04:00

As a fan of Bakerella and a follower of her blog, I knew I would eventually find a good reason to attempt the Luxirare inspired Pie Pops on her site. With Fall Family Fun night on the horizon at my son's preschool, I knew I had the perfect excuse to delve into creating these little goodies. Apples were the theme for the night, so deciding my filling was easy. I found an apple shaped cookie cutter and set to work. I wanted to put more filling in these mini pies based on Bakerella's note that the crust overshadowed the filling. To avoid potential disaster with a top heavy pop (ie. one bite and it's on the floor), I eliminated the lollipop sticks taking a hit on the cute scale. To make up for the sticks, I pulled out my powdered food coloring and lemon extract to paint my mini apple pies. A few minutes to dry, a coating of egg white and a generous round of matching color sprinkles and they were ready for the oven. They came out tasty and adorable with just the right amount of filling. I took the easy route with pre-made crust and canned filling to save time, but these would be even more heavenly if they were homemade.

A Tale of Two Pies

2009-09-23T10:22:00.003-04:00

We went peach picking again this August and picked twice as many peaches as we did last year. I froze a bunch of them so we could have peach pies and cobblers this winter but I also tried out two new pie recipes.

This one was called Honey Bourbon Caramel Peach Pie and I snatched the recipe from Sassy Radish, a great food blog. I left out the bourbon only because I didn't have any. It was a great pie. I loved the crust. But the honey overpowered the taste of the delicate peaches. Plus, it was a bit runny.

This pie was my favorite. It's from Martha Stewart and is called Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie. It couldn't have been easier to make. You don't even have to peel the peaches. I used two more tablespoons of sugar than Martha calls for because I like my pies a little sweeter. So yummy.

Coconut Quilt Cake

2009-08-24T23:10:00.004-04:00

The week after Sam’s 5th birthday, we celebrated my grandmother’s 90th birthday with a gift from the entire family of a special family tree quilt. To go along with the quilt theme, I created a three tiered coconut layer cake with coconut buttercream between the layers and a thin layer of fondant on top of each tier. Once I got my fondant in place, I pressed the pattern onto the sides with a combination of cookie cutters and a rolling wheel tool to give a stitched impression. I transported the cake 3.5 hours away to WV where my grandmother lives and then painted the yellow flowers and blue diamonds with lemon extract (which is mostly alcohol–the key) and powdered food coloring. I assembled the day of the party, piped stars to connect the tiers and placed some simple flowers on top for an elegant finish. The cake recipe is from Cooks Illustrated and it is dense, moist and had the most wonderful flavor and texture a few hours after we cut it open. We all agreed that the second piece was even better than the first. Fondant is wonderful for keeping a cake fresh.

"Tractor Mower" Birthday Cake

2009-08-24T23:02:00.005-04:00

We just celebrated Sam’s 5th birthday John Deere style and he asked for a “tractor mower” birthday cake. After a bit of looking on the internet, I was able to find a tractor pan that looked enough like a lawn tractor and went to work. The trouble with these kinds of cakes is that there is no good place to write a Happy Birthday Message on the cake. Plus, I like to incorporate the birthday year into the design instead of just using candles. So, I decided to add a utility cart off the back and write my message on the cake board. I used my tried and true Vanilla cake recipe from Williams-Sonoma and tried some new frosting recipes that I don't recommend. They were ok, but I'll stick to traditional buttercream next time and leave Wilton out of it.

Blueberry Tart

2009-08-23T21:17:00.003-04:00

I don't think this post needs any explanation other than the picture. It looks so good even I just want to take a bite out of my computer screen. This blueberry tart is so easy to make and so impressive when served. You really must make it while blueberries are still in season. Go. Now. Make it!

Apple Danish

2009-07-13T21:19:00.003-04:00

About a month ago, I ambitiously made some Danish dough from Martha's baking cookbook. I had planned to make the Sugar Buns from her cookbook but never found the time to make the pastry cream that was to go in the middle. So I froze the dough and saved it for another day. Well, that other day came. My husband's cousin was coming to visit but we weren't sure what time of day so I thought danishes would be perfect to serve either with tea or as a dessert after dinner. I thawed the dough and then followed the Daring Bakers' recipe for apple filling. Each danish got filled and shaped and egg-washed. Then I put them in a warm place to rise. When I looked back at them two hours later they had risen properly but escaped from their perfect shapes. Oh well. I slid them in the oven and 20 minutes later they looked and smelled divine, shape or no shape. I whipped up a glaze made of powdered sugar and milk. Once that was drizzled on top I sprinkled a few almonds on each one. These were scrumptious! It was hard to eat just one even though I KNEW how much butter each one contained. Now, I have another batch of Danish dough in my freezer and I can't wait to make these again.

Red, White, and Blueberry Revamped

2009-07-05T20:44:00.002-04:00

So, last year my very first post on this blog was Red, White, and Blueberry popsicles just in time for the 4th of July. This year we were having a guest for dinner and I wanted to make something just as patriotic and a little more impressive for dessert. Inspired by some recent viewings of the Food Network, I decided to try making some meringue shells. I had never made these before, although I've made meringues for other reasons. I followed my recipe in my trusty old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It was so easy to pipe into little bowls and then I had lots leftover so I made some stars. For a perfect star shape I traced a star cookie cutter onto parchment and then turned the parchment over. When I was piping the meringue, all I had to do was follow the design. I baked these and let them sit overnight in the oven.

The next day when it was time to serve dessert, I spooned homemade strawberry jam into the shells and topped it with homemade whipped cream. Then I sprinkled blueberries and strawberries on top. Each meringue creation received a star and was served. They were a hit! Sweet, cool, creamy, fruity, yummy, and patriotic too!

Father's Day Treat

2009-06-26T20:19:00.003-04:00

This Father's Day I was inspired by the blogger Bakerella. When my son saw her Father's Day idea he just had to do it so I put together my shopping list and went to work. First let me show you how cute they are . . .

Now let me tell how much work they are! Bakerella used premade mixes for all her recipes but I like to go 100% homemade. So, first I made a batch of sugar cookie dough. Rolled it out. But it into french fry lengths and sprinkled with sugar. That was easy. No problem. Then I made a double batch of homemade brownies since my usual recipe fits in and 8x8 and I needed to fill a 9x13 pan. I used a biscuit cutter to cut out the circles and nibbled on the leftovers to give me energy to finish. The next day I baked up my cupcakes courtesy of Cook's Illustrated which makes 12 cupcakes. I mixed my homemade buttercream and tinted them red, yellow, and green. Then I sliced my cupcakes in half and invited Jonathan to help me assemble them. He loved doing this!!!! Finally we brushed the tops with water and sprinkled on the sesame seeds. Bakerella had templates for the fry bag and the paper dish. I printed them up on plain old printing paper and taped them together.

For dinner we served real burgers and fries to my husband. After we were sated, we served up these tiny little versions. They were yummy. But very rich and very filling. Cute as they are, I don't think I would make them again. Too much work and not really my "style."

Strawberry Pie

2009-06-22T10:28:00.003-04:00

Strawberry season is fleeting here in Maryland. I waited with eager anticipation because I love to make strawberry freezer jam. When I opened my new Cook's Country magazine I knew I'd be making a strawberry pie too. So, when the nearest pick-your-own strawberry farm was open the family hopped in the car. We filled our bellies and baskets with sweet juicy berries and came home to turn them into yummy goodies. The jam is currently in the freezer waiting for a cold winter day. The pie, however, was polished off and only remains a memory. It was fantastic.
Now, my grandmother's strawberry pie recipe calls for strawberries and strawberry gelatin poured into a graham cracker crust. I've never been a big fan of fake red jello but had never gotten a nice firm pie when I just used strawberries and cornstarch called for in most recipes. Cook's Country, though, has you make a homemade strawberry gelatin out of 2 pounds of strawberries, some sugar, and unflavored gelatin!!! Perfect. Another pound of sliced strawberries is stirred in and then the whole mixture gets poured into a prebaked pie crust. After it sits in the refrigerator for a few hours it gets firm enough to slice. It is soooooooooo good. I'm still having dreams of this pie. As you can tell, I'm not the only one who loved this pie!

Little Peach Pies

2009-04-30T21:00:00.003-04:00

These little peach pies from Cooking Light were part of the menu for tonight's dinner. The recipe made 12 little pies. Six went to a friend who just had a baby. Six stayed home with us. Needless to say, they are ALL gone now.

CL's recipe calls for a sweet cream cheese pastry dough. It has less fat in it than regular pastry and is pretty easy to put together. The food processor did all the work. The hard part was rolling out the 12 little circles. So that you don't have to add lots of flour and make the pastry tough, the recipe tells you to roll each circle out between two sheets of plastic wrap. Let me tell you . . . that's a lot of plastic. It almost felt wrong to use so much plastic just to save a few calories. Not good for the earth. Not good for my pocketbook, either. Now I need to go buy a new roll of the stuff! Argh!

The filling was pretty easy - dried apricots, frozen peaches, some spices, sugar, lemon juice. The filling is precooked since the pastries only spend 18 minutes in the oven. The best part was glazing them after they came out of the oven and cooled. You all know how I love icing!

These were pretty good. Three of us ate two apiece. So much for less calories! Even Jonathan thought they were tasty which is impressive for a 5-year-old, I think. I'm not sure this recipe is a keeper. We'll have to see what my friend says after she tries her batch tonight.

Easter Pigs

2009-04-14T08:42:00.003-04:00

A few years ago I purchased some knitting kits from Magic Cabin. With the kits I was supposed to be able to knit a pair of cats, a pair of pigs, and a pair of horses. As a new knitter I really only knew how to cast on, knit, and bind off. The only kit that promised a creature for such simple skills was the cat - so I did that. My first cat is still laughable to look at. The second is much cuter but has lost his tail in the ensuing years. Anyway, this Easter I was determined to put something cute and homemade in my sons' Easter baskets so I pulled down the kit for the pigs. This one was much more complicated, requiring me to knit, purl, increase, and decrease. Yikes! Never fear, though. One can find directions for anything online. I went to a few sites and watched a few video demonstrations. And tah-dah, some piggies appeared. I think they are adorable. My five-year-old was delighted with his. My one-year-old could have cared less. I'm mighty proud of them. Maybe in a few years I'll tackle the horses.

Pillsbury Bake-off

2009-03-23T20:13:00.003-04:00

So, Anne has convinced me to enter the Pillsbury bake-off. I decided what flavors I want to work with - maple, walnut, whole wheat. So, for a month or two I've been playing with different ideas and different recipes. I couldn't resist letting you take a peek at this one. I don't think it will be my entry for the contest but it was pretty yummy and tasty too. It is sort of a yeasted coffee cake. Jamie's taking one to work tomorrow to see what his coworkers think. I wonder what Anne is working on . . .

Ships Ahoy!

2009-03-10T21:03:00.003-04:00

Not to be outdone by Anne . . . I too made a cardboard creation. Jonathan wanted a pirate themed party for his 5th birthday. Anne had sent me to the site that inspired her train and I noticed a pirate ship there so I got the plans and started work. My husband procured bike boxes for me instead of the requisite refrigerator boxes so I had to scale the ship down a bit and rework it but after a few days of work the results were totally worth it. I surrounded it with blue balloons which, with a little imagination, was to be the sea. Inside I stashed black balloons to act as cannon balls. All eleven children had a blast with the balloon fight, lobbing cannons at each other and trying to "sink" the ship by filling it up with blue balloons. The cake was a pirate ship, too, courtesy of Martha Stewart. It tasted great! My only complaint is that the chocolate chips were supposed to just get pressed in but they didn't stay. So, I melted chocolate and made them stick. Unfortunately all that melted chocolate was very hard to cut at a moment's notice. Other than that, it was a yummy cake, a fun party, and a jolly good success!

A first birthday flower cake

2009-03-05T09:48:00.007-05:00

A first birthday is always special, and it comes with the tradition of giving the birthday girl/boy the cake to explore, destroy, devour—basically do with as she/he pleases. But are guests as excited to eat a baby-palmed cake as a fresh, clean one? Hmmm... Not sure.

One way to make the cake palatable for party guests while following tradition is to give the baby a smaller cake, keeping the larger one for everyone else. But the designer in me wondered, was there a way to make both cakes work in one, fun, colorful design? As it turns out, there is, so that's what I did.

For Lydia's first birthday I made a 5" cake plus cupcakes and arranged them into flower shapes. The flower cake turned out to be the perfect solution. We gave Lydia a cupcake to play with. Plus the cake was colorful, fun and easy to serve. All in all, a perfect cake for this very special occasion.

By the way, I used the Martha Stewart's Yellow Butter Cake recipe, which yielded 20 cupcakes plus the 5" cake. I made 2.5 batches of Betty Crocker Creamy Vanilla Frosting and found it very easy to make and use.

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes

2009-02-28T21:31:00.002-05:00

This cupcake recipe published by Cooks' Illustrated is the best cupcake recipe I've ever made. Perfect for birthday parties. Great flavor. Tender texture. Very vanilla-y. I made their Yellow Cupcakes with Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream. The sprinkles are green and blue dolphins from our local Amish store. Oh, and by the way, my husband has a new camera. It has "food" mode for taking pictures of my baking creations. Doesn't it look fabulous?

Ooo! Cake!

2009-02-11T12:54:00.002-05:00

The doctor informed me a few months ago that I had high cholesterol. Very high cholesterol. No cheese. No butter. No eggs. Lots of oatmeal. That is supposed to be my diet. But as you can tell by my posts . . . I haven't been that successful. I have been searching for recipes that use olive oil instead of butter so that I can satisfy my sweet tooth with a little less guilt. So, when I saw the recipe for Olive Oil Bundt Cake with Tangerine Glaze in my Cooking Light magazine, I tore it out and put it in my recipe file. This week, I finally got around to making it. Since tangerines didn't seem available at my market, I substituted fresh-squeezed orange juice in the recipe. And, since I thought it would boost the flavor, I added the zest of one orange to the cake AND the zest of another orange to the glaze. The cake received mixed reviews in our house. At first bite, my four-year-old pronounced it disgusting. But then in the ensuing days he ate four pieces. My husband thought the extra-virgin olive oil was a little strong. I thought it's flavor was very delicate and not too sweet, more like a quick-bread than cake really. The glaze was the best part (which, by the way, I had doubled because I LOVE icing). Not sure I'll make it again, but it was tasty and healthier than most cakes!

Football Krispy Treats

2009-02-02T23:00:00.004-05:00

I needed an easy, kid-friendly dessert for Super Bowl Sunday. Rice Krispy treats always seem to go quickly, so I did two regular batches and one chocolate by adding 1/4 cup of cocoa powder to the melted butter and marshmallow goo. I didn't have a football cookie cutter, so I improvised with a tin can by bending it into the shape needed. After cooling, I coated the tops with melted chocolate chips and then piped laces with melted white chocolate. Yummy! (If you are wondering, that IS a Terrible Towel in the background.)

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

2009-01-22T19:12:00.004-05:00

The story for these cookies begins with a bit of buttermilk and a gallon of milk. You see, I like to make my own ricotta cheese. It's really easy! I'll show you sometime. Anyway, it is sooooooo much better than the stuff you can buy at the grocery store. I made some ricotta cheese for a savory recipe (Jamie Oliver's ricotta fritters which I don't recommend) and I had some ricotta leftover. "What to do with it?" I wondered. It wasn't enough for a cheesecake and I wasn't in the mood for ice cream. Then I stumbled on this recipe for lemon ricotta cookies. Here's the link. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lemon-ricotta-cookies-with-lemon-glaze-recipe/index.html

I don't think I had enough ricotta for this recipe either but I didn't figure it really mattered. I had some leftover lemons from the lemon tart so I went to work. The cookies baked up light and fluffy, almost like little tea cakes or scones. The glaze was literally icing on the cake. Unfortunately half of it drizzled off the cookies when I spooned it on top. Next time I think I'll dip the cookie tops into the icing so I don't waste all the lemony goodnes on my countertop. These cookies are the perfect way to brighten up a cold afternoon.

Luscious Lemon Tart

2009-01-15T16:04:00.002-05:00

I have learned to NEVER order lemon desserts when I go out to eat. They are certainly to be made with too much sugar. They never have the "pop" that lemon things should have. So, I've collected my share of lemon recipes in an attempt to satisfy a craving when it hits me. My favorite is this lemon tart.

First, a sweet cookie-like dough (the French call it a pate sucre) is whirled in a food processor. I rolled it out between two sheets of plastic wrap and then fit it into the tart pan. A square of parchment paper was placed on top and filled with beans. I baked this at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Then I removed the paper and beans and cooked it a few more minutes until golden.

While the shell was baking, I made a lemon curd. 2/3 cup lemon juice, 1 cup of sugar, 7 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs, a pinch of salt, and lemon zest from 4 lemons. I cooked this until it reached 170 degrees and then poured it through a fine seive to get all the solids out. A few tablespoons of cream was stirred into the curd. The curd was poured into the hot tart shell and baked in the oven for 15 more minutes.

Once cooled, this tart is fantastic with a dollop of whipped cream and a cup of tea.

Little Beef Wellingtons

2008-12-31T16:01:00.004-05:00

For Thanksgiving I roasted a huge Turkey and ate it and ate it and ate it. So for Christmas I wanted something different. I'd made Beef Wellington once before but with a beef tenderloin going for a whopping $75 I decided to trim it down. Instead I bought three small fillet mignons. I browned them in some butter and then cooled them to room temperature. In the same pan I sauteed some finely chopped mushrooms and a tablespoon of sherry. Since I don't like liver pate, I left that out of this recipe. To cheat a little I did use premade frozen puff pastry BUT I did go for the fancy all-butter kind by Dufour. Yum! I rolled it out and cut it into squares. A steak was placed in the middle of each and then the pastry was crimped together like a dumpling. I cut mini snowflakes out of the fourth square and "pasted" them on with a little water. An egg wash cemented all the pastry together and then I popped it in the oven at 400 degrees. Thirty minutes later, golden brown mini beef wellingtons emerged from the oven and onto our waiting Christmas plates. Admittedly, they don't look as perfect as I'd have liked them. Next time (and there will be a next time) I will probably wrap them in the pastry and put the seams on the bottom so they have a smoother, showier look. Despite their rough edges they were very tasty. Too bad I can't afford to have this kind of dinner every day.

Luke’s Monkey Cake

2008-12-27T23:36:00.004-05:00

For Luke’s 1st birthday, I decided to create a cake based on his favorite stuffed animal: a monkey. I googled monkey cakes and found a dizzying array of ideas, but my favorite came from Martha Stewart. No surprise there. The recipe was for a banana cake with yellow and chocolate buttercream frosting. I baked the cake in a stainless steel bowl, cut into three layers to add a little height, and frosted. The ears were made of a cupcake cut in half. The cake was lots of fun to make and tasted very much like banana bread with decadent frosting. Luke certainly enjoyed it.

Better than a Reese's

2008-12-16T21:31:00.009-05:00

Normally I am a chocolate snob - Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, Callebaut. But when confronted with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, I have no control. I could eat a whole bag. So, when I received my December issue of Cook's Country and opened it to their cookie contest, I was already planning my grocery list. Their contest winner entered a cookie called Fudgy Peanut Butter Mousse Cups. It was a bit of work but soooooo worth it.

The easy part was mixing a bag of sugar cookie mix with some chopped pecans and melted butter. This was pressed into the cups of a mini muffin pan and baked until golden brown. Once these cooled, a teaspoon of ganache was poured into each cookie cup. A mixture of peanut butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and whipped cream formed the "mousse". I used a tiny ice cream scoop to divide this among the cups. Then more ganache was drizzled on top. Finally, a stint in the refrigerator firmed them up so they didn't gush all over when bitten.

I didn't eat the WHOLE pan but I admit I didn't leave many for my husband. Oops. Guess I'll have to make them again. Soon.

Snowman Cakes

2008-12-14T15:05:00.003-05:00

For the bake sale at our church, I had a delicious vanilla cake I made from scratch a week prior waiting in the freezer. I was not sure what I wanted to do, but I wanted it to be playful and fun. I decided to use my biscuit cutters to punch out circles of cake to create snowmen. I cut my cake rounds in half to add a layer of butter cream. Then I cut the head circle first, overlapped into that hole slightly to cut the middle, and overlapped again into the open hole to cut the bottom. When I put them all together, they fit like puzzle pieces. I did a simple glaze of powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water over the top. I took a few coatings to get the white opaque. I used my left over white glaze and created colors for the eye, nose, etc. I should have thickened it a bit more, but it worked ok. Packaging for the sale was tricky because the cakes would pull apart easily. I placed them on rectangles of cardboard wrapped in wax paper and used cardboard cake rounds scored and folded to hold that rectangle in place. Getting only 5 total snowmen out of my cake, I decided to add to my bake sale offering with some mint chocolate covered graham crackers and pretzels. Thank goodness bake sale season is over!

Peppermint Biscotti

2008-12-11T21:11:00.005-05:00

‘Tis the season to eat! As I contemplated recipes for two upcoming bake sales, I was asked to please not make chocolate chip cookies. Apparently, there are too many folks donating those this year. With “The Chewy” sidelined, I needed something different. A standout in the mile-long table of baggie cookied bliss. Biscotti! Tasty with a hot beverage, lasts for weeks, and endless decorative options. A glance in the pantry told me I had some peppermint extract in need of use, so peppermint became the default flavor. The italian treat was not one in my repertoire, but it was easy to make with the right recipe. The first I tried was a true italian recipe with no butter. The cookie was hard as promised, but I added a bit too much extract and gagged on the results. Sam loved it. I ventured off into an oil based recipe for the second batch. This created a more american style biscotti with a softer texture. No good. The third time was thankfully just right with 4T of butter and just 1/4t of extract. I couldn't decide how I wanted to decorate them, so I tried four different ways and liked them all. I continued doing all four and each bag for the sale has the four unique designs. Hopefully I’ll stop eating them before they make it into bags tonight.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

2008-11-16T15:16:00.004-05:00

In an attempt not to gain my traditional holiday pounds, I'm opting for one dessert per week from now until January 1. Of course, that means the dessert I pick each week has to be good. So, this week, I saw Ina Garten make these decadent chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and knew I had a winner. These cupcake bake up beautifully and are delicious. I almost hated to cover the tops, but once I made the peanut butter frosting, I not only covered the tops, but I also put a generous dose of frosting inside the cupcake too. That's when I ran out of frosting and had to do the second half of the cupcakes with chocolate ganache for frosting. All had peanut butter inside. Let's just say that I got my fill for sweets that day. Here is a link to that recipe on Food Network: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chocolate-cupcakes-and-peanut-butter-icing-recipe/index.html.

Almost-No-Knead Bread

2008-11-04T19:58:00.007-05:00

I love perusing food blogs and encountered one that extolled the virtues of a recipe for bread requiring no kneading. I personally don't mind kneading dough and waiting for it to rise several times but I thought I'd give it a try. After all, it does do all the work itself, right? A few days after downloading the recipe, I received an updated version from Cook's Illustrated. Theirs looked just as easy and I had all the ingredients so I set to work.

Flour, salt, instant yeast, water, beer, and vinegar. All I had to do was stir it together, let it sit for 8 to 18 hours, knead it for a few seconds, let it rise for two hours and pop it in the oven. The most important part is what you cook it in. A cast iron dutch oven that's been preheated in the oven for 30 minutes with the lid on at 500 degrees. Very important! Because the dough rises on top of a parchment sheet, it's pretty easy to lift and plop into the hot pan. Put the lid on, reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Take the lid off and bake for another 20 minutes.

Out comes a hot, crusty, golden loaf of bread that is irresistable! It is perfect with butter or maybe dipped in some olive oil. The only drawback to this recipe is that the bread's texture doesn't withstand time. It really is best eaten the day it is made. But then that's never a problem in our house.

Devil’s Food Cake for an Angel

2008-10-19T21:28:00.004-04:00

I attended my first post-birth baby shower today for a good friend in our neighborhood. I had high hopes for making petit fours for the special event. As you can see from the picture, the petit four making did not go well. My first attempt was a sponge cake baked in a jelly roll pan. I wanted to go the traditional route and sponge cake recipes looked more appealing than genoise. The sponge cake was delicious, but inconsistent. In my attempt not to over stir at the end and ruin the airy egg composition, I did not fully incorporate my ingredients. So, parts of my sponge cake were delicious and others were just egg whites cooked. So, I thought maybe pound cake might be safer and possibly more predictable. I didn't have any recipes for chocolate pound cake, so I ventured to the internet. I found what I thought would be a good recipe, but the batter would have filled my 9 x 5 loaf pan to the top. Nervously, I split it between two and then proceeded to under cook the cakes when my toothpick came out clean. Sigh. Determined to make some sort of cake, I turned to my Cooks Illustrated baking cooking book and chose the Devil’s Food Cake recipe. It promised to be a decadent chocolate experience. Thankfully, this cake turned out nicely and tasted wonderful. Perhaps a bit less stable than most cakes I have made, but delicious and almost brownie-like. I will try again someday, but three cakes in one weekend is more than I ever care to do again.

Snickerdoodling

2008-10-16T15:00:00.003-04:00

Snickerdoodles are a new cookie to me. I did not grow up eating them, so I don't really have any preconceived notions of what they should be. When I discovered they were a favorite of a dear friend of mine, I decided to add another cookie to the repertoire. To my delight, these were tasty and easier to make than traditional sugar cookies that require rolling out dough. I searched several sources for my recipe and decided on one from allrecipes.com that got high marks from over 1800 people (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mrs-Siggs-Snickerdoodles/Detail.aspx). Coming off my success with chocolate chip cookies, I substituted half the flour in the recipe with bread flour. I also sifted my dry ingredients (minus the sugar) together to help keep the cookies light. I was leery of the shortening in the recipe, but I decided to let that one slide this time. Using my small cookie scoop, I squeezed 5 dozen cookies out of this recipe. They were light, chewy, and delicious. The perfect size for eating 6 in a row without thinking. Sweet tooth beware!

Apple Pie

2008-10-15T19:37:00.003-04:00

Two weeks ago we went apple picking with our four-year-old. Cameo apples were ripe. They were so good that we picked two baskets full of them, munching on fresh apples as we went. Since we have a 7-month-old baby in the house, I cooked up some crock pot applesauce and froze it in cubes for him. The rest of us enjoyed homemade apple pie - three of them so far! I make my pie crust with butter. It tastes great and is easier to roll than one made with shortening. Then I fill it with six cups of apples, 1/2 cup sugar, juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon. To top it off, I make a crumb topping of flour, brown sugar and butter. Served with ice cream, there is no better dessert.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

2008-10-04T20:08:00.007-04:00

Friends were coming for dessert a few weeks ago and I wanted to impress. So I pulled out my copy of Nigella Lawson's How To Be a Domestic Goddess and began flipping through the pages. I knew chocolate was a favorite so I flipped to the section conveniently marked "Chocolate." And there it was . . . Chocolate Mousse Cake. Basically it is a flourless chocolate cake taking its structure from eggs instead of flour. Using Callebaut chocolate and organic eggs I set to work. It was really very simple. All I had to do was melt the chocolate with some butter and sugar. Whisk that together with egg yolks. I whirred the egg whites to soft peaks and then folded in the chocolate mixture. I poured it into a springform pan wrapped in foil. Dunked it in a water bath and pushed it in the oven. An hour later, out came this dreamy cake. So yummy. And they were impressed. Very.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-09-30T21:29:00.006-04:00

As an avid cookie baker, I'm always looking for a really great recipe for the classics. I enjoy venturing out into new treat territory, but with Sam requesting chocolate chip cookies most often, I have been on a quest for the perfect recipe. I have found it! Tonight I baked my personal best batch of chocolate chip cookies thanks to Alton Brown.

After scanning the Food Network search results from my cookie query, I noticed a cookie listed as “Chewy” with a 5 star rating based on 485 reviews. This I had to try and it did not disappoint.

Thankfully, I had a bag of bread flour waiting in the pantry and kosher salt on hand. These appeared to be the only out of the ordinary ingredients. The dough had to be chilled for a bit and then, using an ice cream scoop, I plopped out 6 “gimantic” (as Sam would say) balls of dough on my parchment lined cookie sheets. Just 14 minutes in the oven and I pulled out the large, beautiful cookies that turned out perfectly chewy, but not under done. There was also a nice golden crisp to the cookie exterior that combined nicely with the chewy interior.

This recipe is a must for any chocolate chip cookie lover you know: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html.

Makin' Whoopie

2008-09-02T13:26:00.005-04:00

Nine years ago, before my husband and I were married, we took a drive through Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. I was enthralled with the Amish people at the time and gawked at their quilts, their clothes, their buggies. We stopped at a little bakery to have a snack and bought a two Red Velvet Whoopie pies. It was love at first bite!

Now I know I can't recreate the same romantic mood we had nine years ago during our courtship. But I'm determined to recreate a Whoopie pie that takes us back in time. So far, I've tried three recipes; this is my fourth attempt. My husband says I'm getting closer. Obviously, you can tell these are not Red Velvet but that's nothing a bottle of red food coloring can't fix. Basically, though, this is a Devil's Food Cake recipe plopped onto parchment in 1/3 cup portions. It makes separate little cakes that get smooshed together with a creamy filling. It's the filling that I'm having a hard time with. This filling was made from powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and Marshmallow Fluff. He thinks it tastes too marshmallowy but I like the light texture it imparts to an otherwise heavy buttercream frosting.

Don't worry. These Whoopie pies are disappearing fast, leaving me free to look for another recipe and start makin' whoopie again!

Baby Shower Coconut Cake

2008-08-26T13:45:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, we had a little baby shower for my friend Kristy at a nice restaurant in Pittsburgh called Willow. I called the restaurant to make sure they would allow me to bring in my homemade cake and then got to work. I love the recipe from “The New Best Recipe” cookbook for coconut cake. The key, in my opinion, to any good coconut cake is toasting the coconut and using only real ingredients (real butter and no imitation anything). After making the cake and frosting it with the coconut buttercream, I pulled out the pram template I designed for another shower (Manske's, of course) and did a flat pram on top with a little decorative royal icing around the edges. Lots of fun and very tasty!

Animal Mobile

2008-08-26T12:43:00.005-04:00

Baby mobiles tend to be either insipid pastel things or extravagant affairs with blinking lights and crooning lullabies. When my baby, Adam, was born I looked and looked for a simple bright mobile to hang above his crib. Unfortunately, the one I liked cost $100 so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Literally.

I bought some felt, colored thread, and seed beads at my local craft store. My friend Anne showed me how to take images offline that I liked, cut them out, and use them to trace my design on the felt. I cut out two of each shape, stuffed them with wool, and sewed them together with a blanket stitch. A few beads sewn on for eyes and some felt glued on for ears and legs made my felt animals just detailed enough. I tied these shapes onto the inner ring of an embroidery hoop that I had painted yellow. Some bright ribbons were glued onto the ring and tied together to complete the mobile.

Now, Adam drifts off to sleep while smiling at the sheep, giraffe, kangaroo, and porcupine that float overhead.

The Train Cake

2008-08-17T11:06:00.006-04:00

When it was time to make the cake for Sam's 4th birthday this year, I pulled out the train cake pan I conveniently received for Mother's Day. I had only attempted a cake with this much detail on the pan once before and the results had not been very good. Thankfully, I learned a lot from that terrible castle cake and with a tip from Sassy, the train cake came out wonderfully. The greasing and flouring part of the process is critical. I sprayed the pan with Pam to get every nook and cranny, but then wiped out as much as possible with a paper towel. The grease is still there, but not in big droplets which leave pock marks on the exterior of your cake. Then, I used Wondra® flour, which is a special flour usually used for sauces and gravies. It is super fine and also helps the outside of the cake remain nice and smooth. Finally, Sassy warned me not to follow the instructions on the cake pan, which said to "spread the batter so it reaches the top edges of each well". Instead, I filled the cake wells 1/2 to 2/3rds like normal and then, using a small spatula, pulled the batter up to the edges on all sides. That worked perfectly! I wanted a nice color on the cakes without losing the detail behind the frosting. So, I used a simple recipe of powdered sugar, water, vanilla, and food gels to create a thick, runny glaze that coated beautifully. I wanted to go back with white piping and add more detail and little candies, but I ran out of time. Thankfully, Sam had no idea and the cake was a hit with the kids.

Peach Season

2008-08-07T19:49:00.006-04:00

It is peach season here in Maryland. Since my son has a penchant for picking every growing thing and eating it, we decided to take him peach picking. Eighty peaches later, with peach fuzz tickling our necks and arms, we hauled our loot home and perused recipes. So far, I've made peach jam, peach cheesecake, cold fruit soup, and a peach pie, of course. I still have a few peaches left but they are starting to get mushy. I saw a recipe for roasted peach ice cream, touted as a perfect way to use peaches beyond ripeness. Maybe you'll see a picture of that soon!

All Aboard Invite

2008-08-03T22:09:00.003-04:00

We’re less than two weeks away from Sam's 4th birthday and the train party plans are chugging right along. We'll be walking around the neighborhood tomorrow to visit his little friends and give them their “tickets” to the party. He is very excited about the steam engine on the ticket and can’t wait to eat cake made with the Williams-Sonoma train pan I conveniently received for mother’s day.

Cupcake Evolution

2008-07-28T21:13:00.002-04:00

"Make cupcakes!" is a command often heard at my house. And since I have a sweet tooth too I make no objections to pulling out my muffin tin and plopping in a few cupcake papers. Last week I chose a recipe from Cooking Light entitled Lemon Angel Food Cupcakes. I substituted Key Lime zest and juice for the lemon but otherwise the recipe remained unaltered. My idea was to present summery light cupcakes topped with a real slice of tart key lime. So simple. So sophisticated. As you can see . . .

However . . . my son, Jonathan (age 4) promptly ripped off my lovely limes and demanded sprinkles. Sprinkles are an important affair in our house. They go on pancakes, ice cream, bagels, cereal, or can even be eaten as snacks unto themselves. So, sprinkles were selected.

As we were just finishing the last cupcakes, my son realized that the frosting I'd used (a delicious limey one by the way) was not dyed the blue he had originally desired. I'd hoped to get away without making any blue frosting. After all, the blue lips and tongue I get after eating anything blue do little to enhance my appearance! But since I had extra frosting we swirled some blue gel into the last of the icing. The boring white frosting was scraped off and replaced with the brilliant one. And the last of the sprinkles went on.

So, in my house . . . cupcakes often go through an evolution. From sophisticated to sprinkles to simply perfect for a preschooler!

Printable Frosting

2008-07-27T20:31:00.008-04:00

Last summer, my son Sam asked for a marching band cake for his 3rd birthday. I had been eager to try a cake with the printable frosting that is available through most grocery store bakeries. It was pricey at my local Giant-Eagle with the printed sheet running about $8.00. So, I squeezed as much as I could onto one 7" x 10" sheet. I handed off my "art" to the lady in the bakery and the next day I picked up my printed frosting sheet. I carefully cut out all my marching band figures with an Exacto knife and had them ready to go once my cake was frosted. I gently pressed them onto the side of the wet frosted cake and used the blunt end of a fancy toothpick to press the edges neatly in. Sam loved the cake and each piece was served with a different marcher up the side.

Meet Mr. Rosemary

2008-07-21T23:58:00.003-04:00

My first garden in Colorado is starting to come into its own. I delight in visiting it each day with my 2-year-old. We call the rosemary plant "Mr. Rosemary." We had friends over for shrimp and grits Saturday and I baked Rosemary Focaccia from the Moosewood Cookbook with the help of Mr. Rosemary, of course.

The recipe is super easy, and the smell of fresh, organic rosemary baking with the bread fills the house with pre-party excitement. My daughter helped set the table and we talked about sharing her toys with our friends' two boys. Then we looked at the just-baked focaccia. "Look, it has grass in it!" she squealed.

The beautiful flowers were a hostess gift from my guests. Mysti is a talented jewelry and flower designer.

Red, White, and Blueberry Popsicles

2008-07-21T08:48:00.003-04:00

My son, Jonathan (age 4), loves those psychedelic popsicles filled with artificial sweeteners and colors. I try to get him to go the all-natural route but they just don't please him artistically. So, in the spirit of the 4th of July, I created some patriotic popsicles. I blitzed some strawberries with a tablespoon or two of sugar and poured a bit into some small plastic cups. After 30 minutes in the freezer I stuck some red, white, and blue coffee stirrers into the middle. The second layer was some organic nonfat vanilla yogurt plopped on top. Frozen again. Finally I whirled some wild Maine blueberries in the blender. No sugar needed for those. They were perfectly sweet! Once the popsicles were topped off, I slid them back into the freezer for one last time. When we took them out of their molds they were perfectly patriotic. And oh so good!

Cookie Pizza

2008-07-20T15:03:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago, my son Sam (3) and I made sugar cookie pizzas. We rolled our our sugar cookie dough on a pizza stone and trimmed around a plate to get our circle. The pizza slice cuts were scored into the dough before cooking and then again immediately after we pulled it from the oven. The frosting sauce could have been more red, but we just didn't have enough food coloring gel to get it that dark. White ball sprinkles worked for the cheese, although shredded coconut or white chocolate would have looked nice, too. We sliced gummi fruit snacks for the pretend pepperoni and olives. Now when Sam asks for pizza for dinner, I have to clarify that he is not getting a big cookie for his meal.