Bake or Break

Weekly Mix: Desserts for Outdoor Parties

jennifer — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:28:23 +0000

As much as it baffles me to think about it, it's not long until Memorial Day. And with that day, we begin the season for barbecues, backyard parties, rooftop get-togethers, and all sorts of outdoor parties. If you're anything like me, you'll have dessert delegated to you more often than not.

When you think about warm weather desserts, it's easy to think immediately of icebox pies and mini cheesecakes and all kinds of cold desserts. But, here's the thing. If you're going to be dining outside, then those kinds of desserts are not your friends. No melty, gooey desserts here. What we do have is plenty of delicious crowd-pleasers like cookies, bars, cakes, and more.

Chocolate Chip-Hazelnut Scones

jennifer — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:25:50 +0000

During my time at King Arthur Flour's Blog & Bake™, I found a new love. Now, don't worry. Quinn is not going anywhere. I found a new baking love - white whole wheat flour.

Sure, I'd seen it before, but I always kind of discounted it and went with traditional wheat flour when needed. But, I found out that white whole wheat flour has all the benefits of whole wheat flour, but it produces lighter-colored baked goods with a milder flavor. There's red wheat, where we get whole wheat flour, and then there's white spring wheat, which gives us white whole wheat flour.

Blueberry Sour Cream Mini Muffins {Plus a J.R. Watkins Giveaway}

jennifer — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:04:43 +0000

As that collection of recipes last Friday hopefully conveyed, I love baking with berries. I love all kinds of berries, but if I have to pick a favorite berry, I would likely choose blueberries. And, one of my favorite uses for blueberries is muffins.

Just to make these blueberry muffins even better, I used one of my favorite baking ingredients - sour cream. I love the texture and flavor that it adds. These little muffins are everything you'd want in a blueberry muffin. They are seriously dangerous, though, because you'll be tempted to eat one right after another.

Weekly Mix: Baking with Berries

jennifer — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:06:09 +0000

As I was making that lovely Raspberry Almond Crumb Tart earlier this week, I began thinking about some of my favorite baking recipes that use berries. These days, berries are available pretty much year-round, but there's just something about fresh local berries that is extra exciting. As we head into berry season, it seems like a good time to start thinking about what to bake with all the berries that will soon be on their way.

Raspberry Almond Crumb Tart

jennifer — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:11:18 +0000

As a child, I disliked the texture of berries. I loved the flavors, but the texture was just weird to me. I'm happy to say I've gotten over that. I still don't like to bite into a big strawberry, but cut those up and I'm good. No idea what that's all about.

In any case, I now happily embrace berries and love to use them in baking. For my taste, I prefer to use them in a way that lets the flavor of the berries come through. They're plenty sweet on their own without adding much to them. This tart is a lovely way to revel in berry deliciousness.

Pecan Shortbread Brownies

jennifer — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:33:01 +0000

My baking habits and tastes have changed over the years, but longtime favorites still endure. Chocolate, pecans, and shortbread are always winners for me. When I find a recipe that combines all three, how can I not make it?

I happened upon the recipe for these brownies when browsing through Fat Witch Brownies. Fat Witch is a delicious little brownie shop in New York's Chelsea Market. When we lived in Manhattan, we lived just a few blocks away and visited the market frequently. We often ate dinner at one of the restaurants there, did a little shopping, and then hit up Fat Witch for our brownie fix.

Now that we live in Brooklyn, I don't get to visit Fat Witch as often. But, with their cookbook, I can recreate some of that deliciousness at home. I can't remember seeing these brownies in the shop, but I couldn't resist baking them.

Weekly Mix: Breakfast Baking

jennifer — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:22:12 +0000

Happy Friday, my baking friends! I'm not sure where this week has gone, but I imagine it's mired somewhere in all the baking I've done this week. I've lost count of the pounds of butter and flour I've gone through in the last few days.

In addition to my regular amount of baking, I am also baking many, many cookies for the NYC Bake Sale that's happening at Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene this Saturday. If you're not familiar with this big event, it features baked goods from New York area food bloggers and local bakeries. Trust me, that's some good stuff. Plus, all proceeds benefit No Kid Hungry, a national nonprofit organization that's helping to end childhood hunger by 2015.

In BoB news, you may have noticed a theme this week. Breakfast was the hot topic as we started out with Mocha Muffins and moved to Cinnamon Roll Cake. It was really unintentional, but I figure we'll just keep going with it today.

Cinnamon Roll Cake {Plus a Baking Sheet Digital Subscription Giveaway}

jennifer — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:30:12 +0000

I love recipes that take a well-known, well-loved baked good and present it in an entirely different way. I also love baked goods that are just as good for breakfast as they are for dessert. So, you can imagine that this Cinnamon Roll Cake makes me very happy.

The cake itself is a lovely yellow cake made with one of my favorite cake ingredients - sour cream. A little cinnamon sugar gets partially mixed into that delicious cake. Then, the cake is layered with a combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. To top it all off, a sweet vanilla glaze goes on top of the baked cake.

Mocha Muffins

jennifer — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:51:12 +0000

Quinn has been after me for ages to bake more with chocolate and coffee. The problem, you see, is that I don't like coffee. Love to smell it, don't love to drink it. Does anyone else have this problem?

It's no secret that chocolate and coffee are a brilliant pairing. They just seem to enhance each other naturally. Even I have a hard time arguing with that.

Weekly Mix: King Arthur Flour Blog & Bake

jennifer — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:32:16 +0000

This week, I was a very lucky girl indeed. I was one of thirteen food bloggers invited to King Arthur Flour's Blog & Bake™ in Norwich, Vermont. For three days, we baked and baked and then baked some more. We also visited farms and ate some amazingly delicious food. And, all the while, I got to know a very talented and generally awesome group of people.

I took literally hundreds of photos, but I will try not to overwhelm you with them. But, I do so want to share as much as I can about such an incredible experience. If you would like to see more photos, see my Facebook page or click here to got to my Flickr set.