Living life to the fullest

Icy weekend at home

2021-02-14T18:54:00.008-05:00

There was an ice storm here in my neighborhood this weekend. Ever since my accident a few years ago, the one where I totaled my SRX, (see picture below) driving in less than ideal conditions is hard for me.

Especially now that I drive a little Insight. I won't do as well in Bluebell (yes, I name my car...don't you?) as I did in Violet. So, I stayed in the house all weekend. Didn't even go out to get groceries.

I was busy in the kitchen, cooking and baking. Even though my depression has impacted many other aspects of my life, those two things usually bring me comfort. When they don't, it's cereal and toast and no posts on Instagram or Facebook with pictures of something yummy. It's a good gauge of how I'm doing; if there are postings, I'm at least taking care of my stomach.

I whipped up several things this weekend. The first thing I made was a hash. Or home-fries if you like that better. I took one sweet potato, one green pepper, one onion and one honey crisp apple. Diced and sauteed them in a little olive oil, along with a couple of pieces of chopped cooked bacon, some salt, pepper, and, for something different, some turmeric. It was so good! The apples added just the right touch of sweetness to the savory onions and peppers.

Though I didn't take any photos of it, for dinner Friday night I made my favorite: Pasta Pomodoro.(I posted this picture from another time) I heat up a little olive oil. Sprinkle some crushed red peppers and freshly ground black pepper into the oil. I then add some cherry tomatoes. While they are cooking down, I boil some pasta, usually angel hair, and then toss the pasta into the pan with the cherry tomatoes. I add a little pasta water,and then off the heat I add some parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Super easy and so delicious!

While looking though Instagram, I came across a recipe from Ina Garten for a Dark Chocolate Tart that looked so good, I got up and gathered the ingredients to make it. I added a small amount of orange oil because I love the flavors of chocolate and orange together. It was simple to put together. No real cooking.It does have to be baked, but nothing on the stove.

A graham cracker crust, a chocolate ganache with eggs. Less than 30 minutes total baking time. It's super rich and creamy. Very decadent and perfect for Valentine's Day. And, with a little pistachio gelato on the side, it was heavenly.

I think I mentioned that I noticed recently a lot of the spices used in Indian cooking are ones I know and like. The last time I was in the grocery store I noticed a bottle of Garam Marsala spice blend and picked it up. I decided to try it out on some vegetables.

Zucchini and carrots. I cut them into strips and drizzled them with olive oil. I sprinkled everything with the spice blend and roasted them in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes. The aroma of them baking was maddening. The carrots were especially delicious, the warm spices complimenting their sweetness. The was a subtle heat on the backside which was very nice. Cinnamon maybe?

I don't eat much red meat, but every once in a while I love a good burger. This weekend was one of those times.

I caramelized an onion, grated some Gruyere cheese, made a spicy aioli, grabbed some dill pickles, sliced up a tomato and used all those goodies to top a burger I cooked up in my cast iron skillet. That was dinner. Nothing else. Just the burger topped with all those goodies. The sweetness of the tomatoes went well with the richness of the cheese. A couple of dill pickles added the perfect amount of acidy. It was so satisfying.

I watched a couple of episodes of "Good Eats, Reloaded"this weekend. One of the episodes had a recipe for an overnight oatmeal. It was another of those recipes that looked so good to me that I got up and gathered the ingredients to make it. Oatmeal, flax meal, chia seeds, cranberries, cinnamon, salt, almond milk, coconut milk, maple syrup and vanilla. I placed everything into my canning jars and placed them into the refrigerator for breakfast.

This morning I took out one of the jars, heated it in the microwave for about 90 seconds, sprinkled on some toasted coconut and chopped pistachios and dug in. This will be a recipe I go to over and over, The tartness from the cranberries. The creaminess of the oats. Not overly sweet. Crunch from the nuts. A perfect was to start my day!

I cleaned my house today. Started by sweeping the kitchen floor. Asked Alexa to play some music to clean house to. And, slowly went from room to room. So what, you might say, but it's been months since I cleaned. I have kept my stove, sink and countertop (fairly) clean, but the rest of the house has been ignored. I had not been able to motivate myself. I haven't cared. No one is coming to my house. I'm alone here. Who cares? And, I've been struggling with that. Part of me hating how things looked. Part of me that didn't care. Why share this? Because there might be someone else out there feeling the same. Not being able to do those every day or every week things that make up life. Not cleaning. Not keeping in touch with people. Not taking care of yourself.Thinking it won't change. Don't give up. I've been there. I struggle to stay atop my depression and sometimes I can, and there are many other times I can't. Sometimes caring about anything is just too much effort. For me, it's best described as a wave or maybe a roller coaster. I know, if I hang on long enough, that there will be an upswing. I'm sharing this to say "hang on". That tomorrow could be the start of that upswing. Give yourself credit for getting up. For putting on any clothes. For eating anything.

Life is hard. Give yourself time.

Scenes from the weekend

2021-02-08T10:11:00.027-05:00

I’m pretty lucky I think. I own my home outright, so I don’t have to worry about a mortgage payment.I do still have to work, at least for another year or two. But, because I own my home, and because my boss approved it, I can work a four day work week and enjoy a three day weekend, every weekend. Before the pandemic, I was out and about for most of the weekend. These days I’m seldom out and about. Most of the time I am at home.

Being home means I have time to cook and bake and most weekends that’s exactly what I’m doing. This weekend was no exception.

Friday I made a delicious breakfast of roasted sweet potatoes, mashed avocado and sunny-side up eggs. Lunch was a delicious salad made with farro, spinach, chickpeas, cucumbers and feta cheese. Dinner? Lentil soup with celery, onions, carrots and tomatoes.

Saturday was more baking, less cooking. I made a Polenta Apricot Pudding cake and a pan of Polenta Honey cake. I also took half a tube of sugar cookie dough, added some chopped pistachios and dried cherries and attempted to bake cookie sticks. The sticks spread so I have oblong cookies instead. Not as attractive as I had pictured in my head, but still delicious.

The Honey polenta cake I use for one of my favorite snacks. I grill the cake and then top it with sliced, fresh pears, Greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

Yesterday I made breakfast for dinner in the form of a delicious pumpkin oatmeal. It’s a recipe from Aarti Sequeira. I caught it on an episode of her show "Aarti Party". The recipe turned out well, super easy to make and worth looking up and trying. I hadn't realized Indian cooking used so many spices that I know and love. I have earmarked several recipes I want to try. Watch this space for Indian recipes in the future!

The last cooking for the weekend I did was just a little bit ago. I roasted some Brussels sprouts with a little salt, pepper and olive oil. I love roasted veggies of all kinds. I often roast some and use them as meal prep. Last week it was carrots. My dinner this morning was homefries made with red potatoes cooked in a cast iron pan with onions, green pepper and some chopped bacon. Then, to go with the homefries, I sautéed some shallots, tossed in some spinach and then added a couple of beaten eggs and cooked that all together.Topped with a few pieces of feta cheese. Not very pretty, but quite satisfying. Some red grapefruit was perfect for cutting the richness of the dish.

And that was pretty much my weekend. Did a little cooking. Cleaned up the mess made doing said cooking. Repeated the whole thing again. Very relaxing. Very peaceful. Also very productive because most things I cook or bake make multiple servings, and I freeze the extra into portions for my meals at work. It's a "win-win" situation.

It has been a while

2021-02-08T01:50:00.005-05:00

I used to blog. A lot. I was part of several baking groups. I love to bake and enjoyed posting pictures of my baked goods. I met other bakers, learned about baking and taking photos, and made some friends.

I was married, living in the country and life was good. Or I thought it was. But, there was a cancer growing and after 26 years, I decided to leave my marriage and try life on my own.

I bought a little trailer in a golf/camping community, I traded in my gas guzzling SUV for a little hybrid, adopted a cat, and started a new life. My life.

That was 4 years ago. I am happier and more at peace today than I have ever been. From working 2 jobs and commuting 3 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week, I now work 1 job, 4 nights, and my weekly commute is less than 2 hours. I’ve found a job that suits me, working overnights with the freight department of Home Depot. I stock shelves, working at my own pace and on my own.

I do a lot of posting on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Pictures of food I’ve cooked or baked. Photos of my travels. (Not so many of those lately, but better days are coming). But I love to “talk, and I’m often too wordy for those platforms. So, I thought I would revisit this old blog and perhaps rediscover my pleasure in sharing, through blogging and photography, my love of baking and cooking. Hang around. This could be fun.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Apple Weekend Cake

2018-03-13T18:20:00.000-04:00

I joined this group just last month, and this is the first post since joining. I am excited to be part of a baking group again. It has been far too long. :)

I chose to bake the Apple Weekend Cake. I am a sucker for anything with apple in it, so it was an easy choice for me.

This was super easy to put together and smelled fabulous while it was baking. I did not have any dark rum, so I just upped the amount of vanilla in the recipe. I think my two medium apples may have been on the large side as it seemed there was more apple than batter, but since I like apples (see above paragraph) I didn't mind. I didn't add any nuts or raisins as Dorie suggests, but think I would add nuts when baking it again.

The cake is moist, not too heavy, not too sweet and delicious. I can see toasting a slice and then adding a little butter to it. I can also see warming a slice in the microwave and adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream to it. It would lend itself well to breakfast or dessert.

To see what the other bakers baked, head over here...https://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com/2018/03/13/bcm-lyl-apple-weekend-cake-and-pailles/

Baking with Julia

2018-02-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

I recently received my copy of "Baking with Julia" and decided to jump right in and make croissants.
Nothing like starting out with something simple and easy, right?

Actually the arrival of the book was at a perfect time. I had mentioned in front of one of my Starbucks partners that I had never made croissants at home. He seemed a bit incredulous at that (he is often the recipient of much of my baking adventures) and said I should make some. I was planning on scouring the web for a croissant recipe when I got home that afternoon. So, you can imagine my surprise and delight when I stopped by the post office to find the copy of "Baking with Julia" in my mailbox.

I made croissants once during a class at Sur la Table. I have attended many classes there, most with my daughter and that was a class we took together. We made plain croissants, chocolate croissants, and a ham and cheese croissant. I remember us doing some work, but, most of the work is done ahead of time so that there is time for the class. The class was 2 hours long and I can attest to the fact that it took me A LOT longer to make the ones I made. Days in fact! Two of them!

My boss at Starbucks is a coupon queen and she recently gave me three pounds of butter, one of them a European style butter. That is the butter I used for the croissants

First roll after adding butter

I definitely gave my poor old Kitchen Aid mixer a run for her money. I made two batches of dough for the croissants. I have one batch in the freezer for a another time. I am glad I made two batches as all the things I learned to do and not do will make the second batch even better.

I ~~think~~ know for me one of the hardest thing was waiting between turns. I wanted to see how they were going to turn out. Rolling, folding, wrapping and chilling took several hours between each turn and by the time I got to the part where I was waiting for them to rise before baking, (deep breath!) I ended up rushing that rising a bit.

Croissants are a lot of physical labor. It's real work rolling the dough out into 24x14 inch rectangles, not once, not twice, but 4 times! Counting the final rolling out before cutting them into triangles or strips, depending on whether you make butter or chocolate croissants.

I made both. I'll admit I have trouble not going overboard. I am a bit obsessive/compulsive so of course I made butter and chocolate. It really wasn't that much more involved. Just cutting the dough differently and chopping up some bittersweet chocolate. I need to find where to buy the sticks of dark chocolate you can use when making croissants.

With all the work involved, all the hours waiting in between, I would still make them again. My house smelled amazing while they were baking. I shared them with a couple of my friends and got rave reviews on them, especially the chocolate ones. My two grandkids, who came to stay this weekend (they are 6 and 4) couldn't get enough of the plain ones. Buttery. Flaky. Better than any store bought ones, in my opinion. Try them!

Brownies!!

2018-02-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

I don't work on the weekends. Well, I don't work at Starbucks or Home Depot. I do work at home, doing things like housecleaning or laundry. You know, the usual things. I used to work weekends. Almost every Saturday and Sunday. Then, two years ago, I had back surgery and while recovering I decided that when I went back to work it was only going to be Monday - Friday. I figured if my bosses valued me, they would take me whenever I was available. And, they did. So, I now work Monday thru Friday from 6AM to 4PM. That's at both jobs. 5 hours at Starbucks, an hour off and then 4 hours at Home Depot.

But, I digress. This post is supposed to be about brownies.

While scrolling through my Facebook feed a week or two ago, I stumbled across a link to Peanut Butter Cookie Brownies. The pictures looked amazing and I saved the link for a time when I could make them. That time was yesterday afternoon, after I finished making my Pineapple Upside-down cake.

The recipe for the brownies was actually two part. You made a brownie recipe, either a box version of your favorite brand, or in my case, a scratch recipe for brownies.

Once that was made, I made the peanut butter cookie recipe. The recipe, that I will post at the end of this post, called for baking the brownies in a 9" pan. I wanted to surprise my Home Depot coworkers with them so I needed more than what a 9' pan would yield. I made them in a jelly roll pan.

Anyway, aside from the different pan, I basically followed "The Little Kitchen's" recipe.

These brownies are amazing! Super chewy, moist and delicious! I used King Arthur's black cocoa powder in place of dutch processed and it gave the brownies a darker, richer depth than regular dutch cocoa would have. I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate in the brownies. It's my favorite brand of chocolate.

Give these brownies a try. I promise you won't be disappointed.

https://www.thelittlekitchen.net/peanut-butter-cookie-brownies/

Pineapple Upside Down Cake, in a cast iron skillet

2018-02-10T17:02:00.000-05:00

I recently joined a group on Facebook called Cooking with Cast Iron. I own two Lodge cast iron skillets, one 10" and one 12". I hadn't been using them, haven forgotten about them. They were in the bottom of a cabinet, just waiting to be brought out into the light again.

So, after joining the group, I've been making an effort to use them. I've made many dinners in them. Pork Chops with Apples, Goulash, Tuscan Sausage and Peppers. The list goes on. However, I haven't done many sweet things in them.

A little back info to this post is that I work at Starbucks. I work with a bunch of really great people and I often bring in "tasty treats", as one coworker calls them, for the gang. I satisfy my baking urges and I don't have all those fattening things here in my house, with only me to eat them. :)

Friday one of my coworkers suggested Pineapple Upside-down Cake as a tasty treat for Monday. I realized that while I have made Peach Upside-down Cake (my Mom's recipe), I had never attempted a pineapple version. Challenge accepted. :) And, while I usually make my Mom's recipe in a cake pan, I decided to use my 12" cast iron pan instead.

The recipe was a simple one. Butter in the pan. Brown sugar on that. Pineapple slices over that.

A quick batter mixed up and poured over top. I used the liquid from the pineapples for the liquid in the recipe and added a teaspoon of vanilla.

Baked for about 25 minutes. I let it cool for about 5 minutes and them flipped it onto a cake circle as I have no plates large enough for a 12" cake.

It turned out very well. Delicious, actually. Edges have a little bite of bit to them. That crunchy kind of bite that comes from sugar caramelizing around the edges of a pan. Adding the pineapple juice as the liquid was a good move because it also added a little extra flavor. While I think I still prefer my Mom's peach version, this was pretty darned good. I think the crew at Starbucks will be happy come Monday morning.

http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/pineapple-upside-down-cake-in-iron-skillet-42861#activity-feed

I've made some changes!

2018-02-07T21:05:00.000-05:00

I used to post to this blog every week. I was part of several baking groups and loved reading other blogs, trying new recipes, taking pictures. Being part of a community.

The man I was married to made some negative comments about the time and money I was spending baking and blogging and I stopped. Stopped blogging. Stopped keeping in touch with friends I had made. Stopped a lot of things.

In April of 2016 I suddenly woke up so to speak and decided I no longer wished to be married to the man I had lived with and been married to for 26 years. I asked for a divorce. Moved out. In other words, I stopped. Stopped allowing someone else to control my feelings, my likes and dislikes, my time.

With my divorce settlement I bought a cute little single wide 3/10 of a mile from a beautiful lake (I can walk my kayak down to the boat launch) and started living again. My divorce was final January 30,2017. I am now spending time with my children and grandchildren, without worrying about hurrying home or upsetting someone. I spend time with friends without hearing judgement about them. I travel when and where I want. Some of those things I did when I was married, but I was always worried he might get mad if I stayed too long, or remind me of whatever at a later date.

I wish I had done it years ago.

Of course, years ago I didn't feel like I did on that day in April when I decided I couldn't spend another 26 years being where I was. Years ago I was still trying to be a good wife and homemaker. I still loved my husband and wanted to do whatever to make him happy. Unfortunately, my husband didn't feel the same about his wife. But, it's all good. Things happen when they are supposed to happen. And, rather than look back and say I should have, I look forward and say what should I do today.

So, after what, 6 years away, I am back. I plan to post pictures of things I bake and things I cook. I plan to blog about trips I take and things I see and share pictures of those things. Because I want to. Because it will make me happy. And, because I have missed it.

Off to Italy

2012-03-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

Hello! I am sure you all thought I had fallen off the face of the earth. Not true! I have just been extremely busy working two jobs and baking an occasional cake here and there. I will post some pictures of those cakes in the near future. But I just wanted to post about my impending trip to Italy. Which I leave for tomorrow!

I, along with a very dear girlfriend, started planning for this trip almost a year ago. It started with me deciding to learn some Italian. From there we started talking about Italy and I decided to make it my "once a year I go someplace I have never gone before" trip. Since my best friend passed away 7 years ago my mantra has been "Live life to the fullest." each year I pick somewhere I have never been, either in this country or in another country, and spend a few days there. Last year I decided it would be Italy.

I asked around and was told if I could only go to one city in Italy it should be Venice. So, my trip started out being a couple of days in Venice. Then Kayla said, rather wistfully, that she would love to go to Italy one day. And me, being me, said why not next year with me?!

I started looking around at plane fare and hotel accommodations and began trying to put together a trip for us. Then I stumbled upon a web site called "European destinations". For the price of twice just the airfare, I was able to book us not just a couple of days but 12 days. And, not just to Venice, but Florence, Rome and Naples!! three days in each city, train fare between each city, hotels in each city (3&4 star!). And, now, about 10 months later, tomorrow we leave for Venice!! I still can't believe it, and probably won't until I walk off the plane at the Venice airport. Kayla has never traveled outside of the country so this is quite Exciting for her. And she is comforted about traveling with someone who has traveled to other countries (Japan, Ireland, and Germany) and been able to get around without getting (too) lost. :-)

So, I will try and update and post pictures for those followers who might still be out there and would enjoy seeing Italy through my eyes. Until later...arrivederci!!

Chocolate with Francois - Chocolate Tiramisu

2011-05-01T23:49:00.000-04:00

I'm back! A day late (and a dollar short!) but I have a legitimate excuse for not posting yesterday. I was at Richmond International Raceway with my Mother-in-law, attending the NASCAR race. She and I attend both Richmond races and the May race in Charlotte. We have been doing it since 1994. No hubbies. Just her and me. We make a full day of it, tailgating, people watching, hanging out. I think she enjoys it more than I do, and that's just fine with me. So, that explains why I didn't post yesterday. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

So, the April pick for CFW was Chocolate Tiramisu and Seattle Pastry Girl made it her pick. I don't know if I ever would have made it if she hadn't chosen it for April. I like Tiramisu. I made a Tiramisu cheesecake a while back. Just tried to find the post for it in my blog, but I guess I never blogged about it. :] I wish I had, and maybe I will one day. It's a great recipe and the cheesecake it made was fabulous. But, would I have chosen to make this recipe? I am not sure I would have. But, boy am I glad I did.

This was (is) a slightly complicated recipe. You have to make a ganache, a cake and a mousse. Then you have to put those three components together.

The ganache was pretty easy. Chop up some bitter-sweet chocolate, add some mascarpone cheese, and pour some boiled cream over and stir till the chocolate melts. I reread the recipe to see if it said "finely" chopped, when the chocolate that I just "chopped" didn't melt. But, no, I read it right. I ended up setting my bowl of clumpy, lumpy chocolate/cream/mascarpone on my burner which I set at low and stirred the mixture until it melted. Once it cooled down I tried it and found it to be most excellent!

I started on the cake next. ~~After tasting the ganache again to make sure it was still okay~~. I am lucky enough to have two mixers so I was able to have the yolks and sugar mixing in one bowl while I whipped the whites in another bowl. The cake baked up in the 10 minutes recommended and was set aside to cool.

Making the mousse was a real test of muscle power for my arms. It took all of the 5 minutes, if not more, to first get the mixture of egg yolks and sugar hot and thick and then to get it cooled off, all while whisking it constantly, ~~except when I stopped to check the ganache~~.

~~After tasting the ganache again~~ I gathered all the components for the tiramisu to begin putting it together. Francois called for using a 1 or 1 1/2 quart bowl to assemble the tiramisu. I looked at my 1 1/2 quart bowl then ~~tasted the ganache~~ the amount of mousse, cake and ganache ~~that I tasted again~~ that I had on hand and decided to go with the largest bowl I had. Good thing too because ~~more ganache~~ it would have been far too much for a smaller bowl. ~~More ganache~~ Once I had ~~ganache~~ everything ready it took no time at all to assemble it.

I brew my coffee on the strong side but still added some Via to the coffee. I wanted to be sure that the coffee flavor was strong and didn't get lost in the cake and mousse and mmmm ganache. Once the tiramisu was assembled ~~licked the bowl the ganache was in~~ I covered it in plastic and put it in the fridge to cool.

I was pretty sure that I would like it. I wasn't sure about the hubby. He isn't a big coffee person and sometimes textures are an issue with him. I thought he might find the coffee soaked cake a turn-off. However, I worried for nothing. He said it was really, really good. In fact, he went so far as to say he thought it was one of the best recipes I have made from Chocolate Epiphany. The bowl I used, the large size of the Pyrex mixing bowl set I have, to assemble the tiramisu in? It was empty by the third day. Gone! All of it! I work most nights and without me here to portion control the serving sizes the hubby fixed much larger servings than I do and each night I got home, more and more of the tiramisu was gone. I think I might have gotten 1/4 of the amount there was, with the hubby eating all the rest. He asked me yesterday when I was going to make that Chocolate cake/pudding thing I made a couple of weeks ago. Men!

So, my advice to you is make this recipe. Seattle Pastry Girl has it posted on her blog. It ~~the ganache~~ is well worth the effort and dirty dishes it takes to make it. Fabulous dessert. Impressive dessert. Ganache filled dessert. Need I say more. :)

A day off - Vegetarian Lasagna - Orange Scented Chocolate Cheesecake

2011-04-26T23:38:00.001-04:00

Hey there. Hi there. Ho there. It's me. Thought I would drop in and say hi to any followers who might still be following me. :)

I had a day off today. A day off from my house cleaning business and a day off from Starbucks. That meant I could sleep in and play in my kitchen. Playing in my kitchen makes me happy. In fact, playing in my kitchen makes me very happy. I knew ahead of time that I would have today off and had chosen a couple of recipes I wanted to try. One was for my Chocolate with Francois group and the other one was a practice run of an all vegetable lasagna. My beautiful daughter-in-law, who is pregnant with my first grand-child, is a Vegetarian. I am getting together next week with her and my son, my daughter and her hubby and we are going to have dinner together and play Quelf, a really fun board game. It will probably be the last time we can all get together before Baby Gulla is born. I plan on baking a pan of the vegetable lasagna and putting it in the freezer so that Sean and Katey have something they can just heat up and eat when they come home from the hospital with the baby. At least one night they won't have to worry about cooking dinner. :)

So, today I decided I would make a vegetable lasagna that I had come across a recipe for. It's from Italian Food Forever and it sounded easy and yummy. I even made the home-made sauce she links to. I used my submersible blender so that there wouldn't be chunks of tomatoes but kept to the basic sauce recipe.

I also bought my lasagna noodles. I do have a pasta roller, but I use it for my cake decorating business. Besides, I was more interested in what was going between the noodles rather than the noodles themselves. The recipe suggests using eggplant, roasted red peppers, fennel, and onions. I could not find fennel anywhere (and should confess here that I wouldn't know fennel if I bumped into it) so I decided to go with zucchini, eggplant, red peppers and onion. Knowing my hubby and his "it has to have meat or it isn't dinner" attitude, I bought some "Gimme Lean" sausage style veggie protein. I know, it isn't meat, but, I wanted to see if he would even notice.

I also cheated by buying roasted red peppers in a jar. I could have roasted some, but, I don't have a gas stove, it's electric. I do have a gas grill, but hated to crank it up to roast three red peppers. Thus, the jar of already roasted peppers.

I made the sauce first. It was super easy. Heat up some oil, drop in some minced garlic, pour in diced Italian style tomatoes, bring to a boil, lower heat, add salt and pepper and fresh chopped basil. And, any other spices or seasoning you would like. Super easy and really good.

I worked on the veggies next. Sliced the eggplant, brushed it with olive oil and grilled it under the broiler. Sauteed the onions till they were soft and light brown. Sliced the zucchini and sauteed that up. Fried the "sausage". Drained the roasted red peppers. Once I had all the ingredients cooked and on separate plates I began to assemble the lasagna.

A little sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. A layer of noodles. A little more sauce. Some "sausage", cheese and eggplant. Cover with noodles. Sauce. "Sausage". Cheese. Roasted red peppers. Noodles. Sauce. "Sausage". Cheese. Onion. Final layer noodles, sauce, "sausage", cheese, zucchini. Last layer of noodles, a little more sauce and a good amount of cheese. Covered the whole thing with foil and put it in a 375 degree oven and baked it for 45 minutes. The recipe on Italian Food Forever doesn't call for covering the dish with foil and it bakes for a shorter time, but I think that's because the noodles are fresh made rather than boxed.

The lasagna smelled fabulous while it was baking and looked wonderful when I took it out of the oven. I let it set for about 20 minutes before cutting and plating it.

I loved it!! So many flavors blending together. It was not greasy or overly heavy like some lasagnas can be. The vegetables were soft but not mushy. There was just enough sauce, not overpowering the dish or drowning the noodles, but just enough to enhance the flavors of the veggies and bind the noodles, cheese and veggies together. What was even better was that the hubby also loved it! At one point he asked about the ingredients, wanted to know if it was all veggies, besides the sausage. It was then that I told him the truth about the "sausage". He shrugged and kept eating. Success!!

Even if you aren't a Vegetarian, you should try this lasagna. Trust me when I say you won't miss the meat that's not in it. Or the ricotta cheese that's not in it. Or the eggs. Just roast or grill some veggies. Layer them with some shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. A little sauce and you are good to go. :)

In the title of this post I mention an Orange Scented Chocolate Cheesecake. That recipe is from my CWF group and it is my pick for the month of June. According to the rules of our group, I am afraid I can't post my review until the 30th of June. But, trust me (again) when I say you need to come back at the end of June and get the recipe for it. Wonderful! Light yet rich. Orange and chocolate flavors blending together. A tender, sandy, sable' crust. The cheesecake baked up tall and beautiful. I really liked it. The hubby thought it was okay. He said I have made better cheesecakes before. However, he is not a big orange/chocolate combination fan. Guess you will have the try the recipe and decide for yourself.

I will be back on the 30th of this month, if not before, to post the latest CWF review...Chocolate Tiramisu. This was unbelievably delicious! I kid you not when I say that the 11/2 quart bowl I made lasted just over two days. And, there were only two of us here to eat it. :] You can find that recipe at Seattle Pastry Girl's blog. It's worth the effort. Trust me. :)

Rewind - Tuesdays with Dorie - "Tarte Noire"

2011-04-18T10:44:00.001-04:00

I recently posted a picture of this tart on Tumblr and as of now, only 8 hours later, it has been re-blogged over 100 times. So, I thought I would re-post the original post, with the recipe, for anyone who might have missed it the first time. This is a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, from her book "Baking, from my home to yours". If you could only have one baking cookbook, this is the one to have.

Hello again! I hope that this finds everyone well and rested after a big holiday weekend. Did you have a cookout? Did you watch a fireworks show? Did you spend time with friends and family? I did all of that and also played in the pool, slept late, and, made one of the best desserts I have made in a long time. What dessert would that be you ask? It was this weeks TWD choice, Tarte Noire, that Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life picked. If she lived closer I would visit her so I could kiss her for choosing such a fabulous recipe. Well, I probably wouldn't kiss her, but I would definitely hug her or shake her hand or something. This may be my favorite recipe so far. I kid you not. Please drop by Dharmagirl's blog and get the recipe. You won't be sorry.

We had my hubby's best friend come and stay with us for the weekend. He arrived on Saturday and settled in for the festivities. We cooked steaks on the grill...nice juicy rib-eyes. Some corn and some baked fries rounded out the meal. We went out in the field after dinner and had our own little fireworks show. My hubby set off the fireworks while I snapped photos and the hubby's best friend shot video.

The guys hopped in the pool after the fireworks show and floated around for a while. I passed...it was a bit too cool for me to get in the water. Then, before bed, I served the two of them a slice of the Tarte Noire. They loved it! They both scarfed it down in what seemed like seconds, and all but licked the plates clean. I like it when something I make brings such a satisfied expression to my hubby's face, not to mention his friend's face(who, after all these years, is also my friend).

I put this recipe together in no time early Saturday morning. I decided to make the chocolate shortbread crust and it came together quickly and perfectly in my food processor. I baked it after letting it sit in the freezer for 30 minutes. When I pulled it from the oven, to cool before adding the ganache, I got the brilliant idea to cover the bottom of the crust with a thin layer of caramel! I thought about nuts, but decided to just go with the caramel.

The ganache came together as easily as the crust, becoming this dark, shiny, smooth bowl of deliciousness. :) I used a combination of bitter-sweet and semi-sweet chocolate and poured it over the caramel in the crust. Put the tarte in the fridge for 30 minutes to set up and then sliced a piece for ~~myself~~ a picture. Yeah, that's it. For a picture. :)

I also tasted it, just to see if it was okay before serving it to the guys later that night. Couldn't serve them something I hadn't checked was edible, right? The ganache was silky smooth and so creamy. Not too sweet. Rich and delicious! The caramel underneath was a perfect touch, adding just a little sweetness and texture to the chocolate. And, the crust? Crunchy, tender, buttery, chocolate-y, and perfect against the creamy chocolate and chewy caramel. With as easy as this was to put together, I can see making it again and again. I wonder if you could do a white chocolate version. Almonds would be wonderful in this too. Maybe in the crust. Of course, it was fabulous just as I did it, and I would certainly make it the same again.

So, a really big, BIG thanks to Dharmagirl for this weeks pick. Just awesome! And, check out what the others thought of it by clicking here. :)

The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing

2011-04-11T01:28:00.001-04:00

Oh my! Two posts in less than a month! This could be the start of something beautiful! :D

I had a rare Sunday off today (or I guess yesterday since it is past midnight) and I was looking for things to do that would keep me from cleaning my house. I will probably clean it tomorrow, but just didn't want to deal with it today. I was good and did two loads of laundry and put away and reloaded the dishes in the dishwasher. But, beyond that, I wanted to do something fun. And different. Sooo...

I had never attempted to bake "from scratch" cinnamon rolls. I have always had that little dough boy help me out whenever I felt the urge. I know it's crazy to think I had never made cinnamon rolls from scratch, but it's true. I have always been a bit intimidated by the whole yeast proofing and rolling out the dough and then rolling it up and the other complicated steps that I thought went into making them. Silly me! These couldn't have been easier and they are probably the best cinnamon rolls I have ever eaten, hands down! I wish I could take credit for the recipe, but that goes to Ree aka The Pioneer Woman.

I have Ree's cookbook (see my post about meeting her here) and knew her recipe for these rolls was in it. And, I had all the ingredients on hand, so I got everything together and got started.

These really were easy to put together. I think the hardest, or scariest part for me was scalding the milk. It was not supposed to boil and I stood over it watching like a hawk eyeballing a mouse in the field. Once your milk, oil and sugar cools back down to lukewarm you add your yeast and let it set for 1 minute. Then you stir in almost all of the flour and let it rest, covered with a clean towel, for an hour.

After that, you add the last cup of flour, along with salt, baking powder, and baking soda. It's a bit hard to stir these last things into the dough, but hang in there until you get all those dry ingredients incorporated into the dough.

Then you roll out the dough into a rectangle, cover it with butter, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over it (I also added chopped pecans) and then roll it towards you in a tight tube. Slice the tube into 1" slices and place them into buttered pans. Cover again with those clean towels and let rise for 20 minutes while your oven preheats.

Ree says to bake these 13 to 17 minutes, but I found I had to bake mine for closer to 20 minutes before they were done. While they were baking I made the Maple icing. Powdered sugar, butter, milk, coffee (yes, coffee) and maple flavoring. Whisk it up and while the rolls are still in the pan, hot and fresh from the oven, pour the icing over them, getting it around the sides. Ree says not to be afraid of really dumping the icing on as the rolls will soak up much of that yummy-ness.

I hardly let the first batch cool before I cut out one roll and cut a piece to try. It was so good it "made me want to slap my granma" as my mother-in-law is fond of saying. Tender, sweet, maple-y, oooy, goooy, deliciousness!! I am ashamed to admit that I have eaten a total of three of them since taking them out of the oven around 5:30 this evening. I will be eating bread and water tomorrow to offset the calories I had today. But, oh, it was so very worth it. You really need to give these a try. Now that I know how easy they are to make, there's no stopping me now! :)

Catching up on my Chocolate with Francois group

2011-04-05T00:56:00.000-04:00

Wow! Has it really been almost two months since I posted on my blog? I am ashamed to admit that. But, when you work two jobs, bake on the side (though not as much as I wish) and keep up (somewhat) with a household, I guess the time can get away from you. Or me. Which is what happened. That's my story and I am sticking to it! :)

Though you can't tell it because of the lack of posts, I have been baking. I had a bridal shower cake last month. The woman who ordered it gave me a copy of the invitation and there was a tree with many branches on it. She wanted the cake to reflect that. Here's what I came up with.

I later heard back from the woman who ordered the cake that "the cake was wonderful...everyone was blown away". Pretty high compliments I thought.

I also had a baby shower cake. That cake was for my daughter-in-law, Katey. Yup! I am going to be a Grandma! My first grandbaby! Baby Gulla is due in May, the 20th, and my son and daughter-in-law couldn't be happier. I called her aunt, who was hosting the party and told her I would supply the cake for the party. This is what I made...

It was such fun!! All of the characters are made of either fondant or chocolate, covered in fondant. Humpty Dumpty, three blind mice, the dish and the spoon, the cow and the moon. Oh, and twinkle stars. :) The "books" are cakes. The cake was a White Almond Sour Cream cake and I filled one layer with caramel icing, one layer with orange buttercream, and the last layer with almond/vanilla buttercream. When I came in with the cake no one could believe it was cake! I think it was one of my best so far. Maybe that's because it was made with so much love. :)

Back in December I baked a birthday cake for a little girl who was having a pool party and the Mom wanted a "Summer in December" theme. I had fun with this one and thought I would share it with you here...

Fondant characters, blankets, ball, flip flops and life preserver. The "water" was blue icing. This was another fun cake to make.

But, this was supposed to be a catch up post for my CWF group. I have made the last two recipes...Cracaos and Chocolate Pudding Cake. I just hadn't gotten around to posting my reviews and pictures. So, here goes...

First off? The February pick, which was Cracaos. This is a traditional European cookie, with walnuts and pistachio nuts. Chocolate, as are all the recipes in CWF. With a touch of cinnamon.

These were pretty simple to put together. I read over the recipe and seeing that it made 80 cookies decided to cut the recipe down to better suit my family size (the hubby and me). I ended up making 1/4 of the recipe, which took a calculator and a scale that weighed grams to figure out.

I also used almonds instead of pistachios. I looked around and couldn't find pistachios anywhere. I thought about using hazelnuts, but couldn't find them either. (Of course, the other day while shopping, because I didn't need them, I found hazelnuts, lots and lots of hazelnuts). Other than that, I kept to the recipe.

I liked these. Chocolate? Good. Nuts? Good. Cinnamon? Good. All of those together, in one cookie? Good, good, good! Mine baked just a tad too long. I think next time I would check them after 9 minutes. But, all and all, they were great! I believe that Astheroshe-accro picked this recipe and I say she deserves a big "Thank You" for her pick.

March's choice? That would be Charlie's Chocolate Pudding Cake which Pantry Revisited picked. All I can say to Peggy is... "Oh My Goodness!! What an amazing cake!!"

I almost didn't make this one. I have been working hard at watching what I eat and I started Body By Vi shakes back in January. Since then I have lost 20 pounds. I feel great and have lots more energy than I used to. So, when I read the recipe and saw that there was a total of 15 tablespoons of butter, 19 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, and 2 1/4 cups of heavy whipping cream, well, you can imagine my reaction. But I really like our group and decided to bite the bullet and make the cake. Boy am I glad I did. Well, I will probably hate that I did in the next day or so, because the cake is so good that I probably won't be able to leave it alone and will probably gain 10 pounds eating it, but, hey, for the group? It's the least I can do. :D

I thought this was a fairly easy cake to put together. The cake is just a few simple ingredients...flour, butter, chocolate, sugar, eggs and heavy cream. Mix it all together and bake it. There was a bit of confusion for me and for several other bakers. In the opening paragraph Francois mentions the cake being baked in a water bath. However, in the actual directions? There is no mention of placing the pan in a water bath. I decided to use a water bath, since he mentions it. I baked the cake according to the directions. I think I could have baked it another minute or two during the beginning baking as I thought the center was a bit soft. I know it's called "Pudding Cake", but I still think it was a touch under-baked. I will confess though, it in no way impacted the flavor of this cake.

This cake is so rich, so smooth, so creamy, so chocolate-y. My hubby practically licked his plate clean when he finished his slice. I cut myself a small slice and think I actually moaned out loud when I first tasted it. Incredible! If you want to impress someone, make this cake! You can find the recipe at Pantry Revisited's site.

Now, as Porky Pig used to say... "Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-... That's all, folks."

Operation Baking Gals - Round 27 - Team Country Cookies Wrap Up

2011-02-17T01:09:00.000-05:00

While cleaning for one of my customers back in December I mentioned that I was affiliated with Operation Baking Gals. For those of you who might not know about OBG it is a group of people who bake for soldiers stationed overseas. (If you need more info, go to our website, bakinggals) I joined two or three years ago and have baked almost every round.

Back to my customer...when I mentioned the group, she told me that her son-in-law, Ian, was stationed overseas in Afghanistan. She said it was his 4th!! tour. I asked for his address and some info about him and told her I would personally lead a team to bake for him.

My team was called Country Cookies. Team Country Cookies was one of twenty teams this month. In addition to me there were 8 other members on my team. Now that the round is over (shipping dates were February 1-12) I wanted to take the time to acknowledge my fellow bakers by posting what they baked or bought for Ian.

The first baker I heard from was Maggi. She sent me the following email:

Just a note to tell you I mailed my package to Ian on Wednesday, February 2nd.

It included: homemade Snicker Doodle cookies

a bag of Tootsie Roll Pop suckers

Cornuts

can of almonds

3 packages of gum

box of Valentine Dots candies

heart-shaped chocolate cakes - 8

2 bags of nut snack mix

a bag of Hershey chocolate drops

bottle of hot sauce

1 left, right, center game - it's a lot of fun to play :)

5 cigars - from my husband - to share with his buddies :)

Thanks for taking the time to be a leader! This has been a lot of fun! Ian is the 4th soldier I have baked for, so you can see I have only been doing this for 4 rounds!

The next baker I heard from was Debbie. I wish I could include the picture she attached to the pdf file she sent me, but I couldn't figure out how to attach it. I was able to copy and paste the words, just not the picture. And, that's a shame because it looked like a picture of three generations of women baking for our soldier. Debbie wrote...

February 5, 2011
Howdy from Houston, Texas! I sure hope you enjoy this little care package. It’s only a small token of my appreciation, but the cookies were baked and the package was assembled with much love and thoughts of gratitude for our mighty warriors. My family and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your service.
Ms. Debbie
Packing List for Ian
2 dozen peanut butter cookies 1 ½ dozen oatmeal cinnamon chip raisin cookies 8 large Valentine heart sugar cookies 10-count pkg. individual Nestle hot chocolate drink mixes 8 2-oz. pkg. nuts 10 lens cleaning wipes 1 travel size Gold Bond lotion 1 travel size Dial bodywash 1 shower loofah 2 1-oz. beef jerkies 6 2-oz. trail mix
6 5-stick packs of Wrigley’s spearmint gum 1 Texas Fish & Game magazine

I had two Debbie's baking for me this round. Debbie #2 sent me this email after she shipped her box to Ian.

Just wanted to let you know that I sent Ian's package yesterday.  I have a great

cookie recipe that starts with a brownie mix so I made those.  Sent some pringles,

gum, Valentines candy, p-nuts and sunflower seeds too.  Thanks again for your hard

work!
Debbie

Christine was the next baker I heard from. She sent a picture of the things she baked and included in

her box along with a quick note.

Happy Valentines Day! Attached is a picture of the box I sent to Ian . Thank you for hosting Round 27 of Operation Baking Gals!

Sincerely,

Christine

AKA: Betty Crocker

My daughter Beth joined me this round. She baked with me the last time I headed a team and jumped on board this time when she found out about it. She has become quite the baker ( a chip off the ole' block!) and sent this wrap-up email:

Mom,
I completely forgot to take pictures this time but I still wanted to send you an email to let you know my box was sent off on Friday. I sent a batch of Rick Katz's brownies, a batch of pebernødder (peppernuts), several GameInformer magazines, two packages of Iced Via, and two bags of Wurther's caramels: the regular and coffee-caramel flavor. I definitely got my money's worth in shipping for that box. :D
Love,
Beth

Laura was another of my bakers. She is a friend of mine on Facebook and saw my post about

 this round. Here is the email she sent to me:

Hi, Susan!  I got my box sent off to Ian and included a handmade card

with my thanks to him for his sacrifice.
 
Because you mentioned that Ian favors brownies, I tried out a couple

of new recipes I've been holding onto.  All in all, my box included:
 
 - 1.5 doz. Butterscotch blondie brownies
 - 1.5 doz. Cherry chip chocolate brownies
 - 3 doz. Traditional fudgy brownies
 - 8 mini loaves of friendship bread
 - 3 doz. Snickerdoodles
 
I hope he enjoys his treats and I appreciate you putting together a

team to get us all baking.  Thanks for your efforts - I had a great

time baking for Ian!

Laura S

Vicki was another generous soul who took the time to do something nice for a complete stranger.

 Her email reads as follows:

Hi, Susan-
I was able to send out a package last Tuesday to Ian, however, I cannot

say for sure what ended up in Ian's box!  I travel for my job, and bake

on weekends.  I also joined more than one team this round, and my daughter

packed and shipped the items for me, not realizing she should break down

the different bags!  So, I know each box got a lemon cake, a peanut

butterpound cake, and an assortment of cookies, but I don't know what

kind of cookies!
 
Hope that helps.
 
Thank you for hosting this round.
 
Vicki

I also sent a box to Ian. Normally I would bake several different kinds of cookies and load the box with

anywhere from 10 - 20 dozen cookies. This time I did things a little different. I baked cookies...a

Toffee Chocolate Chip cookie which is like a brownie in cookie form, but I also packed the box with

some useful(and not so useful) goodies. Three different kinds of peanuts, sunflower seeds, Wet Wipes,

hand sanitizer, Mentos gum, disposable toothbrushes, cereal bars and two different kinds of Slim Jims.

I included a letter from me and a couple of pictures of my family and pets.

And, that wraps up Round 27 for Team Country Cookies. I would like to give all my teammates a

heart-felt thank you for taking the time to do this with me. It is wonderful to share in doing something

so simple that means so much to someone.  If anyone reading this would like to share in the fun...check

out Bakinggals.com. We can always use another baker or two. :)

Chocolate with Francois - Chocolate Nut Loaf

2011-02-02T19:18:00.000-05:00

So, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I did bake the Chocolate Nut Loaf that Leslie of Lethally Delicious picked for January. The bad news is I am just now getting around to posting about it. Better late than never as they say. :) My apologizes to my fellow CWF bakers for not posting on time. As always, my crazy schedule keeps me pretty busy. Some weeks I don't see my hubby for days on end. He goes to bed before I get home from Starbucks and I get up after he has left for work. Depending on my mood that can be a good or bad thing. :)

But, back to the recipe.

I looked over the recipe to see what if any ingredients I needed to buy. I keep a pretty well stocked pantry, but occasionally need one or two items. For this recipe I needed the pistachio nuts, almond paste, and hazelnuts. No problem I thought. I will just pop into Kroger because they always have the odd ingredients I need. Yeah, right! Not this time. No hazelnuts, no almond paste, no pistachios. Okay, let's try Food Lion. Nope, not there either. Okay, how about Walmart? Ah, pistachios, but no paste or hazelnuts. By now I am tired, grumpy and running out of gasoline! I decided I would try and be creative with what I had on hand at home.

The first thing I did was make my own almond paste. Or at least I think I did. :) I took some blanched almonds, powdered sugar, corn syrup, water and processed it in my food processor. Since the recipe called for such a small amount I figured my homemade stuff wouldn't affect it much.

The next thing I did was use pecans in place of the hazelnuts. Having all three nuts for the loaf I proceeded with the recipe.

Like Leslie, I have one of those beater blades that scrapes the side of the bowl for you while it is mixing the ingredients. If you don't have one you should really invest in one. They are wonderful and I wouldn't be without one. (I sure used "one" a lot in those two sentences!) :D

I really hesitated when I read the part about 20!!! tablespoons of butter. 20?!? Sure seemed like an awful lot of butter (Paula Deen I am not!) but I trusted Francois knew what he was doing and went ahead and did as the recipe stated.

My loaf baked for about 55 minutes. It smelled wonderful while it baked. Of course, anything chocolate smells wonderful while baking. I found waiting for the loaf to cool in the pan until room temperature and then cool completely before trying it a bit taxing, but being made to be patient is good for me from time to time.

Once sliced I decided it was worth waiting for. I zapped it in the microwave just to warm it up a tad, and the hubby had his with whipped cream on it. It was moist, chocolate-y, nutty and very satisfying. I love nuts in my baked goods and having three different ones, each with it's own texture was great. Along with the chocolate chips with was one rich and yummy loaf. I am not sure how much better it would have been with hazelnuts. Maybe, if I ever find any, I will try this again. But, it was just fine like I made it this time.

Thanks again, Leslie for a great pick. The hubby and I both enjoyed it.

Chocolate with Francois - Chocolate Pecan Tart

2010-12-30T00:58:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe it is the end of December! This past year has just flown by! Has it seemed that way for everyone else, I wonder? Crazy! I hope everyone had a blessed holiday filled with family, friends and lots of joy. :)

It was my privilege ( or should I say is?) to end the year with this month's pick for Chocolate with Francois. My first pick was a bit fancy...Chocolate Paris-Brest. It was very impressive when finished and tasted good, but this go round I wanted something a bit more down to earth. Right away I knew I would bake the Chocolate Pecan Tart, again. I have baked this tart at least three times. My hubby absolutely loves it and while I am not big on pecan pies, I think this tart is wonderful! And, this time I added a secret ingredient, which I will share with you, and only you. :)

The only negative thing about this post is the fact that there is no picture of a slice of the tart. By the time I got around to slicing it the lighting was terrible. Then, though I told myself over and over not to forget, I kept forgetting to take a picture each time I cut another slice from the tart. And, soon, there were no more slices to photograph!

This is a fairly simple tart to put together. For me the scariest part was making the candied pecans. I was so afraid I would burn them that I checked them every minute or so. But, they turned out fine.

My tart crust wasn't the one from the book. I am extremely fond of the sweet tart dough from Dorie Greenspan's book and use it whenever I need a tart dough. It is so very easy to put together and has turned out perfect for me every time. Why fix something if it isn't broke, right? :)

I also ended up baking my tart about 40 minutes if memory serves me right. Oh, and I had about a cup or more of the filling left over that wouldn't fit in the tart pan. Not sure if my crust was too thick (it didn't seem to be) or my pan too small (it was a 9" pan), but I couldn't get all the filling to fit in the pan. And, I had no chocolate chips so I used chopped bittersweet and milk chocolate instead. I almost forgot to share with you the secret ingredient! That was espresso powder. I added a teaspoon of it to the filling and it added a wonderful layer of flavor...sweet, mocha flavored filling with crunchy pecans, bits of bittersweet and milk chocolate in a tender buttery tart crust. Heaven on a plate! This one is so good. Try it for yourself. Here's the recipe...

Chocolate Pecan Tart

Candies Pecans

Vegetable cooking spray, for the pan

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) pecan halves

1/2 cup (60 grams) granulated sugar

Filling

1/4 cup (25 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (340 grams) light corn syrup

3/4 cup (155 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

Pinch of salt

4 large eggs

12 tablespoons (6 ounces; 180 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Tart shell

1/2 cup (95 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

One 9-inch tart shell made from Sweet Tart-Dough (page 249) unbaked

(this is where I used Dorie's recipe)

Make the Pecans: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously spray a baking sheet with vegetable cooking spray. Place the pecans in a bowl.

Place 1/4 cup (60 grams) water and the granulated sugar in a meduim saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, and immediately pour over the pecans.

Stir the mixture with a silicone spatula, then pour it in the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, until the pecans are candied and golden brown. Check the pecans every 5 minutes, as they can turn from golden brown to burnt very rapidly. Remove from the oven, and lower the heat to 350 degrees F if you plan on baking the tart immediately. Let the pecans cool fully.

Make the Filling: Place the flour, corn syrup, brown sugar, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is well combined. (I added the espresso powder here) Add the eggs and beat until the mixture is smooth, then add the melted butter and mix until it is incorporated. Remove from the mixer. If not using immediately, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Assemble the Tart: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F if necessary. Place the candied pecans and chocolate chips into the prepared tart shell. Pour the filling over the nuts and chocolate, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the tart shell is golden and the filling is set but still soft in the middle. Remove the tart from the oven and set it aside to cool completely before serving.

If you haven't made this tart, I highly recommend giving it a try. If you have made it, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks to all the CWF bakers who joined me this month. Be sure to stop by CWF & see who did join me. :)

Oh, one more thing. I must apologize to my fellow group members for not posting last month's finished product. I did make the Chocolate-Coconut Rochers and fully intended to post how they turned out, but one thing led to another and next thing I knew it was the middle of December. I have included a couple of pictures as proof. :D I really liked these the first day, freshly baked and just cooled enough to bite into them without burning my mouth. After that though, they did not improve with age. The next day they were soft, and almost gummy. The day after that...I ended up tossing the few that were left. I only baked half the recipe and probably ate half of those baked the first day, so I didn't feel too bad about tossing two or three away. :}

Chocolate with Francois - Chocolate-Honey Madeleines

2010-10-30T17:09:00.000-04:00

Prior to this month's choice, by Julie of Little Bit of Everything, I had never baked Madeleines. I have seen them, and the pans for them, but never had any desire to try them. They looked to me to be fussy cookies, and I assumed they would be a lot of work and they just didn't interest me. Having said all that, when I saw that it was Julie that had picked this recipe I decided I had to give it a go. The fact that they were chocolate madeleines certainly didn't hurt. :)

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. These cookies were really quite simple to pull together. I decided to only bake half of the recipe, not knowing if I would like them or not. I had all the ingredients on hand except for the orange. However I did have orange extract and added a scant 1/4 teaspoon in place of the zest. I had everything mixed up and in the fridge in less than 30 minutes.

I ended up baking the Madeleines the following night after I got home from Starbucks. I knew if I didn't bake them that night I wouldn't have another chance to bake them before the 30th. So, after the hubby went to bed I heated up the oven and got ready to bake my first ever Madeleines.

Not having a Madeleine pan I used my mini muffin pan. Thanks Julie, for posting that hint. I also used cooking spray to prepare the pan. I used a star tip and pastry bag to pipe the batter into the pan. I was hoping the cookies would retain the swirls. They didn't. :( But, they baked up in the time recommended in the recipe and smelled delicious as they baked.

When I pulled the pan from the oven I saw I had about a dozen mini muffins. As I mentioned, no ridges or swirls remained after baking. I flipped them onto the prepared pan and after placing the pan in the sink, I picked up one to try. What? Thirty seconds isn't enough cooling time? :D Maybe not, but after smelling them bake I couldn't wait!
Delicious! A bit hot, but so yummy. Tender inside, a slight crunch on the edges. I can't say I tasted the honey. I had my doubts about whether I would taste it considering there was only 1/2 a tablespoon in the recipe. I could taste the orange flavor. It didn't overpower the chocolate, and I like the combination of orange and chocolate. I tried another one, just to be sure the taste and quality was the same. And then tried another one. :) So good! I may have tried one or two more before putting them away. In my defense I was only following the directions in the recipe. Francois says these should be eaten the day they are baked, as they aren't as good the next day. You know what? He's right. The next day I had one and it was nowhere near as yummy as the couple 5, ~~or maybe it was 6~~ that I had the night before. It was chewy-er, rubbery-er (is that even a word!?!). The flavor was still good, but the texture had changed completely. Definitely better eaten the day they are baked, fresh out of the oven.

Overall? I would call them a success. Simple to put together. A lot of flavor. Light and delicious. I would love to try the regular ones as the recipes I have read call for lemon zest. I also think if I made these again I might add a bit more honey and skip the orange zest altogether. See if the honey flavor comes through. So, my thanks to Julie for choosing a great recipe. I am glad to be able to cross Madeleines off my list of things I haven't baked. Still have to try fresh croissants but that will be another day. :) Swing by CWF to see who else tried these and what they thought of them.

One (or several) reason I haven't been blogging lately

2010-10-18T13:47:00.000-04:00

I have a few minutes this afternoon and thought I would try to post some pictures of the reason I haven't been blogging lately. Besides cleaning houses during the day and selling coffee at Starbucks at night, I have had several cake orders in the past two months. Thought I would share a few pictures of them with you. :)

This first one is a topsy-turvy cake I did for a baby shower. It is a White Almond Sour Cream cake with a simple butter-cream icing. I was given an apron and I scanned the design and then used my edible printer to print out several sheets of the design which I cut into ribbons and wrapped around the cake. I used a photo editing program to erase what was written in the hearts and write "baby girl" in each one. (They knew it was going to be a girl). I also cut out one heart and one rose from the pattern and placed them on the cake. It was a big hit at the shower.

The next cake is a birthday cake for a woman who likes the west. Her sister ordered the cake and asked me to do a "western-y" themed cake. This is what I came up with. It is another White Almond Sour Cream cake with the "ground and hills" in Fluffy Dark Chocolate buttercream and the sky and clouds in an Almond buttercream icing. The horse is a frozen buttercream transfer.

After that I did a groom's cake for a UVA graduate. The bride asked me to make a Red Velvet cake with Cream Cheese icing and to make it in a UVA theme. I decided to color the icing blue and ice the cake with it. Then I did a frozen buttercream transfer of the "V". The sabers are made from gum paste colored orange. I heard from the bride (as I was setting up her wedding cake) that everyone, including the groom, loved the cake.

Next we have the first of two weddings I had on the same day. This one was two tiers of White Almond Sour Cream (what can I say...it's my most popular flavor) cake with Cinnamon buttercream and one layer of Espresso Sour Cream cake with Caramel filling. The cake was covered in fondant, which was impressed with a diamond pattern and small silver dragees were attached to each point of the diamonds using royal icing. The flowers are gum paste, hand painted and then dusted with a pearl luster dust. When the bride told me what she wanted I thought it would be too busy, but once I finished setting it up, I loved it!

The other cake that day was actually both cupcakes and a small 8" cake. Around the top of the 8" cake were ribbon roses made from chocolate fondant. The bride had a cupcake stand made and I placed 144 cupcakes iced in almond buttercream colored blue and chocolate buttercream. The 8" cake was to be placed on the top of the stand and used for the bride and groom to cut. They didn't have the cake topper when I set up the cupcakes so the cake with the topper was going to be placed on top of the stand later that day. Which is why I don't have a picture of it on the stand with the topper on it. :) The cupcakes were vanilla, chocolate and white almond. :)

This last one is not really a cake but a 12" chocolate chip cookie. The Mom (who last year I did a "Pizza" cake for one of her other sons) contacted me and asked if I could do a Lego cake only use cookie in place of cake. Turns out this son doesn't like cake or icing. I made all the legos using fondant. The squares and rectangles were easy. Each little nub though was a bit more labor intensive. I cut out the nubs using a #10 icing tip. Then, each block got 4 or 6 drops of water and each nub was placed on the drop of water, gluing it in place. Once dried I used royal icing, sparingly, to attach each block to the cookie. When the Mom picked it up she was thrilled with how it turned out and hugged me. I love baking for people. :)

So, that is one of the reasons I haven't been around lately. Or I guess it's 6 reasons. :) Hope to "see" you soon!

I'm still alive :)

2010-10-09T22:59:00.000-04:00

Long time, no "see". :}

I recently received an email from a fellow blogger/friend, Pam (Thank you for your concern Pam). She noticed I hadn't posted anything recently and wanted me to know she noticed, and to let me know that she was thinking of me and hoped all was okay. So, I thought I would take a couple of minutes tonight and say hello to anyone who has missed me.

Life has been extremely crazy for the last couple of months. I can't recall if I mentioned that my husband's Uncle had been murdered. It was pretty traumatic for the family. The trial for the man accused of the murder was in September. I am glad to say that he was found guilty of the murder and of the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The jury gave him 3 years for the firearm charge and 25 years for the 2nd degree murder charge. While it won't bring back Uncle Jerry, we are pleased that justice was served.

Then, later last month, my Mom's oldest sister passed away. As much as I wanted, I was unable to go to South Carolina to be with her and the rest of the family. I had two weddings booked on the same day (at the same time an hours drive from each other!) and had to stay at home to take care of business. The cake for one wedding and the cupcakes for the other wedding turned out great. I will post pictures later.

In addition to all that, I have also been busy working...cleaning during the day and Starbucks at night and weekends. Today I worked 9 to 5 at Starbucks. It has left little time for me to do other fun things, like baking and blogging. Not that I am complaining. I am grateful to have the work. But, it seems like the only baking I have done lately has been for customers. I did bake for my Secret Baker last month, and baked for my Secret Baker this month. And, I made some delicious Caramel Crumble Bars after receiving some from my Secret Baker. (Thank you Leslie!) They were soooo good I had to find the recipe and make them again. I baked a delicious Pumpkin bread recipe that I will post later. It makes two 8x4 inch loaves. I kept one and am mailing the other one to my Secret Baker.

I am doing well emotionally at the moment. My doctor has tweaked my medication and we seemed to have found a good combination for me. I am feeling better about myself and my life and finding I have a bit more energy to do the things I need and want to do.

So, for the moment, that's that. :) I promise to try and post on a more regular basis. I am not sure if I can keep up with my commitments to my baking groups and may have to drop out of them. But I will still try and bake an occasional recipe that's picked. In fact, last week I made the Chocolate Ganache ice cream from Dorie's "Baking" book. It was (is) fabulous!! Creamy, rich, so chocolaty. The hubby mentions how good it is each time he has some. :)

Thanks again for checking in on me. It is really nice to know I have friends out there that miss me. <3

TWD - Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

2010-08-31T00:14:00.001-04:00

I love, love, love shortbread cookies. The sandy, buttery, melt in your mouth goodness that shortbread cookies are all about. And, since finding Dorie's cookbook, I have learned to bake my own crumbly, crunchy shortbread cookies. This week, Donna of Life's too short not to eat dessert first (which is one of my motto's btw!) chose Dorie's Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. And, what a wonderful choice it was. Thank you so very much Donna! Not only was it a big hit for me, I shared it with the gang at Starbucks and even with a couple of favorite regulars and everyone who tried one Loved! them. Can you say Christmas presents? :)

Super easy to put together. I even made it easier on myself by using mini chocolate chips. I used two packages of Via, Starbucks instant coffee (really good to drink and great in recipes) (And, no, I don't get commission!). The hardest part for me was leaving the dough in the fridge for several hours to chill. Oh, and waiting for the wonderful smelling, as they baked, cookies to bake.

The finished product was a perfect shortbread cookie with a strong coffee flavor and just a hint of chocolate, in spite of how loaded with chips each cookie looks. The espresso was definitely the dominating flavor. Which was fine with me. The only person who really wasn't crazy about these was the hubby. He is not a big coffee drinker and found the flavor to be too strong for his tastes. But, he was in the minority. :)

So once again I would like to send out a great big thanks! to Donna for her choice. This recipe would lend itself to indefinite variations and I can't wait to try some other combinations. Like cinnamon and apple bits. Or chocolate and peanut butter chips. Or pecans and chocolate chips. Hmmm, wonder if it's too late to start a batch now. :) If you would like to see what the other TWD'ers did, go here.

I will leave you with a couple of pictures of my last two cakes. The mermaid cake was for my Starbucks boss's little girls. They were having a combination birthday/pool party Saturday. And the presents cake was for a co-worker of my daughter. A baby shower cake for the soon to be mom.

TWD - Oatmeal Breakfast Bread (muffins!)

2010-08-16T21:07:00.000-04:00

Hi all! I missed the first two recipes this month,(busy working) but I am here with the third recipe for August. That recipe, Oatmeal Breakfast Bread, was picked by Natalie of Oven Love. She has lots of yummy recipes posted and great photos to go along with them. Be sure to stop by and check them out.

I have family visiting right now. My Mom, Dad and younger brother are here from Florida. They will be staying till Wednesday morning. Last night we had a house full with the three of them, me and my hubby, and my two kids came out with their spouses. We had spaghetti, fresh baked bread, and for dessert, chocolate bread pudding (from Dorie's cookbook!) There was a lot of talking and laughing. Tons of pictures taken. Great time!

This morning I decided to bake the Oatmeal Breakfast Bread to have with our coffee. Only I decided to bake muffins instead of a loaf of bread. I thought the muffins would be easier for everyone to grab and eat and that muffins would be ready much quicker than bread.

This was a quick recipe to put together. Mix up the topping using brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. The batter was easy to mix up. Flour, sugar, eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves,salt, baking powder, baking soda, oil, applesauce. I folded in some raisins that I plumped with some boiling water. Then lined two muffin tins with baking papers and using my large scoop, I filled each of the muffin papers about 3/4 full and popped them into the oven.

I set the timer for about 25 minutes and when I checked them, they were done. I pulled them from the oven and set them out to cool. My brother was chomping at the bit to try them. He said they smelled delicious, which was true. My Dad said he wasn't interested in them, because he doesn't like oatmeal baked...he likes oatmeal in a bowl with milk and brown sugar, but doesn't like oatmeal cookies or oatmeal bread. Kind of like me with bananas. I love bananas fresh but can't take them baked in anything. Mom was neutral, though she did say the muffins smelled good while they were baking.

Once I had photographed the muffins for my blog, I tried one and my brother tried one. Delicious!! Dorie says to wait for the bread to cool before eating it, but the muffins were wonderful warm from the oven. Soft with a tender crumb, and the light taste of cinnamon. The topping was crunchy and sweet. The raisins nice and chewy. I ate two and my brother ate 4!! He was going to eat more, but decided he was going to show a little self-control. :) Mom tried one and talked Dad into trying one. And, he liked them! He was going to have a second one, but thought I had counted them and didn't want to eat muffins that were set aside for someone else. Oh well, he can have more tomorrow morning!

So, thanks Natalie. Great choice! It was a big hit here at my place. If you want to see what the rest of the bakers thought stop by TWD and check it out.

"Chicken" and Dumplings with Oven Baked Carrot Fries

2010-08-06T00:03:00.000-04:00

Back in early July my daughter's best friend, Leslie, posted this message on her Facebook page...

"My aunt is putting together a family cookbook and wants 4 recipes from me. I'm pretty sure I know which ones I want to submit, but I need to make sure the recipes are clear and repeatable. Anyone willing to be a recipe tester for me?"

I should probably mention that Leslie is a Vegan, so that meant that any recipes she wanted tested would be dairy-free, meat-free, egg-free, and so on. Not my usual fare, but I have read Leslie's blog, 'Cause I Eats Me Spinach, and have often thought that many of the dishes look and sound delicious. So, when Leslie posted the request I volunteered to try one or two of the recipes. I offered to try either Oven baked Carrot or Sweet Potatoe Fries, or "Chicken" and Dumplings. Leslie took me up on the offer and sent me the recipes for both dishes. So, last week I gathered all the ingredients I would need and printed copies of her recipes, and dived into my first Vegan dinner.

Other than having trouble getting my hands on the "chicken", all the ingredients were easy to find. Carrots, vegetable broth, garlic, flour, spices. I decided to use frozen spinach in my dish, rather than kale or mustard greens. I know I like spinach and I wasn't sure about the others. :) The chicken I finally found in the refrigerator section in the specialty foods section of a local grocery store.

The main dish was very easy to put together. Leslie's directions are precise, clear and easy to understand. I kept the printed copy of the recipe nearby and referred to it as I put everything together.

The carrot fries were even easier to put together. I have done a similar dish with zucchini in the past and was excited to try the carrot version.

I brought everything to the table, and set it in front of the hubby. Bless his heart, he will eat anything I cook at least once. He has often told me I don't have to make a particular dish ever again, but he always gives it a try. He was a bit apprehensive but dug in.

We were both very pleasantly surprised! The soup was rich and flavorful. The dumplings were soft yet hearty. I cleaned my bowl and looked over to see that the hubby had cleaned his too. Next thing I knew, he was standing by the island, eating "seconds" straight from the pot! Even Patches liked the "chicken"! As for the carrot fries...fabulous! Baking brought out the sweetness of the carrots and the spice blend I used added just enough flavor without overpowering the carrots natural taste.

So, if you would like to give a Vegan dish a try, make it this one! I don't think you will be disappointed. Thanks Leslie! It was fun making this and a delicious surprise eating it! :)

"Chicken" & Dumplings
Serves 2

Soup Ingredients:

1 packet fake chicken product of choice (Morningstar Farms' Chicken-Style Strips, available in the freezer section of just about every grocery store anywhere these days, is perfect for this)
2 to 5 cloves garlic, minced (depending on how much you love garlic; I typically use 4)
1 large carrot, cut into half-rounds
2 handfuls coarsely chopped kale, mustard greens, or collard greens (optional - I love the added color and nutritional value the greens give to the soup)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp olive oil, or vegan non-hydrogenated butter substitute (Earth Balance is incredible)
4 cups vegetable broth of choice - the richer in flavor, the better!
1 to 2 tbsp animal-product-free Chicken Seasoning OR a combination of rubbed sage, oregano, thyme, black pepper, and basil
1/2 tsp salt

Dumpling Ingredients:

1 cup flour (I use whole wheat, but I think just about any flour would do)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp olive oil, or room temperature vegan non-hydrogenated butter substitute
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened plain soymilk, rice milk, almond milk, or vegetable broth

Directions:

1. Brown the fake chicken in a medium-sized skillet with a little olive oil. Set aside.
2. Mix your dumplings: In a bowl, combine all dumpling ingredients and mix until a slightly wet dough is formed. Set aside.
3. In a medium-sized stock pot, heat the olive oil/vegan butter sub over medium heat for just 1 minute. Add the minced garlic and carrot and cook 2 minutes, stirring often to keep the garlic from burning.
4. Add the 1/4 cup of flour and combine with the olive oil/vegan butter sub to make a paste, or roux. Add a little of the veggie broth to help incorporate the flour, if needed, until your roux is a nice, smooth paste.
5. Add the rest of the veggie broth and the seasonings and stir to fully combine. Also add the kale/greens at this point, if you are using them. Bring the soup to a boil, stir in the pre-browned fake chicken, and then make the dumplings by dropping small spoonfuls of the dough into the boiling liquid. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and cook for about 15 minutes, until the dumplings have cooked and the soup is nice and thick.

Oven-Baked Carrot or Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 4 as a side-dish

Ingredients:
8 large carrots or 4 medium-to-large sweet potatoes, washed and peeled
2 tbsp olive oil
1~2 tsp sea salt

Optional Ingredients:
1~2 tsp chipotle chili powder, Garam Masala, or any spice or combination of spices you like, really.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, and any spices. Set aside to let the flavors mingle.
3. Chop the carrots or sweet potatoes into large fry-sized pieces. I like "steak fry"-esque wedges for both kinds. These fries - especially the carrot variety - will shrink as they roast in the oven, so you might want to cut them bigger than you think you should. I usually cut a large carrot in half along its length, then cut the thicker upper part into quarters and the narrower part in half.
4. Add the carrot/sweet potato pieces to the bowl and toss to coat evenly with the oil, salt, etc. Spread the pieces on a lightly greased baking sheet so that they aren't touching one another.
5. Let cook in the oven for about 15 minutes. Stir them around a bit, put them back in the oven, and let cook for another 10~15 minutes, until the fries are soft and lightly caramelized. Serve by themselves or with something to dip them in!

Chocolate with Francois - Chocolate Beignets without Creme Anglaise

2010-07-30T06:43:00.000-04:00

Here we are with another installment of the monthly group Chocolate with Francois. This month we are are making Chocolate Beignets with Creme Anglaise. That is the recipe that Julia of Always...leave Room for Dessert picked for July. Be sure to stop by her beautiful blog. Its filled with gorgeous photos and fabulous recipes.

Francois says in his book..."This is my version of the American doughnut: a ball of ganache that is dipped in a great beer-based yeasty batter, then fried and served with a creme anglaise dipping sauce instead of icing..."

I read the recipe and seeing that it served 8, I decided to scale it back. I was also making Chewy, Chunky Blondies that day and knew we didn't need full recipes of two different desserts. And, since the Beignets should be served immediately I decided to just make a few so we could try them, and not spoil our dinner. :)

There are four parts to making these...the batter, the ganache, frying, and the dipping sauce. I decided to skip the creme anglaise. I have made it in the past and while it was delicious, I didn't feel like going to the trouble of making it just to dip a couple of beignets.

I am pretty sure I did my math right with quartering the recipe, but I started having trouble when I added the flour into the beer and yeasty water. Instead of having batter, I had dough. :( I added some more beer until the dough thinned out some and became more batter like.

Then I did the ganache. That turned out fine. I put the little balls in the freezer to firm up before the next step.

I mixed up an egg in a small bowl and put some panko (Japanese bread crumbs) in a another bowl. I added some fresh oil to my fryer and pulled the ganache balls from the freezer. My beer batter had been sitting on the counter and it had bubbled up as described in the recipe.

It seemed weird to dip the luscious ganache balls into egg and then into bread crumbs. After all, that is something that I would usually do with chicken. I tried to then be sure to completely cover the balls with the batter. As I pulled each ball from the batter, I dropped them into the hot oil. Fried them for 2 or 3 minutes, then scooped them out and placed them on paper towels to drain.

I dusted mine with a little powdered sugar. Once I was sure they were cool enough, the hubby and I tried them.

Yummy! The frozen ball of ganache in the center becomes soft and melted. The batter surrounding the ganache is crispy/chewy. The beignets aren't really sweet. But they are delicious! Don't let them cool off and then try to eat them...once cold they become rubbery. They are definitely best served warm from the fryer.

I would like to try these again...perhaps for breakfast some lazy Sunday. And maybe I will make the Creme Anglaise and try them dipped instead of dusted. :) Be sure to stop by CWF to see what the other bakers thought of this pick. Thank you Julia! I really enjoyed these.

Tuesdays with Dorie - Chewy, Chunky Blondies

2010-07-27T17:08:00.000-04:00

I'm baaaaaack! Skipped last week due to the bananas in the recipe and because the hubby and I, with two of our friends, went on a motorcycle trip to NC. We went to Grandfather's Mountain, Linville Falls, and Mount Mitchell. We had a really great time and were gone from Thursday afternoon until late Sunday afternoon. I spent last Monday recuperating from the trip and 827 miles on the back of a motorcycle. Oh, but the sights we saw and the memories we made...well worth the callouses on my butt! :)

This week Nicole of Cookies on Friday picked our recipe, and she picked a winner. I knew when I read this recipe that I wanted to make it. While I am a die hard chocolate fan, every once in a while there is something very comforting about a Blondie. Chewy. Brown sugary. Rich and satisfying. But, I seldom think to make them. It always seems to be brownies.

I was off Monday (as I usually am) and decided to bake for two of my groups...TWD and Chocolate with Francois (which I will post later). (I also made "Chicken" and Dumplings and Baked Carrot Fries and will post about that later too). But, right now, it's all about these Blondies.

I made these just as called for using chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, walnuts and coconut. I had them whipped up and in the oven in no time. I baked mine for 45 minutes, which was when the knife inserted in the center came out clean. About an inch all the way around the border of the pan the blondies were tall. But, the middle or rest of the blondies didn't rise as much. I flipped them out of the pan and then flipped them back over and allowed them to cool.

When I was pretty sure they were cool enough I cut them into small bars. I anticipated them being rich so I cut the bars smaller than I would cut brownies.

Man, are these ever good. Someone in the comments said something about "crack blondies". So true!! These are addicting. They are chewy with a thin crust on top that starts out crispy then disolves into buttery, sugary goodness. Though not usually a big butterscotch chips fan (still don't know why I had a bag of them in my cupboard!) the chips added a warm, caramel-like undertone to the blondie. The walnuts added great texture and the chocolate chips just the right amount of richness. Soooo good!! I'll be right back...

Sorry, I had to go grab another one of these. That last paragraph got my mouth watering. :D

So, thank you Nicole! I loved these and so did the hubby. If you would like to see what the rest of the gang thought of this week's pick, click here. :)