Kayleigh's Kitchen Chronicle

Sourdough Starter

2013-03-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I was going to blog all about my adventure in sourdough! I found a PIN on Pinterest about the starter and how easy it was! I was excited! My husband loves sourdough. The original pinner mentioned other recipes you can use the starter for as well, I was all about this! Pumped! WOO!
My yeast isn't foaming. It's dead. deceased. lifeless. BUMMER!
I'll try to get new yeast today! Stay tuned.

I've made progress!

2011-06-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

I've tried two things on this pot now.. The dremel with a carbon steel bristle brush and salt and oil.
Both have worked amazing! NO more intense scrubbing for me!

Cast Iron.... totally worth it.

2011-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Somewhere under all that rust is a Wagner's 1891 original - 2 quart bean pot and I intend to find it!!

These pictures were taken after the pot and lid sat in oven cleaner for two days AND after about an hour of scrubbing .... :( LOL The lid is looking better at least.. I'll post some after shots in a few days :)

Hope you are all doing good... I should blog more often! ;)

Brandy Snaps

2011-04-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'd finally remembered to bring the brandy home from my mom's house and Jarette Michael decided to make dinner tonight! So wham bam! Perfect set up for making Brandy Snaps right!!???

Wrong, wrong wrong.. .. HA!

There's a few reason these snappy cookies did not work out for me:

Numero Uno: Molasses is icky. sticky. stinky. icky. This was my first time ever messing with molasses, it smells. Jarette even thought it smelled. As soon as I added it to the pan w/ the melting butter he chimed in, "what the hell are you cooking?! It stinks!" So I was worried. Pretty damn sure they weren't going to be up our taste bud alley but, I kept on truckin'...

Enter ancient, sad, dirty, oven, I set the temp to 300 instead of 325 because it's an electric hunk of junk and burns everything. (It also could have used a cleaning. I hear dirty ovens cook unevenly so, after cookie disaster I got in there and scrubbed. It felt good and maybe now the oven will love me again? maybe.) I also didn't have a spiffy cannoli shaper. The closest thing I could find that was the right shape and was made of metal was, my can opener. It was tricky considering it has two handles .. I managed it, ended up with some decent shapes!

AND the 3rd and final element: I had a forgetful, possibly blonde moment at the grocery store. I bought half and half instead of whipping cream! Kiddies you cannot make cream out of half and half even if you let the Kitchen-Aid beat the shit out of it for 20 minutes.. FYI! So after I realized I did not have the cream to make my filling(which I think would have been my favorite part, it has brandy in it after all) I found a tub of whipped Betty Crocker frosting in the fridge and shoved it in the stinky cannoli cookies butts with a spoon. (:

(Look at that disaster on a cutesy zebra print plate.. DISASTER!)

I will say that Brandy Snaps are relatively easy to make and fancy schmancy and definitely not a flavor I enjoy (:

I also forgot to take more pictures and burned my hand. Just a rad experience all around!

Anyone want some crappy cookies?

Here's the recipe, but check the link above PW is awesome (:

Ingredients

COOKIE
1 stick Butter
½ cups Molasses
¼ cups Sugar
¼ cups Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Brandy
¾ cups Flour
⅛ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
FILLING
2 cups Heavy Cream
⅓ cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Brandy (more To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper.

To make the cookies/shells, melt butter in a skillet with molasses, sugar, and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Allow to bubble and cook for one minute, then turn off heat.

Dump in flour, ginger, and salt. Stir together quickly until just combined, then stir in brandy.

Use a tablespoon to spoon mixture onto cookie sheet; do only eight cookies per sheet, as they will spread out in the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until bubbling in the oven. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow to cool on the pan for 2 to 3 minutes. Lift up circles one at a time and drape them over a cannoli mold (or a large metal handle of a whisk or potato masher!) The cookies will naturally drape over the mold; help it along by pressing the seal.

Slide cookies off the mold and set them on a cool plate. Repeat with remaining cookies. Be prepared to slightly reshape cookies as they cool. Fill with cream filling when completely cool.

FILLING

Combine cream, sugar, and brandy (make sure cream is very cold.) Place into a cold mixing bowl (chill ahead of time) and mix on high until cream is very stiff. Place cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. Carefully fill cooled brandy snaps. Serve within a couple of hours.

*Adapted from an old Helen Corbitt recipe

2011-04-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

For Devi :)

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

½ cups water(add more water later if required)
½ cup oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup oats

Blend wet ingredients together. Whisk dry ingredients together and mix into wet mixture to form a ball of dough. Roll out and shape. Put onto a non-stick cookie tray or lightly greased one. Cook 20 minutes at 400 F. Turn off oven and allow the biscuits to cool in oven until crisp and hard. Store in airtight container

Wow, it's been almost a year!

2011-04-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

Oh so many things have happened and been baked/cooked/flambéd! I was considering an update but there's just tooo much! SO! Here is a quick photo rundown of the haps ;)

I made Elvira some peanut butter dog biscuits :)

Banana's Foster w/ Australian rum!

My first apple pie! It was ... interesting.

Clam Chowder in a bread bowl, hubby's fave!

Birthday cake experiment, I did a two-tiered chocolate cake w/ grape Kool-Aid frosting..

I think Kyle and Tyler liked it at least :)

I wish wish wish I had taken more food-a-ma-graphs! I'll get back on track right after my anniversary trip to Las Vegas <3

2010-06-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

I'd like to recommend something that I think every one should have in the kitchen.....
The BACON PRESS!
Amazon!

I just cooked a bunch of bacon in half the time and its flat and perfect instead of crinkly crap!

anywho.. I've cooked a lot of fun things like butterbeer and roasted chicken and I'm making Bakerella!Cake Balls right now. Maybe I'll post some stuff someday.

Its midnight...

2010-05-30T00:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning... Check out my "about me" if you're interested I'm not posting an introduction blog, I'm gonna dive right in.

Its a little after midnight and I just finished baking a chocolate rum cake. (I've drank a little rum too, I'll be honest)

Next time I think I'll make my own cake instead of buying the box mix. I'd also advise a good rum, one you'd love to drink. I chose a spiced rum, instead of white. The batter was very dense, directions say pour.. no way you could pour it. It really is the most fabulous chocolate cake I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I can't wait to try another slice tomorrow, sure it will be a lot better once the sauce gets absorbed ;)

Gonna say Happy Memorial day to everyone and hope it's safe and rad.
Ciao!