Poisoned Apple Baking

Goops' Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:01:00 +0000

I had to try out this recipe since my cookies never come out right. I have to say...Amazing cookies!
Just AMAZING! Only thing is the cookies didn't wield 40. I guess its all in the person who makes them correct?

I got 36 cookies out of this recipe. Also, you really need to dunk these in milk. Its the perfect happy ending.

Tate's Chocolate Chip Cookies:

YIELD: About 40 cookies

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) lightly salted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a bowl. In another large bowl, mix the butter with a wooden spoon to lighten it a bit and then mix in the sugars. Add the water, vanilla and eggs to the butter mixture. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and then fold in the chocolate chips. Using two soup spoons, drop the cookies 2" apart onto two nonstick or greased cookie sheets. Bake for eight minutes, rotating the sheets after four minutes. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool, and repeat the process with the rest of the batter.

Getting back to normal

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:27:00 +0000

So recently I've had some life changing experiences. In that I've found myself and what I am capable of in stressful times. Now that I'm situated and mentally stable again (sheeah...right!) I'm going to start baking again. I felt that I had to take a break from my blogs in order to get everything back and have a fresh start in life. All I can say is that I'm glad to be back where I can start baking again. Tonight I will bake something for my coworkers and get back to doing the Daring Bakers Challenge and Tuesdays with Dorie.

Thank you everyone for having patience with me.

Blue Blue Berry Muffins!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:48:00 +0000

So I was dying for some blueberry muffins a week or two ago and I just couldn't drop it out of my head. I kept seeing them everywhere and I didn't want to just buy ones that were already made by some factory who didn't put love into it. I was glad I made these. Everyone in the office enjoyed them and so did my husband. I enjoyed them quite a few times :)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups fresh blueberries, (may use frozen)
4 tablespoons sugar, for topping

Makes 24 muffins, You can split the ingredients to make half the batch.

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well; stir in milk slowly. Combine all your dry ingredients and add to the sugar butter batter; stir to combine. Next, Add the blueberries and gently fold them in blueberries.

Fill the greased muffin cups about 2/3 full. Then, sprinkle the tops of the batter with a little sugar. It looks pretty that way. Go ahead and put the muffin pans in a preheated oven which has reached 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Simple as that and very easy!

Oh so sorry!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:01:00 +0000

I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything lately, my job has kept me from baking due to late nights at the office. Although this week I'm going to resume posting on here again. Ive been baking, but not posting. I know Bad Donna, Bad! I'm trying though. I'm going to post some muffins I baked the other day as soon as I figure out how to rip out these photos from my iPhone.

Git 'er done!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 05:44:00 +0000

Man oh man, What a difficult cake to make. I don't think Ill be making specialty cakes for a while.
Although this is my second specialty cake and Ive never had training on how to use the fondant. I pretty much learn as I go. I used a chocolate cake with Banana buttercream.

Chocolate Cake Recipe can be found here

Banana Buttercream Recipe:

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 package of banana pudding mix

Directions

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency. Add pudding mix.

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe:
Recipe from CakeJournal

1 bag of white marshmallows (8 oz)
Water (2 tbsp)
Confectioners, sifted (1 to 2 pounds)
Crisco
Food colors or cocoa powder
Flavoring optional

Note: you can of course use your kitchen mixer when mixing in the icing sugar. Just remember to grease the bowl and paddle attachment well with Crisco.

Follow the instructions on her blog to achieve a great fondant. The only thing I forgot to do was add the coloring so I had to kneed it in. Ouch.

My boss and the crew.

Here are the pictures of my Cowboy hat cake.

Good old southern chili!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 23:52:00 +0000

I know I'm not usually into posting the foods I cook and I always post baking related things but this had to be on here.

So I went over to a friends home to try out her hand at chili. She made the most delightful Texas- styled Chili. It had ground pork and brisket in it. This would be my first time trying this kind of chili. It had no beans! I had read about chili with no beans and yet couldn't imagine any chili without them. Its like one of the main ingredients.

So after trying her chili I was convinced that you don't REALLY need beans in chili. It was so yummy. So the next day I was craving more chili. I wish I would have taken some of my friends homemade chili...home! So I decided to make chili. This recipe was handed down to me from my mother, who got it from her mother.

I tweaked it a bit for myself though. I added bacon this time. Although my chili has another ingredient I wont disclose. :) It came out completely marvelous! So yummy and perfect! The entire stock pot was emptied that night. I made Cuban styled Tamales to go with it and Francie made Enchiladas to go with them as well in case no one liked the Tamales. A pot of rice was also made in case no one wanted either of the two. I made dinner rolls to dip into the chili and man, that was yummy in it self.

Good Old Southern Chili Recipe

Ingredients

28oz of Peel whole tomatoes
6oz of tomato paste
15oz of tomato sauce

15oz of red kidney beans
15oz of great northern white beans
15oz of spicy chili beans

2lbs of ground chuck beef 80/20 or 90/10 preferred
20oz of thick sliced bacon

half of a white onion chopped
3 tbsp of minced garlic
2 chili peppers (im going to use chipotle peppers next time)

fresh paprika to taste
2 tsp of garlic salt
2 tbsp of coarse pepper
1 tsp of sugar
chili powder to taste
*secret ingredient* (haha)
2tsp of oregano

2tbsp of virgin olive oil

Instructions

Go ahead and grab a wide skillet and stick the ground beef in it on medium heat. Add the chili powder, coarse pepper, garlic salt and paprika while you cook it until it browns.

Start chopping up the bacon and once your done put the bacon in a separate skillet on medium heat and let it cook until it looks crispy.

In the meantime while those things are cooking chop up the onion, chop up the peppers and mince that garlic. In a sauce pan add the Virgin Olive oil in with the onions, peppers and garlic. saute them until the onions brown just a tad.

Drain the beef in a colander and then poor the bacon with the bacon grease in the same colander. Mmm bacon!

Once you have finished draining everything all together go ahead and put the bacon, beef and onion mix in a stock pot.

Add the beans in the same stock pot along with all the tomato ingredients.

Add oregano and sugar to the chili and let the chili simmer for 1.5 hours.

Thats all. Add Tamales, Enchiladas, or just plain Jasmine rice! My husband decided to take the same idea he had from my friend and add sour cream and shredded cheese to it!

It was yummy!

Ahoy there Matey! Thar be a Floatin' Island!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:44:00 +0000

So I was late in making these yummy treats, pics after the jump, since I was ill this weekend. Cheap food sometimes isn't a good idea. Like 39 cents chicken wings from Miami Subs.

Other than that Ive had a pretty good weekend and I know the weekend will end quite well too. For starters, there is the birthday cake I'm making for my boss. Its a cowboy hat with a goats head on the face of the hat. He's a Satanist, let's not judge now, and hes a Cowboy. He doesn't sacrifice little babies or animals he just has a lifestyle that's carefree pretty much. I respect his beliefs and I don't judge.

Anyways, he's turning 30 so I thought it would be cool to make him a banging cake!

Then I thought I would also make all my coworkers on my floor little valentines day gifts. It'll be little treat bags with a cupcake brownie glazed over in the shape of a heart with V-Day chocolate kisses as well. I have to make 20 or so of those.

And then on Saturday I have a gun show to go to to get my gun permit so that I can carry my gun around. About 2 weeks ago I was nearly assaulted and my Blue Great Dane puppy, Sophie, was almost taken from me.

The man who was fairly large, I'm only 5'2'', asked how much was I selling the puppy for. I thought it was weird since I didn't carry any thing noting a puppy for sale. So I proceeded to tell the man that how did he get the notion that my dog was for sale.

He then asked the same question again and I got annoyed and told him to get away that he could not afford such a dog. I know, I know, I was asking for it with that response. He then called me a B**ch and told me he was going to take the dog anyways. I told him I had a gun, which I didn't at the time, and to back away or I would shoot. He ran after me. So I picked up Sophie and ran as fast as I could into a crowd.

That's Sophie Bleu

Ever since then I have no choice, but to carry my gun. So there goes money being blown on a permit to carry it around. Id rather spend it on shoes or new baking utensils. Uhg, Miami is so horrible!

Back on topic! Sorry about that, Didnt want anyone to think I was a crazy woman for carrying a gun.

So I have to admit, I LOVE these floating islands. Yummy and fun to make. Mine are still cooling in the fridge seeing as I made them like 3 hours ago. The only difference with My Floating Islands and Dories are that mine are made with Carnations Dry Milk or "magic crystals" as Carnations likes to put it. Saves me a lot of money on milk and tastes just like 2% milk. Much healthier since Im dieting. again.

The Custard

My fav, the Merengue.

Fresh Gingerbread Bundt Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:51:00 +0000

Oh what a month. Its been nonstop at work, I now work Monday through Friday from 11 to 8pm. So that means I get to get up early and bake...YAY! Ok so there was a bit of sarcasm there, but not too much because I do love to bake. For TWD I baked the gingerbread last week. I know Im behind but House, work and family first.

I also was going to take pictures of my husband and my coworkers eating the bread but I was too involved in conversation with them to remember to take pictures so all I have is the pic of when I poured it into the bundt pan. Heh.

I also forgot to do my first assignment for Daring Bakers. I know shame on me, but I swear its not my fault. I was really excited about making Tuiles. I had this whole idea about make a starry night theme with some blueberries and dark chocolate swirls on them. Fail I guess.

The Fresh ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread was amazing. I never eat any of my baking, but this smelled so amazing I had too just have a bite. One bite turned into 3 slices.

I took the bundt cake to work the next day and everyone tore into it like crazy. So I ill definitely be making that one again pretty soon.

Here is the only picture of the Gingerbread bundt cake I made.

Next time Ill definitely take pictures.

German's chocolate cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:17:00 +0000

Omg, I love this recipe. Not as much as my Tiramisu cupcake, but its up there. This actually took me 3 hours to make, only because I was watching Leatherheads and oogling John Krasinski while baking. It was relatively easy to make and messy too!

I decided to look up the origin of German Chocolate Cake when I came across some interesting stuff. Apparently this cake is American and has no German association except for the fact that in 1852 a gentleman by the name Sam German made this dark baking chocolate bar for Baker's Chocolate Company. After a while they just dropped the apostrophe and the "S" and it became Baker's German Sweet Chocolate instead.

I baked this recipe for my hubbster Jesse. He looooves coconuts. Hopefully there are still cupcakes when I get home tonight. :) A coworker also asked me to bake this for them. Ill do that next week.

Ingredients for the cupcake:

1 1/4 all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp

1 large egg at room temp

1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

2 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temp

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup of milk (I used 2%)

Instructions for mixing:

First, lets heat up the oven to 350 degrees then set up your muffin pans. Do not use the paper cupcake liners so that it doesn't leave the rigid lines on the cake itself. Instead spray/rub the pans with butter. I like Mazola's Butter Cooking Spray personally.

Next, combine in one bowl the flour, salt and baking soda. Meanwhile, In another bowl, using an electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat sugar and butter until fully combined and fluffy for 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla next, then beat until combined together. Add the melted chocolate and sour cream and beat on low.

Finally, add the flour in 3 additions alternating with the milk in 2, beat on low speed, scraping down the sides when you need to. Once you are done with that go ahead and fill the muffin pans 3/4 of the way and bake for 18 minutes or until done. Check to see with a toothpick in the center of the cupcakes. If it comes out clean its ready!

German's Chocolate Topping:

3/4 cup of evaporated milk

1/2 cup of light brown sugar firmly packed

1/2 cup of butter cut into 8 pieces

1 1/4 cup of sweetened coconut shavings

1 cup of pecans coarsely chopped although you can just use a mortar and pestle to crush them.

pinch of salt

Over a medium heat combine evaporated milk, brown sugar and butter, bring to a simmer. Then remove the sauce pan from heat and mix in pecans, coconut and salt. Let cool for till it reaches room temp. Please be careful since it is hot.

Instructions for assembly:

Once the cupcake has cooled, with a parring knife, cut a quarter of the top of the cupcake off. Set the larger portion of the cupcake in a cupcake liner and use the Filling/Frosting you made earlier. Apply only a teaspoon in the center of the cupcake. Once you have done that grab the top portion that you cut off and place it on top of the filling. Go ahead and scoop up another teaspoon and apply it to the cupcake. Voila! A double-tiered cupcake!

Back to Baking!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:16:00 +0000

I'm back home in Miami and already missing Georgia. I am back to baking now. I have a bunch of stuff to post and pictures of my trip. Plus we got a new Great Dane puppy which I named Sophia. She's amazing! Now I have 3 Great Dane babies.

I also bought a bunch of baking cook books today so I cant wait to try them out. Been thinking more and more about going to a culinary school. My cousin and my friend are both in Johnson and wales and Ive always wanted to go to a culinary school. We'll see how it goes.

Also Ill be on my way to Washington D.C. Sunday the 18th through Tuesday the 20th at night. Ill be going to Barack Obama's inauguration. I'm so excited.

Yay the new year awaits us!

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas in Georgia

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 23:11:00 +0000

I will be in Georgia till the 30th. I will bake since Im at my mother's home but I wont be able to post on the exact days seeing as there is no high speed internet here. As soon asI can Ill post todays baked goods. See you in a few days!

Sugar Cinnamon Vegan Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Well I know I haven't posted anything in almost two weeks, but I have been cooking! I just haven't had the time to post. So I made the sugar cookies from TWD from the 9th of December and Im posting it now. I also have Crust less Cheesecake Squares that I have yet to even post, but I'm trying to do that today!

Im going out of town on Sunday to see my family up in Georgia for the holidays and I'm picking up my new bundle of joy. A puppy Blue Great Dane whom we are naming Georgia. Funny, since all of our danes have come from Georgia. I originally wanted to name her Bo Riley, but I lost interest in that name seeing as it just didn't look like it would match her. Then I picked out Syria, but then that didn't seem to fit either since from her description from Nightmagicpride Danes.

I made the sugar cookies but I had to change it to a vegan version of it since there are a few vegans at work and Im on a diet so little to no sugar!

I completely forgot to bring the pics to work so I can upload them now instead of tonight. So that will have to wait.

The vegan cookies were made with Tofutti cream cheese and Ener-G sustitute eggs. They came out PERFECT! Probably the only time cookies have ever come out like that for me.

I enjoyed some of these cookies while watching my new obsession...the US version of The Office.
That Jim Halbert is just so adorable!

I got the recipe off of this website which I absolutely love : Perfect Vegan Sugar Cookies

Taken from Johnandkristie.com:

PERFECT VEGAN SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
This makes about 36 cookies.

1 cup margarine	3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar	2 teaspoons baking powder
2 whole egg replacements (Ener-G)	1/4 cup tofu cream cheese (Tofutti)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Stir in the egg replacements and vanilla. Gradually add the flour, baking powder and tofu cream cheese. You may have to use your hands at this point to finish the mixing. Form the dough into a long loaf and wrap in cellophane. Refrigerate for a couple hours.
2.	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the cookie sheets or use a non-stick foil.
3.	On a lightly floured surface (we taped down a sheet of non-stick foil to our countertop instead), roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place about 1 inch apart cookie on sheets.
4.	Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottoms and edges just start to get light brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

I did not add the glaze to limit the amount of sugar on these cookies. Instead I added Cinnamon and Allspice on one half of the batch and then I sprinkled sugar on the other half.

Enjoy. Ill be back to post those pics tonight!

Bandages off ye go!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:05:00 +0000

So my bandages finally came off my hands and I am able to cook once again! I'm so glad! Got tired of not cooking anything and eating out.

On another issue, I joined Daring Bakers! I'm so excited since now Im a member of Daring Bakers and TWD! Yay! Till next post! Laters!

Ouchie!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Well, I have managed once again to get hurt. It always seems to happen when my husband goes out of town. A candle burst into flames that was high above my reach and so I reached up to grab it. While this was happening I guess my brain didn't register the hotness till I blew out the candle. It was a Febreeze candle with the glass jar and when I tried to let go once I started to feel pain until I noticed the jar was stuck to my fingers which I had to rip off to stop the burn. Gross, I know.

I had to be rushed to urgent care to get looked at because it was too much pain to deal with. I had gotten second degree burns on my hands so It's pretty difficult to type. It's taken me 20 minutes just to write this. :)

So I wont be cooking till I an take off these bandages. But I do think its cute that my hands look like Mickey Mouse gloves.

A D60 to make me a happy girl!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:21:00 +0000

I just got my new Nikon D60 D-SLR in. I'm completely excited and bursting with joy! I know I wont be able to snap many photos today since I'm still at work and I get out at 8pm, but I will be messing with it till I have to go home and mess with it some more. Finally I can stop taking bad focused pictures with my iPhone or my Sony that has 7 mpx. My husband is on the way right now to drop it off my office/cubical. Can't Wait!

Update: So I got the camera and its awesome, except for the fact that there is a dead pixel on the LCD screen. I already contacted Customer Support and left a message so they can contact me back during their hours of operation . Im still going to take a few shots tonight of what I may bake.

A Thanksgiving Twofer

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Wow! What a crazy week at my house. On Tuesday I had my Thanksgiving dinner with some friends. We do it on Tuesday every year so that Mike, a family friend, can work his grueling black friday and not miss thanksgiving with us or his family and so the rest of our friends may be able to spend Thanksgiving with their families as well. I made Tiramisu Brownies which I didnt even take any pics of it, but ill post the recipe later on. That was yummy by the way. Milk is needed to eat that though.

For TWD I made the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie. Only now is when I actually get a chance to post it. What a mission of a week. With guests constantly over, lots of cleaning to do and endless amounts of cooking I had little to no time for myself and to post.

The Twofer pie was extremely easy to make and I made it in minutes. Im not a fan of eating my baked goods. I think I like it better when its not cooked, odd as it may sound. I love batter, syrups and sugar butter. Although everyone loved this pie and my husband ate the last two slices, my favorite part was dipping my fingers in a little bowl of the corn syrup mix that I set aside for myself. Mmm.

This recipe actually took a lot of ingredients especially since it looks and was simple enough to make. 8 Eggs! That is quite a lot of eggs. Other than that, I used a can of organic pumpkin puree since I really didn't want to make my own puree from scratch. I was cooking 3 different sides plus a 30 pound turkey that was wrapped in bacon, full of stuffing and surrounded by potatoes, onions and pears.

Here are a few pics of the Twofer Pie:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great time with their families and friends!

<3 Donna

This..Is..Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:43:00 +0000

Oh the madness. I will be back after the holidays have quieted down. I have literally no time this week to post anything but I will on Friday night! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Uhg. I hate baking cookies. I never get them to look like...cookies. They either end up being charred or flat like some alien looking biscotti. It just never happens. That's exactly what these cookies ended up looking like, alien biscottis, but they were pretty yummy. A coworker of mine, Morgan, had requested these cookies. I usually make a cake or cupcakes every Wednesday or Friday for my coworkers to test out a new recipe that I have tried out or created.

I took this recipe of chocolate chip cookies and decided to add the taste of walnut and oatmeal.

I really don't know why my cookies never come out plump. I really have tried everything. Hopefully someone can tell me what Im doing wrong.

Ingredients for Chocolate Chip and Walnut cookies

1 1/2 cup of butter, softened to the touch
1 1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp. of Vanilla
3/4 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. lemon juice.
3 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 cup of Old Fashioned Oatmeal.
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. of fresh ground Cinnamon ( or just reg ground cinnamon. I like to make my own since its stronger)
2 1/2 cups of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips ( I used Ghirardelli)
2 cups of crushed Walnuts

Instructions for the cookies

Now, These cookies had no visible trace of walnuts. I crushed them so much that you could taste the walnuts, just not see it. I had originally used 3 cups of chocolate chips but saw that it was too much so I put 2.5 cups instead. If you like a lot of chocolate then by all means add that other half cup.

You can start by preheating your oven to 350 F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the butter in the bowl of your mixer and attach a Paddle utensil to the mixer. Cream the butter for 2 minutes and add the sugars slowly.

Beat on medium speed for another 2 minutes after all the sugar has been added. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

Here is where I took the time to dip a spoon into this butter/sugar mix. I looove this part even though it has raw eggs in it. Yes, I know. I just don't care.

Mmmm so delicious.

OK back to the instructions.

Add the vanilla and lemon juice and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together like the flour, baking soda, oatmeal, salt, and cinnamon.

Add the creamed butter mix to the dry ingredients and blend well for 3 minutes.

Add the chocolate chips and crushed walnuts to the batter and mix with a spatula.

Take a 2 ounce ice cream spoon and scoop up the batter and drop it on the parchment paper 2 inches apart from each other in all directions.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly brown. cool on wire racks and Viola! Chocolate chip cookies!

Kugelhopf and the day after.

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:50:00 +0000

So I know I'm suppose to post on Tuesdays for my TWD cooking posts, but yesterday I was sick and just felt blah! I really wanted to do this recipe though. I love baking cakes and I love turning them into yummy breads. Although I do love the way bundt pans look at the same time I also dont like them for the same reason.

I thought this would be better put to use in a bread pan. Eaten like bread and not cake. I waited for today to have a bite of it with some butter and caramel flavored coffee. The raisans were so yummy in this Kugelhopf. Oh man, I almost died of delight when I had that first bite.

Although it was really tasty I just have to say to Dorie, Why...Why must you pick the most craziest recipies that require an insane amount of prep time and not even WARN me about it! Jeez Louise! I wanted to kill myself making this cake. That and I had a husband asking me when it would be ready. Its like having a child in the back seat asking if you are already there yet. You just want to drop it of on the side of the road, but know that you would end up seeing some jailtime for it.

Also I've been sick for the past few days and have been traveling from west coast to east coast. It's been pretty non-stop for me the last 3 weeks or so. I went to Las Vegas for a dear friends wedding. It was completely beautiful. I got to see our friends cry and of course my husband made fun of the groom sniffling the entire time. I won 500 big ones at a Texas Hold'em table on my first try. Im sure it wont happen again, but it was fun as hell. I spent 4 days in Vegas and had so much fun this time around even though last time I went I got married. Too many things to do the last time I guess.

I then came back and was only home for 2 days when I had to drive 9 hours to Georgia to my little nephews birthday party. Conan, the dog that I had mentioned before, didnt get adopted by my coworker and my mom got him anyways. Now she has 2 mini-pinches. I was in Georgia for 2 days, hung out with family, went to a 65 mile yard sale and found a working Commodore 64 for a dollar, and finally when to a bon-fire. I loved the weather up there. I wish it would get cold here in Miami.

Im going to be making some cupcakes tomorrow and experimenting with fondant decorations as well. I know Ill be tired as hell seeing as I'll be at Best Buy tonight waiting in line like a reatrd for the release of Wrath of The Lich King. Bleh.

Fall In Love with Pumpkin Muffins All Over Again

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:31:00 +0000

I love fall so much. It has to be my favorite season with winter coming in second. The breeze is the right temperature, the smell of the fireplaces burning wood, the stews being made and lots of hot cocoa. Everything. I just love Fall.

Unfortunately, I live in Miami, so I don't get to enjoy those things until I see my mom in Georgia for the holidays. That's when I fall in love all over again with this time of year.

So, for my TWD post I messed up in remembering to add some ingredients. I forgot to add the raisins, walnuts, and sunflower seeds after I had placed my mini muffin pan in the oven. I was so excited to bake these that I completely ignored them, trying to have them baked already so that I can eat one.

I really don't have more than these pictures since my iPhone is dead from no charge, but at least I was able to take two images.

On another note, Today was my final day with Conan, a mini-pinscher I rescued from a horrible animal abuser at Pet Smart. He went to a great home where someone can provide him with lots of love and proper health care. I miss him terribly.

It's amazing how someone can learn to love a wonderful pet so much in 5 days. He seemed so grateful too that I took him in. I will always love him as I do my 2 Great Danes.

The best part about him going to this new home is that the adoptive parent is a co-worker of mine and we bring our pets to work all the time. So I get to see him on the days I work. It's a win-win situation!

Oh Biscotti!

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:35:00 +0000

Oh man, I've had so much to do these past few days. I had to work 7 days straight. I had to hold a BBQ, I went vegetarian, I cleaned my house from top to bottom in 2 hours only to have it messed up after that. So during a break today I was able to FINALLY make my Lenox Almond Biscotti's.

I'm not really allowed to give out the recipe, but I'm gonna go ahead and give out the ingredients.
This was super easy to make and really quick which is what I needed in order to relax.

You're going to need all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, corn meal, butter, sugar, eggs, almond extract, sliced almonds, cinnamon, ground ginger and allspice.

I've been craving that Fall-Winter feeling so bad that I added the cinnamon, allspice and ground ginger. In Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From my home to yours, it also gives you variations like the one I used.

I really miss the cool weather with the color change as well. I really wish Fall-Winter did happen to Miami. Ah, well on with the pictorial.

He didn't care that I wanted a picture of him, he just wanted to know why I hadn't started baking yet!

The baking instructions with my trusty bowl!

Most of the dry ingredients. My husband gave me that funny look you give when looking at a crazy person who is taking pictures of a bowl full of powder.

Whisking dry goods. Yay! No, Not really.

Oh I absolutely loved this part, sugary butter and spices! They were yummy! Before the eggs of course! Don't want to risk salmonella, do we?

(Insert whirling noises from hand mixer and Voila!)

Ready to pour onto a baking sheet. I was going to buy a silicon baking mat, but I got out of work at 8 PM tonight and It's my wedding anniversary. Which I forgot about. Yes I'm that person. So on my way home my husband reminds me what day it is and that he has dinner plans.

I knew exactly what day it was when he told me and I knew exactly what he ordered, Sushi. My absolute fav! So I really shouldn't have baked at all tonight, but this is my first submission to TWD and I wanted to do it. It was only an hour really.

I know, I left it in for 5 minutes extra while I had to answer a phone call and thats what happened! I was a bit discouraged it was going to blow up on me.

Saw, Saw, Saw those burnt edges off and cut them into long strips.

Lined them up like a marching band and BAM! cam out yummy. I know I'm going to have some of these for breakfast tomorrow with my coffee! Till next Tuesday with my next TWD post.

This Friday I'll be experimenting with cupcakes and fondant. We'll see how it goes and I'll keep you updated!

A different kind of cake

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:45:00 +0000

So this cake, actually the design, isn't for the faint at heart. No, really. It isn't. If you are easily offended then keep trucking. I made this cake for a co-worker who was returning to work from medical leave and I was asked to make it. Its not the recipes that are for the curious. It's the pictures. So without further ado here is the recipe then the pics to the final product in a link. Just in case. By the way I started making this cake at 4 in the afternoon and when I was completely done it was 4 am. This is a long one.

Neo Classic Buttercream frosting:

6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of corn syrup
2 cups (4 sticks) of butter, softened to the touch
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract or eau-de-vie of your choice (optional)

Instructions to follow precisely for the buttercream:

1. Grease a 1 cup heatproof glass measuring cup and keep it by the stove.

2. In the mixing bowl, beat the yolks with the whisk attachment, until light in color and fluffy.

In the meantime, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small thick-bottomed saucepan and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a rolling boil and its entire surface is covered in tiny bubbles. (The syrup must come to a rolling boil or the resulting buttercream will be too thin.) Remove the pot from the heat and immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measure to stop the cooking. Don't bother to scrape the bottom of the pan to get the remaining sugar syrup from it.

3. Pour a small amount of syrup over the yolks, and beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Add a larger amount of syrup again and beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup. Beating until completely cooled! I made the mistake of not doing this and it didn't take. It was watery!

4. Fit the mixer with a paddle attachment, so too much air isn't beaten into the mixture. Gradually beat in the butter, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time and add the vanilla extract. The egg/syrup mixture must be completely cool before adding the butter. The buttercream will begin to thicken once all of the butter has been added.

Note from the original recipe: If the butter is too cold (the mixer bowl will feel cold, as a result), sometimes the mixture will curdle. To fix, stop adding butter, soak a dish towel in hot water, wring it out and wrap it around the bowl while increasing beater speed to high. The gentle warming of the mixture plus the additional mixing will bring it back into a smooth mixture (emulsion). Or, beat the frosting on low speed, and it will bring it back together. When the icing does come together, resume with adding butter. If the bowl still feels hot, and/or the butter melts when you start to add it, stop adding butter and continue to beat on medium until the bowl cools down.

For the Chocolate batter:

Make 2 layers using a 9 X 13 pan

3 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder, natural (do not use Dutch-process)
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (optional but worth it)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole or 2% milk; use cold - does not have to be at room temperature
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) of butter; use cold
2 3/4 cups sugar
6 large eggs; use cold

12 ounces (squares) bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

How to melt chocolate:

I melted the chocolate in the oven while it was preheating. Place the chocolate on a flat sheet of aluminum foil and place on middle shelf. That way, when the chocolate melts it wont fall over or spill in your oven or on the floor when taking it out. They take about 5 minutes at most.

Another way to melt the chocolate is to microwave it in a medium size, microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time until chocolate is almost melted. It takes about 3 to 4 minutes.

Instructions on the batter:

1. Position the oven racks in the lower and upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and spray the preferably light colored, heavy pans with nonstick cooking oil. (If you use dark, nonstick baking pans or ovenproof, Pyrex glass pans, keep the oven heat at 325 degrees F, but the recipe will not bake as well in these types of pans; it will result in crusty, dark edges. Which they did.)

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift the cocoa powder into the mixture and combine all ingredients. Set aside.

3.Add the extracts to the milk and set aside.

3. Beat the butter with a mixer that is fitted with a paddle attachment, on low speed until softened. Add the sugar in a steady stream at the side of the bowl. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy. Make sure to scrape with a rubber spatula to get everything in there.

4. With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time and beat for 20 seconds after each addition. After the eggs have been added, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the mixture for 2 minutes. Don't worry about the curdling, it will set. Set the kitchen timer to help you keep track of the time. The mixture will become fluffy and aerated if done properly.

5. Add melted and cooled chocolate: Temper the chocolate by adding a teaspoonful of the butter, sugar, and egg mixture at a time to the cooled chocolate and mix thoroughly after each addition. You can increase the amount added to the chocolate after the initial first few teaspoons to tablespoons, Add about 1/2 cup or more of butter, sugar, and egg mixture to the melted chocolate before returning it to the main mixing bowl. Mix all the ingredients on low speed until combined and creamy.

Note from Baking911: Tempering the chocolate properly is a very important step. If the chocolate is too warm, and added to the batter, it will seize, creating small bits of hardened chocolate in the batter. These bits will never melt and incorporate into the batter when the cake bakes; they will remain as hardened pieces of chocolate in the final cake.

6. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in 3 equal portions, alternating with the milk in 2 equal portions, beginning and ending with the flour.

Baking911: Add the flour and liquid ingredients in increments quickly; do not wait in between additions too long as you don't want to over mix the batter. After completing the last addition of flour, let the mixer run for 30 seconds on LOW. The batter should look mixed. STOP the mixer. Do NOT over mix.

7. Remove the bowl. With a large rubber spatula, give the batter ONE or TWO quick folds to incorporate any stray flour or milk left at the sides and bottom of the bowl. Then, STOP!

If your mixer is having an issue with the thick chocolate batter use a large rubber spatula and FOLD the ingredients together - DO NOT STIR them.

8. Divide the batter in the prepared baking pans (fill 1/2 full) and lightly smooth the tops. 50 to 60 minutes at 325 degrees F, or until the top feels firm and gives slightly when touched on the top with a cupped hand (will not spring back when touched with a fingertip) and shrinks a little from the sides of the pan – it should also smell done. The cake may develop cracks on its top. It will be trimmed later and you will no longer see the cracks.

Use a toothpick to tell whether it is done or still needs more time. Don't over bake!

9. Take cakes immediately from the oven to a wire cake rack and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes and then unmold onto wire cake racks (set your timer to keep track of the time) - the cake is fragile and will crack easily if you unmold it before the time is up. The cake's top will flatten more as it cools.

Fondant:

I used a MMF that I had made a few weeks ago since i was going to bake my hubby a cake for our 4rth wedding anniversary. But I needed this for work :P

Ill post the fondant tomorrow since it is 12:44 AM here.

Pics:

Flour Mix

Extracts with milk

Getting the butter ready :)

And now the links for those crazy pictures :P

Oh my! Pic one

Oh my! Pic two

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes with Strawberries and Maple Cream.

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:06:00 +0000

I am a huge fan of pineapples. Crushed, smashed, chunks, rings or puree pineapple. It doesn't matter to me at all. I practically drool at the thought of pineapple. Actually, I'm drooling right now. For my Friday recipe I decided to take my moms pineapple upside-down cake and turn it into a cupcake! Bam! Just like that. Only this time, instead of a cherry, I would use strawberries. Tart and scrumptious, it would add the perfect balance to her recipe.

She always did say never to follow the recipe completely but make it your own in a certain way. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not done yet. Not only did I change out the cherry and add a strawberry but I also drizzled some maple cream onto it. Not much, so it would not overcome the pineapple flavor. We will see how it goes tomorrow at work when I take this batch to my subjects. Although my husband, Jesse, already approved!

My photography skills are horrible seeing as this was taken with my iPhone.

Pineapple Upside-down Batter:

1 cup of Butter (2 sticks) softened to the touch.
1 cup of Sugar.
2 cups of Self-rising flour
4 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Topping (or the bottom of the cupcake :P):

2 cups of Strawberries.
1-20 oz. can of Crushed Pineapples.
1/2 cup of Butter (1 stick) softened to the touch.
3/4 packed light brown sugar (or any kind of brown sugar, really up to you)

Maple Cream:

3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream.
5 tbsp of natural maple syrup. None of this Aunt Jamima stuff. I'm talking real maple syrup!

Making the cupcakes:

Make sure you pre-heat your oven to 350F degrees. While that's heating up, in a large bowl,
mix together the butter, vanilla, eggs, sugar and sift the flour into that bowl. Mix with an electric mixer for 1 minute on the lowest speed then 3 minutes on the highest speed. Once done with that go ahead and butter your muffin tray and dust it with flour if you want. I prefer lining them with the cupcake liners.

Spoon into the pan 1 tablespoon of melted butter, one tablespoon of crushed pineapples, and one tablespoon of brown sugar. Do this to each cupcake liner in the pan. Once done go ahead and spoon in the batter. I pretty much added the batter till it was flushed with the top of the cupcake liners. Heh. Bake for 20 minutes.

While that's baking, go ahead and mix the heavy whipping cream and the maple syrup together. Stir occasionally till it turns into a thicker consistency (around 5-8 minutes).

Serving:

When you are ready to serve these cupcakes just put them on a plate upside-down take off the liner and drizzle lightly 1 tbsp of maple cream and top with a few slices of a strawberry.

Let me know what you guys think of my version of my moms pineapple upside-down cake recipe.

Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:59:00 +0000

I hate peanut butter. Just hate it. I know! It should be a felony to hate such a thing, but I can't help it. All those school lunches my mother made my brother and I when we were growing up just got to me. My husbands "mistress" (aka his best friend, Mike) was over the night after last and requested peanut butter cupcakes. His girlfriend Francis was over as well and we decided to bake some while making these yummy fajitas. So we made a run to the grocery story for some stuff. We made the cupcakes during the same time the fajitas were being made so that the cupcakes would be cooled by the time dinner was done.

Mmmm, yummy batter.

These cupcakes tasted like peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips in them. I actually liked them.

Cupcake batter:

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, soft to the touch.
1 cup of sugar.
2 cups of self-rising flour, sifted
4 eggs
3/4 cup of crunchy peanut butter
1 cup of semi sweet bakers chocolate chips (any chocolate is fine really)

Frosting mix:

1/4 cup of crunchy peanut butter (although creamy would have been much easier to use, but I had crunchy at the time)
1/2 cup of butter (1 stick) softened to the touch
3 tsp. of vanilla extract
3 cups of confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 tbsp. milk

While making the batter, start heating your oven to 350F degrees. In a large bowl toss in together the butter, sugar, eggs and flour. Beat until smooth. Using an electric mixer is probably much easier with this mix. After you see that the batter is nice and smooth add the peanut butter. Mix everything together for 2 minutes and then you are ready to pour this baby into your cupcake lined pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Make sure to let cool before placing the frosting on the cupcakes.

For the frosting, toss in together the peanut butter, vanilla and butter in a medium sized bowl. Beat the mix until it has that light and fluffy look to it, which is usually about 2-3 minutes. Then go ahead and add the confectioners' sugar along with the milk and mix together until they look well combined.

I kinda mixed everything together for the frosting by accident since I was in a hurry, in doing so the frosting sort of hardened when I placed the finished cupcakes in the fridge. Next time I know to follow my mom's recipe to the dot. I sprinkled some chocolate shavings on the frosting while the cupcake was still warm so that it would melt on the cupcakes. But it probably would look much better had I let them cool off. They still tasted quite yummy.

A new baking blog

noreply@blogger.com (Donna) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Well, Welcome to my first and only baking blog. This will be my compendium for tried and tested recipes on all sorts of cakes, cupcakes and pies. I figured that I bake so much I might as well start a blog so that I can share my recipes on here. I love baking. A Lot! I see a new recipe and I immediately run home to make it. Usually my co-workers are the ones that try all my baking since my husband and I are trying to lose weight. Although I do leave him a few since he has a bit of a sweet tooth. I grew up around constant baking.

My mother is a southern woman so she's always cooking huge meals and lots of desserts. My grandmothers are the same as well. On one side of the family we have some deep south cooking and on the other side of the family there are wonderful Spaniard delights. I'm thankful that I was raised in an environment where cooking is a big thing.

When I was younger I hated to cook or bake anything. I remember telling my mother that I wasn't going to have to do any baking since I was going to have to hire a cook when I grew up. I don't know what I was thinking, considering the fact that I now love being in the kitchen most of the time.

I work odd hours so when I get home around 8:30pm I still try to make something, anything really. My biggest reward from my baked goods is hearing "No, No, I can't eat anymore." That's when you've made some one happy with food. When they can't have another bite. Well, on with the show eh?