Journey of a novice cook

French breakfast muffins

2012-01-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

It's been approximately three months since my last post. Life has just gotten in the way as it has a tendency of doing. Change can be very hard to adapt to but it is worth it. I am currently going through a divorce, and my life has changed significantly. One thing I found is that divorce causes huge amounts of stress! My appetite was gone and I was just floating through every day just trying to keep it all together. I have always lived well within my means and money problems has never been a big issue in my life, suddenly it's all I think about. I struggle every month to make the full mortgage payment and keep food in the house. Of course I'm not completely alone. My sister moved in which has been a big help, maybe not on the financial level too much (although she helps were she can) but on the emotional level. If she were not in my house with me I would be left staring at a wall with no one to talk to. Another big help has been my pups who give loads of unconditional love on a daily basis. My huge bed is not so empty with one 90 lb dog and one 30 lb dog sleeping next to me every night.

Since the new year began, I have heard many people state that they are glad this last year is over and they have nothing good to say about it. Looking back on my last year I see how I could easily keep with that atitude but I would not benefit from it, and I would be lying. Even though I feel I've lost a family whom I adore and ended a relationship of almost five years I can still find many awesome things that happened to me this past year.
-I met Leo my little red heeler whose face could melt your heart
-I made the SWAT team...an acheivement I've been working on since I became a cop over three years ago
-I made many mistakes in the kitchen and learned from them haha
-I gave my kitchen a make-over with the help of my dad and got my dream stove!

I've also met many awesome people and developed a lot of freindships. I look forward to this year and am curious how it will all turn out. Here is to new beginings! And without further ado....onto the food!

This recipe is brought to you by Betty Crocker who featured Merry Graham as the creator of this awesome recipe!

French Breakfast Muffins

muffins:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 cups unbleached flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
topping:
3/4 cup butter melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

First pre heat your oven to 375 degrees F, if you have a convection oven.....which I do yay!!....pre heat to 350.

In a large bowl, beat 1.2 cup butter, 1./2 cup sugar, the eggs and milk with an electric mixer on low speed. I took this picture cause it looks like a face haha!

Your mixture will appear curdled..nasty! This means you did it right don't worry about making a nice beautiful smooth mixture because that would be wrong. I know it's hard to have a chunky mixture I had to use all my will power to not smash up all the butter and create a smooth mix. Refrain my friends for the chemistry that makes up this yummy muffin requires the chunkiness!

Next throw in the rest of the ingredients...remember if you are in Utah or any other high altitude cut out a bit of your baking powder. I put in about 1 1/4 tsp. When mixing this don't use an electric mixture, use a spatula. Mix until everything is moistened...don't over mix!

fill your muffin cups about 2/3 of the wall full. The recipe calls for 18 but I was only able to make 15. It is important to put a bit of water into each muffin cup that you do not fill. This helps protect your muffin tin from getting damaged from the heat.
Cook for about 20-25 minutes.

After the muffins have cooled for about 5 minutes, carefully remove the paper muffin cup. Set up your coating station. Make the cinnamon sugar mixture and get a spoon to help with the coating. Melt your butter and get a pastry brush...if you do not have a brush get a spoon to help cover the muffins with butter.

Coat each muffin with butter...do not soak just enough to allow the cinnamon sugar to stick to the muffin.

Shower the butter coated muffin with cinnamon sugar....make sure the whole muffin is completely coated to ensure cinnamon tastiness.

Serve warm.......but they are still super tasty cold :) LOVE!!!!

Tomato soup

2011-09-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

Tomato Soup: Ingredients harvested from my garden

Have you grown more tomatoes then you know what to do with? Here is a tasty solution. Soup is awesome cause you can add whatever you want. I added one jalapeno, some onions, and garlic. I also used fresh oregano and thyme from my herb garden. In the picture I had some eggplant. In the end I decided not to add the eggplant just because I wanted to keep it simple.

You will need:
4 cups of diced tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
1 jalapeno
1 cup of chopped onion
3 large cloves of garlic
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
pepper
salt
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP flour
2 TBSP butter

chop up your tomatoes, jalapeno (remove the seeds...unless you want it super spicy) garlic, and onion. In a large pot add the broth and your chopped veggies. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

blend your veggies until smooth. Set aside while you make your roux. Roux is a mixture of flour and fat...usually butter. It is a thickening agent for sauces and soups.

Melt the butter and then add the flour. whisk while you are cooking and let cook until browned. A bit more browned then this picture shows. I didn't have time to take a picture of the done roux cause I was afraid it would burn while I took the picture. When you have a nice brown look add a bit of the pureed tomato. Whisk together, then add the rest of the tomato. add the sugar, then add pepper, salt, thyme, and oregano to taste.

Jalapeno Jelly

2011-09-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Jalapeno Jelly
This year I had a hard time with my garden.....but I still kicked butt at growing peppers! Peppers must love my soil cause it seems to be the only thing I'm good at growing. Last year I made salsa with my peppers, but they had such a pretty color so I thought I would try jelly. Jelly can be pretty intimidating but it really isn't that bad. This recipe is very simple.

You will need:
12 oz of Jalapenos stemmed, and seeded (about 25 peppers)
2 cups of cider vinegar, divided
6 cups granulated sugar
2 pouches of liquid pectin
food coloring optional

First prepare your jars and lids. The recipe calls for five 8 ounce jars but I used about 8. In order to prepare the jars and lids you can either boil them or just put them through your dishwasher. Next prepare your peppers. Wear rubber gloves for this step, you may not feel it while you are cutting the peppers but the acid is burning your skin. If you are really sensitive you may want a face mask. I didn't wear a mask, and it wasn't as bad as habaneros but I still coughed and choked a bit. You don't even have to have your face that close to the peppers, just being in the kitchen can cause you to choke on the smell of the peppers.

Cut off the stems, remove the seeds, and cut into quarters. Add 1 cup of the vinegar and all of your peppers in a blender or food processor. Blend until the peppers are smooth.

In a big stainless still pot, add the rest of the vinegar, sugar, and jalapeno juice. Bring to a boil over high heat, stir constantly on this high boil for ten minutes. Stir in the pectin and boil for another minute. Remove from heat and if you are using food coloring add a couple of drops. If your jalapenos are green use green food coloring to enhance the color. Skim any foam off the top and pour into your prepared jars. Leave about 1/4 inch of head space at the top. Before putting the lid on make sure you wipe the rim. Any food particle can cause the lid not to seal.

Place jars in a canner, cover completely with water and bring to a boil. Boil for ten minutes...If you are at a higher elevation follow this chart:

feet:                                      Increase processing time
1,001-3,000 5 minutes
3,001-6,000    10 minutes
6,001-8,000    15 minutes
8,001-10,000                        20 minutes

Since I live in Utah I had to increase for 20 minutes....for a total of 30 minutes.

When removing the jars keep them level, and place in an area they wont get knocked over. Leave them for about 24 hours. The next day check the lid and make sure it has sealed. You can eat this with crackers and cheese.

Daring Kitchen challenge June 2011: Baklava

2011-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

This challenge was indeed a challenge for me. It was very labor intensive, it took me about 3 hours to roll out all of my phyllo dough and by the end I wasn't doing that very well either. I wont go through the step by step of rolling out phyllo dough just because I didn't really get the hang of it. This video here shows how to roll out phyllo dough, mind you, this lady makes it look easy! There are a couple of things I learned along the way, but the number one is....I will probably always buy pre made phyllo dough. Yes, I said it, I usually am totally for making everything from scratch but unless you have a whole day to dedicate to making this desert then I suggest you buy the frozen dough. You can see that I started to get tired rolling the dough because the layers are a bit thicker on top where as on the bottom they were paper thin. Yes it still all tasted very good, but they were not as pretty as I had envisioned them. For the dough recipe comes from 'Kafeehause' by Rick Rodgers, and the Baklava recipe is from Alton Brown with a couple of variations changed by me.

Phyllo dough-I doubled this recipe
1 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose (plain) flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar,

For the Baklava-
Filling:
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp allspice
8 ounces hazelnuts
8 ounces pistachios
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
8 ounces unsalted butter
2 tsp rose water
Syrup:
1 1/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
orange peel

To make the phyllo dough mix all of the dry ingredients with a paddle mixer, combine water, vinegar, and oil. Add a bit more water until the dough comes together. Change to a hook mixer and mix for ten minutes, then hand knead for another two.

Cover in vegetable oil and allow to rest for 2 hours in a covered bowl.

Roll out the dough in multiple sheets, check the video I posted above for a reference. I rolled out all of my dough first and then I started to assemble my baklava...this I feel was a mistake. As I layered the dough it wasn't really sticking together so I though I was fine but after I cut all of it to fit my pan I had an extremely hard time separating them. I suggest rolling out your dough and assemble the baklava at the same time so you don't run into this mistake and have to pry the paper thin sheets of dough off of each other.

For the filling, Grind up the hazelnuts and the pistachios. I used an old coffee grinder, and it worked great! Add the cinnamon and all spice. Using a small spray bottle add 1/2 cup of water with 2 tsp of Frangelico. Melt the butter and using a brush, brush your pan with some butter. Lay down a sheet of phyllo dough and the cover this with butter. Repeat about 9 more times, then top with 1/3 of the nut mixture and spritz thoroughly with the Frangelico water. Top with 6 more sheets of phyllo and butter and the add another third of the nuts and spritz with Frangelico water. Repeat another 6 sheets and then use the rest of the nuts and spritz with rose water. Top with 8 sheets of phyllo and butter the generously brush the very top layer with a lot of butter. I didn't take any pictures of this process because I was already frustrated with my phyllo sticking together and I didn't want to bother with the camera....

Place in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Remove pan from oven and cut into triangles or squares. During this 30 minutes I had time to cool off so I had the patience to create a little triangle design. Place in the oven for another 30 minutes and then cool for about 2 hours.

During the last 30 minutes of cooling, make the syrup. Add all of the ingredients into a large sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and remove the cinnamon stick and orange peel. When the baklava has cooled for two hours, re-cut the baklava and then slowly pour the syrup into the pan. Allow the pan to sit and completely cool and then cover and sit for 8 hours or overnight before serving.

As you can see, the top layers are a bit thicker then the should be due to my frustration and my patience running out haha. It still tasted very good though.

MIxed berry crumb cake

2011-06-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find my camera while I was making this so the pictures were taken by my phone which isn't the best quality, so I apologize for the pictures. I've been wanting to make up some sort of berry cake for a while and now that berries are about to be in season I couldn't wait. In my garden I have four raspberry bushes and one black berry bush. They haven't produced berries yet but when they do I will have a bunch so many berry recipes to follow after this one! For this cake I bought the berries, but since they are in season the berries were inexpensive. You can also use frozen berries which are cheaper but taste just as good as the store bought fresh ones, of course berries from your garden will always taste the best!

Streusel:

1 1/2 cup crushed Nilla wafers

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup chopped almonds

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamon

1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

Cake:

2 cups unbleached flour

1 cup sugar

2 1/3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temp)

2 eggs (room temp)

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

Berries:

6 oz raspberries

6 oz black berries

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp sugar

Mix all of the streusel ingredients in a medium bowl. First I mixed all of the ingredients together except for the melted butter. Then I added the butter and mixed everything with a wooden spoon until the butter was evenly distributed. For the cake there will be three layers of streusel. Set the streusel aside and make the batter for the cake. In a medium mixing bowl add the sugar and butter together, mix until creamy then add the vanilla, milk, and 2 eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. For the berries place both in a small bowl with the sugar and lemon juice. Gently toss until evenly coated, make sure you don't break the berries.

For the construction of the cake, spray a 9 inch spring for pan and press a 1/3 of the streusel evenly on the bottom.

Pour half of the batter over the bottom layer and spread it so it is an even layer. Add half of the berries, I placed them in one by one to make sure they were evenly distributed. Gently press down on the berries so they are in the cake batter. Sprinkle half of the remaining streusel evenly over the batter and then pour the rest of the batter into the pan. Place the remaining berries into the second layer of batter and then sprinkle the rest of the streusel evenly over the top of your cake.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 60 minutes, test by poking the center with a toothpick. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing it.

Yummy moist berry cake tastes best with coffee or hot tea in the morning. This is a tasty alternative to coffee cake.

Sourdough starter...it's alive!!!

2011-05-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

A sourdough starter is simple and you shouldn't let it indtimidate you. All it takes is time and patience.

Sourdough starter:

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tps honey

2 cups unbleached white flour

1/4 cup water

I started this on the 18th, on the 19th 20th and 21st you stir your mixture. On the 22nd you feed your mixture with flour and water. Let's begin!

First, heat your milk until it is about 110 degrees F. Place in a large bowl and add the yeast, honey, and 1 1/2 cups flour and mix together. Cover with plastic wrap and store in a warm draft free space.

This is the mixture on the 19th,

20th,

and the 21st.

On the 22nd add 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water. mix and let sit for about 4 hours. The mixture will smell like beer and have a slight sour punch to it.

Store in the refrigerator in a bottle. Punch out small holes in the top because your mixture is alive and it needs air. The mixture will last about four weeks. Use this in any sourdough recipe.

Marquise on Meringue

2011-05-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

This recipe isn't too challenging but it has a lot parts to it so it is a bit time consuming. The finished product is so tasty and everything keeps really well in the refrigerator except for the meringue. The Marquise melts really easy so keep it frozen until you are ready to serve.

Chocolate base (used in the marquise recipe)
6tbsp bittersweet chocolate about 70% cocoa
3 oz heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp Frangelico (hazelnut liquor)
1 Tbsp agave syrup (or light corn syrup)
1/4 tsp canilla
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp ground coffee

Chocolate Marquise
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
1 large egg
2 Tbsp and 2 tsp of sugar
1 tbsp and 1 tsp water
Chocolate base
4 oz cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Torched Meringue
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup minues 1 tsp of sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla

Roasted Walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg white
1 cup shelled walnuts

Frangelico caramel
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 tsp slat
2 Tbsp Frangelico

First make the chocolate base. Melt your chocolate, I just put it in the microwave which can be tricky cause you don't want to burn it. To be on the safe side it is probably best to melt it using a double boiler. Add the melted chocolate to the rest of the ingredients listed for the Chocolate base in a large bowl and set aside.

To make the Marquise, place all of the egg yolks and full egg into a mixer and mix on high for about 10 minutes or until the eggs are thick and pale. When the eggs are just about done, combine your sugar and water in a saucepan and boil until it has reached about 235 degrees F. Turn your mixer on low and slowly add the sugar syrup into your eggs. When all of the syrup has been added turn the mixer back on high until the bowl is cool to the touch...about 2-3 minutes. In a separate bowl whip the heavy cream until it has soft peaks and set aside. add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixure, and then add the rest carefully folding in the chocolate so you keep the air in the cream and eggs.

Line a baking pan (8X12) with parchment paper and pour the chocolate mixure in. Spread it with your spatula and then cover with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is actually touching your Marquise so no air gets trapped inside. A couple of bubbles here and there are not a big deal so don't worry over them. Place this in the refrigerator for about 6-8 hours or over night.

Next make the nuts. Combine all of the ingredients for the nuts in a bowl and mix so that the nuts are evenly coated. In this picture I used brown sugar and it was too much so above I wrote to use regular sugar instead. When the nuts are evenly coated pour them out onto a pastry lined baking pan and place in a preheated oven of 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes, or until the nuts are lightly browned. Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool.

Next make the caramel. I don't have any pictures of me making the caramel because you have to time everything just right otherwise you burn your caramel and I didn't want to mess with the camera. To make the caramel, put the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook until the water has evaporated and the sugar is a dark mahogany color. Quickly whisk in the cream to the darkened caramel, you can remove from the heat to do this if you are afraid the cream may overflow. Return the pot to the heat and mix your caramel with a whisk until all of the hardened sugar has broken up. When the caramel has darkened to the point you want it remove it from the head and add the salt and Frangelico.

The last thing to make is the meringue. Beat the egg whites until they become foamy. With the mixer on high, slowly add the vanilla, and then the sugar.

Continue to mix on high until you have a shiny stiff mixture. To make sure the sugar is mixed in thoroughly take a bit of the meringue and rub it between two fingers. If you feel a little grit, that means the sugar is not completely mixed in yet.

To plate, pull the marquise out of the freezer and cut it into 6 even squares. Roll it in some cocoa powder and place it on a heaping spoonful of meringue. Torch the meringue using a cooking torch and drizzle with caramel and nuts. serve immediately....

Banana nut muffins

2011-05-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

When bananas are over ripe and brown......make muffins! Recently my husband and I have been eating a lot of bananas. Every weekend I buy about two bunches of bananas. This past week I started putting strawberries in my morning oatmeal instead of bananas so the extra bananas became brown and over ripe. I set them aside and let them sit for about another week. The more brown a banana gets the sweeter it is, but be careful you don't want it to start liquefying on your kitchen counter. In this recipe I added walnuts to the batter and garnished each muffin with a walnut. Walnuts are an optional ingredient so feel free to mix it up with a different nut or not have nuts at all. I like the Walnuts because it gives the muffins texture and an added flavor.

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

about 1/2 cup whole walnuts

mush up the bananas in a bowl with a potato masher. In another mixing bowl add the sugar and butter and cream together. Then add the eggs buttermilk and vanilla and mix until smooth. The batter will be a bit lumpy but don't worry about it. Add in your mashed bananas. Rinse out the bowl you used for the bananas and dry it. In this bowl add the rest of the ingredients except for the nuts. Whisk it so that all of the dry ingredients are mixed together. Slowly add this to your banana mixture while mixer is on a low speed. When all ingredients are mixed together fold in the chopped nuts using a spatula.

lightly spray a muffin tin and use muffin cups. Fill each muffin cup almost to the top. Place a whole walnut in each muffin and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon. The batter should make about 24 muffins. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F and cook the muffins for about 25-30 minutes. To make sure they are done insert a toothpick into the center of one, if it comes out clean they are done. Allow them to cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy!

Easy cheese cake dessert

2011-05-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

This dessert is so tasty and it is perfect for a summer bbq. I made this for my dad hence the huge 'D' made out of black berries. The recipe comes from my mothers archive, passed to her from an old friend.

Raspberry cream cheese dessert

1 1/2 cup crushed grahm cracker (approx 8-10 full crackers)

1/2 cup melted butter

8 oz cream cheese

1 can of sweet and condensed milk (14 oz)

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 package Dream Whip (you will need cold milk and vanilla to prepare this)

Package of Danish dessert (strawberry)

Package of frozen raspberries (12 oz)

First, mix your Grahm crumbs with butter. Pour all of it in a 9x13 pan and press down making an even layer. I didn't have a 9x13 pan so I used a slightly smaller one. Because my pan was smaller I had extra crumbs to press up against the side making a yummy grahm shell.

Next using an electrical mixer, beat together the cream cheese, sweet and condensed milk, and lemon juice. In a smaller bowl prepare one package of Dream Whip according to the directions on the back. I found that Dream Whip is more structurally sound than regular whipped cream so I don't suggest substituting the Dream Whip with the real thing, it might mess with the structure of your dessert. Gently fold the Dream Whip into your cream cheese mixture and pour over your Grahm crumbs. Even out the top and allow it to sit on the counter for about one hour.

When the cheese cake has set start making the Danish dessert according to the package. If you are wondering where to find Dream Whip and Danish dessert you will find both of them in the baking section near the jello and gelatin. When the Danish dessert is done cooking add in all of the frozen raspberries and gently fold them in.

Spread the Danish dessert over your cheese cake. I also decided to decorate my cake with blackberries but this is completely optional. Place the cheese cake in the refrigerator and allow it to cool. I made mine the night before so it could sit in the refrigerator all night but if you don't have that much time a couple of hours should be fine. I found with cheesecake, a whole night in the refrigerator is always the best route to go.

Stash tea lemon biscotti

2011-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe which was inspired by the new Stash tea Meyer Lemon flavor. Stash tea is putting on a recipe contest and this is my submission so wish me luck! I decided to make biscotti because I wanted to have a tea time theme. The smell of lemon in my kitchen made summer feel even closer.

For this recipe you will need:

3 cups of flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

pinch of salt

9 Stash tea Meyer Lemon bags

2 eggs plus one egg yolk

1 cup of boiling water

4 tbsp of butter

1 cup powdered sugar

Put a cup of your boiling hot water into a coffee mug or glass liquid measuring cup. Place three tea bags in the water and allow it to steep for about 3-5 minutes.

When the tea is finished steeping remove the bags and dispose of them.

In a large bowl add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and 6 bags of tea. When opening the tea bags make sure you just rip the top part off instead of messing with the staple. This way you can make sure that pieces of the staple do not fall into your mix.

Mix up the flour mixture and then add 3 tbsp of butter cubed. For this step you can use a pastry cutter to mix in the butter or an electrical mixer. Just be careful with the electrical mixer so you don't have a huge flour mess!

Make a well in the middle of your flour and butter mixture and add 6 tbsp of the steeped tea with two eggs. Mix with a wooden spoon or an electrical mixer.

When the mixture has come together and formed a dough pour in the almonds and knead this into the dough. For this step you may want to lightly flour your hands because the dough will be a little bit sticky.

Spray a sheet pan with non-stick spray and separate your dough into two equal pieces. Form them into logs approximately 4x11". The size isn't that critical so you don't have to be extremely precise. Brush them with egg yolk to give the tops a shine and place in the oven at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Before taking them out you can check if they are done by inserting a tooth pick into the center, if it comes out clean they are done.

Slice the logs up into 8 pieces each and place the cookies flat side down on the sheet. Put them back in the oven for 20 more minutes or until slightly browned.

When the cookies are done make your glaze. put the powdered sugar in a bowl and melt 1 tbsp of butter. Add the butter into the powdered sugar with one tbsp of steeped tea. Slowly add tea 1 tbsp at a time until the glaze meets the consistency you want. The more tea you add the more transparent your glaze will be. I added 3 tbsp to my glaze. When the cookies have cooled for a bit pour the glaze on them using the whisk or a spoon. Serve with coffee or Stash Meyer Lemon tea! You can store them in an air tight container for about a week or two.

dinner rolls

2011-05-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

This summer I wanted to experiment with bread. I started with this basic recipe and this summer I will be sprucing them up with some herbs from the garden. It was also fun to experiment with different shapes.

I got this recipe off of a site called cookingbread.com, the site has a lot of different recipes and tips on baking bread. For these rolls you will need:

1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup liquid honey
4 - 4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt

Put the honey, shortening, and butter in a bowl. Pour the milk in a sauce pan and cook on high until it is hot but not boiling. Pour the heated up milk over your honey and butter and stir until the butter is melted and the honey is completely mixed in.

Add two cups of flower and stir until smooth. Allow the mixture to cool to about 110 degrees F. When it has cooled add in the yeast, and salt. mix until smooth and then allow to rest for about 15 minutes. Begin to add the rest of the flour slowly while kneading the dough. You may or may not need all of the flour. Stop adding flour when the dough has stopped sticking to the bowl or counter top.

When the dough has stopped sticking continue to knead for about ten minutes. Form into an oval ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about one hour, or until it has doubled in size.

After the dough has risen separate into twelve equal pieces. You can either leave them in a ball or shape them into what ever shape you like. I rolled mine out into snakes and then carefully tied them into double knots, braids, or scroll shapes.

Place the rolls on a sprayed cookie sheet and cover with plastic. Allow the rolls to rise again for about another hour or until they have doubled in size. Before you are ready to cook them, brush a coat of egg yolk over them to give the finished product a nice browned shine. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot with jam or honey.

Chocolate Mousse pie

2011-04-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend I asked my husband what he wanted to eat. After some careful thought he stated Chocolate Mousse. He then decided, what better way to enjoy Chocolate than in pie form. I agreed, two things I love, chocolate, and pie. When making this pie the quality of your ingredients really matter. The chocolate I used was a semi sweet Ghirardelli chocolate callets. Using a good quality chocolate rather than nestle or some other cheap brand really makes a difference. Splurge a bit and buy your favorite chocolate because this is really the best way to enjoy it anyways. The pie crust is just a basic recipe I use for all of my sweet pies:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter

2 tbsp vegetable shortening

about 5 tbsp of ice water

For the pie filling:

2 1/2 cups Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate callets

1 pint of heavy whipped cream

2 tsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract.

Sift the flour, salt, and sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Cut your butter into cubes and add it to your flour mixture with the shortening. To mix the fats with your flour use a pastry cutter. You can also do this in a food processor. I still have not invested in a food processor so everything is still by hand in my kitchen. Mix until the mixture has a cornmeal texture. Add two tbsp of water and mix. Keep on adding water one tbsp at a time until the dough comes together. Make sure you don't put to much water, just enough to bring everything together.

After you are able to form a ball with your dough, press it into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Let the dough chill for at least an hour.

After your dough has chilled take it out and let it warm up a bit so that it is workable. Roll it out until it is big enough for your pie pan. I like to place my pie dish on the dough just to make sure I have rolled it out enough.

The trick to getting your pie crust into your pie pan is to gently roll it up around your rolling pin. This way you can carry the pie crust over to your pan and gently un-roll it over the pan so the crust gently covers your pan.

Pinch the sides of your crust in what ever design fits you and poke a bunch of holes into the bottom and sides of the crust. The holes allow steam to escape as the pie shell bakes. After this I chilled my pie crust for about 30 minutes.

So your pie keeps its form while baking use beans, or pie weights. These beans are the ones I use over and over again for this specific purpose. They sit in my pantry marked pastry beans. This is more effective and cheaper than pie weights. Bake your pie in the middle rack at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes. Remove the beans and place back in the oven for about another 5 minutes, or until the bottom of the shell is hard and slightly brown.

As soon as you pull your pie out of the oven place about 1/2 cup of chocolate callets on the bottom of the crust and let them sit until they look glossy.

Using a pastry brush, coat your pie crust with the melted callets. Allow this to come to room temperature.

While the crust is cooling off, make your filling. In a double broiler place 2 cups of the callets with 3/4 cups heavy cream. Mix until the chocolate is completely melted and the cream is mixed in. Remove from heat and set aside. Allow the chocolate mixture to come to room temperature.

Beat remaining cream, vanilla, and sugar in a chilled mixing bowl until cream forms stiff peaks. Fold the whipped cream into your cooled off chocolate. Do not over mix because you want the chocolate mixture to retain its fluffiness. Pour the mixture into your pie shell and smooth the top with your spatula. Refrigerate your pie until firm....about 2-3 hours.

You can garnish your pie with chocolate pieces, melted chocolate, and whipped cream.

Whole Wheat cinnamon swirl raisin bread

2011-04-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

From the outside this bread looks like ordinary boring wheat bread. But there is a surprise inside....raisins and cinnamon! This bread has a crunchy outside but is soft on the inside. The cinnamon and raisins are so flavorful I just eat this bread toasted and plain, no butter or jam required. Of course, like all yeast breads you have to have patience, but the wait is worth it and you will have enough bread to supply you for two weeks......unless you get really hungry and just can't help yourself and before you know it you sat down with a loaf and now it is all gone. When I was baking this bread it made my whole house smell like cinnamon. This bread is also very good for you:

115 Calories, 1.8 g fat, 23 g carbs, and 3.2 g of protein.

You will need:
2 cups of bread flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
1 large egg
2 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant dry yeast
cooking spray
2/3 cups raisins
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

To make the dough, warm up 1 1/4 cups water (about 120-125 degrees F). Add the water to a large mixing bowl with the bread flour, whole wheat flour, nonfat dry milk, egg, canola oil, honey, salt, and yeast. Fit your stand mixer with a dough hook and mix for about 3 minutes on the lowest setting. Increase to the next highest speed and mix for about 5 minutes. When the dough has come together, shape it into a ball and place in a bowl that has been covered lightly with canola oil. Roll your ball around so that it is covered with oil as well then cover it and let it rise for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When your dough is about 30 minutes away from being done, soak your raisins. Place them in a bowl and pour boiling hot water over the top of them. Let them soak for about 30 minutes. If you skip this step, the raisins will take the moisture out of your bread.

When the dough is finished rising, cut it into two pieces. Roll each one out to about an 8 inch square. Mine were more like rectangles, I tried really hard to get a perfect square and it just wasn't happening. Next time I think I will roll them a bit thinner so that there is even more of a swirl. Maybe an 8 inch by 15 inch would be better. Sprinkle cinnamon so that it covers the bread dough and then add some brown sugar. You can add as little or as much as you like of the cinnamon and brown sugar. To be healthier I didn't use all of my brown sugar. Evenly distribute the raisins onto both breads.

Tightly roll up your bread. I pushed down onto every roll to make sure the raisins were really snug in there dough blanket. If a raisin escapes make sure you put it right back in....no raisin left behind! When your done rolling press down on both ends with the heal of your hand and tuck it.

Place each loaf, seam side down into a lightly greased 9X5 inch pan. Let this rise for another hour and 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Brush the loaves with canola oil and bake until golden brown....about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer to a rack.

5 bean chili

2011-04-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

This chili is perfect for those rainy spring days. The recipe has a lot of ingredients but it really is very easy, basically everything gets thrown into a big pot and you let it cook together for about an hour and 45 minutes. I like making this recipe when my friends come over because it makes a lot of chili and takes little effort. If you are vegetarian you can omit the meat and use vegetable stock. For a leaner recipe substitute the ground beef for ground turkey. I first made this recipe for friends at a Halloween party, I made the chili and friends provided bread, garnishes, and drinks. I believe a chili dinner is the winter equivalent to a summer BBQ.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 cup diced yellow onion

1 diced green bell pepper

2 jalapenos diced with seeds removed (for a spicier chili leave the seeds in)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 tbsp chili powder (Mexican style)

2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

2 bay leaves

1 (28 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes

3 cups of water

2 cubes of beef boullion

1 (15 oz) can of drained great northern beans

1 (15 oz) can of drained kidney beans

1 (15 oz) can of drained black beans

1 (15 oz) can of drained navy beans

for garnish:

cilantro, chopped green onions, and white cheddar

First prep everything...chop up the onion, bell pepper, jalapenos, and garlic. and find all of your spices so you can easily measure everything out. After all the prep is done put your ground beef in a large pot and cook until well browned.

When the beef is cooked all the way through add the onion, bell pepper, jalapenos, garlic, chili powder, salt, cumin, black pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander, and cinnamon. Cook until the veggies are soft....about 5 minutes.

While your veggies are cooking down, put three cups of water in a microwavable container and add two cubes of beef bouillon. Place in the microwave for about three minutes. Remove the beef mixture and stir it up so that the cubes have completely dissolved. I only had a 2 cup container so I just added the extra cup into the chili as I was adding the beef broth mixture.

When the veggies have cooked pour your tomatoes into the pot....making sure you have cleaned your hands, grab each whole tomato and squeeze it...I love this step. Be careful though cause the tomatoes can squeeze juice in all directions...I got a little in my eye. Add the beef broth, and 2 bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Partially cover and cook for about 40 minutes stirring occasionally. Keep the stove on a low temperature so the chili doesn't come to a rolling boil.

After 40 minutes of simmering it is time for the beans. Make sure you drain each can before adding to the chili! Stir up your chili so all of the beans are combined to it and let this cook for another 20-30 minutes. After all of the flavors have stewed together for about an hour and a half, taste it and add black pepper and salt if needed. To serve I placed three containers next to the pot which had white cheddar, cilantro, and chopped up green onions. This way your guests can scoop up the chili and add their own garnish according to taste. Serve with rolls or bread sticks.

Mini lemon meringue tart

2011-04-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

I had to make a treat that reminded me of summer because the last couple of days have been filled with snow. Usually in April Utah has a couple of snow storms, but this storm was heavy and went on for three days. The storm was more like a winter xmas storm rather than a small spring storm. So far in my garden I have planted garlic, onion, and potato. All of these will be fine, I hope. The snow was kind of heavy so my poor Garlic shoots had to deal with the snow pushing them down. Right now it is about 38 degrees F, to cold to put my seedlings out and harden them off.

Eating this tart made me feel better and for a moment it felt like summer filled with sprinklers, cold lemonade, and fresh cut grass........

note: I used a set of six 4 inch round tart pans, if you just want to make one large tart, use a 10" tart pan.

Sweet Tart Pastry
1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
31/2 ounces cold unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
2-3 tsp iced water

Filling:
6 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
3/4 cup heavy cream

Italian Meringue
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2/3 cup egg whites (about 4 eggs)

First make the pastry. Add your flour, sugar, and butter and mix them with a pastry cutter, or food processor. Mix until the butter is thoroughly mixed and it resembles corn meal. Then add the egg yolk and 2 tsp of ice water. Mix until the dough comes together. If it isn't coming together add a little more water 1 tsp at a time. Make sure you add just enough water to allow the dough to come together.

Shape into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. After it has chilled take the dough out of the fridge and cut it into six even pieces.

Roll out the dough until it is slightly larger then your tart pan.......

Using your rolling pin, gently roll the dough onto it...........

.... drape it over your tart pan.............

......and then press your dough into the pan. At the top give it a small crust so the meringue has something to grab on to. Place them on your baking sheet and cover with plastic. Let them sit in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using parchment paper and beans (or pie weights) bake the tarts for about 15 minutes, or until they are slightly brown. I have some beans that I use every time I make tarts or pie. You can use them over and over again, just don't try to eat them later because they will not taste good. When the tart shells are done baking turn the oven down to 300 degrees and let the tarts sit out and slightly cool while you make the custard.

For the custard, get a meduim mixing bowl and a whisk. It is better to use a whisk because you don't want your custard to get foamy from being over beaten, you just want to mix it until it is smooth and everything is mixed evenly together. First add the eggs and sugar. Then add the lemon juice, lemon zest, and heavy cream. A trick to get more juice out of your lemon is to roll the lemon on your counter top with your palm gently pressing down on it. I used the three lemons I had used for their peel. Three lemons almost made enough juice so I topped it off with store bought lemon juice.
Mix all together and pour it into a pitcher so it is easy to pour into the tarts.

Pour the custard into the shells and bake for about 35-40 minutes. I set my timer to 25 minutes because I wanted to start my Italian meringue about 10 minutes before I pull the tarts out of the oven. This is because the custard needs to be hot when your meringue is placed on the pie. This makes the meringue less prone to shrinking or weeping. It doesn't really effect the overall taste, just the presentation.

For the meringue beat your egg whites until they are foamy and then add the salt, and cream of tartar.

Beat this mixture on high until it forms soft peaks. While this is mixing, put the sugar and water in a sauce pan and cook until the sugar is dissolved and the temperature is about 235 degrees F. When the sugar is done, put your mixer on low and slowly pour in the sugar, try to avoid the wire whisk. After the sugar has been poured in, mix on medium high until the meringue has cooled down.

When your tarts are down put the meringue on top, making sure it connects with the crust. I piped mine on but that isn't necessary, just use a small spatula, it all depends on what you want the end product to look like.

To brown the meringue put your oven on a low broil and place the pies in the lower middle rack. Watch them carefully because they will brown fast and you don't want them to burn!

Cranberry Orange granola

2011-03-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

This Granola is perfect to take with you on hikes or camping trips. It has the same base recipe as my Mango Ginger granola and is just as easy to make.

4 cups rolled oats

pinch of salt

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tbsp zested orange peel (about 1 orange)

1/2 tsp orange extract

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

First put the oats, salt, cranberries, pecans, and orange zest in a large glass bowl.

In a large sauce pan add the brown sugar, vegetable oil, and honey. cook on medium until the mixture is boiling and the oil is mixed with the brown sugar. Remove from the heat and add the orange extract. Be careful when you do this because the mixture can splash a little bit. Hot syrup does not feel good on your hands....trust me. Quickly stir the extract in and then add to your oat mixture. Try to do this fast because the syrup will start to harden and make it hard to mix.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spread the granola evenly onto a cookie sheet and cook for about 15 minutes. Make sure you are stirring the granola every 5 minutes to make sure it is evenly cooked. When the granola is done the oats will be browned and the mixture will still be soft. Place it on the counter and let it cool. When the granola cools it hardens, store it in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

This granola has a nice citrus after taste which goes well with plain yogurt and honey, or just something to snack on this summer while your working on the garden.

Whole Wheat bread

2011-03-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

This bread is easy to make and it will make your whole house smell like a bakery. I strongly suggest making your own bread, it saves money and is healthier to you because there isn't a large amount of sugar, or corn syrup. This bread only takes a long time to make because of the waiting period while it is rising. I like to make it on my day off because I can lounge around the house while it is rising and it takes little effort. One loaf lasts me about a week and I freeze the other loaf, So I make bread twice a month. I am only feeding two mouths though so for a family you may go through bread a lot faster. I put this recipe together by looking at many recipes and picking what I liked and changing what I didn't like. For example I used soy milk instead of water or regular milk, and I use honey instead of sugar. The amount of bread flour is tentative because each time I make the bread, the amount varies.

Whole Wheat bread

2 1/2 cups soy milk (you can use regular milk if you like)
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2-3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
3 tbsp oat bran
1 1/2 tsp salt

First you need to warm up your soy milk so the honey will dissolve. Put it in a sauce pan with the heat on low. Don't bring it to a boil, just warm it up and stir until the honey is completely dissolved.

The soy milk mixture is going to wake up your yeast so make sure it is just the right temperature, about 100 degrees F. If you don't have a thermometer just touch the milk with your fingertip to make sure it is warm but not so hot your burning yourself. Pour the soy milk into a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let that sit for about 5-10 minutes. You can see that the yeast makes a brain like texture on the top and it will foam a bit.

In a large mixing bowl add the whole wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups bread flour, wheat bran, oat bran, and salt. Mix together and make a well in the center. When the yeast mixture is done sitting, pour it into the well. Fit your mixer with a dough hook and turn it on low, mixing until everything has come together. Slowly begin adding the rest of the bread flour until the dough is no longer sticky and has pulled off the edge of the bowl and climbed up your dough hook. You can do this step without a mixer, just using your hands but it will take a bit longer and you will have to knead it longer in the end.

Place your dough on a floured surface. I left mine a little sticky so that I could knead the rest of the bread flour in by hand. Sprinkle a bit of flour on the top of the dough and put some on your hands. Knead for about five minutes. If the dough becomes sticky just add a bit more flour.

In the end your dough should be smooth and have an elastic texture to it. Shape it into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl (using olive oil). Turn your dough around in the bowl so that your dough is covered lightly with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a draft free warm area for about an hour.

Deflate the dough and cut into two pieces. Shape them into two loaves and put them in lightly greased bread pans. Cover this and let it rise for about an hour. After your bread has doubled in size, heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put your bread in on the lower middle rack (so the top doesn't burn) and cook for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. To make your bread pretty you can cut slits in the top and give it an egg wash over the top. Egg wash is just a beaten egg which is then brushed over the top of breads and pastries to give it a golden shine.

Let it cool for a bit then dig in! I ate this with some jam I canned last year. It is a cinnamon grape jam I made with grapes from a neighbors garden.

perfect chocolate chip cookies

2011-03-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Gooey on the inside and slightly crunchy on the outside, hint of coconut and little melted chocolate morsels. That sentence perfectly describes my experience as I chomp down on these. When people first start baking they usually start with cookies or easy sheet cakes. I was the cookie person. I absolutely love great cookies and a real classic is the chocolate chip cookie. This cookie goes great with coffee, hot chocolate, or black tea. I believe because the chocolate chip cookie goes so great with all three of these drinks this makes it the ultimate comfort food for a cold, wet, night. Like I stated before it was the cookie that I first started baking when I was new to the science of baking. I have tried multiple variations and finally I have the recipe which is just perfect. First you will notice there is no granulated sugar.....brown sugar just tastes better. Other than that the recipe isn't that different. A bit more vanilla, flour, and less chocolate chips. The reason I have less chocolate chips is because I like to enjoy the flavor of the cookie itself with a hint of chocolate. Some recipes put so much chocolate in there the true tase of the cookie is lost. For this recipe you will need:

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 tsp baking soda (if you are at a high elevation make it a scant tsp)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter (melted)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed

2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chops

1 cup coconut

1 cup walnuts (opt)

My butter is cubed in the photo, but I found out later that it works better melted. mix melted butter with brown sugar. mix it until you can't see the butter anymore and the mixture is creamy. Add the vanilla and the eggs.

Sift all of your dry ingredients into a bowl. If you look at the bottom of the picture you can see where I dropped my small camera into the flour....oops! Switch to a paddle mixer before adding the dry ingredients. While the mixer is on low, slowly add the flour mixture. If you go to fast you will have a flour mess. After the flour is completely mixed in, add the coconut, chocolate chips, and nuts if you are using them.

Now this next instruction is very important.....don't eat all of the cookie dough! I snagged a couple of bites but I was able to retrain myself so I would have enough room in my belly for the cooked cookies.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and scoop onto the sheet leaving about an inch of space between them. I use a cookie scoop, it makes everything so easy and all of my cookies are the same size so I don't have to worry about uneven baking. Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes and allow to cool a bit before eating.

Serve with your hot drink of choice. This is a picture of my coffee and all of my cookies.....just kidding I had help eating these. These cookies store really well in the freezer, or the refrigerator depending on how long you want them to last. I suggest storing them in the freezer cause they will taste fresh for a lot longer, just let them warm up on the counter for a couple of minutes before you eat them :)

Conchas (Mexican Pastry)

2011-03-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

I am married to a Mexican and he loves conchas. I really wanted to make him authentic conchas and it took me a couple of tried to get it right. He is extremely picky about his conchas and he told me this recipe was truly a winner. I got the bread recipe from the San Antonio cookbook by the San Antonio junior forum. The bread is "Pan de Huevo" or egg bread. The top I came up with by using a couple different recipes and modifying them to fit my taste.

Pan De Huevo

1 TBSP dry yeast

1 TBSP sugar

1/4 c warm water

3 2/3 c bread flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 c sugar

2 TBSP shortening

5 eggs slightly beaten at room temperature.

Topping

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 c butter

2 c flour

4 tsp cinnamon

4 tsp cocoa powder

First in a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar in the warm water. You want the water to be warm enough to wake up your yeast, but not hot enough that it will kill it. I make the water about 100 to 110 degrees F. Put this bowl aside and let the yeast do it's work. After about five minutes you will notice that the yeast mixture is starting to get bubbles. The yeast is producing carbon dioxide, this is what allows bread to rise and gives it the airy soft texture.

While your yeast is working hard get a larger mixing bowl. Add 3 cups of the flour, salt, sugar, and shortening. Mix until you get a texture that resembles the picture on the right. It is almost the same texture pie crust has before you add the water. When the yeast is done doing it's work (about 5 minutes) Add it too your flour mixture along with two eggs. when this is completely mixed add the rest of the eggs. Slowly add the rest of the flour.

Your dough should be smooth and elastic, yet slightly sticky. To get the dough out, butter up your hands and your work surface.

Using your buttered fingers, not a rolling pin, gently flatten out your dough until it is a square about 1 1/2 inches thick.

Cut the square into 16 little squares. (4x4) Roll those squares into balls. If they aren't even, no sweat, just take a bit of dough from the bigger ones and add that to your smaller ones. In the end, try to make your balls as even as possible so they cook evenly. Place your dough balls two sheet pans, eight on each, and cover them with plastic wrap. Store them in a draft free, warm place for about an hour and a half or until the balls have doubled in size. A little side note, I left my conchas four a couple of hours because I got busy and they rose for too long. This was bad because some of them deflated, and when the bread was baked it tasted really sour and disgusting. Lesson learned, I had no idea you could leave bread to rise too long!

While your dough is rising, make the topping. For the topping beat the sugar with the butter. Stir in the flour until the mixture is a thick paste. Divide into two parts. In one half knead in the cinnamon and in the other half, the cocoa powder. Shape each flavor into eight even balls (about 2 TBSP) and then place them in the refrigerator.

When the dough is done rising get your topping balls out. Flatten each ball and place it over the dough balls. Lightly press down with the palm of your hand. The topping should completely cover the dough ball. Make sure you do all chocolate on one tray and all cinnamon on the other cause they look similar and you will mix them up if you don't keep them separated.

Using a small knife, lightly cut the topping into a design. It doesn't matter what the design is you can be creative. I just did it the traditional way which is supposed to help the concha resemble a shell. When you are done cover them again with plastic and let them rise a second time for about an hour and a half, or until they have doubled in size. When they are done rising pop them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown. Make sure you bake them on the middle rack so the bottoms don't burn!

Serve warm with coffee or Mexican Hot Chocolate (Abuelitas by Nestle is the best!)

Homemade GInger Mango Granola

2011-03-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

Now winter is starting to back off and plans of camping and hiking are starting to form. My favorite thing to munch on is granola. Granola is super easy to make, and it is tastier when you make your own.
Ginger Mango Granola
4 cups rolled oats
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups chopped mango
1 tsp ginger
syrup:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl mix together everything but the ingredients for the syrup.

In a sauce pan bring the vegetable oil, brown sugar, and honey to a boil.

When it is boiling take off the heat and add the vanilla. Mix with your wooden spoon, and then add it to the rest of your ingredients. Mix until everything is evenly distributed.

Pour the granola onto a sheet pan and spread it out evenly. Cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes and stir it every five minutes. When granola is lightly browned, pull it out of the oven and let it completely cool.

When it is done cooling you can store it in an air tight container for weeks!

It tastes good with your favorite yogurt. I love snacking on it with Greek honey yogurt.

Hazelnut chocolate tart

2011-03-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make these because I bought a set of six little tart pans, perfect for one serving and I was dying to use them. If you are a chocolate lover you will love this tart. For the filling I used agave syrup which you can find in the baking section of any grocery store. If you don't want to use agave syrup you can substitute it with corn syrup. I got the idea for this recipe from the "Golden Book of Desserts". The idea came from the chocolate pecan tart. These tarts were so good but next time I may roast my hazelnuts first.

Here is what you will need:

Pastry
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 large egg yolk
7 tbsp cold butter
2-3 tsp iced water

Filling
1/2 cup of coarsely chopped dark chocolate
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup agave syrup
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped hazelnuts

First make the pastry. In a bowl add the butter, flour, and confectioner sugar. Mix this with a pastry cutter. I like to start with a pastry cutter and then use my hands.

Mix until it is crumbly. Add the egg yolk and 2 tsp of water. Mix this using your hands. Add more water 1 tsp at a time until you are able to pull the dough together into a nice ball. I ended up using 4 tsp of water. It will depend on the moisture in the air on how much water you will need.

wrap the ball in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Take your pastry dough out of the refrigerator and cut it in half. Roll out one half to about 1/4 inch thick. To lift the dough roll it lightly around your rolling pin and place a pastry tin in front of it. Gently unroll the dough over the top of the tin. Using your fingers, push the dough down and into the sides of the tin then push your hand down over the top using the top of the tin as a cookie cutter. Remove the excess and roll it out again. Repeat this six times with all of your tins, then return them to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line each tart shell with parchment paper and fill with beans, or pie weights. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until a light golden brown.

To make the filling, put your chocolate chips in a double broiler and cook over a slightly simmering water until full melted. Beat the butter, and brown sugar together until creamy. Add the agave syrup and beat again until smooth.

While the mixer is on low, slowly add the egg, vanilla, and then chocolate, continue to mix until everything is incorporated. Stir in the hazelnuts by hand.

Pour the filling into your pastry shells and cook for about 30 minutes or until set. This tart cooks like a pecan pie, when it jiggles slightly in the middle it is done.

Allow the tarts to cool, and then remove them from there tins. Decorate however you like. I sprinkled powdered sugar on mine, then cut a flower out of a piece of paper. Using the flower as a stencil I placed it on each tart and sprinkled cocoa powder on them. You can also garnish them with melted chocolate and roasted hazelnuts. Serve with whip cream or ice cream.

Cream puffs with vanilla and chocolate pastry cream

2011-03-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

I mad these for my sister for her 18th bday. Though they are a bit time consuming, they are really easy to make. You can make the pastry cream ahead of time but I suggest making your choux pastry the day ahead because pastry always tastes better the fresher it is. I made two different kinds and then garnished the chocolate ones with melted chocolate so I could tell the difference between the two. The recipe below will make more than enough pastry cream, and you will probably have a little bit left over. I think it is better to have more than less so you don't feel like you have to ration the amount of cream you are putting into these puffs. With cream puffs, the more cream the better I say!
I got this recipe out of a book called "The Golden Book of Desserts" edited by Ann McRae.
Choux pastry
1 Cup water
1/3 cup butter
1 cup unbleached flour
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs

Vanilla Pastry cream
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
pinch of salt
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla

Chocolate pastry cream
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cups sugar
2 tbsp corn starch
pinch of salt
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla
5 oz of chocolate

First make the pastry cream. Beat the egg yolks until the are pale and creamy. Next add the corn starch and salt, beat until completely mixed and set aside. In a sauce pan bring the milk to a boil on a medium heat occasionally stirring. When the milk is boiling slowly pour it into your egg mixture and stir. Return everything to the stove and cook on low heat continuously stirring with a wooden spoon. If you are unable to break up the lumps that form use a whisk. Boil for a full minute or until mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

When you are done place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. gently push the plastic down until it is touching the top of the cream, this will prevent a skin from forming as it cools. To make the chocolate cream, follow every step except for add the chocolate to the milk as you are bring it to a boil. When the milk is boiling and all of the chocolate has melted add it to your egg mixture. Allow both creams to cool on the counter top for about half an hour. Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

For the Choux pastry, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a saucepan bring the water and the butter to a boil on low heat. Make sure you don't cook it to long or on a high heat otherwise your butter will brown. Will the butter is heating up combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a small bowl. When your butter mixture is boiling, add the flour mixture to it stirring constantly until it comes away from the sides of the pan and starts looking like a soft dough. Remove from heat, and let cool for five minutes.

Beat the eggs in one at a time. When you are done the mixture will be a sticky glossy dough.

Fit your pastry bag with a plain nozzle and fill it up half way with the choux pastry.

On pastry lined baking sheets pipe walnut sized balls about about 2 inches apart. Place in the oven Bake for about 20- 25 minutes or until golden brown. When done poke with a skewer or a small knife on the bottem of each puff to release steam. Turn your oven off and leave it slightly ajar with the pastries still inside for about 15 minutes, then transfer them to a rack. Turn the oven back on, when it is back to 350 degrees F, place your second batch in. This is the most time consuming part!

Wait until your pastries are completely cool until moving on to the next part. Fit a pastry bag with a small plain tip and fill half way with either the chocolate cream. Using the holes you made earlier to realease steam, fill half of the puffs with the chocolate cream. Do the same with the other half and the vanilla cream. Garnish with powdered sugar, melted chocolate, and whipped cream. I made these for seven people and they were gone withing a couple of minutes. Even though we each had enough we could have eaten more. I would say this recipe fully satisfies five people, the recipe makes forty small cream puffs so that would be eight per person. This seems like a lot but the are so light and creamy that eight seems like a reasonable serving to me ha ha!

P.S. This was my attempt at a swan, it was a lot harder then I thought it would be!

Chocolate checkered cake

2011-03-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

This was my first attempt at putting a cake together and decorating it. I'm not going to share the recipe today because I am still fixing it, But I will show how the whole thing came together. I had fun putting it together and I learned a lot along the way. I used a chocolate and a vanilla Italian sponge cake, Chocolate glaze, Reeses pieces, and Italian butter cream frosting with peanut butter.

First step was to cut my sponge cakes into rings. First, I cut each cake in half horizontally, so I had four cakes total. I used a tea set to measure out the different sizes of circles. The larger outer circle was the plate, the middle circle was the saucer for the tea cup, and the circle shown here was the tea cup. I also cut a smaller circle withing this one but I just free handed it. In total I had four rings for each cake, and a center piece.

To construct the cake I used Butter cream for the glue. Starting with the vanilla outer ring, I placed a chocolate ring inside. I kept this up until I had placed all of the rings making a whole cake, ending with the vanilla center. within each ring I put a layer of butter cream so the rings would stick together. Before starting my second layer I made sure everything was level, and I covered the whole layer with butter cream. The second layer starts with a chocolate outer ring, and ends with a chocolate center.

This is a picture of the finished layers. There are four layers total. From the side view you can see the alternating exterior rings. There is butter cream in between each ring and each layer. Next cover the whole cake with a thing layer of buttercream and place it in the Refrigerator for about two hours.

When the crumb layer has chilled add a full layer of butter cream and place it in the freezer for two hours. Placing it in the freezer will make the butter cream hard and the next step easier. A note on the butter cream, I wasn't a fan of the Italian butter cream, it kept on separating and I had to keep on beating it. The butter and the egg whites did not like each other. I'm sure this problem had to do with my skill level. After doing some research on line I realized that this happens to a lot of people. I may try it again someday and practice a bit, but I think for this cake I will use the traditional butter cream of powdered sugar, and butter. For those who don't know Italian butter cream is made with butter and an Italian Meringue. An Italian meringue is made with egg whites and a hot sugar syrup. The meringue is extremely stiff and shiny when done. Then you slowly add in softened butter. I did make two batches and the second one came out better, but I still wasn't a fan.

Next pour on the glaze. A chocolate glaze is just heavy cream with melted chocolate. To glaze the cake I placed it on a cooling rack over a pot, to catch the excess chocolate. After pouring the chocolate I realized that the chocolate layer was really thin. I placed the cake in the refrigerator for about ten minutes and then placed all of the chocolate that had poured into the pan back into my bowl. After a second layer of chocolate glaze I got the desired thickness.

I decorated the sides with crushed Reeses pieces and the top I piped on "happy bday". Piping was a lot harder then I thought. I started out trying the cursive and ended with bold capitol letters. The butter cream was not working very well either. To thicken it I added some powdered sugar. This helped a lot, otherwise I wasn't going to be able to pipe anything with the soft Italian butter cream.

The design worked out great, but I am still working on the recipe. Like I said, next time I probably will use a more traditional butter cream, also instead of the cocoa powder that I used for the chocolate cake I think I will use real milk chocolate. I also learned that I need to practice my piping!

home made protein bars

2011-02-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

These protein bars kind of taste like no bake cookies, only not as sweet. They are super easy to make and they don't have all the weird ingredients that store bought protein bars have in them.

Chocolate Protein bars

10 tbsp organic peanut butter

5 egg whites (make sure they are pasteurized)

5 scoops of chocolate protein powder

2 cups of rolled oats

1/2 cup of soy milk

1 tbsp raw honey

1 tbsp cinnamon

First mix the peanut butter and egg whites. At first they will not mix together very well, place them in the microwave for 30 seconds and then mix again. Repeat this step 4 or 5 times until the egg whites and peanut butter are completely mixed and creamy. This may cook the egg whites enough but I'm not at all sure so to be safe I would use pasteurized eggs.

Gradually add the protein mix one scoop at a time. When this is fully mixed add the cinnamon, honey, and soy. Now at this step I noticed that I had a huge sticky glob in a puddle of soy milk which I couldn't mix. To fix this I set up a double boiler, as my sticky chocolate glob heated up it was easier to mix in the soy milk. To avoid this step I would add the soy milk first right after the microwave step and then add the protein mix at the very end.

Set your chocolate mix aside and place two cups of rolled oats in a shallow frying pan. Lightly toast the oats to bring out some flavor and then add them into your chocolate mix.

Lightly spray a 13x9 inch pan with non-stick spray and pour your mixture in. Make sure it is level and then place it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

After it has cooled down, cut it into ten bars by cutting five pieces one way and then cutting that in half the other way.

When I removed the bars they were still very sticky so I placed them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. This made it easier and less messy to wrap the bars in foil. Store in the refrigerator. These bars are about 230 calories, 9 grams of fat, 19.5 grams of protein, 16 grams of carbs.

I eat every three hours, five meals a day. This protein bar is one of my meals.

I know a lot of my posts have been unhealthy so I thought I would throw something in that is fun to bake and is also good for you. I will try to post some more of my healthy meals on here but I will also continue to post the unhealthy ones too cause after working so hard during the week I think we all deserve a little indulgence.

Strawberry lemon sponge cake

2011-02-14T16:51:00.000-08:00

This cake is pretty easy to make and has a nice fresh taste to it. Tools you need for this are: a spring form pan, parchment paper, A whisk, a medium star pastry tip, pastry bag, electrical mixer. You can make the desert without the pastry tip and bag. I just used it to pipe on the whipped cream which covers the top of the cake. An alternative is just to spread the whipped cream over the top with a large flat knife.

Ingredients

Italian Sponge cake

1 cup unbleached flour

1/4 tsp salt

6 large eggs, separpated

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

Lemon pastry cream

5 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp cornstarch

2 cups milk

juice from one lemon

Whipped cream

1 cup of heavy cream

2 tbsp confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Garnish

Lemon juice

box of blueberries

box of strawberries

1/2 cup of melted chocolate

First make the sponge cake. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Butter a 10 inch spring form pan and line it with parchment paper. Sift the flour and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and lemon zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed.

The egg yolks will become extremely pale and the mixture will become thick and creamy. Using a spatula fold the dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture. Next prepare the egg whites.

If you are using the same mixer you used to make the egg yolks make sure that it has been thoroughly cleaned and then dried. If a little bit of water is added to your egg whites it will ruin them. Beat the egg whites on high until it forms stiff peaks like the picture to the right. Using a spatula carefully spoon the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Carefully fold in the beaten egg whites. You want to keep all of the fluffiness of the egg whites so don't over mix and don't use a spoon or an electrical mixer. When you are done folding the egg whites into the mixture, quickly pour it into you spring for pan and place it in the oven for 35-40 minutes. When the cake is done it will be springy to the touch and it will begin shrinking from the pan sides.

Cool the cake in the pan for about five minutes. Loosen around the pan sides and invert the cake onto a rack. Remove the pan and then carefully peel off the paper. Turn the cake back, right side up and allow it to cool completely. After it has cooled completely place it in the refrigerator. In the next step the cake will have to be sliced in half and this is done easier when the cake is cold.

For the pastry cream. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the cornstarch and salt. In a deep saucepan bring the milk to a boil. Careful while doing this otherwise you will scald the milk. Put the stove on medium so the milk slowly heats up and stir it occasionally. When the milk has come to a boil, pour it slowly into your egg yolk mixture and stir it in.

Return everything to the pan and turn the heat to low. For about five minutes or until the mixture starts thickening stir with a wooden spoon. Then switch to a whisk so you can easily break up any lumps that form. Bring to a boil and boil it for about one minute. The mixture will become noticeably thick, remember to stir constantly otherwise it your cream will be lumpy.

When done remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the done cream in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Make sure the plastic wrap is right on the top of the cream, this will prevent a skin from forming. Let the cream sit out on the counter until it has cooled, and then place it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Allowing it to cool makes it thicker and easier to spread onto your cake.

While your cream and cake are in the refrigerator prepare your whip cream by placing all of the ingredients in an electrical mixer and mixing it on medium until it becomes thick. Careful not to over mix, other wise you will get butter. When the whipped cream is done, if you are using a pastry bag, spoon it into the pastry bag and place it in the refrigerator while you prepare the next step.

For a garnish I washed the blueberries and splashed just a small amount of lemon juice with about a tbsp of sugar. I prefer raw sugar but if you don't have any regular sugar works fine. Carefully stir the blueberries making sure they get completely covered. For the strawberries, save about 12 and slice the rest. For the 12 make sure you wash and then completely dry them. Get about 1/2 a cup of your favorite chocolate and melt it. It is best to use a double boiler rather then the microwave because you may over cook and burn your chocolate in the microwave. When the chocolate is melted, hold a strawberry by the green and dip it in the chocolate, When done place them in the refrigerator.

Now it is time to get your cake out of the refrigerator. Slice it in half, horizontally. Place the bottom on a plate and spoon the pastry cream onto the middle. Using a spatula or a flat knife evenly spread the cream over the whole bottom half of the cake. Cover it with the sliced strawberries, and then place the top half of the cake on top.

Get your whipped cream and decorate however you like. Have fun with it! When your done place the chocolate covered strawberries on top and garnish with the blueberries.

Happy Valentines day!