Birthday Bouquet

After seeing this idea on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one for someone's birthday. For Mel's birthday cupcake bouquet I made the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (I subbed vanilla extract for the vanilla paste). I bought a plain terra cotta pot and painted it purple to match the cupcakes. I followed the tutorial pretty closely, and ended up with 9 cupcakes on the bouquet. It took a lot of green tissue paper (and a lot of help from Ryan) to make all the leaves, but I think it was worth it!

Daring Bakers: Challah

May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

I actually made this bread almost on time, but never got around to posting it. I think yeast hates me because my breads never seem to rise correctly. I blame this on my cold kitchen, so I am going to try again now that it is warmer.

Inside of my Challah loaf

The braid disappeared during the second rise

Daring Bakers: Dutch Crunch Bread

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread.

Living in the Bay Area, I've grown to love Dutch Crunch bread and I order it my sandwiches on it regularly. A good Dutch Crunch roll is the best bread for a sandwich. It was interesting to learn that many people haven't heard of Dutch Crunch except for around San Francisco and some places in Europe where it is often referred to as "giraffe bread" or "tiger bread."

Seeing this month's challenge was exciting, but also scary because yeast and I don't get along. My sourdough bread challenge was a failure, which didn't even make it to my blog. So while I was excited to make Dutch Crunch I was worried it wouldn't turn out. Fortunately, my rolls came out decently and were good enough to make pastrami sandwiches. I would have liked the topping to be more cracked, but this is a huge improvement over my last bread endeavor.

Dutch Crunch Rolls

Pastrami Sandwich

Daring Bakers': Quick Bread

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

I made banana bread for my quick bread. I used a recipe from Cooking For Seven, but omitted the nuts.

White Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Daring Bakers: Scones aka Biscuits

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host.. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

I shouldn't have waited so long to do the challenge. My first batch I accidentally used baking soda (oops!) instead of powder so while those came out pretty they tasted really, really gross.

My second batch did not come out as puffed or as pretty as I would have liked. But I'm already late on the challenge so I'll have to try some other time. Here are my ugly biscuits in a horrible picture...totally not in focus =(

Biscuits Made with Half and Half

Coconut Macaroons

Coconut Macaroons

Last October Birthday! I made these for Sarah's birthday and I was happy to hear that both her and Wilmar really liked them!

Madeleines for Madeline

Orange Scented Madeleines Dipped in Chocolate

These cookies (also referred to as cakes because of their consistency) were for Madi's birthday in October, as well. I think I used the recipe from Joy Of Baking but I'm not positive. I added orange zest because I really like the combination of chocolate and orange (like the chocolate oranges you break open!).

White Chocolate Macademia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate Macademia Nut Cookies

I'm super behind on posts. These cookies are from Melissa's birthday in October. It was so long ago, I can't remember what recipe I used. Oops!

Daring Baker's Challenge: Povitica

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

I'm disappointed that my Povitica did not come out as beautiful as I would of liked =( The loaf pan I used for the traditional walnut filling was  too big and therefore the design wasn't right plus you can't see the contrast between the dough and the filling. At least it tastes good.

I made a half batch, which yielded 2 loafs. One I filled with the traditional walnut filling and the second I filled with a frangipane-esque type filling. It was based on regular frangipane paste plus I added some cocoa (in hopes to get the contrast) and some milk to thin it out. The second loaf I baked in a smaller pan and thankfully it came out a lot better!

I've enjoyed the Daring Baker's challenges I've done so far. It has been fun learning about new recipes, especially ones like Povitica, which I would never have known existed. Maybe I'll try making Povitica again because some of the other Daring Baker's had such great results.

Povitica with Chocolate "Frangipane" Filling

I Love Croissants!

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

My second Daring Bakers challenge...CROISSANTS! It's definitely a challenge to make croissants for the first time. We don't have a lot of counter space I had to clear away the appliances so I had enough room to roll out my croissants.

I love croissants, and I was happy mine turned out pretty tasty! Not big and fluffy, like bakery croissants, but they tasted right and were the right texture. I made a few plain croissants, some almond filled, and a couple chocolate. I love, love, love almond croissants so those were my favorites.

Here's a picture of how they turned out:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

In celebration of a friend's birthday, I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Learning that he had a love for the classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter, I thought this recipe would be perfect. These thin, peanut buttery cookies are splattered with bits of chopped chocolate, creating a new twist on the chocolate chip cookie.

This recipe in particular seems to be used in various adaptations because I also saw the same recipe on another website swapping nutella for the peanut butter (now a cookie that is high up on the my list to bake). When I was making this recipe I upped the amount of chocolate by quite a bit and ended up using two types of chocolate because that was what I had on hand. I roughly chopped both a 63% cacao bar chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips and mixed them together.

Even though I don't love peanut butter cookies in general, especially the traditional fork smashed variety, these came out pretty tasty. While some came out a little more done/crispy than I would like, the ones that were crisp and chewy at the same time were yummy. It's important not to bake them too long because they will continue to crisp up while they cool. Also, the recipe says it yields 24 cookies, but I used about a tablespoon per cookie and I ended up with 55 good-sized cookies!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup creamy peanut butter

10 oz chocolate, roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars together until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add vanilla and peanut butter and beat until just incorporated.
4. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Remove bowl from mixer, and use a spatula to fold in chocolate. 
6. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart. With your fingers gently press each cookie down so it's flat.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time, until cookies are slightly brown. Do not overbake.
8. Remove pan from oven and cool cookies on baking sheet for 2 minutes then transfer individual cookies to a wire rack to cool.
9. The cookies are best the day of, but can be stored, in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. They will get slightly crunchier, but perfect for dunking in a glass of milk.

Adapted from Food Gal

4th of July Oreos

Homemade Red and Blue Oreos

For the 4th of July I wanted to make something patriotic and decided on red and blue Oreos (I actually planned on having white ones, too, but after some miscounting I ended up with just blue and red). I don't actually like real Oreos except in Cookies 'n Cream ice cream so I was wary of how these would turn out. Overall, I think I prefer store bought Oreos because my homemade ones didn't come out as crisp as store bought. They were chewy, but not soft...just kind of a weird texture.

Here's the link to the recipe I used. I added food coloring to the filling to make them red and blue.

Duo Challenge Day Coffee Cake

Blueberry Crumble Coffee Cake

This past weekend, I made this coffee cake for a potluck picnic and bbq. I knew I wanted to make something with fruit because it's summer. Originally, I was thinking about grilling pineapple, but finally settled on a blueberry coffee cake because the last coffee cake I made came out so yummy. This blueberry version came out delicious as well...moist and chock full of blueberries. There was almost a 1-1 ratio of blueberries to batter.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe. I used 1.5 the recipe so I could make a 9x13 cake.

Blueberry Crumble Coffee Cake

adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:
Streusel
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbs granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
 pinch table salt
6 tbs unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened

Cake
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tss baking powder
15 tbs unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs , room temperature
6 cups fresh blueberries, washed

Directions:

1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until well combined. Add butter and mix with hands (squeeze pieces of butter so they break apart) until mixture resembles wet sand and no large butter pieces remain. Set aside.
2. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with 2-inch sides with nonstick cooking spray, line bottom with parchment, and spray again with nonstick cooking spray. 
3. Whisk flour and baking powder in small bowl to combine; set aside. 
4. In standing mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes; using a rubber spatula, scrape down bowl. 
5. With mixer running at medium speed, add eggs one at a time; beat until combined, scraping the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds. 
6. With mixer running on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat until flour is combined, but don't over mix. Using a spatula, gently fold in blueberries until evenly distributed.
7. Transfer batter to prepared pan; with rubber spatula spread batter evenly to pan edges and smooth surface. Sprinkle streusel over the batter by squeezing handfuls to form a clump and then breaking the clump and distributing evenly.
8. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into squares and serve. 

MY Birthday Jelly Roll Cake

Happy Birthday to Me

For my birthday Ryan and I made a Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake. It was a light airy sponge cake with a strawberry whipped cream filling. It was really yummy and a nice light cake overall.

The recipe is from Joy of Baking (again!). We used strawberries instead of raspberries. The strawberries came in a 16 oz package so we just added the puree to the whipped cream until it tasted right. 

Brown Sugar Spiced Penguin Cookies

Penguin Family

I'm really behind on posting recipes. These cookies were from our annual cookie exchange and secret santa get together. When I saw the penguin cookies I had to make them. I didn't want to make gingerbread cookies though so I searched for an alternative recipe. I ended up choosing Brown Sugar Spiced cookies.

The directions for the icing and steps to decorate the cookies like penguins can be found here.

Here is the recipe I used for the cookies. I increased some of the spices but I think nutmeg and allspice have pretty strong flavors so I didn't increase them quite as much and that is the reason for the weird measurements.

Brown Sugar Spiced Cookies

adapted from bake at 350

 Ingredients:

2 3/4 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

little less than 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

little less than 1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 c granulated sugar 

1/2 c light brown sugar, packed

2 sticks butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and spices, set aside.
3. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extract and mix until combined.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom. The dough will be quite thick so form it into a ball with your hands.
5. Roll on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of your cutter (I baked the bigger penguin for 12 min, and about 10 min for the smaller cookies). 
6. Let sit a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Decorate as desired.

Birthday Heath Bar Brownie Bites

Basket of Brownie Bites

For Jeff's birthday I made him Heath Bar Brownie Bites. It was pretty much a basic brownie recipe with the addition of Heath bars (although I would have preferred Skor bars, but my store didn't have them!) and baked in mini muffin tins. I chopped the Heath bars up but some of the pieces were too small which resulted in not so pretty brownie tops. The brownies with some bigger pieces sticking out looked better and probably tasted better, too.

The recipe can be found here.

Birthday Strawberry Jam Bars

Gooey Jam Bars

To celebrate Kevin's birthday I made him Strawberry Jam Bars because I remembered him liking raspberry ones I made a long time ago. I followed the recipe pretty closely but I think I used the whole jar of jam (the recipe calls for one cup of jam, but my jar of jam was a little bit more than that).

I think this recipe is quick and easy and a crowd pleaser...who doesn't love jam? You can change up the jam to whatever you have on hand or whatever you like best. Also, they have a good amount of rolled oats in them so they trick you into thinking they are healthy (with a stick of butter plus all that jam they really aren't that healthy...).

Once again the recipe comes from Joy of Baking!

Nutella Cookies Take Two

Nutella Cookies

Awhile ago I made Nutella sandwich cookies and since they were such a great hit I thought I'd make just the cookie part again. I used a different recipe this time and although the recipes were very similar I liked the previous recipe more. Maybe it was because the cookies were sandwiched together with ganache last time =)

The cookies still came out pretty tasty because you can't really go wrong with Nutella and chocolate.

Here's the recipe.

Thanksgiving Pecan Pie

Thanksgiving Pecan Pie

I'm really behind on posting recipes! This recipe is from Thanksgiving and it's a traditional pecan pie. I accidentally rolled the crust too thin so the bottom crust was a little too thin. I liked the filling from the pecan tassies better than the pie filling and it was easier to make. I'm wondering if the tassie filling would work in a whole pie. The changes I made to the recipe were that I chopped up the pecans before putting them into the crust and I omitted the rum from the filling.

The recipe is from Joy of Baking.

Too Cute Tassies for Two Cute Twins

Little Pecan Tassies

For Stacy and Steph's birthday I made them Pecan Tassies. They are basically pecan pie made miniature in mini muffin tins. I made a pecan pie for Thanksgiving a few weeks later and I actually prefer these mini versions more. It might be the recipe or it might just be because tassies are just so darn cute!

The recipe comes from one of my favorite baking websites Joy of Baking. I followed the recipe exactly and they came out pretty well. I don't think mine are quite as pretty or uniform as the original recipe but tasty nonetheless. It was a little difficult to push the dough into the mini muffin tins and I realized later that it is important to make sure to push the dough all the way down to avoid air pockets in the finished tassies.

Pecan Tassies are a great alternative to baking a whole pie as they are quick and easy to make and taste just as good (if not better) than a pie.