I am currently sitting in the Pittsburgh airport, waiting to board what looks like a fairly empty flight. One of the perks of the Pittsburgh airport is that they have free wi-fi, so I figured I should post these three pictures I took some time over the course of the last two weeks; they've been sitting on my desktop for over a week now, I just haven't been able to incorporate them into my recent posts, so now they're getting their own!





This tasty looking cupcake is from Dozen Cupcakes in Pittsburgh; it's their snowball flavor (vanilla cake, vanilla icing and coconut). I was actually quite disappointed with this cupcake, I found it to be way too sweet for my liking, but that may be because I don't throw quite so much icing on top of the cupcakes I make. I also think I picked the wrong day to get cupcakes, because their flavors that day just weren't too inspiring.

Dozen also has a bakery in Lawrenceville that I was much more impressed by. I picked up an apple, bacon and cheddar scone and a blueberry pistachio muffin from there two weeks ago and both were incredibly satisfying (especially the muffin!). I've been trying to get there for their Sunday brunch but my work schedule prevents me from being able to do so... hopefully one day.

Labels: breakfast, cupcakes

It's never too early in the morning for a piece of cake! Unless, of course, you've just stuffed yourself full of Mike's mother's delicious Easter Sunday brunch (complete with hash browns, kielbasa, breakfast sausage, spiced bacon, cinnamon buns, poppy seed rolls, hard boiled eggs, and assorted fruits), which is inevitably what happened before I could even think about consuming any of this ridiculously tasty cake. I think I ate more bacon and cinnamon buns over the course of an hour than most people consume within a month...
But wait! You're wondering about the birthday celebration I mentioned in my last post... the one with all the peanut butter and chocolate goodness? Alas, at the last minute unforeseen circumstances prevented such a celebration from taking place and left me with a rather large and daunting two-layer chocolate cake covered in peanut butter frosting and chopped up peanut butter cups; all to myself, too, since I used buttermilk in the cake and heavy cream in the frosting (see also: the sometimes inconvenient consequences of living with someone who has a severe dairy-allergy).
With my original plans shot, I decided to accompany Mike to his parents' house for Easter brunch, yet again (third year and counting - I was hoping to do something different for a change, but this way I ended up getting fed way more than I would have if I'd done otherwise). However, knowing that Mike's mom spent all morning (and probably most of the night before) in the kitchen preparing food for nine other people, I felt bad not bringing something to share with everyone. It was all too short notice to bake anything new so I sliced the peanut butter chocolate cake in half and wrapped one half up to take with me.
Unfortunately, we left before any of his family had a chance to try a piece of the cake and give me some feedback, so the only opinion I have on this cake so far is my own. The cake has been on my mind since I baked it Friday night and put it together Saturday morning, so I was ecstatic when I finally got enough hunger back in me to try a piece yesterday. I was worried that the chocolate cake would taste odd because I accidentally burnt the chocolate when I was mixing all the ingredients together, but it didn't affect the taste noticeably. I am very pleased with how well the frosting came out; it was my second attempt ever at making frosting and I was afraid it would be too runny like the first time, but it came out wonderfully - perfectly thick and creamy and not too sweet. The best part of this cake, however, are the crushed up peanut butter cups sandwiched in between the frosting and two layers of cake... they add the perfect texture to each bite!
At this rate, I can't guarantee that my friend will actually end up getting any of this cake, even though I did bake it for her specifically; I'm going out of town for a week tomorrow so if she wants what's left of it, well, that's all up to her. It's so incredibly satisfying, I would probably finish it myself if I weren't going away. Don't worry though, I have a feeling I'll be posting often this week; my siblings will keep me plenty busy with their food requests.

Oh! Here is a link to the recipe I used for the cake and frosting. I'm not going to bother reposting it because I think Amanda does a fantastic job of laying it all out for you.

Labels: cake, chocolate, peanut butter

Tomorrow is the birthday of a good friend of mine, so I've been searching the web for good peanut butter recipes to whip up for the occasion, since she loves peanut butter. I have indeed come across an excellent recipe... but that's not what this post is about; I'll tell you all about the birthday recipe this weekend, after the birthday celebration.
For now, you'll have to settle for these peanut butter sandies. I came across these during my search and they sounded so delicious, and so easy, that I had to make them immediately. They are exactly as Tarah describes them: "These cookies are just an excuse to have pure peanut butter... it tastes just as if you're licking peanut butter from the spoon!" She's absolutely right, every bite of these cookies is pretty much equivalent to a lick from a peanut butter covered spoon. I was really craving some peanut butter, and these definitely did the trick!

Peanut Butter Sandies

1 3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup flour
1 cup light brown sugar


Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar and peanut butter. Slowly add flour and mix until thoroughly combined.

Using your hands, roll about a tablespoon of dough together into a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and press slightly to flatten.

Bake 8 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly golden. Allow to cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes then carefully remove to wire racks to continue to cool. It is best to allow them to cool completely before eating, they "set" while they cool.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Labels: cookies, peanut butter

These cookies came out amazingly well; certainly much better than my last batch. There are three different chocolates in these delectable treats - unsweetened cocoa powder, chopped up bittersweet chocolate, and a handful of semi sweet chocolate chips - enough to satisfy any chocolate lover's craving (because that was, inevitably, my main reason for baking these in the first place). They are incredibly rich in flavor; I was very pleased. I think it would be interesting to add a little espresso or coffee to the recipe next time, for an extra kick!

Triple Chocolate Cookies
(adapted from Ellie Krieger of the Food Network)

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt, optional (I used 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt)
1/3 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate bar
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mash together the butter and sugars until well combined. Add the oil and egg and beat until creamy. Mix in the vanilla.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in the white and semi-sweet chocolate chips, and mix well.

Using a tablespoon, scoop the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

Labels: chocolate, cookies

It has been over a week since I last posted! Don't worry, I've been keeping myself plenty busy. Last week was spring break for most of the students here in Pittsburgh, so I made an attempt to spend time with friends I don't usually get to see. I also took an extra day off work last week and thoroughly enjoyed my time off; Mike, Paul and I went to Baldinger's Market (an awesome penny candy store) and afterwards we all went hiking through the woods for an hour or two. It was all well and good until Paul accidentally locked his keys in the car and we spent over an hour trying to break into his car, but that's a story for another day.
With all that free time on my hands you can bet I spent some of it baking. I ended up using the overly-ripe bananas mentioned in my last post to make a delicious Chocolate Chip Banana Loaf. (I used an extra banana and butter instead of shortening.) The loaf was dense but moist, with a light crunchy crust and it disappeared much quicker than I expected; I brought a few slices into work with me and shared the rest with a group of friends at a little get-together we had last week, topped with some Nutella.
I also baked up some Anzac cookies using this recipe, although I omitted the orange zest and orange blossom water. They were very tasty, but definitely not photogenic; I don't have a fancy mold so I just dropped them by the tablespoon-full onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, which resulted in what I'll call 'plop' cookies, because that's pretty much what they looked like. I'm sure they would have held together a little better had I used golden syrup instead of honey and had I taken the time to finely shred my coconut. However, they taste amazing! I love the oat and coconut combination, and the 'plop' cookies are actually fun to eat because it only takes one or two bites to finish them.

My next endeavor: making a successful chocolate chocolate chip cookie; they are surprisingly hard to master.

Labels: banana, chocolate chips

I originally set out to make yin-yang cookies from a recipe I stumbled across a few weeks ago. After spending over an hour making the two different doughs, rolling them into logs, wrapping them in plastic wrap, and refrigerating them over night, I pulled the logs of dough out to mold them, only to find them cracking, crumbling and falling apart in my hands. To ameliorate this problem, I stuck the dough logs in the freezer for two hours in hopes that they would be easier to handle... but to no avail; the dough still crumbled to bits. Frustrated, I tossed every single one of the dough logs into the trash and gave up.
After my frustration had subsided, I decided to try my hand at another cookie recipe, this time going the much more reliable traditional route, with a basic chocolate chip cookie. Except, the cookies I made turned out to be not-so-basic after all - I mixed semi-sweet chocolate chips, bittersweet chocolate chunks, and finely chopped walnuts into the batter. Then I split the batter into three batches, adding shredded coconut to one batch (for Mike), chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups to another (for myself) and I kept one batch of the original batter (for everyone!).
The resulting cookies were exactly what I was hoping to accomplish - both crispy and chewy, with a light nutty flavor and just the right amount of chocolate.
My only complaint? I could have used a few more chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups because those cookies were slightly lacking in peanut butter flavor. Otherwise, the cookies taste delicious and they store well for a few days in an airtight container; I also froze some of the batter for later.
For those curious, my next baking endeavor with most likely involve the quickly ripening batch of bananas I have sitting in the kitchen; perhaps another banana loaf but with chocolate chips this time? I would also like to make some more bread soon; I came across a great looking recipe for oatmeal wheat bread that I'm dying to try out.

Labels: cookies

Two of my co-workers recently left to go back to their native country of Chile; before they left they asked me to put together a few "American" recipes for them. I gladly obliged and put together a small assortment of recipes for cookies, brownies, blueberry crumb cake, and most importantly, muffins, which were specifically requested.
After scrounging through numerous muffin recipes to find what I considered to be the best ones, it occurred to me that many months have passed since I last made an attempt at any sort of muffin recipe. This thought further intrigued me when I was glancing through the fruit section at Whole Foods and noticed that blueberries were on sale. I took the plunge and bought two packs of blueberries, one of which I placed in the freezer for future use (I see a large stack of blueberry pancakes in the near future...), and the other of which I turned into deliciously moist, light, and crumbly blueberry muffins. I will definitely be making these again, but not any time soon because I have more of them than I know what to do with already!

I would also like to mention the pizza Mike and I made a few days ago... we used a different whole wheat crust recipe than we usually do and I'm glad because I think we have a new favorite. I skipped the cornmeal and sprinkled flour on the pans instead, and I used a little less than one tablespoon of honey because I'm running low. The dough rose perfectly and it was just the right blend of flours. It was also much easier to knead than the dough we were making previously, and holds together much better too. We topped our pizza with steak, pepperoni, zucchini, green pepper, onion, bacon, and garlic - amazing! There was enough dough to make two pizzas, so we made one round one and one rectangular one, to keep it interesting.

The month of March is tasting pretty good so far.

Labels: muffins, pizza, yeast breads