The Sweet Tooth Blog

Hey, it's been a while...

2010-09-12T16:55:00.002-04:00

I've moved!!! Yes, that's right, I have a new blog.

You can follow me and my more recent endeavors over at iveseensomethings.com!

You'll find even more food, new and improved recipes, and a new face too- say hi to Shawn!

The Sweet Tooth blog was great while it lasted and I'll keep it up for referencing, but it was time for a change of scenery.

Hope to see you at iveseensomethings.com!

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

2009-02-27T13:43:00.006-05:00

These cookies are absolutely amazing. I made them for Christmas (posting these a little late, I am aware) and I have never had such success with a chocolate cookie! Previous experiences have turned out ugly, flat cookies, but these look just as awesome as they taste.

I tried the slice-n-bake option Deb suggested but I got frustrated and had an easier time scooping these cookies after letting the dough sit in the fridge for an hour or two. I am so incredibly pleased with how they turned out, and they didn't last very long at all - they were devoured in about a day or two. MAKE THESE COOKIES!

Oh, and I recommend sprinkling them with just a touch of sea salt before putting them in the oven - the sea salt pairs nicely with the intense chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Adapted from Bon Appetit
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional, but recommended!)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing two inches apart. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt, if you’re using it. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

I know that it will be impossible to let them cool completely, but they really taste a lot better cool, as they continue baking once they come out of the oven.

Slice and bake option: Roll the dough into a log 1.5 inches in diameter and chill it. When you're ready to bake the cookies, cut your log into 1/2-inch slices. You can store the dough log in the freezer, wrapped in waxed paper and then two layers of plastic wrap for up to a month, just baking the cookies off as you need. Cookies baked straight from the freezer may need an additional minute or two in the oven, depending on their thickness.

Toasted Coconut Shortbread

2009-02-27T13:26:00.007-05:00

These cookies look and taste great, but not quite how I was expecting them to taste. The coconut flavor is very subdued and I would add more of it (I also used flaked coconut so I didn't bother putting it in the food processor because it was already small enough, and I should have toasted mine longer) I would also suggest using a high quality butter for these because the butter flavor is very intense - I used Organic Valley butter and was very pleased. These remind me very much of a tea biscuit, although I have yet to try them with tea.

Deb suggests spreading these with jam to make linzer cookies or dipping them in chocolate for added flavor - great suggestions for next time!

Toasted Coconut Shortbread
Adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2004

1/2 cup (about 1.5 ounces) unsweetened shredded coconut
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (I used 1/2 tsp of coarse sea salt)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325°F. Spread coconut on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until coconut is light golden, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Cool completely, then grind in a coffee grinder, food processor or blender until coarsely ground.

Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Mix in salt and vanilla. Beat in flour in 2 additions. Stir in toasted coconut. Gather dough together, flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 1 hour. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough disk on lightly floured work surface to scant 1/4-inch thickness. Using 1 3/4- to 2-inch-diameter cookie cutters, cut dough into rounds. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather dough scraps and reroll; cut out additional cookies.

Bake cookies until light golden, about 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Can be made ahead. Store airtight at room temperature up to 1 week.)

Cookie Season

2009-02-27T13:06:00.004-05:00

HELLO! I'm horrible at not going months between updates, aren't I? Please don't answer that...

I've had to push myself a bit to bake more at home these days because I spend so much time at work that the last thing I want to do on my days off is bake some more, but I know my family craves those home-baked goods! This post is full of cookies because I don't have the energy to devote time to things a little more time-consuming lately, but I'm trying to stray away from the ordinary, so these are far from being your grandmother's chocolate chip cookies!

Deb's blog Smitten Kitchen is one of my absolute favorites, I always have such success with the recipes she finds and I enjoy her little add-ins. The three recipes that follow are all from there. Actually, I'll just throw some pictures in this post and then make an individual post for each cookie so as not to throw too many recipes in one post...

Peanut Butter Crispie Bars

2008-12-01T11:06:00.007-05:00

Since my last entry the pastry apprenticeship I was doing ended due to unexpected circumstances and I started working for Starbucks full-time. It was slightly off-putting at first because I always told myself I'd never work for a corporate company of that size, but I quickly grew to love the company and the wonderful team of people I was working with. Just after I was offered a promotion there, I got a phone call from the pastry chef with whom I did my apprenticeship and he offered me a full-time position as a pastry line-cook in their kitchen; me, the girl with a huge passion for baking but no formal experience or culinary school degree - this opportunity was too good to pass up so of course I agreed. I said a sad good-bye to my Starbucks co-workers yesterday and today I'll give a warm hello to the team I already grew to love during my apprenticeship a few months ago.

I thought the least I could do for my fellow Starbucks employees was bake them some cookies as a farewell gift, and after seeing them all pounce on some peanut butter cookies at our holiday meeting, I figured peanut butter must be the way to go. I had recently come across a recipe on Smitten Kitchen for peanut butter crispie bars and I was sold. Apparently, so was everyone at Starbucks - these were a big hit!

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
From Deb at Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Deb's wise words of advice: These bars are sticky and indulgent and not good for you in any way, so before you even ask, perhaps you can make them with organic, low-fat peanut butter, whole grain bio-crisped rice cereal or a sugar substitute but you shouldn’t. Nobody likes a party pooper.

For the crispy crust
1 3/4 cups crisped rice cereal
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the milk chocolate peanut butter layer
5 ounces good-quality milk or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter

For the chocolate icing
3 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72 percent cocoa), coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter

Make the crispy crust: Lightly spray a paper towel with nonstick cooking spray and use it to rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan.

Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.

Pour 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and corn syrup (do not let any sugar or syrup get on the sides of the pan) and use a small wooden spoon to stir the mixture until just combined. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 degrees F.

Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, and pour the mixture over the cereal. Working quickly, stir until the cereal is thoroughly coated, then pour it into the prepared pan. Using your hands, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan (do not press up the sides). Let the crust cool to room temperature while you make the next layer.

Make the milk chocolate peanut butter layer: In a large nonreactive metal bowl, stir together the chocolate and the peanut butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for about 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust. Put the pan in the refridgerator for 1 hour, or until the top layer hardens.

Make the chocolate icing: In a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter.

Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the chilled milk chocolate peanut butter layer and spread (I went with Deb's suggestion to just roll it around until it coated smoothly, avoiding the risk of picking up any of the peanut butter layer with it) into an even layer. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the topping hardens.

Cut into 16 squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 4 days.

Peanut Butter + Honey

2008-08-29T15:52:00.007-04:00

I really love the combination of peanut butter and honey, especially in sandwich form. But sometimes you don't want to eat a whole sandwich and a simple cookie would suffice - I've been wanting to make these cookies for a while now, but I was afraid I would be the only one eating them since the rest of my family does not share my enthusiasm for peanut butter. After staring at the recipe repeatedly for weeks, I decided to set my anxieties aside and make them anyway... and what a surprise, my family loved these cookies; I think they ate more of them than I did! After just one bite my sister claimed it was the best peanut butter cookie she'd ever eaten and my dad went back for seconds soon after his first.

The honey adds a touch of sweetness to the overall peanut butter taste and is more noticeable than I thought it would be, and the chopped nuts on the outside make for a fantastically crunchy exterior in contrast to the smooth intense peanut butter interior. It's a bit of a long process rolling all the different parts out, but it's interesting to see how it all comes together in the end. I believe my oven temperature may have been set a little too high though because the cookies came out darker and firmer than I was happy with, even though I cut the baking time down to ten minutes. I would keep an eye on these as they're baking because if you over-bake them they harden like rocks after a day or two of sitting in an airtight container. These are definitely cookies to devour the same day they're baked.

Double Delight Peanut Butter-Honey Cookies
from The Crepes of Wrath

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey

Coating
2/3 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts (or any mixture of nuts - I used salted walnuts, almond, peanuts, cashews, and hazelnuts)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and honey, until creamy (about 1-2 minutes).
3. Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. Gradually beat in flour until well combined. Place dough in freezer for 15 minutes, stir, and freeze for an additional 15 minutes (I just put mine in the freezer for as long as it took me to make the filling and coating).
4. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Sift confectioners’ sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl. Beat confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, and honey until well combined.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a large sheet pan with cooking spray or line it.
6. Make the coating by stirring together nuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl, until well combined.
7. Remove bowl from freezer. Take each piece of dough, roll into a ball and then flatten with your hand, place a peanut butter ball in the center, and wrap dough around ball. Roll ball in your hands to shape better. Roll balls in nut mixture, to coat completely; place on prepared sheet pan. Coat the bottom of a glass with cooking spray and flatten cookies. Don’t flatten too much, though!
8. Bake at 375 degrees F for 13-15 minutes, or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheets.

Back to Classics

2008-08-17T23:36:00.011-04:00

Sometimes there is nothing better than biting into a warm just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie; the chocolate is all melted and the cookie's center is still gooey from the heat of the oven while the edges are soft but crispy...

Chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite things to make because they're always delicious. I finally stumbled across a recipe I loved so much I've been using it every time since! I don't know why I didn't think to look on Smitten Kitchen before; everything Deb makes looks delicious and I've been quite satisfied with recipes I've tried from there before. So of course, once I found this recipe I had to try it, and I have heard nothing but good news from everyone who has eaten one of these cookies! I added mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's to this particular batch; the peanut butter flavor was much more prominent after they had a chance to cool down a bit though.

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) (115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch (1cm) pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks (I like to mix it up!)

Although I haven't done this yet, you could also add:
1 cup (130 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough onto each of the baking sheets and bake for 18 minutes (or less, if you like them a tad undercooked like I do), or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

These store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Hamburger Buns

2008-08-10T21:44:00.005-04:00

What's better than a good burger? A good burger with home-made buns, and I've found a recipe that produces exactly that! The whole process is a little time-consuming, but definitely worth the effort! These are doughy but firm, and they hold their own even after the burger juice hits.

Home-made Hamburger Buns
(recipe from Coconut & Lime)

2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 oz active dry yeast

for the egg wash:
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water

to sprinkle:
sesame or poppy seeds

Stir together the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil then remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool to lukewarm.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the flour and yeast. Pour in the milk mixture and stir until the dough starts to come together, adding more water if the mixture looks dry or more flour if the mixture looks wet.

If you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook to mix for about 8 minutes. If not, knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and wait until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough and divide into 6 even portions. Make tight balls out of the dough by pulling the dough towards the bottom and gently stretching until a ball with a smooth top forms. Place seam-side down on a baking stone or metal baking sheet. Allow the rolls to sit for a minute. Flatten each dough ball with your hand or the back of a large spatula until it is about 3 to 4 inches wide. Cover the rolls with the towel again and set aside until they have just about doubled in size, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 F. Whisk together the water and yolk to make the egg wash. Brush onto the tops of the rolls. Sprinkle with seeds. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on both the top and the bottom and when tapped, they sound hollow. Allow to cool, then slice.

Welcome back!

2008-08-10T19:39:00.011-04:00

Yes, I am welcoming myself back! I cannot believe that the last real post I made was four months ago... I feel a little ashamed, to be honest. I've been so busy since I left Pittsburgh in April - I was traveling all over Europe for five weeks, then hiking various jungles and volcanoes in Hawaii for two weeks, I also started a new job as a pastry apprentice at the Pluckemin Inn, a fine dining restaurant near my hometown; it's a fantastic opportunity that pretty much just fell into my lap and I'm enjoying the time I've been spending there so far, and learning many things. It has been difficult to get back onto a regular work schedule, but I'm slowly getting there.

I am still baking at home though, about as often as I was before; so assuming I can get you readers all caught up on the past few months, I should start posting with more regularity again soon! So, without further ado, here are some pictures that have been accumulating since April: (and just like in any other post, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

This picture was taken at my aunt and uncle's restaurant in France; I came in to observe what goes on behind the scenes for a day; they gave me a jacket and put me to work! I am in the middle and the two girls I am standing between are both apprentices there.

This is a coconut flan I made with my aunt while I was staying with her in France. I have recipes for everything I made there, but they're all in French so if you really want a recipe let me know and I can try to translate it for you.

A tiramisu I made with the same aunt. Tiramisu looks so complicated but it's actually pretty simple to make! The picture isn't so great but I was proud of the final result, and so was my cousin, whom I gave it to.

These are chocolate madeleines I made with another aunt I stayed with. She hosted a block party while I was there so I made a big batch of these for everyone; they seemed to be a big hit!

My very first tart: a chocolate almond pear tart; they were making one at my aunt and uncle's restaurant and I was able to snatch the recipe. This was delicious and I may translate the recipe for you at a later date because this is a tart that needs to be shared with everyone!

My very first cheesecake! (June was a month of many firsts for me.) I am not actually a big fan of cheesecake (I feel like I may be the only person in the world who dislikes the Cheesecake Factory...) but I bought some springform pans months ago and wanted to test them out. I used low fat cream cheese at my family's request, and it came out fantastically; I don't like cheesecakes that are too elaborate. The crumbs you see are graham cracker crumbs.

Chocolate and vanilla swirl cookies! I found Cookies Galore on sale at Costco one day so I jumped at the chance to buy it; this is one of the many cookie recipes the book contains. These cookies were a little bland and disappointing, actually. If I make them again I'll add more chocolate flavor.

Hamburger buns! My family makes delicious hamburgers and I thought I'd bring it up a notch with some home-made buns. They turned out a little smaller than I hoped but they still tasted amazing; a little time-consuming, but definitely worth the effort. I topped half with sesame seeds and half with poppy seeds. I will post a recipe for these soon too!

This is from a batch of cookies and cream cupcakes I made while I was still living in Pittsburgh, actually. I believe I used the chocolate cake recipe from the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World book, and possibly a frosting recipe from there too. All I really remember about these is that I baked half of an oreo into the base of each cupcake to add an extra something.

Those are all the photos I have; whew! It feels good to finally update again. I promise not to go another four months before updating again; I don't think I could handle another long post like this! So, my next order of business is to spiff up the look of the blog a little bit... that might take another four months, on the other hand!

Back from Europe....

2008-06-16T14:16:00.005-04:00

Took a longer break than originally planned... but I'm back now!
I'm working on a huge post filled with many pictures and recipes from abroad; here's a taste of what's to come....

Where did her sweet tooth go?!

2008-05-06T18:42:00.004-04:00

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am indeed still alive!

I realize it has been well over three weeks since I last updated - I've been busy packing, moving, and settling in... but I can't lie, mostly I've just been lazy. There are a slew of pictures of recent baking projects on my desktop that I keep meaning to post but I just haven't found the time to actually sit down and write a few entries yet. It certainly doesn't help that I'm leaving the country for about a month come Thursday...

I will update very soon though, I promise! I hate to leave you all hanging.

Chewy Coconut Cookie Crisps

2008-04-14T18:55:00.005-04:00

In exactly two weeks I will be making the six-hour drive to New Jersey along with everything I own and hold dear (except, unfortunately, for the two things I hold most dear these days: my clever boyfriend and devious cat). The lease on Mike and I's current apartment is over at the the end of this month and although Mike has opted to stay put in his lovely hometown of Pittsburgh, I'm making the move back into my parents house until I figure out what I'm doing come autumn.
My current plan is to enroll in culinary school (CIA and ICE are at the top of my list) in September or October, but that's all dependent on where I decide to go and whether or not I even get accepted. I'm still in the process of figuring it all out, but the prospect is very exciting and my cheeks get flush just talking about it. It's a complete change of pace from what I was doing this time last year, but for once I finally feel like I'm headed in the right direction, and that's a relief.
The move across state lines, my prospective education, and my upcoming month-long trip to Europe... all of these things have been occupying my thoughts lately. I'll take the good with the bad though, and hopefully many good things will come out of it. I'm very excited about this next 'chapter' (I apologize for the cliche metaphor) in my life, and I'm determined to make the best of everything.

Hm... I didn't set out to write so much about un-food-related things, but I guess I got a little carried away. I wrote that first bit with the intention of leading into the fact that I've been trying to use up the last of my baking ingredients and in turn have been baking much more frequently - in fact, I'm a little behind on my posts!
These cookies are from a few days ago but they are long gone now because they're just too good to let sit around. Mike is constantly requesting that I add shredded coconut to every batch of chocolate chip cookies that I make, so when I came across this recipe for a cookie which already uses coconut as its main ingredient, I thought to myself "Why not switch things around for once and add chocolate chips to these coconut cookies?" What resulted was an inspiring blend of tastes and textures - infinitely better than my usual "coconut" cookies because these cookies were specifically made with coconut in mind. To give you an idea of how good these are, Mike devoured three of these fresh out of the oven in the span of maybe five minutes; if the man who asks for coconut with everything was satisfied, they must be good.

Chewy Coconut Cookie Crisps

1 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
½ c. softened butter
½ c. granulated sugar
½ c. brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1½ c. flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and a pinch of salt.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Mix the flour mixture into butter/sugar mixture, then mix in the coconut.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until cookies are light brown and edges are toasted.

Zebra Cake

2008-04-13T02:42:00.005-04:00

First things first, for those of you reading from a feed reader, you probably haven't noticed but I updated the blog a bit. I changed the layout and added some new links; I also added a new section in the sidebar which links to my favorite recipes - I hope to expand this a bit over time! A few weeks ago I also added a search bar and a link to the blog's feed; I'm just trying to clean things up and make the blog as simple/easy to access as possible.

Moving on to the Zebra Cake!

This cake is something I baked while I was house-sitting with my siblings for my parents three weeks ago; I came across the recipe and easy to follow instructions weeks ago and jumped at the chance to make it.

Not only is this cake fun to look at, but it tastes good too! The tastes are very subtle (my mother says I should add more chocolate to the batter next time, and I may add more vanilla too) but I really like that the cake is not overly sweet. I've never been a big fan of frosting so it's a relief that this cake tastes good enough to be eaten on its own (although it sure is tasty with some Nutella spread on top!). It's also very rewarding because the outcome looks like so much work was put into making the cake, when in reality, it was not very difficult at all! I recommend following these amazing instructions, complete with step-by-step pictures.

More photos of zebra-goodness:
(Guest photo time! The first two photos were taken by my friend Alina and the last was taken by my sister!)

An Update is Long Overdue!

2008-04-09T08:36:00.005-04:00

Should I apologize for my long absence? I know it has been almost two weeks since I posted last! In my defense, I have been keeping myself plenty busy. I was at my parents' house for a week keeping an eye on things while they were away, and I managed to spend the majority of my time away from the internet! (I'm excited because this has been a rather difficult task as-of-late.) Instead I spent plenty of time in the kitchen (oh-what a glorious space it is compared to my tiny excuse for a kitchen in Pittsburgh!), I caught up with a few people I hardly ever get to see anymore, became enamored with my mother's two Alaskan Malamutes, I spent a late afternoon in New Hope with my sister, and I got to spend a few hours catching up with my aunt who flew back with my mom.
As far as baking goes, my endeavors were not completely out of sight while I was away. Savory cooking is not my forte, but I made an effort to feed my siblings and myself food other than sweets. I made a pizza using Mike and I's favorite pizza dough recipe, only later realizing that the yeast I used from the pantry had expired years ago. Needless to say, I ended up with un-risen dough which made one pizza instead of two, and tons of left-over toppings (which I later used in an omelette). The pizza was delicious though - we topped it with onion, green pepper, red pepper, zucchini, pepperoni, ground beef, and bacon - my brother and I both had a friend over and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal (or so I am led to believe...).
I also made a pan of baked macaroni and cheese with amazing wild blossom smoked cheddar; it was a little dry but the cheese made up for it.
The first picture you see in this post was taken by my good friend Alina Chygyryk (she has a blog too!) and it is a picture of melt-in-your mouth, so decadently chocolate-y chocolate chunk cookies I also made, following this recipe. I used super dark cocoa powder and three different kinds of chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, and dark chocolate chunks). And, later in the week, at the subtle request of my aunt, I made ridiculously rich brownies following the recipe from the Tartine cookbook. These brownies should be bite-size, because that's about as much as you can handle all at once, but wow, they are delicious! I couldn't get a great picture of them but here they are in all their macro-glory.
In my next post I'll tell you all about the zebra cake... it deserves its own post!

Three Tasty Things

2008-03-25T10:40:00.003-04:00

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 was breakfast some time last week: egg in a hole with some crispy bacon.

Breakfast the next day was an egg cooked over-hard on top of some buttered toast.

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.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake

2008-03-24T08:50:00.003-04:00

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.

Peanut Butter Sandies

2008-03-20T19:39:00.005-04:00

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.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

2008-03-20T19:18:00.003-04:00

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.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2008-03-17T11:22:00.002-04:00

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.

Triple Threat Cookies

2008-03-08T21:27:00.005-05:00

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.

March Update

2008-03-04T22:50:00.004-05:00

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.

Brownies

2008-02-29T01:31:00.002-05:00

I've baked a few things since I've been back in Pittsburgh, but nothing as post-worthy as these brownies. I deviated from the recipe a bit - it was my first time using this recipe and so I only made a half-batch, and I ended up substituting apple sauce for butter when I realized I had no butter in the refrigerator. (I could have run across the street to buy a pack, but alas, I'm lazy.) I also chopped up a dark chocolate bar to add to the batter because I'm a huge fan of chocolate chunks in my brownies.
My first reaction, after taking a bite from one of the edges I cut off after the brownies had cooled down, was that the brownies were way too cake-y for my taste. I let Mike have a bite and he agreed with me; disappointed, I threw away the rest of the edges, cut the rest of the pan of brownies into nine even pieces and packed it all up into an air-tight container for the night.
I have since had two actual brownies and my mind has completely changed about them. The apple sauce caught me off-guard at first because it adds a light flavor throughout the brownie, but it's almost forgotten with the satisfying dark chocolate fudgy-ness of each brownie. And of course, lets not forget about the chocolate chunks!

Also, recipes I'd like to try next:
Yin-Yang Cookies
Very Tangy Lime Bars
Banana and Honey Muffin with Nutella Swirl
Savory Breakfast Scones

"Perfect" Lemon Tart

2008-02-23T23:42:00.007-05:00

It has been a few days since I last posted, but I was home visiting my family for a few days and haven't really had a chance to post until now.
My father's birthday was last week and to celebrate we made two different quiches (one with salmon and spinach, one with bacon and prosciutto) and I made him a lemon tart; the perfect lemon tart from the book Luscious Lemon Desserts, to be exact.
The book's not lying, this lemon tart really is perfect. It's so tart you can't have too much of it at once, but each bite is better than the next. My crust ended up being a little thick at the corners, but otherwise everything turned out alright. Everyone else seemed to think so as well!
The picture is actually halfway decent today because there's an abundance of natural lighting at my parent's house, and also because they have an excellent camera.

Banana Bread

2008-02-12T08:09:00.000-05:00

For about a week now I've had a bunch of overly ripe bananas sitting on a shelf in my kitchen that I needed to find a use for. I've been indulging in peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches since I picked up all those ingredients over a week ago - they're my new favorite snack. But after a few days of eating the same thing at least twice a day, I felt I should try something different.
I've never been a huge fan of banana bread - it's always either too sweet, or too walnut-ty, or too... something. However, I have been wanting to use the new loaf pan I bought for weeks now, so banana bread appeared to be the most likely option, especially after I came across this recipe; the combination of banana and honey (no peanut butter though!) sounded sweet to my stomach.
I omitted the dates from my batter, and exchanged the buttermilk for its vegan counterpart (soy milk + 1/3 teaspoon vinegar), and used vegetable oil instead of canola since that is all I have on hand.
The result was a deliciously moist, not overly-sweet loaf with just a hint of walnuts and honey. Last night I ate my first slice plain (yum!), topped my second slice with some Nutella (yum! yum!), and I plan on having another slice or two for breakfast today, possibly topping one with some organic crunchy peanut butter.
If you're on the fence about banana bread, I definitely recommend trying this recipe, it will blow you away.

Traveling Cookies

2008-02-11T23:27:00.003-05:00

Last week I received a small package in the mail from a friend containing a very entertaining zine she had created. The agreement was that I would send her cookies in exchange for this lovely package. I searched through numerous recipes until I came across two that struck my fancy - Smitten Kitchen's peanut butter cookies and a recipe for espresso chocolate chip cookies that I can't seem to find at the moment.
The exciting news is that halfway through making the espresso cookies I realized I didn't have enough eggs to make both types of cookies like I had planned. No problem; I decided to invent my own cookie instead! No egg? I substituted half a banana. Not feeling the espresso? I just omitted it. Instead I threw in a teaspoon of honey, some chopped walnuts and sliced almonds, and chopped semi-sweet chocolate. The result? I call these my vegetarian banana choco-chunk cookies, and they make me so proud; this is the first recipe I've ever come up with on my own.

Here's a shot of the peanut butter cookies I made as well; I used crunchy peanut butter, which gave them an even more interesting texture, although next time I'd like to use a higher quality peanut butter for a better taste - they developed a particularly odd taste after sitting in an airtight container for a few days:

The friend I sent these out to loved them, especially the vegan cookies - I helped make her day a little better; that is exactly why I love baking! So, without further ado:

Vegetarian Banana Choco-Chunk Cookies

1/2 cup softened margarine
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon wildflower honey
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
half of a mashed banana
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
approximately 1 cup combined: finely chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, and chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Combine the margarine and sugar, add the mashed banana and honey. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Throw in your nuts and chopped chocolate.
Here's the fun part: take a piece of parchment paper and spoon the batter out onto the center of it, roll it up in the parchment paper until your cookie dough log is about an inch and a half in diameter, wrap it in cellophane and refrigerate for two hours.
Start preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the cookie dough log into 1/2 inch thick slices and place a few inches apart on your cookie sheet (I lined my cookie sheet with parchment paper first). Bake for about ten minutes, or until they look done. Let cool, and enjoy!

No-Knead Bread

2008-02-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

No-Knead Bread - there are recipes all over the internet for it but this is the best one I could find; it has step-by-step instructions and pictures.
Mike and I didn't even wait for it to cool down; after all the waiting we had to do prior to baking it, we got impatient and just dug in.
The bread tastes delicious with butter or Nutella spread on it. I'm sure it would make some tasty sandwich bread too, but we don't have any sandwich meat around. Now that I have a hefty amount of bread flour, I will definitely be making more bread in the future.

Apple Pie

2008-02-04T15:05:00.001-05:00

I made another apple pie from scratch a few nights ago; this time I tried this recipe. I've been staying away from pie crust recipes that use shortening because I don't like to use it (consider this part of my own food ethics), but I gave in after reading about how it makes for a much richer crust in the end; the crust was indeed tasty, although I think I'll stick to recipes that don't use shortening in the future; it perplexes me to use it in such large quantity.
I used Golden Delicious apples this time instead of the Granny Smith apples I've used in the past; because of this I cut back on the sugar immensely, although the pie still formed a lot of liquid at the bottom... delicious sugary apple juice. I also had Mike crush up some walnuts and threw those between the apple and lattice layers.

The finished product, straight out of the oven:
(Excuse the dirty oven, it got a little out of hand but the stove top slabs are soaking in hot soapy water as I write this.)

A close up of my "I <3 pi(e)" handiwork:

Mmm... pie:

Vegan Cinnamon Buns

2008-01-31T11:17:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of baking going on in this apartment this past month; now that I'm working five days a week I want to make the best of my days off, so I've been making an attempt to bake at least one new thing a week, if not two.
Monday's triumph were these vegan cinnamon buns I re-adapted from the already-adapted recipe posted by Hannah at Bittersweet. She turned a non-vegan recipe into a vegan one and I just took it a few extra steps forward.
I only made one prominent change to Hannah's recipe; instead of making a maple glaze I opted for a vanilla one because I don't have any maple extract sitting around. At the request of Mike, I also topped one of the pans with chopped walnuts before putting them in the oven, so that the nuts would toast while the buns were baking.
The results were beyond delicious! The walnut-topped buns were a huge success, perhaps even better than the plain buns! These cinnamon buns make me so proud.

Cinnamon Buns
1/2 Quart Soymilk (2 Cups)
1/2 Cup Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Packets Active Dry Yeast
4.5 Cups All Purpose Flour, Divided
1/2 Heaping Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Scant Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
1/2 Cup Margarine, Divided
1 Cups Granulated Sugar, Divided
Loads of Cinnamon

Vanilla Icing
1 Pound Confectioner’s Sugar
1 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
6 Tablespoons Soymilk
1/4 Cup Margarine, Melted

First off, combine the soymilk, oil, and 1 cup of sugar together in a large pot and place it over medium heat on the stove. Bring it just to a boil while stirring, and then immediately take it off the heat. Let it sit for about 45-60 minutes to cool to below 115 degrees, as anything hotter will kill the yeast.

Once luke warm, add in the yeast and let it get acquainted with the mixture for about 5 minutes. Then, dump in 8 cups of the flour, stir well so that it’s fully incorporated, and cover the whole pot. Let it sit for another hour to rise.

After that hour has passed, (really, there’s a lot of waiting but not much work, you’ll see!) stir in the last cup of flour, along with baking soda and powder, and salt. Now you’re finally ready to get rolling!

On a well floured surface, take out half of the dough and use a rolling pin to coerce it into a very long, rectangular shape. Don’t worry about the exact measurements, but make sure it’s about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick and longer than it is wide. Now, melt down 1/2 cup of the margarine and pore it liberally all over the dough. Spread it on evenly using a spatula, and then top it with 1 cup of the sugar. Next, just go crazy with the cinnamon shaker; I didn’t measure, but just coat the whole slab evenly and generously, and there should be no problems (I went through about 1/2 of my cinnamon shaker, by the way.) Finally, roll the whole thing up into one sugary, spicy snake and cut it into buns about 1 inch wide. Place the buns into lightly greased (I used 8-inch round, but anything goes) pans- It should make about 7 pans in all.

Repeat with the remaining half of dough.

The buns will need to sit for another 30 minutes, but in the meantime, you can start preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Once plump and risen, you can slide those rolls into the oven for a brief 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown and smelling incredible.

While they’re baking away, you can go ahead and make the glaze. Simply combine all the ingredients for it and stir well. Once those buns come out of the oven either drench or drizzle them while still hot.

More pictures:

pre-bake, with ingredients for glaze set out:

post-bake:

Pouring on the glaze...

Resulting tasty buns!

Black Bottom Cupcakes

2008-01-24T16:09:00.001-05:00

I've had a small tub of cream cheese sitting in my refrigerator for over two months now, I can't make it disappear fast enough! The thought of making cheesecake has crossed my mind, but I don't have the energy to put into such a task, nor do I have to correct pans. Instead, I settled on making Black Bottom Cupcakes; they looked easy and I remembered being impressed the first time I'd ever tried one.
The cake part of this cupcake is delicious! It is dense, with just the right amount of give, and perfectly chocolate-y. I would search around for a different cream cheese topping recipe though; this one was unsatisfying. However, it could be because I cut the recipe in half and had to estimate the amount of egg I used.

Here is the recipe, courtesy of David Lebovitz:

Black-Bottom Cupcakes
(makes 12 cupcakes)

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 T natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 T white or cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

First, make the filling by beating together the cream cheese, granulated sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces.
Adjust the rack to the center of the oven, preheat 350 degrees. Spray or butter a 12-cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.
Let cool, then carefully remove from the muffin tin.

Blondies

2008-01-24T15:52:00.001-05:00

I was curious to bake up a small batch of blondies because they were something I had never tasted before. I have a few more intricate recipes on hand that I've come across over time, but I recently discovered Smitten Kitchen's basic blondie recipe.
Perfect; I don't have much in the pantry as far as "add-ins" go these days, so this was exactly what I was looking for. I cut all the portions in half and added about a half a cup of creamy peanut butter and a handful of chopped up dark chocolate, that's about all I have in the pantry right now, aside from the basics.
Next time, I'd like to use coconut and pecans. The peanut butter was a little overpowering, but that's just how peanut butter is, I suppose. Spread a little Nutella on top of one of these squares and you are good to go.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

2008-01-21T10:54:00.000-05:00

This is a chocolate chip cookie dough filled vanilla cupcake topped with a light layer of chocolate frosting. I used the basic vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World and plopped a ball of cookie dough in the center of each unbaked cupcake; I also made six mini-cupcakes without the cookie dough.
...I seem to be on a chocolate chip cookie kick lately.

Oatmeal Cookies

2008-01-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

I flagged this recipe after seeing the photographs because I thought the cookies closely resembled the ones my boss makes and sells at work, which are beyond delectable. I envisioned myself walking into work and shouting "HA! I know the secret to the cookies!", with a grin from ear-to-ear.
I mixed the ingredients together yesterday afternoon and set the batter in the refrigerator for a few hours and pulled it out again some time in the evening, followed the second set of instructions, shoved the first batch in the oven and stood around the kitchen waiting impatiently for the moment I could pull them out again. I later took one bite of a slightly cooled cookie and explosions went off in my mouth. Alright, maybe that's a little much, but seriously, these cookies are amazing. And (not to my surprise) they taste pretty damn close to the ones from work! They have a crisp, crunchy exterior but a soft, dense interior because I left them in the oven for an extra minute or two, for that extra crunch. I will bring a few of these into work tomorrow morning, I have a feeling they'll be a big hit.

pre-oven:

post-oven:

Macaroni & Cheese

2008-01-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

I don't usually eat food with a lot of cheese or milk in it, and although I will occasionally get a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich, macaroni and cheese is a dish I eat maybe once a year. However, at Costco last week Mike and I picked up a variety pack of pasta which inevitably came with two packs of elbow shaped noodles. I saw these and immediately thought of making macaroni and cheese. I won't go anywhere near artificial mac n' cheese, but the thought of a homemade casserole of the 'stuff intrigued me, so yesterday evening I delved in.
The recipe yielded this round casserole dish plus an 8x8 square pan of more mac n' cheese.... I am swimming in macaroni! What you see there is the dent I made last night; I clearly need to invite people over for a mac n' cheese party or something, because I'm not eating it all - I can't!

Anniversary Dinner

2008-01-15T12:19:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday marked two years since Mike and I first met/allegedly began 'seeing one another'. I woke up pretty early and passed the time until Mike woke up some time after noon (I, unfortunately, am not one of those people who can sleep all through the morning and afternoon - I'm always waking up hours before him); I gave him some time to wake up and then we started preparing the day's feast.
We started with the soup - a ground/chunk beef, barley and potato spice soup, to be exact. We pre-cooked the beef and barley and then threw all the ingredients into the slow-cooker along with some beef broth and water and let it sit for a few hours. Once we felt the potatoes and beef chunks had softened enough, we each served ourselves a hefty portion and indulged. We didn't follow a recipe, we just kind of winged it and added things as we saw fit, and the soup turned out delicious! There is still plenty of soup leftover in the refrigerator now too; we don't have to cook anything else for weeks!
Our stomachs were plenty full after the soup, so we waited another hour or so before starting on dinner. We stuck two potatoes in the oven to bake and then Mike stuck some fresh broccoli in the steamer and cooked two cubed steaks on the stove. The potatoes took much longer to bake than expected, so we ended up eating the steak and broccoli long before the potatoes, but I had Mike pull them out for a few minutes, just for the sake of the picture; they haven't finished baking here.
We drank a bottle of Monkey Bay chardonnay with dinner (thanks for the wonderful recommendation, Mom!) and I baked up some Monkey Bread for dessert, mini-sized! As far as dinners go, Mike out-did himself here; I can't take much credit for anything other than dessert.
We spent the rest of the night digesting this terrific gigantic meal while watching cartoons and movies and of course, smothering each other with plenty of love. Here's to another year!

Chocohotpots

2008-01-13T08:17:00.000-05:00

This is a not-so-flattering picture of Nigella Lawson's Chocohotpots, the recipe for which I found here. I recently bought two ramekins at Sur La Table's holiday sale and have been searching around for recipes to try with them; I've also been on a chocolate kick this week.

I halved the recipe to make two ramekins full of these, but the ramekins I have are actually pretty large and I probably could have filled just the one ramekin heftily. These have a cake-y brownie-like consistency and are deliciously satisfying when eaten warm. I indulged in one last night after they had cooled down from being in the oven, but I stuck the other cup in the refrigerator for later.

+

Today is Mike and I's two-year anniversary of being together. Last year we had dinner at a pretty high-end restaurant in Mount Washington but this year we've decided to spend the day preparing a lavish feast in the comfort of our own home.
On the menu so-far: potato, beef, and barley soup to start, cubed steak with broccoli and a baked potato as the main course, and mini-helpings of monkey bread to finish it all off. We started off with greater intentions, but alas, a late trip to the grocery store resulted in not being able to pick up all of the ingredients we were hoping to get. More on this later.

Future Projects...

2008-01-12T18:37:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to make a list of recipes I'd really like to try my hand at this season...

Cinnamon buns and crumb cake are two things I have yet to bake, so I'm curious. I've never actually tasted a blondie before so there's curiosity in that as well. The oatmeal cookies remind me of the ones my boss makes at work and I'd like to find out if there's any similarity in taste just so I can shout, "Ha! I know the secret behind the cookies!" Everything else on that list just sounds far too delicious. I have an abundance of recipes I've set aside to "attempt later", but they've just been piling up so quickly I can't keep track of them! Perhaps an improved method of organization is needed...

Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Topped Brownies

2008-01-11T01:49:00.000-05:00

You've probably seen them before, but have you ever actually tried Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Topped Brownies?- I can't even describe how amazing these are! If you can't decide whether you're craving a brownie or a chocolate chip cookie, this is the perfect thing to indulge in; I'm glad I only made an 8x8 pan of these because I am rapidly consuming them all.

In this picture it looks like the cookie part is slowly consuming the brownie.

Marble Cupcakes

2008-01-11T01:26:00.001-05:00

I received Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World for my birthday back in October but aside from my usual vegan chocolate cupcake/vanilla frosting recipe, I haven't much felt like undertaking any sort of cupcake from scratch these past few months. It seems likely then, that earlier this week I suddenly felt compelled to make cupcakes from scratch. I decided on the Vanilla and Chocolate Marble Cupcakes, did a small amount of math, and made a half a batch of them.

The recipe calls for both vanilla and almond extract, but I felt these were almost overly almond-flavored, so I may omit the almond extract next time (or use less of it). Otherwise, the cupcake was moist and not overly dense (I replaced the soy milk with rice milk, which makes for a lighter cupcake apparently). I topped these with store-bought chocolate icing and finished them off with colorful dinosaur sprinkles, for more cupcake-eating-fun!

Late Holiday Cookies Post

2008-01-11T00:38:00.000-05:00

It seems it's been a while since my last post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been spending time baking! I was vacationing in Arizona for a few days and I've been slowly getting back into the swing of things since. I have a feeling I'll be making a number of posts this week.

As far as holiday baking goes, I made three different batches of cookies this year; half to give to Mike's family for the holidays, the other half to bring with me to Arizona to share with my family. From the top, going clockwise, Espresso Chocolate-Chip Shortbread, Cranberry Pecan Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies, and World Peace Cookies (basically a dense Chocolate Chocolate-Chip cookie). The close-up pictures came out all sorts of fuzzy so this is all I have to show for my days of hard work. Well, this picture and the satisfaction of knowing these cookies must have been delicious because I hardly had a chance to get a taste! I'd have to venture and say that the World Peace cookies were the most popular; the oatmeal cookies were devastatingly delicious, but the shortbreads were in the oven for a few minutes too long and were a tad on the crispy side, unfortunately.

Also, new year, new layout. The colors of the last one were beginning to get to me; this is much more soothing on the eyes.

Apple Turnovers, Take Two

2007-12-11T09:11:00.001-05:00

I still had a pastry sheet and two apples left over from the other day, so I decided to try a different apple turnover recipe. This time I followed the Food Network's recipe.

I skipped the orange zest and the dried cherries, adding about a half a cup of coconut to the mixture instead. These turnovers tasted so much better than the ones I made the other day. I chopped the apples into bigger chunks this time, which probably helped. I wish I had a better picture, but they were so tasty I never even got a chance to take a picture of their insides!

Apple Turnovers

2007-12-08T08:50:00.000-05:00

A few days ago I made some apple turnovers loosely following a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. We're in the midst of final exams here in Pittsburgh and although I don't mind putting time into making the apple filling, there was no way I was making pastry dough from scratch; so I finally got myself to the grocery store and purchased a package of Pepperidge Farm's frozen pastry dough. Then I set about making the turnovers; I took some pictures of the entire process, from start to finish. Here is my attempt at Apple Turnovers:

If you're using a frozen pastry sheet, set it out to thaw before you begin. I started out by peeling, coring, and chopping my apples. (I used two Granny Smith apples.) Then, to make it easier for myself later on, I combined 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and set the bowl aside.

Melt some butter in a large skillet over medium heat and toss in your chopped apples. Cook and stir the apples for about 2 minutes.

Add the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture, and cook, still stirring, for 2 more minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1/2 tablespoon of water. Pour the liquid into the skillet, and mix well. Cook for another minute; once the sauce has thickened you can remove the skillet from heat to cool slightly.

Here is where I started taking less pictures and I missed a few steps. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfold your puff pastry sheet and repair any cracks by pressing them back together. Trim your sheet into a square (the Pepperidge Farm sheets are already square). Cut the large square into 4 smaller squares. Spoon apples onto the center of each square. (To note: Mike requested I add coconut to a few of the turnovers as well, as you can see from the picture above.) Fold over from corner to corner into a triangle shape, and press the edges together with a fork to seal. Place the turnovers on a baking sheet, leaving about 1 inch between them. I lined my baking sheet with foil to catch any drips (and believe me, there were puddles when I pulled them out).

Bake the turnovers for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven, pull out and set out to cool when turnovers are puffed and lightly browned.
These are the turnovers straight out of the oven, cooling on a rack. I stuck the oven mitt in there for a size comparison; they were fairly large.

And, cut in half and ready to eat! I put two turnovers in the freezer for later and baked the other two immediately. By the time I got to eat one they were cold and, although appetizing, not quite as good as I was expecting. Mike and I baked the frozen turnovers for breakfast the next day and we ate those warm; they tasted so much better! I guess I'll need to try another recipe next time.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-12-03T18:39:00.001-05:00

Every few weeks I get hit with a chocolate chip cookie craving, so earlier today I made Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies using Betty Crocker's recipe. This is the second batch of whole wheat cookies I've made in the past few months and they are definitely not bad. They have a crisp, crunchy exterior but the interior is soft and chewy - the best kind of cookie texture! I have to say though, I still prefer cookies made with all-purpose flour; you know, the not-as-healthy kind!

Beef Ravioli with Pepperoni Tomato Sauce

2007-11-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

Mike and I made ravioli from scratch today - pasta dough and all!

This is the ravioli post-assembly, pre-boiling.

Making pasta dough is a very arduous task; I would not recommend attempting it unless you have a pasta roller, which unfortunately, our kitchen lacks. At first we had trouble forming the dough (too much flour, not enough egg/liquid); Mike struggled with it for a good fifteen minutes. Once the dough was ready and had sat out for a half an hour we set out to flatten it down to the thinnest possible layer... but like I said above, this is not an easy task when all you have is a rolling pin. It took a good half hour (maybe longer) but eventually the dough was flat enough to make ravioli. We topped each square with a big spoonful of ground beef, assembled and sealed each individual ravioli, and plopped them in a pot of boiling water!

This was the end result - eight large scrumptious (albeit, a little too al-dente for my taste) beef-filled ravioli topped with a pepperoni tomato sauce. At least the end result was worth all the hard work.

Brown Butter Creamy Apple Pie

2007-11-26T14:00:00.000-05:00

I made an apple pie for Thanksgiving because I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin pie; the original recipe is from here, and I used the recipe for the crust from the first apple pie I made. I wasn't as happy with how this pie turned out. The streusel topping is delicious and the apple filling has a very appealing light custard texture, but I used Granny Smith apples like I did with the first pie and I think this pie would taste better using a different brand, something less sour perhaps. My biggest disappointment was that the pie didn't look very good; everything I make always tastes much better than it looks, but I guess that's better than if it were the other way around, no?

Drizzled Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2007-11-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

I had a peanut butter craving earlier and I've been dying to try another recipe from Jennifer Appel's book, Buttercup Bakes at Home, since the first one was so successful. I settled on her Drizzled Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies. (Except that I used chocolate chips since I have no chocolate chunks lying around.)

I didn't intentionally set out to decorate them so lovingly... I ended up cutting the tip on the bag full of 'drizzling' chocolate a little too big so my lines came out thicker than I expected and I also ran out a little sooner than I wished, so I improvised a little bit. The cookie itself is delicious - it has just the right amount of chocolate chips and the peanut butter makes for a nice salty cookie, rather than something overly sweet; and the drizzled chocolate adds that extra "oumph!".

I also made some coconut chocolate chip cookies earlier last week; I wasn't completely satisfied with the results - not enough coconut, not enough sugar, and too much salt. Mike and my colleagues seemed to like them enough, but I'm still not entirely happy with the results. I'm going to mess around with the left over dough a little bit and maybe post the results later this week.

Monkey Bread

2007-11-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

Mike loves Monkey Bread; his mom has been making it for years and he's asked me to make it on numerous occasions but I could never get my hands on his mother's recipe, so I finally caved in due to my own curiosity and put something together out of my memory of what his mother had told me.

Aside from the tedious cutting up of the biscuits, it's an easy snack to make and it's even more fun to eat. The biscuit pieces come off in sugar coated chunks that you just can't get enough of! (Do I sound like enough of an advertisement?) As you can see, I couldn't help myself, I had a few before I took the picture.

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used a chopped nut mixture and sliced almonds)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
4 packages (10 biscuits each) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Sprinkle pecans in bottom of well greased 10-inch fluted tube pan; set aside.

In a small bowl stir together granulated sugar and cinnamon. Cut biscuits into quarters. Roll each biscuit piece in the sugar mixture and place in prepared pan, arranging pieces to fill the pan evenly. In a small bowl stir together brown sugar and melted butter; pour over biscuits.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until dark golden brown and top springs back when gently touched. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Invert onto a serving platter. Serve warm.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

2007-11-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

I came across this recipe a few nights ago and decided to give it a try. It's been a long time since I've baked anything with bananas; the last time I used them I made some sort of chocolate chip banana bread, half of which has been sitting in the back of freezer for months now...

These muffins are just like I expected them to be: moist and not overly dense. My bananas weren't at their ripest, but the muffins still have a pretty prominent banana taste, and the chocolate chips do a great job of tying everything together. I halved the recipe, yet I still ended up with way more muffins than I know what to do with!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
(recipe originally from here)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 4 large)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 large muffin cups.

2. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. In small bowl, blend bananas, melted butter, milk, eggs and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring until just blended. Don't over mix! Fill muffin cups.

3. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for several minutes.

Big, Fat, and Chewy

2007-11-02T11:10:00.000-04:00

I spent most of yesterday searching for the perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe. I finally came across a recipe for Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from here, and they sounded like exactly what I was looking for.

The only thing I could find for a size comparison was a soda bottle cap, to give you an idea of the fairly immense size of these cookies:

I cut the recipe in half and got seven large cookies out of it, four of which (mostly Mike) and I thoroughly enjoyed last night. I stored the other three in a container for later consumption.

Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars

2007-10-27T20:55:00.000-04:00

I changed the look of the blog a little bit; I think it's easier to read now, and the colors are pleasing to the eye.

I haven't been doing much baking these past two weeks, but I was given Jennifer Appel's cookbook Buttercup Bakes At Home for my birthday recently and I couldn't wait to try out her Marshmallow Crunch Bars!

Mine don't photograph nearly as nicely as hers, but they are ridiculously tasty!

A layer of fudgy brownie, a layer of marshmallows, and a layer of peanut butter, chocolate, and Rice Krispies... I won't post the recipe but I encourage you to look it up if you're tempted. I didn't let the peanut butter/chocolate/cereal mixture sit for long enough before spreading it on top of the marshmallows so the marshmallows pushed their way to the top in some areas; I also didn't have enough to cover the entire layer so as you can see, the marshmallows poke out near the edges a little, but Mike likes the marshmallow layer best, so he doesn't mind.

I also got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World for my birthday, so prepare yourself for my next post.

Peanut Butter Streusel Bundt Cake

2007-10-14T10:06:00.001-04:00

I've been looking for a bundt cake recipe to break in the bundt pan I got for Christmas last year; yesterday I finally found one that struck my fancy. I've been on a peanut butter kick lately but nothing I've made has been very successful these past few days. My cake burnt a little around the edges; my oven cooks things too quickly for it's own good - I pulled this out about fifteen minutes earlier than the recipe calls for. I was angry at myself for not pulling it out sooner but the cake tastes great!

The center is moist and has a strong but not overwhelming taste of peanut butter (I actually added 1/3 cup of peanut butter to my cake batter) and the small layer of streusel adds just the right amount of ZING! to the cake. I also had to compromise for the frosting; I ran out of smooth peanut butter and had to use crunchy peanut butter halfway through the recipe so my frosting is a little crunchy but I actually really like the way it turned out. The frosting also firms up a bit after sitting out for a few hours, so there's no mess! Overall, I am very satisfied with how everything came together.

2-1/4 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs

Frosting:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan and set aside.

In large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, sugar, 1 cup peanut butter, and butter and mix at low speed until crumbly.

Reserve one cup of this streusel mixture and set aside. Add remaining ingredients, except chocolate chips, to crumb mixture in mixing bowl. Blend at low speed until combined, then beat three minutes at medium speed. Pour half of batter into prepared pan.

Stir 1 cup chocolate chips into streusel mixture. (I skipped this step and just threw a few chips on top after laying the streusel topping down.) Sprinkle streusel over batter in pan. Spoon and spread remaining batter over streusel mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-66 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then loosen edges and turn pan onto serving plate. Cool completely, then frost as directed below.

Frosting:
In small saucepan, melt 1 cup chocolate chips with 1/3 cup peanut butter. Spoon over cake.

Nutella French Toast

2007-10-08T16:00:00.001-04:00

1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
butter
4 slices of bread
Nutella

Whisk the egg, milk, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla together in a bowl. Heat butter in a frying pan until it sizzles. Dip both sides of bread in batter and toss into frying pan, let cook until golden brown on both sides. Spread Nutella on bread and cut into fours. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, and enjoy!

Chocolate Cake

2007-10-06T08:52:00.001-04:00

I made a chocolate cake yesterday using my own version of this recipe. Mine is just a one layer cake topped with store-bought icing left over from cupcakes I made a few weeks ago. I wanted to make a three or four layer cake, but I found out at the last minute that this recipe only makes about one layer of cake for a 9" circular pan, so if you plan on making a layer cake I would double or triple the recipe!

The cake itself is very moist and dense, the perfect combination. I had some decorating mis-haps - Mike likes white icing but I prefer chocolate so we compromised, except that the ziplock bag I was using to hold the white icing burst halfway through the decorating process, and left me with a mess of a cake :/ but it tastes great and that all that really matters. I'll end this post with Mike's response to my inquiry of his feelings on the cake: "It's even better than cake mix cake!"

Pizza Numero Dos!

2007-10-02T13:26:00.000-04:00

Mike and I made another pizza last night; we used the same whole wheat crust recipe we did for the first pizza but we made this one rectangular instead of circular. We topped this one with breakfast sausage, pepperoni and green peppers and I think it tasted even more delicious than the first one!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

2007-10-01T14:14:00.000-04:00

Last night I came across a recipe for Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies and I decided to try it out this morning. I kept the cookies sized fairly small and split the batter into thirds; I kept one third plain, added chocolate chips to another third and topped the last third with Reese's Pieces like the recipe originally calls for. These cookies are quick and easy to put together and they taste fantastic; the oats and peanut butter are a perfect combination. The plain cookies taste great with some Nutella spread on top too.

Double Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

2007-10-01T13:59:00.000-04:00

Last week I tried out Martha Stewart's recipe for Outrageous Chocolate Cookies. I wasn't very happy with the results - the cookies ended up having a very cake-like consistency and they didn't flatten at all during cooking. I added macadamia nuts to the batter, which Mike discovered actually makes for some pretty good Rocky Road Cookies when you melt a layer of marshmallows to the tops of the cookies. This was my first time making double chocolate cookies and I would definitely give them another try but I don't think I would use this recipe again.

First Post!

2007-09-24T11:42:00.000-04:00

For months now I've been thinking to myself, "Man, I really wish I had something to blog about..." and last night it occurred to me that I must be pretty silly because I spend most of my free time in my kitchen baking up a storm and, hey! Isn't that something to blog about?

I finally have a little place on the inter-web to call my own, and I'm excited! So, to begin this new journey, here are a few pictures of what spending time in my kitchen has amounted to this past month:

Pizza with a Whole Wheat Crust

This was Mike and I's first attempt at making a pizza from scratch, and we were deliriously happy with how well it came out; the long process and all the waiting was definitely worth it. We topped the pizza with ground beef, bacon, pepperoni, green pepper, and tomato slices.

Apple Walnut Streusel Pie

I made a few changes to the recipe for my pie - I used Granny Smith apples instead of Golden Delicious, soy milk for the filling, and I didn't have any lemons so I omitted the lemon juice (I figured the tartness of the Granny Smith apples would make up for it). I also didn't let the pie bake for quite as long as the recipe calls for; the top was burnt in a few places when I pulled it out the first time so I left it in for fifteen minutes instead of thirty after adding the walnut topping, but the pie definitely cooked enough.

The inside!

Calzones

Since Mike and I made that pizza a few weeks ago, last night we figured we'd try our hands at calzones instead. We split the dough in two instead of in four like the recipe calls for and in turn ended up with two huge calzones. I didn't brush them with the egg wash so the dough kept it's pale color, and although they didn't look very good they tasted swell. We stuffed them to the brim with ground beef, pepperoni, green pepper and tomato - so much in fact that we had a tough time folding them up without them breaking - Mike's stayed intact but the one I folded was oozing pizza sauce when we pulled it out.

I don't have a picture but I made Oreo Crunch Cookies a few weeks ago and they came out alright. My biggest complaint is that they get stale after about two days or so. And I think there was something wrong with my oven the day I made these because my first batch took forever to cook, I finally took them out after forty minutes because they just didn't seem to get any darker! They finished cooking while cooling down and took on a very crunchy consistency. The second batch I made got a little burnt because I made the cookies smaller and I wasn't watching the time very well. I might make these again but I'm not sure if they're worth all the effort.

I also made a few different batches of Rocky Road Brownies, but I don't want to post a recipe for those until I've perfected it. I've tried out a few different recipes but I can't get the marshmallows right.

Last week I was craving Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and this recipe served me well. The cookies were damn tasty! I thought about using this recipe too; maybe next time. I also made Whole Wheat Cookies that turned out similarly great.

That, however, is it for my cooking endeavors this past month. No worries! There will be more!