As a little girl I longed to be a "grown up" for several reasons.
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Farewell, Harry: Pumpkin Pasties + Golden Snitch Cake Pops
Last week, fans everywhere simultaneously celebrated and mourned the last installment of Harry Potter. Encompassing ten years, seven books, eight films and spanning a generation, the series meant something very dear to me -- so much so that I spent all of last week obsessing, remembering, and writing about it. And then my friend Jessica thought of the perfect way to say goodbye - a booze-fueled, Harry Potter themed party. And just like that, I was off to San Francisco!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
I have to thank my friend Erica for inspiring me to make these delicious, light blondies. For those of you who don't know, blondies are a variation on the infamous brownie. Erica made some dreamy funfetti blondies for our friend Jamie's graduation BBQ last weekend, so dreamy that I helped myself to several bites. Sunday night I found myself recovering from a nonstop weekend of beer, burgers, Blonde Redhead at the Echoplex and a mini college reunion. The only cure? A glass (or two) of wine and some quality baking. Craving more of Erica's adorable treats, I set to work on a batch for myself.
Everything is better with peanut butter, and blondies are no exception. Some of my baking tins were still at Jamie's house, so I made my baked goodies in a pie tin. Not the most conducive to evenly cut squares, but delicious nonetheless.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Healthy Eats: Breakfast For Dinner
Though most days I come home eager to try out some new culinary feat, occasionally a 50 hour work week, June gloom and a good ol' case of the doldrums can weaken my motivation. Last night I came home fully expecting to whip up something as equally uninspiring as my day. I considered my ultimate comfort food, caprese, but noticed my fridge has been rather neglected as of late. As I settled in to make scrambled eggs with some veggies, I had an epiphany. Why not make a frittata? My kitchen, however, is still vastly under-equipped since the big move, so I scoured the shelves for a suitable baking dish. Nestled in the back was my cupcake tin, sullenly neglected for months. I dashed into the living room to inform Quinn of my newest endeavor: mini frittatas!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Iron Chef Potluck #1, Volume 4: Jamie's Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cupcakes and Quinn's Key Lime & Mint Cream Pies
There is something inherently cruel about serving desserts at the climax of a potluck. Stuffed to the brim with tuna tar tar, burgundy beef stew, rigatoni carbonara, creamy gnocchi and sweet potato fries, we were left with the painfully wonderful task of finding room in our stomachs for such scintillating desserts as Jamie and Quinn's.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Iron Chef Potluck #1, Volume 1: The Prep & Alex's Tuna Tar
I challenged my tastes, wallet, and stomach stamina when some friends and I hosted a Iron Chef-esque potluck on Saturday night. With 10 guests and individual dishes crammed into one kitchen, we had our work cut out for us. After hours of toiling away in the kitchen, we deemed the first Iron Chef Potluck a glorious success!
The Menu:
Alex: Tuna Tar Tar served with Quail Eggs
Sam: Burgundy Beef Stew with Horseradish Sour Cream
Heruy: Grilled Alaskan Salmon with Creamy Parmesan Polenta in a Diane Sauce
Rachel (me!): Rigatoni Carbonara
Jodi: Gnocchi with Spinach, Peas in a Creamy Red Pepper Sauce
Ted: Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Adam: Pasta Shells with Meat Sauce
Jamie: Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Quinn: Key Lime Pie & Chocolate Mint Pie
Carla: Chocolate Brownies
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Sugar Rush
Sometimes the simplest treats can make your day. Today is my last as physical therapy office slave, and though I'm thrilled to be moving into a work arena where I feel a tad more qualified and relevant, I am going to miss my crazy office cohorts so much.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Cake Ball Challenge - Success!
After several hours of baking, crumbling, mixing, shaping, 2 cake mixes, 2 frosting cans and levels of hell later, I concluded my first cake ball experiment with what resembled chewed up cake smushed together and topped with a sticky glaze. Normally when a recipe flounders, it takes me several weeks to get over the blow to my ego. (Butternut squash lasagna, it’s still too soon.) However, cake balls are supposed to be simple. Every recipe available online boasts how quick and easy these are to make, and oh so satisfying. If a housewife in the Mid West can pull it off, well damn it, so can I.
Instead of rushing the process in one night, I took my sweet time this week lovingly gathering all the ingredients together. Here’s what I learned from my second attempt:
Instead of rushing the process in one night, I took my sweet time this week lovingly gathering all the ingredients together. Here’s what I learned from my second attempt:
1. If you happen to buy any cake with the word “moist” on it, you’re going to want to over-bake it. Moist cake just does not crumble the way this recipe calls for, and leads to the aforementioned slop. I kept mine in the oven 10 minutes past the instructions, but they probably could have stayed in even longer.
2. Most bakers and chefs are probably not as impatient as I am. The main thing I learned through this process is that I need to chill the fuck out when cooking. Let your cake cool completely before crumbling, and then let it sit. As much as it pains me to wait, it’s worth it.
3. Don’t throw an entire can of frosting in there just because all the recipes say to. My cake, even over baked, was still moist enough after about half the can. I did it in spoonfuls to gauge how soft the mixture would be. It’s called a “binder” for a reason… you just need enough to keep the cake together.
4. Mix the frosting and crumbs together with your hands, not a stand mixer. The force is too strong and whips it up into a frenzy. Don’t over do it.
5. Some recipes encouraged me to refrigerate the mixture overnight before rolling it out into bite-sized balls, but putting it in the freezer overnight works much better.
6. Next time, I’ll probably pick up some lollipop sticks for dipping, but using a plastic fork in a pinch works pretty well. Break off the two middle prongs and rest the balls on the fork, dip and swirl around as best as you can. Keep the remaining balls in the freezer, because the cake bits starts to break off into the melted chocolate if they warm up.
After three days of careful planning, I did it! I defeated and conquered the cake balls. They may not be quite as pretty as Bakerella’s, but they taste like little bites of heaven. I’ll be bringing in some for my coworkers today, as well as saving a little stockpile for my boyfriend to demolish. Feels good to be domestic sometimes. Take that, cake balls!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Oh My Macaroons!
On a cloudy morning in Los Angeles, one of my favorite ways to wake up is to go out for breakfast. Quinn and I popped over to La Provence, a bakery and breakfast café in Beverly Hills. We’ve had omelets there before, some of the best I’ve had to date, so when my goat cheese, artichoke and Portobello mushroom came sans cheese, I was a bit surprised. Quinn’s feta, tomato and basil was a fresh take on a classic, and their roasted potatoes topped with wild mushrooms and sautéed onions are always superb.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Cake Pop Challenge
Everyone's doing it: the cutesy baked goods. First cupcakes were all the rage, with specialty boutiques cropping up all over major metropolitan areas (Sprinkles of Beverly Hills), and soon came the difficult to master French macaroons in rosy pastels. Lately, cake pops have popped up on the pastry chef radar, from the delicately simple to artfully crafted masterpiece.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
