COOKIES!

What's baking?  
Spent the better part of last night baking until I ran out of flour!  There are a few more recipes that I still want to try.  Although I always deviate somewhat from the printed recipe I am including the link to each recipe I started with. 
Lemon-Raspberry Thumbprints
Espresso Shortbread
Chocolate Dreams
Apple Butter Spritz
Almond Cloud

Birthday Cake!

What's baking?  Layers of chocolate chip Cream Cheese Pound Cake (recipe based on CC follows) with chocolate filling, covered with vanilla butter cream and chocolate fondant.  Hand made gum paste flowers and royal icing stenciled sides cover this little 6" cake.

3 sticks butter, softened
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
6 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix butter, sugar and salt until creamy.  Add cream cheese and mix well.  Add eggs, one at a time, alternating with the flour.  Add vanilla and beat the entire mixture for 2 minutes.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour into a Large (12-cup) greased and floured tube or bundt cake pan,  Bake for 90 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan 10-15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

cupcake info

What's baking?
Didn't get to describe the cupcakes in the last post.  These were so much fun to make!  Most of the ideas were found while browsing the web including the cake recipe.  It is Billy's Vanilla cupcakes posted on

Brownies

What's Baking?
Happy Birthday Samantha!
Baker's One-Bowl Brownies recipe with added chocolate chips, extra vanilla, a pinch of espresso powder and walnuts in half.  Chocolate buttercream frosting, white chocolate writing and royal icing flowers on top.

Mini Chocolate Chip Shortbread

What's Baking? 
This is the recipe for the heart-shaped cookies shown in my post from Feb. 8.  I made a double batch and was really testing the capacity of my Kitchen Aid stand mixer with 10 cups of flour!  I rolled the dough a bit thinner than usual and ended up with at least 150 cookies.

Fish with Orange Avocado Salsa

What's for dinner?
Dinner was based on Mahi-Mahi with Blood Orange, Avocado, and Red Onion Salsa recipe from Epicurious but without detailed measurements!  I used 3 delicious very juicy oranges that we had from Florida, 2 limes, 2 ripe avocados, 1 small red onion, no jalapenos and halibut.  I marinated the fish for a few minutes in some of the juice from the oranges and limes.  This was delicious and great as leftovers, too!  Enjoy!

Wilton Course 1, week 4 - final cake!

What's baking?

This is the cake I made for my last Wilton class of Course 1.  I did not want to post it until after it got to my daughter for her birthday!  The cake is the same recipe Chocolate Layer cake as the mini cake a couple of posts back with the buttercream frosting using the Wilton classroom recipe with half butter, some almond extract and a dash of salt.

The roses are still a bit of a challenge.  I do need to practice and hope to find time before the next class starts, but I am pleased how this cake came out and very happy that it managed it's way across the state in time for my daughter's birthday!

More cake decorating practice!

What's baking?

More practicing! Can you tell I like making the drop flowers?  The cupcakes are Brownie Cupcakes (click for recipe) from Joy of Baking with Wilton Classroom recipe for the Buttercream Frosting.   

Muffins x 5

What's Baking?

I baked five different types of muffins for a breakfast board meeting using recipes from King Arthur Flour.  Since I was trying all new recipes, I figured four out of five should come out well, but King Arthur Flour recipes are tested and are very reliable so they all came out great!  They are Blueberry Muffins, Morning Glory Muffins, Simply Sinful Cinnamon Muffins, Bran Muffins, and Chocolate Breakfast Muffins.

Each recipe was a little different from the next in terms of ingredients and method of preparation. One called for buttermilk, one had vinegar, some used oil, some butter, one dump all in bowl, mix and go, another cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy first.  I will post recipes, changes I made to them and details later.  

Brussels Sprouts

My sister-in-law made delicious Brussels Sprouts for Thanksgiving a couple of years ago and it was requested again for this past years feast so it has been added to our list of family favorites.  She followed Brussels Sprout Hash with Caramelized Shallots from Bon Appétit, November 2007.  

Little Thai Turkey Loaves

What's for dinner?

This recipe is adapted from Food Network: Little Thai Turkey Loaves, actually simplified based on what I already have in the kitchen.

 

These are delicious, fairly quick to put together and very forgiving in terms of ingredients

Chocolate Mocha Cookies

What's baking?

Unfortunately, I do not remember where the original recipe came from which is a shame because these are delicious and I would like to give the proper credit.  My original recipe is handwritten and barely legible on very brittle paper.

Chocolate Mocha Cookies

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate

3 C semisweet chocolate chips, divided

½ C butter (cut small pieces)

½ C flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

4 eggs, room temp

1½ C sugar

1½ TBS espresso powder

2 tsp vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Melt unsweetened chocolate, 1½ C chocolate chips and butter over hot water or slowly in microwave, stir until smooth. 

Stir flour, BP and salt in small bowl.

Beat eggs and sugar until thick and pale.  Beat in espresso and vanilla.   Fold in chocolate.

Fold in flour.  Stir in remaining chips.

Let stand 15 minutes.

Drop heaping TBS onto parchment covered baking sheets.  Bake 8-10 minutes until puffy, shiny, crackled.  Cool.  Transfer to rack to cool.

This recipe double easily and the cookies freeze well.  I let batter sit longer, sometimes overnight, if convenient.  I use less sugar, less salt, a bit more vanilla and sometimes more chips at the end.  I try using different chocolates.  This last batch has a combination of Ghiradelli and Trader Joe’s.   What chocolates do you have the most success with in baked goods?  What are your favorites?

Why Blog?

Several New Year's resolutions have led me to this blog. One is to organize and record my favorite recipes so my children and my nieces and nephews will have them (if and when they want them) and so I can find and sort through them more easily and to be more efficient when a friend asks me for one. I have files and piles of papers with recipes, some handwritten, some typed, some from newspapers, in addition to shelves of cookbooks and magazines. Last week someone requested my chocolate mocha cookie recipe. I found it very quickly for I had baked them recently, hence the request, but the ink on the paper was so faded it was barely legible anymore, especially to someone who hasn't mixed that batter a hundred times already and the paper was a bit brittle (not that I am that old) so it was time to think about how to share my love of baking!