Baked Goodness

2010-10-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Let's address the fact that it's been over 14 months since my last post. I did bake a few times during this break, but never had the time or energy to blog about it. With 5 classes last spring, and moving into an apartment with an itty-bitty kitchen, I lost a lot of time and motivation to bake. My fabulously full social calendar (which, let's face it, mostly includes my few regular readers-so don't blame me, you guys) still doesn't afford me much time, but I realized recently how much I miss baking, so doll house kitchen be damned, here we go again.

For starters this morning I was inspired at the grocery store by a bag of pumpkin pancake mix...but I would ruin my reputation if I used a mix, so I bribed my lovely roommate for a can of pumpkin, in exchange for breakfast, and made pumpkin-chocolate-walnut pancakes. I think the chocolate overwhelmed the pumpkin flavor, so I probably wouldn't use that next time.

(man, I need lighting advice for these pictures!)

Ok, the main event...during the summer of 2009, my massive extended family had a reunion. I was unable to go, but one of my aunts solicited recipes from the whole family, and put together a really amazing cookbook. My family is Serbian, and to give you an idea of what we find important in life, the cookbook is (literally) half desserts-there are no less than 4 baklava recipes. Anyway, the point is that my goal over the next few months is to try out some of the recipes that I loved as a kid, but have never baked, and barely know how to pronounce! Take one, baklava:

I used my grandmother's recipe, which calls for walnuts but I used pistachios instead. I actually cut the sugar in half (that's just the white sugar-obviously there's still lots of sugar in all that honey) and it was completely delicious. I I also added cinnamon to the melted butter that is brushed on each phyllo sheet, so it would be extra cinnamon-y. There are lots of horror stories about working with that phyllo, but I used to help my mom make the layers in her baklava, so I've had some experience and it went better than I expected. Still, the assembly took an hour! Whatever, it's incredibly delicious.

Spiced and sugared pistachios

You have to cut it before baking...

....so that you can pour this delicious syrup over it

And, yum!!!

P.S., I must call attention to one of my recent sugar-high discoveries. If you live in NY (you probably do, if I've forced you to read this) and are as dessert-obsessed as I am, you have to go to Sweet Revenge in the West Village. It's cupcake paradise. They actually have really delicious sandwiches and savory cupcakes (kind of a biscuit texture), but their thing is cupcake and wine or beer pairings. I went with some of the best company I can imagine (hi San Francisco!) and we polished off an embarrassing amount of food and alcohol (while laughing at the six tiny girls by the door, sharing one cupcake).

Another incarnation...

2009-08-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

of lemon and berries. I can't stop.
I took a break from my recent craziness on Saturday to make a birthday cake for my cousin. She's lucky it fell during my 2 week break from classes! I really wanted something light in color and considered making a white cake, but I'm not a big fan because I don't think they're very flavorful. I found a great recipe (from Dorie Greenspan, as I often do) for lemon cake and butter cream frosting, both really light (I don't like when lemon cake is yellow-y, I think it looks fake). It was actually the "Perfect Party Cake" recipe, which is somewhat well-known in the strange little world of obsessed bakers.
I was surprised by the cake-very light and fluffy...almost melt-y (sorry, other baking bloggers-I can't bring myself to use the term "mouth feel"). Yum! I was worried about the frosting at first because when I tried it, I thought it just tasted like butter. But once it covered the cake, the combination of the two was delicious and very lemony! I filled the cake with blackberry jam, and decorated the top with fresh blackberries and homemade candied lemon slices. I think it came out quite beautifully, if I may say so!

Then we sliced it with a cleaver.

Such a little tart...

2009-06-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

I suppose 11 months is long enough to let pass by without a new post. I've become slightly obsessed with photograzing lately (take a look, it's practically food erotica). I saw a picture of strawberry tarts (Confabulation in the Kitchen) and decide I had to make them. I used a different pâte brisée, but it's a pretty universal recipe. I followed her suggestion of eliminating the butter and cutting the sugar in the filling (I used 1/3 c. instead of a full cup).

Ingredients:

2 lb sliced strawberries

1/3 c. sugar

1 recipe double layer pâte brisée

1. Preheat oven to 400F.

2. Toss sugar with strawberries.

3. Use 3/4 of the pâte brisée for the bottom crust in 4 small tart pans. Allow some dough to hang over the edges, as the dough will shrink during baking. Weigh bottom of crust with pie beads; bake for 15 minutes.

4. Dust flour over bottom crusts.

5. Divide strawberries and sugar into the tart pans
6. Cut remaining dough into slices and arrange into lattice work over top of strawberries.

Bake 30 more minutes.

The star of the show:

Tools of the trade:
f

Preparing the dough:

Ready for the oven:

And, I present you with delicious:

Actually, I haven't tasted it yet...it could be awful!

I also decided I want to make some sort of rosemary-olive oil bread soon, so I bought a rosemary plant...the nearby spearmint smelled so good, I had to buy that as well. Here are my new additions! Let's all cross our fingers that I don't kill them, as I do every other living thing I've tried to care for (except children).

Now I'm done, as Marie says it's rude for me to blog while watching a movie with her.

I Love Burgers, Pie and my Friends

2008-07-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've made a pie, so I ignored Raoul's suggestion that I bring cookies to our rooftop dinner with friends (I know you liked this better anyway, love). He made one of the best burgers I've ever had and Paul brought a fruit tray that included a fruit which none of us could identify. After much sniffing, poking and unhygienic inspection, Amanda and Google helped us figure out that it was...some kind of passion fruit.
I tried a new crust recipe this time, it was supposed to be very flaky (mmm!). It was delicious, but ridiculously difficult to roll out. In fact, the top crust was really patchy b/c everytime I tried to lift it off the counter, it broke so I gave up, threw it over the filling and placed extra pieces over the holes. The filling was mostly blueberry (my favorite!) with some peaches tossed in as well. At the end I decided to add a layer of candied pecans on top of the pie. I just wanted an extra delicious touch, but it masked the lumpy-ness of the crust as well (which was made worse by the fact that I made an amateur mistake and completely forgot to cut slits in the top to vent the pie). This pie really survived a lot...including my knocking it off the bench where I was sitting, after a few too many drinks!

Just look at these beautiful, natural-hair-color people!

Chewy Toffee Pecan Cookies

2008-07-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, these don't look like much, but I'm proud of them b/c they are deliciously addicting and I came up with the recipe myself. The name pretty much tells you all you need to know! I'll definitely make these again (soon).

An Experiment in Tarts

2008-07-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

My cousin had a day-after-a-holiday party last night. She put together a fantastic spread of delicious food:

I offered to bring dessert (obviously). I made a chocolate ganache and caramel-hazelnut tart and a berry tart. Both of these were on my list of dishes to try so I got to knock off two in one shot. I didn't love the chocolate tart because the chocolate was really bitter, although it was good if you got some of the caramel-hazelnut filling on your fork at the same time. The berry tart turned out very well and was really easy to make.

My office loves cake :)

2008-07-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned before that I wanted to make a chocolate hazelnut cake and I finally had the chance to do so for our receptionist's birthday last week. Nothing difficult, I added a little bit of hazelnut extract to the cake batter, but made the frosting much more hazelnut-y! It was really good-there is some espresso powder in the cake batter as well, so it was like a delicious hazelnut mocha...or something. I really hope there are still leftovers when I go to work tomorrow!

More Blueberries and Lemon...

2008-06-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on this blueberry and lemon kick lately-they're so fantastic together! This weekend I baked for no reason at all...for fun, I guess. On Friday I made blueberry + lemon cream streusel bars. A friend came over to help get rid of some (she's very selfless that way!) and felt I needed pictures of me working, so:

Finished product...

And after enjoyment began...

Congratulations Ashley!!!

2008-06-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

My little sister graduated from high school last weekend! She accomplished a lot in 4 years-became a great runner and basketball player, wrote wonderful poetry, wrecked my car and was salutatorian of her class-she's very well rounded! (I joke, but I'm really extremely proud of her-she's an amazing girl).
She'll be going to Ball State (alma mater of David Letterman and "Papa John") this fall and rooming with one of her childhood friends. Instead of using her HS colors/mascot as a theme, we used Ball State's (red, white, black). I made a lot of red velvet cupcakes and frosted them with white chocolate frosting. Someone else made vanilla cupcakes and I frosted them with raspberry buttercream-the idea was to have red frosting, but I couldn't get it red without tons of food coloring. So let's pretend BSU's colors are white and pink-Dave would be proud. :)
Here I am with the lovely graduate:

In progress:

My best friend, the doctor-she guarantees this tub of raspberry frosting is good for you!

I expect Caution Hill to rock a song about cupcakes the next time I see them (don't worry boys, you have awhile!)

When life gives you lemons...

2008-06-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

...make a really great French lemon cream tart!
But if you're impatient, just go with the lemonade. This is another recipe I wanted to try during my week off, which sadly ended on Monday...trust me, I'd much rather bake than study contract law. It's a tart filled with lemon cream; this cream is the creation of Parisian pâtissier Pierre Hermé (next goal: visiting his pastry shop in Paris!). I get really frustrated when something goes wrong in the kitchen so I wasn't sure how my patience would hold up in making this delicate treat! I made the tart shell in my new food processor, but probably wouldn't do so again unless absolutely necessary-I'm used to making crusts by hand and like being able to feel the consistency to know it's done. The cream required close monitoring, but it really wasn't hard to make. It's very tart, no sugary American cream here! It came out very well, if I do say so myself (and I do)!
I made this and the lemon meringue puffs that I've made before, for a friend's engagement party last weekend...here are the pictures:

Lemon Tart Being Enjoyed:

Sometimes I Have to Use a Little Force:

Campaign for a Sweeter America

2008-05-30T21:29:00.001-07:00

Politics and baking...these are a few of my favorite things!
Pillsbury is currently promoting their new line of reduced sugar mixes and frostings (possibly the only time boxed atrocities shall be mentioned here). I check gothamist.com everyday and saw that the Pillsbury Doughboy would be passing out cake 4 blocks from my office. Of course I had to go!!! I dragged a co-worker with me and we took pictures and got pens and buttons! Because they are using a campaign theme, Doughboy had "Secret Service" protection as well...very cute.
Also, there is a picture of the croissants I made last weekend-learning to make puff pastry was one of my goals during this week free from school (the other you'll see in my next post). I ran low on chocolate, so I made some with strawberry jam and some with brown sugar & cinnamon filling. They did get a bit overdone, so they're darker than what I would have liked, but they still tasted really good!

Fluffernutter Cupcakes

2008-05-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Like most sane people, I love love love peanut butter. With jelly or honey on bread, in cookies, Reese's cups, any which way. I used to know kids who ate PB and fluff sandwiches-fluffernutters! We never had fluff at our house (why, Mom???) That doesn't sound so great to me for lunch, but I figured the PB and marshmallow combo would make a great dessert. So, I give you: peanut butter cupcakes with marshmallow frosting. This cake was really great-it's a butter cake, but very dense like pound cake. The frosting was a bit annoying to make because you start by heating egg whites along with corn syrup, sugar and some other things. The egg whites kept cooking and I had to strain them out. I eat egg whites every day for breakfast but didn't really want them in my frosting. :)

+ =
Recipe from Sarah Phillips

Off to the Races!

2008-05-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

I put before you a very profound question: which is more important to a good Kentucky Derby party-huge, fantastic hats or delicious Southern sweets? I'm tempted to say hats, because of these two lovely gentlemen whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making last Saturday:

For obvious reasons though, I must say that sugary goodness is of at least equal value. I made lavender meringue puffs with white chocolate chips, pecan tarts and fried apple dumplings (basically just took an apple pie recipe, made smaller portions, then deep-fried them). I don't have pictures of those because they just look like boring lumps of dough-looks are so deceiving! Below you can see the tarts and meringues (they look like clouds!). You can also see me in my hat! I do have eyes, I swear...they're just hidden under that blue monstrosity!
Oh, and for the first time ever, I placed money on a horse at the OTB-Eight Belles. Note to self: you are bad luck to horses! RIP.

60th Birthday Cake

2008-04-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for a co-worker's 60th birthday. Chocolate cake, raspberry filling, chocolate-raspberry buttercream frosting...not a lot to say besides that! I think I'm going to alter the recipe sometime to make chocolate cake with hazelnut filling and lemon cake with blackberry filling.

Black + White=YUM!

2008-04-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

I love this classic New York treat, which can be found in almost any deli or bodega in the city. The lemony cookie, topped with vanilla and chocolate frosting is a delicious treat! However, even though I use real butter and sugar in all of my baking, I do worry about trans fat and preservatives in foods that I buy. So I really wanted to try to make fresh black&white cookies. Because I love lemon, I flavored the frosting with lemon instead of vanilla. It was yummy!

Strawberry Cake!

2008-04-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

Few things make me happier than the first beautiful spring day in New York. I know I'm not alone-you can just feel that everyone around is feeling good and being a little nicer. I went for a long run to Astoria Park and it was nice to see many other runners, bikers, kids on the playground, ice cream trucks and the usual crowd of guys who bring their lawn chair with them just to sit and watch girls run by.
I had dinner plans with some friends and figured I would have them over for dessert afterwards. The gorgeous weather called for a change of pace from the chocolate and cream-heavy desserts that I feel like I made all winter. I recently found a recipe for strawberry cupcakes and decided I would convert it into a 2-layer cake.
The cake itself was delicious-very moist and full of strawberries (I used nearly 2 1/2 cups in the recipe). However, next time I make this I'll use a different frosting recipe. I hardly ever follow recipes to the letter, preferring to change things a bit and make the recipe "mine." This time I did follow the recipe and was unhappy with the frosting. It was very runny and just kind of slid down the sides of the cake into a puddle (you can see this in the pictures). When the cake was sliced, the top layer wouldn't stay-it kept sliding off the bottom layer onto the plate. No big deal, though-it still tasted great and next time I'll improve the frosting!

Big thank you to Judith!

2008-04-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Local food critic extraordinaire Judith is the creator of one of my favorite blogs, The Foodista. Check it out-she gives detailed reviews of many great restaurants in Astoria (and beyond). She recently contacted me about a review she was writing for another blog. It was all about red velvet cupcakes and Judith wanted to profile three Astoria bakeries and an at-home baker (that would be me!). You can read her comments at Joey in Astoria (contributed on 4/4/08).

Cupcakes, Bunnies and Eggs

2008-03-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

This is the first update in so long! I've been really busy-between working full time and school, I feel like I hardly have time to breathe! I get really overwhelmed if I think of everything I have to do. One day at a time!
Ashley (sister) is visiting me and we've been having a lot of fun. Last night was game night and I made lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. Ashley made icing and piped Easter decorations on them. I also made oatmeal cookie-Nutella fudge bars and then took samples of those and the cupcakes to the owner of my favorite bakery (George, of Martha's Country Bakery on Ditmars and 37th St in Astoria). He gave rave reviews ("best lemon cupcakes I've ever had") and I'm going to use the bakery kitchen to make some recipes in quantity and sell the treats to him! It was amazing to get such great feedback from someone who runs the kind of bakery that I aspire to have. When Ashley and I left, George gave us 6 delicious little fruit tarts which you can see in the pictures.
I also made cornbread with jalapeno peppers and cheddar cheese mixed in. I didn't take any pictures but it was goooood!

Update

2008-02-14T21:14:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed (eh, probably not) that the previous few posts seem to be dated incorrectly. That is because today I transferred my old blog posts over to this new name so everything was just re-done. I'm also going to use this opportunity to post pictures and brief description on a bit of what was missed over the holidays.

Pumpkin Cupcakes (Amanda's recipe) with Cinnamon-Nutmeg Cream Cheese Frosting (my original recipe) and Pecans.

Blueberry Pie (my favorite!) I made for Andrea's parents when I was in Indiana for Christmas. See the little holiday shapes on top?

Here are some of my Christmas creations...I made sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, topped with colored sugars or mint chips. I took a chance and allowed my very, very intoxicated roommate (it's true, she took 5 minutes to get her key in the door that night-I stood in the kitchen and laughed! Heyyyy Marie!) to dip them in the sugars.
I also made one of my all-time favorite holiday treats: Candy Cane cookies (yes, they are peppermint flavored). Aren't they fun?

I am thankful for the Game Night crew

2008-02-14T21:01:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Thanksgiving game night, with a full turkey meal (thanks Chris!). I made pumpkin pie and whipped cream (I added cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the whipped cream-so good!). I also used a little gingerbread man cookie cutter on the dough, to decorate the pie a bit!

Wait, I can get paid for this?

2008-02-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

Not much to say about this one-it's just a simple cake that I was hired to make for a co-worker's birthday. The purple stripe was made w/ edible spray...I don't really like the spray, it's kind of messy. I think an airbrush machine would come in handy here! *hint hint* Amanda!

The cutest turkeys you ever did see

2008-02-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've always loved baking with my mommy. One of my favorite treats to make were these adorable turkey cookies. They were an essential part of our Thanksgiving season!
They're really simple-you can use a sugar cookies recipe (even store bought dough if you so desire!). Make sure you have candy corn, mini Reese's cups, chocolate chips, red licorice rope (the kind you pull off in strands), and chocolate frosting (this is a rare time I use store bought frosting-it's not worth making a whole batch because you use such a small amount). As soon as each sheet of cookies comes out of the oven, press 5 candy corns around one half as you see here. Don't burn your fingers! Umm, I did.
Once the cookies are cool, put a little chocolate frosting on the smaller side of a Reese's cup and stick it to the middle of the cookies. Use a smaller dab of frosting to stick a chocolate chip to the Reese's cup (in the position you see below)and a small piece of licorice rope below that.
Finally, enjoy all the compliments on how cute your cookies are!

Gingers! (but not the evil, group-think ones from South Park!)

2008-02-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Sugar and spice and everything nice...
Ginger is probably my favorite spice-it's just cozy and delicious, right? So,I really like gingersnaps. But I'm generally not a fan of crunchy cookies, so I've definitely wished for a good chewy ginger cookie recipe. I found it and these are a hit!!! I get requests for them all the time!
Now I'm thinking of this lemon ginger creme brulee I've been meaning to make...

As American as...

2008-02-14T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well, this! And Stars & Stripes, nation building and the Super Bowl (go Giants!) . I baked an apple pie for a friend of mine. It looks and smells delicious-I hope it tastes great too! Too bad I don't get to try it...

Frighteningly Deliiiiiicious!

2008-02-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

Yay! I love fall! Besides the fact that I don't melt every time I turn on my oven, I love this season because the holidays give me extra opportunities to experiment in the kitchen. Last night was my and my room mate's turn to host Game Night for our friends (yeah, we're all big dorks like that). We insisted on a Halloween theme. I made devil's food cupcakes with almond flavored butter cream frosting. Half were topped with gummy "body parts" and I piped spiders on the other half. That was hard-I don't really know how to pipe! I also baked a sheet of cookie dough and topped it with hot fudge, drizzled icing, and marshmallow pumpkins! Below are the pictures and I've added a few of our decorated apartment. Enjoy!

Want your own cake???

2008-02-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

Cupcakes are so fun and versatile! These are made of yellow cake and I dipped the tops in a chocolate ganache. Delicious and easy! Ganache is really simple: equal parts (in weight) heavy cream and semisweet chocolate.

Candy Land Cake!

2008-02-14T19:42:00.000-08:00

I finally have something new to show! I've been baking a lot lately, but don't usually post pictures on here because pictures never do baking justice! But today was my first cake decorating project so I have to post pictures. Let me know what you think!