Three months of Catch-Up

First up: reporting in on Thanksgiving pies.

The Caramel Apple pie via Four and Twenty Blackbirds was a huge fail. It was unbelievably watery. And it wasn't just because I'm bad at caramel. I tried it a second time using storebought caramel. Still watery and didn't taste at all of caramel. My conclusion: if you want Caramel Apple Pie, make regular Apple Pie and pour some caramel sauce over it.

This Pecan Pie from smitten kitchen however? I'm never using another recipe. It's perfect. A little smoky, not too sweet, not gooey. I'll say it again. PERFECT.

December was busy but I did manage to make a Stump de Noël for our family Christmas party per my mother (The Pie Queen)'s request. Upped my decorating game by making these pine cones (or are they hedgehogs?), some with fudge centers, some with marzipan.

I thought I'd try rolling the cake while it was warm and using kitchen towels (a trick I probably saw on The Great British Baking Show--if you're not watching it, mend your ways!). Obviously, it still cracked like crazy, and, what's more, it stuck to the towels.

 Ah well, it all comes out okay in the end.

January brings my best girl's birthday. She requested a vanilla and chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese icing. I complied and it was delicious. Those balls you see around the bottom of the cake? Those were meant to be candied hazelnuts with tall strings of shattery caramel that could sit on top of the cake and look dramatic and beautiful. As I think I've mentioned, I'm bad at candy. SO BAD. So they ended up being toasted hazelnuts with a soft sugary coating, dusted with cocoa and powdered sugar. They actually tasted good, but looked far less dramatic than I wanted.

When I was looking for a new Pecan Pie recipe around Thanksgiving, a friend recommended I try Kentucky Derby Pie. I finally got around to doing so in January. And I'm so glad I did. Wow. One of the few desserts that has disappeared pretty quickly from my house. My kids call it "cookie pie" because it tastes like chocolate chip cookies with pecans. I used half the amount of bourbon called for, and replaced with vanilla extract. I know, ME? *I* added less bourbon? Yes. And yet, it was the perfect balance of buttery and smoky and sweet and nutty and chocolatey.

February, at last. I was asked by the director of a play I'm doing later this year to make some pies for a read-through. He wanted pies with red fillings (if your stomach isn't weak, look up the plot of Titus Andronicus, know that I'll be playing Titus, and you'll understand). I have never really liked baked berry pies, and when I've made them they've been watery. But I wanted to do something other than cherry, so. I found this recipe for raspberry pie and was completely surprised (and delighted) at how easy it was. Not only that--not watery in the least. And not too sweet. I made this one with only raspberries but used the same recipe with a frozen triple berry mix for another pie. Both were completely delicious and have changed my mind about baked berry pies.

TGIP Ratings--lots of KEEPERS here. The fails I should have seen coming. 

Next up: Spring has sprung and I want something lemony. I'm debating between this, this, and this. Help me decide.

6 Months in Limbo

I have no other explanation.

So, how about 6 months in one post?! Pics and brief thoughts, here we go:

I have no idea when I made this or what the recipe was. But it looks pretty, doesn't it?

APRIL

Fairy Bites. I thought they were perfect for Easter. Along with the Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies (I think they qualify as Whoopie Pies) below. Both were truly delicious.

Ordered this, but have yet to make anything out of it. I also have intentions to order just about every sprinkle she has in her etsy sprinkle store.

Chocolate Strawberry Oasis Pie. Another super delicious thing.

MAY

mr just wanted a simple chocolate cake for his birthday, so I made smitten kitchen's 'i want chocolate cake' cake. Yes, simple. Yes, delicious.

Think what you like, I'm not apologizing for that word up there. Cancer took my friend Mike, who gave me the recipe for this Texas Buttermilk Pecan Pie. I made this as a cheer-me-up in his last days.

JUNE (I have no idea what I did)

JULY

This amazing Tomato Pie. What an unexpected delight. I halved the amount of mayo and cheese and it was still creamy and unbelievably delicious. Tastes like summer.

I'm >this< close to perfecting my Rhubarb Pie recipe. I have succeeded with fresh rhubarb, now I have some experimenting to do with frozen to see if I can get acceptable results. More to come...

I made myself the most amazing birthday cake. This Blackberry Chocolate Cake that I've ogled for ages but was afraid of because it was a food styling challenge, so I didn't know if it would turn out well. IT DID. Seriously.

AUGUST

Sangria Cupcakes for my sister-in-law's birthday. I'm not big on baked fruits (other than cherries), so I was completely surprised and pleased with how yummy these turned out. Fresh tasting and perfect.

Seconda turned 13. This turned out to be WAY too much cake for a gaggle of teenage girls.

*phew* August is a big birthday month. My best boyfriend turned 40 and he's a manly man, so I made him this super dark, masculine cake. Cake portion of this Midnight Sin Chocolate Cake, topped with my own Coffee Buttercream. Just about the richest thing I've ever baked.

SEPTEMBER

I'm acting in a play right now about a woman who bakes to battle her "nerve-riddled insomnia" (she's managing the care of her mother, who is dealing with Alzheimer's). She recites the recipe for a Coconut Cake in the play and I decided I should try to make it. A few altitude alterations, plus a frosting recipe I threw together and it turned out delicious. Also super rich, but worth it. Here's a picture of the recipe, printed in the program (note, "unsalted butt" is a typo, in case you couldn't guess):

The cake recipe comes from the mum of this sweet (and super smart and talented) guy:

It's Autumn now. Pie season. Time for squash-y, nutty, cinnamon-y things. I've got one million irons in the fire, but still plan to bake when time permits. Otherwise I'll literally drive myself crazy. 

Next up: Sweet Potato Speculoos Pie. I just can't find anything wrong with that idea.

I Baked a Bunch of Stuff

I suppose, really, all my posts could have that title. But the truth is, I've baked so much random stuff since the last time I blogged, I found photos that I can't remember what they're of (other than the obvious "that's a cake"). So, here's a bunch of good stuff for you:

October started with these churro cupcakes made for a celebration in honor of my Grandmother. It would have been her 100th birthday. She was a Los Angeles gal, so the theme was "Grandma's LA", which included places like Olvera Street (hence the churro cupcakes), Philippe's, Chinatown, etc. My aunt brought the most beautiful pinata I've ever seen (Grandma used to bring them to every family party), as well as some homemade Almond Cookies that I need to make myself. They were so delicate and delicious.

The cupcakes are my go-to white cake recipe (from the BAKED boys) with a little cinnamon added to the batter, topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting and a piece of churro and cinnamon sugar sprinkle for decoration. So easy. So yummy.

In an unprecedented turn of events, not only did we have TOO MANY cupcakes (I know), but I also had tons of leftover frosting. So I decided to make this Spiced Zucchini Cake to put under the frosting. And then topped it with toasted pecans. Also ridiculously good. Especially for something filled with vegetables.

In the middle of the month, Prima turned 15 and wanted Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for her party. I used a full bottle of this good stuff:

and ended up with the most brilliant red Red Velvet I've ever made. So beautiful. And they were perfect in every other way as well. 

 

Used the same cream cheese frosting I used for the other two recipes, except I omitted the cinnamon and added vanilla and almond extracts. More deliciousness.

Then at the end of the month my sister (the yogi) visited for her 50th birthday celebration and I made this Toasted Coconut Cake for her. There's a lot of people in my family, so one dessert is never enough. I thought I'd give these brownies a try, they're supposed to taste just like Hostess Sno balls. Well. You can never really go back to your childhood, can you. They were fine, just not really anything like a Hostess Sno ball.

The coconut sure did end up looking pretty though. I'll have to use that trick for something else in the future.

And that's a wrap! 

Next up: It's pie season! I'm heading out tomorrow morning for my clandestine lard pick-up and trying to decide what pies to make for Thanksgiving. Prima wants Cherry Chocolate and Seconda wants Chocolate Pecan. I want to maybe try something new as well, thinking about these specifically, but I'm still on the lookout...

Sweet & Salty Millionaire's Layer Cake

This guy (AKA mr.) had a birthday last week. And graduated from the University of Utah on the same day. AND he didn't just graduate, he graduated Magna Cum Laude, which for this school means he was in the top 3.5% of graduating seniors. I almost burst with happiness for him. Seriously. My happiness leaked out my eyes all day.

So, he deserved a cake meant for a millionaire. And this was exactly right. There are a lot of steps on that recipe and it looks like it's going to be super difficult. But it wasn't. Okay, maybe I cheated a little because I'm not so good at making caramel. I bought some of this for the caramel layer (buying stuff is super easy):

I consider it a smart concession to my known lack of talent in a particular area.

Then I made the shortbread crumble (super easy):

Then I made the cake layers (super easy), the buttercream (super easy), and the ganache (super easy). (No, seriously). Then I gathered it all together for assembly.

I'm going to be honest here and admit that I should have let the ganache cool more, but I'm impatient. Also a known lack. But look how amazing the buttercream/caramel/shortbread crumble filling looks:

And then I sprinkled regular and red sea salt around the top and more shortbread crumbles around the bottom (what is it about the bottom edge of a cake that bugs me so much I always have to cover it up?).

And then we ate it. So rich. So delicious. Perfectly moist cake. Perfect ganache. The surprise of the crunch of cookies in the filling was just delightful. A complete success and just the thing for my amazing husband's birthday/graduation celebration weekend.

TGIP Rating--Sweet & Salty Millionaire's Cake--KEEPER. Reminder to myself: next time make the ganache before the buttercream. Let it cool while making the buttercream. Then both will be at perfect assembly consistency at the same time.

Next up: More work on my top secret project that I probably still can't talk about for a few months. AND...the sugar cookie that is my new everything.

Cookie Time!

It's cookie season at my house. Apparently. I've been making a big batch of oversize cookies every weekend to get my people through the week. I think mainly I'm just trying to keep them off the Oreo wagon. Although, speaking of Oreos, mr. mentioned the other day that he'd really like a salted Oreo. Ideas? Recipes you can fling my way?

Anyway, mostly I've been making regular Nestle Toll House Cookies, but adding a 1/2 cup of coconut and scooping the dough into double-sized cookies. A couple of weeks ago I gave these a try (and *shame* didn't take any pictures). My kids objected to the nutty flavor of the whole wheat, but my husband quite liked them. For my taste, the coconut oil made them a little greasy. So, I'm not sure I'm a fan. This last weekend I made these. They're really delicious. I think the salt is what brings the recipe together and makes the flavor unique. They get stale really quickly, though. So, if you are a person who restricts your kids to one (giant) cookie a day, (this is mainly a reminder to me) you might want to roll and refrigerate or freeze some of the dough to bake another day.

TGIP Rating--Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip and Coconut Cookies--MEH. Maybe just not to my taste.
Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles--KEEPER. Beware of quick-staling.

Next up: As cookie season continues, I'm going to give these a try. I cannot bear to refrigerate, roll out, and cut cookie dough. It's just dreadful. Bonus, I really like this blogger's recipes. Partly for deliciousness, but also partly because I don't have to make altitude adjustments.

AND, as I'm not one to let a holiday cake opportunity go to waste. I'm ALSO going to make this cake for the people I love on Valentines Day. I'm feeling a little daunted by it as I haven't made a layer cake in several months. But it looks too delicious to pass up.

Chocolate Chip Almond Coconut Bread

Remember how I told you to make this? Did you? Did you try any of the alterations I mentioned? Oh well, here. I've written out the recipe for one of them for you. NOW you can try it. It's probably the best quick bread I've ever eaten in its original form. But the addition of chocolate chips and toasted almonds makes it a little decadent. And there's just nothing wrong with that.

Chocolate Chip Almond Coconut Bread *click here for printable version*

adapted from smitten kitchen’s Coconut Bread

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1-¼ cups milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2-½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup granulated sugar

1-½ cups sweetened flaked coconut

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped, toasted almonds

6 Tbls unsalted butter, melted (and browned if you prefer)

Nonstick cooking spray or butter for baking pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add sugar, coconut, chocolate chips, and almonds and stir to combine. Make a well in the center and pour in the liquid mixture. Stir until just combined. Add melted butter, stirring until smooth. Do not overmix.

Spray (or butter and flour) a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Spread batter in pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-75 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

My favorite way to eat it? Toasted in the toaster oven with a little butter spread over it. But just sliced up and popped in your mouth is pretty amazing as well.

TGIP Rating--Chocolate Chip Almond Coconut Bread--KEEPER. More alterations on the original to come.

Next up: I've not used coconut oil in my baking at all yet. I'm giving it a try with these. I guess I'm on a bit of a coconut kick. Maybe I'm just longing to be someplace warm and wild.

2013 Year in Review

Who'd have guessed?! Snowcaps was my most visited post this year. Yeah, they're super delicious!

Personally, I can't pick a favorite. But here are some highlights:

Stuff I altered/combined from other people's amazing recipes...

          

Excellent pies/tarts...

     

Super delicious cookies...

Yummy bread I'm about to alter for a Sunday morning breakfast treat...

Best birthday cake ever...

Favorite new frosting technique...

TGIP Rating--2013--A good year. Not very much inventiveness on my part, but I loved a lot of what I baked.

Next up: I'm going to alter that Coconut Bread with some toasted almonds and lime zest. See how that turns out!