Wow...I really am a Mother of the Bride

There is so much going on right now at our house and unfortunately it hasn't included testing many new recipes.  I've made old favourites and after a bit was eaten at home, the majority has gone to the office.  My co-workers are very happy when this happens.

In addition to Sarah preparing for her move to Waterloo and the Ph.D. in her future, my older daughter Megan and her sweetie Duncan are now engaged...sigh!  The date next June is set, they've reserved a venue and lots of other plans are underway.  I've been told I have free reign when it comes to planning her bridal shower - thanks Megan! - which will be a combination of a lot of fun and not unexpected stress.  Apart from baking, my other very active hobby is paper crafting, so my two die cutting machines will be working overtime on invitations, decorations and more - I can't wait!

One decision Megan made is to have her friend and fellow OCADU alum, Nadia, create her wedding cake, or facsimile thereof.  A co-worker asked if I would be making the cake, but that is SO far out of my skill range I'd never even consider it.  Nadia, on the other hand, is mad talented.  She's also the baker who made the cake for the 4th year student catalogue last year.  Here's that cake, as a little reminder of her skills:

That's her hand painted work all over that cake and it was delish to boot!  Here's her updated website - make sure to scroll over her creations to see them in colour:  Nadia and Co.

The girls always laugh about a comment I made a few years ago.  For some reason we were talking about wedding cakes and I said "No boring cake!  I'm paying for the cake!"  With Megan's ideas and Nadia's skills, I don't think "boring" will ever be used in conversation.

A new Ina Cookbook in October!

If you're a regular reader of this blog (thanks to all 10 of you!), you'll know I love Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa.  I love how her recipes are written and that she tests them repeatedly to make sure they work.  From my experience, every one of her recipes has worked out flawlessly.

So this week, when I got her her email update that leads you to her site, I was thrilled to see that her publisher is releasing her newest cookbook on October 30th this year.  It's called "Foolproof", and I have no doubt every recipe will be!

Image Courtesy barefootcontesssa.com

If you've never visited Ina's site, I highly recommend it - there are lots of great tips, recipes and interviews with Ina - Barefootcontessa.com

I may even treat myself to an autographed copy this year. :)

Orange White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I planned to post this recipe on Thursday night, but with a violent thunderstorm going on and a neighbourhood that usually loses power, I held off until today. ;)

This recipe is actually Orange Vanilla Chip Cookies, from "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook", but it specifies that if you can't get the vanilla chips, white chocolate chips should be used instead.  Since vanilla chips don't seem to be sold in Toronto, I'll have to stock up on them when we take our next shopping trip across the border.  From the reactions of my "taste testers", they had no complaints - all of the cookies were gone before noon on Monday.  I was asked not to keep extra desserts in the house, so my office buddies get all my baking right now!

When I see a cookie dough completely "pull away" from the sides of the mixing bowl completely, I expect it to turn it out perfectly and I'm usually right.  This recipe was no exception and I know I'll be making it many times again.  They're light and crispy on top, soft on the inside - a lovely little treat!

Ingredients:


2-1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large, room temperature egg
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer), cream the butter and two sugars until smooth, about 3 minutes.  Add the egg and mix in well.  Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.  Stir in the orange zest and the chips.

As usual, I used my 1 tsp scoop to measure out the cookies.  Despite the fact that the recipe yield listed was 3 dozen cookies, I had four dozen after baking.  One dozen should fit nicely on each baking sheet.  Since the cookies were very rounded and I wanted to make sure the dough wasn't raw inside after baking, I flattened them lightly with a wet fork.  Bake for 10-12 minutes - 11 was perfect in my oven.

Cool on the sheets for a minute before removing to a cooling rack and enjoying!

A House Full of Peeps

This Easter, for some reason, I decided I just had to use Peeps to decorate something for the holiday.  We didn't have a family tradition of the girls getting them in their Easter baskets when they were little, but the Easter Bunny started bringing them once they got older.

It's unfortunate that as soon as the package is opened, they get stale very, very quickly.  I wasn't too worried about that happening, because I expected they would get eaten in no time and they're just so cute I couldn't resist using them.  My real motivation was making them for my daughter's nieces, because there are no grandkids in my life yet - which is a whole other story and I'm probably going to get really OCD baking for my own g'kids once they're here! ;)

Here's the finished product, from the Easter Bunny to the girls:

Very simple and "old school" this year - vanilla rainbow sprinkle cake mix, topped by buttercream frosting tinted a very light green (doesn't show up well), some green sprinkles and, of course, Peeps!

And here they are, packed up to go:

I hope the girls enjoyed them - I know the big kids had fun eating the other cupcakes and ripping off their little heads. ;)

A Waste of Three Sticks of Butter

Last Friday I was eager to bake on the weekend.  The fact that it was also St. Patrick's Day on Saturday was even more of an incentive, because I had two Martha Stewart recipes that I was eager to try - Irish Coffee Cupcakes and Chewy Irish Coffee Blondies.

 

Since my spring garden is off to a great start, I was planning to pick up the Baker for a visit on Sunday because she really, really wanted to see the snowdrops and crocus that are in full bloom.  It would also be a great for a traditional German "kaffee und kuchen" afternoon and I could get her to taste test these new recipes, since coffee is her favourite flavour.  Here's a little bit of the spring garden:

 

 

Wasting Two Sticks of Butter

 

 

Image Courtesy MarthaStewart.com

 

Although my cupcakes weren't as professional as these, they still looked beautiful and the paper liners peeled very cleanly, which doesn't always happen but I guess having two sticks of butter in the batter didn't hurt.  The best way I can describe the taste is "meh" - they're moist but the coffee flabour was very mild for something named "Irish Coffee".  When the Baker and I had them on Sunday afternoon, my mum suggested that if made them again, I should brew extra strong coffee, instead of just using instant granules as listed in the recipe, for a better flavour.  Since I don't have whiskey at home, which was called for as flavouring in the icing, I used Irish Mist liqueur.  We liked the frosting better than the cupcakes!  Somehow I don't think I'll be making them again.  Here's the recipe link, if you want to give them a try:  Irish Coffee Cupcakes

 

And the last stick went to...

 

 

Image Courtesy MarthaStewart.com

 

The recipe for the blondies is from the March issue of Martha Stewart Living.  It stated that they should be baked for 25-20 minutes, but less for a more chewy blondie.  Since my oven runs quite hot, I only baked them for 22 minutes, but was not impressed with the results.  They were dry and no amount of tasty glaze (also flavoured with Irish Mist) on top made a difference.  There was no way I was taking them to the office and I didn't even bother asking my mum to try them.  I think the only way they'd be any good right now is dipped into an actual cup of coffee before eating them.  Maybe you'll have better luck with them than I did - Chewy Irish Coffee Blondies

 

I also need to add that the first time I bake a new recipe, I don't deviate at all from the essential ingredients or the instructions, to make sure that it turns out as described.  I give myself a pass when it comes to using another flavour of booze in the icing. :)

 

Hopefully next weekend things work out better when I test out cookies from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Acorn and Oak Leaf Bundt Pan - and a cake too!

It's no secret that I love shaped cake pans and when I find a great deal on a well made, heavy pan, I won't pass it up!  I found this pan at the Loblaw's Superstore after Thanksgiving last year for only $12.44.  I used it the first time for a Hallowe'en cake but, the chocolate cake really didn't show off the shape of the pan, so it needed more testing. ;)

I haven't been posting much (gee, d'you think?), but I try to bake every weekend.  The last time I made this Apple Bundt cake it was big hit, so I thought I'd try it again with the new pan.  I think it looked lovely dusted with icing sugar to show off the shape and it tasted as good as the first time I made it.  I used both Macintosh and Granny Smith apples (above) in the recipe to keep the apple-sugar-cinnamon mixture from getting too runny, but there was still some tasty carmelization around the top of the pan, as you can see here.

I'm going to wait until the fall to use the "muffin" pan I found on sale that day for the same price.  Wait until you see the adorable three dimensional pumpkins it makes...

Some of my favourite tools

I've been thinking about posting a tribute to my favourite tools for a while now, especially since I haven't been baking much in the last few weeks.  Not that I've stopped baking completely - I've made many old faves since January - but the craziness of Christmas baking is over until December rolls around again.  Next weekend I'll be making lots of treats for my office buddies and decorated sugar cookies for some adorable little kids.

These are my absolute favourite tools - the All-Clad graduated measuring cups and spoons, which my daughter gifted me for Mother's Day two years ago.  Until that time, I was using a set of spoons and cups from X-ess Cargo (seriously, that's how they spell it) that cost 99 cents per set.  I should have know that a cheapo set wouldn't have truly accurate measurements, but didn't realize how off they were until I started using the new set.

Image Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma

Aren't they gorgeous?  I never, ever put them in the dishwasher and, for me, that's saying something!  Not only are they beautiful in their simplicity, but they are *heavy*!  Since All-Clad makes some of the best cookware on the market, you can actually use the one cup measure on the stove to melt butter, it's that heavy.

Another item that I find really useful is a Tupperware pastry rolling mat.  It displays the sizes for lots of pie pastry and lists of measures around the edges of the mat.  Not nearly as pretty, but so very practical:

Image Courtesy of Google.com

I also like that the mat is red... ;)