Cupcakes for my friend

Today was my friend Michelle's birthday and I surprised her by bringing mini versions of my marshmallow cupcakes to choir rehearsal. It was so much fun to love on my friend. She gets crazy about cooking like I do about baking. She has great ideas about creative and healthy cooking. I am ashamed to say that I have yet to tap into that awesomeness but I sense a collaboration in our future.

Michelle, you are a dear friend, a great mom, and a loving wife. I am so thankful for you. I love that we can talk all evening (much to your husband's chagrin. We get through practice eventually, right?!) about anything and everything from clothes to God's grace to baby food and back to what it means to be a Godly wife. The deep stuff, the simple stuff, and everything in between. Thank you for your friendship, your encouragement, and your wisdom. I can't wait to cook and bake with you! Happy birthday!

Baking Craze

Last week I was on a baking spree. And. I. Loved. It. I got to try several new recipes (one was for strawberry sorbet, which wasn't really baking but it turned out amazing and I can't wait to add shortbread cookies!). I think I was most excited about keeping my kitchen clean every night but by Friday that momentum was lost. Oh well.

One of the recipes I finally tried was Martha Stewart's Banana Bread. This was my first attempt at banana bread. It turned out great. I feel like banana bread is a key recipe in any home baker's arsenal. It is a great option for when you leave bananas too long and you don't want to throw them out.

The recipe I used was really easy to follow and the bread smelled amazing while baking in the oven. I liked that the banana flavor wasn't overpowering but still present.  I made sure that the bananas were really well mashed; I didn't want any banana chunks in my bread. There really isn't anything wrong with that, I just don't prefer it. I took a bit to work and it was gone super fast!

Next time I want to try adding either chocolate chips or a cream cheese frosting. Ryan drizzled chocolate syrup over his slice which was really yummy. But I also like the idea of adding a creamy frosting on top. It's fun to daydream about how to change recipes to make them something special.

I had great feedback from my taste testing of the Toasted Marshmallow Cupcakes that I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the baby shower. I added just little bit more cocoa powder, maybe less than a tablespoon. I also added 2/3 cups chocolate chips. I might be able to add a bit more next time but my goal was to make the cupcake nice and chocolately, not chunky. The marshmallow topping was easier the second time around. I also added pieces of cinnamon graham crackers as decoration. And by chance I found blue cupcake liners while grocery shopping and they were perfect for a baby boy shower.

Now that I have the cake part more to my liking I really want to experiment with a marshmallow frosting. There are a few recipes out there that I want to try. The trick will be getting a kitchen torch so I can toast the edges. Anyone who knows me will be quite concerned and let me just say right now: Yes, there is a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and yes I will read the directions thoroughly before attempting any baking with a kitchen torch.

It was a great week of baking and I have so much more that I am planning for the blog. Stay tuned for some great baking interviews and advice from some of the amazing women in my life.

Happy Baking!

Trial runs = success!

I don't always have the time to do trial runs. I often find myself either just experimenting for fun whenever I have an open schedule or rushing to complete something in time for wherever I'm going (like when I didn't have time to complete the lemon bars before a bridal shower. See my adventure here.).

Well, this Saturday I get to celebrate the coming of a special baby boy and his beautiful mother. I was honored with the request to make a dessert. I researched online for various recipes and spent several lunch breaks absorbed in cupcake and baby shower websites. I had thought of doing something with blue frosting but the idea of everyone walking around with blue mouths wasn't very appetizing. I finally decided on toasted marshmallow cupcakes from Martha Stewart. What boy doesn't love s'mores! (Ok, even though he's not here yet I figured we could honor his "boyness" by having these s'mores cupcakes) I had everything but the marshmallows in my pantry so I figured it would be an easy recipe to try!

I was so excited when I went home last night that I decided to do a trial run for the first time. I cleaned the kitchen and got dinner ready. I was so surprised to find myself energized for an evening of baking. The ingredients were easy to mix and the instructions easy to follow. The only tricky part was to make sure the marshmallows stayed on the cupcakes when I put them back in the oven to broil the tops. Once I got that figured out it was a cinch! The cupcakes turned out beautifully.

I brought the cupcakes to work for a taste test and they got rave reviews. I think I have some adjustments to make for Saturday but all in all I am very happy with the results. I can't wait to experiment more with this recipe and have something special like this in my repertoire.

Happy Baking!

What's in season

Spring is finally here! I am so excited to start baking new things. My goal this year is to focus on what is in season and bake with those ingredients. I have found several websites that are very helpful.

Epicurious has a great interactive map that shows you what is in season in your state during a certain month (I wasn't able to find anything on year-round produce). This is really helpful for cooking, as well. At this site you can find a description and definition as well as tips on how to pick out what produce is best. They also have a list of recipes and cooking and storing tips. The site is very easy to navigate. I also love their phone app for searching for recipes (thank you for the tip, Cherri Seese!). The app home page was recently updated to show Spring and Easter dishes.

Fruits and Veggies More Matters is another great site for researching what is in season. They also have a list of year-round produce. The site includes tips how to select and how to store produce but they also have great nutritional information on each item. The website has a lot more information and tools that I would encourage you to check out (I'm looking forward to digging further into the Healthy Meal Planning Guide!).

I love Martha Stewart's Seasonal Produce Recipe Guide. There is a short intro to the produce item, how to select and store, etc. And then it jumps right into recipes. There are so many to get inspired by (there are 40 recipes alone for rhubarb!).

These are just a few sites that have caught my eye. With their inspiration I have lots on the baking to-do list this week. I can't wait to share what happens!

Is it Spring yet?

As the month of March starts to wind down my mind starts to shift towards Spring and towards the lighter side of baking. Lemon flavors, whipped toppings, coconut and yummy fruit pies. Well, with the weather we've been having you would never know the first day of Spring is just days away!

Maybe a little Spring baking will help bring the sunshine. I've started a list of all the new recipes I want to try. I love trying new recipes. I have so much fun learning something new and finding new flavors. I even find myself enjoying reading through recipes. It might seem a little boring or daunting but I totally recommend you read through the entire recipe well ahead of time. First, read through the ingredients to make sure you have everything in your pantry. Make a shopping list for anything you don't have. Sometimes I make my list while at work and I don't always remember that I already bought a certain ingredient and I end up with more than I need. It's not always a problem but make sure you aren't wasting ingredients because you buy too much.

Next, read all of the instructions thoroughly. Sometimes I end up not having the tools required and therefore I either have to add those to my shopping list or I have to pass on the recipe completely. You also want to make sure you have enough time to complete the recipe. For some recipes, the dough has to sit in the fridge overnight. If I have a specific event that I am baking for I usually pick something that will fit in between the time I have available to bake.

There also may be instructions in the recipe that you don't understand what it means. I Google any terms I don't know. If there is a technique I am not familiar with I read up on that, too. If after reading you're still not sure you might just have to pick a different recipe.

Enjoy the coming of Spring! I'll be posting my new recipe adventures here soon.

Happy Baking!

3/14 - Pi day!

I made an apple pie for Pi day! I like making my pies a little different each time. This time around I just rolled the edges of the crust over after making a fork edge and it made the pie look more farmhouse rustic. I liked this version! Plus, it tasted amazing. The filling is the same that I use for Martha Stewart's Apple Crumb Pie, minus the raisins, and the crust is, of course, my favorite pie crust recipe.

Each time I make this I toss the sliced apples in a bowl with the sugar. In the end I think this makes the filling a little too juicy but sometimes that's fun to have. I use Fuji apples which, in my opinion, make the best tasting pie. I rolled the crust a bit thinner which I didn't mind too much but I think I'm going to go back to a slightly thicker bottom crust. The design in the top crust was made with a steak knife. You can probably use a butter knife. I just made little slots in the shape of a sun burst. (Tip: Always have something in the top that allows the steam to be released.) I baked this at 425 degrees for 35 minutes. Turned out great!

I brought this to share with our bible study. It is so much fun to talk baking and to learn and to enjoy sharing something made with love. I get to hear great baking advice and funny baking stories from all the ladies in our bible study. I hope to post some of their wonderful lessons here soon. I am so blessed to have great women in our group.

Here's to celebrating Pi Day and the geekiest baking day of the year! Next year, maybe I'll try this!

Happy Birthday, Ryan

My husband's birthday was this last Thursday. Each year since we got married I bake him something special. Last year was a mad dash to the grocery store for a vanilla cake mix. I have nothing against box cakes, but this time around I wanted to do something a little more from scratch. This year I decided to use one of his favorite dessert ingredients: blackberries! I had thought of doing a recipe from the Domestic Goddess but I didn't have all the ingredients. Option two, a blackberry pie!

The recipe called for a 1/4 cup of sugar on the top crust. I only used about two tablespoons, maybe less. It gave the top crust a nice caramelized crunch. I don't really prefer that for pies but it gave me an idea on a few desserts to experiment on. In the end, it was really yummy and a great success for my first blackberry pie!

(My pie crust recipe comes from Martha Stewart. It is amazing! Find the link on my Recipes page!)

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Cookbook Review 2

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook
by Dinah Bucholz

Yes, you read that correctly, there is such a thing as a Harry Potter cookbook. First, let me start off by stating that the cookbook is not authorized by J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros. Entertainment hence the "unofficial" in the title. Ok, disclaimers aside, here we go...

I received this cookbook as a Christmas present from my in-laws. I absolutely love everything Harry Potter and I quickly proceeded to read through the entire thing. The book is compromised of ten chapters, each relating to a different topic or place in the Harry Potter books. There are receipts for Aunt Petunia's pudding, treats from Diagon Alley, a chapter on all the breakfast food Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate while at school, favorite dishes from all the school feasts, Harry's favorite Treacle Tart, and of course a whole chapter dedicated to Harry's favorite cook, Mrs. Weasley.

Each recipe begins with where it is found in the books. Sometimes there are even great historical facts on where the recipe came from or why it has a funny name. A few recipes include ingredients that you can't get in the US (blood sausage anyone?) but most have ingredients easy to find and more than not often stocked in your pantry.

The first thing I made was the Cornish Pasties. The instructions weren't too complicated; it just took a long time. I recommend making the dough a day early if you have the time. I don't think we ate until eight o'clock in the evening when I first made these but they were so worth it. The picture below is from my first attempt.

My second favorite is the Meat and Potato Pies which I shared with you earlier this year.

There are so many others I really want to try, not because they are from Harry Potter, but because they are also just so British. I plan on trying the Mince Pies come this Christmas. And what Sunday roast would be complete without Yorkshire Pudding? I will be sure to share all my Harry Potter baking adventures with you and maybe you can experience some of the magic yourself!

Cheers! And Happy Baking!