Unique strengths

I almost don't even know where to start. I get so annoyed with blogs when the bloggers don't post. And it's not like I have a lack of things to post about. I think it was that whole I got so far behind and then I felt like I should have some big interesting post and well, my life is not that exciting. I mean it's exciting to me but not to the general public. I've been doing some farming (i.e., container gardening) which is awesomely awesome. Except for the cilantro plant that is taking over my life and killed my basil. I mean I love cilantro but it's up past my waist at this point and I just can't make that much salsa. My tomato plant is similarly OOC except apparently they can't be harvested for like another 2 months. I'm pretty sure at some point I'm going to wake up and my whole condo is going to be filled with cilantro and baby tomatoes. But I digress. What I really meant to make this post about was my shocking lack of planning, spatial organization, and general engineering skill. I have mentioned before that I really like iced coffee. And this is a pretty good recipe for homemade iced coffee (which is good because my local coffee shop charges $4 for iced coffee and psychology just doesn't pay that well. Plus I don't have a lot of flex time in my morning routine). So anyway, I've been making 1/4 of this recipe for a while (1 1/4 cups of ground coffee to 8 cups of water) and it's dandy. But it's kind of a pain in the bum to filter the coffee and it takes an annoyingly long time. So I decided to make a bigger batch, per the original instructions. So I bought one of those water dispenser thingies at the grocery store. My thought process was: I'll make a hole in the top, dump the coffee in, let it brew, pour the coffee out of the container into a filter sitting in a pitcher, rinse out the water dispenser, and put the brewed iced coffee back in and then it will be like I have my own personal coffee dispenser. You will notice a measuring cup, my coffee maker carafe, two bowls, my mesh strainer, my permanent coffee filter, about 15 paper filters, a pitcher, and a glass bowl are in use. Yeah, so... anyway, planning, volume estimation, spatial stuff = not my strong suit. Clearly. Here's hoping the coffee tastes good.

Wegetables

I've been pondering over having a lot of contests for myself recently. One was blogging once a week. Epic fail, as the kids say. One was making a yeast-based recipe each weekend to make use of the 2 pounds of yeast (that's 128 packets in case you're curious) that I bought at Costco in January. That's currently going okay; I made lemon pull apart bread last weekend and this weekend isn't over yet. The other thing I'm thinking about that is not so much of a contest but along the same lines, is joining a CSA. I love the idea of a CSA; supporting local farms, enjoying fresh produce, being challenged by making something delicious using two pounds of kale and six beets, etc. I also kind of feel like joining a CSA will balance out my earth-killing love of Costco in a super hipster earth-loving kind of a way. I found one that allows pick up at the Hyde Park Farmers Market, which is close by and would not require gas usage that would poison the environment. Plus I'm not organized enough to remember to budget out an hour or more every weekend to drive out to a farm and pick up produce, quite frankly. Imagine how fun it will be for me to blog about my weekly farm share/take pictures of me being overwhelmed by kale (I don't like kale, it's my greatest fear that the farm share will only include kale), thereby solving the problem of failed contest idea number one for the bargain price of approximately 300 dollars. Genius!

But will they transport me back to breakfast in Santorini?

I tried to do my taxes yesterday. I have to file in 3 states. I don't know what crazy person invented the tax code, but it is mind boggling to me that I owe Delaware $100 but get money back from Ohio. Pennsylvania and I are apparently square. But this post is not about taxes. It is about temperature measuring. I finally buckled under pressure and bought a Thermapen. These things are like the fanciest pants thermometer in the world; foodies love them, nuclear physicists love them (I assume they have to measure reactors and things), sides of beef love them. They also cost $89. They don't go on sale. So it came in the mail on Thursday, from England via the distributor in Utah. I have been trying to decide what it's maiden voyage will be, after measuring the ambient temperature in my apartment and the temperature of my fingertips; both hovered at 68 degrees. I may or may not have mentioned that I recently bought two pounds of yeast at Costco because (a) it seemed like a good value and (b) one of my goals for 2012 is to increase the amount of baking I do with yeast. It is always important to measure the temperature of water used to proof yeast so I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and make a yeast bread recipe this morning. I am carefully ignoring the voice in my head that is reminding me that I have never measured the temperature of the liquid used to proof yeast in my life, other than by sticking my finger in and seeing if it felt lukewarm. This method, although inexact, has largely been successful. So I decided to make pain au chocolat. I've been on a French bread making kick recently and made brioche a few weekends ago (without the thermometer, the horror)! I did some googling and the Jacques Torres recipe seems to be popular. The best part? His recipe calls for cold water to proof the yeast. No thermometer required. Of course. I'm going to do it anyway. I might even take some pictures.

It's fall because...

I made pumpkin chocolate chip bread. That is more predictive than equinoxes and weather as far as I'm concerned. I don't know why fall is so pumpkiny tasting. I was going to type I don't know why pumpkin is so fall-y tasting but my typing produced the first version instead. Oh the wonders of the subconscious. The leaves are changing here in southern Ohio, and the weather has vacillated between freezing cold, quite pleasant, and hotter than is to be expected in October. I'm not complaining... winter is around the corner, which tastes peppermint-y, in case anyone is wondering.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
* You could probably also use 2 tbls pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon and nutmeg)*
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (or regular sized but the minis disperse better in the batter).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease three 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill pans 2/3 full. Bake for about 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from pans.

For me, the recipe makes 2 big loaves + 12 mini muffins. You can always throw extra batter (or all the batter) in muffin tins. My one piece of advice: do not overfill loaf pans; they take forever to cook, the outside gets burned and the inside is uncooked. Don't fill more than 2/3 full. Mini muffins took about 18 minutes. The loaves take about an hour.

Göksel that was a good time!

The Turkish bagels were gross- they went in the garbage. So so disappointed. I spent an hour on Facebook at work trying to find the concierge at our hotel so he could tell me the recipe. It turns out that Göksel is a super popular Turkish name. Who knew. So I made myself feel better by making chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Rolos. It is only because of intense will power that I did not eat all of them at one time. They are deliciousness in a cookie.

I'm going to Cincinnati tomorrow to look at rental houses and/or apartments. I'm both excited and feeling sad as my time in Philly grows shorter and shorter. There is a big upside to Ohio though. You can buy both buy wine at the grocery store and have it shipped to your home. It's the small things.

Top chef I am not

I entered a bake-off at work. The last time I entered a bake-off I lost. I don't even think I got an honorable mention. My friend has long maintained that the reason I didn't win was because my dessert was not sexy enough. So for this bake-off, I thought about the sassiest desserts in my arsenal and settled on a Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Ganache. Well hello lover! I baked it yesterday morning at SIX A.M. so that I wasn't rushing last night when I went to put it together. I lovingly swathed the cake layers in plastic wrap while I went to work, which made me feel slightly weird and serial-killerish. Like Dexter.

I labored over the icing, making sure it was smooth and artful, with no crumbs showing because that just wouldn't do. I gently smoothed the ganache over the sides and tried to shape the perfect drips because it was not as drippy as I was expecting. I carefully settled the cake into the refrigerator for bed. One does hate to have a sassy cake sleep alone, but it needed its beauty rest.

I dragged the cake in this morning (it weights like 8 million pounds) and got it settled for the bake off. It was definitely the most alluring cake there if I do say so myself. I ended up winning 2nd place in the cake competition (after the lady that entered four desserts and is a huge cheater). And the prize for second place? Well, it is a 49 piece Dollar Store food storage set... which appears to be made out of shady looking poisonous plastic. Awesome. I don't know if my ego can take the cognitive dissonance between my effort and the prize. But then I came home and the valet guys in my building (who were the recipients of a Red Velvet Cake last weekend) said they would pay me to bake them a cake for a family party instead of getting one at the store. Validation station! Who needs a bake-off?

I can survive a day without baking

What does one bring to a BBQ? This is the question that I don't tend to wonder about too much. I always bake. Always. So this time I decided not to bake. It feels uncomfortable and I am fighting the urge to go back on my decision. What I did whip up was a little batch of Alabama Caviar. I wish I had a Southern grandmother with a recipe box full of butter-filled, dressing-soaked, cheese-drenched delicacies served with a side of all the family secrets you can dream of. I don't, but I do have a family recipe for hummus. Many of my favorite recipes come from a friend of mine who does happen to have a Southern grandmother or two, and he was the one who introduced me to Alabama Caviar (and Chocolate Wet Cake and Grits a Yaya and a whole other mess of not-good-for-you food that takes me back in a second to the halcyon days of grad school). It's very satisfying when making Alabama Caviar to put all the ingredients together and then dump a bottle of cheapo salad dressing over top of everything and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it will be delicious. I like to serve with Tostitos Scoops chips because you can eat more of it at a time. It's like a little mini edible bowl for the caviar- super classy.

Alabama Caviar
3 16-oz cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed of all juice
1 small jar chopped pimentos, juice included
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced, green part only
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
3 canned or fresh jalapeño chiles, chopped*
1 firm, ripe, chopped tomato
2 cups vinaigrette (1 bottle Italian dressing- Kraft or Wishbone, nothing fancy)
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, pressed or minced

In a large bowl, stir all ingredients very well. Refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours, preferably overnight, in a sealed or covered container. The longer it sits, the better it gets!

*If you are going to chop by hand, wear gloves. I didn't and it makes it hard to take contact lenses out later.

Smith Island Cake

A Smith Island Cake is the official state cake of Maryland. It's also ridiculously complicated looking, which of course makes me want to make it. I like triumphing over detailed desserts and then breezily saying, "Oh, it was no big deal at all! I just threw it together." (See photo of kitchen below). Smith Island is an island on the Eastern Shore. I've never been there, although I did make my mom take me to Crisfield which is close by because I really liked the book Homecoming (and its follow up Dicey's Song) which are set there. The books are tragic. But there is still something alluring about life on the Eastern shore. I have always had a secret desire to work in a crab picking factory there. I think I'd be good at it.

So this cake: 8 to 10 yellow cake layers, with chocolate icing and peanut butter cups in between. It's supposed to be 10 layers but due to some messy math and inexact use of my kitchen scale, I ended up with 9 layers. I am not super upset about this given the directions for the cake included "you will know the cake is done when you put it up to your ear and you don't hear sizzling." Baking is so much less exact than people believe it to be (says the girl who measured out cake batter by ounce on a kitchen scale so the layers would be even). I am proud to say I only sustained one large and painful burn on my arm (which I will not post a picture of), which is not bad given I rotated 9 cake pans 3 times each. If only I would use pot holders, which make me feel like a lobster with fine motor control problems, instead of dishtowels. If only. I'll post a picture of the inside of the cake later. It would be seriously unclassy to show up to a social event with a slice of cake cut out already.

The dishes! Mom! Help!

Smith Island 10-Layer Cake
Icing
2 sticks butter
2-12 oz. cans evaporated milk
8 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa
2 lbs. confectioners Sugar

Cake
2 cups sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks
5 eggs
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup water

8 large Reese's peanut butter cups, frozen and processed in food processor into powder/small chunks

Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix into egg mixture one cup at a time. Don't overmix. With mixer running, slowly pour in the evaporated milk, then the vanilla and water. Mix just until uniform. Use nonstick spray to coat however many 9 inch cake pans you have. I put about 6 oz/3/4 cup of batter into each pan. Spread it around so it is evenly distributed. Make it slightly higher on the edges than the middle to create a more even layer. Bake cakes at 350 for 8 minutes. The recipe suggests 3 layers at a time. I did 4, and had to bake longer until they were finished. I baked 4 at a time for maybe 12 minutes. Let cool for five minutes and carefully remove cakes (using a knife or spatula to loosen) to finish cooling on a rack. Wash pans and repeat until all layers are baked.

Start making the icing when the first layer goes in the oven. Melt butter. Stir in evaporated milk (off heat). Whisk in cocoa until smooth, return to heat and cook on low heat for approximately 10 minutes. Don't let it boil. Remove from heat and whisk in confectioners sugar slowly. Cook slowly until thickened and will stick to back of a spoon/form a ribbon when you drizzle a spoonful.

To assemble:
Take one slightly cooled layer and spread with 1/3 to 1/2 cup frosting. Pour it in the middle and spread out to sides. I probably under iced mine in the layers in between because I had a ton of icing left over. So be generous. Don't worry if it drips off the sides. Sprinkle with 1 heaping tablespoon peanut butter cups. Add another layer, frosting, etc until you get to the last layer. Pour the frosting on top and let it drip down the sides, spread it around the sides, pour more on, even it out again, make it look pretty, etc. Sprinkle peanut butter cups on top for decoration and beautification.

Cashew Deliciousness

Someone brought these to a Christmas cookie swap I had in grad school. I can't remember to who(m)? I owe credit, but I do remember it was about a million degrees in my apartment. Christmas in Miami is HOT. Every holiday in Miami is hot, really.

The last time I made these I added a couple of tablespoons of dulce de leche to the batter, which I think makes them extra delicious. I did not do that this time and they are sadly, only plain old delicious. If you like the salty sweet thing, definitely try them. And I imagine if you don't feel like food processing cashews and oil, you could probably just substitute maybe a cup-ish (maybe 1 1/2 cups) cashew butter. But who knows. Be adventurous in the kitchen!

Cashew Caramel Cookies
(3 dozen)

1 2/3 c flour
1/2 tsp coarse salt
2 1/2 c roasted salted cashews
2 tbls plus 1 tsp canola oil
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c packed light-brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
24 soft caramel candy cubes (7 oz)
1/4 c heavy cream (I used skim milk)

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flour and salt; set aside. Coarsely chop 1 cup cashews, set aside. Process remaining 1 1/2 cups cashews in a food processer until finely chopped. Pour in oil. Process until creamy, about 2 minutes.

Put cashew mixture, butter, and sugars in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, gradually mix in flour mixture and reserved chopped cashews.

Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop or a teaspoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 6 minutes; gently flatten cookies. Bake until bottoms are golden, 6-7 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Melt caramels with cream in saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Using spoon, drizzle caramel mixture over cookies, let set. store airtight in single layers up to 3 days.

Lessons on lazy baking

I'm insanely too lazy to take and subsequently post a picture, but I just made these and they're really good. They're from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. Her pictures are better than mine anyway. I am not going to pretend that I adapted the recipe at all, and the only changes I made were how I mixed it together because I almost never put all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. I just throw it all together. Either way, I give full credit to Smitten Kitchen.

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (Hershey's, no need for the fancy stuff)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Or, frankly, just dump it all in when it's time. Just make sure the flour goes down first and the baking powder on top so it still gets mixed in. First, mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix just until flour is incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for at least one hour. Or overnight because you were attacked by the same lazy monster two days in a row.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Eat too many and then watch a Weight Watchers commercial and feel slightly ashamed but also bad for Jennifer Hudson because she doesn't have any of these cookies to eat.

Mini cookies with mini chips

Email I received today at 9:56 am: "I thought I'd pass along this recipe since I just had one of these and it was amazing!!!!" The recipe was for Nutella Chip Cookies. These are the questions I asked: Will I like them even if i don't like Nutella? Are they hazelnutty tasting? And now here we are at 9:47 pm and I have the answers to those questions. Yes I will like them even if I don't like Nutella (which I might like now). No they are not hazelnutty tasting. They are deliciously delightfully chocolately, with a Nutella undertone, and the added bonus of having a gooey middle. They looked lonely so I also made them some friends, and substituted dulce de leche for Nutella. The Nutella ones are way better, but I wouldn't kick the dulce de leche ones out of bed.

Nutella

Dulce de Leche

Nutella and/or Dulce de Leche Chip cookies
Yield: 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature*
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Nutella or dulce de leche (but I'd go with the Nutella)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips**

*Late night bakers who get home from work and have not brought butter to room temperature - cut it into cubes before creaming and it will almost be like being at room temperature
**These are relatively delicate cookies and definitely need the mini chips, not regular sized ones.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in the egg and vanilla. Add Nutella and mix until well combined.

In a small bowl combine together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix until the dough is smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a mini ice cream scoop (1 tbls size) or a spoon (eek! not uniform cookies!), form the dough into balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. I don't usually get wrapped up in the parchment paper issue but for these I think it is important. Bake 6-7 minutes or until set. Let cookies cool about 5 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

ICE CREAM!

I browbeat my dad into buying me an ice cream maker last summer at... Costco. OF COURSE I need an ice cream maker. Of course. I've tried a few recipes, and this is by far the best one yet.

Vanilla Bean Gelato
5 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean
* the original recipe calls for 1 cup heavy cream, which I didn't use, and substituted milk instead. I threw in a few tbls of cornstarch to thicken the mixture after the eggs/milk were combined

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow and thick (or throw in the stand mixer).

Combine the milk and vanilla bean (sliced in half lengthwise) in a saucepan. Heat the mixture just until it starts to bubble along the edges. The recipe says do not allow to boil. I never pay attention enough to milk and it always boils. Nothing bad happens (so far). Remove from the heat.

Remove the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife. Add the seeds back into the milk mixture. Let the vanilla bean shell dry out and throw it in with some sugar to make vanilla sugar, for coffee, tea, or whatever other use you might have for vanilla-flavored sugar. A scone topping perhaps?

While whisking the egg mixture (or having it in the mixer) add in about a cup of the warm milk mixture and combine together. Then add in the rest of the egg mixture to the milk. This process prevents scrambled eggs in hot vanilla flavored milk. Heat the mixture slowly to 175 to 180 degrees F. I have no idea whether I got it to this temperature. I don't have a thermometer. The original recipe said "Do not allow the custard to simmer." I let it boil. Oops! This is a good time to throw in some cornstarch if you used milk instead of cream. Maybe 2 tbls. Sprinkle it in and whisk. The custard should be thickened and coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve, which gets out the weird egg proteiny bits, as well as any cornstarch that globbed together, cover, and refrigerate until well chilled. When chilled (or at least not hot), throw it in the ice cream maker and process according to directions. I didn't add anything, but you could probably throw in whatever your heart desires.

Cupcakes

I never like the buttercream frosting I make for cakes at home. It is always missing something I can't put my finger on. This frosting, however, is missing nothing. Totally delicious. As are the cupcakes.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes (from Joy the Baker who I think got them from someone else but this is not a research paper so I'm not going to go out of my way with the citations). I believe the frosting is hers.

makes 24 cupcakes

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with liners and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds. In a stand mixer (if you have one), fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Otherwise use beaters for 100 years and ask for a stand mixer for your birthday. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is mixed in.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. The mixture might look a bit curdled but keep going. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the vanilla milk mixture in three batches, starting and ending with the flour. When the batter is almost combined, stop the mixer and finish mixing the batter with a spatula, making sure that everything from the bottom of the bowl is well incorporated.

Use an ice cream scoop to divvy up batter into pan. Or a spoon. But an ice cream scoop is easier. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely before frosting.

The Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (I agree)
makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or one 8-inch layer cake (I don't agree, I ran out toward the end).

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup Ovaltine

Cream together butter, cocoa powder and salt. Butter mixture will be very thick. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add powdered sugar. Turn mixer on low and mix in powdered sugar while adding milk and vanilla extract. As the sugar incorporates, raise the speed of the mixer to beat the frosting. Beat until smooth. In a 1-cup measuring glass, stir together heavy cream and Ovaltine. Turn mixer speed to medium and pour cream mixture into frosting in a slow, steady stream, until you’ve reached your desired consistency. You may not need the full amount of Ovaltine and cream. I only used about half. And it was not really pourable. No clue, but it still tastes and looks great.

Que lindo! or would it be que linda?

Cake Balls Take 2. Yellow cake. Chocolate icing. Cake ball perfection. They were a little less lumpy this time due to a longer stay in the freezer; midway through their creation I was distracted by a Skype fourway. I love them with the sprinkles, plus they cover up some of the imperfections that make them look like dumpy little blobs instead of elegant balls of cakey goo robed in the finest non-returnable chocolate purchased from Sheila's Party World. Make! Enjoy!

Update: I decided to post the recipe instead of linking to it

Cake Balls
(adapted from Bakerella). Check out her website for decorating ideas!
1 box cake mix and ingredients to make it- I used yellow cake
1 16 oz tub frosting- I used chocolate
1 lb candy melts or chocolate bark- I used chocolate
wax paper
decorations

Bake the cake according to directions on the box for a 9x13 cake. Allow it to cool completely. I take it out of the pan immediately to help it cool faster because (a) I'm usually baking at night and I don't want to be up until 2 am and (b) I don't care if it cracks or breaks because it gets crumbled anyway.

After the cake is cooled, crumble it into a large bowl. Don't worry if there are crunchy bits, it will all get mixed in. Add about 3/4 tub of frosting. Mix well with a wooden spoon until it comes together and looks sort of like dough. Add more frosting if it seems dry. It's sort of inexact.

Use a cookie scoop to make balls and then roll with hands to even out. Or, roll with your hands into quarter-ish to golf ball-ish sized balls in the first place. If it seems like it will be two good bites of cake, it's probably the right size. Put on a cookie sheet and refrigerate until not squishy (a few hours). Or, put in the freezer (see reason I take cake out of pan immediately).

Melt candy melts or bark. Dip each ball into chocolate until well coated. I've tried a spoon, I've tried a fondue fork, I've tried a regular fork. I don't have a good system. Whatever works to get the cake balls coated. Try to tap off excess chocolate. Place them on a wax paper covered plate or cookie sheet to harden. If you want to decorate with sprinkles, you have to do it immediately after dipping because they harden really quickly.

That's it! You can refrigerate or store at room temperature. Apparently they last a long time, but so far mine haven't stuck around more than a few hours.

Notes: Michael's has tons of flavors/colors of candy melts. So does Sheila's Party World (and I imagine other Party Worlds not owned by Sheila). I think you can really do any cake/frosting combo that you want. The yellow cake/chocolate frosting combo was definitely the most popular in my world. Although no one complained about the devils food/cream cheese frosting combo either.

What it would be like to run a B & B?

So I made a very cute little boy pancakes this morning. If he had asked me to make him an elaborate breakfast buffet I would have done that too. I also would have given him world peace if he had asked. He didn't, but we did have a good talk about our favorite zoo animals. Mine is a camel in case anyone is curious.

I like to make my pancakes in shapes, so I made an S, a W (inexplicably his favorite letter), and a mancake. My brother invented mancakes but that is a story for another time. So I loaded the pancakes up with chocolate chips because that's how it's done at AnnaNicole's house, dumped 2 kinds of syrup on them, and sent him along with his mommy with a sugar high that probably hit about 15 minutes out of Philadelphia. But how can you resist this face? Wearing only Big Bird underwear at the breakfast table??

And then I got home from work and I made these delicious scones, which should be made immediately (unless you are my coworker because then we might have too many scones tomorrow morning).

My picture takin' ain't so bad!

Chef Paul's chocolate balls

I'm in the process of making chocolate cake balls, which sounds just saucy enough to make me chuckle. I have a younger brother and many younger boy cousins and on vacation one year we had a personal chef (one evening only, we're not that fancy) whose specialty was chocolate truffles, lovingly referred to as Chef Paul's chocolate balls. I digress. Cake balls/cake pops are tres chic these days. I am not one to get left behind on a trend (a baking trend anyway). I bought candy melts at a shady party supply store. I hope they aren't made of lead and poison. The best thing is I needed no new pans.

I had an interesting conversation (or gmail chat) with my madre today, who suggested that prior to moving, I purge my old clothes (great idea) and my kitchen (bad idea)! It got me thinking that while I believe I have a moderately well stocked kitchen from both appliance and bakeware perspectives, others might find it a tad cluttered. And I don't even have madeleine pans, or mini springform pans, or popover pans. And I only have six metal pie pans and two ceramic ones (I used to have three but one met an untimely end during a Canadian Thanksgiving party). What if I needed to make ten pies one day? I'm also unsatisfied with the number of mini muffin tins I have. So no mommy, no I will not get rid of my kitchen things! I might even buy some new ones. And since I'm a real grown up with a real job I can do that.

Update: they look more like Miracle Max's miracles than fancy cake balls...

Cinnamon

Normal people come home from work and watch TV, go to the gym, take a nap, whatever suits you. I come home from work and decide to make cinnamon rolls.* These are the very same cinnamon rolls that tipped the scale toward me unwisely buying a Groupon for 5 spinning classes after I ate one as a dinner appetizer. I don't spin. I don't really even ride a bike because it makes me woozy. It is also possible I don't have the right exercise wear for spinning- apparently yoga pants can get caught in the gears. I'm all about Adventure! And Change!

I took some pictures but they're still trapped inside the camera. Probably a good thing though as I don't quite think I've figured the thing out yet and I want them to be pretty and impressive. They looked green on the viewfinder thingie so I might be doing some camera studying this weekend. Or wicked Photoshopping.

*For my baking friends, my only change to that recipe is brown sugar instead of white sugar which I think makes them the best things I've ever eaten.