Planning to Bake... Again

I have yet to bake ANYTHING in my new kitchen.



I have cooked some meals but no baking. This is going to change soon. My coworkers are asking why I haven't baked for them in a while so I need to rectify this situation.
First, I have to do some test runs on the recipes I am making out of the new Junior League Cookbook for the Holiday Market. I have to make 3 batches each of Peanut Butter Bon Bons and Mississippi Mud Bars.

Second, I saw this on Bakerella today... Snickerdoodle Duo. Yum. I've never made a Martha Stewart recipe so we'll see how it goes.

Pink Cupcakes -- Pink Cake

I try to bake for my coworkers birthday's. I think everyone needs a birthday cake and I like any excuse I can to bake. One of my coworker's birthday was this week so I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. After some prodding, he finally said a white cake with white icing. So I asked what his favorite color was (who wants a plain white cake???). He kept saying he didn't have one and finally said "Pink". "Really?" I asked.... "Really??".

Ask and you shall receive. Boxed white cake mix with Spreading Consistency Wilton Butter Cream Icing. I did half cupcakes to look like flowers...
And half as a cake... as girly as I could make it. (Hey, when you ask for pink, might as well go all out!)
I think he liked it! It definitely was delicious!

A Red Velvet Valentine's Day

Last week I posted about finding Bakerella's blog and making the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies.  Since then, I added Bakerella to my Google Reader so I can see what new goodies she posts.  This week, she posted a couple of different Valentine's treats.  One was a little above my skill level since I haven't moved to Fondant yet -- and to be honest, Fondant is not my favorite.  

Then she posted Easy and Easier Valentine Treat and I was sold -- Ryan likes red velvet cake, red is perfect for Valentine's, a cookie sandwich always wins me over.  And, the recipe used a box cake mix so I didn't have to buy much.  It was very easy and the ultimate reward... Ryan said it might be his new favorite cookie!!!  I think they will become a regular for "red holidays".

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

from Bakerella

1 Box red velvet cake mix

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients until combined.

Roll spoonfuls of cookie dough into balls and place on baking sheet about two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cool.

Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 1lb. Box of confectioner's sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.

Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Ice bottom of one cookie and place another cookie on top.

Since I didn't know how the cookies would turn out, I decided to split the cake mix in half and make half cookies, half cake.  I followed the cake mix directions (cut in half) and reduced the baking time by about 5 minutes.  I used the remaining cream cheese icing and sprinkled with red sprinkles. 

Chocolate Heaven

I love chocolate and in all honesty, I think people who don't like chocolate are C.R.A.Z.Y!!!  Last week someone posted the link to Bakerella's blog on a local message board.  It was definitely a bad idea for me to look at this blog.  She has some AMAZING baked goods on her blog.  As soon as I saw the first picture in "Thaaank You, Betty", I was hooked.  And to top it off, it was a super easy recipe...of the likes of Sandra Lee's "Semi-homemade" recipes.  

It is actually a recipe off the Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix (the kind that comes in a bag).  Other than the mixes, all you need is butter, eggs, oil... things you probably keep on hand anyway.  I always have one of these cookie dough mixes in the pantry in case I get a craving and am amazed that I had not noticed this recipe yet.  Maybe because I don't keep brownie mix on hand?  

Anyway, Bakerella did not steer me wrong, this is an amazing treat... Brownies, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Frosting all in one pan.  HEAVEN!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

from Betty Crocker

1 Box Betty Crocker Original Supreme Brownie Mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 pouch Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

Chocolate Frosting of your choice

Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using oil, water and 2 eggs. Spread in pan.

Make cookie mix as directed on pouch, using butter and 1 egg. 

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter; press down lightly.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour. 

If you want to make your own frosting, do so while the brownies cool.  

I used Bakerella's recipe for Chocolate Ganache.

12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate morsels

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

6 Tbsp butter

In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage.

Pour over the chocolate morsels.

Let stand about 20 seconds and stir until smooth.

Pour over brownies and let set before cutting.

To make 48 brownies, cut into 8 rows by 6 rows.  I have a feeling this sized brownie will be too small for my sweet tooth family and coworkers! 

Christmas Baking Part 1 - The Lazy Method

Before I start my baking story, I thought I'd share another piece of the holiday decor.  This is the table behind one of our couches.  I realized I had an extra lighted garland this year so I found it a home!  I bought some $.50 red berry picks from Hobby Lobby (love their big half off sales) to spruce it up a bit.  It turned out nice!  

Now, to the baking.  I really wanted to make some iced sugar cookies.  That always gets me in the holiday spirit.  But, I didn't have the time or patience tonight to make dough, roll it out cut cookies, bake and ice.  So, in the spirit of Sandra Lee, its "Semi-Homemade".  Pillsbury has these nice new baking sheets of their sugar cookie dough, perfect for cut out cookies.  I had Pillsbury coupons this week so I picked these up instead of the pre-shaped sugar cookies.  This made me feel like I was doing a little more of it myself.  

I cut out Candy Canes, Trees and Stockings.  The only downside of this sheet dough is that it doesnt re-roll very well.  I guess if I sprinkled some extra flour, it would but that was too much work for tonight.  I used the package suggestion and rolled the dough into balls, then pressed them out into circles using the bottom of my wine glass.  I turned these into ornaments so that they fit the Christmas theme.

16 minutes later (2 batches of 8 minutes) I had a nice rack of sugar cookies. 

While the cookies baked, I made a batch of the Wilton Butter Cream Icing that I have written about before.  I made this instead of Grammy's Creamy French Icing for two reasons: (1) I didn't want to do the boiled sugar/water thing--one less thing to clean--and (2) I wanted white-white icing.  I have not done sugar cookies with this icing so I was a little nervous.

I used a variation between medium and stiff using 1/2 stick of butter and 3/4 cups shortening. Then, I colored the icing red and green, leaving a little white for my stripes and stocking tops.  And the results turned out great.  Ryan gave them the seal of approval.  Half are going to work with me tomorrow and the other half staying here!


I am sure I will make some "real" sugar cookies this year, but I do really love a Pillsbury "Slice-n-Bake" cookie!

Cake!

I have always loved cake. Wedding cake is my favorite. What I wouldn't do for a slice of White Wedding Cake from That Special Touch in Pearl, MS. They made my wedding cake and it was "to die for".

But, I have never been too good at decorating cakes. I figure I need to work on this before I start having kids so that I can make fantastic birthday cakes! I am sure I will never be on par with the professionals but one can always try.

I wrote about my Valentine's Day cookie cakes previously. During the NBA playoffs, when my Rockets were playing the yucky Utah Jazz, and the New Orleans Hornets were playing the yucky Dallas Mavericks, I made a cookie cake for work. We have quite the Houston/Dallas rivalry in the office, and one of our managers is from Utah. It was a fun week (Houston and New Orleans won that night, unfortunately the Rockets ultimately were knocked out, in the first round, again).

I thought I did a pretty good job on my cookie cake, but my decorating still has some work. I decided that my traditional icing, though it tastes fantastic, is just not the best for decorating. It's a little too thin.

My friends Erica and Kelly both shared this icing recipe with me so I decided to give it a try and made a cake last night. The cake was just Duncan Hines yellow cake. I baked the cake according to the package directions for two 8" round cakes. Layer cakes have never worked well for me, they always fall apart. I have always blamed the thin icing... but mmm, its so yummy.

After letting the cakes cool, I trimmed the tops to level them out. Then I applied a thin layer of icing to stack the layers and a thin layer on the whole cake to seal the crumbs. I put the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes while I cleaned the kitchen. Then I applied a second layer of white icing and got a pretty nice, even coat with very few crumbs.

I decided to be cute and do a little decoration. I have a mechanical pastry bag from Williams-Sonoma but I have not liked how it works with icing. The icing sort of seeps out inside the tube so I end up wasting a lot of good icing. I was watching Rachel Ray the other day and saw this cake baker making parchment icing bags, so I gave it a try using the tips from my mechanical pastry bag. It worked really well. Here's the finished product.

I haven't cut into it yet. I made it to bring to work but I left it on the counter. I guess Ryan and I will cut into it tonight and then I'll bring the rest to work tomorrow. The icing is not as yummy as my normal, but I think it will work. I think I'll try the Pure White Icing (stiffer consistency) next time.

No Butter! Chocolate Tom Thumb Bars???

Last night I finally got to leave work early. After 2-3 weeks of long days, I snuck away at 4:00. With a storm moving in, threatening to turn Houston's already horrible rush hour traffic into a nightmare, I really wanted to get ahead of the game. Of course, others had the same idea and it still took me 1.5 hours to get home. But, I got home at 5:30 and was done eating dinner by 7 (which is earlier than I even get home some nights). I work from home on Monday's and Friday's so Thursday nights are always a little more laid back and we tend to stay up a little later than normal.

I really had the urge to BAKE. I had not used my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer in a couple of weeks and was starting to have withdrawals from it. I knew I had some chocolate chips so I thought I would whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies using the recipe on the bag. Then it hit me...

I HAD NO BUTTER!

Thats right, I had no stick butter or even any margarine. What kind of southern girl allows herself to have a refrigerator without any BUTTER in it. Paula Deen and her "Everything's Better With Butter" self would definitely be disappointed in me.

I started searching the internet for cookie recipes that didn't require butter but didn't have much luck. I posted a message on the local Houston Nest message board for help. One of the "Nesties" (thanks Kris) found this recipe for me -- Chocolate Tom Thumb Bars. I had all the necessary ingredients so heck... why not. I was slightly worried about the "meringue" part as I have never made meringue but it sounded easy enough.

Things started off alright. I got all the dry ingredients mixed together using my KA Mixer.

The dough wasn't as "doughy" as I expected and it didn't taste as good as normal chocolate chip cookie dough (which, in my opinion, is a little gift from Heaven) but it was okay so I pressed on.

I got the dough pressed out into a 9x13 inch pan.

Then I started on the meringue. The recipe instructed to beat the egg whites until they started to have peaks. This went well and after a bit I was getting decent peaks. Then I added the brown sugar as instructed and started beating the egg-sugar mixture. After what felt like forever (I didn't time it, I am impatient so it could have been 2 minutes, could have been 10) I was getting no peaks, no stiffness, nothing. I finally gave up on getting peaks and just spread it over the top of the dough and put it in the oven.

As you can see, the meringue does not look like meringue at all but I was tired of waiting and Ryan was asking for his dessert he had been promised.

After 20 minutes of baking, the meringue had risen a little and was turning brown so I pulled the pan out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes.

Then I cut in and found a oooey gooey mess. The inside of the cookie part was not cooked, at all. So I put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

At this point, Ryan was whining for dessert (in a really cute and sweet way) and was just as skeptical as me about the outcome of my baking project. So, I made him a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Milk Shake.

And that was a success!

Back to the oven... I could see it had cooked a little more but was skeptical at this point. I pulled it out of the oven again. I scooped out a piece for Ryan and one for me.

It was still pretty gooey in the middle and the flavor was just ... blah. That's all I can say. I think with BUTTER and not shortening, this would have been better. And maybe cooking the cake some before putting the meringue on top? Or maybe if the meringue had gotten stiff and peaky it would have been better?

I ended up thrown the whole 9x13 pan of it down the disposal. What a shame!

I have learned that I should always keep some butter in the freezer so that I don't run into situations like these in the future.