Gingerbread House

I always have high hopes for making an elaborate gingerbread house from scratch. I never actually do it. So this year I used a kit from Williams-Sonoma. It's a really good kit. Yes, the pieces are a bit clunkier than homemade pieces, but it's so much easier to unwrap them than it is to bake them. The pieces are printed with door and window outlines as well as the loop-y pattern on the roof. While I don't like that because it cramps my creativity, it also does keep me from going crazy with it and messing it up (or having that blank page freeze like when you start writing a paper) so that's probably for the best.

Mint Chip Meringues, Black Forest Cookies, and Sugar Cookies

My mom loves meringues and always asks me to make them. For some reason, I really don't enjoy making them, though. Probably the time and care that goes into them isn't offset by it being interesting for me to make. But I'll give it to her, they really are delicious--and homemade ones are so much better than store-bought.

Bourbon Balls and Gingersnaps

Both of these recipes come by way of "Baked Occassions," the Baked Brooklyn boys' newest cookbook. I love all their cookbooks and I hadn't had a chance to use this one yet. It's up to their usual high standard. (But it's more fun--it's organized by holiday. For example they, apparently, celebrate the Ides of March with Blood Orange Tiramisu. See? Fun!)

I digress.

Christmas Cookies, 2014

As usual Christmas in my house means an extraordinary amount of baking. This year, seeing as I am still breaking in the kitchen, I only made five cookies. And no cakes or chocolates. Since that was the case, I really tried to go nuts with the cookies. I'll talk about each varity in other posts, but here's a summary: gingersnaps, decorated sugar cookies, bourbon balls, mint chip meringues, and Black Forest cookies.

I thought those worked nicely together for gift boxes: one very chewy (the Black Forest cookies), one sort of chewy (the gingersnaps), two crumbly (the bourbon balls and the sugar cookies), and one crunchy and chewy at once (the meringues). Or put another way: one chocolate, one mint and chocolate, one spicy, one boozey, and one "plain"--I think you can figure out which is which yourself. Most importantly, I think they looked lovely in a gift box, what with the colors of the decorated sugar cookies and the meringues and the variegated brown hues of the other cookies. I'd be happy getting that as a gift!

Gluten-Free Battenberg Cake

I mentioned this a while ago. I told my cousin that, as her birthday present, I'd make her a birthday cake (it's so difficult to find good gluten free cakes that are fit for a birthday). Any cake you want, I said. She asked for the one type of cake I'd never even heard of: a Battenberg cake. Apparently it's a very common feature at afternoon tea. After some research I discovered that it's a less almond-y, checkerboard version of an Italian (or rather Italian-American) tricolor cake. They are traditionally pink and white, filled with a thin layer of apricot jam, and covered with untinted marzipan that is scored in a diamond pattern.

Thanksgiving Desserts (Number Three)

Alright, this is really just dessert number one--the apple crumble pie--again. But this time I decided it really needed ice cream. And not just any ice cream: homemade bourbon pecan ice cream!

Thanksgiving Desserts (Number Two)

I also made an excellent trifle because, well, I always make a trifle for Thanksgiving. This year I made a chocolate, chestnut, tiramisu trifle. Let me say that again: chocolate, chestnut, tiramisu trifle. Or as my mom called it, a trifle-misu. It was so good, it was ridiculous. It's layers of chocolate-chestnut mousse, Marsala mascarpone sabayon, and lady fingers soaked with espresso and amaretto and dusted with cocoa powder. The latter two layers are, basically, tiramisu. But with extra mascarpone to thicken up the sabayon and, of course, the chocolate-chestnut mousse between the layers. Also the layer of whipped cream and dusting of cocoa looks like a tiramisu but is more trifle like in flavor.

Thanksgiving Desserts (Number One)

I made apple pie with a crumble topping. It was delicious. Sort of a cross between a crumble and a pie. The cinnimon-y, buttery topping was crumble-like and the apples were tender but held together in a pie-like manner. I served it with an apple caramel sauce. So good! Although it could have used some vanilla (or, perhaps, cinnamon) ice cream.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was just my mom and I for Thanksgiving this year so we made a relatively small meal. I say relatively because it's not a small meal by most people' standards but for us at Thanksgiving, it was practically minuscule. We had turkey--just the breast, no dark meat--stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, green bean casserole with porcini mushrooms and crispy onions, and biscuits. See? Only turkey breast, one potato, one bread, and no carrots or brussel sprouts. Not as bad as we could have been, right? Of course we had to save room of dessert. But only two desserts. Again, not as bad as we could have been. I'll write about them tomorrow-ish.

British Birthday Cake

Since I recently posted my aunt's old birthday cake I thought I'd put this on as well. I have a close family friend exactly 10 years younger than me. She's very sophisticated for her age so I made her this elegant (but still a little bit girly) cake for her 14th birthday. It's white cake with two layers of raspberry buttercream and one of chocolate; she's not quite as much of a chocolate fan as I am, so I limited the chocolate. It's topped with lovely shell pink fondant and a scalloped chocolate fondant polka dot border (it worked so well on the anniversary cake I made, after all.) It's pretty, I think. And she enjoyed it.

By the way I call this a British birthday cake because it's very common to use fondant on birthday cakes in England, unlike the traditional buttercream cakes we tend to consume in the US.

Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies~With Recipe!

These aren't quite as brownie-ish in texture as the name implies, but the flavor is quite like a brownie. A brownie with chocolate chips. Who doesn't like that? I hope you like that because below is the recipe for these moist chocolate cookies.

Orange Pound Cake Bites

I'm still without a kitchen so I'm going to take the opportunity to talk about some of the desserts I never posted. In this case, I made it before I blogged. It was for my cousin's wedding shower. It had a purple theme and I was asked to make purple desserts--the cake was supplied by another family member.

I made purple spritz cookies, which I believe I previously posted, and this. This is orange pound cake (really delicious orange pound cake, if I remember correctly.) It's topped with little purple (they were more purple in person, I swear) royal icing flowers. The bowl is filled with a purple-ish, mixed berry dipping sauce. It was very nice! (Is it terrible to say that it was better than the official cake?)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Unfortunately I have no kitchen at all at the moment, so cooking isn't a possibility. See what I mean:

But I did get into the spirit. I was Vincent Van Gogh and Stella was a sunflower. Isn't she cute when she's perturbed?!

My Pantry

We are still working on the kitchen, but my pantry is (nearly) finished! I thought I'd share my two favorite fun touches. Look at all that candy and chocolate all neatly put away in mason jars.

And my favorite thing: a cork board for my cookie cutters. I think I need more cookie cutters now...

Birthday Cake with Kahlua Ganache

I made this ages ago. Seriously it's been a couple of years, but I didn't really have the blog going then so I didn't post it. It's just too good not to post here, so here goes. This was magnolia bakery white cake, filled with layers of chocolate ganache flavored with plenty of kahlua. The cake was decorated with vanilla buttercream and a couple of roses--gumpaste and modeling chocolate. I wish I'd done a thicker coating of buttercream (you can see the ganache layers through the buttercream) but I was running low on it and I wanted to practice my piping skills. Ah well, it was still delicious and my aunt (it was for her birthday) loved it!

Almost-Healthy Breakfast Sandwich

I like breakfast for dinner--waffles, pancakes, french toast, etc. But of course one can't (or rather shouldn't) eat those things for dinner very often. So this is breakfast for dinner in a healthier fashion.

This is toasted Pullman bread with Dijon mustard and Parmesan spread (I made that), some crumbled cheddar (because you can't have too much cheese), crispy bacon, egg, and spinach. By the way, I fried the egg and, just before it was done, I broke the yoke so that it was still soft but not runny. It wasn't really as filling as it could have been for dinner, but I'd definitely do this for lunch in the future.

Pumpkin Bundt

See?! I'm really on a pumpkin kick. This pumpkin bundt was so insanely moist. And the glaze was very simple. Just warm cream cheese, powdered sugar, and a healthy dose of vanilla extract. That's it. Simple and yummy. (I promise I'll write more one of these days, but things are so hectic right now I'm happy I'm just getting photos on here.)

Coconut Fudge

It's been years since I made my very popular almond joy fudge. This is a nut free version. Just dark chocolate fudge with plenty of toasted desiccated coconut (not sweetened shredded; it's too sweet and the pieces are too large). Delicious!

Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Frosting

Apparently I've been on a pumpkin kick lately. Here's a lovely chocolate cake I made topped (and filled) with pumpkin, cream cheese, white chocolate frosting. It's a bit like a simpler version of the pumpkin spice mocha cake I made last year. Simple but still delicious. And pretty too--I like the color that the pumpkin gives the frosting.

Pumpkin, Sage, and Brown Butter Cakes

I've made this quick bread before, but I decided that I'd give it a try with my pumpkin cakelet pan. Cute right?

Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Cream Sauce

I have no kitchen at the moment. Well I have a kitchen, but it's terrible and only a few weeks from being gutted so I don't really want to use it very much. Hence my featuring pasta on here. It's good pasta, don't get me wrong. It's fresh pumpkin ravioli (store-bought not homemade), topped with chicken, and a nice (homemade) sage cream sauce. Sage and pumpkin go together so well. Yum!

Gluten Free Desserts, Sightseeing, and my Dissertation

I stayed with my cousins for the last couple weeks of dissertation writing. I can't thank them enough for putting me up and putting up with me during such a stressful time. In an attempt to thank them, I baked quite a bit for them. Below follows a stream of consciousness post including some gluten free baking and some miscellaneous non-food photos.

 

Circus Cakes

I clearly have a mental block about posting these, seeing as I made them just about 2 years ago. They were for a Diabetes UK fundraiser. Yes, I know, cake for an event about diabetes... The event was for children with Type I diabetes and their families. And what kid, diabetic or not, doesn't want cake?

The challenge was twofold. First, I had to make at least some of the cake gluten free since type I diabetics are more likely to be ceoliac than the rest of the population (also the carbs in flour aren't great for the blood sugar.) Second, the cake had to be circus themed.

Happy Bastille Day!

Yes, I know Bastille Day is in July. I completely forgot to post this...whoops.

I'm not French and, while I like France and speak a bit of French, I'm by no means a Francophile. But I really can't pass up celebrating a holiday that screams for French food (plus in London's Borough Market they have snail races and a full size guillotine slicing watermelons...how can you not get into the holiday?)

Chocolate, Blackberry, Coconut Cake

Every year, my mom asks for a chocolate birthday cake. Past that, I get to do what I want. So I decided to try an idea I'd seen on the food network: using jam to flavor buttercream. In this case I used a high quality blackberry jam. For the filling I made a coconut buttercream by adding creamed coconut to the buttercream. Two delicious, flavored buttercreams with minimal effort.

Flower Arranging

I make bouquets now. Bouquets are cool. Actually, I've been making bouquets for years. The first 'grown-up' craft I got into was flower arranging. I bought books on it. I watched florists working. I stocked up on florists wire and tape (which comes in very useful when I make sugarpaste flowers, but that's beside the point.) I even befriended a local florist (a very nice woman) who gave me left over flowers to practice with and showed me how to use chicken wire instead of florist foam as a base for non-posy arrangements.

Orange Cranberry Scones

I made these a while ago, but I figure I've been posting a ton of scones so why not slip these in. These are simple raisin scones, with dried cranberries substituted for the raisins and some orange zest and extract in the dough. I love the combination of orange and cranberry, and the dried cranberries are especially good because they don't get mushy and overly sweet like raisins when they cook.

Espresso Scones with Chocolate Chips

These are the delicious FCI cream scones with a healthy does of espresso powder and coffee extract added to the dough. I kicked them up even more with chocolate chips. Yum!

Croissant Bread Pudding

I got tickets to Richard III with Martin Freeman! The problem is, the normal tickets are expensive. So I waited on line (with a friend, thank goodness) from an absurdly early hour for reduced price advance tickets. Long wait short, we got great seats for about 1/4 of the price! I mention this because it (plus the day trip we'd taken the day before...whoops, bad planning) is the reason that I have terrible photos of my croissant bread pudding.

Fourth of July Berry Tart

This is just a simple tart. I made a nice crust (not my best work but I was busy with exams), filled it with a nice whipped cream and mascarpone mixture, and topped it with fresh berries. Delicious, easy, fresh, and (with the strawberries and blueberries) very patriotic.

French Toast with Maple Hazelnut Butter

Who doesn't like breakfast for dinner? Especially brioche french toast with sautéed pink lady apples and maple hazelnut butter. I'm not sure any more needs to be said. (Although I should note that I was lazy and used all natural jarred hazelnut butter and stirred in good quality maple syrup--rather than making the nut butter from scratch.)

Chocolate and Pear Tart

My friend, Katy, had me over for dinner ages ago and made me this delicious chocolate pear tart from Martha Stewart. Turns out I have the recipe and, since it is gluten free, I figured I'd make it for the cousins. As when Katy made it, it was a hit!

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

I'm Mercedes and I'm a stress eater. Just about two months ago, I was writing multiple term papers and, unfortunately, was deciding if we had to put my cat to sleep (we ended up having to.) She was quite old and had been healthy until about a week prior when her kidneys started shutting down. The vet was trying a few things that would keep her quality of life up and hopefully give her a few more weeks or months.

Pumpkin Scones with Brown Butter Glaze

These are my usual pumpkin scones (via Alices's Tea Cup) but miniature and topped with a lovely brown butter glaze. The nutty brown butter complements the pumpkin nicely and who doesn't like a scone with glaze?

Christmas Cake

Whoops, as with the Christmas candy, I completely forgot to post the rest of the photos of the Christmas cake I made last year. I made the same chocolate and orange cake I'd done the year before (since it was a hit) and kept the marzipan decorations because the family loves marzipan. I wanted to do something different for the decorations. After much Pinterest searching, I decided to use quilled snowflakes as decoration.

Christmas Candy

Remember I mentioned that I made chocolates for Christmas in 2013? Probably not since it's been ages. But I finally remembered that I promised to tell you about the chocolates I made and miserably failed to uphold said promise, posting about only two of the half dozen candies I made. Sorry. To make up for it, I will finally tell you about the other four. All in this one post. From my least favorite (don't get me wrong I liked them all) to my favorite: