Gingerbread Cookies!
I always make gingerbread cookies to kick off the holiday season. To me, they scream Christmas, because you just don’t see them any other time of the year. This recipe is awesome, as its a bit spicy but not too sweet. All you need is a big glass of milk, or a mug o’ coffee. The recipe came from my favorite cookie book, Nick Malgieri’s Cookies Unlimited.
Cookie or Candy???
When I started my blog, I needed some inspiration and subscribed to several magazines. My plan is to make at least one thing out of every magazine, and today is my first magazine inspired post. This recipe came from Bon Appetit, and is absolutely fabulous!
This cookie is unbelievably sweet, chewy, crisp, and above all… so ALMONDY (I think I just made up a word) you will almost swoon. The main ingredient is almond paste, which I consider food of the gods. Whomever invented almond paste should be sainted. The recipe called for a dip in melted chocolate after baking, but I omitted it because it was just so darn good without the chocolate… and I was a little tired too. I’m sure its even better with the chocolate!
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Top O’ The Muffin To Ya
This muffin makes me want to start selling muffin tops. Elaine and Kramer had a seriously fabulous idea. I’ve made a very simple sour cream muffin with semi-sweet chocolate chips mixed in. What makes it special is the generous sprinkle of Turbinado Sugar on top. It gives it a crunchy, sweet, almost candy-like top. Don’t get me wrong, the actual muffin is also quite tasty too, but I could make muffin tops, corner the market, and take over the world! Its just that good.
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That’s Not My Baguette Baby!!!
Last weekend, I was in a baking mood. I find baking very therapeutic, and wish I had more time to devote to it. This is a fabulous recipe that results in thin and crisp baguettes, but you do have to plan ahead for it. I started it on Saturday morning, and finally baked them on Sunday afternoon, as the recipe calls for not one but two eight hour rises. There is a shockingly minute amount of yeast, so the excessive proofing time is quite necessary. In addition, the extra time develops a fantastic flavor, and makes the wait totally worth it. The recipe came from How to Bake, by Nick Malgieri.
Confession: Stephan and I ate an entire hot baguette… standing in the kitchen… in less than 2 minutes… snort!
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Boo!
In honor of Halloween, I slaved away last night and made Halloween cookies. After I got started, I realized I only had three gel colors left… blue, purple and bright yellow. So they are not quite as colorful as I was planning, but there was just no way I was going to the store for food coloring.
Decorating cookies brought me back to when I worked as a Pastry Chef. It seemed there was always a reason to decorate cookies or cakes. Anyway, this is a really great cookie recipe. Its a bit soft when rolling out, so you must chill it well, but the flavor is very good. This recipe is adapted from Cookies Unlimited by Nick Malgieri.
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Oooh la la… Part Deux
Although this Swiss roll is not French, I’m still calling it a “French Pastry” as its the same size of a traditional petit four. So if you’re French and offended… pardon moi! :) I used the same Genoise recipe as the Chocolate Layer Cakes from the last post.
Oooh la la… French Pastry
We had this past weekend off… no weddings, no photo shoots, just relaxing and hanging out with friends. So of course, I baked something. Originally, I had planned to bake a Genoise sheet and make a multi-layered chocolate ganache filled cake (aka Petit Four). Then, when I took it out of the oven, I thought, oooh… what about a lovely swiss roll? Vat to do, Vat to do??? So I made both. I split up the cake and made half of it into the Petit Fours, and the other half into the Swiss roll. You will have to come back tomorrow to see pictures of the Swiss Roll, though! :)
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Let’s do the Twist!
I was in the mood for some baking this past weekend. My first thought was bread. However the bread recipes I wanted to make needed at least an 8 hour rise. Well, I wasn’t gonna wait 8 hours, so I decided to make pretzels. In culinary school, I baked every type of bread, pastry, cake, etc… you can imagine, except pretzels. So I figured I’d try them. Then afterwards, while eating a freshly baked, hot from the oven pretzel, I wondered why the heck had I not made pretzels before? Seriously. They.Are.Fantastic. Oh, I will be making these again. Soon.
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Going ‘Naners!!!
One of my coworkers had a banana tree that made more bananas than she could imagine using so she brought in a giant bunch for everyone at work. They were adorable little bananas, but very green. I patiently babysat my bunch every day, turning them, talking to them… just encouraging them to ripen. Then I blinked and they were brown… poo! What’s a girl to do? Well, banana bread, of course! So here’s my favorite recipe for banana bread, slightly adapted from the recipe in Joy of Cooking. This recipe is different than most banana breads as it has butter instead of vegetable oil. Its fantastic… not quite as moist as your usual banana bread, but the flavor is very very nice.
For all you photo geeks out there, these images were taken with a Lensbaby. That is what gives it the really cool selective focus effect. 
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