Making Whoopie

It’s that time of year again… birthday season! My husband Stephan and I have a very unusual coincidence when it comes to our birthdays. His is today (Christmas Eve) and mine is tomorrow (Christmas Day.) What are the odds? It is honestly not fun to have your birthday on or close to Christmas. You get combo presents… you get birthday presents wrapped in paper with Santas on it. Lastly, your birthday is overshadowed by someone else’s birthday. :P However, I do like that we get to celebrate together. This year I bought Stephan a really big expensive present and made it a……. combo. Yes, it is a faux pas, but Bose makes really expensive man toys! Sorry honey! Actually, we both received the best present ever this year, a wedding we photographed this summer was just published in InStyle Weddings!!!

Instead of making a traditional cake, I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Peppermint Filling. Our photography studio has been very busy this month with last minute photo shoots and holiday cards and there just wasn’t the time to make a real birthday cake. It’s OK, though. Stephan really doesn’t like traditional birthday cake. I only made them in the past because it seemed like the right thing to do. So this year, I not only combined his birthday and Christmas present, but I combined his birthday cake and a Christmas cookie. Yeah, I know… not cool. I’m definitely not winning the wife of the year award! Thankfully, the whoopie pies are really yummy and made up for the lack of birthday-ness!
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December 24, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Holiday Fare, Sweet Tooth

5 Critiques

Oatmeal, Cranberry and Raisin Cookie

Now that my vacations are 0ver, I’m putting my time back into the good old blog. I’ve missed the whole blogging experience in the past 6 months or so. Not only have I been slacking on my own blog, but I’ve also slacked when it comes to visiting my favorite blogs. I feel like I’ve been on a deserted island without the blogosphere. I’m definitely ready to remedy that! I’m now officially free from my day job and am working with my husband Stephan in our photography studio, Maloman Photographers. If anyone locally needs some amazing images, definitely check us out!

When I first started blogging back in 2007, I had the plan to make easy food that tasted good. This cookie recipe is just that. Simple. Quick. Tasty. What’s not to like?

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October 6, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Sweet Tooth

10 Critiques

Use it or lose it or

I’m sure I’m not the only one who buys fruit and then forgets to eat it. We’ve been on this big fruit kick and actually starting buying fruit from Costco. Surprisingly, the quality there is better than the grocery store close to my house. The drawback is a dozen apricots are hard to eat before they go soft. I had about 10 apricots that were on the cusp of going bad and decided I’d make a quick dessert to use them up. This yummy cherry and apricot crisp takes about 5 minutes to prepare and another 20 to bake. Even better… its pretty healthy! My type of dessert!

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August 7, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Sweet Tooth

14 Critiques

How ’bout them apples?

So it is time for the Daring Bakers to reveal the tasty treat for the month. I almost didn’t do it this month as we photographed 7 weddings, and one of them was my big brother’s. Here are some pics of my bro’s wedding that my fabulous photographer husband took for anyone out there interested! I now owe hubby a weekly batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies for the next few months. He’s quite the bargainer!

Luckily, I had a few free hours and a well stocked pantry to make the challenge. I just happened to have all of the ingredients required to make this apple strudel. Oh other than fresh breadcrumbs… I used panko and don’t think that was the right choice. Still turned out tasty, however. I also used almonds, as I always have them on hand. The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

As usual with all of my Daring Bakers challenges, I don’t include the recipe. They are just too darn long and I am too OCD to just copy and paste it into my blog. It wouldn’t look like the rest of my recipes, and that is sadly upsetting to someone anal retentive like yours truly. You can find the full recipe at one of the host’s blogs above. You can also see all of my past Daring Baker Posts here. I served it with Creme Anglaise (Vanilla Sauce.)
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May 27, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Daring Bakers, Sweet Tooth

21 Critiques

Mawwiage is what bwings us towgethew

That is a Princess Bride quote for those who think my spell check is not working…

It’s been too long since my last post… I’ve been busy as usual. My brother and his longtime love got married this past weekend at a fabulous little boutique hotel, The Water Street Hotel in Apalachicola, FL. I spent almost a week up in Tallahassee with the family before the wedding, a nice relaxing vacation for me. It was a real treat for me to be a guest at a wedding and not photographing it like we do every weekend. I did make their cake, which I will share photos of soon, and Stephan did the photography. I haven’t seen the wedding pictures yet, as Stephan keeps them under wraps until he’s ready to unveil. Unfortunately, I fear that he got a picture of me doing “the ugly cry” when my bro and mom were dancing. Gosh darn it!

These cookies really have nothing to do with the post… I made them a few weeks ago and have yet to blog them. I purchased a big ass bag of almonds at Costco and will be including almonds in everything I cook for the next few months. I love almonds, so that will be just fine for me! These cookies are very similar to the snowball cookies, but I think have a better flavor since they contain almonds instead of pecans. They are very easy and quick to prepare… my kind of cookie!

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May 16, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Sweet Tooth

8 Critiques

Bulls Eye!

The daring baker challenge this month was cheesecake. We were given total creative freedom in this challenge, which I love! The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I ended up using a slightly different recipe, as I prefer to add sour cream instead of heavy cream to my cheesecake. Also, I wanted to make the bulls eye design that results from two different colored batters. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic before I cut into it… duh! But it still looks really cool with the layers. Lastly, I always bake my cheesecake at a low temperature (325 degrees) in a waterbath. I detest overcooked cheesecake!

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April 27, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Daring Bakers, Sweet Tooth

43 Critiques

Blondies Have More Fun

Its been a long time since I’ve made blondies. Years and years. I don’t understand why, though. They are SO easy and so tasty. Even more, my hubby loves the simplicity of them. Believe it or not, he doesn’t like the fancy cookies I make, and begs me to make “regular” cookies. So I’ve vowed to make more blondies in the future. The original recipe called for macadamia nuts, but my grocery store only carried salted macadamia nuts. Way too salty for a cookie, even when rinsed. Been there, done that. I found unsalted cashews and am so happy I did. They were a great flavor in the cookie… just as good as macadamia nuts. So you can use either one in the recipe.

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April 15, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Sweet Tooth

11 Critiques

Oh, Sweet Jesus

This is what said when I took my first bite of this decadent flourless chocolate cake that was our Daring Baker challenge this month. I plated up one serving before dinner (when the light is still good) for photo purposes only. We planned on eating it after we ate dinner, but I was compelled to take just one bite. We ended up eating the whole beauty plate instead. Talk about ruining your dinner!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge. Check out the other Daring Bakers here and all of my past challenges here.

I’ve made other flourless chocolate cakes, but this one turned out so light and yet so flavorful at the same time. I used a combination of dark and milk chocolate for my husband… He’s not a big fan of the bittersweet chocolate that I love so much. The combination was very tasty… not too sweet for me, and not too bitter for him. Marriage is all about compromise. This is one of the easiest desserts to make and yet so sophisticated, and I plan to make it again. Can you believe that only 3 ingredients go into it??? Crazy, eh? I served it with homemade vanilla ice cream, raspberry sauce and chocolate piped filigrees.

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March 1, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Daring Bakers, Sweet Tooth

24 Critiques

Time to Feed the Blog

I’ve been slacking on my blog. This is probably the longest I’ve gone without blogging. I’ve just been too darn busy lately and the first thing that gets pushed to the back burner is my blog. I work about 45-50 hours a week as an Insurance Agent (exciting… I know!) and then part time with my hubby for our business, Maloman Photographers. That leaves little time for the blog. Also, I refuse to blog anything I personally wouldn’t want to see… which is 99% of the quick dinners I make. Who wants to see grilled chicken teriyaki for the 15th time, or even worse… sandwiches again?? :P

So to get back into the swing of things, I made these cookies mainly to feed the blog. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Italian cookies made with cornmeal, so this was for me AND the blog. Stephan doesn’t care for cornmeal cookies, but he still eats them. They are not overly sweet, but have a fantastic clean buttery flavor and a lovely crunch. Perfect paired with a cup of coffee. I used dried cranberries instead of the raisins called for in the recipe. Great choice, not just for flavor, but gorgeous red color.

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February 26, 2009 | Filed Under Bakery, Sweet Tooth

13 Critiques

Tuile Cookies

When I saw the Daring Bakers challenge this month, I was stoked! As much as I enjoy the occasional time consuming multiple step dessert like last month, I knew this month would not be possible for such a feat. These tuile cookies were just up my alley. This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

I made several different shapes; long triangles that I shaped over a (washed) can, spirals that I shaped around a thin wooden spoon handle, spoons that I shaped on (obviously) spoons, and butterflies that I bent in half and set in a baking dish. I served them with home made raspberry and mango sorbets.

For this plate, I piped a few thin lines of melted chocolate in a crisscross pattern. After the chocolate set, I filled the center diamond with mango sauce that I slaved over. By slaving over, I put a spoonful of sorbet into a ramekin, set it on the counter… and let it melt. Voila… easiest mango sauce, ever.