Adventures in Pastry School January 26, 2012

So, I’ve been slacking a bit on this whole blog thing, but I have a really good reason: last October I started pastry school!  I am currently enrolled in a six month program at Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, and it is amazing.  I’m having so much fun and learning all sorts of new tricks.  There are days when I get frustrated with my abilities, or lack there of, but most days it’s a blast.  I can’t wait to go to class each day and see what I’m going to learn.  I don’t really have a lot of free time to write posts most days, so I’ve been saving up pictures of all of my finished products to share with you now.  Enjoy!

First Birthday Celebration October 20, 2011

The The Peanuts’ first birthday was last month and there mom has covered pretty much everything from the party onher blog, except for the cupcake recipes.  That was my job, and quite honestly, I’ve been slacking.  I posted right before the party about the Caramel Corn that I made, but never made it around to telling you about the amazing cupcakes.  We decided that we wanted to make three different cupcake toppers for the party: one with pictures of Ellisa, one with pictures of Hudson, and one with one of the first pictures taken of them together.  Since we were being so ambitious with the toppers, we decided that we needed three different cupcakes to go with them: Peanut Butter Cup with White Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting, a peanut butter cup tucked in the center, and chocolate jimmies on top; Double Chocolate with Cream Cheese Chocolate Ganache and white pearl sprinkles; and Orange with Cream Cheese frosting and circus peanuts.  The Double Chocolate and Orange are modified versions of my favorite cake recipe, but the Peanut Butter Cup was one that I tried for the first time, and I have to say that I was impressed.  It was like eating a giant peanut butter cookie.

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Here’s what you need:

cupcakes:

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup milk

18 full-sized peanut butter cups

frosting:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted

Here’s what you do:

cupcakes:

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Combine the dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Fill 18 paper-lined muffin cups about half  full.  Place one peanut butter cup on top of the batter, pressing it in slightly.  Cover with more batter filling the cups about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 26-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

frosting:

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl and mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl as you work.

Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

Slowly add in the white chocolate.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Here’s what you need:

cupcakes:

8 Tbls butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 pkg instant chocolate pudding mix

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1 Tbls vanilla

2 eggs

frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

8 Tbls butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

8 oz milk chocolate chips

3 Tbls heavy cream

Here’s what you do:

cupcakes:

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  In another bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine wet ingredients. Mix wet and dry ingredients alternately into the creamed mixture beginning and ending with the dry. Fill 12 paper-lined muffin cups and bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

frosting:

In a double boiler, combine chocolate chips and cream.  Heat on medium heat until melted, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar until evenly combined.

With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the melted chocolate.

Orange Cupcakes

Here’s what you need:

cupcakes:

8 Tbls butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup orange juice

zest of two oranges

1 1/4 cups flour

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

1 Tbls vanilla

2 eggs

frosting:

1 cup powdered sugar

6 oz cream cheese, room temperature

4 Tbls butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

Here’s what you do:

cupcakes:

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and orange zest.  In another bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine wet ingredients. Mix wet and dry ingredients alternately into the creamed mixture beginning and ending with the dry. Fill 12 paper-lined muffin cups and bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

frosting:

In a large bowl cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add vanilla.  Slowly add in the powdered sugar until evenly combined.

Zombie Apocalypse! …and a fruit salad September 13, 2011

Okay, so I know that the Zombocalypse has nothing to do with baking, or cooking at all for that matter considering zombies prefer their human flesh raw, but I figured my loyal blog readers (Hi, Mom!) wouldn’t mind if I deviated from my usual blogging theme to give you some great news.  My boyfriend has been working very diligently for the past few months to write a book, and it officially became alive today!  We’re super excited and can’t wait for everyone to read it.

G has always been a writer; he majored in English (not the teaching aspects of it, just English) in college and even has a master in the same.  His family and I have been privileged to read bits and pieces of his work over the years, and may of us (especially his brother) have been trying to convince him that he should publish his work.  It took me sending him this article about Amanda Hocking and her adventure in self publishing in the form of eBooks, to convince him that, not only could he publish his work, but that people would read it.  Especially since his book would be much better than her unedited, cliche young adult novels.  I’m not being judgmental here, I downloaded and read two of the books from her Trylle trilogy and they are full of grammatical mistakes and contradictions, but I have to admit that her characterizations are good and the story is of a popular theme.  She knows her audience and how to reach them despite her lack of proper editing skills and original ideas.  G figured that if this untrained girl could earn millions from her self-published eBooks, he might as well give it a try, and he did in the form of Zombies Ate My Film Fest, a novel set right here in Austin, Texas at one of our favorite film festivals, Fantastic Fest.

I was one of the lucky few to get to read an advanced copy of the novel to help him edit it, and I have to say that it is damn good.  The story is clever, funny, and has the right amount of action mixed with just a small hint of a love story.  His zombies are like none other I have seen before (and I have read a lot of zombie books), and the nerdy-ness of the protagonist makes him completely loveable, despite his cowardly faults.  I think fans of Fantastic Fest will love all of the references to the festival, it’s creators, and those who attend, but non-Fantastic Fest-ers will still find the story an entertaining and enjoyable read.

So, please visit G’s website and download the book; it will only cost you 99 cents!  If you don’t have an eBook device, don’t worry: you can install the Adobe Digital Editions onto your computer from Lulu before you download the novel.

***Update: G and his novel get mentioned by USA Today’s Pop Candy Blogger Whitney Matheson!***

***Further  Update: The Austin Post online wrote a front page article about the book!  Read it here.***

Now for all of you who stuck around long enough to read my advertising ploy, here’s a recipe for a Fruit Salad that I made this last 4th of July, but never managed to post:

My grandfather used to grow watermelon on his farm and, since we spent every 4th of July at his house (it was also his birthday), there were always plenty to go around.  My brothers, cousins, and I would sit on picnic tables and eat large wedges of the super ripe fruit still warm from the sun and have contests to see who could spit the seeds farther.  I never won, but would always participate because Grandpa told me that if I swallowed any seeds, I would grow a watermelon in my belly.  (Imagine my surprise the first time I saw a pregnant lady!)   Because of these memories, my 4th of July always includes watermelon.  This year it came in the form of a fruit salad.

Here’s what you need:

1  watermelon

1 pinapple

1 large package of grapes

juice and zest of two limes

Here’s what you do:

This really isn’t much of a recipe: you simply cut up all of your fruit (I left my grapes whole), mix it together with the zest and juice of two limes, and refrigerate until everything is nice and cold.

The hardest part about this salad is cutting up the pineapple, but I have a method that works every time.

1.  Cut off the top and bottom of the pinapple

2.  Stand the pineapple on the now flat bottom and slice down the sides with a serrated knife to remove the skin

3.  Cut the pineapple in half and then fourths

4.  Lay the fourths, cut side down, on the cutting board and cut in towards the center at an angle to remove the core

5.  Cube the pineapple flesh into bite sized pieces

Caramel Corn September 10, 2011

So, I’ve been out of contact for a while and, for that, I am sorry.  I’ve had a busy couple of months with surprisingly little baking, until now.  We’ve moved again; we’re still in the wonderful city of Austin, but in a much better location, and I’m really loving our new house.  The kitchen is a little dated, but there is lots of counter space and, my favorite thing, a double oven, which I have been putting to good use the last couple of days.  Our friends have twins and tomorrow is the little ones’ first birthday party.  I am super excited about this as their mother and I have been diligently meeting, planning, and crafting for the past three weeks or so.  (I must say that my Cricut machine has been put to very good use.)  It is going to be amazingly adorable, and I get to make almost all of the baked goods!  Everyone refers to the twins as “The Peanuts” so the majority of the food at this birthday extravaganza is going to involve peanuts, including this amazing Caramel Corn.

Here’s what you need:

7 cups plain popcorn, popped

2 cups peanuts

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Here’s what you do:

Place the popped popcorn into two greased baking pans.  I used disposable roasting pans.  Add the peanuts to the popcorn.  Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.  Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Bring to boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.

Remove the caramel mixture from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.  The mixture will become lighter and foamy.  Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat.  Don’t worry about getting all of the corn coated; the caramel will spread out as you bake and stir it.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Line your counter top with waxed paper.  Pour the caramel corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces.  Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers.

Strawberry-Lemon Tart and a Birthday Celebration July 17, 2011

Today is a very special and exciting day: my boyfriend’s little sister is turning 24, and she loves to celebrate!  Now, I know that everyone loves their birthday, but JW really loves her birthday, and that makes the anticipation of the day so much more exciting.  Thanks to her boyfriend’s careful planning, the celebrations started last night with a Master Pancake show and will come to an end on Sunday in the form of seeing the last Harry Potter.  Between the bookends of two great viewing experiences there are a multitude of activities and surprises.  One of which is this Strawberry-Lemon Tart and I have no doubt that she will love it, after all,  her favorite flavor of dessert is lemon.

This tart was created by combining a few of my favorite recipes: the crust is from one of my favorite blogs Dessert First and the lemon curd is an Ina Garden recipe.  I covered the top in a fruit glaze to keep the strawberries fresh and give everything a nice sheen.  I have to say that I am really happy with how it turned out.

Happy 24th birthday, JW!

Thanks for being the little sister I never had, but always wanted.  You are truly an amazing person and I am grateful to have you in my life.

Bourbon Celebration May 26, 2011

When asked what baked good he wanted for his birthday, my friend CP replied, “A bottle of bourbon.”  I immediately thought, I can do that.   And I did.  In the form of a Chocolate Bourbon Cake decorated with Candied Bourbon Pecans and accompanied by Bourbon Ice Cream.  It was a bourbon dessert feast, and it was amazing.  I knew I wanted a cake that was rich without being too sweet with a dense, tight crumb.  So, I modified my favorite cake recipe by adding cocoa, vanilla pudding mix, and bourbon, of course.  The pudding mix might sound like an odd addition, but it is a great way to make cakes more dense similar to a torte.  I have to say that I’m not much of an alcohol in cake person.  I typically think that the alcohol can be overwhelming, but the bourbon in this cake gave the chocolate a warm spice flavor that was quite enjoyable.

Here’s what you need:

for the cake:

8 Tbls butter

3/4 cup sugar

zest of 2 clementines

1/4 cup bourbon

1 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 pkg instant vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk

1 Tbls vanilla

2 eggs

for the toppings

(glaze)

1 cup powdered sugar

3 Tbls bourbon

(candied pecans)

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup milk

1 10 oz pkg pecan halves

2 Tbls vanilla

1 oz bourbon

Here’s what you do:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare one round cake pan by spraying with non-stick spray and lining with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and clementine zest.  Stir in bourbon.

In another bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine wet ingredients.

Mix wet and dry ingredients alternately into the creamed mixture beginning and ending with the dry.

Pour into prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Glaze:

Once cake is cool, combine the powdered sugar and bourbon stirring until smooth and drizzle over the cake.

Candied Pecans:

In a medium sauce pan, combine salt, sugar, cinnamon, and milk.  Bring to boil over medium heat stirring occasionally.  Continue to boil the candy mixture until it reaches soft ball stage, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and bourbon, then pecans.

Immediately spread pecan mixture onto a wax paper lined surface and separate using two forks.  This makes more pecans than you will need for decorating, but you will be glad to have the extra.  They are a bit addictive.

Decorate the top of the cake with candied pecans and some additional clementine zest.

Serve with Homemade Bourbon Ice Cream.

A Thank You and Some Homemade S’mores April 11, 2011

As I’m sure you remember, on March 30th I contributed to an online bake sale that was being organized by Sabrina over at The Tomato Tart to benefit earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis victims in Japan.  Despite some technical difficulties with her site on the day of the bake sale, we still managed to not only meet the goal that Sabrina set, but triple it!  Every single item sold and the Online Bake Sale for Japan managed to raise $8,269 to be donated to Second Harvest Japan!  Raising this amount of money is truly amazing.  I’m completely overwhelmed by the charity of others; everyone who participated, from the bakers to the bidders, contributed to the success of this bake sale and I am truly thankful for having been a part of it.  That being said, if you bid on something for the bake sale and did not win, you can still donate to the cause.  Sabrina set up a fundraising site over at Give Forward that will continue to raise money until June 10th.  She has set a new goal of $10,000.  Anything you could spare would be greatly appreciated as Second Harvest Japan will contribute $1,000 in food for every $100 donated.  That means if we manage to raise $10,000, they will donate $100,000 worth of food, which is a staggering amount.

I would like to thank everyone who bid, especially Angele, Karen E., Julie, Karen S., Tali, Kim, and Rose for their winning bids.  Thank you ladies for contributing to a good cause!  I will be sending out your sweet treats soon.  If you were one of my winning bidders and don’t see your name here, that’s because Sabrina hasn’t received your paypal yet.  Be sure to send it soon or contact Sabrina at bakesale@thetomatotart.com.

So, that was the Thank You, now on to the S’mores!

One of the items that I contributed to the bake sale was Homemade S’mores.  Now, one could argue that all s’mores are homemade, but I deem these “homemade” because they start with the Homemade Marshmallows recipe from one of my favorite dessert cookbooks Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.  I love this cookbook because it is filled with tons of goodies that truly live up to the title.  My only wish is that it had more pictures: I love a cookbook that has a picture to go with every recipe. After I made these for the first time, I decided that homemade marshmallows are a necessity in life; they are just so much better than store-bought.  They’re soft and pillowy and just slightly chewy, plus you can cut them into any shape you want.  (I prefer stars.)  Homemade S’mores are the most requested sweet from all of my friends: I make them for Christmas, birthdays, graduations, random Tuesdays, any occasion I can think of.  The marshmallow aspect of the S’mores is a bit labor intensive (you need to use a stand mixer because they have to beat for 15 minutes and the completed marshmallows have to set for 8-12 hours before cutting), but the time it takes is completely worth the end result.

Here’s what you need:

marshmallows:

1 cup cold water

3 Tbls unflavored gelatin

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbls vanilla

cornstarch and powdered sugar for dusting

s’mores:

graham crackers

chocolate almond bark

Here’s what you do:

Generously dust a large jelly roll pan with cornstarch and set a side.  If you prefer thicker marshmallows, use a 13×9 cake pan.  Pour 1/2 up cold water into the bowl of a stand mixture and sprinkle in the gelatin allowing it to absorb all of the water.  This will take about 45 minutes.

While gelatin is absorbing, combing the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a large saucepan.  Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.  Increase the heat to high and let the mixture come to a boil.  Cook the syrup, without stirring, until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove the syrup from the heat and slowly beat it into the dissolved gelatin with the whisk attachment on your stand mixer on low speed.  Increase the mixer to high and continue beating until the mixture is very thick and white but still warm, about 15 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla.  (You could use a handheld mixer, if you want, but 15 minutes is a long time.  Believe me I have tried.)

Pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out with a spatula or your hands.  It works best if you spray your hands with cooking spray and slowly pat it out.  Dust the top with powdered sugar.

Let the marshmallows stand, uncovered at room temperature, for 8-12 hours to firm up.  Cut into squares or fun shapes.

In a glass bowl, melt 5 to 6 squares of chocolate almond bark according to microwave directions on package.

Line your work surface with waxed paper and prepare your graham crackers.

One at a time, dip the top of each graham cracker in the melted almond bark, lay chocolate-side-up on the waxed paper, and immediately place one marshmallow on top of the chocolate.  Let the s’mores cool until set and store in an air-tight container.