So since I have once again hurt my ankle I thought it might be best to try and find a way to strengthen it without re-injuring it. My PT suggested that I find a arthritis water walking class. As luck would have it, my gym offers this 6 times a week. I like that it is offered frequently, I don’t like however that 4 of those 6 days are at 9am. I am not a morning person and it shows when I show up in the morning. Anyway, I’m probably 30 years younger than the next person in the class but they are a lot of fun and I think I have somehow become the mascot of sorts. I feel bad that I move quicker than them and I sometimes drowned the poor lady next to me(I’m working on not doing that). Half of them are not there to really exercise at all. You see them gather and chat about whatever gossip they can round up…I guess at any age, it’s fun to gossip. . Yesterday when I was handing one of them a pool noodle she said to me “you are such a peach.” I’m hoping this is a good thing but of course, like a non-normal person, all I could think of was peaches and how I had not made anything with peaches in quite some time. Now, this is with good reason, it hasn’t been peach season. It still isn’t fully but it didn’t keep me from experimenting. These are pretty sweet, but I like sugar. You can use less sugar if you don’t like your muffins as sweet as Pea the sugar addict.
I had originally thought I would just stay in the class for a month and then move on but I have come to enjoy it and so I think I will keep the afternoon classes as part of my routine…you know, so I can stay up on the gossip.

Peach Pecan Muffins 

3/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
2 TBSP canola oil
2 medium peaches, peeled, and diced
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Sift together almond meal, flours, salt and baking soda. Place into a electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. In a separate bowl whisk together egg, vanilla extract, brown sugar and oil. Pour egg mixture into the mixer bowl and mix on medium speed just until incorporated. Add sour cream/and or yogurt and mix just till blended. Take bowl off of mixer and fold in peaches and pecans.
Scoop(I use and ice cream scoop) muffin mix into tins, filling them ¾ of the way full. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of muffins if so desired.
Bake 400F for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.

A blog I frequent, Coconut and Lime, is celebrating it’s 3rd anniversary. To help celebrate, Rachel ask people to make something using coconut and lime. I thought this was a fun idea and so I whipped up some coconut and key lime blondies. They are sort of blondies, sort of cake….actually somewhere in between. Either way, they were moist with a nice flavor…though next time even more key lime juice…I like them tart. The size of the pan is important, for when other people tried to make the blondie that I was inspired by a 9 x 13 inch pan did not work…you need the 9 x9 inch.
Anyway, I wish Rachel a happy blogging birthday and hope these brighten her day.

Key Lime Coconut Blondies

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 TBSP key lime juice
3/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9×9x2-inch metal baking pan with aluminum foil, extending foil over sides by 2 inches. Butter and flour foil. Whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then key lime juice. Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in shredded coconut. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
Bake dessert until top is golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Decorate with melted white chocolate if desired. Cut into 16 squares and serve.

Makes 16 blondies.

Adapted from a raspberry and pecan blondie recipe on Epicurious.com

This time around, Daring Bakers Helen(Tartelette) and Anita(Dessert First) chose a multi step cake for us. One that made a more than a few DB’s nervous.
When you have as many Daring Bakers as we do now, you need to do something with your dessert to make it stand out a little among the others. I wanted to go miniature, but I knew so would a lot of people. So I decided I should take one more step to stand out, I made mine rectangular. It worked out nicely as you have no extra puff pastry dough to throw away.
If I had to do things over, I would use store bought puff pastry. Not because it is particularly hard to make puff pastry(just time consuming) but because I don’t have the freezer space to store it. And I just can’t throw away extra puff pastry that took hours to make. So in retrospect, just buying one box of it would be the way to go.
The only changes I made were with the cream puffs. I had run out of all-purpose flour by the time it came to make the puffs and I was too lazy to go to the store. Since the recipe I use the most for choux has bread flour in it, I used that instead. They tend to hold their shape better in my opinion when you use the bread or hard flour. I also of course had to make the cream puffs very small to fit onto the mini rectangle. If you choose to do this, my cream puffs were piped to about the size of a dime. I did not fill them with cream, there was enough cream on this cake already.
I have made one of these before so it wasn’t that daunting to me. It was much nicer this time around since someone was not standing over my shoulder judging me this time. This time I just had a little furry dog under my feet waiting for something to fall
To see all the different ways the Daring Bakers made their Gateau Saint Honore please visit all the sites listed on my Daring Bakers blog roll.

Gateau Saint Honore is built upon the followwing pastry items:
Puff pastry, Pate a Choux (Cream Puff Dough), Saint Honore Cream, caramel and whipped cream.
Pate a Choux ¢â¬â€œ Cream Puffs Dough
4 ¾ oz. all purpose flour (135 gr)
1 cup water ( 240 ml)
2 oz unsalted butter (58 gr)
¼ tsp. salt (1 gr)
1 cup eggs (240 ml)

Sift the flour and set aside. Heat the water, butter and salt to a full rolling boil, so that the fat is not just floating on the top but is dispersed throughout the liquid. Stir the flour into the liquid with a heavy wooden spoon, adding it as fast as it can be absorbed. Avoid adding it all at once or it will form clumps. Cook, stirring constantly and breaking up the lumps if necessary, by pressing them against the side of the pan with the back of the spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer the dough to a mixer bowl. Let the paste cool slightly so that the eggs will not cook when they are added. You can add and stir the eggs by hand but it requires some serious elbow grease.Mix in the eggs, one at a time, using the paddle attachment on low or medium speed. Do not add all the eggs at once. Check after a few, the dough should have the consistency of thick mayonnaise.Transfer the dough to a piping bag and use as desired.

Pate Feuillete ¢â¬â€œ Puff Pastry:
Makes about 2 1/2 pounds.
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface (420 gr)
3/4 cup cake flour (105 gr)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (7 gr)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, well chilled (60 gr)
1 1/4 cups cold water (295.5 ml)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (14 gr)
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, well-chilled (405 gr)
1/ Make the dough package: In a large mixing bowl, combine both flours with the salt. Scatter butter pieces over the flour mixture; using your fingers or a pastry cutter, incorporate butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2/ Form a well in center of mixture, and pour the water into well. Using your hands, gradually draw flour mixture over the water, covering and gathering until mixture is well blended and begins to come together. Gently knead mixture in the bowl just until it comes together to form a dough, about 15 seconds. Pat dough into a rough ball, and turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly, and place in refrigerator to chill 1 hour.
3/ Make the butter package: Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon flour on a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Place uncut sticks of butter on top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon flour. Top with another sheet of paper; using a rolling pin, pound butter to soften and flatten to about 1/2 inch. Remove top sheet of paper, and fold butter package in half onto itself. Replace top sheet of paper, and pound again until butter is about A inch thick. Repeat process two or three times, or until butter becomes quite pliable. Using your hands, shape butter package into a 6-inch square. Wrap well in plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator until it is chilled but not hardened, no more than 10 minutes.
4/ Assemble and roll the dough: Remove dough package from refrigerator, and place on a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, gently roll dough into a 9-inch round. Remove butter package from refrigerator, and place it in the center of the dough round. Using a paring knife or bench scraper, lightly score the dough to outline the butter square; remove butter, and set it aside. Starting from each side of the center square, gently roll out dough with the rolling pin, forming four flaps, each 4 to 5 inches long; do not touch the raised square in the center of the dough. Replace butter package on the center square. Fold flaps of dough over the butter package so that it is completely enclosed. Press with your hands to seal.
5/ Using the rolling pin, press down on the dough at regular intervals, repeating and covering the entire surface area, until it is about 1 inch thick. Gently roll out the dough into a large rectangle, about 9 by 20 inches, with one of the short sides closest to you. Be careful not to press too hard around the edges, and keep the corners even as you roll out the dough by squaring them with the side of the rolling pin or your hands. Brush off any excess flour. Starting at the near end, fold the rectangle in thirds as you would a business letter; this completes the first single turn.Wrap in plastic wrap; place in refrigerator 45 to 60 minutes.
6/ Remove dough from refrigerator, and repeat process in step 5, giving it five more single turns.Always start with the flap opening on the right as if it were a book. Mark the dough with your knuckle each time you complete a turn to help you keep track. Chill 1 hour between each turn. After the sixth and final turn, wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight before using.
 
Saint Honore Cream (Rapid Chiboust or Diplomat Cream)
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (7 gr.)
1/4 cup cold water (60 ml)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons sugar (130 gr)
½ cup all-purpose flour (70 gr)
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk (500ml)
1 Tb. rum
¼ cup whipping cream (57 gr)
3 egg whitesdash of salt
1/2 cup sugar (105 gr)
Soak the gelatin in the 1/4 cup of cold water.
Put the sugar, flour, and salt into a saucepan and stir together with a whisk. Add the yolks and enough milk to make a paste. Whisk in the remainder of the milk. Place over low heat and stirring constantly, cook until thick. Remove from heat and stir in the rum and the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.Stir in the whipping cream. Set the mixing bowl in cold water and stir until the cream is cool. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and using clean beaters, whip them with the dash of salt. As soon as the whites begin to stiffen, gradually add the 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until they are very stiff. Fold the egg whites into the cooled cream.

Caramel:8 oz sugar (240 gr)Assembly:

Roll the puff pastry out to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick, 12 inch square (30 cm). Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate covered at least 20 minutes.While the puff pastry is resting, make the pate a choux and place it in a pastry bag with a # 4 (8mm) plain tip. Reserve.Leaving the puff pastry on the sheet pan, cut a 11 inch (27.5 cm) circle from the dough and remove the scraps. (An easy way to cut it is to use a 11inch tart pan as a “cookie cutter”). Prick the circles lightly with a fork. Pipe 4 concentric rings of Pate a Choux on the pastry circle. Pipe out 12 cream puffs the size of Bing cherries onto the paper around the cake. Bake the puff pastry circle and the cream puffs at 400F (205C) until the pate a choux has puffed, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375F (190C) and bake until everything is dry enough to hold its shape, about 35 minutes longer for the cake and 8 minutes longer for the cream puffs (just pick them up and take them out as they are done)Place about 4 oz (114 gr) of the Saint Honore Cream in a pastry bag with a #2 (4mm) plain tip. Use the pastry bag tip or the tip of a paring knife to make a small hole in the bottom of each cream puff. Pipe the cream into the cream puffs to fill them. Refrigerate.Spread the remaining cream filling on the cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set the cream.
Caramelize the 8 oz. of sugar:Fill a bowl that is large enough to hold the pan used for cooking the sugar with enough cold water to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Set the bowl aside.Place the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook until the sugar until it has caramelized to just a shade lighter than the desired color. Remove from the heat and immediately place the bottom of the pan in the bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Dip the cream puffs into the hot caramel, using 2 forks or tongues to avoid burning your fingers. Place them on a sheet pan. The caramel must be hot enough to go on in a thin layer. Reheat if necessary as you are dipping, stirring constantly to avoid darkening the caramel any more than necessary. Also, avoid any Saint Honore cream to leak out of the puffs and get mixed in with the caramel while dipping as the cream can cause the sugar to recrystalize.
Whip one cup of heavy cream and teaspoon of sugar to stiff peaks. Place the whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with a #5 (10mm) star tip. Pipe a border of whipped cream around the top of the cake. Arrange the cream puffs, evenly spaced, on top of the filling, next to the cream.

Option: Before filling the cake, take care of the cream puffs, dip them in more caramel, hook them up to the base. Fill with the cream filling and fill the holes with the whipped cream.

One of my daily reads and all round good person, Kristen of Kristen’s Home Cooking had an interview about her up on her site. I have seen these floating around on a few people’s blogs but I bought the bullet and decided to let Kristen come up with some question to ask me. She actually asked me 8 and then told me to pick 5, so I did.

 1. Everyone is dying to know, when did your husband learn of your skills in the kitchen? Did you hold out, or win him early on when dating? What is his MOST favorite thing you make?

I did not cook dinner for him until we were living together. Now keep in mind we met October 5, were engaged by November and moved in together in January and were married by March. I had a super busy schedule back then and a super crappy apartment kitchen so I/we ate out a lot. When we were first together I was always offering to make him cookies and what not but he said he preferred store bought(which is what he ate most of his life). I of course could not handle that. I made him cookies. He said they were good and that is about it. However, once we were living together and married, he was getting them all the time. I decided to stop making them(just to see if he would miss them). He went about 2 weeks on store bought and asked me if I could go back to making him cookies. Other than Oreo’s and Circus cookies, we don’t do store bought. Sadly his MOST favorite thing I make him is sloppy joes. Again, he always just had the can mix, so fresh ones were a new concept to him. Justin is so not a foodie and has very simple tastes. He eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich EVERY WEEKDAY for lunch.
 

2. What is the No. 1 food you just can’t stand no matter what, and what is the No. 1 food you really can’t imagine life without?

 About the only food I can’t stand is the food I am allergic too. I also can’t stand lemon grass. I am not sure if I am allergic to it or what, but every time I put it in my mouth I vomit, literally. So I try to stay away from that.
I am going to have to go with sugar. I gave it up for a year once, for a bet, to see if I could do it. Everyone told me how it would kick my addiction to sugar. Guess what, not one of those 365 days did I not want sugar…so much for that theory. I was the crankiest I ever was that year and I actually gained 12 pounds because I was eating extra things trying to compensate for not eating sugar.

3. You were a teacher, right? Well, they say that it takes one to know one, so tell us in your own words and ideas what we can do in America to fix some of the problems with today’s teacher shortage and struggling schools?

Stop putting emphasis on tests. When I left teaching my kids were taking 3 major tests. All of which they had to spend hours and hours of class time focusing on how to take the test, how to guess better if you didn’t know how to answer the question and how to bubble properly. A complete waste. The kids don’t get recess anymore except at lunch. They don’t allow you to do frivolous things anymore with the kids. And by frivolous I mean things like do an art project with the kids(that is what art class is for…sadly they only get art for 40 minutes once every 6 days).
Education today is of the mindset that all children must live the “American Dream” and go to college. Well, some kids aren’t made for college. I am a strong supporter of trade type high schools. We have many talented kids who drop out of school simply because they don’t fit into the reading, writing and mathematics box that they try to shove everyone into. Some kids will never get algebra but they can fix my car, play guitar, bake a cake, build a tractor from scratch, rewire my house, cut my hair, design flowers and graphically design my website.
And lastly, probably one of the main reasons I left teaching is lack of teacher support. Back when I was in school, if the teacher called my parents and said that my brothers(I was an angel and never got in trouble…for real ) my parents believed what the teacher said. Not so now a days. Parents don’t want to believe their child did anything wrong. I had a student once stab a kid with a broken protractor and then PEE on him. He was in my homeroom so, even though it did not happen in my classroom, it was my responsibility to call the parent. When I tell the parent this, they aren’t mortified like I expect them to be, instead they turn it around on me. You know, my son tells me you are a horrible teacher and that you said the word crap last week. I calmly tried to explain that I would talk about my teaching style and word choices with them at another time, but that for now we needed to focus on what their son had done. They of course would not and I had to pawn them off on my poor vice principal. This is sadly more the norm now a days than the exception.

4. Do you have any regrets in life?

None. I am a firm believer in that every mistake(and I have made a lot) and choice you makes you the person you are today.
 

5. How did you learn about blogging? When did you discover food blogs? How long did it take you to start yours after learning about blogs?

I came across a food blog one day. I’m 97.23 % sure it was the Domestic Goddess website. I instantly fell in love with the idea of food blogging. I called my husband into the room and pointed at the screen and said, “I wanted to do that.” He said okay and within 48 hours, I had a blog. It started off slowly and we didn’t own a camera at the time and so I didn’t update it very much since I felt like something was missing without the photos. So we went down to Circuit City when they had a sale and bought my cheapo Nikon Coolpix 4600 for $100 and started taking photos. Really, really bad photos. Then one day I broke down and asked Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice how she takes such nice photos. As luck would have it we own pretty much the same camera but hers has more bells and whistles. She did a nice job of teaching me the basics and I then took it upon myself to learn a little bit about photography. It’s really only been in this last year that I have focused on my blog…and I have the thighs to prove it!

So there you have it folks. I little more insight in to my slightly twisted world.

Do you want to be interviewed? Here are the directions:
1. Leave a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. Beware, I may ask personal questions! Please make sure I have your email address.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.