So I got lots of comments about how “perfect” my bagels looked. I tried to post back to people that those were only the “good” ones. Trust me there were some not so great ones. So I thought I would showcase something I am horrible at making....pie. I think I am so bad at it because I just really don't like pie all that much. I would much rather have a grunt, a Betty or a cobbler before I would reach for a pie. The only exception being Key Lime Pie, which I refuse to make at home because I would eat it all the time. So my pie making skills are less than spectacular. My crust is hit or miss. I am a bad pincher when I go around the crust, always uneven and usually have fingernail marks in it. The filling I always seem to do okay with but put it all together and it just isn't exciting. Case in point, my very gloppy chocolate cream pie....imperfection galore. Now granted it does taste good but definitely anything less than photogenic. My filling is a combo of … [Read more...]
Bagelmania
Bagelmania is here courtesy of the Daring Bakers(Freya and Jenny to be exact). This month's challenge was to make, as the recipe says, Real Honest Purist's Bagels. Now it has been a few years since I made bagels, and it had been a really long time since I made plain bagels. I like most people buy their bagels. But it is fun to do and if you have never made them before it is definitely something you should add to your list of things to learn to do. One thing many of the daring bakers learned during this task was that though you think you don't need anymore flour, you are to use all of the flour! For me, my quirks were that I only had one sink(a rebel no doubt) while the rest just floated. They should sink and then float...gracefully according to the recipe. Well there was nothing graceful about how my one bagel floated to the top. My other problem was that I did this rushed and so I did not really pay attention to the fact that during half proofing they pretty much whole proofed … [Read more...]
Basque in it’s glory….
There are some recipes I always say I am going to make, every time I pass it in the cookbook, yet never do. I know you do this too. I have hundreds of “must make” neglected recipes. So while flipping through American Boulangerie I ran across my giant pink sticky note starring me down. There was a beautiful custard filled cake that I have told my self a dozen times I would make. As it would happen I recently received a jar of homemade black cherry jam...and well, the recipe calls for black cherry jam. The light bulb went off above my head and I set out to make this south of France treat. My first problem was that I had no flan ring. I used a 4 ½-inch spring form pan(to make 2 of them). So my top crust was WAY more thick than it should be(not that it was a real problem, it just didn't look like the top in the cookbook). If you are a pastry cream fan, you will enjoy this dessert, as the majority of it is pastry cream or as I like to call it “next pants size up please … [Read more...]
It came and went….
...and I didn't even notice it, my 2 year blog anniversary that is. So very hard for me to believe that it has been 2 years. It really only seems like a year to me because I didn't really start getting into my blog until last Summer. I hope I've accomplished what I set out to achieve...provide yummy recipes that people would not be intimidated to make. Oh sure there are far better sites than mine that make fantastic looking desserts(that are so impractical for the everyday person to make) so I made it my goal that everyone reading my blog could easily make about 85% of the food I put on here. Oh sure occasionally I slip back to my pastry roots and go a little overboard but for the most part I “try” to keep on the doable side. So with that I chose a very simple yet tasty coffee cake to celebrate my 2 year blog anniversary. A recipe courtesy of everybody's beloved Dorie Greenspan. I made this to take to “coffee chat,” a monthly event they have for the seniors at … [Read more...]
