While going through my Google Reader one day I ran into gorgeous looking cashew bars on Bake or Break. I notice that they were from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. Oh my, how good those looked. And then all I could think of was, where is my copy? Hurry up stupid mail. Then, as if someone was listening, there in my mail that day was my copy. Ah. I quickly thumbed through it as I do with all cookbooks and I write down right away what sticks out at me. Those cashew bars(Butterscotch Cashew Bars to be exact) did. I will make them. Granola Breakfast Cookies, which I will be making next. Bee Stings which are Melissa's answer to doughnuts...she has no fryer at her bakery. The Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake with Blackberry Glaze sounded very Pacific Northwest so I flagged that one too. But the one I knew I wanted to make right away were the Chestnut Honey Madeleines. You see, ever since I bought those pans I am always looking for a good madeleines recipe. I found one. What caught my eye was … [Read more...]
Fear Factor….
Baking with yeast. Check. Setting food on fire. Check. Tempering eggs. Check. Yes, this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe covered a lot of people's cooking/baking fears...all in one stinking recipe. Who was this bitch that chose it?...oh yeah, that was me. :P I wanted the TWD gals/guys to push past their comfort zone and possibly catch their kitchens on fire(none did that I know of). I wanted them to feel truly accomplished when they finished this one. And when they are done, they will have possibly added a few techniques that they had never done before. This weeks recipe, Brioche Raisin Snails, could quite possibly give you a heart attack for breakfast...but oh, what a way to go. I had made Dorie's brioche recipe a few times, so I knew it was a winner, but I had yet to make the raisin snails. Knowing that my uber-picky husband would not be eating these because they had pastry cream, I made them in a flavor I wanted....tangerine/Grand Marnier. Instead of rum, I used the orange … [Read more...]
Something I almost never do…
I try very hard to make sure that the majority of the ingredients I use on this blog can be found, all be it with maybe a little research, by most everyone(well in the States and Canada). However, when I finally broke down and bought the chocolate covered sunflower seeds at Trader Joe's I knew I would be making something with them. If you don't have a Trader Joe's near you, then I am sorry. It really is one of my favorite places to shop for food. What used to just be the place where hippies shopped for their Vegetarian and Organic foods, the Yuppies of today have joined right in. And what is even better is that Joe's carries high quality foods for much cheaper prices. They have great cheeses, carry Plugra butter for a decent price, my organic milk and my most favorite trail mix, the Temptation Mix. No I am not doing a commercial for them, nor are they paying me to do so, I just love them so. I passed those chocolate sunflower seeds a dozen times, choosing not to buy them because I … [Read more...]
Kiss Me, I’m Scottish-Canadian…
I will admit that it doesn't quite roll off the tongue as saying Kiss Me, I'm Irish...but it's what I have to work with. I was not a beer fan until college. I was dating a boy(well, man) who was very, very into beer. He often drank what I referred to as motor oil beer. Beer up to that point is that piss colored stuff that you paid too much for at hockey games or the piss colored stuff they handed to you at Frat parties...either way, not so good. At his urging(or maybe it was just his smile :) ), I gave that motor oil a try...and you know what, I was hooked. From that point on, the darker the beer the better. I had a special place in my heart for stouts, especially the chocolate ones. So when I saw that Emiline over at Sugar Plum was hosting an event called The Saint Patty's Day Pub Crawl, and that alcohol was to be in your food, I immediately thought of stout. Now I have seen quite a few cakes made with stout so I knew that I wanted to do something a little different. My favorite … [Read more...]
