Before moving to Washington, I thought nothing of the sun. We had it all the time in Phoenix. It was hot all the time, it was miserable all the time. That is one of the main reasons I moved to Washington. I like rain. I knew it rained here. And so you never hear me complain about the rain. But boy oh boy do my friends. A lot. They say it’s not so much the rain as it is the gray. I like gray as well. Gray is wear comfy clothing while sitting on you couch curled up with hot chocolate and a book weather. As where the sun is the opposite.
My friends are often shocked when they ask me how I spent the gorgeous sunny weekend. Indoors. “But the sun was out.” (Excellent observation…good to see that college education paying off). Very aware the sun was out. I was in it briefly, it caused my eczema to break out. Awesome.
The sun makes me think I should be doing something. People are out boating (we don’t own a boat), hiking (not really my thing, I keep trying but it’s not taking), exercising (I like to do mine where there is A/C thank you very much), etc… I don’t want to feel like I have to do something on the weekend just because a big, yellow ball in the sky is telling me to.
I think what I hate most of all is people’s attitudes. I will often read a fellow Seattle dwellers Facebook update about them having a bad day. And sure enough some will post the phrase I can’t stand…”yeah, but the sun is out today, so it can’t be all that bad”. Yeah, bummer that you were at your dad’s funeral, but hey, the sun it out. Really? I just don’t find the sun all that mythical. It’s not curing cancer here people…in fact, if you are in it too much, it will give you f-ing cancer. Get over it. When you are having a good day, I don’t say to you…yeah, but it’s raining.
Since I obviously want rain, it got me in the mood for some Scottish shortbread, since they get some rain too…from time to time. I decided to make it into more of a toffee than an actual shortbread. It’s one step above ghetto toffee, which is also good.

Brown Sugar Toffee Bars

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup rice flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp almond extract
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces almonds, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Spray baking spray in a 9-x-13-inch pan.
Using a standing electric mixer, beat 1 cup butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add brown sugar and beat on medium high until fully incorporated.
Add in almond extract and beat for 30 seconds on medium-high.
Turn mixer to low speed and mix in flours and salt. Press dough into prepared pan, it will be thin, you want it to be.
Bake until shortbread is brown, firm at edges and slightly soft in center, about 30 minutes.
Take shortbread out of oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the shortbread. Place back in oven for 3 minutes.
Remove from oven and using a spatula, spread the chocolate out evenly over the shortbread. Sprinkle the almond pieces on top of the chocolate.
Let cool. Place in freezer for 10 minutes (helps with the cutting). Cut into 1-ounce rectangles.

Dear Kirstie Ally,
How brave it was of you to go on to Oprah and push your new weight loss program. The one you haven’t actually lost much weight on, but plan to. The one where you claim you are going to lose it all by November of this year.
I’m actually all in favor of this WILL going to happen stuff, that is why I am writing you. I plan on inventing something really great. I can’t tell you what it is yet (just like you can’t tell us what your diet is…knew you would understand). Since my great idea is going to make me a ton of money, I thought that you could loan me the money up front and I could pay you back in November. How’s that working for you?
Peabody

Ah, Kirstie. I am so tired of hearing how brave she was to show people she was fat again. She is not brave, she needs money. She wanted to promote her soon to be new weight loss program (run, don’t walk to buy that crap).
Kirstie is the shinning example of why people should never say the phrase “I’ll never be that weight/size again” because reality is, you might be. I cringe when they say it on the Biggest Loser, I cringe when Oprah says it, I cringe when my friends say it. It’s not that I don’t want any of these people to keep the weight off, it’s just been a pattern. Food is not the issue with most people…though it is for me (love me some food).
Which is why I am such a love yourself where you are at this moment kind of person. Fat, skinny, tall, short (or fun sized as I like to call myself), bald, hairy, you name it. It’s you, please celebrate that.
And I am not quite sure why society is so obsessed with it anyway. I mean, let’s take the other yo-yo dieter of the world, Oprah. Why does she feel the need to come out and apologize for packing on the stress weight? She is a busy woman, she’s bound to stress eat from time to time.
And what about the opposite? Lindsay Lohan, she’s melting away. I’m quite sure the magazines that are snapping her photos aren’t doing it out of concern for her health. She broke up with someone. She’s sad. She’s dropped weight. Pretty much every girl I know who breaks up with someone drops a few pounds afterwards. Why should we be concerned. If it is an unhealthy weight for her let the people around her who are her friends and family deal with it.
If Lindsay does want to pack on a few pounds though, this little dessert can help her out. It’s very deceiving in the fact that it is very light to taste, but with heavy cream and cream cheese, light is not exactly how one might want to describe it. The best part is, no baking and can be made ahead of time. Perfect for say a Memorial Day celebration. This originally was a key lime mousse cake but I couldn’t find any, and wanted fresh. So I switched to lemon. I also switched out the graham crackers for gingersnaps to give it a little more of a bite.
Hope everyone enjoys your holiday (if you celebrate it) weekend. Be safe!

Lemon Cream Cheese Mousse Cake

Crust:
2 cups crushed gingersnaps
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
2 TBSP brown sugar

Filling:

6 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 envelope (about 2 ¼ tsp) unflavored gelatin
2 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, divided
10 ounces white chocolate, chopped
24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP lemon zest

For the crust:
In a medium bowl, combine the gingersnaps, butter, and sugar. Press into the bottom and 1-inch up sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For the filling:
In a large bowl, combine the lemon juice and gelatin; let stand for 2 minutes.
Bring ½ cup cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add white chocolate, stirring until smooth. Stir in the gelatin mixtures, and allow to cool.
In a large bowl (or use a stand mixer), beat cream cheese, sugar, and lemon zest at medium speed with an electric mixer until combined.
Slowly beat cooled white chocolate mixture into the cream cheese mixture.
In a large bowl, beat remaining cups cream at high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold into white chocolate mixture, and pour into prepared springform pan.
Cover and freeze overnight.
Remove from freezer and gently run a knife around the edges of the pan to release the crust from the side of the pan.
Garnish with chocolate curls.
Cut into wedges with a knife that has been dipped into hot water.

Adapted from Best Desserts: Paula’s Favorite Sweets by Paula Dean Magazine

I came back from hiatus only to take another one. This one wasn’t planned though. Working more and therefore having little time for blogging. Have lots of things made just no time to post. Today is no exception but it was killing me to not have something up. So here is something.
Insert witty and sarcastic paragraph here.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Pineapple-Macadamia Nut Sticky Buns

½ recipe brioche (I used this recipe here)

For the Topping:

¼ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 TBSP pineapple juice
¼ cup honey
2 TBSP granulated sugar
½ cup Macadamia nuts, finely chopped

For the Filling:
1 cup pineapple Jam

To make the topping:
In a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, and sugar on a medium speed until smooth. If using nuts, divide nuts evenly among the cups and sprinkle the topping over them. Place 1 heaped TBSP of topping in the bottom of each muffin cup.

Filling and Buns:

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle approximately 12-x-16-inches. Using a knife, spread out pineapple jam, leaving a 1-inch martin at the top edge. Starting from the long side closest to you, roll up the dough like a jellyroll. If making smaller buns, you will want to make two smaller rectangles and roll very tightly. Transfer the log to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes. This will make cutting the buns clean and even.
Using a bench scraper or chef’s knife, cute th log crosswise into 12 pieces, or about 28 for the minis. Place a bun in each muffin cup, cut side up, or arrange them 1 inch apart in a cake pan.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 1/2-2 hours or until the buns have doubled in size.
Toward the end of the proofing, preheat the oven to 400F. Adjust the rack to the center of the oven, with the baking sheet on the lower rack to catch drips.
Bake 10 minutes. Turn down the heat to 350F and bake for 15-20 minutes more (the minis take about 10), or until the crust is golden and the topping is bubbly.
Immediately invert them onto a serving platter. If they are not removed immediately, the toping will harden, making them impossible to remove nicely.

Adapted from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

As we all know, I am not a graceful person. And yet I still for some reason think I am. I watch shows like Dancing with the Stars and think, I want to do that. Assuming somehow I will magically obtain grace and rhythm. Right before my ankle injury two years ago I was all set to take Latin dance classes at a dance studio. Bad ankle and dancing did not mix and so that never happened.
A while back my gym started offering Zumba class. It’s a Latin dance based cardio class. I thought, what the heck.
If ever there was a weekly reminder that I am a white chic with absolutely no rhythm, this is my class. But I love it so. I’m too busy being lost to realize that an hour has gone by and I have burned 700 plus calories to boot.
The class has a range of people in it, all shapes and sizes. It is fairly low impact so us fatties and the elderly can do it to…just go at your own pace. Most of us don’t really look like we know what we are doing. I mean, sure, you learn the routine and you can do the routine, but we don’t really look like dancers.
And then there is her. I stand there in my oversized t-shirt, baggy pants, ankle brace, sweaty hair matted to the side of my beet red face clumsily waving my arms usually in the opposite direction that the rest of the class is going. She, she is in some matching outfit. No hair is out of place. I’m not sure she is sweating. And she glides. Glides with such grace. When I look back at her she always gives me that half smirk, half smile and I give her a thumbs up usually…though really, I have a different finger in mind for her. She is just lucky I am too busy keeping up with the class to plot any sort of accident to happen to her.
I have learned the key to looking decent in the class though. I stand next to the 60 plus year old man. My hip shaking isn’t that bad next to him. Though what is hard is to hold in my laughter when Beyonce’s Single Girls song comes on. Watching him actually put his hands up to “all the single ladies put your hands up” or attempting to swirl his hips to “if you liked it then you should have put a ring on it.” But you know what, good for him. I hope when I am his age I can still look just as ungraceful as I do now in cardio dance class.
The good news is that since it burns so many calories that I can come home and eat a HUGE piece of this Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake

Hazelnut Cookie Crust

12 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 ¾  cups powdered sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups hazelnut flour

Cream the butter with the sugar until light. Add in the egg and mix well.
Mix together the flour and cornstarch. Add this to the creamed mixture and blend. Mix in the nuts thoroughly.
Form the dough into a bowl and wrap in plastic. Chill for about 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F.
Using a 10-inch spring form pan or four 4-inch diameter mini spring form pans, press the dough down, looking for about 1/4-inch thickness. You will have leftover dough! Much. Make linzer cookies with it.
Poke holes using a fork to prevent the dough from forming bubbles. Bake for 15 minutes.
Set aside and let cool. It will not be baked all the way through.

Cheesecake Filling

2 ½ pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
2 ½  cups granulated sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1/3 cup hazelnut flour
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp Frangelico
¼  cup Nutella
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder

Cream the cheese and sugar until soft, about 3 minutes.
Add in eggs one at a time, scraping down after each addition.
Add all-purpose flour and hazelnut flour and mix well. Stir in the vanilla and Frangelico.
Take out 1/3 of the batter. Add the Nutella and unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix until fully incorporated.
Pour 1/3 of the original batter into the prepared pan with crust. Then pour the Nutella batter on top of that. Followed by the remaining 1/3 of the original batter.
Bake at 325F in a water bath for 1 ½ to 2 hours.
Remove from oven. Remove from water bath. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 5 hours or even better, overnight.
Glaze cheesecake if desired (if not, can be served then).  Place back in refrigerator for another hour, then serve.
Chocolate Glaze

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Gently stir in the vanilla. Transfer glaze to a small bowl and cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and let cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before using.

To glaze the cake:
Place the chilled cake, still on the cake round, on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the hot glaze onto the center of the cake. Smooth the glaze over the top and sides, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet.

Glaze recipe from Tish Boyle¢â¬â„¢s The Cake Book