I know, I know. Where have you been Peabody? The good news is that I have a little more income coming in the bad news is that I have zero extra time it seems as of late and well the blog falls under extra time activity. I’ll work on being better though as it heats up to almost 80F today that also makes me not want to bake.

Enough of that…a little letter writing time.

Dear Printer,

I know it’s not possible to hate inanimate objects but you really are pissing me off. If you don’t stop giving me Printhead Error warnings and not printing even though I have followed your glorious step by step instructions to fix this problem repeatedly I am pretty sure I am going to go all Office Space on you’re a$$!!!! I don’t own a baseball bat but I sure as heck could do some serious damage with a hockey stick…something to keep in mind when you continue to defy me!

Dear Check Out Lady at Target,

First off six bottles of wine is not a TON of wine. What if I was having a party? I’m not but what if? It’s my favorite cheap wine and very hard to find and you have it on clearance to make room for the liquor that you finally get to sell come June. Sorry you did not catch on to my sarcasm when you said “I don’t think I have ever seen someone buy that much wine?” and I replied back “Yes, well I’m a lush and a drunk and I’m surprised I’m sober now”. To which you blank stared at me. So then I will not confirm nor deny that I may or may not have then breathed into my hand and said “yep, sober”.  Perhaps it was because I was buying 6 bottles of wine before noon.
Also Target Lady, when you ask me if I want a Target Debt Card and I tell you no thank you…I mean no. It does not mean ask me again but this time try harder. After the FIFTH time you asked me and I declined you should really catch on. And if I want one I sure the heck wouldn’t get it from you just for annoying me so much. PS. I don’t want one.

Dear Construction Worker,

First off you are in the Pacific Northwest and if you do cat calls I can assure you some person will come sue you. I didn’t take it personally other than the fact that you clearly only have one line. “Nice melons”. Which is always nice to hear especially when I am not actually carrying fruit, however, anyone ever having met me in person knows that while not bad melons, they aren’t the kind of melons that people would be overly excited about. In fact, they are really more like limes.

Dear Universe,

Turn down the gravity ray…I’ve been less than graceful as of late.

Dear Business Costco,

Why must you always seduce me with a giant tub of mascarpone cheese that does not fit in my fridge? I bought you and now it’s a race to see how much I can make with you. I made mini spice cakes because my friend and I were talking about candied ginger. She loves it and me not so much. But I figured I would give it another go. I have to say I think it actually adds something nice to these.

Sour Cream Spice Mini Cakes with Mascarpone Frosting

2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
½ cup golden raisins
¼ cup candied ginger, chopped finely
½ cup walnuts, chopped
**Note this recipe does not use butter so that is not a typo

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray baking spray on two 24 cup mini muffin pans. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the sour cream and eggs together on medium speed for 2 minutes. Beat in the brown sugar and mix until fully incorporated.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices and beat until smooth about 2 minutes.

Fold in the raisins, ginger, and nuts.

Fill batter ¾ of a way up the muffin hole. Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Let cool completely before frosting.

Cake adapted from The Buttercup Bakeshop Cookbook by Jennifer Appel

Mascarpone Frosting:

8 ounce mascarpone cheese
¼ tsp. orange extract (or vanilla)
2-3 cups powdered sugar (depends on what consistency you want)

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat the cheese and extract together on medium-high for 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until you reach desired consistency.

Dear To-Do-List,

Only one thing got done on you this weekend. And while it was nice to have clean towels instead of doing the smell test (you know the how bad does this smell, can I used it again test?) I needed to get more stuff done. That being said I much enjoyed the distractions that kept me from the to do list.

Dear Winners of the C3 Adult Rec Hockey League,

Congrats to you. My team lost again. The sad thing is we lost to you and yet still had a much, much better time not only during the game (like when we stood up and cheered for you) but after. I’m glad that you guys won, you wanted it far more than us (as your scowling faces and the guy who told me to stop smiling at him this was a game would indicate).
You had the guy that got a hat trick with the way he was jumping up and down and screaming (with a higher pitch than me…just saying) who I thought had won a new truck. At first I was pissed because I was mad at the league for not telling me about the get a hat trick in the lowest division when you are a higher level player and get a free car thing. I would have had my better players try hard so that we could win a truck (and then sell it to buy new hockey jerseys!). But just turns out he was wanting to win it so bad. They had even made their team a trophy. So my team got green participant ribbons that I found at a local awards shop.

Dear Danny Briere,

Thanks for proving to me so far this playoff season why you are my favorite NHL hockey player.

Dear Universe,

Thanks for starting to pay off me surrounding myself with good people.

Dear Snickerdoodle,

I love you in pretty much every form so I thought I would make you into a pound cake. Still love you. This is a dense cake (duh, it’s a pound cake) with a crunchy outside that gives it a nice texture contrast. While not nearly as much snickerdoodle taste because of it’s side, all the yummy elements are there. If you want to skip the cream cheese center you can, but I find it adds a nice extra something to the cake.

Snickerdoodle Pound Cake

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated
2 tsp. cream of tarter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Cream Cheese Balls:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon

Cinnamon sugar mixture:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cinnamon

Using a stand mixer or a bowl and some might strong arms, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and cinnamon for the cream cheese balls. Place the mixture into a small bowl and cover. Place in fridge until needed and start to prepare cake.

Clean your mixer bowl and cream the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment and mixer on medium high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Turn mixer down to medium and add the eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla extract and nutmeg and continue beating.

Add ½ of the dry ingredients and let mix (on low) until just incorporated.

Add the cake sour cream and mix until incorporated.

Add remaining dry ingredients until fully combined.

Grease a tube pan with butter and sprinkle about 1/3 of a cup of cinnamon sugar mixture and coat the pan where the butter was with the cinnamon sugar mixture, this will create a nice crust.

Pour half the batter into the pan and sprinkle ¼ of a cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture around the ring.

Remove the cheese mixture from the fridge. Roll into balls, about the size of a ping pong ball and roll them into ¼ cup of cinnamon sugar mixture. Place them around the tube pan in the center.

Add the rest of the batter, smoothing it over the cream cheese balls and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on top.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 50-65 minutes or until a skewer or cake tester comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.

Let cool and serve at room temperature.

They say that comparison is a joy thief and whoever “they” are certainly got that right. Comparison is what makes women/men hate their bodies, where they live, what car they drive, what shoe is on their foot, etc. And it makes the food blogger get down on their blog. There have been quite a few what I will call old school food bloggers (meaning we have been around awhile) feeling not so great about their blogs or their traffic…or in my case how many people comment.

Lots of people have food blogs. I mean LOTS. In just shy of two months this blog will be turning 7. Seven years of my life writing a blog about food, hockey, and sitting around in my sweatpants (they are really nice sweatpants in my defense). It makes me question at what point do I stop blogging? And it causes me to ask the question why did I start blogging in the first place?

I started blogging because I was bored at home and was married to a picky eater and needed a creative outlet. Those reasons aren’t there any more. I don’t have near the time or finances I used to have any more to bake and I date someone now who will eat literally everything I put in front of him. So then I thought, well if those reasons are gone maybe the blog should be too? But just like everything in life, things evolve and the reason why I blog changed as well.

Over the years this blog has become more of just an outlet for me to share recipes that the picky eater wouldn’t eat. It became my therapy at one point. A distraction. A vehicle in which to meet other people who love food as much as I do. A way to create a community. A way to share my sometimes out there take on desserts.

I need to remind myself that is why I do it. When I started this blog I figured my parents and maybe a handful of my friends would read it. Last year well over a million people read it. Holy crap. And I’m on track to increase that number this year. I have to remind myself that I didn’t plan on anyone outside of my immediate family commenting. That I didn’t start blogging to get comments and so I must stop saying to myself gee people used to comment all the time and now they don’t. Because they USED to. Times have changed apparently so I need to change my attitude as well.

I suggest to all my food blogger friends out there to re-examine why you are writing your blog anymore and to more importantly not care why others are. I would say that probably 50% if not more are just out for a book deal and to become the next Pioneer Woman. Ignore those people. Don’t worry if the popular bloggers won’t talk to you on Twitter/FB/Conference etc. Just focus on why YOU and YOU alone are blogging.

Or focus on chocolate…or in this case (and cake) chocolate and hazelnut. I have two super popular things on Pinterest both of which are peanut butter and chocolate. This cake is an adaption of the super popular Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cake

2 ounces unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
3 ounces Nutella
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F.

Grease three 9 x 1 1/2 inch pans.(I personally used just one 9 x 13 pan and then cut the cake in 6′s to make three mini cakes). Line your bottoms with parchment. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat together using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and on medium speed the brown sugar, Nutella, and butter for two minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and mix for another 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and mix for another minute.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated about 20 seconds. Then add the sour cream, mixing again for 20 seconds. Gradually add the remaining flour mixture. Add the hot water in a slow, steady stream and mix on low to combine, about 30 seconds. Add the vanilla and mix for another 10 seconds. Add the chocolate chips and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Divide the cake batter into the prepared pans, spreading it evenly. Bake for about 20-22 minutes.

Let cool. Run a knife around the edge to get cake loose and carefully flip it over. Carefully!

Nutella Chocolate Glaze

5 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Nutella
1 TBSP unsalted butter

Place the chocolate in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the cream, butter, Nutella, sugar, and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

When hot, stir to dissolve sugar and Nutella. Bring to a boil. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate.

Wait 5 minutes and stir the mixture until smooth. Let cool for 20 minutes before putting on cake.

Cut cake into square pieces. Place one piece on your plate. Spread the glaze on top of the piece. Place another piece of cake on top. Top with glaze and add one last piece of cake. You should get two rectangular three layer cakes.

Adapted from Death by Chocolate Cake by Marcel Desaulniers

Someone I know, I can’t say friend anymore (even though I was at her wedding, baby shower, baby birthdays, etc.) has adopted a new policy in life. I’m pretty sure she has been pay a little too much attention to the inspirational sayings on Pinterest, especially the one that reads “Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher”. Except like many, she misinterprets this. This phrase doesn’t mean I will sit around and blow smoke up your ass…it means surround yourself with people who will make you a better person. Sometimes that’s telling you like it is. Surrounding yourself with people who will never tell you that you are being a jack ass or screwing up royally means that you will never grow as a person…and a lot of people will think you are a jackass.

For the record she has basically unfriended every person she knows because everyone she knows has told her that the choices she is making (and changing every other day…not kidding) are not good ones. Comments are made not to bring that person down but to keep them from making life changing choices that aren’t being thought out very well. She lives in make believe land. A lot of people do.

When at public skate last night (out on a skate date )I saw a bunch of kids, some older, some younger. Many of the kid’s parents were there too…and I talked to a few of them. They all of course want their kid to go to the NHL and boast how their kid plays select hockey. For those who don’t know select sports nowadays is basically super overpriced travel hockey (insert any sport) that isn’t made up of the best players…it’s made up of the players whose parents check clear. Some of these kids were already high schoolers…if you aren’t awesome at hockey (any other sport) in high school…you aren’t going to get awesome in time to go to the NHL. I myself am on the 17 year plan. So parents come to reality…if your kids isn’t that great have them play recreational hockey (or other sport) and save yourself some money.

Surround yourself with people who will love you, make you laugh, and are comfortable with telling you their real opinion. Now I am not saying keep the fun sponges in your life (you now the people who suck the fun out of it)or the truly horrible. But if the person is telling you in a nice way and it’s coming from a true place of concern, while you don’t have to take the advice in any way, you might want to listen to it…especially if twelve of your friends are saying the same thing.

When my parents were here for Easter my dad asked if I had anything Chocolate Chip Mint in the house. I had Girl Scout Cookies but I knew he wanted a little more. So I made this cake. He was very in favor of this cake and took the rest of it home with him…which of course made me super happy. If you can’t find the Andes Mint Pieces (I find mine at Target) you can use half chocolate chips and half mint chips. And if no mint chips then consider moving. But no, you can use a tsp. of peppermint extract instead and load up on the chocolate chips.

Chocolate Mint Pound Cake

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
6 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup boiling water
1 ¼ cups Andes Mint Pieces, tossed with flour

Preheat oven to 325.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla, and scrape down bowl when finished. Mix for another 30 seconds.

Add all remaining ingredients except for boiling water and Andes Pieces, and blend.

Once combined, stream in boiling water and blend until chocolate batter is smooth.

Fold Andes Mint Pieces into batter.

Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and pour in batter. Set loaf pan on a baking sheet and put in oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until cake is no longer jiggly. I baked mine for 60 minutes exactly. Let cake cool completely before removing it from pan.

Chocolate Mint Ganache

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup Andes Mint Pieces
1 cup heavy cream

Heat whipping cream over low heat just to boiling using a small saucepan.

Remove from heat; stir in chocolate chips and Andes pieces until melted.

Pour over loaf cake.

Recipe adapred from Nigella