Sweetie Mama's Bittersweet

Meat and Potatoes - Indian Style

2011-01-17T06:23:00.000-06:00

Meat and potatoes are comfort foods in many cultures, and that even goes for the greater culture of the Indian subcontinent (often referred to as "desi" culture). Desi is a term often used to capture the common culture shared among people from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (the Indian subcontinent).The term is NOT negative or demeaning. It's simply a catch-all for the various cultures of the subcontinent.

Before sharing the recipe and cooking process for desi meat and potatoes, there are a few key terms and facts I want to share with you about desi food. First of all, samosas (fried, triangular dumplings often filled with potatoes and sometimes ground beef) and biryanni (a rice pilaf often with meat) are the most commonly known desi dished because they are available at nearly every desi restaurant across the world. While samosas and biryanni are certainly eaten in desi households, they are often reserved for special occasions simply because of the advanced preparation needed for both dishes. The type of desi food that is more commonly prepared at home is a meat stew with plenty of gravy. The term "curry" is often seen on desi restaurant menus to describe such dishes, but in my lexicon of desi cuisine, curry is not a term we (meaning my family and I) use. The stewed dishes we prepare regularly are commonly referred to as "salin", and the meat is cooked with plenty of tomatoes to create gravy (shorba), and it is eaten with rice or bread. (There are a wide variety of desi breads. The most commonly eaten are naan, roti, chapatis, and paratas.)

This post is a basic tutorial for making salin and specifically Aloo Gosht (meat with potatoes).This is the way my family (specifically my mother and grandmother) taught me how to make salin. I'm sure there's probably a desi or two who will read this and gasp at my methods, but hey, to each their own, right?

Ingredients:
1/2 a very, large yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1 jalapeno pepper or serrano pepper
1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
5 garlic cloves, crushed
1 pound of lamb, beef, or goat (yes, goat people) (preferebly with the bone IN) (I often ask the butcher to cut up a small leg of lamb into 2 inch cubes)
Olive oil or vegetable oil (ghee or clarified butter is traditionally used, but for health reasons we use olive oil)
2 small red potatoes, peeled and cubed

Spices (masala)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (whole cumin seeds toasted in a dry pan, once cooled, ground in a coffee grinder)
1/2 teaspoon ground corriander (whole corriander seeds toasted in a dry pan and ground)
cayenne pepper - to taste
salt - to taste
a 1 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 whole clove

Most salin recipes call for garam masala (a blend of eight or nine spices that are roasted, ground, and mixed together), but for my basic salin recipe, I prefer to use a lot of the aromatics as whole spices rather than ground into a powder. It's simply my preference, but if you'd like, you can add 1 tsp. of garam masala.

1 - Put a stainless steel pan over medium, low heat. Coat the bottom of the pan with oil (just enough to cover the entire surface of the pan). While the pan is heating up, wash your meat.

2 - Once the oil is hot (NOT smoking hot, just hot enough to begin cooking), add the sliced onions. Mixing every few minutes, saute the onions until they are soft and translucent. You do not want the onions to brown. As the stew cooks, the onions will breakdown to the point where they will become undescernable in the gravy (shorba). As the onions are softening, add the cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and clove.

3 - Once the onions are nice and soft, add the crushed garlic and grated ginger. Cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minutes (until you can smell the garlic). Make sure not to burn the garlic, or it will turn bitter. (At this stage of cooking, most people add their spices since spices bloom in oil. But I take the unorthodox route, and hold off on adding the spices because I find that they often burn while the meat is browning.)

4 - Next add the meat. Browning the meat is called "bhooning" the meat. It's probably the single most important step in making salin. If you don't allow enough time for the meat to brown (bhoon) sufficiently, the salin will have very little depth of flavor. I like to bhoon my meat for at least 20 minutes. Here's the pan when the meat is first added:

Here's what the meat looks like once it's bhooned for 20 minutes:

5 - Once you're meat has bhooned, add the diced tomatoes. Mix and cover. You need to cover the pot in order for the tomatoes to break down and release their liquid. At this stage I like to add a bit of salt. I find it helps the tomatoes along. Here's where the bulk of the cooking happens. You will cook the meat and tomatoes for about 1 1/2 hours (yes, that's hours) to 2 hours, mixing every 15 minutes or so. The pan should never dry out (the tomatoes are what create the gravy). That's why it's imparative to keep the pan covered. If you find the pan is drying out, add water.

Here's what it looks like when the tomatoes are added:

Here's what it looks like after the salin has cooked for 1 1/2 hours to 2
hours.

6 - At the 1 1/2 hour mark, add the diced potatoes and the ground spices. Mix and cover.

7 - With 15 minutes left, add the whole green pepper. The reason I add it at the end of the cooking is because if you add the whole pepper while the meat is stewing, it can explode; making the dish way too spicy. If you'd like to add the whole green pepper earlier in the cooking process, you can cut it, take the seeds and veins out, thus taking some of the heat away. I find adding the green pepper at the end gives the dish a bright, peppery flavor without the added heat.

You know the dish is finished cooking when the meat and potatoes are fork tender. Serve over steamed white rice or with naan or pita bread.

Pattern Block Puzzles

2010-12-31T08:41:00.000-06:00

The Y received a Mellisa and Doug pattern block puzzle set a few months ago.

It says it for ages 2+. Y loves puzzles, so she immediately gravitated toward this gift. She figured out how to put all of the puzzles together after about two tries. She's known the name of the basic shapes (circle, oval, diamond, rectangle, square, and triangle) since she was about 20 months old. She's learning more complex shapes with the use of this toy:

She's learned about pentagons, hexagons, octagons, trapezoids, parallelograms, etc. with her clock toy. She spends quite a bit of time taking them out, turning the pieces over, and putting them back into place. She quickly learned that the parallelogram is the only shape that cannot be put in backward!

Now that she's mastered her basic pattern block set, she started using pattern blocks for what they are meant to be used for - putting the individual shapes together to make larger, more complex shapes and designs. One morning she was playing around with her pattern blocks, and she declared, "Look! I can put two triangles together to make a square!"

It's amazingly fascinating and rather satisfying watching the Y explore and discover in her own way - without an adult telling her what to do and how to do it.

Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas

2010-12-25T19:36:00.000-06:00

I love Tex-Mex food. I'm not quite sure why. I think there may be a few reasons. I think the primary reason is that I love most of the common ingredients found in Tex-Mex cuisine - cheese, beans, and roasted vegetables. Then there's the strong commonality of spices between Tex-Mex cuisine and Indian food (especially the cumin and cilantro). Regardless, one of our family favorites is our Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas.

The Y loves the quesadillas, and she really loves vegetables. If you ask her what her favorite foods are, she'll always include peapods, "kacha" (which means "raw") broccoli, and "kacha gobi" (which is raw cauliflower). She will literally eat a plate full of raw broccoli and cauliflower. She even gets excited when I'm chopping red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, and she'll munch on them before they're cooked. So many of my friends are shocked with they see how much the Y loves vegetables, and they often tell me stories about how their children refuse vegetables. I guess that happens with some children - they just don't like them. But, I also wonder how much of it has to do with what the children eat at home and, more importantly, what they see their parents eating. I'm nearly a vegetarian. I rarely eat red meat (maybe three times a year, if that), and when I do eat chicken or fish, it's probably twice month at the most. The Y's papa, on the other hand, is a "hard core" carnivore. Meaning, he loves, loves meat. The Y eats every meal with me, thus she sees how much I love vegetables. And even when I cook meat for the Y's papa, there's always a vegetarian alternative (which I eat). Since the Y was born, she's been surrounded by so many vegetables, and I really think that's why she loves them so much. Regardless of the "why" she loves vegetables, I'm just so happy that she does. I'm hoping it will influence her eating habits throughout her life.

Evidence of the Y's desire to eat veggies. Here's her booster chair tray at the beginning of dinner:

Here it is 15 minutes later:

On with the recipe for the Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas. I rarely use specialty ingredients in my cooking, but I think the single ingredient that makes these quesadillas so savory and unique is the use of smoked Spanish paprika. It brings a smokiness and depth of flavor to the vegetables after roasting them for a mere 25 minutes. You can find it at Whole Foods and on the internet.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:*
3 bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange are our favorite. We don't like the green ones because they have a much harsher flavor)
2-3 medium sized zuchinnis
2 medium sized summer squash
1 8oz container of mushrooms
1 medium red onion

(honestly you can put any vegetables you like, sometimes we add jicama or sauted spinach)
10 whole wheat flour tortillas
Shredded cheese (we like the cheddar-jack cheese combo)

For the black beans:
2 8oz. cans of black beans
1/4 red onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon of corriander
2 tablespoons lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

For the guacamole:
2 avacados
1 small clove garlic - minced
1/4 of red onion chopped, fine
1 tablespoon tomato chopped fine
lime juice to taste
salt and pepper to taste

For the Spice Rub:
2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon regular paprika
3 teaspoons chili powder (NOT cayenne pepper, rather the spice mix with cumin, paprika, etc.)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon of dried oregano

Condiments:
Sourcream
Salsa
Chips

Directions:
1 - Preheat the oven to 425 F. Chop the vegetables so they are bite-sized, and try to make them uniform in size so they will cook at the same rate.Mix the spice rub in a small bowl. Place all the vegetables on a baking sheet. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, and sprinkle spice mix and salt over vegetables. Mix the vegetables to coat all of them with the spice rub. Place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.

2 - While the vegetables roast, make the black beans and saute the mushrooms (and spinach if you are using it). For the black beans, saute the onions in a bit of olive oil and saute until they are soft but not brown. Add the cumin and corriander, and cook until you can smell the spices (about 30 seconds). Drain and rinse the beans. Add them to the pan and mix. Since the beans are already cooked, simply cook them long enough to absorb the flavor of the spices and onion. After about 3-4 minutes, add the lime juice. Mix and cook for a minute or two longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. For the mushrooms, slice them and saute them in a pan with olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set the beans and mushrooms aside while the vegetables finish roasting.

3 - Once the vegetables come out of the oven, make the guacamole. Mix all the guacamole ingredients, and taste to make sure there's an adequate amount of lime juice and salt and pepper.

4 - Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Do not put oil in the pan and start assembling the quesadillas. First place the tortilla in the pan, then add shredded cheese to half of the tortilla. Next layer on the roasted vegetables, mushrooms, and black beans. Top with more cheese and fold the tortilla in half. (I like placing the cheese right next to the tortilla because the melted cheese acts as a glue to hold the quesadilla together). Once the tortilla is brown and crisp on one side, flip it over, and allow the other side brown. Remove from heat, and place on a cutting board. Cut the quesadilla into thirds. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and chips.

*If you want to add chicken to the quesadillas, an hour before cooking, marinate 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the juice of one lime and olive oil. Heat up a grill pan. Before placing the chicken on the grill, sprinkle it with salt and some of the spice mixture for the vegetables. Grill for about 7 minutes per side (the cooking time depends on the temperature of the pan and the thickness of the chicken). Once the meat has been removed from the grill and rested for 10 minutes, slice into bite-size pieces, and add into the quesadilla.

Raspberry Chocolate Rugelach

2010-12-22T21:16:00.001-06:00

Since I'm the youngest in my family (the youngest child of four), I have very fond memories running errands with my mom. She was an amazing stay-at-home mom who truly put her children first. Since there was no babysitter or nanny, wherever my mom went, we went along; especially me because I was the youngest. Often when we'd be running errands, my mom would stop at a local bakery to pick some treats up for my siblings for their after-school snack. When we'd go to the bakery, me and my older sister, Nadia, were always allowed to pick two or three cookies for ourselves. I can remember looking in the cookie case at all of the colorful cookies topped with chocolate, sprinkles, and decorative sugar. I think they were mostly butter cookies or sugar cookies just decorated differently, but I remember thinking that they each looked like jewels sitting under the lights of the cookie case. My sister always chose some jam filled cookie, and for whatever reason, I always chose these butter cookies that were twisted into the shape of a pretzel then dipped into white chocolate coating. Why would I choose a plain white cookie when there were fancy-pants decorated cookies? I have no flipping idea. I really think it was an inability to decide which fanciful cookie to choose that propelled me to choose the most bland, plain cookie in the entire place. Now whenever I go into an old-school American bakery and I see a sugar cookie pretzel dipped into white chocolate, I give into the memory of buying them in my childhood. But every time I bite into one, I'm disappointed. It tastes just as boring as it looks. My sister, on the other hand, still loves jam-filled cookies. So whenever I make a jam-filled cookie, there's always a nod to my sister, and she often gets a little bundle of cookies just for herself.

I originally made these raspberry chocolate rugelach cookies for the Mother-Daughter Cookie Exchange in 2009. Since then I've made them quite a few times. Since my sister loves jam-filled cookies, so I know I'll always have an appreciative audience. I always thought they were over-rated, but I have to admit, I really liked these. The cream cheese dough is not too sweet, and it's serves as a nice crumbly texture against the sticky, sweet jam filling. And of course, I think the chocolate only made it better!

The dough is actually quite sticky once it's made. So allowing the dough to chill thoroughly is very necessary. I made the dough the night before rolling them out, thus ensuring the dough was nice and firm.

The recipe specifies dividing the dough into half, wrapping them separately to chill and roll out. I made a triple batch of the recipe, thus resulting in six dough disks.

I wrapped them individually in cling-wrap before chilling. At this point, I've actually frozen the dough for up to one month. Defrosting it in the fridge over night before proceeding with the recipe, and it works perfectly.

If I were a true perfectionist, I would have rolled the dough out into a perfect circle, but alas, I obviously didn't take the time to do just that. I smeared the dough with raspberry jam an sprinkled it with mini-chocolate chips.

After cutting and rolling the rugelach, I thought they looked delectable (although, not perfect). Before baking, I brushed them with egg wash and sprinkled a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on top.

Here's the recipe. It's adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.
Ingredients:
For the dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (5 ounces) flour

For the Filling:
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) of sugar
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raspberry jam
1 cup (four ounces) mini-chocolate chips
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the dough:
Beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt together until light and fluffy. Occasionally stop the mixer to crape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour. Mix until just combined.

Turn the mixture out onto a floured counter, divide it into two equal pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap, an d refrigerate until firm, about one hour. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment or a silpad.

Assembling the cookies:
Roll each piece of dough into an 11 inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick. Spread about 1/4 cup of the jam on top of each round. Then sprinkle each with 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar.

Using a pizza cutter, cut each dough round evenly into 16 wedges. Starting at the wide end, roll up each wedge into a cookie. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, with the pointed end underneath. Place them about two inches apart.

Brush the melted butter over the cookies and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Bake the cookies until pale gold and slightly puffy, about 20 min. Immediately transfer the hot cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving (about an hour).

Makes 32 cookies.

Cookie Exchange 2009

2010-12-21T18:51:00.001-06:00

Yes - that's right, this post is about our annual Mother-Daughter Cookie Exchange in 2009. It isn't a typo. I'm just a horrible procrastinator. I'm hoping I post about this year's cookie exchange before 2011.

The Second Annual Mother-Daughter Cookie Exchange was held in the basement this year. Last year I did it on the main floor of our house, and it was a huge mess. I don't know what I was thinking. Mixing little children, cookies, and sugar-over load was just a recipe for disaster. Then again I was only four months post-partum for the first cookie exchange, so who knows what my sleep-deprived brain was thinking. I probably wasn't thinking too clearly at all. The other big difference between the first and second cookie exchanges is the activities. The 2009 cookie exchange featured three different activities. The first was cookie decorating. They decorated sugar cookies in the shape of mittens.

Here's one of the two cookie decorating stations. There were a variety of candies and frosting colors available to the girls for decorating.

Here's are some completed cookies. Some children took the opportunity to dump as much candy on to their cookie in hopes of chowing down on the treats for days to come.

One of the other activities I thought would be fun was a watercolor crayon relief project. The children used white crayons to draw on white paper. Then they used the watercolors to "reveal" the drawing they made with the white crayon.

The last activity was a tissue paper craft. I didn't realize that they well pre-cut squares of tissue paper. The time I would have saved if I had known that...

This is the sample I made to help demonstrate the activity.

Finally, here's a picture of all the cookies. The table wasn't quite complete when I took the photo, but you can see my contributions. I made the chocolate candy cane cookies and the rugelach. You can find my post about the chocolate candy cane cookies here and the rugelach here.

Stay tuned, I'm hoping to post about the Third Annual Mother-Daughter Cookie Exchange soon!

Whole Wheat Waffles

2010-12-20T08:50:00.000-06:00

For as long as I can remember, Sunday morning breakfasts have been special. Actually it was our Sunday brunch that provided a platform for me and my siblings to experiment with cooking. When my siblings and I took over the brunch-making duties from my parents we were making pancakes from Bisquick mix, and it was a feat to make an omelet without it falling apart. When my older sister, Nadia, was probably eleven or ten she decided to write everyone's name on their pancakes. And she wrote our names in cursive. Yup, cursive. It wasn't like a needed another reason to want to be just like Nadia, but the cursive-personalized pancakes was just another reason I wanted to be cool like her. Heck, I was eight years old at the time, so being impressed by my older sister wasn't too difficult. But honestly, it was the creativity of my older sibs opened the flood gates for new recipes. We tried stuffed french toast, crepes, and even homemade bread.

Now that I have my own little family, we've also adopted the Sunday brunch tradition. We forgo the weekday cereal and oatmeal, and opt for a real breakfast with both savory and sweet options. That usually translates to an egg dish (usually an omelet but on special occasions we have poached eggs with roasted mushrooms), potatoes, toast, and pancakes. Occasionally we have sticky bun, cinnamon rolls, homemade bread, or banana chocolate bread. But there's been a recent addition to the regular Sunday morning lineup: waffles! My sister in-laws got me this waffle maker for my birthday:

It's called the Presto 3510 FlipSide Belgian Waffle Maker.

It is reasonably priced (it sells on Amazon for about forty dollars and qualifies for free shipping) and cooks waffles consistently and evenly. I have yet to be letdown by my new gadget. I tried a few recipes for waffles, some made with yeast (they were too dense for my taste), some with buttermilk, and some with wholewheat. After quite a bit of sampling we've found a favorite. I'm not sure where this recipe came from because my sister in-law adapted it from a website she found, and I slightly adapted her recipe to make it my own.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour (this can be substituted with white wheat flour, I've used the King Arthur brand of white wheat flour and it's worked out well)
2 large eggs
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon). In a separate bowl mix the milk, eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together. Follow the directions for your own waffle iron. On my waffle iron it makes five full sized waffles (I often make only a quarter of a waffle for the little Y).

Potty Training - Day #2

2010-12-18T09:25:00.000-06:00

It's below zero outside. The wind is howling. Why not potty train? I know it sounds like a non sequitur, but there's some logic behind my thinking. I'm sure there are tons of valid ways to potty train a child, and my general philosophy toward parenting is: "Do whatever is right for your child and your family." That being said, after some reading and a lot of discussions with my two sisters (who have eight children between them - seven of eight who are potty trained), I decided to stay home for the next seven to ten days (!) while we potty train. That way I can avoid the use of pull-ups or diapers during the day. Thus, the winter time is perfect - we can't really spend a lot of time outside and we're already relinquished to activities at home, so why not be productive with the potty training?

The Y has actually been using the toilet since she was about 18 months old. She started to tell us when she had to pee and poo at 12 months, so her pediatrician suggested we start putting her on the toilet before her shower. By the time Y was 18 months old, she peed and pooped on the toilet every night before her shower. So, the potty training has been going pretty smoothly - no fears about flushing or pooping on the toilet. She actually has a revolving stack of books by the toilet to keep her company. The only hick up in the training is that she doesn't want to stop playing to sit on the toilet. So my solution has been to put her on the toilet (no questions asked) every 15 to twenty minutes.

The Y has a toilet seat that fits over the regular toilet seat. It has her favorite sesame street characters on it: Elmo, Dorthy, Ernie, Rubber Ducky, Oscar, Slimy, and Cookie Monster. She also has one of these:

I have to admit that I'm getting crazy staying at home. I never realized how much we value being out and about on play-dates, in nature, or even going to the grocery story! In an attempt to keep myself from going crazy we are working on a few projects - an alphabet book, baking, and I've been knitting some fruits and vegetables for the Y's shopping cart.

This is how she received her shopping cart on Eid morning. When she saw her shopping cart, she started clapping, screaming, and running around in circles. She'd been asking for a shopping cart for the past six months or so. But, it couldn't be any shopping cart. She specified that it had to be like the Trader Joe's one - "hard" and "silver." Basically she refused to have a plastic cart because as she put it, "those aren't real shopping carts." In the bottom of the cart you can see some knitted apples, lemons, and eggplants. While we chat in the bathroom while the Y "reads" and tries to poop, I've been knitting some pears to add to the cart. Hopefully I'll post a whole blog entry on the knitted fruits and veggies once they are complete.

I'm hoping that ten days from now we'll be pretty much diaper-free in our household. Now only if we can get through the next eight days without going crazy from cabin-fever!

Y's First Snow Adventure

2010-12-17T07:49:00.000-06:00

The Y and I love, love being outside, but since we live in the upper-midwest, the we have limited time outside for three months of the year. I don't mind snow, but it's the wind and the frigid temperatures that keep us indoors. So on December 5th, when we had our first snow of the year, we couldn't help ourselves. We had to go outside and play. Y was bundled up in a long-sleeved undershirt, wool long underwear, a sweater, fleece, and snow jumper. Her legs were also layered: wool long underwear, fleece pants, legwarmers, socks, boots, and her snow jumper. Here she is trying to balance in the snow:

Needless to say, her snow outing was filled with laughter, excitement, and creativity. She built her first snowman, who she named Chasenall. Chasenall is also the name of a game the Y created where you run around in a circle with a ball of yarn trailing behind you, yelling "Chasenall! Chasenall!" She loves playing Chasenall with her Papa and Aunt. She wanted Chasenall (the snowman) to have a carrot nose and chocolate covered blueberries for eyes. After playing outside for about 45 minutes, the snow turned very wet, and it was getting too cold. After stripping off our wet layers, the Y enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and a Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's cookie. (If you've never had one of a Candy Cane Joe Joe, you are missing out on a scrumptious treat.)

We have yet to experience another snowfall with actual accumulation because it's been too cold outside. But when the next snow storm comes (and I'm sure they'll be many more this winter), I know the Y will chomping at the bit to play outside, and I'll be right there with her!

Cardomom Vanilla Bundt Cake

2010-11-24T23:50:00.000-06:00

The town where I was born and raised does not have a bakery. Yup - no joke. There is no bakery. Actually there isn't even a downtown. To be fair, I didn't grow up in a city. It isn't even large enough to be called a town. It's technically a village, and our downtown is an outdoor mall. I know that sounds cringe-worthy, and to be completely honest, the village I grew up in is made up of *gasp* gated communities. So, that should give a little more perspective on the lack of a bakery where I grew up. That being said, the towns surrounding my village are much more quaint and traditional - with genuine downtown areas, and plenty of mom-and-pop businesses including bakeries.

One of the bakeries my parents' favored is called Ingram's Busy Bee Bakery. Our hands-down favorite item from the bakery was cardamom bread (we simply called it "hard bread"). It's day-old bread (I'm not quite sure what type of bread - maybe it's a brioche) that's toasted then sprinkled with a generous amount of granulated sugar (I think it may actually be sugar scented with vanilla beans) and ground cardamom. My parents enjoyed it with tea, and we loved dipping it into a cold glass of milk.

Looking back on our love for cardamom bread, it makes me appreciate the range of tastes and spices we were exposed to as children. One of the first cups of tea I ever consumed was when I was maybe seven or eight. It was a chai (tea mixed with milk) that was pink (yes, pink!) and it was infused with cardamom, cinnamon, and served with chunks of green pistachios. When most of my classmates were excited to have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, I always looked forward to a soup made of brown lentils garnished with fried cumin seeds, garlic chips, and fresh coriander. To say the least, my earliest food memories are unique.

Without even consciously thinking about it, I've exposed the little Y to a wide variety of foods (I think she's consumed nearly every lentil in existence in nearly every form - fried, stewed, sprouted, steamed, baked, and raw) and spices. Here's our spice drawer:

There's everything in there: cumin seeds, coriander seeds, nigella seeds, mustard seeds (black and yellow), cinnamon sticks, cloves, peppercorns, curry leaves, turmeric, black and green cardamom, dried red pepper and it's flaked version, fenugreek, smoked paprika...the list goes on and on. Since I spend so much time in the kitchen, the Y has been poking around the spice drawer since she was probably ten months old. I've let her smell the spice containers and taste quite a few of them. (She particularly loves the smell of the black cardamom which I think smells horribly strong and musty). When we go out to restaurants the Y often asks to have "mashki daal" (steamed lentils with turmeric, chunks of ginger, cumin, coriander, and garlic) or biryanni (probably the most famous Indian/Pakistani dish in the west - rice pilaf laden with spices and meat). My parents and in-laws love witnessing the Y's connection to her cultural heritage through food (and to be honest, I feel just as grateful because when we visit the homeland, we feel like and are seen as tourists more than locals.)

The cardamom bundt was the result of searching for a suitable birthday cake for my dad. Every year when my dad's birthday rolls around, I know that the usual crowd-pleasing chocolate cake will not cut it. For all the years I've been baking cakes for my dad's birthday, I'd never really come across a cake that he has fallen head-over-heals in love with. He loves the play between sweet and savory - thus he enjoys gingery, peppery, desserts more than syrupy sweet confections. So, I went a hunting for a cake with bolder flavors, and when I came across this recipe for a cardamom vanilla bundt, I knew I hit the jackpot. My first thought was "hard bread," and my next thought was I think it'll be a crowd pleaser for all the adults in my family because of the strong food memory we all had with cardamom toast.

Instead of buying cardamom powder, I made my own by opening up green cardamom pods and grinding the little black seeds. I ground them by hand, but it could have easily been done using a coffee grounder reserved for spices. My sister in-law shared an extremely helpful tip about cleaning out spice grinders - she said to place one teaspoon of uncooked white rice into the grinder in order to remove any residual oils left by the spice previously ground in the coffee grinder.

The batter is light and fluffy once all the ingredients are creamed together.

I used a 12 cup bundt pan. In this photo, you can see little specs of orange peel in the batter. I tried one version of this cake with one tablespoon of orange peel. It tasted fine, but the orange overpowered the vanilla and it even muted the cardamom taste.

The original recipe for the cardamom vanilla bundt cake can be found here. I made a few changes:
1 - Reduced the butter to two sticks
2 - Reduced the sugar to one cup
3 - Substituted buttermilk for the plain milk (and I kept the lemon juice)
4 - Omitted the topping
5 - Baked it for 50 min.

The Freshman 15 - Thanks to a Whole Bunch of Scones

2010-08-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

When my sister hosted a play date for a few of our close friends and our little buggers, I knew it would be a good opportunity to do some baking. The only question was, should I make something for the adults or the kids? Since my nephew has a peanut and dairy allergy, my sister adamantly stated, "Make something for us, the moms." The possibilities were endless...cake? cupcakes? cookies? a tart? Then I remembered my sister and her best friend from college and their affinity for scones.

What made me remember? Well, there's a picture from my sister's freshman year in college that's sort of burned into my memory. My sister is two years older than me, so when she returned home from her first year in college, I remember eagerly looking through an album she made documenting her first year at school. One of the pictures shocked me (and no, the picture had nothing to do with illegal substances or nudity). I remember nearly falling off of my chair when I saw it. It was my sister Nadia and her best friend, Lena, sitting at a fondue restaurant. They were both wearing these God-awful ribbed, knit turtleneck sweaters (this was the late 90's people) that fit a bit too snugly against their plump bodies. Look, anybody who knows Nadia and Lena, would NEVER describe them as plump. My sister has always been skinny with an athletic build. Always. But in this picture, she looked like an overstuffed sausage with her rounded head popping out of the neck of her too-tight sweater. I didn't giggle when I saw the picture. I was too shocked to speak. Instead I asked her what the heck happened. She shrugged her shoulders and mumbled something about the freshman fifteen. Aaaaah, the freshman fifteen: Gaining weight during the first year of college. I knew it happened, but I guess it could even happen to my "I never gain a pound no matter how much I eat" older sister. She must have gained more than fifteen pounds her freshman year because I swear, she wasn't ever that fat when she was pregnant with each of her three children.

Shifting my eyes from the picture in my lap to her face, she didn't seem as chubby sitting in front of me. Without even asking she simply said "Scones." So she was blaming scones for her freshman fifteen? How the heck many scones was she wolfing down at college? Apparently a lot. A ton. Way more than normal. Way more. I guess it was the product of a misunderstanding. Somehow Nadia and Lena convinced themselves that scones were not that fattening (!). I guess their logic went something like this: Scones are dry, thus they must not be made with that much fat. So, instead of choosing fattening muffins, let's choose the healthier, lower fat scone instead.

Apparently every time they grabbed a cup of coffee from Norris (the student union) or Starbucks, they opted for a scone rather than a muffin because they thought they were making a healthier, lower-fat choice. Aye, aye, aye. When Nadia explained her scone theory to me, all I could do was slap my hand against my forehead while shaking my head in disbelief. Scones my be a drier texture than muffins, but that does not translate to being made with less fat. Sorry ladies, but scones often have more butter than muffins and thus more fat! I don't think Nadia has ever looked at a scone the same way since her freshman year in college. I'm just glad that her scone freshman fifteen memory hasn't put her off of scones permanently. When I entered her kitchen with a plate of blueberry and chocolate chip scones, I swear I heard her say that she loved me.

These recipes are adapted from a dozen or so scone recipes, plus a few of my own little adjustments here and there:

Blueberry Scones:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pint of blueberries
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

For the Glaze:
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
Sift all the dry ingredients (including sugar) in a medium bowl
Mix in the lemon zest
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, fork, knives, or your clean, cold fingers (my preference!) until the mixture resembles coarse meal with larger chunks of butter.
Mix in the blueberries
Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in the milk. Blend all the ingredients together quickly with a rubber spatula.
Turn wet dough out onto a well floured work surface
Pat or roll dough out into a 9 to 12 inch circle.
Cut into 6 or 8 pieces (see photo)
Place on greased baking sheets
Bake for 15 min or until scones are slightly brown on top
While scones cool, mix the ingredients for the lemon glaze
Pour glaze over cooled scones.

Chocolate Chip Scones:
Same ingredients and methods as the blueberry scones with the following changes:
Substitute the blueberries for 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Increase sugar to 1/4 cup
Omit the lemon zest
Omit the glaze

Hmmm...how many different colors can I make?

2010-08-22T21:25:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you all know that annoying friend who finds a song she/he loves, and they keep playing it over and over again. You don't want to ride in her/his car because the music selection will be an issue (do you really want to listen to Party in the USA on loop?). Well, my friends, I am one of those people! Thank God iPods were invented because now I can be addicted to my own songs, and I can shut out everyone else's whining. These days, I'm obsessed with Angus and Julia Stone, particularly their song "And the Boys." So, amazing.

My obsession with replaying songs I love can sometimes carry over to certain culinary creations that are adored by my friends and family, and on occasion the same can be said about knitting patterns. Especially those patterns that are easy (knit in the round with an easy-to-memorize pattern), functional (the person receiving the gift will actually wear it), and beautiful. That can most certainly be said about Elvira by Sanne Bejerregaard (you can also purchase the PDF pattern off of Ravelry).

This is the version I made for my friend's daughter. It isn't blocked, so please, ignore the slight crinkle in the yarn!

My favorite part of tunic/dress are the buttons. Little Y chose them. She was only 18 months old when I asked her to choose buttons that matched the dress (she already knew her colors by then). So as we sat in the huge button isle of a mega fabric store by our house, she giggled at all the buttons shaped like animals and grabbed for the ones sparkled like resin poured into a rhinestone mold (wait, that's exactly what they were - cheap rhinestone buttons). Then she laid her hands on the ones she finally chose. They look like stained glass, and they match perfectly without it being too perfect.

I will definitely be making this dress again, now all I have to do is decide which colors...

Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake - Daring Bakers

2010-08-15T16:29:00.000-05:00

This month's Daring Baker's challenge really caught my attention (Who am I kidding? Every challenge thus far has done just that...) Swiss cakes (a sponge cake that's baked flat, then slathered with a filling, then rolled up and sliced) never interested me. I guess it's because it reminded me of those pre-packed Swiss Rolls made by Little Debbie. I have to admit that I was obsessed with them when I was growing up. Not because they tasted good. Nope. I wanted those trans-fat-filled, artificially flavored, corn syrup laced snacks only because I wasn't allowed to have them. My mom NEVER bought them. On occasion she would give in and buy the Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies (Yummmm! Now those actually taste good - well at least I think they do because it's been something like fifteen years, possibly longer, since I've eaten one). The main reason this challenge appealed to me is because the recipe called for making your own ice cream without the use of an ice cream maker. Huh...thought that wasn't possible.

Below is the vanilla ice cream. Turned out pretty nicely - smooth consistency and pretty robust flavor. It was my husband's favorite part of the dessert, and he truly hearts ice cream. That being said, I have to say, making my own ice cream has pretty much ruined eating ice cream for me. Ice cream's never been that high on my list of desserts. I have a cost-benefit analysis that all desserts that I consume must be subjected to prior to ingesting them. It all has to do with a saying I remember my seventh grade Spanish teacher uttering as she laced up her running shoes over her pantyhose before heading off on her afternoon power walk around the school, "A minute on your lips and an eternity on your hips." If I'm going eat something that will inevitably find it's way to my pouch or bum, it better be worth it. Ice cream just doesn't pass my rigorous dessert analysis, and after making homemade ice cream, yeah, I won't be rushing out for a cone or quart of ice cream any time soon. No sir. I can't even eat a bowl of cereal with whole milk because the whole milk is so thick it makes me want to gag, so there's no way I can consume of bowl of ice cream without remembering how much flipping cream I poured into the bowl to make the ice cream for this dessert. Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

Making the sponge cake for the dessert was much more of a pleasant experience. The texture of the cake was light and airy, and the cake was quite satisfying in it's chocolate flavor. What I didn't really enjoy was the whipped cream filling. It was fine when at room temperature, but because the entire dessert has to be frozen when put together, the frozen whipped cream didn't do it for me. Here are the Swiss Rolls:

I've loved the Daring Bakers, but alas I've decided that this is my last challenge. I have too many of my own recipes lined up to try, so I have to say farewell to the group in order to make room for my own agenda!

Dreams and Poop - not Dreams of Poop

2010-07-23T00:22:00.001-05:00

Raising a little one is honestly the absolute pinnacle of a meaningful and fulfilling life-long job. I guess the reality is that the Y won't be "a little one" forever. Okay, if I'm going to be really honest (eeks!) the Y won't be "a little one" for much longer. Her second birthday is around the corner (less than a month away), and my husband and I often spend evenings looking back at the Y's photos from her birth. No matter how many times we look at the photos, we are thoroughly amazed at how much she's grown - physically and cognitively. She's her own person, with her own ideas and agenda. Yes, she's not even two, and she has her own agenda. She knows what she wants to get done and how to get it done. Aaah, the wonders of the growing and developing brain. Her growth is amazing, and we feel blessed to witness and be a part of it.

This morning, when the Y called out from her crib, "See mama!" that was Papa's cue to snatch her up from the crib. When he walked into the room, the Y did her usual happy dance around her crib. Marching around the perimeter of her crib mattress while her neenee cloth (sleeping cloth) rested on her shoulder, trailing behind her like a flag. (The reason I know this is because the Y has a video monitor in her room). En route from the Y's bedroom to our bedroom, I heard a lot of chattering between the Y and her Papa. (There's no video monitor in the hallway, so I had no idea what was being discussed. All I knew is that they were engrossed in a full on conversation.) Upon entering the room, after the Y bounced over to me for a hug and cuddle, her Papa let me know what they discussed. When he picked her up from the crib, as the traveled down the hallway, she said, "I want to see Mama in the kitchen. She's making mamosas." When my husband asked why she thought mama would be in the kitchen so early in the morning, the Y responded, "In my dream. Mama making mamosas downstairs." My husband responded, "You mean she's making samosas in the kitchen?" "Yes Papa. Making mamosas." So thus the little Y revealed her first dream. Dreams. I didn't even know that she knew what a dream was - I mean it's a relatively abstract concept. Yet she used the term "dream" in a very appropriate context. As my husband says, "I can see the wheels in her head turning." Thank God for the wheels turning...

From the cognitive, to the physical. When I say physical, I mean physiological. I'm talking about poop. Since the Y was about 15 months old, she started telling us when she was peeing and pooping. "I do poperly (properly) poo poo." So her pediatrician, Dr. Hall (who she calls Dr. Hallway), suggested that we start putting her on the toilet before her nightly bath. Like clockwork, before each bath, the Y does pee pee on her Elmo toilet (her toilet seat has Elmo, Dorthy, Ernie, Rubber Ducky, Cookie Monster, and cookies - which is sort of gross. Cookies on a toilet seat. Yuck.). This evening when she was seated on her toilet seat, I heard a few farts escape and echo in the toilet bowl. I asked her if she had to poo, and she said, "Mama it's just gas. Just gas." After chatting for a bit, I inquired about her status, and she didn't reply. Instead the Y had a look of intense concentration on her face, and before any more words could be exchanged, it happened. "Plop. Plot. Plop." Three plops in a row. With a huge smile across my face, it was like the Y could read my mind. She said, "I did a good job. I did it Mama!" She was so proud of her accomplishment, and I was in awe. No, she's not potty trained (not even close), but she did her first poop in the toilet. Three little turds. What a huge accomplishment for the little Y. I gave her a huge hug while she sat on the toiled, and showered her with words of encouragement. Before I could get even more carried away, the Y pointed to the toilet paper and stated, "That. Mama use that to clean me!"

The Y. What else can I say about our little Y? We love her more than words can ever describe. We love you Y. Always know and remember that. Always.

Swimmy and the Big Bad Tuna

2010-07-11T00:16:00.001-05:00

I love reading. I'll read almost anything - fiction, biographies, current events. Anything. My parents have always been readers - my dad and his newspaper, and my mom, amazingly enough, even with four kids would manage to have a book tucked away in the kitchen or in the side of the minivan door. Over the summer my mom would load us all up in the car to spend an afternoon checking books out in the small library in our town (which now, by the way, is an amazing state of the art library with resources, DVD's, CD's, magazines and books galore). There was a period of time when reading became so frenzied for my sister and me that we would even bring our books with us to breakfast, devouring the pages of our Archie comics, Ramona Quimby books, and Judy Blume titles while consuming large bowls of cereal. I remember one morning my dad insisting that we clear the table of our books and instead talk to each other. My sister and I are best friends, so engaging in conversation was absolutely no problem (even to this day, our husbands wonder why we need to talk to each other multiple times a day). But we were so obsessed that we took to reading the inane puzzles and facts on the cereal boxes.

When my nieces and nephews were born, I re-entered the world of children's books. And I fell in love. I would spend hours at Borders and Barnes and Noble searching the children's section for old titles only to stumble upon new treasures. I think that it was my love for children's books that eventually drew me into the field of teaching. Now that I'm a mother, my love for reading is something I truly hope to pass down to my daughter.

The very first book I read to her was Pride and Prejudice. I found that breast feeding wasn't only a full time job, but it was tedious and mind-numbing. So, I thought I'd read one of my all time favorites to pass the time, and I decided to read it out loud to her. She seemed to enjoy hearing my voice, and I relished reading Jane Austin's classic out loud - bring her words and characters to life for my daughter (even though she was only a few days old!). We continue to read - a lot. And like an indulgent mother and a bibliophile, little Y's book collection keeps growing. I try to save buying new books for an occasion - father's day, mother's day, birthdays, etc. But sometimes I just can't help it.

I keep a spread sheet of books that I come across (either in the library, books store, or through recommendations) plus my own childhood classics that I think little Y would enjoy. The database is roughly divided by picture books and chapter books. I predict that it'll soon be subdivided by age. Little Y has already gone through a whole slew of favorites - Dr. Seuss's ABC's, Silly Sally, The Sleeping House, The Foot Book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, Madeline, Hush Little Baby, Imogen's Antlers, and A Color of His Own. Usually when little Y gets a new book, she shows very little interest in it. I preview the book with her, but then she'll often neglect it in favor of the books she that she's read dozens and dozens of times. Without fail, she eventually and independently shows interest in her new book.

Little Y is now 23 months old, and her current obsession is Swimmy by Leo Lionni. The reason I love Swimmy is because it's a very subtle story that teaches the importance of creativity, perseverance, and it touches on the subject of loss. The illustrations are phenomenal - conveying the feelings of a vast ocean full of beautiful and mysterious creatures. Today she read the book eight or nine times with her Papa. When it was time to leave for a birthday party this afternoon, she said, "Mama, wait five minutes. I want to read Swimmy." And she shimmied herself on to the couch, with the book in her hands, and opened it up. I reminded her that we had to leave for her friend's birthday party, and when she asked if she could bring the book in the car, I promised her we would read it upon our return home. She reluctantly agreed, and our drive to the party took longer than usual because of summer traffic. During the car ride we never discussed Swimmy, and little Y fell asleep about fifteen minutes into the ride. When we arrived at the party, my husband and I announced our arrival, and the Y woke up. Still half asleep, with her eyes fluttering open, she looked over at my husband as he was taking her out of her car seat and said, "Tuna not eat Swimmy. Swimmy escape." My husband couldn't decipher what she was saying, so I responded to her by reassuring her, "Yes sweetie. Swimmy escaped." She responded with a smile and an affirmative nod, repeating, "Swimmy escape." When we got home, after washing up for bed, changing into her pj's, the Y retrieved Swimmy from her bookshelf and asked Papa to read it again for her. She smiled as Papa retold the story of a clever fish who persevered in the vast ocean.

Later that evening, after the Y went to bed, my husband and I discussed what seems to be Y's intense interest in Swimmy and the big, bad tuna. My husband expressed his concern that she may be afraid of the tuna, and I think he's probably right. I think the Y's is preoccupied with the fact that the tuna almost ate Swimmy that's why she has to constantly reassure herself that Swimmy escaped. I also think that her desire to re-read the book is a way for her to embrace Swimmy's determined perseverance; a trait that I truly hopes she develops and embraces.

Is that the Inside of a Dirty Diaper?

2010-07-06T20:15:00.001-05:00

Who would have thought that I'd have a post on my food related blog about dirty diapers. Well, actually the post isn't about dirty diapers, it's about a chocolate pavlova with chocolate mousse (the Daring Bakers June challenge). But if you look at the photo of my finished challenge you can understand where the title for my post came from (let's be honest, my failure to actually pipe the mousse out onto the meringue base resulted in the mousse looking like a pile of you-know-what).

I knew that someone in my family would comment about the dessert's visual appeal. It turns out that in all my infiinte wisdom, I was right. It was my oldest brother in-law (who's been married to my sister for sixteen years - which is more than half my life, so I consider him to be my oldest brother - note there's no "in-law" prefix attached) who said what I think was on pretty much everyone's mind. I didn't actually hear him make the comment about the pavlova looking like the inside of a baby's diaper. All I heard was my husband bust out into a giddy laugh. When I looked over, my husband pointed to my brother in-law, and managed to mutter, "Did you hear what he said?" Although I didn't hear his comment, I instinctively knew that it had something to do with chocolate mousse and poop. So, I casually responded, "I didn't hear him, but I agree. It looks like a pile of poo."

A few years ago I would have been embarrassed or even hurt if someone said that about something I made, but I've learned that if there's any hope to enjoying life, you can never take yourself too seriously. So here's to the chocolate pavlova with a pile-of-poop-chocolate mousse on top. Thankfully it tasted a million times better than it looked!

Traditional English Puddings - The Daring Bakers

2010-04-30T23:30:00.001-05:00

So, I have to admit that I was NOT looking forward to this month's Daring Baker's Challenge. Esther of the Lilac Kitchen chose traditional English puddings for this month's challenge. Most of the items I bake (and cook) are not made because I want to eat them, I usually partake in a new project out of curiosity. But my usual interest in new techniques and cuisine couldn't even get me excited about this project...that was until I became thoroughly obsessed with the idea that people (the English in particular) regularly eat these puddings - so there must be something redeeming about them. Something.

Esther's original challenge stated that the pudding could be savory or sweet, filled with anything the baker chose. But there were still rules (heck that's what makes the challenge a challenge, right?), and they stipulated that the pudding must be steamed (there are plenty of traditional English puddings that are actually baked) and it must have a crust. The combination of a food item being steamed and having a pastry crust just seemed so wrong. I immediately thought - wet and soggy. Two adjectives that should never be used when describing food (particularly food wrapped in a pastry shell).

So, I set off on a google journey to find myself some recipes on which to base my pudding. I came across a great website called Traditional English Puddings, Putting the Pudding Back on the Menu. There were the usual suspects listed - spotted dick (call me juvenile, but I can't say that without cracking a smile), Eton Mess, and summer pudding. But I was looking for a general recipe for a steamed pudding made with a crust. I finally settled on the steamed apple pudding recipe. I modified the recipe be replacing the suet (No way in heck was I going to use any type of animal innards to make a pastry crust - sorry all of you lard-loving die hards. It just not my cup of tea.) with non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening. I also cut the recipe in half for two very important reasons: 1 - I was convinced it would turn out badly, so I wanted to minimize wasting food and my guilty feelings that I knew would inevitably accompany my misadventure (I promise I'm usually not a pessimist. Honestly, I'm not.) 2 - The only pudding basin (aka Pyrex glass bowl) that would fit into my steamer was only about five inches in diameter. Thus, making the full pastry pudding recipe much too large for my purposes. I also made my own self-rising flour by mixing baking powder and salt into my regular all purpose flour.

I rolled out 3/4 of the pastry, and placed it in the heavily greased Pyrex bowl. I filled my pastry with a traditional apply pie filling: diced apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Then rolled out the rest of the pastry and laid it on top of the filling, pinching the sides of the two crusts together. I covered the bowl with a nice thick, tightly fitted piece of foil. Then into the steamer it went. I steamed it for two hours, and I had no idea when it would be finished. I kept trying to smell the pudding, but I guess the steamer had created such a vacuum that I could smell nothing. Nothing. That made me nervous. After two hours I called it a day. This is what came out of the steamer.

When I lifted the foil, a nice warm apply pie smell filled my nose. That seemed to be a good sign. Honestly, not bad, not bad at all. It slipped easily out of the steaming dish. Yet another plus. Much to my surprise, it didn't look squishy, soggy, or wet. That was definitely another huge plus. Then my ever so lovely husband came wondering into the kitchen (he is so hilariously afraid of soggy foods that he can't even eat cereal) and casually glanced at the pudding and said, "Raw dough. That's a mound of raw dough. Don't eat it, or you'll throw up." I shrugged it off, and plunged a sharp knife into the sucker, and hell, to my surprise, the crust was actually cooked and FLAKY. What? A steamed crust that was flaky? Well, I guess these pudding weren't so bad after all...

This is how I ate my first piece of apple pudding. I had to laugh at myself for turning a traditional English pudding into something so thoroughly American. I made an apple pie, and was eating it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Ha - how ethnocentric of me. How typically American...

Did I enjoy my apple pudding? You be the judge. This is what it looked like after about five minutes:

Nana's Habitat

2010-04-04T00:26:00.001-05:00

Winter in the midwest is brutal, so I warm, cozy hat is a must-have winter accessory. Growing up my dad never wore knit wool hats. Instead he opted for a wool ascot hat. He has them in a range of colors - from a light camel wool to stark, dignified black. Many of his ascots even have retractable ear flaps that only made an appearance on the coldest of cold winter mornings. So, this winter I was thoroughly surprised to hear my dad declare that he'd like to find a new winter hat. I asked him why he never wore a knit wool cap, and he admitted that he had tried, but never seemed to find one that was warm, soft, and roomy enough to fit his rather large noggin. I immediately decided that the best solution was to make a hand knit hat for him, with some extra stitches here and there to ensure a roomy but snug fit. I also wanted to make sure my dad's hat would cover his ears, providing the same coverage as his beloved ascot caps.

My pattern choice was easy - brooklyn tweed's Habitat. Jared Flood's is truly an amazing fiber artist, and his cable patterns are exquisite. The modifications I made to the hat along with yarn details can be found on my Ravelry page (you need to have a Ravelry account to access the page). I used Malabrigo Yarn Merino in a worsted weight, and I will definitely be using it again. I used the magic loop to knit the hat in the round.

The hat fits my dad perfectly (his ears are covered nicely!), and most importantly he loves it. Seeing my parents happy makes me happy!

Orange Tian - My First DB Challenge!

2010-03-30T10:34:00.000-05:00

This month I completed my very first Daring Bakers Challenge, the orange tian. I decided to join the Daring Bakers because one of the reasons I love, love baking is because there are so many different ingredients, products and methods that constitute "baking" - everything from savory breads to delicate pastry...ummmmm. YUM! To be honest, I often choose recipes to try simply out of curiosity, and I have never, ever had a problem finding eager taste-testers. My one serious hesitation about joining the Daring Bakers was meeting the deadlines to bake and post the finished product. But, since the Daring Bakers is a monthly recipe, it proved to be no problem. I'm super excited to find out next month's challenge.

Jennifer from Chocolate Shavings chose the orange tian. This tian is a layered dessert consisting of a crisp, buttery cookie crust coated with a sweet and sticky orange marmalade, followed by a layer of whipped cream, and topped with orange segments. The final touch is an orange caramel sauce. As soon as I saw the recipe, I was excited because I thought I had never made a tian before. Little did I realize that a tian is simply a layered dish - anything from a savory layered salad to a rich and decadent dessert can be a tian, as long as it is composed of clearly deliniated layers.

I was also looking forward to the recipe because I've always wanted to make homemade orange marmalade. Orange marmalade is and always has been a staple pantry ingredient in my parents' house. Tea and orange marmalade are two items you can ALWAYS find in my parents pantry. Always. For the past handful of years, my parents' daily breakfast is a cup of chai (tea with steamed milk) and a slice of sourdough bread topped with a slather of orange marmalade and a slice of sharp, white cheddar cheese. It may sound like a strange combo, but the sweet marmalade contrasting with the salty, strong cheese is actually rather delightful (my mouth is watering just thinking about it). I never bothered trying the combination until I was pregnant. I stopped by my parents' place to drop something off for my mom on the way to a friend's baby shower. On the way over, I happened to mention to my mom that I was starving and hoped they would serve the food right away at the shower. As soon as I stepped into my parents' house, before I could even greet my mom, she shoved something wrapped in a paper towel into my hands reminding me that I have to eat. I didn't get a chance to unwrap the package until I was back in the car heading to the shower. Without even looking at what it was, I began eating the jam/cheese sandwich. From that moment on I was hooked. I called my mom to thank her for the delicious snack, and after scolding me again for not taking care of myself, I could tell that she was pleased that something as simple as a cheese toast could make me so happy. Needless to say, I'll be making a vat of the orange marmalade for my parents upon their arrival after a month-long tour of the Far East. I think, er actually I know, they'll appreciate it!

So They Said...

2010-02-11T22:22:00.001-06:00

Before I became a mom, all of my mom friends (including my sisters) told me that I'll love my mom even more once I have my own little one. The sentiment makes sense, right? I mean, moms sacrifice their physical and mental well-being to care for their children. The pregnancy itself leaves many to wonder what their body was like pre-pregnancy (a reality I'm still coming to grips with myself). And "sleep" takes on a new meaning - no more deep, restful sleeping. Sleep is simply the byproduct of exhaustion. So, the idea is that once a new mom realizes how much her mom had to sacrifice to take care of her when she was a little baby, the new mom will have a deeper appreciation for her own mother. That seems logical, but before becoming a mother, I thought, I already love and appreciate my mom. I wasn't quite sure how much further it could go.

I'm very close to my parents, but to understand exactly what that means, you have to know a bit more about my family. I'm the youngest out of four children, and we're all pretty close in age. Even though there are four of us siblings, our house was full of at least six to eight kids at any given time because our house had a revolving door - cousins and friends would come and go seven days a week, almost twenty four hours a day. I remember one of my cousins saying that she loved hanging out at our house because it was so "lively." Well "lively" is one way of looking at it. Now being a mom myself, I think I'd use a word like "maddening" or "anarchy" to describe the atmosphere.

Given all of these chaos and activity, I still forged a very close relationship with my parents, especially my mom. I think it had something to do with being the youngest. I was always the one left at home. I was left at home when my siblings went off to school full time. I was left at home when they were allowed to have an extended curfew in high school. I was left at home when they went to college. I was left at home when each of them got married. (As a disclaimer I have to mention that I wasn't technically living at home at this point, but I still spent the most time at home since I had fewer responsibilities). Being around them without my siblings helped me form a very open line of communication with my parents. My mom will always be my mom first and foremost, but she is also a dear friend. So, given our already close relationship, I wasn't sure how much more I could love and appreciate her once I became a mom myself.

Once I emerged from the haze of being a new mom (which took me a good three months), I soon realized that my mom friends were right. As my experience of motherhood takes its course, the more I truly understand just how much my own mom sacrificed for me, and I appreciate and love her more than I ever thought possible. We talk almost every day, even if it's a simple, three minute conversation. And I try to show her how much she means to me through small gestures of appreciation.

The most recent gift I gave my mom is this pair of French Press felted slippers (the link to the knitting pattern only works if you have a Ravelry account). My mom loves the slippers, and that makes me so very happy (who doesn't like keeping their feet warm in these darn cold midwestern winters).

This is my first felted project, and I have to admit that the felting process was much easier than I had expected. I used my sister's washing machine because her's is a top-loading washer, a pillowcase, and six tennis balls. I'm hoping to try more extensive felting projects in the near future. I will make these slippers again, and here are the changes I will make/mistakes I will correct:

1 - I will sew the two side pieces together at the toe, just past the hump. On the left slipper I sewed too far down, past the hump. Sewing just past the hump is what gives the shoe a ballet shoe look.

2 - The cuffing trick for the backs of the slippers works really well, but again, I took it too far with the left slipper. I need to use more restraint next time!

3 - Instead of using puff paint traction, I'm going to try these suckers out. Apparently they can be sewn on to felted projects as well.

One more note, I used a very sharp and rather thick needle to sew the straps onto the already felted slippers. I actually used a needle that's meant for sewing through leather. It worked like a charm.

These adorable ballet slippers were knit using triple strands for the bottom and double for the sides. It was knit in six pieces (as seen below).

Then the pieces were sewn together. Sides first:

Then the bottoms sewn on:

Once they were felted, I stuffed the toes with crumpled plastic bags to help with shaping.

Once dried, I figured out the placement for the straps and buttons.

After applying puff paint traction on the bottom, here they are on my mom's feet. Yay for my first felting project!

My Obsession with Sandwich Cookies Continues...

2010-02-10T19:09:00.001-06:00

So, my obsession with sandwich cookies continues with these beauties - Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies. I find myself drawn to sandwich cookies, and I'm not quite sure why that's the case. At first I thought it was because sandwich cookies are so substantial. I mean one sandwich cookie is really two cookies smashed together with a delactible filling peeking out between the cookies (in the case with these cookies the filling isn't really peeking out, it's oozing out!). Another thought is that sandwich cookies are an example of a very simple method (using a tasty concoction to stick two cookies together) that often produces a rather show-stopping result (visually and gastronomically).While making these cookies this holiday season, I've come up with yet another possible explanation for my affinity for sandwich cookies. It boils down to this - you always want what you can't have. In the '80's, Oreos were made with lard. Good o'l fashioned pig fat. That made them null and void in my household due to dietary restrictions. That meant, if we wanted to eat chocolate sandwich cookies, we were forced to opt for Hydrox. I realize that there's a huge fan base out there for the now discontinued Hydrox, but no matter how many of those suckers I ate, I just knew that they weren't as phenomenal as Oreos (I actually didn't know because I couldn't eat the lard Oreos, but my nine-year-old instincts told me that Hydrox just fell short). I finally beheld the chance to test my instincts when, in the '90's, Oreos replaced the lard with vegetable fat. My gut instinct was right - Hydrox had nothing on Oreos. Thus, my love affair with sandwich cookies began (or at least that's my hypothesis as of right now).

On with the recipe for Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies. The recipe is from the December 2005 issue of Bon Appetite, and can be found here. I made these (six dozen of them) for the 2009 Mother Daughter Cookie Exchange. They were a big hit, but hey, who could resist chocolate- peppermint-sandwich cookies rolled in crushed candy canes? Only the Grinch!

One of the biggest bonuses of this recipe is that the cookies are drop cookies (no rolling and cutting dough). I used a handy ice cream scoop. Then used my fingers to flatten the cookies. Next time I'll use the bottom of a drinking

glass to flatten the cookies because my fingers left a

bit of an indentation!

Crushing the candy canes was much more of a challenge than I thought. I found that placing them in a freezer-grade zip top bag (freezer-grade works best because it's thicker) then using a rolling pin and some good old elbow grease is the most efficien

t way to crush them.

Here they are, sandwiched together, rolled in the candy canes, ready to be devoured.

Better Than the "Real" Thing - Waaaay Better

2009-12-30T10:46:00.000-06:00

So, the title of this post sets the bar really high, but I have to say that this recipe lives up to the hype. This recipe was originally described as "grown up Oreos," but I think they're waaaay better than Oreos. These cookies are so unassuming. They look plain and bland, but they are anything but boring. The cookies are wafer like - with a dark chocolate taste and a hint of saltiness. The filling isn't the usual pseudo buttercream (which I shouldn't knock, because the overly sweet powdered sugar/butter combo has its rightful place among baked goods). Instead, the filling is a creamy white chocolate ganache that balances the crispness of the chocolate wafers surrounding it.

I make the dough a day ahead of time, and roll it out in two batches. Each half of the dough is rolled between two pieces of parchment paper. Then I place them on top of an inverted cookie sheet, and place it in the fridge. (The cookie sheet allows me to easily remove the thin sheets of cookie dough without fear of destroying the dough while transporting it from the fridge to the kitchen counter.) One more important tip about the cookies: Do NOT store them in an airtight container because the cookies will become soggy and soft. I would suggest placing them in a traditional cookie jar or cake platter with a domed top in order to retain a crisp cookie.

Without further delay, here's the recipe for Double-Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (from Gourmet):

Ingredients:

For the Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Ganache:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup (I use golden syrup because I don't like corn syrup. Golden syrup is available from whole foods.)
3/4 pound fine-quality white chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
For the Dough:

Whisk together the dry ingredients (not including the sugar).

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in yolk and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches just until a dough forms. Divide dough in half and form into a disk, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

While the dough chills, make the ganache:

Bring cream and corn syrup just to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan, then stir into melted chocolate. Stir in butter and vanilla until smooth. Cover surface with cling wrap and chill, stirring occasionally, until very thick, about 30 minutes.

Back to the Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line two 2 large baking sheets with a silicone liner or parchment paper.

Roll out 1 piece of dough between sheets of parchment paper about 1/8 inch thick. Slide dough in parchment onto a tray and freeze until dough is firm, about 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.

Cut out as many rounds as possible with a 1 3/4 inch round cookie cutter, reserving and chilling scraps, then quickly transfer cookies to a buttered baking sheet, arranging them 1/2 inch apart.

Bake cookies until baked through and slightly puffed, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on sheet on rack 5 minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely (cookies will crisp as they cool).

Assemble Cookies:

Beat ganache with an electric mixer at high speed just until light and fluffy. Spread ganache onto flat sides of plain cookies, then top with another cookie to make sandwiches. Chill, layered between sheets of parchment, in an airtight container until filling is set, at least 1 hour.

Makes about 3 to 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Toasty Valentines for My Valentines

2009-12-03T21:55:00.000-06:00

So, yes, I am posting this almost a year (eeeks! talk about procrastination) after I completed this hilariously cute project. But I guess that it's better late than never (unfortunately that seems to by my mantra when it comes to knitting because I'm always behind on wip's). My Hubs and I were over the moon about becoming parents to our spunky little gal. So, for Valentine's day, I made the two loves of my life matching winter hats. It's from a pattern called Sarah's Cabled Hat (you have to be a member of Ravelry to view the link). The pattern is written for adults, so my modification was to make the hats out of a light fingering weight yarn (Dale of Norway/Dalegarn Baby Ull to be exact). I held the yarn in a single strand for Sweetie Mama and double strand for the Hubs.

Cookies for Sweetie Mama's First Birthday

2009-07-31T00:42:00.001-05:00

So, I've baked literally dozens of cakes and desserts for my family's special occasions (birthdays, weddings, engagement parties, etc.), so how could I pass up on making something for my daughter's first birthday. Yes - there will be almost 200 people there, but I'm crazy enough to attempt to bake something. I cannot let go...

So, I decided the most practical items for me to make are cookies. I'm planning on having chocolate chocolate chip, sugar cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. Now, you might be thinking, "Well that's boring." But actually, purchasing good quality cookies is rather expensive. Supermarket bakery cookies just don't cut it for me. I love the chocolate, chocolate chip cookies from Panera. Mmmmmmm, so good.

So, here's my version minus the nuts (due to my nephew's allergies to nuts) and white chocolate.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips (I like to use bittersweet chocolate chips)

Sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the flour mixture until just combined and stir in the chips.

Make sure to space the cookies about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

For these cookies I used Hershey's special dark chocolate cocoa powder. It gave the cookies a nice, deep, chocolate taste without a lot of sweetness. I felt like it was as chocolaty as a Dutch process cocoa.

I have a rather strong type A personality (I think that's the only strength Type A personalities actually come in - honestly, have you ever heard of a mild Type A personality? Mild and Type A do not fit together), so I like to be organized, clean, and efficient when I cook/bake. Below are my ingredients all measured out, ready to be mixed, rolled, baked, and devoured in the form of a chocolaty bundle of satisfaction (otherwise known as a chocolate chocolate chip cookie).

Here's the batter ready to be scooped and baked:

Finally - behold the cookie! (I can't tell you how many of these I had to eat before packing them away for the party. Let's just say that I probably gained about five pounds worth of cookies!)

I'm still here...I promise!

2009-07-31T00:32:00.000-05:00

It's been almost six months since I last posted on my blog! I can't believe how quickly time flies. In the past six months, I've had to do some major prioritizing. First things first - I had to quit TWD and The Cake Slice Bakers. The baking was becoming more stressful than enjoyable, and it was turning my hobby of baking into something I did not look forward to at all! The next major priority was for me to lose my baby weight. I was sick of not being able to wear anything, and more importantly, I am determined to set a healthy example for my little one. I have a bit of weight to go, but I'm feeling pretty good. My new best friend is my Bob Sport Utility jogging stroller. I LOVE it, and more importantly my daughter loves the ride and the fresh air.

I'm up to running five miles five to six days a week. Before pregnancy I loved running, but never outside. Now I can't imagine running on a treadmill. It seems so boring! I'm hoping my sweetie mommy (my daughter) and I will run a race this fall.

We just returned from a wedding in Boston (actually western Massachusetts). We spent four days in Boston before the wedding, and had a blast. I'm currently in the throws of planning the little one's first birthday! I'm also going to be helping my sister and sister in-law host a small dinner party for our other sister's tenth (yes 10 years!) wedding anniversary.

TWD - Devils Food White Out Cake

2009-02-16T23:40:00.001-06:00

I was really excited to make this weeks TWD. The cake looked phenomenal on the cover of the book, and who doesn't love chocolate cake? It was my niece's birthday (Happy third birthday Choocher!), so I thought, why not make life easier and combine TWD and a family birthday. The frosting was easy to prepare, but I have to admit that it took a lot longer for the syrup to reach the right temperature before beating it into the egg whites. Other than that small unexpected twist, the frosting came together beautifully.

I've never decorated a cake with cake crumbs because it always seems so untidy to me, but I thought I'd give it a shot this time. Crumbling the cake was a lot more fun than I expected (I actually thought I'd find it unsettling - ripping apart a perfectly nice cake layer). It also gave me an opportunity to taste the cake, and it was phenomenally moist, chocolatey, and delicious with the addition of the chocolate pieces.

The finished cake actually did look untidy with the crumb decoration, but it still tasted delicious! I had so many crumbs that I put some on top of the cake as well. I left enough space so that I could pipe "Happy Birthday."

Here's the inside of the cake. The picture is horrible, but the inside layers held up pretty well once cut. I have to say that the frosting wasn't my favorite. Its texture became too sticky and unpleasant after it was refrigerated. Overall the cake was pretty good, but the consensus in my family was that I've made many other chocolate cakes that were a lot tastier! Let's see what next week brings...

Berry Surprise Cake

2009-01-20T16:25:00.000-06:00

My very first TWD post! I was so excited (still am) to be part of Tuesday's With Dorrie. When I got the cookbook, I eagerly read through many of the recipes (especially the pies!). I have to say that I would have never chosen to bake this cake if it wasn't for TWD (especially now because berries are so out of season). Before baking, I read some of the other bakers' experiences with the recipe wich proved to be very helpful. (Thank you to the other TWD bakers for the advice!)

I made some alterations of the recipe. First of all, like the other bakers suggested, I added more sugar to the filling. I added 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I chose to add powdered sugar because I was affraid the addition of too much granulated sugar would cause the filling to be grainy.

The other changes I made was not out of choice but necessity, and they were all a result of the cake falling (rather collapsing) once it came out of the oven and cooled. In order to use the filling, I had to cut the cake in half (horizontally) to create two layers. Then I frosted it.

As for the taste, the cake tasted pretty good if one could get over it's tough texture. The filling, with the additional sugar, was the star of the cake. If berries were in season, then maybe they would have been the star of the cake. As a complete cake, the flavors were pretty well balanced (the tartness of the creamcheese off set the sweetness of the cake). I don't think I'll ever make this cake again, but I may use the filling with another cake recipe.

The Never Ending Search for THE Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2009-01-17T16:01:00.000-06:00

I'm crazy about chocolate chip cookies (or have chocolate chip cookies made me crazy? hmmmm....) Since I can remember I've been obsessed with finding the perfect recipe for these delicious treats. Actually, I shouldn't say "the" prefect recipe because I've actually been on the hunt for two very different, yet equally perfect, chocolate chip cookie recipes.

In my opinion, the vast world of chocolate chip cookies can be classified into three main categories: 1) Thin, crispy, crunchy cookies (not my favorite by far). 2) Chewy, soft chocolate chip cookies (love these) 3) The thick, fudge-like cookie that packs a punch. The fudge-like cookie I'm referring to in particular is the Carol's Cookies species. I first discovered Carol's Cookies in college. I lived in an apartment across the street from Whole Foods, and I stumbled upon these gems one fateful afternoon.

In my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipes, I've been working on variety number two (soft, chewy) of late. I need to learn more about baking science before even attempting to recreate Carol's Cookies.

These one's turn out pretty well. They are an adaptation of the Ghirardelli chocolate chip cookies. Here's the recipe:

11 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips

2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup butter softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 8 to 9 min. They may look underdone when taken out of the oven, but they continue to cook as they cool. They are delicious!

This entire plate of cookies was gone in one afternoon when guests came over for tea. I'm already thinking about ways to make it even better...hmmm.....

There's No Such Thing as Blue Food...

2009-01-17T00:16:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago on Top Chef (I love that show!) the challenge was for the chef's to cook a course based upon a theme. Fabio's team (Fabio is my fan favorite of this season) received the color blue as their theme. As the chef's were prepping their dishes, Tom Colicchio said something about there being no such thing as blue food. Upon hearing that, I became obsessed with trying to find a food that's naturally blue... and gosh darn it, I think Chef Colicchio was right! Blueberries? No - they're purple. Blue potatoes - again, nope. Purple. (You get the picture...)

Anyhow, the reason this is relevant is because I was planning to knit a hat/mitten set for my husband's cousin's baby girl's first birthday (wow that's a mouth full). The pattern I decided on was Ann Norling's Kid Fruit Cap. I found some beautiful blue yarn, so I thought, I'll make a blueberry hat. Little did I realize that there's no such thing as blue food! Regardless, I think the hat and mittens turned out thoroughly adorable.

The First Annual Mother-Daughter Cookie Exchange

2009-01-11T19:44:00.001-06:00

I always wanted to host a cookie exchange, but I never managed to get my act together in time for the holidays. This year I actually did it! It was a bit insane on my part because my daughter was only three months old, but with my husband, sister in-law, mom, and sisters' help, we did it! It turned out great. I'm all about starting traditions, and this is one I'd love to start with my own daughter. Above is a photo of about 3/4 of the cookies from the exchange.

The cookies on the white footed platter are mine. I made two types of chocolate sandwich cookies. One is a Martha Stewart recipe called Chocolate Mint Sandwich Wafers. They were fantastic. The other cookie was from Epicurious. It's a more sophisticated version of oreo cookies with a white chocolate filling. I added crushed candy canes to the filling to make it more festive. You can see the recipe here.

I asked each of the participants to send me a copy of their cookie recipes in advance, and I put them together in a little booklet. It's a great way to recreate one's favorites from the exchange.

Along with the recipe booklet, there were bags for each person to fill with cookies. I included some decorations for the kids to decorate the bags. It was a hectic party that took a lot of organization, but it was enjoyable. Nearly all of the guests e-mailed me telling me how much fun they had at the party. Let's see if we can pull it off again next year...

Holiday Baking

2009-01-11T10:48:00.000-06:00

This was the dessert spread I made for Thanksgiving. In the background you can see an Elmo tablecloth. We usually don't decorate for Thanksgiving with Elmo, but we also celebrated my niece's second birthday at Thanksgiving. Elmo was her idea!

Thanksgiving always gives me the opportunity to test a variety of pie/tart crusts to determine which ratio of butter/shortening creates the most flaky and tender crust. It's still a work in progress, but some recipes have become staples with my family. The chocolate tart above is one of them. It's quick, easy, and requires only a few ingredients - flour, butter, chocolate, eggs, cream, and sugar.

My mom loves pecan pie, but my husband and I have never been big fans because most pecan pie fillings are too sweet and mushy. A few years ago a stumbled across a recipe that isn't too sweet. Another plus of this recipe is that there's no corn syrup in it (most pecan pie fillings use corn syrup as the main ingredient). My recipe uses good quality maple syrup to provide a more complex flavor to the filling without making it too sweet. Now my husband looks forward to eating my pecan pies!

This year I branched out and tried a variety of fruit pies. Naturally I made a double crust apple pie (I've been making this pie since I was twelve). It's my brother's absolute favorite, and I often make it for his birthday instead of a cake. Lately I've been running into a lot of problems with the filling - but more on that sad topic later. The pie still looks beautiful, and more importantly it's still loved by my brother!

My oldest sister requested that I make a cherry pie. She was craving it, so I made one for the first time. I have to admit that I didn't taste it. I couldn't manage to spend precious stomach space and calories on a pie that I'm not too fond of eating. My sister and dad loved it, so that was good enough for me. I used tapioca to thicken the cherry filling, and I used tart cherries.

The blueberry pie was a disappointment.I used frozen wild blueberries from Whole Foods because fresh blueberries are really best in the summer. The filling was too dense, and the ratio of filling to crust was disproportionate. If I make this again, I have to alter the filling to make it lighter, and I'll use fresh berries. I'm actually not a big fan of blueberry pie, but years ago when I attended my brother in-law's medical school graduation in Maine, we ate at a lobster shack along the ocean. The blueberry pie they served there was phenomenal - light, flavorful, and the crust was crisp and flaky. Since then, I've been dreaming about that pie, and one of these days I'm going to dedicate some real research and time into recreating that delicious pie.

This year's pumpkin pie had it's positives and negatives. The texture of the filling was light and creamy. Unfortunately the taste wasn't as dreamy as I'd hoped. It was too spicy - I put way too much clove and nutmeg into the filling.

I thought I didn't like banana cream pie because I must have only eaten one long ago with artificial banana flavor. Regardless, I thought I'd try to make one this year. After looking at nearly a dozen recipes, I found one that looked delicious on the Cooks Illustrated website, and I thought, "Heck. Why not try it?" The recipe is actually pretty ingenious. The custard is light and silky made with real vanilla beans. And in order to prevent the crust from getting soggy, the bananas are placed between two layers of custard. (In most banana cream pie recipes the bananas are put directly on the crust followed by the custard.) Another method the wonderfully innovative folks at Cooks Illustrated utilized was to make the crust a grahm cracker/pastry crust hybrid. Actually pieces of crushed grahm crackers are rolled into the pastry crust so that the crust has a bit more heft in order to stand up to the wet custard. I wish I could post a link to the recipe from the Cooks Illustrated website, but you have to have an on-line subscription in order to view the recipe. (If you like to cook or bake, I would highly recommend getting a subscription to the website. As a subscriber you have access to all the recipes, equipment reviews, and you can physically view archived and current Cooks Illustrated Magazines.)

The pie turned out fabulous! It took center stage at Thanksgiving, and it's now a new family favorite. My middle sister already requested it for her birthday! Who knows which pies will show up next year. Maybe a lemon meringue pie, a key lime pie, or even a sweet potato pie...

My Very First...

2009-01-01T20:38:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Is there a better time to start a blog than the very first day of a brand new year? I decided to create my own blog so that I could meet the requirements to join Tuesday's with Dorie. I'm very, very excited about the prospect of working through a baking cook book with a whole slew of others who are just as obsessed with baking as I am! The only worry that I have is eating the baked goods - but I've been reassured by my family that they will be more than happy to help out with the oh so difficult task of eating a wide variety of delicious sweet treats.

I've been baking every since I can remember, but the obsession really kicked in when I decided to try a few recipes for a dinner party my mom was hosting - I must have been 13 or so. By the time I was done experimenting with a few baked goods, I realized that I baked two cheesecakes, a three layered chocolate cake, and two dozen pecan cookies. As I started to explore more cookbooks and food magazines, my interest in baking grew into a bigger frenzy eight years later when I decided to make my brother's wedding cake. It was a three tier pound cake with raspberry filling, and cream cheese frosting. It was a labor of love. By the time my own engagement party came around (I wasn't going to risk baking my own wedding cake (!) the stress would have sent me over the edge!) I made a three tier chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream. Then I had the brilliant idea of creating a chocolate mosaic to decorate each of the tiers. By the time I was done tempering, breaking, and attaching each little piece to the cake, the smell of chocolate made me sick (it's hard to believe that chocolate would ever make me sick). Needlesstosay I couldn't even eat a piece of the cake b/c I was so sick of smelling chocolate! Not to worry though, my inablity to consume chocolate quickly expired, and I was back to my choco-holic ways in no time!

So, baking has been a big part of my life, and thankfully eating the baked goods doesn't seem to be as important to me as the actual process of making them and seeing my family and friends enjoy them!