If you give a girl a cookie…

How would you end that sentence?  I’m sure you would get very different answers depending on the day.  Like one day last week.  Well, I won’t tell you how I would have ended that sentence this one particular day last week because I’m not sure if even the biggest cookie in the world would have made all the sins of the day go away.

But back to the important stuff.  I think it would depend on the type of cookie you are being given.

How about a thick, chewy, almost cake-like chocolate chip cookie with giant bittersweet chocolate chips?

That is just the type of chocolate chip cookie that I have been craving for almost two weeks now.  I finally reached the tipping point said day last week after a particularly stressful day at work.  These cookies had to be made and they had to be made now.

In the great debate of the perfect chocolate chip cookie, I, for one, prefer the thick, chewy type over the thin, crisp variety.  In all the recipes that I have looked at it really comes down to two things: using melted butter and letting the dough chill for an extended period of time before baking.  Not necessarily what you want to hear, especially when a hot out of the oven chocolate chip cookie will make all the hardships of the day disappear.  But good things come to those who wait.

Now, it would be nice if I could apply that same patience with my current situation at work. But then, we would probably live in a perfect world where I could bake every day and eat said baked items that I make with reckless abandon and never gain a single pound.

A girl can dream, right?

So in the end…how would I end that sentence?

If you give a girl a cookie, today she would be happy. No more, no less.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Baking Illustrated

Note: I like to add a teaspoon of espresso powder to my chocolate chip cookies.  It gives them some extra oomph.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup (7 ounces) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 yolk.

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and espresso powder.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, thoroughly blend together the sugars and butter.  Add the egg and yolk and vanilla and beat until combined.  Slowly add the flour mixture until just incorporated.  Mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

Chill dough for at least 4 hours or up to 36 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll a scant 1/4 cup of dough into a ball.  Tear the dough in half and rotate the two halves 90 degrees so the jagged edges are facing up.  Smoosh the two halves back together and place on the baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.  Place sheets on wire racks and let cool.

Tea and madeleines

Tea is a regular part of my day.  My morning ritual when I get into work involves a cup of green tea.  I usually have another cup for an afternoon pick-me-up and then I’ll finish my day with a cup of herbal tea.  Tea and I are not strangers.

However, I hope that my cups of tea don’t mind a new member to our group.  Madeleines and I are recent acquaintances but we have quickly become good friends.  Like little pillows, these new friends of mine are spongy and light with a subtle honey flavor.

Not one to intrude, I would not have discovered madeleines had Jennifer over at Daydreams of Baking had not suggested the recipe.  To help me work my way through My 100, she and I decided to ‘bake along together’ this month.  I chose madeleines and she chose the recipe.  It was great motivation to try out a new recipe as well as have someone to talk through any bumps that were encountered.  Please hop on over to her blog and check out how her madeleines turned out.  Thanks Jennifer for baking along with me this month!

I’m now off to have a date with a cup of tea and a madeleine.

Madeleines

Adapted from Field Guide to Cookies by Anita Chu

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/ 4 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. In a stand mixer, combine the eggs, sugar, honey, and vanilla together with the whisk attachment until the mixture is thick and foamy.

2.  Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the egg mixture and carefully fold in with a rubber spatula.

3.  Add the melted butter and fold in gently.  Cover the batter and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.  This will help the madeleines form their distinctive “bump”.

4. Preheat the oven to 400°.  If you don’t have a non-stick madeleine tray, butter your trays well.  Spoon the batter into each mold about 3/4 full.

5.  Bake for about 5 to 7 mintues, until the madeleines are golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes, then unmold the cookies and let them finish cooling.

Storage: Madeleines are best served the same day, but you can store them in an airtight container for up to 2 days.  Refresh them by placing in a 300° oven for a couple of minutes.

January Daring Bakers: Gluten-Free Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars

When you say to someone – would you like a Nanaimo bar? – most of the time you get a response somewhere along the lines of – Nanai-what?! These wonderfully layered bars are not common in the US, but I happen to feel privileged to have known of these little bars for quite a few years now. The mother of one of my college roommates used to send care packages to us of Nanaimo bars.  So I like to think we (me and bars, that is) go back aways.

For those just learning of these treats here, Nanaimo bars hail from the city of Nanaimo (nanturally) in Canada.  Legend has it that a home baker once entered her bar recipe in a cooking contest and aptly named them Nanaimo bars.  Ever since then, when you say Nanaimo and bar in the same sentence, visions of layers of graham, cocoa and coconut, vanilla pudding, and rich chocolate ganache immediately come to mind.

The ‘daring’ part of the this month’s challenge, however, was to make gluten-free graham crackers to be used in the base of these bars.  Now, I will admit that I haven’t really given gluten-free baked goods a chance prior to this month.  So I dove into this challenge head first.  I went out and purchased all the requisite flours (and there are a lot of them), read up on what role each flour plays, as well as researched celiac disease. The possibilities really are endless in terms of how you can use these flours and its great that there are so many alternatives for those with a gluten intolerance.

This being my first time baking with these flours, I was very interested to see how the dough behaved.  Like many others found, the dough was very sticky and a little difficult to roll out, but nothing that couldn’t be solved with an extra dusting of rice flour on the Silpat.  My graham crackers didn’t bake up very prettily, actually not prettily at all.  But I didn’t let that discourage me in the least since they were going to be crushed to be used in the crust of the bars.

While the traditional Nanaimo bar consists of a middle layer of vanilla pudding, the variations really are endless.  I found a wonderful site that posted several different ideas and recipes for filling.  I immediately gravitated to the peanut butter filling but plan to make another batch with the cappuccino filling.  I did find that the peanut butter filling didn’t firm up as much as the standard vanilla pudding, making it difficult to cut the bars without the chocolate layer cracking.  A little bit more vanilla pudding might do the trick though.

If you haven’t tried making any gluten-free baked goods, I highly suggest that you give it a shot.  It never hurts to try out a new way of baking, if nothing but to be aware of all endless options out there.  And if you know of any good gluten-free recipes, please send them my way. I now have a ton of gluten-free flour!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, mild-flavoured such as clover
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

The Cake Slice: Red Velvet

We, the bakers of The Cake Slice, use a very democratic approach to choosing each month’s cake.  So I guess it was hardly a surprise when red velvet won January’s vote by almost 50%. Considering that we are baking out of a cookbook titled Southern Cakes, the group would almost be remiss not to make a red velvet cake.

Admittedly, I was slightly disappointed with the selection at first.  There were some other really good sounding cakes that I feel lost out on a chance in the spotlight because of red velvet’s cult status.

I guess this would be the point in which I confess that I have never really been wowed by red velvet.  Isn’t really just a chocolate cake with a questionable amount of red food coloring?  And really, all that red food coloring just can’t be good for you.  Plus, my past experience making red velvet cake left much to be desired.  I thought I had gone to the source of all things Southern – Paula Deen.

Oh, how I was ignorant in my ways back then.

This red velvet cake, however, has made me change my mind.  This red velvet cake is incredibly moist.  This red velvet cake has a wonderful rich yet tangy flavor.  This red velvet cake doesn’t call for two bottles of red food coloring.  This red velvet cake doesn’t use the traditional cream cheese frosting, which makes it that much better. This red velvet cake is it.

So, for all you red velvet naysayers – it’s ok if you are out there – this is the red velvet recipe for you.  Go forth and bake.  I promise you will be converted too.

Red Velvet Cake

Adapted from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

For the cake:

2½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk (see note below)

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp red food colouring

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1½ tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar

For the coconut pecan icing:

1 cup milk

2 tbsp all purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

To make the cake, heat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line them with waxed paper to kitchen parchment. Grease the paper and flour the pans.

Prepare three separate mixtures for the batter. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl and use a fork to mix them together well. Combine the cocoa powder and the red food colouring in a small bowl, mashing and stirring them together to make a thick smooth paste.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with a mixer at low speed for 1 minute until creamy and soft. Add the sugar and then beat well for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl now and then. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one until the mixture is creamy, fluffy and smooth. Scrape the cocoa-food colouring paste into the batter and beat to mix it in evenly.

Add a third of the flour mixture and then about half the milk, beating the batter with a mixer at low speed. Mix only enough to make the flour or liquid disappear into the batter. Mix in another third of the flour, the rest of the milk and then the last of the flour in the same way.

In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and vinegar and stir well. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to quickly mix this last mixture into the red batter, folding it in gently by hand. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes until the layers are spring back when touched lightly in the centre and are just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks or folded kitchen towels for 15 minutes. Then turn them out onto the racks, remove the paper and turn top side up again to cool completely.

To make the icing, combine the milk and flour in a small or medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking or stirring often until the mixture thickens almost to a paste, around 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and scrape it into a small bowl to cool completely.

Meanwhile, beat the butter with a mixture at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar in thirds, beating well eacg time until the mixture is creamy and fairly smooth. Add the cooled milk and flour mixture and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides now and then to combine everything well. Using a large spoon or spatula, stir im the vanilla, coconut and pecans, mixing to combine everything well into a thick, fluffy, nubbly icing.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer top side down on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread a third of the icing on top. Place the second layer, top side up, on top. Frost the sides and then the top of the cake with the remaining icing. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to help the icing set.

Note: If you can’t find buttermilk, stir 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar into 1 cup of milk and leave to stand for 10 minutes before using.

Banana cupcakes and a birthday

I treat birthdays as the one day of the year when I get to request any dessert that I am craving.  When I was younger, my poison of choice on my birthday was a strawberry cake from Aki’s Bakery.  Just thinking about that cake now is making my mouth water.

Nowadays, while I won’t pass up a slice of this memory-filled cake, I like to vary my birthday requests.  It could be the biggest, most elaborate, decadent chocolate cake or a simple but incredibly satisfying snickerdoodle.

Matt happens to be so lucky to be married to this little baker.  So his birthday request this year was banana cupcakes.  He claims that he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but he won’t ever pass up a banana cupcake.  I, on the other hand, can take ‘em or leave ‘em.  Banana cupcakes were never really on my radar, until I had a banana cupcake from Icing on the Cake.  They must put something in these cupcakes to make them so addictive.  And the frosting!  The cream cheese frosting!  Don’t get me started on the frosting.  If I could just figure out how to make that frosting, I think I could die a happy baker.

So his request was for me to replicate these highly esteemed banana cupcakes in our tiny, humble kitchen.  I let him dream big for me sometimes because I knew that there was no way I was going to achieve the status that these cupcakes have in my circle of friends, especially the first time making them.

But I think I made a valiant first effort.  I used a Martha recipe and it called for roasting the bananas first, which created a much deeper banana flavor than using raw bananas would.  The cupcakes were moist, maybe a little too moist when compared to their muse.  And there was cream cheese frosting of course.  He even let me stencil his age in cocoa powder on the tops (I guess he wasn’t so traumatized about turning 28).  But I definitely have a way to go before I can recreate cupcakes, so I guess some more taste testing and comparisons are in order.  I don’t think he nor I will have any problems with that!

What are some of your all-time favorite birthday dessert requests?

Roasted Banana Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Makes 16 cupcakes

3 ripe bananas

2 cups cake flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the bananas, with skins still on, on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast in the oven for 15 minutes; the skin will darken.  Remove from oven and let cool completely before peeling.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.  Sift together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks, one at a time, incorporating fully after each addition, scraping the bowl as you go along.  Add the roasted bananas and beat to combine.  Add the flour in three batches, alternating with the sour cream.  Beat until just combined and add the vanilla.

In another clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Fold the egg whites into the batter in batches until just combined.

Fill the lined muffin cups evenly with batter, filling about 3/4 full.  Bake, rotating tins half way, about 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Cupcakes will keep up to three days in an airtight container.

The cream cheese frosting recipe can be found here.  I left out the sour cream and grated orange peel this time and it still makes a nice cream cheese frosting.

Key Lime Bars

I made these key lime bars awhile back for my co-worker’s birthday.  But given how gray and rainy it has been in the Bay Area for the past week, I figured we could use a bright, citrus-y pick-me-up.

If you don’t have to juice your own key limes, or happen to have pre-bottled key lime juice available, these are incredibly easy bars to pull together.

However…

If you don’t happen to be so blessed, be prepared to juice about 25 of these wiley little suckers.  Because that’s what they are, wiley little suckers.

I know that a citrus reamer, or other tools of that sort, would make this job much easier.  But we did not own such a tool at the time.  So I juiced enough of these wiley little suckers to get 2/3 cups of fresh key lime juice.

But boy was it worth it.

Horribly out of focus picture aside, these bars were smooth and creamy and very citrus-y.  They were a little too tart for me, but a dollop of fresh whipped cream easily evens out the tartness.

Something perfect to brighten a cold winter day.

Recipe can be found here.

Hungarian Kiflis

Since I’m a fan of resolutions, I’m currently doing a 4-day detox that involves lots of juices and smoothies.  That obviously means no baked goods.  Thus, I have not started in on my 2010 baking.

But that leaves me the opportunity to tell you about one last holiday recipe.  And I’m so glad to have this opportunity because the afternoon I spent making kiflis this holiday season was one of my favorite memories all year.

Kiflis are a popular Hungarian pastry made traditionally during the Christmas season.  Legend has it that this pastry was created when Ottoman Turks invaded a Hungarian city.  The local bakers, who were up early in the day, alerted the city of the imminent attack and thus helped to fend off the invaders.  To symbolize their victory, the bakers created a pastry in the shape of a crescent moon, the emblem of the Turkish empire.

I had never heard of kiflis until I started dating my husband back in college.  But it was until we were married and we spent our first Christmas holiday away from his family, and consequently his mother’s kiflis, that I tried making them on my own.

Kifli making is a very labor intensive process and takes two days.  A full batch of kiflis can make between 100-120 and rolling out each individual ball of dough is not for the faint of heart.

But it is exactly that process that makes these cookies so good.  Sure, you could make an entire recipe of kiflis on your own, but that wouldn’t be very fun.  The enjoyment of making this recipe is the time that you get to spend in the kitchen with family.

We spent this holiday season with my husband’s family.  When we arrived at his mom’s house, about 80 balls of kifli dough were awaiting me and honestly, I couldn’t think of a better way to unwind from a six-hour car ride.  We spent four hours in the kitchen that afternoon, me rolling out dough, Matt filling and rolling each cookie, and his mom and step-dad catching us up on anything and everything.  It was the best way to spend an afternoon during the holiday season.

Hungarian Kiflis

Adapted from my mother-in-law’s recipe

For the dough:

1 pound butter, room temperature

1 pound all-purpose flour (4 to 4 1/2 cups)

12 egg yolks

2 tablespoons sour cream (take from the pint you have for the filling)

For the filling:

12 egg whites

1 1/2 pounds ground walnuts

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 pint sour cream (less the 2 tablespoons used for the dough)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the dough, cut the softened butter into the flour in a large bowl.  In another bowl, mix together the egg yolks and sour cream.  Note: save the egg whites and refrigerate them in a bowl overnight.  They will be used for the filling.

Add the egg yolk/sour cream mixture to the flour and butter and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are just incorporated.  You should be able to form a ball.

Pinch off a piece of dough, roughly the size of a walnut, and roll it into a ball.  Continue rolling walnut sized balls until you have used all the dough.  Place balls of dough in a bowl and refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to roll out the dough, make the filling.  In the bowl of  a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cold egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  You can add a little cream of tartar to help them fluff up.  Fold in the walnuts, sugar, vanilla and sour cream.

Taking a few balls of dough from the refrigerator at time, roll each ball as this as possible (so you can see the shadow of your hand through the dough).  Put 1 tablespoon of filling toward the top third of the rolled out dough.  Roll dough and shape into a crescent moon and pinch or tuck under ends.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 12 to 15 minutes.

This recipe can make anywhere between 80 and 120 kiflis, depending on how large or small you make the balls.

A time of renewal

Happy 2010!

Its a new year and I’m big on resolutions.  I like the renewal and sense of excitement and anticipation that a new year can bring.  Who knows what the next year, or the next decade, will bring?

In the year that I have had this blog I have been on a baking adventure.  I have had wonderful successes and some pretty horrible failures.  But not one of those adventures did I regret for one second.  I’m kind of amazed to look back on the last year and think of how much I have learned and grown in my baking prowess.

So in the spirit of resolutions and always, always learning, I present you with my 100.

I first saw this idea over at Brown Eyed Baker.  It was so inspiring to see her own 100 list and all of the things that she had crossed off.

These are the 100 things that I have found myself saying, “Oh, I’d like to try making that one day”, over the past year.

I have no expectations to complete this list by the end of 2010 – I’m not crazy and I prefer to stay my current jean size.

But I’m excited to be able to look back on this list once I’ve crossed off the last item and see all of the wonderful items I have made and the memories made with each adventure.  I hope you will join me!

Breads and Yeasted Treats

1. Panetone

2. Fougase

3. Foccacia

4. Cinnamon rolls

5. Donuts

6. Croissants

7. Irish soda bread

8. Brioche

9. Challah

10. Bagels

11. Popovers

12. Danish braid

13. Stollen

14. Savarin

15. Babka

16. Belgian waffles

Pastry

17. Cheese danish

18. Apple strudel

19. Eclairs

20. Cream puffs

21. Pate brisee

22. Pate sucree

23. Pate sablee

24. Baklava

25. Napolean

26. Mille-feuille

Candy

27. Nougat

28. Toffee

29. Truffles

30. Pate de fruit

Pies and Tarts

31. Tart tatin

32. Boston cream pie

33. Coconut cream pie

34. Lemon meringue pie

35. Dutch apple pie

36. Sweet potato pie

37. Linzer torte

38. Peanut butter pie

39. Chocolate cream pie

40. Fig galette

41. Banana cream pie

42. Chocolate tart

43. Pecan pie

Cake

44. Coconut cake

45. Dacquoise

46. Chiffon cake

47. Genoise

48. Buche de Noel

49. Gingerbread

50. Tiramisu

51. Salted caramel cake

52. Sponge cake

53. Pound cake

54. Ricotta cheesecake

55. Texas sheet cake

56. Olive oil cake

57. Tipsey cake

58. Lady Baltimore cake

59. Eggnog pound cake

60. Fruitcake

61. Persimmon pudding

Cookies and Bars

62. French macarons (successfully)

63. Madelines

64. Palmiers

65. Tuiles

66. Biscotti

67. Rugelach

68. Ladyfingers

69. Financiers

70. Cucidati

71. Russian tea cakes

72. Nanaimo bars

Custard, Mousse, and Pudding

73. Chocolate mousse

74. Clafouti

75. Canneles

76. Souffle

77. Trifle

78. Panna cotta

79. Crème anglaise

Frozen Treats

80. Sorbet

81. Semifreddo

82. Spumoni

83. Chocolate gelato

84. Pumpkin ice cream

85. Praline ice cream

Icings and Fillings

86. Royal icing

87. Fondant

88. Marzipan

89. Dulce de leche

90. Divinity icing

Libations

91. Eggnog

92. Tom and Jerry

Savory

93. Ricotta cheese

94. Marscapone

95. Homemade pasta

Miscellaneous

96. Baked Alaska

97. Pavlova

98. Croquebouche

99. Pandowdy

100. Poached pears

A time to remember

2009 presented me with some new and exciting adventures, the biggest and by far most exciting one being this small space, my blog.  Last January I finally gave myself the kick in the rear to start the blog that I had been dreaming of for almost a year.  Since then I have tried making more delicious baked goods and have met more wonderful and amazing people than I could have imagined when I started the year.

One of the reasons why I started this blog was because I had been so inspired by other blogging bakers out there.  Each blogger is different, lending their own background and view of life to their recipes and stories.  It took me a lot of courage to step up to the dinner table with them and share my own viewpoint.

But with great risk comes even greater reward.

Each recipe increased my confidence in my baking ability, each story further developed my voice, and each comment left by all you wonderful readers constantly inspires me to continue on this adventure.

Thank you to the people and experiences of 2009 that have made it a year to remember.

Happy New Year!

White Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes and some much needed rest

Sorry for the extended break, but we are back from our trip to So Cal to visit my husband’s family for Christmas. I took a much needed break and really enjoyed our time with his family. These types of visits with family always go by to quickly and tend to leave me with a longing feeling when we say good-bye, but we left with some wonderful memories of this year’s Christmas.

I am raring to get into the new year but before we dive head first into 2010 I wanted to leave you all with one last festive and cool holiday recipe. Multi-tasking is my thing, so I loved that I was able to complete December’s Cake Slice challenge (albeit a little late) and with a few modifications use it as my entry for December’s IRON CUPCAKE.

The cake chosen for this month’s Cake Slice was a white chocolate cake with white chocolate buttercream. It just so happened that December’s ingredient for IRON CUPCAKE was mint, any mint you like. I immediately thought of peppermint bark, which is so popular during the holiday season. With an easy swap of peppermint extract for the vanilla that the recipe called for, I had a fabulous Christmas cupcake.

I was actually very surprised at how well the two flavors melded together in cupcake form. The white chocolate was not overly sweet and the peppermint flavor was just enough. Just remember to halve the amount of peppermint extract when substituting in a recipe – it is much more potent than other extracts.

These cupcakes were so good in fact, that I placed second again in IRON CUPCAKE! I will most definitely be adding this cake to my holiday baking staple list.

If you have time, wander over to The Cake Slice Bakers and check out everyone else’s creations.  And here is a printable link to the recipe.