Lava Cakes

Hello,

I am really bad at actually posting the things that I make. I am honestly in the kitchen everyday and I can gladly share pictures of the food I share in class. When I am baking at home I normally don't take picture to document my success. I just grab a spoon and dig in.
Last night I made lava cakes for a party. I am wiz at making lava cakes. I found a recipe about two years ago and my parents bought me the ramekins to make them. Since then everyone requests that I make them. I have even demoed them for a few classes before (look at me on my way to the food network. Just kidding I have more important things to do than develop a catch phrase and host a show that teaches people how to make easy, quick, and crappy desserts). I was pretty much on top of my game last night. The lava cakes were amazing and everyone who ate them loved them. I am pretty awesome like that. I guess I can share my recipe with you because it's not really a secret. I got it from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which I have found to be a very nice cookbook. It was very hard for me to use cups to make these again because I strictly use only weight in class. I hope you can dream of making these as good as I do (really they aren't that hard though) so enjoy!

Baby Lava Cakes 
from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook
Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 egg
• 3 eggs yolk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1. For filling in a heavy saucepan combine 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and whipping cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat. Cool stirring occasionally. Cover; chill about 45 minutes or until firm.

2. Meanwhile in a medium heavy saucepan cook and stir the remaining cup of chocolate chip and the butter over low until melted. Remove from heat; cool. 

3. Form filling into 6 equal-sized balls; set aside. Lightly grease and flour six 3/4-cup souffle dishes or 6 ounce custard cups. Place dishes or cups in a 15x10x1 inch baking pan; set aside. 

4. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until lemon colored. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture on medium speed. Sift flour and cocoa powder over mixture; beat on low speed just  until combined. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into dishes. Place 1 ball of filling into each dish. Spoon remaining batter into dishes. 

5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 13 or until cakes feel firm at the edges (mine always take a while longer so don't worry). Leave in dishes for about 2 to 3 minutes. Loosen the cakes and then flip over onto plates. Serve immediately.

I always use ice cream on top because the cakes are rich and the inside is like fudge sauce so ice cream goes really really well. 

Well there you have it an easy dessert that will wow your party guests or there are six cake for you to eat the next time you and your boyfriend break up. They are good so make them. 

Nancy  

Mmmmm... Bacon

The one in the top corner is the Maple Bacon
the other one is a Lemon Pound Cake. 

Hello!!

Bacon is the best food on the planet. Fact. Bacon is amazing. Bacon can go on anything, even cake. Another fact.
Recently my chef in culinary school has gone bacon crazy. He talks about it all the time. That set the wheels in my wonderful mind churning. Bacon. Maple. Cake. Pound Cake to be more specific. Yep. It needed to happen, so I made it happen.
I made a Maple Bacon Pound Cake and let me say it was one of the best things I have made. In the words of a friend it tasted like IHOP and a birthday cake had a baby. It tasted like breakfast and dessert at the same time. The cake was totally rocking the sweet and salty thing. I loved it. SUCCESS!!!
So I would highly recommend this cake. Make it. Love it. Die happy. You might not be able to take a sweeto picture like me, but the cake is really easy so it should come out right. The only strange ingredient for me was maple flavoring, but let me tell you people. It exists. It is on the shelf of your local Walmart. Get off your butt buy the syrup, flavoring, butter, bacon, the rest of ingredients which I guess are also important, and a bundt pan if you don't have one because this cake cannot be made in anything else (bundt pans are pretty).
Without further ado the best cake ever.

 Maple Bacon Pound Cake 

Cake

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature 
• 1 1/4 cups sugar 
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (make sure it is pure not the normal runny gross stuff)
• 3/4 tsp. maple extract 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 to 7 strips of cooked bacon or more if you extra bacon goodness! 

Glaze

• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 tbl. pure maple syrup 
• 2 tbl. heavy whipping cream
• 10 tbl. powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp. maple extract
• extra cooked bacon for sprinkling on top

Cake: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a Bundt pan very very well. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Using an mixer beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I substituted two tablespoons of bacon fat left over from frying the fatty goodness for two tablespoons of butter. You can do the same or skip that if you don't want the work of cooling the fat ). Add eggs one at a time. Mix in maple syrup and extracts. Mix in the dry ingredients. Then fold in the bacon. 

Pour batter into prepares pan bake for about 1 hour or until the top is lightly golden brown and a knife comes out clean. Transfer to cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes. Cooling is important don't skip it and don't let it go to long. Flip the cake out and cool completely. 

Glaze: 

Melt butter with maple syrup and cream. Remove from heat. Add extract and powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Cool glaze until thick and drizzle over cake. Sprinkle on extra bacon! EAT!! 

I found this recipe in the Bon Appetite Desserts cookbook. I must give credit where credit is due. It was originally a Maple Walnut cake, which I bet would be good but bacon is better. So, dear readers, go out there and much much much bacon!! 

Nancy 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hello!!

This weekend I have been craving peanut butter cookies. I continually said I was going to make them, but then I got really lazy and decided to do other things like surf the web or sit on my but and watch t.v. Well, they are finally made and with the smell of peanut butter cookies in the air I sit down on my but to go on the internet. Hopefully you aren't as lazy as me and once you read this recipe go to make the cookies right away! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter flavored Crisco 
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla

Stir first 4 ingredients; set aside. With a mixer mix Crisco and peanut butter until smooth, beat in sugars until blended, then eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat until well blended. If necessary chill dough. Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; flatten with a fork dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Makes 72 cookies (6 dozen)

(My mom also included the calories and gram of fat for each cookie, but I am going to leave that out. No one wants to know how many calories they are consuming when they eat peanut butter cookies like the cookie monster.)

So stop being lazy and go make some peanut butter cookies. I will say this in advance, Your Welcome!! 

Nancy 

Strawberry Lemon Bars

Hello!
I made these last night. I apologize for the sub-par picture. I am not a professional photographer, so get over it

The recipe I found was for raspberry lemon bars, but for some stupid reason the grocery store I went to did not have frozen raspberries, so I had to make them with strawberries. And they are still delicious, but they are no as pretty as the recipe showed.  So here is the recipe. I doubled it to make a big pan because I don't have a 9x9 pan. Do as you like.

Strawberry Lemon Bars 

Ingredients 

for the crust:

9 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick, plus one tablespoon)

1/4 cup (50g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)

1 cup (100g) of unbleached all-purpose flour

pinch salt

for the filling:

1 1/2 cups (287g) superfine sugar (or regular granulated)

3 egg whites

1 egg

2/3 cup (150mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 3 lemons)

2 tablespoons lemon zest (from 2 lemons)

2/3 cup (65g) unbleached, all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1-2 cups (150-275g) of frozen strawberries, defrosted

1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

Directions

for the crust: 

Mix butter and sugar until creamy. Add the flour slowly until incorporated. Press into pan. No need to grease. Bake at 350 for 20ish minutes until golden brown. When done take out of oven and cool. 

for filling: 

While crust is cooling mix together the filling. Mix together everything but the strawberries in a large bowl. Either push the strawberries threw a sieve or puree in the blender until liquidy. Mix that into the other stuff. Pour into the pan and put back in the oven for about 35 minutes or until the center is set. 

When done take out of the oven and cool completely before eating. When you are ready to dig in sprinkle the powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar) on top to make it look all pretty. 

They are really easy and super addictive, so you are warned. Remember to share. Don't eat the whole pan yourself. 

Nancy 

Supper

Hello!

I haven't blogged in a while but I have been baking. Recently I moved to college and I have been making my own supper. Yesterday I got the hankering for fry bread. Fry bread is a Native American sort of thing. It is a simple a the name. You make some dough and then you stick in some hot oil and fry it up. It is delicious. I have eaten this bread for my entire life. My mom grew up on an Indian Reservation. No I am not part Native American, I am white as white can be. My mother's parents moved to the res for work and such and so my mommy went with them. Hey at least fry bread came out of the move!
There are a few ways to eat this wonderful bread.  You can eat it plain, which is what I did. You can put taco stuff on it and make Indian tacos, and those are really good. You can make it to a hamburger. You can cover it in cinnamon and sugar. You can basically do anything with it. I was super lazy and I didn't want to buy stuff to put on top so I just ate it plain. It was awesome!! The recipe is super easy, even a twitchy monkey could make it.

Fry Bread 

Ingredients 

2 cups flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tbl. sugar

About 3/4 to 1 cup water

Mix all day ingredients together until well blended. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Let dough rest at room temp. for about 30 minutes. Roll out on a floured board. Cut with some type of round cutter. Fry in deep hot fat until brown. Drain. Yeilds 4 to 5. 

Super easy and super awesome!!! So make some and enjoy!

Nancy 

Easy as Sunday Morning

Hello,

This morning RAGBRAI came through my town. Don't ask me what that means. I think it is something about biking across Iowa, but who really cares. For me it means waking up early, sitting on a corner with my fam, and watching a bunch of crazy bike riders go by. After watching other people work really hard I started to get hungry, so we all journeyed back to the house to have a very filling breakfast of pancakes and sausage. My younger brother wanted me to make my specialty pancakes, so I did. Who could object? The pancakes taste amazing.
I made cinnamon roll pancakes. They are amazing!! Its like the best breakfast food ever. Pancakes are normally awful, but these things bring tears to my eyes. They are also as easy as sleeping in on Sundays. So give them a try!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

So first make some pancake batter. It doesn't matter what kind. You can use a box mix, you can use your grandmother's recipe you swear by, you can really use anything it doesn't matter. This morning I use super lazy and had my mom throw some together for me.

Next make the cinnamon roll filling. You need:
1 stick of butter (melted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
a generous tablespoon of cinnamon.
Mix that up real good and stick it in a baggie and cut of the corner.

Put some batter on a non stick skillet/griddle. Once there are some bubbles on top swirl the filling over the pancake in a spiral. Flip them over when they are ready. Once both sides are done you can eat them.

If you feel so inclined you can make some cream cheese frosting to put on top. Today I was too lazy to do that so I just ate them. They are good both ways.

So you see they are super easy, just like you mom! Ooooo burn!!
And mostly everything in this recipe is a common household ingredient so its not like you have to go to the store to make you fam or whoever is at your house in the morning breakfast!
Enjoy!
Nancy

Pre-Diet Pie

Hello!

So I haven't posted in a while :) I have been baking though.
This week me and my mama started a diet so no more baking for a while. Sunday I decided that it was pie time. I made 3 pies! No I did not eat them all by myself. I invited some friends over to help me. Send out a text that says I made pie and I need help eating it I seem to get whole bunch of responses. Sometimes I feel like people are only my friends for the food.
For my pie day I made a French Silk Chocolate Pie, a Treacle Tart,  and an Apple Tart with crumble topping. They were all equally good. There are some pros and cons the each recipe. Okay maybe there are no cons...
The French Silk Chocolate Pie is amazing! This is one of my favorite pies. I have made it using a different recipe before, but it was not a good as the recipe. Another good thing about the recipe is that the eggs are heated before making the pie. Normally French Silk pies has raw eggs in it, but not this one! It is also so creamy!!! I love it!
Treacle Tarts are British! The are mentioned multiple times in Harry Potter. I found the recipe in the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, so this recipe is super legit!
I also found the recipe for the Apple Crumble Tart in the Harry Potter Cookbook. It was suppose to be 12 individual pies made in muffin tins, but that was really to much work. So I said screw it and made it in a tart pie (even though it was suppose to be a pie, but really the only difference between tarts and pies is the pan.)
So now of course I will give you these recipes. Sorry I am not going to type them word for word from the recipe, I really don't want carpal tunnel.

French Silk Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

For pie crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
4 table spoons unsalted butter, cut into 14 inch pieces and chilled
4 to 6 tablespoons ice-water

For Pie:
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened

Instructions:

Pie Crust

Mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in vegetable shortening and butter until it resemble course crumbs. You can use a pastry blender, a fork, or a food processor. Stir in the 4 tablespoons until dough sticks together. If the dough is to dry add extra water a tablespoon at a time. 

Put the dough in some plastic wrap and in the fridge for a hour or so. 

Once chilled roll out the dough. Put it in a 9 inch pie pan. Poke holes in the bottom to prevent bubbling. Cover with tin foil to prevent over browning. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove tinfoil and and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely before filling. 

For Pie:

In a medium bowl whip heavy cream with an electric mixer on medium until frothy. Turn up mixer to high and mix until stiff peaks for. Cover and refrigerate until needed. 

After the cream is in the fridge, combine eggs, sugar, and water in a large heatproof bowl set over a medium saucepan filled with 1/2 inch barely shimmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Beat with an electric mixer until egg mixture is thickened and registers 160 degrees, 7ish minutes. Take the bowl from the pan and continue to beat egg mixture until fluffy and room temp, about another 8 minutes. 

Add the cooled chocolate and vanilla to the eggs. Beat in the butter a few pieces at a time until well combined. Using a spatula gently, the keep word here is gently, fold in the whipped cream from earlier until no streaks of white remain. Scrap filling into pie crust. Put in the fridge let it chill out until set, at least 3 hours and up to a whole day! Eat! 

Treacle Tart 

Ingredients: 

For Crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 stick cold butter

2 large egg yokes

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

For Filling

1 cup golden syrup or light molasses or corn syrup

2 1/4 cups fresh bread crumbs

Grated zest and juice of one lemon

1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of water for brushing over crust

Directions: 

Mix together flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles yellow sand. Mix in yokes, cream, and vanilla until the dough forms a ball. Divide in half. Wrap up in cling wrap. Put it in the fridge for a few hours. 

When you are just about ready to roll out the crust preheat your oven to 400 degrees and make the filling. Put the syrup in the microwave for a minute until it is runny. Stir in bread crumbs and lemon zest. 

Roll out half the crust on a floured surface into a 11 inch circle. Fold into quarters and move to a 9 inch tart pan. Ease into the pan and us fold. Press into the fluted edges. Trim the dough even with the side. Roll out the other dough and cut the dough into long strips to make a lattice top. 

Scrape the filling into the bottom crust. Make a lattice top with strips. Brush the crust with the egg wash. 

Bake for 10 minutes and reduce to 375 degrees and bake fore another 25 minutes. 

Eat it warm with vanilla ice cream!

Apple Crumble Tart 

Ingredients:

For crust:

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter

4-6 water

For Filling:

2 tablespoons butter

2 sweet apples (like Gala) peeled, cored, and thinly chopped

2 tart apple (like Granny Smith) peeled, cored, and thinly chopped

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Zest and juice of half a lemon

For Topping:

1/2 cup flour 

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions: 

I think you might have picked up a pattern in the pie crust, but if you haven't I will repeat it. Mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter. Mix in the water until it stick together. Wrap up an put in the fridge. 

For the filling you need a large skillet. Put the butter in it. When the butter is foaming at the apples, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until the apples are soft and the juices have evaporated. Transfer to a bowl and cool. 

To make the topping. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Scatter the butter on top and rub it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the pecans. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take out pie crust. Roll out the pie crust. Transfer it to a tart pan. Put the filling into the crust. Sprinkle all of the crumble topping over the filling. 

Bake for 40 minutes, until the juices are bubbling. Remove cool for a little bit, and eat!

So there are the pie recipes. I think my fingers might fall off from typing that much, but they will fall off in the name of good pie! Enjoy!!

Nancy 

Gradumaction Times

Hello!

This week is my gradumaction times! I am officially done with high school. And on Sunday I will be officially graduated from high school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next year I officially going to Le Cordon Bleu for a degree in baking and pastry. I am being so official this week! It feels so good to finally have things figured out!
Since it is the gradumaction times that means it is party time!! My friend Jenna and I are having our party together. Since I lurve baking I am making all of the desserts for our party. Call me a little crazy, and I would agree. There is a lot of food to be made before my party on Saturday. I am planning on making 3 different types of cupcakes. 75 of each kind. 250ish cream puffs. And 250ish chocolate dipped strawberries. Yep, I am a little crazy! But this will be fun!!!!
So I have a fantastic chocolate cupcake recipe, but up until today I did not have a strawberry cake recipe. I found one that is super noms and has the right amount of sweet and strawberry (because I am not letting myself use box cake mix for my party. That totally adds to the crazy!) I found this recipe on the Wilton cake website. The only adjustment I would make would be to add more food coloring because they are not the prettiest pink color without it. The recipe is really easy useless of course you have the baking ability of a mentally challenged monkey, but even in that case it should be pretty easy. The only hard technique is... oh wait... there are no hard techniques in this recipe. If you think that creaming butter and sugar together or folding in strawberries into the batter then you need to go back to first grade.
Make sure you use frozen strawberries package in syrup. If you don't your cupcakes will suck and everyone will hate you. Don't mess up these cupcakes the world is riding on your shoulders!

Strawberry Cupcakes
Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 pkg (10 ounces) frozen strawberries in syrup thawed, and pureed 

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar with mixer. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Combine flour and baking powder. Alternately add flour mixture and milk. Fold in strawberries. Put into however many cups of your muffin tin it fills up. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until they are done (you really should know how to check if a cake is done). Cool completely before decorating or skip the frosting and cram the sucks done your throat!
I made 22 cupcakes when the recipe said it made 18. So just use you best judgement will filling up the cups and see how many you get.

Well enjoy these amazing strawberry cupcakes and stop being a stupid monkey and make this right!
Nancy

Cake Mix Puppy Chow=Angel Farts

Hello!
So here is a recipe that taste like heaven and angel farts. I am not kidding here; if angels were to fart this is exactly how it would taste.
Besides this recipe being amazing, it has been all over pinterest. I am bored of pinterest. Normally the recipes are sub par, and the humor isn't even that funny. But that is besides the point. This recipe actually seemed good, so I tried it out.
Along with my growing hatred of pinterest, I hate short cut recipes. The ones that say "Look how easy, simple, and delicious this recipes is!" Because normally when you make them they end up tasting awful. But for some reason this super easy recipe from pinterest is to die for. It doesn't make any sense, but somehow it is now deemed on the same level as angel farts.
What is this recipe you ask?
Cake Mix Puppy Chow!!!
My aunt had this at her house the last time we visited. We tried a little bit, and I was sold. I am the kind of person who makes the batter to lick the spoon. I do not really care about how good the brownies, cakes, or cookies turn out I just want to lick the spoon. This puppy chow is like licking the spoon. It takes like cake batter. It is honestly so amazing. And super easy (which is not something I am proud to say, but it is true.)
The recipe I found online was crap. When me and my mother made this we just went for. The recipe gave us a general idea, but we didn't really follow it. I will give you my better recipe, and you should follow that one.

Cake Mix Puppy Chow
Ingredients:
One confetti cake mix
One Box rice chex
One block of vanilla almond bark
1/2 cupish of powdered sugar

Melt the almond bar. Pour it over the chex, and mix it up real good so that every chew is coated. Mix cake mix and powdered sugar together. Put that with chex and shake it up. Some people put puppy chow in a paper bag and shake. I am to lazy to get paper bags when I go to the store, so I use a big bowl that has a lid. Once shaken and every piece is coated in cakey goodness, EAT IT!!

So go and enjoy some angel farts!!!
Nancy

There You Go!!!

Hello, Recently I have been making food and selling it to my teachers. They really enjoy it, and it gives me experience in pricing out recipes and filling orders. So it really is a win win situation. Last week I made 18 dozen chocolate chip cookies, 9 dozen white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies, 3 orders of chocolate biscotti, 2 orders of almond biscotti, and 22 cups of homemade granola. My cookies recipe is already on this blog, right here chocolate chip cookies. I was asked by a couple of teachers for my recipes. And I directed them to this blog. So here is the Granola Recipe that a few people asked for. It is really good granola and it taste super good on yogurt, which is my personal favorite way of eating it. So for the teachers that want it and for all of you granola lovers out there, Homemade Almond Granola.

Almond Granola
(9 cups)

• 1/3 cup Maple Syrup (the better the syrup the better the flavor)
• 1/3 brown sugar
• 4 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 5. cups fashioned rolled oats (do not use quick oats!)
• 10 oz sliced raw almonds
• 2 cups dried fruit (optional, I did not put this in, but you can if you want to)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, in salt in a large bowl. Whisk in oil. Fold in oats and almond until thoroughly coated.
4. Transfer oat mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread across sheet into thin, even layer. Using a stiff metal spatula, compress oat mixture until very compact.
5. Bake until lightly browned, 40 to 45 minutes rotating pan once halfway through baking.
6. Remove granola from oven and cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about one hour.
7. Break up granola, put if fruit if you want to.
8. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

So there you go. There is the granola recipe I made. It is really good, and has superb flavor. Hopefully you enjoy!
Lindsey

Icecream Cupcakes!

Hello!Sorry I have no picture for because I am awful food blogger and always forget to take pictures before I eat the food.
I needed treats for something today so I made cupcakes. It was requested that I make some easy stuff that is just no fun to make. So I ignored that request and tried something new. After so long of making a recipe it gets very boring to make. I would much rather do something hard that takes some skill instead of easy cake mix bars. And really those don't even taste as good as some of the other things I make.
I hate getting into a rut while baking. I like to experiment and try new things. You can only make so many pans of bars before you want to shot yourself, and I am very close to that amount. If the bars are so easy and so good make them on your own. They really aren't that hard. Try!!!
Baking and cooking are really not as hard as some people make it out to be. Here is the trick for baking. This secret may blow your mind so be prepared. FLOW THE RECIPE!!! If you don't know what you are do or have not made the recipe before then follow it! Its really that simple. Stop complaining about how you aren't good and how you don't know how to do anything. Just shut up and read the recipe. It is really that simple. People keep telling me that I am an amazing baker (and I am not denying that I am) but really all you have to do to be a amazing as me is follow what the recipe tells you to do. Then the dish, dessert, or whatever you are making will turn just as it is suppose to.
Here is something else I figured out. Recipes don't need to be some long drawn out thing. Not every little detail needs to be explained to death. No one like beating dead horses. So please everyone out there stop being stupid. It doesn't matter if you are reading or writing the recipe stop being an idiot.
So after my rant please enjoy this simplified Orange Dream Pop Cupcake recipe. This recipe is adapted from a cupcake recipe from The Bon Appetite cookbook. It tastes like heaven because everyone knows that heaven tastes like Orange Dream Pops. So here ya go!

Orange Dream Pop Cupcakes

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 whole milk
6 large egg whites
4 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 package orange jello
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Mix together dry (flour, powder, and salt). Mix together wet (milk, eggs, sour cream, extract, and jello). Alternately add dry and wet to butter and sugar.
Fill 24 lined muffin tins about 2/3 full. DO NOT FILL TO FULL! You hear me I am talking to you. Do not fill them to full because these cupcakes will go over the edges easily.
Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.
Once my cupcakes cooled I took out some of the center and then put plain vanilla pudding in them. And then I frosted them with my normal frosting recipe (click here to see my recipe Frosting).

They tasted amazing and everyone loved them. So try them but don't be stupid. Stay fat and happy my friends!
Nancy

Boredom=Cream Puffs

Hello!
I was bored today. Wow, that is weird to say. I haven't been bored since... since.. I really don't remember. I have been just a little busy. Between speech, work, and school I haven't had much time to blog about the food I make. (But somehow I have had time to bake a lot just not to blog. :)) So back to me being bored. Because I was bored I made Cream Puffs!
I tired these out once before in my independent study at school, but I did not put whipped cream in those. I put pudding in the ones I made at school so they turned out more like tiny eclairs, but they were still good. Today I whipped up some heavy cream and put that in the middle.
They are amazing. So much better than the frozen variety available at supper markets. The cream squishes out the side when you bite into them. You will love these. They seem complex but they are actually really simple.
First you need to make some Pate a Choux. I used Alton Brown's recipe. I trust any recipe by him and this one was especially good and easy.

Sweet or Savory Pate a Choux
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown and Food Network

Ingredients
1 cup water
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 Tablespoon sugar plus 1/8 teaspoon salt (for sweet)
1 teaspoon salt (for savory)
5 3/4 ounces flour
1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 egg whites

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degree F.
Boil water, butter, and salt or sugar. Add flour and remove from heat. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture into bowl of a stand miser and let cool for 3 to 4 minutes. With mixer on stir or lowest speed add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. Once all of the eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth put dough into a pipping bag with round tip. Pip immediately into golf-ball sized shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment paper lined sheet pans. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce with a paring knife immediately to release steam.

Once your Pate a Choux is done baking let them cool. While they are cooling whip up some cream. I added a little sugar and vanilla to add a little flavor.
Put the whipped cream into a pippin bag with any type of tip on it. If the outer shell is cooled then fill them with the cream. After that ENJOY!
They are really easy to make and they taste fantastic. So please make these and enjoy them.
Here are a few pictures (that I am very proud of) of my cream puffs. I drizzles them with a little chocoalte syrup.

Enjoy!
Nancy

LET THEM EAT SOUP!!!!

Hello,
Again I have been dishonest with you. I once vowed to post every time I made something. Well... That didn't happen. I have making mass amount of food, but haven't found to much time to blog about it. Sorry. I have made food at school, food to bring to school, food the bring to youth group, and food just cause I was bored.
Recently I have been trying my hand a cooking instead of just baking. I have gone soup crazy! I love soup! I could go on and on about how much I love soup. Soup is amazing! I have not meet one type of soup I did not like. I could eat soup for about every meal. To practice my cutting skills in my independent study I decided that I would make soup. You have to chop a lot of vegetable for soup, so it was great practice. And I just really wanted to make soup because I love it!!!!!!
I made two amazing soup last week. Tomato Basil and Minestrone Soup. They were both amazing with fantastic flavor. I personally love the Minestrone. I really don't like to eat vegetables. I have an awful sweet tooth and would eat a brownie over a salad any day. Soup is a great way for me to eat vegetable without forcing myself to. The Minestrone Soup is full of vegis, pasta, and heaven. There is spinach, tomatoes, squash, celery, and carrots. To add some body to the soup you put in pasta and potatoes. Warning this soup is very good but very filling. You will want to keep eating but you will get full. I changed the recipe a little from what I found on Allrecpies.com. I did not put in the Swiss Shard (mostly cause I don't know what that is :)). I also added more noodles than the recipe calls for so my soup thickened up and was so brothy, which personally I liked. Also the store in town didn't have orzo so I just used shells instead and those worked very well in it. And don't worry right after you put in the spinach it looks like seawead with a couple vegetable in it, but the spinach cooks down, a lot.
The Toamto Basil soup was also amazing. It was creamy and rich. The flavor is beyond this world. I did everything exactly like the recpie with that and it turned out perfect. Tomato soup is my favorite type of soup, so this soup ranks in the top 5 of best soups I have ever eaten (and as you can tell I love soup and have eaten alot of soup).
So here are the recpies, and I know it is almost the end of soup season. But please for your sake and mine try these soups!!!!

Minestrone Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Extra VirginOlive Oil

1 medium onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, chopped

3 medium carrots, diced

2 large celery stalks, diced

2 medium yellow squash, diced

5 cups Imagine Organic VegetableCooking Stock

1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and diced

1/2 pound Swiss chard cut into narrow strips

1 pound spinach leaves cut into strips

1 cup orzo pasta

1 cup chunky chopped Italian plum tomatoes

2 bunches washed, julienned basis leaves

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons Hain Pure Foods Iodized

Sea Salt or kosher salt

Black pepper to taste

Fresh Parmesan for serving

Directions:

Heat the Spectrum Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a heavy bottom soup pot.

Add in the onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft.

Stir in celery, carrots, squash and saute for 5 minutes more.

Add in the Imagine Organic Vegetable Cooking Stock, potatoes, chard, spinach, pasta and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.

Lower heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and the pasta has cooked.

Stir in the basil and Parmesan. Season to taste.

Divide between 8 warm soup bowls and grate some fresh Parmesan over each bowl.

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (11.5 ounce) can tomato-vegetable juice cocktail

1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

20 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup butter or margarine

Directions:

In a large saucepan, combine the tomatoes, vegetable juice, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the basil. At this point, you may puree the soup if you wish. Add the cream and butter; return to medium-low heat, and stir until butter is melted. Serve immediately. Serves 6

LET THEM EAT SOUP!!!!

Enjoy

Nancy

Shakespeare and Pie

Hello,
This is a monumental day for me! It is the start of my last semester of high school!!! Hooray!!! I am almost of here and on my way to bigger and better things! This is also the best semester of high school I have ever taken. I have about 3 real classes. Band, an independent study, a crazy block scheduling class, and Shakespeare. Shakespeare might be about the best class I have ever taken. The teachers are two of my favorite teachers from the high school. And the class is made up of people who want to be there to READ!! If you know me at all you know that I like reading. Between reading and baking my life is pretty complete. This class is the best of both worlds than. Because the teachers are allowing me to bring food to class. Hiphiphooray!!!!!!! (If you can't tell by the exclamation points I am a little excited!)
For the first day of class we are having a pie day!! I love pie. It is sooooo much fun to make and it tastes amazing. We are mostly having a pie day because one of the males, who is unskilled in the areas of food, demanded I make him a lemon meringue pie. Of course I jumped on the opportunity to make pie. So hence pie day.
I am just hoping that today and the rest of the semester are amazing. And with my schedule and my baking skills I honestly don't know how they couldn't be. So here is a lemon meringue pie recipe that can hopefully make your life better somehow. The recipe I got off allrecipes.com, but I put a little of my own flare into it.

Tradional Lemon Meringue Pie (with a twist)
Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Argo® OR Kingsford's® Corn Starch
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 pie crust made out of crushed Vanilla wafers and melted butter
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine 1 cup sugar and corn starch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until smooth. Stir in egg yolks.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon peel, lemon juice and butter.
3. Spoon hot filling into pie crust.
4. Beat egg whites in small bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy. Gradually beat in remaining 1/3 cup sugar; continue beating until stiff peaks form.
5. Spread meringue evenly over hot filling, sealing to edge of crust.
6. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack at room temperature for 30 minutes; refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

Hope you have a wonderful life filled with pie and books!

Nancy

 

Better Than What?

Hello!
This week contained the birthday of one of my favorite people. Crystal! Of course since it's a birthday there MUST be cake!! We didn't have to be at school today because of semester tests, so we went out for lunch. The Chinese food was superb, but let me say the best part was the cake. If you have never had Better Than Sex Cake you sir are missing out. Yes the name of the cake is Better Than Sex Cake. I have heard it called many other names in my lifetime. Heath Cake, Better Than Sunday School Cake, and Better Than Anything Cake are just a few examples. This cake is amazing. One of my friends who had never eaten this cake before took one bite, paused, and said "this tastes like heaven!" The cake really is that good.
Recipes that are first described as easy and simple sort of annoy me. I know that things that taste good can be easy to make. But really recipes should not have the words easy and simple in it. Better Than Sex cake is easy yes, but it tastes as if angel wings can down and landed on your tongue. It is the best cake you can make. It just helps that it's easy! So please please please make this cake. If you know what is good for you you will make this cake and eat it. But try not to take it somewhere because you will want to eat the entire pan yourself.

Better Than Sex Cake
Ingredients
-1 box german chocolate cake and ingredients to make it
-1 can carmel ice cream topping
-1 can sweetened condensed milk
-1 tub whipped topping
-bag of heath bar pieces
Make the cake a directed on the box. Once the cake is done poke hole in it while it is still hot. You can use a straw for this. Pour the sweentened milk and carmel over the top of the cake. Once it is cooled you can put the cool whip on top and heavly sprinkle on the heath pieces. The cake is better if you let it sit over night, and if you do that do not put on the whipped topping until you are ready to serve.

Remember if you know what is good for you, you WILL make this cake!
Nancy
(P.S. Sorry there are no pictures my mom took the camera to California with her :))