Strawberry Pie

Not the prettiest, but tasted good.

With the leftover pie crust I decided to make a pie - a full pie this time.  After searching the internet I found the recipe for Old Boy's Strawberry Pie.

Ready to go in the oven.

I don't own a pie dish, but in this case the dish I have worked well because this was a lot of filling - it would have bubbled over even more in a traditional pan.

Right after pulling it out of the oven.

More thickener needed, but tasted so good.

A la mode

This recipe has been added to my collection. :)  Summer is wonderful.

Rhubarb Cup Pies

We've been watching Pushing Daisies lately and Chuck's 'cup pies' made me crave some.  Having some more rhubarb I decided to give them a try.  The only issue being that I couldn't find a pie crust recipe with honey baked into it. 

So I made some alterations.  These are based off of Martha Stewart's rhubarb pie recipe.  I cut the amounts in half and used a muffin tin for the 'cup' size.  Some of the pies had honey brushed on the inside of the crust before the rhubarb filling was added and it definitely made a difference - a yummy, sweet difference! :) 

Before topped with the crumble and baking.

After baking for 30 minutes (a few more minutes wouldn't have hurt).

Tasty, tasty cup pies.

 The cup version is a bit more finicky, but it is nice to have a small version of pie.

Rhubarb Crunch

 Rhubarb reminds me of home.

The fact that this rhubarb came from my childhood front yard and the recipe is one of my dad's favorites made this treat taste that much better.  Big city meet country rhubarb. :) Yum!

Rhubarb Crunch

1 cup flour                                    

1 cup brown sugar                       

½ cup butter, melted                        

¾ cup oatmeal                        

1 tsp cinnamon                        

5 cups rhubarb, diced

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, brown sugar, butter, oatmeal and cinnamon.  Grease 9 x 13 inch pan.  Press half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of the pan and then add rhubarb.  Top with remaining oatmeal mixture.  Cook sugar, water, cornstarch and vanilla until thick and clear.  Pour this mixture over the mix in the pan.  Bake at 350° for about 45 minutes.

The tasty finished product with all the oatmeal on the bottom (oops).

Eat warm and topped with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. :)

How Sweet

My weekend selection: "Holy Guacamole!", "Bacon Bliss", "Dark Chocolate Pomegranate", and the day's Baker's Choice, which I believe is a Cinnamon Roll cupcake.

My coworker discovered the perfect cupcake place and we've been taking turns trekking to it during the work week for treats.  Madison Sweets is my new favorite place in town - their cupcakes are delicious and if you're ever wandering down State Street try them out.  Pictured above is my weekend haul...I deserved treats for getting myself out of my apartment. :)

Eventually I hope to try all of the varieties, but so far my favorite is the "Lemon Drop" cupcake. Maybe once I've had all four of the ones pictured above I will change my mind.

May the sweets be ever in your favor!

Bûche de Noël

A small selection of baked goods.

As per my usual behavior during the holiday season I baked too much.  There are still gluten free goodies overflowing in my parents' house, but there was one dessert that didn't last long at all...a gluten free Bûche de Noël.  It was my first time trying such a cake (hence the flatness of the 'log'), but it is now a new staple in the Christmas baked goods. :)

A bit flat but just as tasty. :)

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and happy new year!

Solo Apartment

I have moved into my first solo apartment.  I don't have roommates - my kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom are all mine. :)

It is really great to come home and be able to cook in my kitchen.

My latest baking endeavor: banana bread - because I didn't eat my bananas fast enough. :)

Cookies!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

These are delicious! :)  Both the cookies and the filling have cream cheese in them.  They're so rich that you may have to eat half and save the rest for later.

(Taste of Home recipe, December 2011 - January 2012)

Cocoa Thumbprints (with extra filling from the above cookies) -

These are also delicious, but less creamy than the ones above because they don't have cream cheese in them.

(Food Network magazine recipe, Vol 4 No. 10)

Lacey Brandy Snaps

These are one of the most finicky desserts to make - the dough became one sheet rather than remaining in circles.  It was difficult to keep them from falling.

The filling for these was copious - I'm going to have to make more cookies to use it up, but I love the sweet brandy taste. :-D

The picture is of just the outside since the middle is added later.

(Taste of Home recipe, November 2011)



I also made a bunch of truffles and will have gained a billion pounds before the holidays are over. :)

Food Coma

There were only 10 people at Thanksgiving this year...they went a bit overboard on the pies. :)  

Top Row L-R: Apple, Deep dish Apple, Pumpkin Cheesecake. 
2nd row: Raspberry, Bomb Shelter Peach, Raspberry. 
3rd row: Pumpkin Cheesecake, Cherry, Pumpkin, Oatmeal Pecan. 
Bottom row: Cherry, Oatmeal Pecan, Pumpkin.


We all ate too much Thanksgiving food and then too much pie. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Food

I am thankful for Thanksgiving food!

Thanksgiving spread.

Every year there is a major cooking fest and my aunt and uncle's house.  My uncle's stuffing is to die for. :)

Then there are the pies.  There are usually at least 5 different kinds of pie.  In the past we've had (some pictured): pumpkin pie, apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin cheesecake pie, berry cheesecake pie, pecan pie, oatmeal pecan pie, chocolate irish cream cheesecake pie, and more.

Butter Pecan Pumpkin Pie and a Cherry Pie

Slice of the Berry Cheesecake Pie topped with whipped cream and raspberries

 I can't wait to see what the guys come up with this year. :)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Berry Cheesecake Pie went fast.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie - my cousins' favorite.

Slice of the Butter Pecan Pumpkin Pie.

Bones & Blood Success

For Halloween this year I didn't do an over the top costume or get drunk with a ton of grad students.  This year I was in a much different situation: family with small children.  An outrageous costume seemed immaterial (I still dressed up, but I used clothes and props I already had) and getting drunk was out of the question.

Ready to go in the oven.

So I embraced the family style Halloween celebration and turned to baking.

My friend The New/Step Mom and I created Bone cookies with a Blood sauce.  Of the two treats that we made I think these were the hit.

Bone cookie dipped in Blood sauce.

The Buried Surprise Cupcakes were a hit with The New Mom's nieces, nephews, and daughters.  I was less impressed with them - buried gummy body parts is amusing in theory, but make eating the stupid cupcake harder and messier.  I'd make them for kids again anytime, but the Bones & Blood I will be making again next year if possible.

Conclusion:
Bones & Blood = delish.
Buried Surprise Cupcakes: meh.

Baking Catharsis

I'm still here - in the country, finishing my thesis work.  I have a defense date set and I've been job hunting.  So far so good.  Living here is alternately relaxing and stressful and I've come up with a way to make it less stressful. :)  I've started baking.  Mum, Dad, and the Lil' Sister don't usually eat many sweets, but I seem to need them.  Mum and Dad have subscriptions to 'Food and Wine' 'The Food Network' 'Taste of Home' 'Simple and Delicious'...I've been digging through them to find good sweets to make.  Everything I make has to be gluten free because Mum and Lil' Sister are sensitive to gluten.

So far I've tackled:

Super-Deluxe Rice Crispy Bars - half chocolate and half regular rice crispies with dark chocolate chips.

Chai Cupcakes with a homemade vanilla & spice frosting (Taste of Home recipe) -

Pumpkin Cupcakes with a homemade cream cheese frosting, dusted with ground cinnamon (Taste of Home recipe)-

Pumpkin bars.

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies (verybestbaking.com).

Slow Cooker Apple Pudding Cake (Taste of Home recipe - in the Christmas 2011 book) - so good!  I've made this with and without gluten and it tasted good both times.


Mini Caramel-Apple Cheesecakes (Rachel Ray recipe) - Finicky to make and I had to improvise with the crust because I couldn't use graham crackers.  I also used almonds because we have walnut allergies. (I tried to used pecans, but I burnt them!)

Cinnamon Pumpkin Truffles (Taste of Home recipe).  These did not turn out well.  The middle truffle part was runny and couldn't be rolled.  The only thing I can think of is that the pumpkin was runny, which resulted in a lack of hardening.

Apple Crisp Muffins (Taste of Home recipe) -  I had to do several substitutions and omissions due to allergies or lack of ingredients, but the end result was pretty good.  They make a good fall breakfast treat.

And finally, one I'm especially proud of: Gluten-Free White Bread

I'm proud of this one because I've never been terribly good at making bread.  This dough actually rose and became a properly sized loaf of bread.

To be baked next:
Bones & Blood

Buried Surprise Cupcakes:

Both of these are for a mini Halloween get together.  The cupcakes are especially for Jen's kids. :)