Saint Cupcake, Portland OR

As a wonderful birthday surprise, a friend sent these tasty cupcakes from a company based out of Portland called Saint Cupcake. I was so impressed with the freshness and clever packaging (kitschy and adorable). The cakes themselves came wrapped in compostable plastic. The icing was separately packaged in compostable plastic. The cupcakes can be purchased online and you can build your own gift set. My friend selected 3 cakes: vegan chocolate, vanilla toffee, and pumpkin spice. She also selected 3 different icings and 3 types of sprinkles. I'm always a fan of colored sprinkles, but the toasted coconut was pretty yummy. The set came with instructions, a candle, a "Happy Birthday" cupcake topper and separate wooden spreaders. Building our own cupcakes was so much fun. As cupcake businesses are taking off all over the country, I think Saint has an excellent idea with their shipping options.

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

A lovely friend and neighbor recently graduated with her Masters.  When I received her evite for a berry themed party, I was very excited about all the wonderful strawberry possibilities.  We have a respectable number of strawberries coming from our little garden.  I started searching for more ways to enjoy.  

This neighbor never lacks for wonderful food at any of her shindigs, but, one of the best ways I know to show some love is to bake.  The cupcakes ended up fitting right in.  When we entered the house, we were served freshly picked beautiful, locally grown strawberries w/ either champagne or powdered sugar.  Beautiful and delicious.  Doesn't that sound like a fabulous greeting?

I'm a baking blog junkie--my little baking blog is small potatoes compared to the many wonderful options out there...have you ever heard of the Daring Kitchen?  Take a look at all the amazing bakers that participate.  Many of them are oh so inspiring.  I'm not a participant.  Just an admirer.

I like to look at blog after blog and see who some of my favorites follow.  Anyway, I stumbled across a new blog:  Love & Olive Oil, from which this ingenious little recipe came.  Doesn't it just sound delicious.  

I've had a lot of baking firsts this past year -- making the buttercream for this recipe was one of them.  I had always thought making a buttercream was a little out of my league.  It wasn't!  The main mistake I made was using my hand mixer.  It would have been so much easier if I had taken the extra effort to use my stand mixer.  A lot of mixing of the egg whites/butter.  

Check out the recipe linked above.  There's lemon juice and zest in the batter; the recipe also calls for full fat coconut milk.  It's so neat that they don't taste very 'coconutty'--it just results in a decadent, dense, moist cupcake.  Lemon, vanilla, and pureed strawberries go in the butter cream.  Yum.  I want to invest in a larger star-tip.  I'd like more practice piping too.  You'll see the Love & Olive Oil iced cupcaked look a bit more professional than mine.

These cupcakes were delicious.  I think I'm going to have to try this recipe again.  Maybe I'll have enough strawberries from my own garden for another batch.  We'll see.

Strawberry Pistachio Tart

Learning from mistakes....I should have done what Ina Garten suggested and stuck w/ the small 4 1/2 inch tart pans.  I decided I could make into a large 9 inch tart.  Maybe if I had done a little better w/ the pastry cream, it would have worked.  I had never ever made a pastry cream before - not the easiest, but it was delicious.  The tart would have held together much better in small rounds.  It was difficult to slice in this larger size.  

My husband and I had just returned from visiting my folks a few weekends ago in Travelers Rest (I'm behind on my blogging--I made this tart as soon as we returned - about 3 weeks ago).  My mom took us to the Cider House and we ended up bringing home a flat of "Sweet Charlies" grown not far up the road at Strawberry Hill, USA.  I was determined to make a strawberry tart.  I settled on Ina's recipe because I already had most of the ingredients.

The tart was delicious.  I loved the pistachios mixed in w/ the beautiful strawberries.  The sweet apricot jam made the plump strawberries glisten so beautifully.

The next day, I mixed some of the pastry cream w/ Grand Marnier and served spooned over more of the fresh strawberries.  This was almost more delicious than the tart.  I should know better than to stray too far from such a recipe.  Ina's pastry dough was very easy and I look forward to using again sometime soon.

Cracked Wheat-Honey Bread

I've been making Deborah Madison breads from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone quite a bit recently.  Primarily, I've been using the classic white sandwich bread or mixing that w/ some spelt flour.  I've been sticking w/ this great recipe mainly because it's so easy.  

A while back I did try Madison's Cracked Wheat-Honey Bread.  I'm not going to reprint the entire recipe this time.  The recipe was quite similar to the classic sandwich bread, it just had slightly longer rise times.  

Madison suggests adding 1 cup of either cracked wheat or bulgar.  I used bulgar and thought the texture was fantastic.  I also chose to use molasses given Madison's suggestions of either that or honey.  

All of the Madison breads I've tried so far make great sandwich bread, but even better toast.  I'm a huge fan of breakfast--the cracked wheat-honey was delicious toasted w/a  little butter and honey.  

All of the recipes I've tried so far make two 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch loaves.  Works great for giving one away (always a nice option), or I've also enjoyed slicing and freezing.  I find that if I slice before freezing, it's so easy to pull out however many needed slices and just leave on the counter for about an hour to thaw.  Not as good as fresh, but still very delicious.  Again, the frozen slices make great toast.

Amy's Bread in NYC

Just had breakfast from Amy's Bread in NYC.  I'm tagging along on my husband's work trip.  After a great dinner w/ an old friend last night, we walked around the neighborhood where we're staying in Hell's Kitchen.  We stumbled on a bakery that was still open -- I thought that if the breads looked that good around 10pm in the evening, I bet they would be pretty awesome in the morning.  I returned first thing this am.  There was a nice selection.  Pictured above is my favorite so far: Almond Brioche Toast!!  YUM!

Along with the toast, I ordered a cheese biscuit and a chocolate sour dough twist.  The biscuit is rustic and dense--not my ideal biscuit, but still yummy.  It just wasn't quite the southern, flakey biscuit I'm accustomed to.  The chocolate sour dough twist was neat--really good, chewey, tangy sour dough with high quality dark chocolate scattered throughout the dough.

The almond brioche toast has a very thin layer of sweet almond paste.  It's not too much, I can still enjoy the rich texture of the spongy, buttery, thick slice of brioche.  It reminds me of an almond croissant I had at a French cafe once.  I think I like the brioche better.  It has such great textural variety.  

Anyway...enough of my rambling...Amy's Bread has three locations:  Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea Market, and The Village.  Apparently Hell's Kitchen is the original location.  I saw the new cookbook on display in the store:  The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread.  Think I may have to try it out.

Classic Sandwich Bread

I've been practicing Deborah Madison's "Classic Sandwich Bread" recipe on and off for a year now.  Just never thought to blog it.  Not that I have a lot of time to bake homemade bread; however, if I know I'll get to have half a day at home - baking a good homemade bread is a wonderful way to spend my time.  

This particular recipe is in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

I've tried preparing this wonderful yeasted bread with the mixer/dough hook as well as by hand.  I really prefer the texture of the bread when I just use a wooden spoon and a bowl - I guess I tend to overmix when using the mixer.  Madison suggests substituting the AP flour with more nutritional versions such as quinoa, amaranth, spelt, and kamut.  I'm going to go with one of these options the next time I make the recipe.  So far, I've only baked the basic recipe.  It just comes out so beautifully.  It's so delicious and versatile -- and CHEAP!  My husband and I had a goal to dine thriftily this week.  This idea that started as another way to be thrifty has turned out to be a real treat.  My husband asked if I can make bread every week-----maybe if he helps.

I'm going to post the recipe -- but, buy this book.  It's wonderful for everyone - not just vegetarians!

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 cup warm milk

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 to 4 cups bread flour

Egg Glaze

In a small bowl, stir 1/2 cup of the water and the yeast together, add the sugar, and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.  In a larger bowl, combine the milk, remaining water, the honey, oil, and salt, then stir in the proofed yeast.  Using a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, work in the flour a cup at a timeuntil you have a shaggy,heavy dough that leaves the sides of the bowl.  Turn it out onto a lightly floured counter and gradually knead in the remaining flour until the dough is smooth and resilient, about 5 min.  Put in in a deep oiled bowl, turning it so that the top is oiled too.  Cover with a damp towel and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, an hour or longer.  

Deflate the doughby pressing down on it, then divide it into two equal pieces, shape into balls, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, oil two bread pans.  Flatten the dough into two rectangles the length of hte pan.  Roll it up tightly, pinch the seams together to seal the ends, and place in the pans, seam side down.  Cover again and let rise until hte dough is just above the edge of the pan, about 35 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Leave the dough as is or score the top with three diagonal slashes.  Brush with the egg glaze and bake until browned and pulling away from the sides, 40 to 45 minutes.  If the tops get too dark, cover loosely with foil. Turn the bread out, tap the  bottom to make sure it has a hollow sound, not a thud, then set on a rack to cool.  

 

 

Cinnamon Raisin Craisn Bread

A week ago we had a no-snow day.  Baking bread seemed like the perfect activity - I needed something to help me feel warm and cozy. It was very cold and we were sad about there being no snow to play in.  

This is the GRIT's recipe.  It was so easy and delicious.  One of the easiest yeasted breads I've ever made.  I liked the combination of both the raisins and craisins.  I kept thinking how it would be yummy to change things up...maybe doing just craisins w/ some orange zest?  

I completely recommend this recipe.  The GRIT cookbook never disappoints.  For those that live in Richland County, SC -- you can check this cookbook out from the Richland County Public Library.

1-1/4 cups very warm water

1 tablespoon fast-rising dry yeast

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour

6 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon, plus a pinch salt

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon, plus a pinch cinnamon

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 teaspoons freshly sqeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup crushed wanuts

1-1/2 raisins, craisins, or blend of both

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Thoroughly combine water, yeast, sugar, and whole wheat flour in a large bowl.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Allow to sit in a warm place (75-80 degrees F) for 20 - 30 min.  

Melt butter and pour into a small bowl.  Add remaining ingredients except all-purpose flour.  Allow to cool.  Combine butter mixture with yeast mixture and add all-purpose flour.  Knead vigorously with mixer or by hand on floured surface for 3 to 4 minutes (I did this by hand).  Cover bowl loosely  with plastic wrap and allow to rise in warm place until nearly doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pan.

Punch down dough and form into loaf, gently tucking dough toward center of bottom and lightly stretching the top to a smooth tightness; allow to rise 5 min.   Place in prepared loaf pan.  Bake on middle oven rack for 35 min.  or until nicely browned and hollow-sounding when tapped on bottom.  Cool for 10 min. in pan then remove bread to a wire rack to cool completely.

Slice thick, toast well.  Freezes well too.

Fat Tuesday and Semla!

I prefer these delicious sweet buns filled w/ almond paste and whipped cream to the church pancake supper on Fat Tuesday.  My wonderful neighbor Mattias (pictured above) made some.  Being the wonderful neighbors that he and his wife Lili are, they sent out an email inviting us to partake.  Mattias mentioned that he used the recipe that his mother always used in Sweden.  

Of course I googled Semla -- apparently they sell them at IKEA!  I bet they're not as good as Mattias's.

Cheesecake and Beer!

Have you ever tried the combination?  I don't know why it's not as popular as cheese and wine.  It's one of my favorite food and drink pairings.  

After a nice Valentine concert, my husband and I went to a great local brewery called Hunter-Gatherer.  First of all, they have really good beer.  I switched this past year from the ESB to the Wheat.  

They were serving a blueberry cream cheesecake.  Yum...that's all I really have to say.  I thought that while I was sharing my little pov on baking, I might as well include this too.

Linzer Cookies

I tried making Linzer cookies for Valentine's.  I checked out a new cookbook from the library - The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri.

I thought this dough was the worst.  It was so dry and difficult to work with.  I don't know what I did wrong.  I must have re-read the directions about 10 times.  I feel like I missed out on something.  Since, I found a good looking recipe on The Joy of Baking website.  

I might try that recipe the next time I get a hankering to make linzer cookies.  I always thought they looked pretty for Valentine's day.  These tasted pretty good, but the texture just wasn't great.  One other complaint about the Malgieri recipe...there was an overwhelming amount of clove.  I love clove - but I wished I had been consuming this in either November or December ---that's when I really want my clove.  I'm probably too picky.  

I used a scalloped cutter which I thought looked very pretty.  The picture's not great.  I need to work on that.

The N'Oreo

This is my final post about the DC inauguration trip.  It's primarily about baking - let's call it my common tone blog modulation.  We had a great final evening visiting w/ Anne & Lane, watching the inaugural balls on TV and enjoying champagne and Tater Tots

Our final morning we tried the vegan bakery Anne suggested - Sticky Fingers.  I got a few treats for the trip home.  My favorite was the Mint N'Oreo.  I loved the texture of the chocolate cookie.  It was crispy, but not at all dry. The mint filling was not overly sweet and plenty minty.  It made an excellent snack for the trip back - which amazingly, was no trouble at all.

We ran into lots of folks returning home from the inauguration at all of our rest stops -- the guy we met in Wendy's said he got to sit next to Dustin Hoffman (fancy).  It was amazing that we never ran into bad traffic.  We left the city shortly after rush hour.   We started to take an alternate route for fear of heavy traffic on I-95.  After making it outside of the beltway w/ no problems, we decided to take a chance on 95.   

Back to the bakery, they had a number of savory foods that looked delicious too.  I'd love to try some of their other foods the next time I'm in town.  I did have a Sticky Cinnamon Bun for breakfast.  Very good; however, for my taste, the N'Oreo won.  

Inauguration Day

I hope no claustrophobics attempted to navigate within these crowds.  I have never seen anything like this - ever.  Our day began around 6am.  We left the place we were staying and met up w/ friends near Dupont Circle.  Together, we all walked down 18th Street to the Mall.  The trek there was probably one of the highlights.  It was incredible to see people converging from so many different paths.  Volunteers from different organizations were handing out food, nametage, buttons, etc...  We all received nametags that said: "Hello my fellow American, my name is ___."

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by people from the National Park Service.  They thanked us for coming and told us they were glad we were there.  It was touching.  We quickly began meeting people from all over the country.  Ironically, we ended up beside a group of folks from Columbia, SC!  It took us a little while to stake out our spot, eventually we settled on on a place, probably about 4 jumbo trons back.  For a short gal, I could see pretty well.  The sound was pumped loudly everywhere.  My favorite part of the pre-ceremony music was everyone joining in singing "This Land Is Your Land," led by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen - I choked up.  While we were singing, I noticed an elderly woman who was enjoying the music just as much as I.  There's a picture of us on our Picasa page.  Turns out she was 90 years old and came from Philadelphia - she was a Quaker.  

One of the most memorable parts of the day was the insane crowd after the ceremony let out.  I'd say it took us at least an hour to just get off the Mall.  We sought refuge up against a nearby building to try to look for other ways to navigate the crowd.  We were able to climb up on the steps to get some pictures of the madness (check the Picasa page).  Crowds that large can be kind of frightening.  Luckily, everyone was calm and patient for the most part.  We were glad we had stashed all kinds of power bars and snacks into our pockets.  I saw the satellite picture of the crowds on CNN - I'd love to have a blown up print of that image.  

We walked back to our friend's apartment and waited a while.  Got back to our place around 5 - the Metro was crowded, but not more so than during a regular rush hour.  I'm certain that would not have been the case had we not waited.  

The coverage of the parade and balls was fun to watch on television.  What an experience this has been.  I'm looking forward to getting home --  I'm ready for this New Era of Responsibility of which Obama spoke.  

  

Here we go!

Big Shoulders Ball was fantastic.  I love Freakwater.  I think I need to say that again -- I LOVE Freakwater.   I recorded them singing Signed, Sealed and Delivered on the Flip.  Will share later.  See updated pics at our Picasa album

I see the crowds walking to the mall on CNN.  We're about to go join them.  OK.  Need to run put on those hiking boots and that bright orange neck gator!  

Cake Love

This is a baking blog, after all.  So, I really needed to go into Cake Love to try their special Inaugural cake/cupcake - "44."  They were out of cake slices - I believe you may have gotten more of the yummy salted caramel that way.  However, the cupcake was delicious!  A vanilla cake w/ vanilla buttercream (emphasis on butter!) w/ salted vanilla swirl.  I met another South Carolinian in line (from Darlington).  She took my picture for me:

I also got chocolate, raspberry, and pumpkin cupcakes too.  We'll have to let you know about those later.

Inauguration Monday, pt 1

On our way to Meskerem in the Adams Morgan area, we walked by Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street.Can you see the crowd lined up down the block?   It was quite a scene.  People everywhere.  We did get to go walk by some of the Obama shops.  Around 8:00, some folks were just setting up their Obama gear stands out of the back of their cars, etc...  Pretty much every restaurant/bar was crowded.  Meskerem was no exception - however, once we got seated, we certainly enjoyed our meal.  I happen to love the Injera sponge bread.  I believe the cabbage and greens were my favorite vegetables on the platter.  

We've added more pics from the evening at our Picasa page.

We're heading out for the day.  It snowed a little this morning.  Doesn't seem to have accumulated, but it was beautiful falling. 

We have arrived

We thought the trip would be a little more challenging...knock on wood.

We're in DC safe and sound.  The best part of the trip was seeing all of the other people on their way to the inauguration as well.  I took a few pictures of newspaper headlines from some of our many stops.  There were some great bumper sticker displays too.

There does seem to be an electricity in the air...lots of smiling faces...there were public transportation employees outside of the Metro stations offering to help people w/ directions--A little boy came up to David, tugging at his City Year backpack.  Turns out his mother is currently working for City Year in DC -- this little boy was so excited to see the familiar logo.  It was cool to make friends w/ this little fellow and his mom.  I have a feeling we'll be meeting a lot more friends.  

Soon we're going out for Ethiopian food and hopefully we'll get to stop by some of the Obama shops that have popped up around the city...I can't wait to try on the sequin encrusted Obama skull cap.

Click here to see our Picasa album.

Hiking Boots and Handwarmers are Packed!

This isn't about baking at all.  

It's January 17th, 2009 and when most sane people will still be asleep tonight, my husband and I will begin our trek to DC for the inauguration of our 44th President of The United States, Barack Obama.  

We've been very fortunate to have great friends living in the city who have helped us tremendously w/  the logistics of being able to make the trip.

I can't wait!  I was just watching some interviews w/ folks already there on CNN.  We know it's going to be crazy - we're just so excited to be among the thousands flocking to DC for this historic occasion.  

I'll be posting as much as I can, more for my own personal diary.  I've had some friends ask to keep them updated - so, bone chilling DC temperatures....I've got my bright orange neck gator and am rarin' to go.