Death by chocolate would probably come by way of a torte

I love baking tortes!  I have a recipe from joyofbaking.com that is absolutely fantastic.  I've been making this recipe for a few years now and it has never failed me. Typically I make a single layer torte and cover it with ganache and it looks like something straight from a high-end dessert shop.

For this one I added a few twists.  On a recent episode of "Cake Boss" (I hate to admit I watch this because it's so drama-ridden...) I noticed that the bakers often use a "filling" in their cakes and decided to give it a try.  I was also reading up on ganache and found out that it can be chilled and whipped, so I decided to try that too.

The result was a double-layered torte, separated by raspberry jam and whipped ganache, covered in ganache. Let me start off by saying that this is not a recipe for someone on a diet.  The essential ingredients in a torte are eggs, sugar, and chocolate, all three in large amounts.  Ganache consists of heavy cream, chocolate, and butter.  That being said, it is probably the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.
I trimmed both layers to match and spread raspberry jam on the bottom layer.  I pipped whipped ganache around the edge and then placed the top layer on.  After smoothing everything out, I did a crumb coat of ganache and let it chill for 15 minutes in the fridge.

After the final layer of ganache it looked fantastic. I brought it to Chris's work and used his co-workers as willing taste-testers.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  My only change for next time would be to use more raspberry, since it was hard to taste it in all the chocolate.

Almost healthy muffins

I recently had a large number people rendezvous at my apartment before heading out for a girls day.  Since we were meeting in the morning I decided to have breakfast on hand.  Muffins seemed like an easy enough option until I realized that the only egg in my fridge was hard-boiled, and most muffin recipes call for 2 or 3 eggs.  Thankfully we live in the age of the internet, and substitutions for almost anything are just a few key strokes away.  It turns out that applesauce can be substituted for eggs in small amounts, which was nice since I had already planned on adding applesauce to the recipe.  I made a few other substitutions based on comments on the website and my own whims, here was the end result:

• 1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 3 Tbls cinnamon applesauce
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbls dark Karo syrup

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Soak the oats in milk for 15-20 minutes before blending in the wet ingredients, then blend in the dry ingredients.  The recipe makes about 14-15 regular muffins or almost 2 dozen mini muffins.  I filled the tins almost to the top, however the original recipe called for 2/3 full.  I found that they hardly rose at all while baking. I baked the regular sized ones for 18 minutes and the mini ones for 12.

The resulting muffins were great!  A lot of complaints about the original recipe had been about the oats not softening enough, the muffins being dry, or the flavor lacking something.  I think the corn syrup and applesauce probably contributed to the moistness, as well as a much shorter baking time.  I added the vanilla to add another dimension to the flavor and soaked the oats an extra 5 minutes. 

Everyone seemed to love them and you can almost convince yourself they're a healthy choice for breakfast.  I mean, they've got oatmeal in them right?

A pie for pie day (3/14)

This was my second try at a Mississippi Mud Pie.  The first time I went all out and purchased high quality chocolate for the filling and decoration, however that puts a pie at about $15, which seems pretty steep for something homemade.  Fortunately I didn't notice the difference when I used regular Hershey's chocolate chips.  My only complaint was for the topping.  My recipe book says to "soften the chocolate with your hands and create long curls by drawing a vegetable peeler across the edge".  When I used a higher quality chocolate the curls turned out fine- room for improvement in my technique, but definitely passable.  When I used a Hershey's bar it was just a mess.  The chocolate was way too soft even without trying to soften it and it kept breaking apart into the scored squares. 

 My crust pulled in again, which was frustrating because I was very careful not to stretch it.  For the design around the crust I used an apple corer/slicer to cut triangles out of the left over crust and pasted them on with water. I liked the effect, but it would have looked nicer flat as it should have been.

Overall I really like the recipe.  The crust was nice and flaky and I forced myself to let it chill long enough so it was easy to use too.  I'm not sure I really enjoy using shortening instead of butter, but in my limited experience, it does seem to be a better texture more consistently.

For anyone who is curious, I looked up the difference between a Mississippi Mud Pie and a French Silk Pie, since they both have a rich chocolate base covered by whipped cream and more chocolate.  Essentially, in a French Silk Pie, the chocolate layer is "lighter", more like mousse or whipped cream.  The chocolate layer in a Mississippi Mud Pie is dense like fudge.  In any case, I'm sure either would be enough to send a healthy person into a diabetic coma after more than just a piece.

Croissant, Crescent, Croiscent

I've been meaning to try home-made croissants for awhile, but the recipes I've found generally call for refrigerating the dough anywhere from 8-24 hours and I keep forgetting to plan ahead.  The other day I did find a recipe that had a two hour refrigeration time and two hour rise time so I tried (even though I only had 4 hours total to get everything together....probably not the smartest idea I've ever had).

The recipe called for optional fillings for crescent croissants of almond paste and applesauce or chocolate chips.  The recipe made 36 rolls, so I made 4 pans of 8 with the following fillings: chocolate chips, cream cheese and chocolate chips, applesauce, and bananas and chocolate chips.

After starting and realizing I would be crunched for time, I opted to put the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes and then in the fridge for about an hour (instead of two hours in the fridge).  I also shortened my rise time by baking them when I thought they looked like they were done rising instead of waiting the recommended two hours.

The resulting croissants tasted wonderful, but I wouldn't give them many points for appearance.  First off, they didn't brown well (next time I'll try an egg wash).  Second, they seemed to have flattened while baking.  I'm not sure if this is a result of shortened fridge and rising times or if I didn't roll them tight enough.  Things to keep in mind for next time I suppose.

Aside from looks, the flavor and texture was wonderful.  I couldn't have hoped for a lighter density or more buttery taste.  I also really liked all four fillings, as did most people who tried them.

Despite being time consuming in general, I think I'm going to enjoy experimenting with these.  I've made tons of bread, but croissants are entirely new- it would be great if I could use some tips from this recipe for softer bread in the future too.

-Beth

B-A-N-A-N-A-S! (Yep, I have to sing the song to spell it right).

I've never made a cream pie before.  Pumpkin and apple have been my standbys, but I decided to try something new a few days ago.

I like bananas, but I never seem to eat a whole bunch before I've got very ripe bananas on my hands.  Usually these go into banana bread, but variety is the spice of life so I tried a banana cream pie instead.  Something I really enjoyed about this recipe was the crust- ginger snap cookies instead of graham crackers.  I definitely like the texture better and I personally think it was much tastier.

Something I didn't enjoy about the recipe was the banana filling.  In the recipe I was given a few options- sour cream or yogurt and vanilla extract or rum.  I chose sour cream and vanilla since that's what I had on hand.  When I tasted the filling it was extremely sour.  I'm no expert on banana cream pies, but I added sugar (which was not called for in the recipe) and thought it was a little better.  In the end, I think I would choose yogurt next time just to see if I could get rid of the lingering "sour cream" taste in my mouth.

I took liberties with the whipped cream and bananas for the topping.  I pipped the cream on to add texture and sat the banana slice on end for fun.  I think it looked  a little classier than the suggested smooth whipped cream and rings of banana slices.

-Beth

An early shout-out to spring (and a first stab at fondant).

I'm definitely not a cake decorator, I think this cake makes that clear, but it was definitely fun to make.  I've never used fondant or homemade buttercream frosting before, so it was definitely an experiment.

We had one of those glorious days toward the end of a Minnesota winter when the thermometer reaches 45 degrees and everyone is walking around in jeans and a t-shirt pretending it's totally warm enough to do so. And then a few days later it was 15 degrees again... Winter's not over.

Anyway, the design of this cake is spring-inspired, despite the fact that I probably have another month before I can kiss winter goodbye.

The cake itself is red velvet, my personal favorite.  I am working on changing this particular recipe up though, as it was incredibly dry.  I tried a gelatin fondant recipe (opposed to marshmallow) that called for 8 cups of confectioners sugar in a very small amount of liquid.  Around 7 cups (after 20 minutes of kneading the sugar in) I got the feeling that it was at a consistency that would be easy to work with.  If I had stopped then I might have had better luck in the long run.  I added the 8th cup because I know nothing about fondant.  I've never made it before, never worked with it, and to my knowledge never eaten a cake with fondant.  The resulting fondant rolled out like a dream and was easy to manipulate, but began cracking as soon as I worked it into place. You can easily see these cracks, in addition to one large seam on the picture below. Nothing I could

think of smoothed them out properly, and the seam was the result of too much fondant around the bottom of the cake.

So there are two things I need to work with on fondant- first, I'll try stopping when I think it looks good next time and hopefully it won't be too dry.  Second, I'll roll it much thinner.  Between the butter cream layer and the fondant the cake had about 1/4in of frosting and was sickeningly sweet.

I used a basic buttercream recipe for the blue piping shown and as a dirty-icing layer under the fondant.  For the other icing I used powdered sugar and water with food dye.  Pretty basic and easy to use, but it set hard as a rock.  I'll definitely be working on my decorative skills as well, but my little sisters didn't seem to mind at all!

-Beth

A pie pumpkin pumpkin pie.

When Chris and I picked out our pumpkin for Halloween, I noticed "pie pumpkins" for sale at the farm we were on.  I already knew I would be bringing dessert to my parents house for Thanksgiving so I decided to give it a try with the real thing.

I used a filling recipe that was meant to be organic and called for raw sugar, but it held up well under my substitutions of everyday ingredients and white sugar. I used a standard pie crust recipe and added cinnamon, nutmeg, and a dash of ground fig to the dry ingredients before adding the butter and water.

I learned a few things from this one.  First, pie crust has to be cold if you don't want to struggle with it falling apart, and even then flour is your best friend to keep things from sticking. I'm an incredibly impatient person, but after one failed attempt with warm dough, I let the second chill the recommended time and had better luck.  I also did some investigating as to why my crust pulled away from the pan (this has always happened to my pies, but I was curious) and found out that I was probably stretching the dough as I put it in the pie pan which apparently you are never supposed to do.  I even found a few recommendations that you push the dough into place and in some cases, leave a small amount "hanging" over the edge of the pan so it can't pull in while baking.

Overall I considered it a success.  The family loved it at Thanksgiving, although Chris found out he doesn't like pumpkin pie.

I had leftover pumpkin puree and crust, so I did a little experimenting. I used a drinking glass to cut out small circles of crust and pressed them into muffin tins.  I filled them with the batter as you would a pumpkin pie and baked them, watching closely since I didn't have a baking time.  I'm pretty sure these turned out better than the pie itself!  I brought them to an office party and everyone raved about them.  I'm sure they tasted the same as the pie, but there's something about "baby" things that make them that much better.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of them, but you get the idea I'm sure.

I scream just for fun.

For awhile my fiancee and I were on an ice cream kick.  We made ice cream every week- first in a mason jar and a coffee can and then with a hand-crank machine.  This was our first attempt, and although we made improvements as we went along, the first time did result in a creamy vanilla plenty satisfying for the two of us.

This really has no purpose in this blog other than to show that I'll try just about anything and remind me that I always have fun doing it.  We made this batch in a small mason jar which we placed in a coffee can surrounded by ice and pushed between us for 45 minutes.  The only comments I would add for anyone who ever feels the urge to attempt this method is to avoid licking your fingers after stirring the ice cream (which I did periodically throughout the process) because the salt from the jar mixed with the ice cream is incredibly unpleasant.

-Beth

And God said "Let there be light"...

I'm beginning this blog as a means to keep myself organized and in hopes that some years down the road I have something to look back on by which to mark any progress I've made.

For the random reader, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Beth (actually it's Elizabeth, but any shortened version except Liz will get my attention). I was born and raised in Minnesota. I attended college and received my bachelor's degree in psychology in May 2010. I had planned to go to grad school, earn a PhD, and become a respected cognitive psychologist, but some things just aren't meant to be. When a humbling number of rejection letters came my way, I realized I needed something to do while I sorted life out, so I got a full-time job working in a group home. After a few months of miserable hours and too much time on my hands, I found myself in the dark about my future. I no longer wanted to go to grad school, my degree wasn't good for much, and my job was (is) taking an emotional and physical toll on me.

Thankfully my fiancee, Chris, is smarter than I am.

In my spare time (the time during which I have nothing to do and everyone else in the world is at work or school), I kept myself busy with baking. I had always loved baking and was known for it by my close friends, but it had become almost an obsession once I had time to devote to it. Almost since I met Chris he had joked about me opening a bakery someday. Increasingly the jokes became more of suggestions, which I continued shrugging off as something implausible. A few months ago, however, the light came on. Whether it was the constant support of Chris or divine intervention, I don't know (but hey, who says it has to one or the other?), but it suddenly made sense to me that this is something I would like to do for the rest of my life. When I bake I'm not hungry or tired, mad or hurt, confused or frustrated. I just am. So I'm going to have a bakery some day. I have no training and very little money, but I suppose those are things I can pick up along the way.

The plan for this blog is to be a sort of diary of discoveries and progress. I'll post what I make, failure or success, and maybe even my recipes if they are mine to post. I'm not promising myself or you anything amazing. It will simply be what it is.

-Beth