A Happy Thanksgiving

Wishbone

I didn’t manage to post yesterday because after I got back to my apartment at 11, unloaded all the bags and granny cart of half my kitchen items that I took to Mehul’s to finish up the cooking, took a hot bath, I was ready to go to bed!  Even though I didn’t travel to Texas or PA with Dave, I had a very wonderful Thanksgiving.  I cooked for two full days (corn bread stuffing, Twofer Pie for this week’s TWD, Caramelized Apple and Pecan Pie , French Silk Pie, and my first TURKEY.)

Since I really need to get working on my Advanced Tax Transactions takehome final, I should finish right here. I had a great time meeting new friends and trying new recipes. I will post about everything that I made in the future but the next 2 weeks are going to be stressful and finals packed.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

TWD #8: Arborio Rice Pudding

[Note: I accidently made this as a new "Page" rather than a "Post" because I'm an idiot but now it is fixed]
Since I am writing this after a 13 hour day and my pudding wasn’t really pudding like, even though I did cook it for almost an hour, this recipe was a bit of a dud. Here are the pictures to document the process. Not sure about next week’s Twofer Pie either because I have an apple/pecan blend I also want to make for Thankgiving but we will see if anyone makes it early and sings its praises.

It started simple enough

and then I let the first batch of milk boil over

then I chopped up some chocolate

But sadly the pudding was more like soup...

TWD #7: Rugelach and Election Day (finally!)

I will admit, I was a little intimidated by this week’s recipe since a) I had never heard of Rugelach and b) they looked pretty complicated. The dough was a little tricky. My food processor couldn’t really handle the volume and I only ended up with a dozen cookies which was way less than was predicted. But they were quite tasty. I knew they would be good because I love raspberries and chocolate. I will have to play around with making them again and hopefully learn some tricks with making the dough.

rolling out the dough...maybe not thin enough?

Mine kinda looked like little turds...at least they were tasty!

Also…this was probably the smartest thing I have done in a while.  I used up my loose Laura Mercier powder and I have a hard time throwing away recycling cute little containers so it sat on my counter for about a week before I came up with the perfect second use.  I took the container, washed it in the dishwasher (twice) and filled it would AP Flour.   Now I use it to hold flour when I just need a little to powder the counter/rolling pin/etc and dont want to have to drag out the big bag.  Believe me…it works perfect.

genius AND green

I am going to cut this a tad short because I am heading to bed so that I can get up at 6AM tomorrow to hit the polling place in my lobby right when the polls open! This will be my 2nd time to vote in a Presidential Election and I can’t wait to vote for Obama and can’t wait for election night. I can remember watching Obama’s speech in Springfield when he announced his candidacy. I will admit that even as a Hillary supporter, listening to him speak, even then, gave me chills. Tomorrow will sure be a historic day!  GO VOTE (if you haven’t done so already!)

TWD#6: Pumpkin Muffins

I will be honest that I have never been a huge fan of pumpkin.  I don’t know if it comes with growing up in Houston where Fall doesn’t really exist or what but I have been appreciating all the pumpkins at the market and all the recipes hitting the blogs and the food mags.  I used my homemade puree in Dorie’s pumpkin muffin recipe and I will be honest, they didn’t taste very pumpkin-y.  Not sure if it was the homemade puree or what but that’s how they turned out.  Maybe I will try them again with canned.

Lots of spices

grate the nutmeg

Nutmeg

Muffins

TWD #5: Lenox Almond Biscotti

Simple ingredients, yet so so very good.

These are AWESOME.  I used vanilla extract since I didn’t have any almond extract on hand and added a decent amount of good cinnamon.  I had to bake them a few extra minutes on each bake.

Step 1-Bake the Logs

I also took the advice from some on the TWD website and put a cooling rack on the baking sheet and laid them on the side for the 2nd bake.  I flipped them after 15 mins and baked them for another 5.

Step 2-Dry them out

Perfectly crunchy without being rock hard.   Dave and I have been enjoying them for dessert with a glass of Disaronno on the rocks and dunked into coffee for breakfast. (BTW…I love this mug

!)

Dunk.

Perfection.

I will def. be making these again.  Dorie was right, make these in double batches

TWD #4: Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

I will say that while I had fun making the caramel, I wasn’t a big fan of the final product. The cake turned out dry and the topped was really hard to chew through. I took it with me to a friend’s apartment for dinner on Friday night and came home with half that ended up in the trash today.  I just didn’t want another slice

This was the fun part.

Look forward to next week!

TWD #3: Perfection Pound Cake (in place of Creme Brulee)

Since I don’t own a blowtorch and didn’t really want to try the whole water bath method, Creme Brulee was out (even though it would have been the perfect excuse to use the new ramenkins!)   I decided to try one of the many recipes that the TWD bakers have completed in the past months.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand for the “Perfection Pound Cake” I decided to give it a try.

A bunch of kitchen staples

  I don’t think I have ever had true pound cake before so I don’t really have a point of comparison.  It turned out quite good.   Dave was expecting it to be sweeter since it is “cake” but I really liked the rich butter flavor.  I added in some lemon zest that I rehydrated from The Spice House but I’m not sure if I could really taste it.  I want this stuff to work well because I hate buying a whole lemon/orange and then just using it for the zest.

The jury is still out...

I had it with some vanilla ice cream and a handful of frozen raspberries.  Dave had some for breakfast on Sunday morning with a little Pear Butter from Seedling Farms spread on it.  The recipe calls for quite a lot of time with the mixer.  I followed the times closely and once I was at the point of adding the flour to the butter/sugar it was very fluffy and light.  Dorie was right, it really does taste better the next day.

Perfection.

TWD #2: Dimply Plum Cake

Dimply Plums

The Dimply Plum recipe that was chosen for this week was quite yummy and I will probably make it again with other fruits. It is much better warm on the first day than reheated the next, so make this when you know that you will be able to share it quickly with others. It was also fun to try out some of the plums from the farmer’s market. I used cinnamon in place of the cardamom because I have a weakness for the Spice House and already had some great quality cinnamon in my spice box (yes-I have boxes–this is a subject of a future blog).

Lovely orange zest

Dave got to it before I got a picture...

Recipe is from Baking: My Home to Yours on Page 41. This is a lovely book that I got for under 10 bucks on Half.com

My first TWD Post: Chocolate Chunkers

This is my first post in the oh so famous Tuesdays with Dorie baking group! These cookies were quite tasty but they did use an obscene amount of quality chocolate (like $18 worth). I did get 36 cookies out of the receipe so I will have plenty to share with friends and at work. Dave even liked them even though he isn’t the biggest fan of raisins or pecans.

Here are some pictures of the process. I am still working on my food shots. I am just using my trusty Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH and my kitchen has horrible lighting, so they aren’t the best, just the best that I can do. I am excited to take part in this baking group. Hopefully I can make the time each weekend to bake with all my 3L reading/work/etc.

Look at all the chocolate! MMMM...

The receipe can be found in Baking: From My Home to Yours Page 70.