Chanukah Cake!!!

So I recently took the level 1 cake decorating class at AC Moore. I'd been dying to take this class for ages, but it always seemed to land on a day when I couldn't do it, or my dad simply said I had too much homework. But now that I'm in college, homework has taken a backburner ;) Anyway, this class worked out and after 4 weeks this was my culminating cake. The last class landed in the middle of Chanukah, so I decided to make a themed cake. The cake was just the basic chocolate cake off the back of the Hershey's can, which I must say is just delicious, and buttercream that I made but didn't work very well. It was so thick, but thankfully I brought along a can of store bought fluffy white in case of an emergency like that. So although not all the icing was homemade, it still turned out beautifully. Even my step-sister, who is allergic to gluten, had to try some and she said it was delicious. I'm hopefully going to go back soon and take the level 2 class, but until then, I'll just have to keep honing my basic skills that I have learned so far. MY CAKE!!! Some of the yummy latka's I made for my Chanukah feast! First night

Chocolate Pinwheels

So on Monday we are having a cookie exchange in my knitting club. This has just about been about the highlight of my month - cookies and knitting all wrapped up together in one lunch hour. I decided to make chocolate pinwheels, because they always look so incredibly complicated and my dad really likes them. They turned out to be quite easy to make, although my chocolate dough and vanilla dough weren't exactly the same size when rolled out so I had to do some clever rolling and cutting to get everything lined up together. My dad liked them so much, that HE TOOK THEM ALL TO SCHOOL! Leaving my with none for my cookie exchange. Thankfully we had some premade dough in the fridge, so sadly I had to bring those to the exchange - no where near as good as the pinwheels. My step-mom loved them and said I am going to have to make some for her co-workers.

NYC

I haven't updated in ages, even though I've been baking up a storm. Every time I bake some goodies, I either can't find my camera, or the battery is dead, or I can't find my chord. But now I have a new charger and am committed to updating more. Anyway, arrived in New York City yesterday for my cousins bat-mitzvah on Saturday. Let me say, IT'S FREEZING HERE! I brought my winter coat and lots of legging. My mission has been to go to all sorts of cupcake shops while I'm here, and I was successful with the start of my mission this morning. I started by heading downtown to Cupcake Cafe on West 18th. It was connected to this very cute little kid book store and had a very laid back feel. I ordered a small chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing. Let me tell you that this was some of the best icing I have ever had in my life. So light, felt like I was chewing through air, not all thick like I'm used too. the cupcake itself was good. Not sweet enough for my tastes, but it was a god thing I got a small, because I'm sure the large would have been far too much for me. Next, I walked around NYU for awhile, and I've assessed that this is the only place I can imagine myself in college, so I really hope I get in. After walking around awhile, I saw Max Brenners, which is my favorite chocolate restaurant from Israel. Had my 16th birthday there. So good. I took the subway to Times Square at 42nd street and the WALKED all the way to 72nd. Was quite proud of myself. First I made a stop at the now infamous Magnolia's bakery on 69th. The inside was quite cute. All pink and white. Lots of cupcakes and cakes and cookies. I bought to cupcakes and rushed them home, because my hips were killing my from walking and it was so cold. So after hearing everything about these cupcakes, I was hoping to take a bite into heaven. I started with the vanilla cupcake with classic vanilla buttercream frosting. The frosting was very thick, and you could taste the sugar just a little too much. The cupcake itself was nothing all the special. Just a vanilla cake. I was rather unimpressed. I ventured onto the chocolate one with higher expectations and the frosting led me to believe I was about to devour a delicious cupcake. It was light and chocolatey, but not to thick. Simply delicious. But once I had taken a bite out of the cake itself, it all went downhill. It was so thick and dense, I was barely able to finish it. Not very sweet and I was required to get a large glass of milk just to swallow what was already in my mouth all. All in all, I would have to say I was quite disappointed with Magnolia's, although I might go back to try some other flavors. Cupcake Cafe was great - would love to get the recipe for their frosting and tomorrow I shall review Buttercup Bake Shop.

Chocolate Andes Chip Cookies

So today is supposed to be the club fair at my school, but due to the ominous look outside, I'm thinking that it might be postponed until next week. Well, Marissa and I had planned on attracting loads of people to our knittig table with the lure of cookies, so we made some delicious cookies yesterday. Marissa loves mint, as do I, so instead of making just plain chocolate chip cookies, and the Andes cookies recipe (which I was not very enjoyable last time I made it) we made a mix. We just used the basic Tollhouse cookie recipe but used one cup chocolate chips and one cup Andes chip. The mint in the Andes chips gave essense of mint to the entire batter and I must say are so good!!! Sadly, I don't think we'll be able to lure any new knitters with them today, but I'm sure we can find plenty of others to enjoy them. INGREDIENTS *2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour *1 teaspoon baking soda ( I used 2 tsps of baking powder because we were out of soda) *1 teaspoon salt *1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened *3/4 cup granulated sugar *3/4 cup packed brown sugar *1 teaspoon vanilla extract *2 large eggs *1 cup chocoalte chips *1 cup Andes chips 1. PREHEAT oven to 375° F. 2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. 3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 4. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. 5. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 40 cookies, depending on size!

Chocolate Chubbies

So school starts tomorrow and I've been debating for the past week what type of cookies to make. Through looking through the incredbile All-America Cookie Book, I've decided on chocolate chubbies. I think that they were some of the best cookies that I've ever made. Needless to say, I didn't have any left after I left school in the afternoon. As usual, my step-mom who always gets upset that I make cookies in our so called "heath-conscience" house, she ate a few herself.

Mixed Berry and Peach Tart

After my recent return from Israel, I immediately went to the library and checked out a dozen baking books, the favorite of which so far has been Baking with Julia Child. I started by making her French apple tart, but decided it could be modified for use with the abundance of berries we had in our freezer. So with a little tinkering with ingredients, some help from my dad, here is what we got. Crust from Baking with Julia Filling: 2 pints mixed berries 5 peaches 2 tbsp. sugar 1 tbsp. cornstarch In a sauce pan, mix together berries, about 2 peaches cut into chunks, the sugar and the cornstarch. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until a nice sauce has formed around the berries and peaches. Allow to cool. Once the berries are cool, pour into pie crust and cover with very thin slices of peaches. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes. And Voila!

Chocolate cupcakes

So after making the molten cakes, Michelle and I tried out hand at cupcakes for my Sunday School class. Our first batch was an absolute disaster. I don't know what happened, but they completely overflowed and then sunk. They resembled chocolate bowls. I tried to salvage them, but my efforts were fruitless. So in the end, we had about 30 cupcakes get eaten up by the garbage can. The second batch was much better, probably due to a new recipe. I just used the basic chocolate butter cake recipe from The Cake Bible. They were not as chocolaty as I would have liked, but still very light and airy. I bought a new icing tip the other day, so I experimented trying to make perfect iced cupcakes. I still need to practice, but it was a start. I am still in search for the perfect cupcake recipe, because although the second batch turned out good, they still did not have the perfect chocolate cupcake taste. Needless to say, the kids at Sunday School gobbled them up and were asking for seconds before they had even finished their first. First disastrous batch... The second batch was much better...

Chocolate Molten Cakes

So I had thought that when I started to make these cakes that they were going to be more like souffle, but I was very wrong. Michelle and I made these together and instead of having a nice light souffle for desert, we ended up with a delicious mini-cake with a goey marshmallow in the center. Since I only had bittersweet chocolate instead of semi-sweet, as the recipe called for, it had a very rich and deep chocolaty flavor. With the marshmallow, I would have preferred a lighter chocolaty taste, but none the less, it was still delicious. Next time I'll be sure to use a different type of chocolate and to butter the ramekins with butter and flour and not with floured cooking spray. INGREDIENTS: From Sunset magazine 1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips 1/4 cup (1/8 lb.) butter 1/3 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup all-purpose flour 6 large marshmallows Powdered sugar (optional) 1. In a 3- to 4-quart pan over very low heat, stir chocolate chips and butter until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended. Stir in flour. 2. Fill six buttered, floured ramekins (1/2-cup capacity; see notes) about halfway. Press a marshmallow into the center of the batter in each ramekin. Spoon remaining batter equally over marshmallows, completely covering. 3. Bake in the center of a 350° regular or 325° convection oven until tops are puffed up and crackly, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes, then run a knife along inside of ramekins and invert to release cakes. 4. Place right side up on plates. Sprinkle tops with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve warm.

Urban Legend Cookies

So the story goes...a woman asks to buy a cookie recipe and is told it will cost 'two-fifty.' She thinks this means $2.50, but then she gets her credit card bill back and finds out it is $250.00. Outraged, she spreads the recipe far and wide to try and get her money's worth. I first heard this story 6 years ago and was given a recipe on a sheet of paper which bore the date '1986.' The supposed originator of the recipe was a well-known cookie company. I have since heard this tale again several times, with the recipe originating from different upscale department stores. True story? Who knows, but it's a darn good cookie. These were delicious cookies. The oatmeal gave them a very subtle nutty flavor. They were also very sweet, so next time I might cut down on the sugar a little bit. There were some milk chocolate chunks thats didn't get grated, so they were very chocolaty. Be sure to bake for no more than 6 to 8 minutes. I baked mine for about 10, and even that extra minute made them harder than I would have liked. INGREDIENTS * 1 cup butter, softened * 1 cup white sugar * 1 cup packed brown sugar * 2 eggs * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 2 cups all-purpose flour * 2 1/2 cups rolled oats * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 teaspoon baking powder * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips * 4 ounces milk chocolate, grated * 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Measure oats into a blender or food processor, and then blend to a fine powder. Set aside. 2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. 3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. 4. Stir dry ingredients into creamed butter and sugar. Add chocolate chips, grated chocolate, and nuts. 5. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven.

Chewy Chewy Blondie Brownies

So in my rage of baking a many banana nut muffins to get rid of all the bananas we had that were going bad, I decided to try something besides fruit muffins, which turned into brownies. Not just ordinary brownies, but delicious chocolaty, chewy, blondie brownies. I got the recipe here, but I left out the nuts and the toffee bits and added an extra cup of chocolate chips. They were very very sweet and the lack of toffee was made up for by the coconut and chocolate chips.

Jumbo Cookies

So my step mom went to Miami for mothers day, and I made her a big batch of cookies to take with her. These weren't normal cookies though, they were JUMBO!! I also added some white chocolate chips to the regular chocolate ones, which made them oh so good. The recipe is the same as any tollhouse or basic cookie recipe, I just used 1/4 cup of batter for each cookie. This gave me about 12 cookies, but mine were super big, so I'm sure you could probably get about 14 out of it if you wanted. INGREDIENTS *2 1/4 cups all purpose flour *3/4 tsp baking soda *3/4 tsp salt *1 cup butter, room temperature *1 1/2 cups brown sugar *2 large eggs *2 tsp vanilla extract *1 cup white chocolate chips *1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 1. Preheat oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Whisk together dry ingredients - flour, baking soda and salt - in a medium bowl. 3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract. 4. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until no streaks of flour remain. 5. Stir in chocolate chips. 6. Use a 1/4 cup scoop to shape large balls of dough and place on prepared baking sheets. Leave about 6-inches between each cookie to allow for spread. 7. Bake for 16-19 minutes, until cookies are golden around the edges. Allow to cool on baking sheets for at least 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Tart

So I made this Chocolate Tart for the pie baking contest we had at my school on Friday. It was actually supposed to be a peppermint tart, but I didn't realize that we were out of peppermint extract until I was halfway through making it. The original recipe called for a very complicated crust, but I just made a simple oreo crumb crust. It was very dense and chocolaty. It was good, but in the end, I would have loved to have had some peppermint. Here is the original recipe and crust. I just made a crust of about 20 crushed up oreo wafers and a stick of butter. The baking contest was so much fun. We had 10 pies which were all so yummy. The strawberry rhubarb was probably my favorite. Pie Baking Contest!!

Banana Nut Muffins

So every few weeks or so we bring in muffins to my history class because it's first period of the day. Last time I brought in cupcakes which were so good, but I figured cupcakes aren't the best breakfast food, so this time iI decided to make muffins, specifically banana nut ones. The recipe came from the cookbook How to Cook Everything. It was very simple, but since it called for molasses instead of sugar and less milk because of the bananas, it was very thick, so in the end, I needed to add about 1/2 cup milk more then the recipe called for. INGREDIENTS *3 tablespoons melted butter or canola oil plus some for greasing muffin tin *2 cups all purpose flour *¼ cup molasses or honey *½ tsp salt *3 tsp baking powder *1 egg *1/4 cup milk *1 cup mashed ripe bananas *½ cup roughly chopped walnuts (optional) 1. Preheat oven to 400* F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin or line with muffin liners. 2. Mix together dry ingredients in a bowl. 3. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, milk, butter or oil, molasses and banana. 4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating, and stopping as soon as all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but quite moist; add more milk or other liquid if necessary. 5. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about 2/3 of the way full and handling the batter a little as possible. 6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of one of them comes out clean. 7. Remove from the over and let rest for 5 minutes before taking them out of the tin.

Prom Cake

So for my prom last week, I decided to make a cake for the party we had afterwards at one of my friends house. The cake was excellent, a chocolate butter cake, but the buttercream frosting was so light, that it didn't really taste like buttercream anymore, more like fluff. Both recipes were from The Cake Bible, by Rose Birnbaum, but I think that in the future, I'm going to stick to the more traditional buttercream frosting I usually make. My dad said that this was one of the best cakes I've ever made, and he is a harsh critic. I forgot to take a photo before it was cut, but as you can see, I went a little wild with the frosting and food coloring. Some people decided to dig in right from the plate.

Peanut Butter Brownies

One day while I was browsing the baking aisle at the supermarket, I saw that peanut butter chips were on sale, so naturally I bought a pack. I found a recipe for Peanut Butter Brownies from Hershey's. They were very rich and peanut buttery. The top glaze was a little gooey, and I probably would just leave it off if I made them in the future. INGREDIENTS * 1-1/4 cups butter , melted * 1-3/4 cups sugar * 4 eggs * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract * 1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour * 2/3 cup Cocoa * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 1-2/3 cups Peanut Butter Chips, divided * PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE(recipe follows) Directions: 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan. 2. Stir together butter and sugar in large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; beat with spoon or whisk until well blended. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, stirring until well blended. Reserve 1/2 cup peanut butter chips for glaze; stir remaining chips into batter. Spread batter into prepared pan. 3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE; drizzle over brownies. Let stand until glaze is set. Cut into squares. About 32 brownies. PEANUT BUTTER CHIP GLAZE 1. Combine 1/2 cup REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips (reserved from brownies), 2 tablespoons butter or margarine and 2 tablespoons milk in small microwave-safe bowl. 2. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 45 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Gradually add 1/4 cup powdered sugar, beating with whisk until smooth. About 1/2 cup glaze.

Chocolate Choclate Chip Cookies

These are some chocolate chocolate chip cookies I made. I used white chocolate chips from Trader Joe's, which are my absolute favorite! The dough seems very dry once you have added all the ingredients, but the cookies turn out very tasty in the end. They have the perfect cookie look! INGREDIENTS *1 cup butter, softened *1 cup white sugar *1 cup brown sugar *2 eggs *2 teaspoons vanilla extract *2 cups all-purpose flour *3/4 cup cocoa powder *3/4 teaspoon baking soda *1/4 teaspoon salt *As many white chocolate chips as you want! 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Samoas

Homemade samoas that I made. I put holes in the center, but after putting caramel and coconut over the top, you couldn't even see the holes anymore. INGREDIENTS Cookies *1 cup butter, soft *1/2 cup sugar *2 cups all purpose flour *1/4 tsp baking powder *1/2 tsp salt *1/2 tsp vanilla extract *up to 2 tbsp milk STEP 1 1. Preheat oven to 350F. 2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. 3. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky. 4. Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. 5. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat with remaining dough. Alternatively, use scant tablespoons of dough and press into an even layer in a mini donut pan to form the rounds. 6. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. 7. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Topping 3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) 12-oz good-quality chewy caramels 1/4 tsp salt 3 tbsp milk 8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok) STEP 2 1. Preheat oven to 300. 2. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside. 3. Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. 4. Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with. 5. While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. 6. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. 7. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate. 8. chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container. Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.