Enchiladas

For weeks I have wanted to make these enchiladas that I saw online. I was going to make them last week, but instead I made those crepes. Well, since it was just me and my dad for dinner last night - Wendee is in South Africa - I decided to make them because we both love Mexican food. They were really not that hard to make, although I have gobs of leftover filling. I used more spinach, corn and beans than the recipe called for because I didn't use cans, which would most likely explain the excess leftovers. I made fresh beans and used frozen corn that I had in the freezer. I grated my own cheese - not entirely sure what kind it was - but it wall all very good. I would recommend putting a little but of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Since there was none, the bottom of the tortillas were a little dry. But the tops were cheesy and the sauce, which was just flour, tomato paste and oil, was delicious. All in all, they were very good. My dad liked them and I'm sure that even though Wendee doesn't really like beans she would have loved them too. Before they went in the oven. Right out of the oven topped with some scallions and cilantro. Yum!

Chocolate-Peppermint Snaps

Today is knitting Monday, so I decided to bake some goodies to bring in yesterday. Usually I make something every week, but lately I haven't more. More out of laziness then anything else. Martha Stewart is just about one of my favorite sites ever. The bright colors draw me in and all the pictures are just so glamorous. I don't actually think I have ever made a cookie from her site, even with all my snooping, but when I saw chocolate peppermint cookies, which reminded me of Girl Scout Thin Mints - my biggest weakness - I knew I had to make them. They turned out quite well, a little crispy, which made my dad enjoy them - he loves crispy cookies. I didn't take the time to put the white chocolate on top of them because that just seemed incredibly tedious. The recipe said it would make close to 6-dozen. How in the heck they ever got that number is beyond me given that I rolled the dough as thin as humanely possible and I still got only about 42. Putting them back and forth into the freezer almost ended up in a few near disasters - a bottom freezer was not created to hold large cookie sheets - but in the end they all turned out great. They puff up so much. I was shocked! It amazing what big, relative to how small the cutouts, come out of the oven when you are all done. 12 minutes was perfect - very crispy. Just the right amount of mint, and next time I will have to put the white chocolate coating over them.

Jaclyn's Birthday Cake

Last night I was at my friends Jaclyn's birthday party. It was an 70's and 80's theme party, so everyone was dressed up in the most ridiculous outfits. I was wearing silver leggings, a purple shiny shirt and the highest heeled shoes I have ever worn in my life. I really thought that my ankles were going to break. But it was so fun. Amazing food, fun music, and all my good friends to hang out with. Anyway, the cake she had was just so good that I had to write about it. Sadly I didn't get a picture of the cake itself, but it was a two tier cake, with orange and blue circles all over and her initials in fondant sticking up from the top. I had a long top with her mom about it. She said she has been trying out different cakes for her younger daughters bat-mitzvah which is coming up later this year. Let me say that if I had vote, it would absolutley be for this bakery. I'm not even entirely sure what kind of cake it was. I think it was a white amaretto cake with a chocolate mousse and white butter-cream frosting. What I loved about it was that it was a light fluffy cake with light icing instead of a thick pound cake with fondant that I always don't find to appetizing. I only had about two bites because I have been trying to be good about not eating too much sugar, but I had Bryan, my official taste tester eat about two pieces and he said it was amazing. The cake Bryan testing it out. Bryan and Michael is there ridiculous tight basketball getup.

Crepes

So I try to make dinner for my family about every other week or so. I had wanted to make enchiladas this past Friday night, but since it was my step-mom's last dinner before she left for South Africa, my dad said we should make something that she likes given that she doesn't really like beans. We decided on crepes. Ever since I went to France last summer, I have wanted to make crepes. The MOST AMAZING crepe I have ever had was a 3 Euro crepe I got in front of the Pompidou in Paris. It was a simple crepe with nutella, but it was absolutely scrumptious. It was warm, and gooey, and just a little bit of heaven. This is where I got my piece of heaven! Well, the crepes that we made for dinner weren't the same slice of heaven, but they were still quite good. The batter only ended up making about 9 crepes, which was fewer then I had expected, but having already filled up on cheese and crackers, the two I ate was plenty. Batter: 1 cup flour pinch salt 1 1/4 cups milk 2 eggs 2 tbls. canola oil 1. Combine flour, salt and milk. Beat until smooth. 2. Beat in eggs and stir in the oil. 3. Refrigerate for one hour. 4. On small non-stick skillet, over medium heat, (mine was actually pretty big which is why I probably got fewer) add 1/2 tsp. butter. 5. Ladle about 1 tbls. ( I just eyeballed it) of batter and swirl around to form a thin layer on the bottom of the pan. 6. When the top is no longer liquid - which will happen very quickly - flip over and cook for another 15 seconds or so. 7. And voila! You have a crepe. Now the fillings we used for the main course ones were just a mixture of leftover rices and vegetables, so you can really do just about anything you want. For the dessert, I made a mixture of about 1 cup of ricotta, cottage cheese, and 1/2 a cup of sour cream with sugar and cinnamon to taste. My dad then added raspberries and but a dollop of whip cream on the top. They were delicious. You can do anything you want with them which makes crepes so fun and versatile to make and eat. Wendee eating her crepe.

Michelle's cookie

So as I am sitting here bored as heck at work, my bestest friend Michelle decided to pay me a visit. As she walked in, she had a coy smile on her face. All of a sudden she pulled out a giant cookie for me and what's even more amazing was that she made it. Michelle is always asking me to bake things and she even bought me a cupcake book for Chanukah. Well, I've been trying to be good and not eat sweets but I just had to try it. IT WAS SO GOOD! It was an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie and it was so good. YAY MICHELLE!!!!!

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.