What are you baking these days? February 2012 [old]

Question

Hi all, starting this (the second anniversary edition!) a wee bit early because I have much less access to the internet in the mornings lately...Have been baking a bit less too (after a burst that left us with far more baked goods than two people can get themselves around), but intend to get going again this weekend. So...what are you baking these days?

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I haven't baked anything since Christmas but I'm trying to decide on something delicious for the Super Bowl (it need not be football or NY/NE themed, just good eats!). Inspire me, Chowhounds!

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Right this minute, a Lazy Scone (saves time to do it in a pie pan and cut in wedges). 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/4 cups oats, 1 1/2 tsps baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/3 cup brown sugar all in a big bowl. In a big cup: 1/4 cup oil, 1 egg, 1/2 cup milk, 1-2 tsp maple extract. Mix in with 2 tablespoons soft butter and some golden raisins and chopped walnuts (or dates or whatever you like). Bake in pie pan @ 350 for about 25 minutes. Beloved niece is now on plane en route here. Will have warm scone and coffee ready for her.

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I make the crumb cake recipe from Carole Walters Great Coffeecake recipes, and it was super simple (1 bowl), and super good. It is the perfect breakfast for my son who doesn't like to eat in the morning.

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Having to do some vegan baking and experimenting. Not so much enjoying it. Man eggs are useful. That said, I'm mostly pleased with a chocolate cupcake with a cocoa PB frosting, faux-reos, speculaas, and carrot cake. Planning on a Amartetto Blueberry Crumble tomorrow, and hopefully another couple of plated desserts and possibly ice cream, upon which I must and will decide tonight. 

Have a cake contest coming up in March, and got to do a test run of "woodgrain fondant." i was quite pleased with the results.

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Since Sunday 2/5 is World Nutella Day (no, really! http://www.nutelladay.com/ ), I'm making Pierre Herme's Nutella Tart http://ilforno.typepad.com/il_forno/2004/05/pierre_hermes_n.html . I made it once before, and knowing now how good it is, it will be all I can do to keep myself from doing a face-plant into it as soon as it's halfway cooled.

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The other day I made peppermint patty brownies, by mixing up my favorite chewy + fudgy brownie recipe and tossing one cup of chopped up peppermint patties into the batter. The peppermint infused every bite, not just the parts containing the candy. Tasters raved, even those who don't identify as minty dessert people! 

A few weeks back, I had tried junior mint brownies, using Dave Lebovitz's recipe, here:

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2011/03/chocolate-mint-brownies/

Dave's brownies burned a bit along the edges whereas my old favorite fudgy brownie recipe did not do that. I do agree with his idea to store these in the fridge, as chilling certainly enhances the mintyliciousness.

A few other recent successes, all from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy:

*mini sticky buns with pecans (see photo)
*caramel cheesecake bars
*gooey turtle bars

I made two different kinds of homemade caramel sauce -- for the cheesecake bars I did a salted caramel sauce with the candy thermometer, and then the turtles call for a caramel of sweetened condensed milk.

I can't select a favorite from the three above, but each was just *exquisite* I can't wait to try more of her recipes!

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Pretzel buns for sloppy joes tonight. Wishing I had made a double batch. 

(apologies for the poor photo-cell phone picture)

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Had a chocolate craving, but relatively empty cupboards, so I went for an altered version of Alice Medrich's Bittersweet Decadence Cookies. 

The big problem was that I was almost out of sugar, had less than half the amount of chocolate called for and had no nuts at all. So I halved the recipe and subbed powdered sugar for regular. Then I used chopped crystallized ginger and cocoa nibs in place of the nuts and chocolate chunks. And then I realised that I was also out of baking powder, so I tossed in some baking soda and cream of tartar. 

They came out surprisingly well, although I really wish I had nuts and the ginger (which was homemade and sitting in the cupboard for months) was a touch stringy. The ginger taste is nice, though, and I think I would include it again if it were fresher and less stringy.

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Well, I made a Duncan Hines cake--French Vanilla--because two CH evil women/devils-on-my-shoulder encouraged me to go buy more one night last year (ahem, buttertart and mamachef). So, as is the rule in my family, Duncan Hines in the box is perfectly acceptable, but NEVER canned frosting. So I will whip up some almond frosting later and sprinkle with rainbow nonpareils because I JUST FEEL LIKE HAVING CAKE FESTOONED WITH PRETTY COLORS. :) And I will strongly consider Cynsa's baking group cake for my next butter cake endeavor.

ETA, this one's for you both:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9qeJskx6r0

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Helped dear daughter make ice cream cone cupcakes tonight from MS's Cupcakes book. Pics tomorrow once they've been frosted. :)

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Yesterday I made mocha brownies from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. Homemade brownies with a thick layer of mocha buttercream on top. I'm telling you, mocha buttercream is a revelation. I ate it until I was sick :) 

I did half the frosting recipe, and it was still plenty (even after my snacking). I made them in an 8x8 pan, which is what she calls for in the cookbook. Not mentioned here. 

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=9930405

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Last week I baked some biscotti with tonka bean, almond, and white chocolate. I think it turned out rather well since they only lasted about two days.

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Out of the blue, my son requested that i make him a pumpkin pie. HS and sports are so tough, the poor kid is exhausted, so I decided to surprise him when he gets home from school. I now have a pumpkin pie in the oven. Who said it's just for Thanksgiving? Since all I had was a large can of pumpkin, I decided to make some pumpkin muffins to freeze for breakfasts. I used Dorrie's recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours, but I omitted the raisins and the pumpkin seeds since I had neither. They're lovely looking with nice, high tops.

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This morning I baked a loaf of Banana Bread with walnuts and tomorrow I am making the most amazing Carrot Cake with Whipped Cream frosting, this is for a Super Bowl party. I have made it several times before and it is incredible. 
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-banana-bread/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sams-famous-carrot-cake/detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whipped-cream-cream-cheese-frosting/detail.aspx

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Having just gotten the new edition of Carol Field with its tantalizing photos (have just leafed through it, but I'm glad I indulged), it's Italian baking weekend chez nous. Or in la casa nostra, I suppose?

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Our kitchen remodel was finished yesterday! Phase One, that is--but at least I have a fully functioning kitchen again! I've never been so happy at the thought of not going out for dinner. 

Our oven broke a few days before Christmas, which precipitated the whole kitchen reno, so my husband didn't get to have his traditional Christmas coffee cake. I promised to make that the inagural thing baked in our oven, and made it last night. Made bagels this morning. I love my new kitchen, and I LOOOVE my new appliances! Gas cooktop! Double ovens! Oh, the things I'll be able to make now!

I'm doing a photo shoot in a week or two with a baby shower theme of "Blush." I know I want to try making Sao Bao (Chinese steamed buns that look like blushing peaches), but I haven't come up with any other clever ideas for the dessert table. Any of you brilliant bakers have thoughts or recommendations?

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I noticed recently that my market started stocking hazelnut meal in the refrigerator case next to the almond meal. I thought it would be fun to play with, and used some for the first time today. I baked hazelnut squares, taking as inspiration poster krisishere's almond squares but riffing on the ingredients.

Here are her ingredients, and what I used.

2 eggs: same
1 cup sugar: a touch over 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil: 4 T. browned butter + 4 T. roasted hazelnut oil
2 tsp. almond extract: 2 T. Frangelico + dash vanilla
1 cup flour: 1/2 cup flour + heaping 1/2 cup hazelnut meal
1/2 tsp. baking powder: same
pinch salt: same

Whisked it all together in the order given, poured it into an 8x8-in. metal baking pan lined with a parchment sling and sprayed with baking spray, and baked at 350F for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick came out clean. After they cooled I melted a bit of bittersweet chocolate and created a Jackson Pollack homage over the top, then set it aside until it set. Cut in 24 little squares.

My goodness, but these things are OUT OF SIGHT. Rich, with a tender but chewy texture, and just amazing flavor, lots of depth. I think I should get most of them out of the house for my own sake. This has gone into the permanent file.

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I am crazy obsessed with this thing one of our local bakeries makes that I have nicknamed "crack bombs". It's a baseball-ish sized ball of brioche filled with pastry cream and rolled in sugar, and I have not been able to stop thinking about them since I ate my first one a couple of months ago. 
I recreated them at home once already with great success and am working a brioche dough right now for another batch for Sunday brunch. They're so simple and so delicious, and a perfect backup plan for when I don't have time to do croissants or danish.

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Brunch this morning, so I made two quiches: bacon and cambazola and broccoli and cheddar (with a few other ends of cheeses thrown in)

And then cheddar cornbread to go with chili for the game tonight.

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Just made another batch of oatmeal biscoff cookies, and snickerdoodle blondies with cinnamon chips (very, very good!)...
I also made "tropical mango" muffins (from the Dairy Farmers of Canada's annual milk calendar). Now I have to decide if I have enough time before Downton Abbey to put make those peppermint brownies I got advice on...

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Yesterday made Lemon Custard Cakes -- the variety that separates into a cake layer on top and a custard on the bottom. Next time, I might make Pommelo or Grapefruit, but will cut the juice with some lemon to maintain the acidity. 

Also, made some Gruyere and Pecorino Romano individual souffles. i included a pinch of smoked paprika and a pinch of nutmeg. i fear i was a bit light-handed on both counts. next time, i'd up the smoked paprika and forgo the nutmeg in favor of dry mustard powder. 

Lastly, for the game today, i did a weird take on combining strata, dip, and cupcakes... I layered crusty bread in small pieces, then Bonnie's Buffalo Chicken dip, then bread, then dip... baked a bit, sprinkled with cheese, and baked more. in sturdy cupcake liners in aluminum liners... all 36 of them are gone.

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I made another batch of gooey caramel turtle bars today!~ Yummmm. These cookies are just extraordinary -- the buttery shortbread crust, homemade vanilla caramel dreamy/creaminess, then dark chocolate and toasted pecans -- each is marvelous on its own, and the fusion of all of the layers together is fantastic! Mmmmmm. Another winner from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy.
Putting these together definitely calls for focus and attention/enthusiasm for multiple steps including 15 minutes of constant stirring (and a candy thermometer). They're a lot of fun to make though, one of my more exciting baking projects recently! First I toasted the pecans while I put the shortbread together. Then, as the shortbread crust baked, I prepared the caramel filling, which was done just about when the crust came out of the oven. If you make these, be sure to sprinkle the chocolate and nuts quickly over the caramel so that they sink into the filling!

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Potato focaccia and Italian Rainbow Cookies (though the Red was changed to green because of allergies in the crowd)

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I also baked some tasty mistakes yesterday. Meyer lemon bars over a crust of half almond flour, half regular flour, similar to my favorite almond shortbread recipe. I also used bitter almond instead of almond extract for the crust. The lemon bars were otherwise how I make lemon bars, minus 1/4 cup of sugar to account for the sweetness of the Meyers.

But I was multitasking...and I'll be the first to admit I don't multitask any better than anyone else, so I forgot this little ingredient--2 T flour in the lemon part--till the goodies were coming out of the oven and didn't appear as they usually do. HA HA HA! Rather than forming a separate layer as "normal" lemon bars do, all the lemony goodness just baked right over the crust. I might make the same mistake again, next time on purpose, because they really are quite delish, even if a little funny looking (note the strange craters on top). I'm calling them Meyer lemon frangipane bars.

I'd also like to try this again the RIGHT way (remembering flour), and maybe with the addition of rosemary in the crust as my friend Patty did here:
http://pattysfood.blogspot.com/2012/01/meyer-lemon-bar-cookies-with-rosemary.html

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In addition to the Nutella tart and lemon bars, I made some little appetizers for the Super Bowl - phyllo dough filled with an assortment of odds and ends I had in the house. Goat cheese and chorizo with cilantro and golden raisins, "stuffed mushroom" filling (finely diced mushrooms, onions, red peppers and bacon held together with gruyere), and maple-sriracha pork belly with caramelized onions and jack cheese. All three were hits, but the pork belly ones were my faves. The only problem was that they were EXTREMELY rich with all the butter in the phyllo - I know it's the nature of the beast, but I wish there were a way to enjoy phyllo with just a little less butter. Any suggestions for other wrappers for these tasty fillings?

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I made a pumpkin pie for my son the other day, and having made a double crust of pastry, I asked him if there was anything else he would like. Yes, lemon meringue pie -- without the meringue! Since he's the only one eating it, he's right in that the meringue doesn't remain appetizing for very long. Basically, it looks like a nice lemon pie that's....missing something!

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I finally inaugurated my heritage bundt pan, last week, and made the citrusy pound cake (on epicurious), and after all that zesting--and making the candied citrus peel, the cake was gorgeous, but . . . DRY. I decided to bake using the "convection bake" function. You'd think that would be fine for a cake, wouldn't you? I took the cake out at 1 hour, 10 min, instead of the 1:30 called for--and so dry. To add insult to injury, my candied peels just looked like a pile of sugary things, not the little jewel threads I envisioned. (The ones in the photo are from the glaze.) Oh well.

Better luck w/my shortbreads yesterday: I tried the Smitten Kitchen recipe, which uses hard egg yolks (who knew? well, probably lots of you folks, but not I) and lots of orange zest. They were divine in our strawberry shortcakes although I patted the dough out a little thinner than I should have as I was trying hard to get 12 cakes out of it.

I also baked up the last of the bittersweet chocolate cookie dough from my freezer. Still wish I could figure out the secret to getting those to come out like something resembling the chef's.

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Baked the Lemon Poppyseed variation of the Sour Cream Muffins in Joy. Both to use up sour cream and because Mr.Sugar is a huge fan of lemon sweets. They're so light!! (In texture, not in calories heh I used 14% sour cream). Delicious lemon flavor, not as pronounced as commercial versions but I could up the lemon factor with a glaze). I'll definitely be experimenting with this recipe as a base in future.

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Today I baked these lemon ginger bars from Nick Malgieri: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/06/lemon-ginger-bars-nick-malgieri-recipe.html

They come together by hand, and I stuck to the recipe except that I doubled the crystallized ginger from 1/4 to 1/2 cup (1/4 cup definitely not enough for a 9x13, in my ginger-loving opinion) and added a bit extra zest from my large Meyer lemon. It also took an extra tablespoon of liquid to get the glaze the right consistency, and I used all Meyer lemon juice, no water. These baked a hair too long, I think (I was looking for his "firm" descriptor), and the edges were definitely too hard and crusty, and had to be trimmed before I cut them into squares. They could be a touch moister inside, but that's quibbling. They have a nice, chewy texture. As advertised, they have no burn, but are pleasantly gingery. The bars are in a tin for someone to take to a class tea break tomorrow, and there are the trimmings left for nibbling.

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I haven't been baking as much (at home at least) but I do have dough in the fridge to make pretzel rolls. I need to make about 200 in a could of weeks and need to know how many batches to make and what size to make each roll. I'm thinking a 75-100g roll would be a good size for what I need. 
I always use Alton Brown's soft pretzel recipe for pretzels or pretzel rolls. It's a fantastic recipe.

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Working (very) late tonight and taking the edge off with some peripheral bread baking. Made a double recipe of sourdough pizza dough earlier and packed all 8 little blobs into the freezer for later use. I was going to replace about a cup of the unbleached bread flour with semolina for a bit of a change, but I'm so used to my regular pizza recipe, I completely forgot to do it. Oh well. Maybe I'll remember next time.

Now I'm attempting to convert my favorite pain au lait recipe into a sourdough pain au lait. It's on its first rise right now and everything looks good, so I have high hopes it will turn out. I'll probably shape the pains and put them in the fridge overnight so I can wait until tomorrow morning to bake them. There's nothing like waking up to fresh bread!

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It's been unusually cool in Dubai recently (well, it's been as low as 70 during the day but it feels cold to us) and I've been taking the opportunity to crank out some baking. Tried two different cinnamon rolls/sticky bun recipes, one from Alton Brown and the other one using a no-knead brioche recipe and my own toppings. 

Lesson learned: don't use chopped almonds as they will tear the dough when you're rolling it up. Otherwise both recipes came out remarkably similar despite the kneaded/no knead difference. All in all, both recipes turned out fine and we were happy to eat them but I've made/had better sticky buns in the past.

I've also been making David Lebovitz's Fruitcake Bars. Fabulous. Light and nutty and fresh tasty and a breeze to make. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/12/fruitcake-bar-recipe/

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I'm so happy this thread has taken off again! Everybody's baking sounds splendid. I made some wonderful bread from the Field book, the browned butter cookies from the 150 best American recipes one (the best simplest cookies ever), and screwed up the ENYT almond cake by using pistachio paste. The Pane di Como is divine as are the cookies. Pics later.

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I have made a possibly profoundly stupid error. I made some snickerdoodle blondies with cinnamon chips this week-end, which included a lot of cinnamon. In fact, I went through so much, I had to open a new bag, and wash my spice bottle; I sprinkled a few teaspoons over the top (mixed with sugar). I tested 2 pieces, and they seemed just great.
However, putting away the dishes today, I realised that I had actually used up the last of my CAYENNE in said blondies. It can't have been that much... maybe 1/2 ts? However, I cannot understand how I couldn't taste it.. unless I mixed them unevenly, and some poor soul will bite into a mouthful of cayenne.
Any ideas, fellow bakers? Should I toss the lot??

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I just made Cynsa's Favourite Butter Cake (posted by her in January), but I was in the mood for orange, so I added the grated zest of 2 oranges. 

In the spirit of Cynsa, I ate a piece while it was still warm (I don't have the tongue to eat it straight out of the oven as she does). It was very tasty indeed, and the orange came through very well. I like the light crumb. The only change I would make is put in a little less sugar (3/4 cup instead of 1 cup) as it is a touch too sweet.

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It's cold and rainy/sleety tonight, so I made a double batch of hot buttered soft pretzels. One batch just doesn't make it around here ...

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friend needed to make muffins for something for her kids. we decided on a gingersnap muffin of sorts. i asked her if she had molasses, and she said oh sure! (i have it by the jug, so was happy to bring...) i get there, and she's pulling out ingredients. great. i look on the counter. it's maple syrup (fortunately real). i looked at it, then at her... i was about to assume she misunderstood me, and thought i asked about maple syrup. she said you asked if i had molasses. see, i have a whole jar! ... i love her dearly, but she thought maple syrup and molasses were essentially synonymous... she also believes butter and margarine are essentially the same... fortunately for those around her, she cooks and bakes minimally.

happy ending to the story, we made Pancake Muffins with a Maple Buttercream.

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I am about to make my first recipe from Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet. There are soo many good things is there I didn't know where to start!

Anyway, it will be a Cherry and Sherry Cake to take to work later. My colleagues are going to be very happy. I will report back. Here's the recipe from the Guardian, which has been tweaked slightly for the book.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/oct/15/foodanddrink.shopping3

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Yesterday I made an Apple Bundt Cake from Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Apple-Bundt-Cake-102692

It was delicious - I love the crunchy edges. It has some orange juice and some orange peel in it that I thought would be odd, but it wasn't at all. I used some Granny Smiths and a Gala, and the cake was moist and rich. I could eat that for every meal till it's gone.....

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Anyone making a King Cake? Got a favorite recipe?

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I still had a lot of dates left from my Christmas sticky toffee pudding, so today I decided to make date bars from The Homesick Texan cookbook. It is a very simple recipe that uses only one tablespoon of butter, but the batter is chock full of chopped dates and pecans. Surprisingly, despite the cup of sugar and a cup and a half of dates, this recipe is not very sweet. It's tasty, but I'm not sure I will make it again.

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I did my first cheesecake for the super bowl crowd - easy & gone. http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/1990s/1999/11/three_cities_spain_cheesecake

And now I've made three Walnut and Prune Cakes Périgord Style - the first one was so good I just kept making them. A lot of people have said nice things about the recipe on these threads; you can find it here: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/04/dining/by-the-book-walnuts-every-guise-imaginable.html

And I've made some granola, and some brandied fruit compote, and some blood orange compote. 

Next up probably lemon mousse - anyone have a delicious, not-too-sweet, recipe? I was going to start with this one: http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976862466

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I have been a lurker on the baking threads but now thought I would ask about what to make for a GTG at work. Each quarter we have wine and beer while we listen to the earnings release. There is generally chips and stuff but I thought I would bake something especially since this quarter's call falls on Valentine's day. So what would you make to go with beer and wine? TIA

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Not baking, but guess what's caught fire?
http://food52.com/blog/2932_herv_this_chocolate_mousse

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apple charlotte, and butter shortbreads, cut out with a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

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Frustration: bread didn't rise right - it has 15 more minutes in the oven, but I'm not expecting much. And then I made the lemon filling for this tart: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/04/lemon-lemon-lemon-cream-recipe.html and had trouble with my thermometer, which wouldn't rise above 160 for EVER, and then jumped to 183 and fell again... My whisk was making tracks, so I took the cream off the heat & added the butter, and it's in the refrigerator, but... I doubt it ever really got to 180. I'm really grumpy.

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Bagels (kinda ridiculous I just don't go buy them...)

My son's birthday cake...baked to his exact specifications (don't laugh):
- Duncan Hines Yellow Cake (the version with the sour cream and instant pudding mix in it)
- Chocolate morsels and chopped Reese's Peanut Butter cups mixed into the cake layers
- Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting (with crushed oreos mixed into the frosting between the layers)
- Decorated with M&M's

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I've got dough resting for cinnamon rolls. I'll put them in the fridge and bake in the morning. I'll bake some for home and some for work tomorrow. It's hard to not want to eat cake all the time on Saturdays (well, any day, really) so whole wheat cinnamon rolls are a good sweet, healthier alternative to tiramisu cake with buttercream icing :)

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Just took the congo bars out of the oven. Made them nut free for my best pal's nut allergy kids for my visit tomorrow. :)

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On a Carol Field "Italian Baker" kick. The last of the pane di Como was made into melba toast and sliced for regular toast. The starter for l'Otto di Merano rye bread is burbling to itself, bread to be confected tonight.

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Time for more mini sticky buns in the next couple of days... 2nd time with this recipe (another keeper from Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies) excited! :)

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I made pita, but didn't let them rest long enough before baking so they didn't puff, but they still worked for our black bean/cilantro "falafel"

I'm making peanut butter blossoms with dove hearts instead of kisses for v-day. That's all I've got planned for this week.

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Brownies from Ad Hoc At Home last night - incredibly rich, fudgy, chocolaty. One of the best recipes I've ever tried, although I think they could have used a little less butter (they were a tad greasy) and a little less sugar (or a spoonful of espresso powder and darker chocolate chunks). I nearly ate myself sick on them last night, yet I'm tempted to have one for breakfast!

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I'm making heart-shaped cinnamon rolls tonight (the shape is a goal, at least ...) and I'm also finishing up some pb pretzel hearts, dipping them in chocolate. And while that might seem like enough already, I can't decide what to make for dessert tomorrow night ... pie, mousse, mini molten cakes. It will definitely be something.

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Over the weekend, I adapted a recipe by Anne Byrn (The Cake Doctor) to make gluten-free Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cupcakes. Without the frosting, they were fine, but with the frosting - amazing. We had to freeze half the batch so there would be some left on Valentine's Day. 

Chocolate-Cherry Cake Ingredients
1 package (16 oz.) gluten-free chocolate cake mix*
3 large eggs
2 tsp. almond or vanilla extract
1 can (21 oz.) - 1/4 C. cherry pie filling 
1 C. (6 oz.) chocolate chips

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients
1 C. granulated sugar
5 T. margarine
1/3 C. milk (rice, almond, soy, or dairy)
2 T. light corn syrup
1 C. (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1) Preheat to 350 degrees F. Either line cupcake pans with 16 liners or lightly mist a 9 x 13-inch cake pan with cooking spray. 
2) In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, and extract and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed 1 minute. The mixture will be very dry, almost the texture of graham cracker crumbs before you press them into a pie crust. 
3) Add the cherry pie filling and beat on medium speed until just blended, about 20 to 30 seconds. There will still be some big cherry chunks, which is nice in the finished cake. Add the chocolate chips and mix with a big wooden spoon. Thick batter alert!
4) Divide the batter between the cupcake liners or spread into your prepared pan. Smooth the top.
5) Bake cupcakes about 18-20 minutes or sheet cake for 30-35 minutes, until the top feels dry and springs back when lightly pressed.
6) While the cake cools, prepare the icing. Place the sugar, margarine, milk, and corn syrup in medium-sized saucepan over medium-heat. Stir until the mixture comes to a boil, about 3 to 4 minutes. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate chips and vanilla, stirring until the dissolved. The frosting hardens quickly, so just reheat it slightly if needed.
7) Frost! Eat! Enjoy. 
www.glutenfreehappyplace.com

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More sourdough bagels! A double batch this time, and my first attempt at incorporating different flavours into the dough. I'm doing half everything (grilled onion pieces and granulated garlic in the dough, poppy seeds, salt, more granulated garlic and maybe a touch of smoked paprika on top) and half cinnamon-apricot (just cinnamon and sour dried apricot pieces in the dough -- I'm not usually a fan of sugar crusts on my bagels). 

They're all shaped and rising right now. The apricot ones were particularly difficult to roll out because the apricot pieces kept tearing the dough. In the end, I had to do a combination of rolling the dough balls between my hands and sort of pulling them into ropes, instead of just rolling them on my cutting board like I usually do. I also have my first attempt at homemade crockpot cream cheese draining in the fridge, but that's best left for another thread.

I have about 3/4 cup of leftover oatmeal from breakfast, so I think I'm also going to try a recipe I found for cooked oatmeal cookies. I put some leftover chopped apricot in the oatmeal, and I think I may brown the butter first too, so I guess they will be browned butter oatmeal apricot cookies. That is if they work out. The one review was positive, but I have a few doubts.

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Lots of baking today, though none of it was earth-shattering. First up was corn muffins, followed by blueberry muffins, all packaged up and in the freezer for my son's breakfasts. Somehow, he just doesn't feel like having much more than a muffin these days, and we finished up the last of them this morning. Then, since he has his advisory class tomorrow, he asked me to make a Valentine's day treat for the class. I obliged with a basic rolled sugar cookie cut out in the shape of a heart, iced with a thin confectioner's sugar icing, and then sprinkled with red sanding sugar. Cute, not too exciting, but something that no one can object to in terms of nut allergies and such.

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I made this epi double ginger sour cream cake last night: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Double-Ginger-Sour-Cream-and-Bundt-Cake-with-Ginger-Infused-Strawberries-352071. Half cup less sugar and it was great. Very pound cakey, moist and the ginger hit is strong. My guy loved the crunch of the sugar on the outside and I loved not frosting it (since my cakes always look like a troll decorated them).

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I am spending 3 glorious months in a condo at the beach, and have made a few muffins and cokies just mainly to be able to get a feel for the oven here it heats like 30 degrees hotter than it should bit I made a birthday cake for my brother it was a Zebra cake with 4 colors used to alternate with the white cake. Basically I made two layers I decided the vanilla cake in half and decided that in quarters and colored them sky blue, orange, green, and purple. The one cake layer I started with a scoop of vanilla "white" then blue, the white, then orange, white again, and blue once more till I was all out of batter. I did the same in the other cake pan with the purple and green. I baked these off let cool then they went in the fridge over night. I made a cream cheese icing and frosted the cake with the two layers oh I did level the layers after they were cooled. My neice my brother's daughter sprinkled on her choice of sprinkles and placed happy birthday candles on it. I will post pictures later today.

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I have been tasked with making a king cake.. I also want to try and make a Bean Cake which apparently came about via Nation of Islam, I've made a 2 step mousse (or Pots De Creme) using only chocolate and water, I want to make muhallabia and some almond crisps care of Sarabeth Levine.

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Wow! the February thread took off, after a surprisingly light December and January. Off over to part 2? http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/834102#7153915

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