What are you baking these days? June/July 2013 edition (Through 7/31/13)

Question

The June thread took off like a rocket, and we have almost 400 posts...not sure why June would be so big when the cooler months were not very. Oh well, rather like me always wanting ice cream in the winter. 
I'll be baking for my mother-in-law's BIG birthday celebrations in a few days, cakes and I'm not sure what else. What's in your oven or on your baking schedule?

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I made Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookies, but needed a salty fix, so I added pretzels.

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Not baking much this month, since we're moving, but in baking news, my stand mixer no longer lives under the bed! First thing I put together in the apartment was a kitchen cart (a wood one from Ikea) and put my mixing bowls, rolling pin, and the stand mixer. I've got about half the kitchen moved in, and will finish this weekend and then bake something in my new, never been used oven!

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I was on a cookie binge earlier this year for a group I was in. I made oatmeal raisin, peanut butter bacon, double chocolate and some good ones I found on the Whole Foods Site that weren't touted as Vegan - but they were (and good, too). My next . . . for summer . . . "Pink Lemonade". I saw a box at the store and got inspired. I 'usually' cook healthy, but once in a while (hence the peanut butter bacon). I came online tonight to peek around about these. I will start a new post. But that's my next baking!

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I made Nanaimo Bars! My first time, they came out great!

I wasn't intending on making them. I had two cookouts to go to last weekend, and I saw this great recipe online for Raspberry Lemonade Bars, so I thought perfect! Cool, refreshing, citrusy! I'll make them for both cookouts.

http://www.sophistimom.com/bake-sale-week-raspberry-lemonade-bars/

Made them first on Saturday. But because it was so hot out the confectioner's sugar melted into the bars and they looked murky. Not appetizing at all. 

So forget it, I wasn't going to make them on Sunday. So I tried to find a recipe online I could make with ingredients I had on hand and voila, there were the Nanaimo Bars. I had read about them on Chowhound, so figured they'd be good. It was a great way to use up some of that Bird's Custard Powder I've had on hand for a long time.

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/01/nanaimo-bars/

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http://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking_and_desserts/photo_gallery__16_great_canadian_desserts.php

Just in time for Canada Day department...These are fun, although some of them a just regular old desserts with strawberries arranged on them in the maple leaf pattern. Nanaimo bars and butter tart squares included!

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I baked challah this morning for only one reason: because I have tons of gorgeous peaches and I got it in my head to make mascarpone, peach, and honey grilled cheese sandwiches. Dear God, heaven on a plate. I'd call that experiment a big success. Must plan many brunches now to have excuses to make them again.

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For my son's friends, and for some neighbors who were stopping by to pick up the BBQ my husband is making for them, I reprised the Smitten Kitchen blueberry pie bars. It really is an almost effortless recipe, and great for a summer dessert. Plus, these bars are best stored in the refrigerator, making them a cool and delicious treat in the hot weather.

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Made those yeast waffles that you said are delicious, and they were, and supper easy to make.

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Made a flourless chocolate cake because we were looking for something to do, had the ingredients on hand and had never made one before. It's cooling now...smells HEAVENLY!

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I made chocolate mousse with raspberries today. It was too warm to turn on the oven, but I'm pretty sure it's never too hot for chocolate mousse.

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Mmmm...made a plain Sandkuchen and some pastry cream and picked a bunch of strawberries. So yum.

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This raspberry buttermilk cake from Epicurious was recommended on another thread - I made it this weekend for breakfast, subbing peaches and a bit of cinnamon. BIG WIN. One of the moistest cakes I've ever had, and extremely easy to throw together. 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Raspberry-Buttermilk-Cake-353616

I also made a gorgeous "red fruit" crumble - I was staying at a friend's lake house, and she had two enormous patches of rhubarb, so the fruits in question were half rhubarb, half hand-picked strawberries (most of which were no larger than your average cherry and INTENSELY flavorful), with a handful of blueberries and sweet cherries thrown in. I only had about 2.5 tablespoons of tapioca for thickening (for enough fruit to fill a 9x13 pan), so the filling was super juicy and oozy, just like I like it! Tart, too, since I used barely a cup of sugar. Walnuts and NO oatmeal in the topping. Fabulous.

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In honour of Canada Day today, I'm posting this strawberry custard cake that I made over the weekend for my Cake Day party with friends. Throw some blueberries into the fray and you've got yourself a Fourth of July cake!

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I made Fudge Brownies that my friends made for me while I visited them.. they were not as good as theirs. But still rich without being too heavy.

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It was my father-in-law's birthday last week, and he's partial to French Silk Chocolate Pie, so I made the Cook's Country recipe. It was my first time making something like it, but it was WONDERFUL (though I confess I used a boxed crust. Next time I'll do it properly, but there just wasn't time.).

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Oatmeal Fudge Squares from Joy of Cooking. Made them as teacher presents this year and have put them on the make again list.

Press 2/3 of the dough on the bottom of a 9x13 pan, top with a mixture of chocolate and sweetened condensed milk, then scatter the remaining dough over top. Bake & cool completely in a foil/parchment lined & greased pan. Next time I might add a little shredded coconut to the base to change it up a bit.

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I went overboard on buying rhubarb, and my freezer is full. So made some cinnamon rhubarb muffins.. uses sour cream, and is very light. I also made some biscoff oatmeal cookies as a thank you for one of my friend's husband's: I'm taking her to a music festival to revisit our youth, while he is looking after their 3 children under the age of 3.5 for the day. Although, when I told her about them, she claimed that he would be happy with a bag of Oreos and that he never had to know about the cookies...

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The component parts of Summer Berry Trifle (Cook's Illustrated). My father is going to compose individual servings tomorrow to serve on the fourth. Pressure is on to make it taste "like it used to..."

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I went old school and made Red Velvet Cupcakes with Ermine Icing (Boiled Icing).

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 1/3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (reduced fat)
1 1/2 tablespoons (a one ounce bottle) red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer for 3 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is fully incorporated. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla extract, and red food coloring.
4. Add a fourth of the dry ingredients to the sugar and butter mixture, and mix, then add a third of the wet, and mix. Continue adding in a dry, wet, dry pattern, ending with the dry ingredients.
5. Scoop into cupcake papers, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool for one minute in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 24 to 30 cupcakes depending on size.
7. Frost with Ermine Icing or other frosting.

Ermine Icing

1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter (softened at room temp.)
2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Over medium heat, in a small saucepan cook the flour and milk, stirring until it comes to a low boil and thickens. Remove from heat, scrape into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing so the wrap covers the entire surface, so the mixture won’t form a skin. Let cool at room temperature (DO NOT REFRIGERATE) approximately 30 minutes. Make sure the mixture is at room temperature before next step. If it is hot it will melt the butter and won’t mix properly.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour/milk mixture until fluffy. Chill for 10 to 15 minutes if necessary to firm, otherwise icing can be used immediately.

To decorate the cupcakes: I used a 1M decorators’s tip attached to a pastry bag and whirled it around the cupcakes in circles. Topped with assorted sprinkles/colored sugars.

https://patriciagay.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/recipe-reveal-red-velvet-cupcakes/#more-2702

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Made some delicious apple and oat scones from a Martha Stewart recipe and some sweet cornbread to eat for breakfast during the week. Definitely not typical summer baking but I like my freshly baked goods 24/7 =)

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Since it has been over 105 F here in Sacramento for the last 4 days, and will be for 3 more days, I "baked" no-bake chocolate oatmeal peanut butter cookies.

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Nothing. It's been over 100 degrees for weeks. That's my story and I'm stickin' with it.

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A cranberry lemon loaf and two loaves of banana bread all at 6 am this morning. I call that my Morning Madness.

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Last weekend, I made an orange lavender almond cake, with a ricotta topping flavored with orange zest and orange-blossom water. Turned out wonderful. Very moist, great balanced flavor, delicate on the lavender with a stronger hit of orange. Had to stay in the fridge due to the ricotta icing, but turned out to taste great cold (all the more so because it was in the mid 80s here!).

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Tomorrow I am making a peach pie and challah for our backyard shabbos dinner. Hope the peaches ripen in time!

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Sour cherry pecan crumble just came out of the oven. I picked the cherries near Newburgh today - still plenty of Montmorency cherries left, but the Morellos were pretty picked out. I managed to get a pound or so to eat straight - they are my FAVORITES. Fior di latte gelato made with raw milk firming up in the freezer.

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A 4th of July cake ... a 6-inch vanilla cake filled with whipped cream-cream cheese frosting (my new favorite), raspberries, and blueberries.

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How about a Virtual Cake Day???
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/908062#8176929

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My sister's birthday is coming up and I'm going to make this:

David Lebovitz - Chocolate Idiot Cake - (Flourless Chocolate Cake)
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/01/shf-27-chocolat-1/

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Nothing, but I probably could bake pizza on the sidewalk or the hood of my car! 

Fa malvagio tempo (the weather is evil)!

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I made a cake with a cooked yolk buttercream ( forget the designation of what type that is). Anyway it was the first buttercream I made that had egg yolk and sugar milk syrup concoction. Was well received - better than the powdered sugar creamed with butter frosting I have made in past.

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Making a ganache-glazed marble cake from The Canadian Living Complete Baking Book, pub. 2008...has white and dark chocolate in it. For guests tonight.
This book is a gem, I saw a number of great almond. lemon, and even black currant (Caitlin McGrath? check this puppy out: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking_and_desserts/almond_black_currant_squares.php) recipes in it. They test their recipes like mad and I've never had one come out wrong.

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We're at the peak of the short season for fresh apricots here, so I made a tart with locally grown Blenheims and a marzipan crumble both beneath and atop the fruit (you can never go wrong pairing almonds and apricots, in my book). Came out great, and was gobbled up appreciatively at a family gathering.

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I hope to get up early tomorrow and make a chocolate zucchini cake from Food TV Magazine, my obsession while waiting for the cable guy.

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I had a half crust in the freezer, so I decided to make a raspberry and blueberry cream pie. It didn't take too long to blind bake the crust, and I did it this morning, so the oven wasn't on in the heat of the day.

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Easy Homemade Sourdough Starter
.
I've used Carl's Friends Oregon Trail Sourdough starter for about 5 years. It's really good, very vigorous. But I wanted to try something else.
.
I tried several times to create a starter from wild yeasts, even using the pineapple juice method. Either it wouldn't work, or I would get a really weak starter. Frustrating.
.
In desperation, I decided to try something else. I read years ago in Sunset magazine about a pure yogurt starter. That sounded interesting, but I didn't want to use a pure yogurt starter that required feeding with yogurt.
.
Here's what I came up with. I have started this sourdough starter twice, as an experiment, and each time, within 5-days, I was baking sourdough bread.
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I use buttermilk, yogurt, a little rye flour, a pinch of yeast and all-purpose flour to get the sourdough starter going, but I only feed the starter all-purpose flour and water to sustain it. I give it all of these cultures to start with and let them fight it out. In the end, it makes a starter as good as Carls Oregon Trail starter.
.
Buttermilk Yogurt Sourdough Starter
.
1 cup Buttermilk, make sure the label says live cultures
3 Tbsp Plain Yogurt, make sure the label says live cultures
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Rye Flour
pinch of Instant Yeast
.
Mix well. Allow to sit on counter in loosely covered container for about a week. 
.
Feed daily 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour and 1/4 cup Water. Mix well. Discard excess, if needed. It will bubble up and overflow sometimes, so I keep the container sitting in a pie tin to catch any overflow.
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After about 4 or 5 days of feeding, the starter will smell sour and be very vigorous.
.
I use 1/2 a cup of the starter to make sourdough bread.
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When active, bubbly and sour smelling, store covered in the fridge if you are not going to make some bread.
.
Revive Sourdough Starter and make a loaf of bread at least once a week.
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Remove starter from the fridge, stir in 1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 cup water. Bring to room temperature and allow starter to get bubbly. Use 1/2 cup to make bread.

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I have been really into Biscotti and Granola lately! If anybody is interested in biscotti this is a wonderful book: 

http://bellacucina.com/biscotti.html

The stories of the harvest and traditions are just wonderful!

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Bought a flat of raspberries last night, and so made baked meringue circles (because we have a ton of eggs with our chickens right now) and served with raspberries tossed with a tiny bit of sugar, and unsweetened whipped cream. A deconstructed Boccone Dulce or pavlova-one of my favorites and super easy.

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Homemade cream puffs with vanilla pastry cream and topped with chocolate. Sort of a mini eclair.

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Not really baking but I made strawberry jam using Christine Ferber's technique (I think I got the recipe from the Chocolate and Zucchini blog). I flavored them cardamom, Grand Marnier, and balsamic. I also made a pan of biscuits. Very, very good, although I think the sugar was still a bit high for me. The strawberry pieces tasted perfect but the syrup was a bit sweet. :) 

I may try again this week with a cup less and see if I like that better. 

Alice Medrich's brown butter cocoa brownies. Good. Better than I thought, although I couldn't really taste the brown butter after baking (I could taste it in the mix). I nice mix between cakey and fudgey, although I did leave it in an extra 5 minutes or so.

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I have rhubarb and I have strawberries. I bought a pastry cutter. Now I just need to get a kick in the arse to make the strawberry-rhubarb pie that everyone claims is so delicious. 

I've never had rhubarb before and I'm askeeered.

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It's just too hot to bake! I give up.

For Fourth of July I made an Ice Cream Cake. Not homemade, not using "Creme Anglaise." Just storebought vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet and crunchy bits.

https://patriciagay.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/recipe-reveal-ice-cream-cake/

Raspberry Sorbet and Vanilla Ice Cream Cake

2 quarts vanilla ice cream
2 quarts raspberry sorbet
14 Lorna Doone shortbread cookies
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. This recipe makes a cake for an 8-inch springform pan. To make a larger cake just use more ingredients as necessary.
2. Place cookies in a small plastic bag, crush with a rolling pan or bottle and set aside.
3. Soften one quart of the sorbet and place in the bottom of the springform pan. Top with half the mini chocolate chips, put foil around the bottom of the pan to protect from leaks. Place in freezer and chill 15 minutes.
4. Soften one quart of vanilla ice cream. Remove pan from freezer. Spread vanilla ice cream over raspberry sorbet and sprinkle half the Lorna Doone cookie crumbs on top. Place in freezer and chill 15 minutes.
5. Repeat with the other quart of sorbet, chocolate chips, then the remaining vanilla ice cream and the shortbread cookies on top.
6. Freeze at least two hours. Cut and serve.

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Don't judge me...it's for my son! (The kids have discovered that if they ask me to "surprise" them with a birthday cake, they get a much better creation than they could ever have thought of asking for.)

Here we go...it's a cookie/brownie theme baked in 8" square pans:
Bottom Layer - brownies with chocolate cream Oreos layered into them
Middle Layer - chocolate chip bar cookie (Levian bakery copycat recipe)
Top Layer - Oreo truffle (the filling part)

I'm about to use ganache between the layers and as a frosting and then decorate with some Oreos (mini and regular cut in half).

He better like this thing!!! :-)

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Went gluten free last December and discovered I have a gluten sensitivity.

So recently have baked a couple of tortes which were well received:
Torta Caprese
Lemon Torte

Also did a no-sugar-added apple pie for neighborhood pie contest on July 4th. People ate that, too! (Not me...)

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Have starter going for Pane di Como and will be baking for a bbq this weekend, brownies or squares, haven't decided what yet.

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Going to attempt a cheesecake this weekend I think. I bought a springform pan like 5 years ago to try to make cheesecake and it has collected dust in the cabinet ever since.

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Not very inventive, I keep making a rhubarb crisp, and now have topped it with ice cream fresh out of the oven.

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The Road Trip took us far from an oven and into high°F+temperatures... baking cookies now to jump back into this thread with peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate chip pecan cookies.
Since I missed the 6/29 Toronto Cake Day, I am still dreaming of cake.

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Made a genoise for the 2nd time in 20 years. Yummy but not perfect...I think I still need a lot of practice. Ganache plus a soaking syrup was too sweet -- any suggestions for better combinations?

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I have pumpkin bread cooling. I make it with lots of spice, both in variety and quantity, because that's how I like it (others seem to, as well). My recipe makes two loaves, so one is destined for the freezer.

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A beautiful peach pie, thanks to my new Chowhound friends!


http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/908044#8176714

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Made roasted strawberry banana bread for a baby shower brunch on Friday..no idea how good it is, it's in the freezer.
Also made a "peanut butter and jelly" bundt cake with some strawberry jam from a few week ago: made more jam than I had sterilized jars for, so had to use it up. It smells good, and the batter tasted divine!!

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Blueberry Tea Cake out of the oven and cooling. To frost or not to frost with cream cheese frosting?

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I have been hoarding sour cherries since the start of the season and made my first ever cherry pie with 4 cups of Montmorencies I had pitted. I went very easy with the flavorings, just a cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and a splash of almond extract, and wow, what phenomenal fruit. I'd be curious to know how other people flavor their cherry pies. I'd never had one before, but I think I will be going through regular iterations thanks to the bounty I have in my freezer.

I did not blind bake the shell. I'm not sure if sour cherry pies are meant to be blind baked, but the bottom crust was wholly ruined. 5 tablespoons of tapioca flour did precious little to thicken the juices so I will need to find another, better thickener.

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I had to make gluten-free madeleines for a friend, and came across gluten-free flour, which contains stuff that has no business being in a cake.....would you believe garbanzo bean flour and other stuff? You are supposed to also use xanthan gum (seemed optional, though), but I was never good at chemistry, so I left it out.

Of course I used my (trusted) recipe, not Buttertart's ! :)

There were no peaks to the madeleines. They were flat as a board. The people I took them to thought they were good; I did not. Anyone want to buy a bag of expensive gluten-free flour?

My next attempt will be with almond flour (ground almonds). Since I can't see baking powder getting a rise out of ground almonds, I guess I'll have to use a recipe without baking powder........sigh!.......Buttertart's! I hope it's in the madeleine thread.

It's too darn hot to bake here, so it'll have to wait.

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A Cake A Day until my birthday on Sunday. Today is Texas Sheet Cake with chopped pecans in the frosting.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/

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I am looking for a lemon blueberry pound cake to bake in a never been used Nordic Ware Heritage Bundt® Pan that I got for Xmas.

Thanks.

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Just took a peach and blueberry pie out of the oven.

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I'm looking for a recipe for a Black Forest Cake. I made one many years ago, but was not pleased with it. It was too dry, IIRC.

I just saw one in the book "The Chocolate Bible" that looked interesting (lots of pictures; I like pictures), especially since the recipe makes the base cake with melted chocolate and not cocoa. However, there is one item in the list of ingredients that is very strange:

1/2 cup flour mixed with 1-1/8 cups cake crumbs

My dislike of volumetric measurements aside, does anyone know why cake crumbs are used in the making of a cake?

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My husband, who will go all over hell's half acre (in the hot as hell weather we're having) to get sour cherries, has been getting enough this year to release 2 boxes of his frozen stock for a pie. One was from 2011 and one from 2012. Both emerged in perfect shape and made one heck of a pie...TenderFlake lard and Monarch flour in the crust.

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I'm making cinnamon rolls. I looked at a bunch of popular recipes and then made up my own recipe that includes butter, honey, milk and mashed potato flakes in the dough. The cinnamon filling includes Penzey's Apple Pie Spice. 

I'm surprised the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls are so popular, they don't include butter, eggs or mashed potatoes in the dough. Just milk, oil and sugar.

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Baking with kids today-the chocolate chocolate chip cookies off the bag of Hershey's mint choc chips. Subbed Bob's Red Mill GF flour for the regular flour so DH could partake and they were just divine. Not fancy at all, but rich and chocolatey and still melty on the inside. Yum.

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I mostly bake and blog gluten-free. Been practicing perfecting macarons, and making lemon curd with the egg yolks. Also made a couple of gluten-free black bean chocolate brownie batches which came out fab! No - you can't taste the beans at all. And No - I don't include bean flour in my gluten-free flour.

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Apple cake. Simplist thing I bake and everyone ALWAYS wants the recipe. :)

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On the hottest day of the year (fingers crossed it doesn't get any hotter than 99!) I made raspberry lime and chocolate tartlets. I didn't really have too much choice about when to make them because I made them to thank my sister for all her help in finding a new job, and she'll be in the neighborhood tonight.

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57°F here - baking rosewater madeleines

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Tonight I made some pumpkin bread to use up some of the pumpkin I froze last fall. I need to figure out what to make with the rest of the pumpkin, just about a cup in this container. I think I have about 4 cups in another container.

For my GF friend, I've made several batches of GlutenFreeBetty's blondies lately. Instead of the chocolate chips, I add some shredded coconut and chopped pecans. These blondies are addictive! They're a little heavy on the salt, but it makes them taste like salted caramels. I don't care if they're gluten free, they are delicious!

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Made the whole wheat bread from King Arthur Flour using the tangzhong (roux) method -- I can't compare it to the regular version since I've never made it before, but it was excellent!

And just attempted the pretzel buns from The Chew (a birthday request from a friend) using the pretzel dough from Baking Illustrated. I think I need to be better at following recipe instructions...

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Browned butter tart squares.. half cherry and half raspberry. It's my contribution to a paella party that friends throw every year..

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I fired up the oven just long enough to bake a loaf of no-knead sourdough, using the cold-start dutch oven method to keep the heat to a minimum. It turned out quite sour this time, which I like - I'm sure the hot kitchen temperature during the refresh of my starter, preferment and rising periods helped! Very nice crumb, but not quite as thick/crunchy a crust as I would have liked - still good, though!

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Sunday's Birthday Brunch cake was this Pistachio Cardamom cake. Frosting was leftover Lemon Cream Cheese with a teaspoon of freshly ground cardamom. Served with Roasted Strawberries.

http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-recipes/recipe/pistachio-and-cardamom-pound-cake-with-lemon-icing

A-Cake-A-Day faltered - but my cake cravings are satisfied; birthday week was a delight and my friends ate cake with me. Hurrahs!

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A triple berry bundt with lemon glaze for a leaving do at work.. used raspberries, red currents and blueberries. Very good, but I will never, ever attempt to to transport ANYTHING with frosting, icing, or a glaze on the streetcar again. Despite generous use of toothpicks, the glaze ended up everywhere!

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It's too hot to bake, but we made ice cream today -- mocha almond chip oreo. Yum!

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DH surprised me with a beautiful new Bundt pan yesterday (the dramatic swirl type): http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/5519244/?catalogId=29&bnrid=3120901&cm_ven=Google_PLA&cm_cat=Bakeware&cm_pla=Cake_Pans&cm_ite=Nordic_Ware_Heritage_Bundt%28R%29_Pan_|_Williams-Sonoma&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=31-191901102-2

To thank him, I thought I'd break in the pan by making him a cake, and he has requested rum cake. I've never made one, and all the recipes I've seen online call for a cake mix and a box of instant pudding. I'm fine with that (especially since I won't be eating the cake myself), but if any of you bakers have a tried-and-true scratch recipe, I'd be grateful!

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I made per request Margarita cupcakes for a birthday party- really love these on a summer day

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We had a family reunion last weekend so I made sour cream apple pie bars (Tish Boyle's The Good Cookie). I also made cherry hand pies with some puff pastry I had laying around. 

Both turned out really well, and we didn't go to the reunion so we just had to deal with them around here. :)

Lots of fresh fruit, and an extra pastry crust, hanging around. I should make some pastry cream and then choose between sweet cherries, raspberries (red, gold, and purple) and blueberries. I love this part of summer!

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One of the Best Corn Bread recipes I have tasted - Peter Reinhart's Corn Bread

I made Peter Reinhart's Corn Bread recipe from the Bread Baker's Apprentice today. My family and I really liked it. The recipe makes a dense, moist corn bread. It's well worth the effort.

One caution, you really need an instant read thermometer for this recipe. Make sure all of the corn bread interior is baked to at least 185-F, as recommended in the book. Some people have reported the recipe came out gummy. This is probably from not cooking to the suggested temperature. I baked mine to 185-F and the corn bread was dense, moist and flavorful. I baked the corn bread in a greased (with bacon drippings), pre-heated 10-inch cast iron skillet.

Some members of my family did suggest leaving out the bacon and bacon drippings next time. Others really liked the bacon flavor, so that part is a matter of taste. I liked the addition of bacon and bacon drippings. I will be making this recipe again soon.

-----

link to recipe

http://leitesculinaria.com/7175/recipes-cornbread.html

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Cool weather today! So I mixed up some chewy chocolate chip cookies (new to me recipe ... very good) and two loaves of challah. And a zuni roast chicken. :)

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A dear friend's birthday was yesterday, and he requested a Reine de Saba, in part because he loves it (I have baked him many birthday cakes over the years, and if he has a request it is almost always for something chocolate), and in part to accommodate another friend who is gluten-free. Based on a prior recommendation from buttertart, I used the Queen of Sheba Tort 5.0 in Alice Medrich's Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. It was a simple as promised, one bowl and a handheld mixer from start to finish, with absolutely scrumptious results. She actually calls for 2 T of flour, and I don't know what it accomplishes, but I trust her judgment; however I left it out and just subbed an extra spoonful of almond meal to make it GF. Lovely texture nonetheless.

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Baking hamburger buns tonight...I had been craving spaghetti with meat sauce but husband wants to grill burgers. My revenge is the buns :)....happy to do lots and lots of gluten free baking for him, but I sure miss baking bread and am going for it tonight.

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I made some chocolate pecan bars from a Hershey's cookbook. They tasted good, but were much too dry. Last week, I'd bought a bottle of salted caramel syrup topping, and I drizzled a good amount of that over the bars, covered them and left them overnight. Next day, perfect!

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Sour cherry and cream cheese coffee cake w crunchy almond streusel topping

http://crepesofwrath.net/

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Chocolate Croissants! They're pretty ugly, but they taste good. It's been a few years since I've made them, and I'm wondering if I need to reduce the yeast at my new high altitude?

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I invited a friend for tea yesterday. I made a lemon cranberry loaf, and a recipe for soda bread from Heirloom Booking by the Brass sisters, called Winny McCarthy's bread. As well we had little tea sandwiches, and my friend brought homemade cheesecake. As well another friend who is from Uruguay made me some dulce leche and give me a brand of chocolate cookies called Maria that I was instructed to put the spread on. All delicious. It was chance to break out the china, put a nice tablecloth on it and sip tea and have a nice pleasant afternoon.

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BLUEBERRY BUTTER CAKE from The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook. (p. 34)

I've had this book for some time now and it's summery theme enticed me to pull it from the shelf. As luck would have it we'd just picked up a 4 quart basket of blueberries from a farm stand on Friday so I was quickly inspired to make this dish. This comes together quickly and the buttery fresh fruit aromas and flavours are heavenly!

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We had friends over for dinner, and i wanted to make something that would spotlight sour cherries, so I made a Japanese cheesecake, one of our favourite things.
http://www.food.com/recipe/japanese-cheesecake-90032
I used 8 oz cream cheese and nonfat milk (all I had), and 4 extra-large eggs and 1/2 c cornstarch instead of what's shown here (I wanted a taller cake, in an 8" round with 3" sides). I cooled it for about 1/2 hr with the oven door cracked. The cake didn't crack, and the texture was even better (more spongecake-y).
Made a sour cherry sauce to go with it -- the ones we got last week and froze were rather blah (I think because of the heat the previous 10 days), so I sharpened the taste with citric acid (kept adding a little until it seemed right, maybe 1/2 tsp or a bit more in all to a lb of cherries), and sugar, and thickened it to a little looser than pie filling consistency with a cornstarch slurry.
The cake was pronounced the most delicious thing the guy had ever tasted (which, he being Turkish, I rather doubt).

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Speaking of my mother-in-law's birthday, here are the cakes I made for the open house...RLB's double chocolate Valentine's hearts...

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Coconut mini cupcakes, so a QUESTION FOR ROXLET. I'm test-baking before hosting a tropical-theme dinner gathering a week from now. 

Roxlet - have you made your husband's favorite coconut cake as mini cupcakes, and if so what was the baking time? Recipe in this 2012 thread http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/879197#7732930

My test-bake this morning for a different recipe - Grandma Yearwood's Coconut cupcakes, from July BHG, that uses crushed Nilla wafers in place of flour - didn't give results I'd hoped. Too tender as mini-cupcakes, and I want that size for ease of serving as a dessert buffet item.

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Just baked up a batch of rhubarb ginger crumb bars.. and I fear that they are too tart! They were a giant pain because I was using frozen rhubarb, which I forgot loses volume as it thaws... so I kept on having to defrost more rhubarb. May have wasted my precious frozen rhubarb stash on this!! I'll test it tomorrow before I decide what to do with it.. (possibly save it for my mother, who loves tart rhubarb)

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My 85-year-old mother-in-law's sour cream coffee cake (and it may have been her mother's recipe before that). Rich, tender yellow cake with a cinnamon/sugar/pecan layer in the middle and sprinkled on top. Totally old school, simple and delicious.

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I made Chocolate Buttermilk Cookies this weekend (adapted from this recipe: http://www.bigflavorstinykitchen.com/2010/08/melt-in-your-mouth-buttermilk-chocolate-cookies.html). It felt strange not using eggs, but they turned out great - truly delectable. I reduced the sugar to 1 3/4 cups (next time, I think I'll go down to 1 1/2 cups), and I sprinkled them with Maldon salt before baking.

Pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27309894@N02/9395967108/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27309894@N02/9394692018

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been a LOT of cakes lately... which is great, just a little limiting when they have to be carved and need to be sturdier.

OH has had an upset stomach and keeps requesting breads... generally Rye, but then potato, a batch of english muffins, etc.

Had to make cookie pops (eyes rolling so far back in my head, i can see my own tush), but to make them interesting and to entertain myself, i added melted white chocolate to the dough, and decreased the butter by a little bit (which i like to melt half of anyway)... i liked the result quite a bit. 

have to make a raspberry napoleon this weekend for a birthday... birthday boy has a specific one in mind (that i've never had nor seen, mind you), so i'm hoping i can live up to his memory and preferences...

please weather cool down, so turning on the oven isn't a dreaded task...

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It's August already!!! Time flies...here's the new thread, c'mon over!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/911518#8234210

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