Whipped Cream

I wanted to make the whipped cream to put on the Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart. In the Playing Around section, Dorie mentions using brown sugar instead of confectioner's sugar and that sounded good so I went for it. Unfortunately I didn't use enough brown sugar for you to really taste it but the whipped cream was yummy and I know now to add more sugar.

I had a reason to use my piping bag and that's always fun. I didn't really have a plan but I think it came out ok.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart

If you read my previous post, Sweet Tart Dough, you'll see how to make the dough for this tart. After that it's super easy. Just mix all the ingredients together. Dorie suggests you put everything into the food processor for 2 minutes but if you read the dough post you know I don't have one. So, I whisked my little heart out and got a nice creamy batter.

It was amazing... so smooth and delicious. Jeremy is not a major pumpkin fan but he gave this one a really great review. He declared it the "best pumpkin pie/tart ever" (he posted that on Facebook so it has to be the truth) and that made me about as happy as a baker can be.

I topped it with whipped cream but you'll have to read the next post to see that picture.

Sweet Tart Dough

Ahh Thanksgiving... now that I'm baking I was really excited for the holiday to come because I knew I would be able to make something like a pie or a cake. Thanksgiving and Pumpkin Pie go together like a wink and a smile (peanut butter and jelly, peas and carrots and all those kinds of things). I'm making a Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart so you start with the sweet tart dough. We don't yet have a food processor but I decided I could use our mini prep... I couldn't. Too much stuff, not enough room. I threw my hands in the air, declared Thanksgiving ruined and dissolved into a fit of tears. No I didn't.
I did however say it just wasn't going to work and figured I was running to the store to buy a pre-made pie crust on Thanksgiving morning. Jeremy stepped in and saved the day. With a bit of elbow grease and a reminder that people didn't always have food processors he was able to make the dough come together.

You press the dough into the pan and all the way up the sides and then freeze for at least a half hour.
Then you butter a piece of foil, press it into the dough and bake for 25 min.

Take it out and you have a nice yellow partially baked crust... let it cool all the way and then you can fill it.

Basic Marbled Loaf Cake

My favorite recipe of the day!

Make a basic loaf cake recipe and pick from either a few combinations Dorie provides or make your own. I went with marbling white chocolate and milk chocolate batters.

These pictures make me smile... yay baking!

Loaf looked great when it came out but it was hours before I could slice it open.

Yum! There's a nice chocolate flavor... though I can't say you can taste a distinct difference between the two sections. 

Chipster Topped Brownies

I am obsessed with using my double boiler now that I have one so I'm pretty sure I will be making brownies every weekend until I've hit them all. These seemed fun so I went for it.

Make the brownie part, pour into pan... easy enough.

Make the chocolate chip part, drop by spoonfuls and using a light touch and a spatula spread it over the brownie mix. Bonnie=bull in china shop. I don't possess a light touch. I gave up after 5 minutes of trying to coax the dough into the corners.

The brownies burned a bit at the corners, didn't cook quite enough in the middle and the cookie part was a little too done. Overall they seemed to be a good premise but I'm not sure I pulled it off.

Buttery Jam Cookies

Surprise, surprise... I asked Jeremy to pick the jam and we came home with blackberry. My co-workers don't seem to mind so it's alright with me.

 *Shout out to Dave for our new smoker (under the jam) .... after a conversation tonight it seems me, my oven, Jeremy and his smoker will be making beautiful music together soon.*

I didn't try them and either did Jeremy but they smelled good and the consistency seemed nice when I took them off the pan. Their faint purple color is pretty cute too!

Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

I am feeling like I want to get all the cookies out of the way.


I always seem to skip over these cookies because they are too easy and kind of boring. This weekend I realized I need to mix some plain and some fancy or I'm going to be left with all the boring crap and nothing exciting. So here they are... sugar cookies with decorating sugar on top. They are just what you expect them to be. Sugary, buttery, dependable.

Kids' Thumbprints

I decided last minute to make one more recipe today and I picked this one because it seemed fun. The dough came together fine, making the holes was the fun part but the baking kinda ruined the whole thing. The recipe calls for 15-18 min in the oven and my oven tends to need more time than Dorie's. Not this time.
After 15 minutes the first batch had a whole bunch of burned bottoms.

I baked the second batch for 12 minutes and those cookies were so much better.

After Jeremy tasted the burned ones and gave them the thumbs up I boiled the black raspberry jam. You see what I did there? Thumbprint cookies... thumbs up. Yup, I'm awesome.

Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Aren't my new wrappers cute? I splurged (an extra 20 cents) to buy the papers with designs that stay during baking and I'm happy I did. They're special.

Wondering why no before picture? Well... see below. Three margaritas, guacamole, tacos and a failed nap made for an interesting afternoon. Happy Sunday!

Lemon Muffins

These muffins are supposed to have poppy seeds on them but I'm allergic so I left them off... not dying is another goal I have in life besides baking this whole cookbook.

These muffins were easy to put together, the consistency of the batter scared me but according to Jeremy they came out very moist. Score!

I am challenged when it comes to icing. I attempt to do a nice criss-cross pattern and then it starts to look horrible so I switch to coating the top.

Yup, my icing skills suck. At least the muffins are tasty (according to Jeremy as I am not a lemon fan so I'll skip the trying part of this one).

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

This recipe was fun... rich shiny chocolate mix, cocoa powder, brown sugar and oatmeal give these cookies a super yummy flavor and texture.

It was easy to portion out the cookies because the dough was so slick.

Do you see the yum? 

Sables

Sunday is such a fun day for me when I get to bake all day. Up first... rich, tender shortbread cookies. I separated my first egg using my hands and I couldn't resist taking a picture of my beautiful yolks.

The dough came out pretty nice... she described it as Play-Doh like and I can see that.

You roll half the dough into a 9" log and then I re-used her trick from the World Peace Cookies and rolled them into paper towel tubes.

The recipe calls for 3 hours in the fridge... I am learning my shortbread lessons and I kept it cold for 5 hours. You unwrap, brush on egg yolk and sprinkle decorating sugar. I used yellow...

I am underwhelmed... not too much flavor in the cookie itself. Maybe I should have sliced them thinner.

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

Jeremy had a poker game tonight and that's always a good reason to bake. I started to go through the cookbook and he asked if he could pick this time. I was ecstatic... it's the little things that make me happy these days! He made an excellent choice. You mix up the oatmeal layer, take out about 2 cups and spread the rest in the pan.

Then you melt the chocolate, condensed milk, butter and a pinch of salt. Once that's all combined you are supposed to add vanilla, raisins and walnuts. No raisins and walnuts in this house so we went for more chocolate and some peanut butter chips.

You take the rest of the oatmeal mix and sprinkle on top... it doesn't have to be perfect which is perfect for me! 

It came out looking super yummy! After two hours (three in my house because I had a craving for some Bed Bath and Beyond) you take it out of the pan and put in the fridge for at least an hour.

After 59 minutes and 59 seconds I cut em open and they were as wonderful as I thought they would be. Yes please.

Cinnamon Squares

I was really excited to bake this recipe... I kept looking at it but had to wait until I had the double boiler. The picture in the cookbook looks amazingly yummy. I'm hoping mine lives up to the hype.

I liked that she has you mix in the melted butter after everything else has been incorporated... makes for a smooth batter.

You put half the batter in the pan, top with chopped chocolate and a cinnamon sugar mix and then the other half of the batter.








It comes out nice and golden and smells like a chocolate cinnamon dream.

After it cools you make a chocolate frosting and top it... her picture makes the frosting look amazing. Mine makes it look decent.

Looking forward to the frosting getting to the desired consistency so I can slice and EAT!

Classic Brownies

I used semisweet chocolate... easy recipe for sure. Well, maybe if you follow directions. She says to line the pan with foil but I scoffed. And then destroyed most of the brownies trying to get them out of the pan. I was left with maybe 9 small pieces but they are yummy pieces. They could have used maybe another 2 minutes baking time.