Easter Baking

A holiday for me is pretty much an excuse to bake something special. So in addition to making easter cookies with the girls, I decided to make a few other things. We started off the day with French Toast Kabobs. They girls loved them. You just have to cube the bread before dipping it in the batter. I have a great recipe that is pretty sweet, so you don't even need to use syrup.

2 eggs
3/4 C sugar
1 C 1/2 and 1/2 or whipping cream
1 t vanilla
It's best with sourdough bread. Yum!

Now on to the Easter Baskets. I love to dip my own chocolates. So I thought it would be fun to make all of the chocolates for the girls' Easter baskets myself instead of buying it. I made praline eggs, rice crisp bunnies, whole hollow bunnies, and white chocolate pretzel rods with sprinkles. These were all really easy and the girls thought they were really fun.

When I was trying to decide what to bake, the first thing that came to mind was my favorite flourless chocolate cake. Sometimes I think I should try something new, but I always come back to this recipe. I think one of my favorite things about this is how imperfect it looks. I think it makes a striking presentation. But best of all it is sooo rich and moist. I've tried several flourless chocolate cake recipes but this is my favorite by far.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
12 ounces Ghiradelli 60% Cacao bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 large eggs, separated
1/2 C white sugar
1 t vanilla

Glaze
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3 T unsalted butter
1 T whole milk
1 T light corn syrup
1/4 t vanilla
1/3 C chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 9 in springform pan, and line with parchment paper, then butter the paper(I also love Pam with flour).
For the cake, melt the chocolate and butter (I usually use a pan on the stove on very low, use a double boiler if you have it). Stir until smooth, remove from heat.
In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, 2 T of the sugar, and the vanilla. Beat lightly until well combined. Add egg mixture to chocolate, whisking together until well combined.
In a separte bowl, beat the egg whites and remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar with an electric mixture until soft peaks form. Pour in the chocolate mixture and fold to combine. Pour batter into pan.
Bake on lower shelf for 30-35 minutes. Watch towards the end and when it just begins to crack on top, then it's done. Don't overbake or it will be dry. Cool on rack, once cooled, then remove sides of pan.
For the glaze, melt the chocolate and butter (again, I usually just do this on the stove on very low heat). Stir until smooth, then remove from heat and add the milk, syrup, and vanilla. Pour over cake and let it run down the sides (for this I leave the cake on the rack and put the rack over some foil to catch what drips off). Then sprinkel the top with the chopped almonds. (I use salted almonds because I'm allergic to other nuts, but just use your favorite nuts). Put in refrigerator for about 10 minutes to set the glaze.

I also thought I should add something more springish, so I made an old favorite of my mom's, a lemon pound cake. This was a first for me since I I've never made a pound cake at all. First we hunted around for a recipe similar to one my mom used to make. It was really pretty easy and I could tell just from the batter how good it was going to be. It was a big hit! Here's a link to the recipe I used: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sour-Cream-and-Lemon-Pound-Cake-2121

Discovering the Food Network

Well, up until my mom moved in with us in August, we have never had cable. Now I'm sucked in. I've discovered the Food Network. Also, we now have a DVR which is also draining away my life. So now I record the shows I like so I can watch them at night when the girls are asleep. I'm a big fan of Paula and Giada. So I thought I'd comment on a few things I've made of theirs recently or plan to make soon.

First up is Paula (who reminds me so much of my friend Katy's mom). I'm not a health nut, so she's my kind of girl. The other day she had a chocolate show and I tried out a couple of the recipes. First I tried the 'Workaholics Hot Chocolate'. It had a million great reviews, but I thought it was too thick and sweet. As it got a little cooler it thickened more, it was like drinking warm pudding...not so appetizing. Also, it was too much work for hot chocolate. I'm a purist. All you should need for fantastic hot chocolate is a few really good quality ingredients.

This is the hot chocolate recipe I stand by (and have had lots of requests for the recipe, so I guess I'm not the only one who likes it). I got it out of a cookbook called Paris Sweets...

3 C whole milk

1/3 C water

1/3 C sugar

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Heat the milk, water, and sugar until just boiling. Place the chocolate in a blender then pour the milk over the chocolate. Blend for 1 minute. Top with whipped cream.

I've decided that the blender is essential for all hot chocolate. It makes it so smooth and frothy, it's sooo good. If you want to feel like you're really in France, dunk a baguette in it, Jared introduced me to that and it's yummy. We always get extra baguettes from Panera. Just remember that when you're making hot chocolate, you have to really like the kind of chocolate you're using, because that's what it's going to end up tasting like. I like Guittard.

Next up is Paula's Truffle Pie. I made this when we had the missionaries over and it was really good. Though I have to say I prefer my French Silk Pie. It was really easy to make and everyone seemed to like it. Although I wish more of it had been eaten because I ended up eating the last third of the pie for breakfast the next morning. Yikes! That's no way to lose the baby weight! Here's the link... www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/truffle-pie-recipe/index.html

Giada made some Chocolate Orange Rice Pudding a few weeks ago that looked really good. My mom used to make rice pudding growing up. I thought, of course chocolate would improve rice pudding...but I was wrong. I tasted the pudding with the orange in it before I added the chocolate, and it was really good at that stage. So I would just leave it at that. I know, I can hardly believe I'm saying that something was better without chocolate, but this just was. Also, my mom always served it cooled, but I think it's best warm. So here's a yummy rice pudding recipe without chocolate...
3 C half and half
2 C whole milk
2/3 C Arborio Rice
3/4 C sugar
Zest of one orange
1 t vanilla
In saucepan combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 35-40 minutes, stirring ocassionally. Serve warm or spoon into bowls and cover with plastic wrap before refrigerating.

Starting a baking blog

Well, I've decided to start another blog. More for my fun than anyone else's. I'm sure not many people will be interested in what I've been baking lately and whatnot, but I thought this would be a good way to put my thoughts in one place and use it as a reference for things I've made. Hopefully I'll keep up on it. I'm sure I could do a better job on keeping up on our family blog too.
Also, I really hope that people will leave comments and suggestions. I always like more ideas!

To start off, these are a few random pictures I've taken over the last several months. I don't have pictures of the really good stuff, but these were fun times. The picture below was taken when we made halloween cupcakes for our neighbors. I got the spiderweb decoration idea from a magazine. I thought they were the cutest. Of course, the girls have their own decorating ideas!

These were some seriously yummy pumpkin muffins. I love pumpkin recipes, not just in the fall, but all year round. I think I got this recipe off the internet. But they turned out fantastic. I sprinkled sugar on before baking and that gave them a really great texture. yum! Here's the recipe- 1 1/2 C flour, 1 tsp baking powder, sift together and set aside. Mix together 1 C canned pumpkin, 1/3 C vegetable oil, 2 eggs, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 C sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 t salt. Stir in flour mixture. Spoon into muffin pan. Stir together 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 T sugar. Sprinkle over top of each muffin before baking. 350 degrees 25- 30 minutes.

Evelyn enjoying the muffin, wow, her hair has grown so much since the fall!

For her birthday, Ann really wanted a mermaid cake, so this is what I came up with. Obviously, the water is just icing dyed blue. The sand was fun though, first you frost the area, then cover it with crushed graham crackers so it really looks like sand. Ann loved it. I also just picked up a few decorations to stick in it at the local cake decorating shop (oh how I miss The Decorette Shop back in Portland).

These are the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies ever. I got the recipe from a co-worker back when I lived in Provo. Here's the recipe if you're interested - 1 C canned pumpkin, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 C margarine, 1 egg beaten, 1 C sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 C flour, small bag of chocolate chips. Beat pumpkin, baking soda, and margarine until creamy. Add the egg and sugar, mix well. Add flour, spices, and chocolate chips, mix well. Bake 350 degrees 12- 15 minutes.

Well, I already know what I want to do on my next couple of blogs, so hopefully I'll get to that soon and it'll be a bit more interesting (and not all fall related recipes).