Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I get started blogging consistently and then I fail at life. All the Titanic stuff on this last week distracted me, sorry. To the post!

My signature cookie was Oatmeal M&M for a while, primarily because it was my favorite to eat. Since I have been avoiding baking things I love eating, I haven't made them for two and a half years. I was asked to bake some oatmeal raisin cookies for someone, which broke my streak. As you can see, I made these jumbo sized. They took about 1/3 cup of dough to make them that large, but it was nice because it took significantly less time to get into the oven. They tasted amazing. I can never bake these again (unless they're for somebody else).

Martha Stewart Challenge: Chocolate Mint Wafers

These cookies are very similar to Thin Mints (my favorite Girl Scout cookies ever), but the recipe was not very good. Even though making the dough was pretty easy, once I got past the chilling stage the recipe became fairly misleading. The suggested amount of dough did not flatten out to the size the recipe claimed and they took several minutes longer to bake than stated. I won't get started on the dipping process. They tasted great, yet I'm not sure they're worth the effort.

Grade: C+ (A- for taste, D for the recipe), not sure if I'll bake again.

Mad Men and Archer-Inspired Poundcake With Butterscotch

I like to make baked goods inspired by my favorite movies and TV shows. Conveniently the Archer finale airs tonight and Mad Men premieres on Sunday, so I made this a two-for-one special. On the surface these two shows have nothing in common (one is an acclaimed drama and the other is a hilarious, very adult* cartoon), but Don Draper and Sterling Archer both drink a lot of scotch.

This cake is a brown sugar poundcake with chopped pecans inside of it to add a little crunch. I sliced the cake into cubes and topped it with a butterscotch sauce actually made with scotch. The end result is incredibly delicious, and incredibly sweet. I had to follow it up with something salty. I'll definitely make both cake and sauce again though.

*Seriously, don't let kids watch it. It's rated MA for a reason.

King Cake

OMG I'm actually updating! I went AWOL for the last month because of reasons. Sorry.

I baked a King Cake yesterday in honor of Fat Tuesday. I don't pretend to be an expert on Mardi Gras (although I love the Jem episode: "Beware of zombies on Fat Tuesday!"), but I love a baking challenge. This particular cake is a yeast cake filled with raisins, pecans, and a cinnamon/brown sugar mixture. It was a relatively similar process to making cinnamon rolls, so I'll probably make some king rolls in a few days because it was delicious.

Traditionally a little plastic baby is placed inside the cake, but I didn't have one so I put a Lego man in it. Whatever works.

Waffles!

The next several posts will consist of desserts from my week long trip to Disney World! Dessert number one: waffles at the Magic Kingdom. They sell waffles at Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square, so we stopped an had some after visiting The Hall of Presidents. Leslie Knope would be proud.

A Britney Spears Kransekake

Williams-Sonoma sent me a coupon a few weeks back, so I bought this Kransekake cookie cutter set because I needed new star cookie cutters. My kransekake not made with any particularly exciting ingredients, just sugar cookies and royal icing. This one was made as a test because I intend to make my gingerbread trees using these cookie cutters and wanted to get a feel for assembly and sizing. I'll probably try to make a real kransekake at some point. I do love a challenge.

I decorated it in honor of Britney Spears, whom I will love forever. I saw her in concert for the first time with my cousin Laura this summer; even though she is not the same performer as she was 10 years ago, the concert was still super fun and I'm so glad we got to go. My entertainment preferences definitely influence my baking, so expect to see more posts with baked goods inspired by particular things. I have a few ideas for some things coming in March and April, and can guarantee there will be something for the release of The Dark Knight Rises. My dogs are named after Batman characters, so that one was a given.

Horror Cupcake

Sorry for the lack of posts recently! I haven't been feeling well so I haven't been baking. This lovely, horror movie inspired item is from a few weeks ago. I've been watching a lot of them while I've been relaxing this past week. I originally had a long thing typed up about why I enjoy watching horror movies, but I'm lazy this week so I'll just explain it this way: I am addicted to TVTropes.org and it's easy to play spot the tropes with horror movies. The baked good is a cinnamon sugar cupcake topped with gently roasted marshmallow fluff and strawberry jam and set on top of a red sugar glass puddle. The knife is a KitchenAid.

I hope to get back to baking and regular posting tomorrow. And coming after Thanksgiving: a Christmas gingerbread house.

Snickerdoodle Cookie Cupcakes

Yes I have made Snickerdoodle Cupcakes before, but these have a snickerdoodle cookie baked at the bottom of the cupcake. They're as glorious as they sound, trust me. I honestly can't think of any other way to describe them.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

These are simple cupcakes made with my favorite chocolate cake recipe and dark chocolate frosting. I've never used that cake recipe for cupcakes before so there was a little trial and error involved. The cake is very dense, but the tops get crispy so they looked done long before they actually were. They're topped with my favorite dark chocolate frosting and bone sprinkles.

Bear with me, there is one more Halloween post coming.

Look! Another Halloween Post!

In previous years I have tried to stick to a theme with my jack-o-lanterns: Star Wars, Doctor Who, etc. This year I have no theme, so I present to you Iron-Man and The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. I hope you can tell that's what they are supposed to be.

For as much as I love Halloween, I don't do anything but watch horror movies. Thus far I have watched Zombies: A Living History, The Exorcist, Misery, Haunted History: Hollywood, and The Real History of Halloween. I still need to watch Scream 2, Scream 3, and the original Halloween. I was supposed to watch Hocus Pocus and Friday the 13th, but Netflix sent me Scream 2 and Bridesmaids instead. Whatever.

It's a Halloween Post, Y'all!

I know I promised that I would update a few days ago, but I ran a little behind schedule with this behemoth:

I have never made a gingerbread house before that wasn't graham crackers attached to a little milk carton, but I felt the overwhelming need to make one for my favorite holiday. It was a learning experience. For example, while putting the candy corn on the roof I learned who actually eats candy corn: my dad. The only major issue I had was making too much purple royal icing for trim and too little gray royal icing for covering the board. Assembling the house itself was incredibly easy, so for Christmas I will try something bigger and more complicated.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes

These might be one of the best things I have ever baked. At the bottom of the cupcake there is a chocolate chip cookie, which is topped with a brown sugar cake and browned buttercream. The cookie adds a nice crispy surprise to the cupcake that you wouldn't necessarily expect. I think I'll attempt to do this with snickerdoodle cupcakes soon since these were such a success.

Broken Glass Cupcakes

I'm going to be honest: the cupcakes were total disasters. I didn't use my regular chocolate cupcake recipe because I didn't have the ingredients/was being spontaneous, and the replacement recipe did not work out well. They tasted fine, but were crumbly. Next time I'll stick to my usual.

That said, the sugar glass was super fun to make. It's made from sugar and water cooked over a stove until it's light gold, then poured onto a cookie sheet to set. After it's cracked it definitely resembles broken glass- I may have stabbed myself with a piece. I recommend eating carefully.

Maple Nut Tart

I found this recipe in Martha Stewart's New Pies and Tarts and figured I'd try it out now so I can make it for Thanksgiving. As you can see, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Beignets

After the success of the pumpkin beignets, I decided to try making traditional beignets. When I get a shop/stall/food truck beignets are going to be a signature because they are so good. 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here are some chocolate chip cookies I made for my uncle and cousin. They are soft, chewy, and the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made. I don't like making cookies (because I eat them), so I probably won't make these again anytime soon- unless someone requests them.

Yellow Cupcakes, Halloween Style

I love Halloween, so expect a lot of Halloween themed stuff between now and then. This is a pretty standard cupcake, but a solid one that reminds me of childhood birthday cakes. The cupcake is buttery and moist, and the dark chocolate buttercream is glorious. Love 'em.

Pumpkin Beignets

I loooooooove Disneyland, so when I came across this recipe on the parks blog I had to try it. I highly recommend them if you want to fry something (which is surprisingly fun). And they are amazing, which is always a plus. When I get my shop/foodtruck/whatever, beignets will be a staple.

I Can Cook. Seriously.

I know it isn't a baked good, but this soup is amazing. I came across the recipe when flipping through a Williams-Sonoma catalog, and determined I needed to try it. Now I make it once a week. It's pretty easy, albeit time consuming, so if it looks like something you'd like and you have the time, I recommend trying it.