This breakfast started at our local library. I know, odd place to start a breakfast.
Actually, now that I think about it, it really started right here, on my computer, while I searched the library database for books.
You see, the little area that I live in doesn't have much. It has a convenience store. A bar. A cemetery and a little church. And a tiny branch of the City of Ottawa library, build inside an old, old church. So I can't buy more than bread, milk, or a beer here, but I can get a good read from the library.
If you've read my blog for awhile, you know I like Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. I was even part of Tuesday's with Dorie for awhile (but could not keep up with one extra sweet recipe a week on top of what I was already making for the family.) Dorie's cookbook is one of my most favored and used books - if I could only grab one cookbook from my house (aside from my grandmother's hand written notes), it would be this one.
Dorie has other books too, but oddly, I have never seen any of them in any book store. I've looked. New or used, I've looked.
So I went to the library and found one, Pancakes from From Morning to Midnight.
I admit, I also ordered a bunch of other cookbooks, so Pancakes has not gotten my full attention yet. I have looked at it long enough to make one recipe though, Oatmeal-Raisin Pancakes with Cinnamon Sour Cream.
Quick to put together, I assembled the dry ingredients while my sous chef measured the raisins. Then he put together the Cinnamon Sour Cream (we used plain yogurt as I had no sour cream on hand,) while I assembled the wet ingredients and finished up the pancakes.
My little sous chef is having an 'I don't like raisins this week' thing right now, which is actually not like him at all, so while he liked the 'sauce' he objected to the raisins inside the pancakes and has requested I make them again with blueberries. This brother, however, went back for seconds (this picture is my plate, with 3 little pancakes - his brother ate 5 that morning, after a bowl of cereal, and finished off the last 3 this morning.) So I'd say they were a hit.
Oatmeal-Raisin Pancakes with Cinnamon Sour Cream
from Dorie Greenspan's Pancakes From Morning to Midnight
1 cup old-fashion oats
1 cup all - purpose flour
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 2/3 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
1 cup plump raisins
Cinnamon Sour Cream (recipe to follow)
maple syrup
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients to blend thoroughly. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and mix gently with the whisk, just until combined. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the raisins.
Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat (to 350F if using an electric griddle) and lightly butter, oil or spray the surface.
Spoon the batter, 1/4 cup at a time, onto the griddle for each pancake. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to light spread the batter into rounds. Flip when the undersides of the pancakes are golden and the tops are speckled with bubbles that have popped. Flip the pancakes and cook until the other side has been browned.
Serve immediately or keep in an oven that has been preheated to 200F.
Cinnamon Sour Cream
1 cup sour cream, full or nonfat (we used plain yogurt as it is what we had)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Mix together in a small bowl until well combined. Store covered in the refrigerator for about 1 week.
The library, breakfast and Dorie
Ina versus Dorie, head to head, cake to cake
Lemon yogurt cake.
Two recipes, almost identical.
Not surprising when you read that Ina's recipe is based on Dorie's recipe.
Put the recipes side by side and see very few differences: Dorie gives the option of ground nuts, Ina doubles the yogurt and has a touch more lemon. A few minor things between the instructions, but really, on paper they are essentially the same cake (minus the glaze and/or syrup, both of which I ignored.)
I wanted to see how similar, exactly, they were, so I made them both, one after the other, and conducted a "blind taste test" amongst my boys.
Can you see a difference?Ina barely nudged out Dorie in moistness, being a bit moister, which isn't surprising based on the amount of yogurt in her version. And while I agreed that Ina's was the more moist of the two, I preferred Dorie's for texture.
Taste wise, essentially identical. Both mildly lemon, both soft crumbed, both very good.
And isn't it good timing that this week's TWD pick is Dorie's Lemon Yogurt Cake? Which, since I conducted this little experiment of mine, I've made again and again. The last time I added some chopped fresh cranberries, and switched out the vanilla for a touch of lemon juice. Divine!
Anyone have any suggestions for another head to head challenge for me? I'm open to ideas!
Yes, I still love Dorie
As I said earlier, just because I've had to leave TWD officially, doesn't mean I won't still be making Dorie recipes on a regular basis. Like last night. When I made two.
Did you know that caramelizing sugar goes from light amber to burning, boiling black in an instant? And that burnt sugar smells lingers a very, very long time, traveling through the house.
However if you stand there and don't blink, you can catch the sugar just as it turns color, add the cream and make Dorie's Caramel Sauce. Which, when it cools, you can probably eat with a spoon.
I'm not saying this from experience. I just suspect it is true.
Surprisingly, after 4 pieces of Almost Fudge Gateau, with a side of ice cream and a generous dousing of caramel sauce, we still have half a jar of the sauce left.
No worries, I'm sure it won't last long. There is still half a gateau left. And still people around to eat it, other than me.
The time has come to say goodbye
Well, this has been a hard decision to make, but had to be done.
It is with sadness that I will have to remove myself from the list of weekly Doranistas, and no longer be part of Tuesdays with Dorie.
Unfortunately the next few weeks' recipes helped me make the decision: Granola Grabbers from page 82, which I can't make because of the nuts involved in it are too a part of the recipe to remove, and Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte, page 288-289, which contains 8 uncooked eggs and I would not feel safe feeding to my family.
I will continue to follow along with many of my favorite bakers each week, and certainly have no plans to stop baking from Dorie. In fact, some weeks I may even take inspiration from TWD and bake up a storm. Who knows?
Thanks for the ride TWD!
No TWD right now
I was planning on making some version of it today, but a small child emergency resulted in my making nothing, not even lunch, today.
Well, I suppose I did throw together the nachos we are eating for dinner right now, rather late. But does shredding cheese over chips count as cooking?
Will try my best tomorrow!
TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler from last year
It's Tuesday!
And despite how it looks, I did not make the recipe this week. Actually, I did make it, but I made it last July. No worries, I didn't wait until now to eat it.
So despite the plethora of rhubarb in my garden (which anyone who wants some, please help yourself,) I did not jump all over an opportunity to use some of it up. Cherries are still quite expensive, and frankly, I'd rather eat them plain than put them into something. There aren't alot of fruits that I prefer that way, but cherries is one of them.
Now I have to admit, when it was announced that Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake had chosen the cherry rhubarb cobbler as her choice for this week, I didn't immediately decide not to make it. I had to actually go into my book and look at the recipe before I realized it was something I had made before. Then I had to go looking through my picture archives to confirm it. The last step involved going through my blog archives and finding a post about it. Yup, I've made it before, there are pictures, and there is a post about it. This one here. (Yes, my little helper does look very cute in his hat, doesn't he?)
So the reason the recipe didn't jump right out at me was because I didn't really like it. Go figure, a Dorie recipe that doesn't involve peanut butter that I don't like. How did that happen?
In the end, I didn't remake the recipe this week. Aside from the fact that there were only two of us, and other dessert items that we were not eating very quickly, I could not bring myself to remake a recipe, using up expensive, yummy cherries, in something I just did not like.
Sorry Amanda!
But don't let my iffiness of the recipe stop you from hitting lots of other Doranistas and reading their posts. I will be doing the same over the next few days.
TWD: Still need to take a picture
*** UPDATED WITH PICTURE***
Yes, I'm late. No, I didn't forget or not make the recipe. It is actually sitting in my fridge right now, just waiting for me to find the time to take a picture.
Last couple of days have been very busy. Soccer tournament, Taekwon-do picnic, driving to my mothers to drop off my children then coming back, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. And more cleaning to come. With some furniture moving in between.
When it was announced that Melissa of Its Melissa's Kitchen had chosen chocolate pudding, I thought my kids were going to be in heaven. They love pudding, with chocolate being their favorite. And it is something I don't make often, or buy for their lunch boxes often. But with this recipe, I may have to make it for the for school lunches as it is simple and comes together quickly. If you are organized, which I was not, but it still came together nicely.
Because of the schedule last week, I actually did not get a chance to make this before the kids went away. So no chocolate pudding for them. I considered not doing it but that just wasn't right. Next I thought I would just make half a recipe, but how do you cut an egg in half? (I know, beat it then measure out half.) In the end I made the entire recipe, but changed it.
I made white chocolate pudding instead.
Yes, I know white chocolate isn't "real" chocolate. I like it in pudding, though, and that's what I wanted to use.
Obviously I omitted the cocoa powder. I increased the melted chocolate from 5oz to 7 oz, to make up the difference in the lack of cocoa, but otherwise left the rest of the recipe alone. It worked, the pudding is smooth and creamy and not overly sweet, despite leaving in the same amount of sugar.
And maybe sometime today I will get a picture taken of it and put it up here.
For now, though, I am going out to lunch with a friend and need to get my butt in gear or I will be late, late, late!
This week is Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler, which I'm pretty sure I made before (and no one liked.) Going to have to see what I can do about that one. Especially as the cherries I saw yesterday were $8.99 a pound!
Well here you go, one picture. It's pudding. White pudding. With the skin. Cause I wanted it that way and I am the only person who is going to eat it.
And for everyone who is curious, I went here with my friend for lunch. It was yummy (I had the Japchae lunch box, Korean Fried Noodles) and very pretty as well, though I didn't bring a camera to take pictures. Oh well!
Blueberry pie, with children
On the hottest day we've had so far this year, I made pie with two children.
Yes, it was messy. But the pie had to be made, today being the day we post about our Double Crusted Blueberry Pies, chosen by Amy of South in your Mouth.
Making pies with kids is similar to playing playdough with them. Give them a chunk of dough, a roller and some cutters and let them go free. Then expect to clean up after them and find bits and pieces of dough in odd places afterwards.
I'm sure both my children would like to see their pies up on the blog, but only one of them gets to. My little sous chef has already eaten his. This belongs to his oldest brother.
I went with mini pies partially to make it easier to work with the children, but also because mini pies have a higher ratio of crust to filling than a big pie. And that works for me. Beside's, they are so cute!
I used to make pies with my grandmother, so it was only fitting that I made pies with my own children. Hopefully they will one day remember that they made pies with me. And remember how good they were.
The only other change I made to this recipe, other than size, was to replace the dry bread crumbs in the bottom of the pie. I didn't have any unseasoned bread crumbs so instead I put my 5 year old to work crushing up mini ice cream cones and used them instead. In half of them. I forgot in the other pies and they don't seem to have suffered from it.
Great choice for this week, when blueberries are aplenty, even if it is too hot to have the oven on.
Next week is chocolate pudding, which will likely send my children into giggles.
Don't forget to check out the other TWD'ers and their blueberry pies. You can find a list of us here.
Odds and Ends
No Tuesday with Dorie for me this week, the Cheddar Apple Scones, chosen by Karina. Sorry Karina! Sometimes life just gets in the way of baking. And it has been one of those weeks.
Here are some examples of why it has been one of those weeks....
Pretty, isn't it? Except that it is tempered glass, the top of by patio table. And it shattered on me while I was trying to put the umbrella in it so we could sit outside in the shade on Canada Day.
Fortunately for me, the glass did not cut my feet and was reasonably easy to pick up with the help of my neighbors shop vac and my father-in-law. There was alot of little pieces, but despite our persistence, I'm sure we missed something.
The savory filling for the second half of my danish braid, chicken with broccoli, yellow peppers, red onion, cheddar cheese and a few spoonfuls of mayonnaise. I made way too much filling, enough for 2 large braids, but that's okay because the filling is very good with just a spoon or wrapped up in a buttery leaf of Boston lettuce for lunch.
I took 26 pictures of this piece of the braid and this is the best from that batch, which I think is terrible. The braid was good, but the filling was even better. I think the pastry would have worked better without the orange and cardamom. Next time.
My friend, Bam Bam's Mom, reminded me that butter tarts are also a Canadian dessert, which I had had a mind block on when coming up with my dessert for SHF: Mmmm Canada. Her reminder sent me to the kitchen to throw together a batch. Fortunately I had a batch of pie dough in the fridge, which made these a very quick thing to make, though I had to scrounge for raisins as my 5 year old had eaten all of ours for school snacks.
To cap off my crazy week, I give you this picture. I spent a good hour this morning scrubbing my fridge out. I wiped, I disinfected, I placed things nicely back inside. Then a child came along for some milk.....
One last thing - a huge FELICITATION!!! to my friend and fellow Daring Baker, Tartelette, on her upcoming cookbook! She has been teaching me how to make things for awhile now, and has always been generous with her help and baking secrets! I can't wait to see what her book offers.
For everyone else, I call dips on the Baking With Tartelette Blog Event!
TWD: Coming into Season
How can anything be bad that starts out like this....
Five cups of fresh or frozen mixed berries. Seriously, how bad can that be?
I guess I am one of the more fortunate Doranistas this week in that I had plenty of fresh berries available to me. So when Beth of Our Sweet Life chose the Mixed Berry Cobbler for her choice, I didn't worry about the price of berries. I simply looked in my fridge (which is currently devoid of berries right now.)
Its a good thing this was supposed to be a rustic dessert and not something with a fancy finish. Rustic is what I ended up with, with a craggly, crumbly top, and thick berry juice bubbling out the sides.
I've heard some other Doranistas had concerns about the cobbler. After the fact, of course, not before, but then that's about normal for me, isn't it? I had no problems with either making, or tasting the cobbler. Sure it is very different from the cobbler I usually make, which I like alot, but it was still good. A sprinkling of raw sugar on top would have been a great addition, though.
So no cobbler problems. I, personally, had berry problems. I think it was the blackberries. I really am not a huge fan of blackberries as a fresh fruit. My children love them, but I don't. It could not possibly have been the raspberries, strawberries or mountain of blueberries in the fruit mix, the three best berries there are. Never those, especially the blueberries. It had to be the blackberries. They overwhelmed the other berries with their strong flavor and big seeds. Which is why I was not fond of the berry part of this dessert.
However I seemed to be in the minority on this one. No one else in the house had any complaints at all about the cobbler, until it was gone. And all the boys had more than one serving. One even had it for breakfast, minus the ice cream.
I think I want to try this again, with peaches and strawberries maybe. And a good sprinkling of sugar on top.
For now I need to go look up the apple cheddar scones and go buy some cheese.
TWD: Is it Tuesday already?
This week the choice was given over to Caroline, of A Consuming Passion. Her choice was the Peppermint Cream Puff Ring, found on pages 290-292.
I admit, this didn't appeal much to me. It looks pretty, and I'm sure it tastes great, but I just was not in the mood for the peppermint, and that is all I could think of when I saw it. I quietly pouted about it for a short time, then remembered something important.
This is TWD, not the Daring Bakers, and I am ALLOWED to make changes to the recipe! Woot! The Cream Puff Ring was on!
Introducing the "Do it yourself Cream Puff Tray!"
Instead of making one giant ring, I made a bunch of little ones. And then I made a bunch of mini cream puff "fingers", which I personally think looked alot better than the rings. It could be because I used different ovens for them though, so I will have to go back and try this again sometime, for comparisons sake. I'm sure you understand. It is purely for comparison and not because cream puffs are yummy and easy to make.
Oh yes, these are both yummy and easy to make. Guess I forgot to mention that. Filled with whipped cream and a choice of chocolate ganaches, mint (because I felt the mint had to be there somewhere), dark and milk chocolate, everyone got exactly what they wanted. Even if what they wanted was a cream puff with only whipped cream.
Personally, I wanted the milk chocolate. I like milk chocolate.
I made and served these as part of a family Father's Day dinner, so there were lots of people to share in the cream puff tray, and surprisingly, even a few left over.
Even though the mint did not appeal, and I basically skipped that part of the recipe, this recipe is a keeper. For the cream puffs at least, which I will make again. So thanks for bringing it to my attention Caroline!
Next week we get to make mixed berry cobbler, which is perfect as I have plenty of berries that need a home.
TWD: Made so fast your head will spin!
If you are a TWD'er, or even just a lurker, you know that the next week's recipe is usually posted on Monday, the day before we post our previous weeks' recipe. Last week, the day before we posted our French Brownies, Marie chose for us La Palette’s Strawberry Tart to make for the next week, and post about today.
I had my tarts made, and completely eaten, by Monday evening. How fast is that?
I decided I preferred small sized tarts to a large one. They allow for each person to personalize their serving, and well, they just look so cute!
Turns out I had everything I needed in my pantry, so I just got to it and started in, putting my little sous chef to work shelling pistachios to add to the tart dough. (Eventually I had to jump in and help him get my 3/4 cup - he was eating more than he was putting into the bowl.)
Oh, btw, the nut ban in our house if OVER!!! Some of the Daring Baker's might recall in December we had conflicting allergy test results for our oldest son, who tested allergic to peanuts, but because he was eating peanut butter regularly, the allergist considered the test contaminated but would not follow up. He even said to keep him away from peanuts, then added in, "But keep feeding him peanut butter." A second opinion with a different allergist included a blood test as well as the skin test, both coming up negative. So nuts are back allowed into our house again!
And as a result, the first tart that the children ate had peanut butter, mixed in with a spoonful of icing sugar to smooth it out, in the bottom of their pistachio tart shells, instead of strawberry jam. Both asked for seconds (which my 9 year old assembled himself, putting both peanut butter and strawberry jam in this time.)
Personally, I do not like peanut butter, and did not feel a need to put any on my tart. The crispy, cookie like tart stood up well to a generous spoonful of strawberry jam, loaded with strawberries, sprinkled with black pepper, and topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. I ate two. My husband ate two. And before you knew it, they were gone.
I fully plan to make these again. I loved the pistachio in the dough, with the flecks of green, though I recall liking this dough just fine plain as well. I can see making these tarts even smaller, filling them with a chocolate ganache and then topping it with strawberries and cream. Such an elegant and pretty, but simple dessert.
Great choice Marie!
And now I need to go find where I left my book so I can look up the latest recipe!
TWD: French Brownies
This week Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook sent us to visit Dorie in France, where a dense chocolate cake was taken for a brownie. A very decadent brownie, with rum soaked raisins in it.
Now I love brownies. And I love raisins. What I don't love is rum. I own some, a dark rum from the Dominican Republic, but I don't drink it.
Fortunately the timing of this choice coincided with my need to make something chocolate and decadent for my swim coach, as a thank you for 9 months of pushing me into becoming a swimmer. A slow swimmer, but still a swimmer. That in itself is a major achievement, so I wanted something special. Thanks Di! This was it!
I gave 3/4 of this to my coach, leaving only a bit behind for picture and my own tasting crew. They didn't really do anything for me, not bad, but not amazing. It's the rum, I'm sure. My 2 boys, on the other hand, loved them, and giggled that Mom was getting them drunk with the rum in it. And the husband said he thought the combination of raisins and a brownie was weird but it worked well together, so he liked them.
No idea how my coach liked them. I'll ask her when I see her in July.
I think I would like to try them again, keeping the raisins, but replacing the rum with something else, maybe a mint liquor? Or an orange. Oooh, maybe replacing the raisins with dried cranberries and using an orange liquor.
Next week we get to make La Palette’s Strawberry Tart. Or rather, I get to post about it. I've already made mine, making this the first TWD recipe that I made the day it was posted!
Don't forget to check out lots of other TWD posters, who are all listed over on the Tuesday's with Dorie website, found here!
TWD: Taste of Cinnamon from the past
This week fellow TWD'er Madam Chow, of Madam Chow's Kitchen, chose a great recipe, Pecan Honey Sticky Buns. It comes with a bonus recipe, since you get to make brioche dough the day before and use half of that in your buns.
It also takes a fair bit of time, with an overnight chilling period, plus some rising time, and oops, I would be out of town, so did not have that time to make the buns!
But what's this you see? Lots and lots of pictures?
No, you aren't blind, or crazy, these really are pictures of this recipe being made. You see, I knew this was a great recipe because I'd made it before and just had not blogged about it!
The silky brioche dough, getting ready for it's overnight chilling. My notes on this recipe reminded me for future baking NOT to walk away from the stand mixer as it liked to travel across the counter. Instead, grab a drink and a book, and get cozy beside your mixer, making sure it doesn't take a walk-a-bout when it should be mixing!
I don't like pecans, so I used raisins.
Big difference a bit of time makes, though. Such a nice rise on those buns. See why I left so much space between the buns?
Not to be ignored, the brioche dough that wasn't used for the buns were baked up as a loaf and enjoyed later, plain and toasted with jam. 
The buns tasted good but need a bit more time, I think, to get a bit more golden color. There was plenty of honey goodness and gooeyness, and lots of raisins for everyone. I served them with a simple glaze of milk and icing sugar.
Be sure to head over to Tuesdays with Dorie, and check out the buns (hehe) of all the other TWD'ers, and probably a few people who actually post the recipe too! (And get a sneak peek at what we are making next week.... Mmmmm chocolate!)
TWD: Madeleines without the "bump"
When the choice for today's TWD was announced, Traditional Madeleines, chosen by Tara of Smells Like Home, I was both excited and disappointed.
Excited because it was a recipe I had wanted to try but had not been sure about, but disappointed because I wasn't sure I could make them without the proper pan. I felt a little better when the decision was made to allow for an alternate recipe, but not much. I wanted to make the Madeleines. And I don't really object to buying a new pan, it just isn't practical at this time.
Then I sent an email off to one of my favorite bakers, Tartelette, who is usually Lis' baking guru, but occasionally I have to borrow her as well. However if anyone would know about the making of these little French cookies, it would be Tartelette. And she assured me that I could indeed make the cookies in a mini muffin pan, and also let me know I could order a pan online if I wasn't able to find one. (Which is kinda funny, because I found one after that conversation, but didn't buy it as I was already buying 3 other pans for something else!)
These cookies mix together in minutes. Takes longer to get the eggs to room temperature. Actually, it takes longer for those eggs than it does to bake these, in a mini muffin pan. So if you don't count the minimum 3 hour chilling time, these cookies take about 12 minutes to make and bake.
I substituted fresh lemon juice for the vanilla, but otherwise left things alone. But I can see the flavor possibilities with these simple little cookies. Their airy texture, light but similar to a pound cake, would be nice with so many flavors, not just citrus. Though the lemon zing in these little morsels is very nice.
The children haven't tried them out yet, but I suspect they will enjoy them and ask for more. Probably ask for chocolate, too.
Now I will likely have to consider if I want to invest in a proper pan, or just enjoy them in mini muffin shape. While I contemplate this, I will likely be starting next week's challenge tomorrow, Pecan Honey Sticky buns, a recipe I have made before, including the brioche dough recipe, but will happily make again.
TWD: Florida Pie and techincal difficulties
Right off, I need to say. There were no technical difficulties with making, or eating, this pie. They were all Blogger related. Every once in awhile Blogger just does not want to let me do things, and yesterday was one of those days.
Seeing as I had been awake since 4:36am, I didn't feel like fighting with Blogger at the time, so held off until today to try this.
And now back to my pie....
The Florida Pie was the choice this week of Dianne from Dianne's Dishes, and had been on my to make list for awhile. Laziness and other desserts was all that had stopped me from making it. Seriously, read the recipe: a cross between a key lime and a coconut cream pie, piled high on a graham cracker crust. How bad can that be?
Instead of telling you, I'll show you with a picture instead:
Okay my cut isn't perfectly clean. I was in a hurry to cut and photograph it so I could eat it!
But doesn't it look just luscious? The creaminess of the filling, the light, airy meringue with its golden top.
I had to share this out not only with my usual taste tester neighbor, but also with my coworkers. Because if this had stayed around at home, I would have eaten way too much of it. True, that 4:36am wake up was followed by a tough swim set, there is not enough time in a full swim session for me to work off this pie. I don't swim fast enough to burn up all those calories!
I did not mess in any way with the recipe for this pie. I considered briefly adding the zest of the limes in, but decided to try it as written first. I'm glad I did as it made the lime subtle, not overpowering the coconut, but balancing well with it.
Many thanks for pushing me towards this pie Dianne!
I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!
Obviously things did not go well earlier in the week, when I had hoped to get back much sooner to Dorie's Carrot Cake. Instead of Wednesday, it is Saturday, and I am only now posting about last week's TWD selection, having finished making and decorating it only minutes ago.
Since I had made the cake previously as written, minus the nuts, I decided this time to make cupcakes, much to the thrill of my assistant chef, my five year old son. We gathered our ingredients out on the counter, he pulled up his chair and dug right into helping. The grin on his face as he pushed down on the plunger of the food processor and saw the carrots zoom down into shreds in the bottom is one of the reasons I encourage him to help me. Because, yes, most times, it is easier, and quicker, and oh my, cleaner, to do the baking alone.
Not this time though - I measured, he poured. He sampled plain cinnamon (and said yuck), he turned on the mixer, after being careful to lock it, and watched anxiously for the sugar and oil to mix together. He hovered between eggs, ready to add the next one, and reminded me several times that he wanted to help with the icing too!
Having read several other carrot cupcake posts this week (and I'm sorry I did not comment on most of them this week, again, my bad!), I knew not to over fill my little paper cups. Which is why I was extra careful filling them, being sure not to go over 3/4's full, or even a little less.
Which did me no good what so ever....
Yes, that is indeed 24 carrot cupcakes, each and every one of them, over flowed and a mess.
I managed five that did not over flow. But only because they didn't fit on the first cookie sheet, giving me time to go back and scoop out some of the batter into one more cup.
Note to self, already written in my book - do not fill cupcakes more than HALF full!
All was not lost, though. The icing, which I could eat with a spoon if I weren't exhibiting amazing self control right now, is plentiful, and the cupcakes, though a mess, are still moist and flavorful. 
I managed to salvage them by carefully cutting them out of the paper cups and placing them into regular cupcake papers, topped with a generous piping of that wonderful cream cheese icing. Except the one that I turned into a mini layer cake. Which still leaves me with alot of carrot cupcakes, which will be happily shared out among the neighbors tomorrow.
Amanda, our hostess for this past week, from Slow Like Honey, made a wonderful choice. No matter how you manage to bake it, this is a great carrot cake and I was glad of the excuse to remake it. Even if it took me alot longer than I had planned on.
Next weeks' choice, however, leaves me in a bit of a quandry. Caitlin of Engineer Baker has chosen the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake, found on pages 200-201, a cake which I will not be able to convince the rest of my family to even try, though I'm curious. I wonder if I can make only 1/4 of the recipe?
TWD: No cake for me right now
No carrot cake for us this week. Not because I didn't want to - I did! This is the same cake I made for my dentist not long ago, tall and moist and topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting. Yummy!
However baking and a nasty cold that knocks you out for a 3 1/2 hour nap in the middle of the afternoon on a weekend, well, let's just say they don't mix.
If all goes well, I will make the cake tomorrow and post about it then, a bit late.
Hope to see you back for it!
TWD: When life gives you marshmallows....
Well, what do you think you do with them?
When Judy, of Judy Gross Eats, said marshmallows, I did a little woop! Homemade marshmallows have been on my to do list for this year, and this was just the little push I needed. Plus I could mess with the flavors of a basic marshmallow (which I didn't actually do much of!)
These come together very quickly, or as quickly as sugar and water can get to 265F, so about 10 minutes. Sure, they aren't exactly pretty and smooth the way a store bought marshmallow is, but they are so much fresher and tastier that they are worth the minimum 3 hours of setting time!
Plain, yes, they were good, but why leave them plain when you can play with different variations? Hot chocolate, yes, but of course I had to make s'mores with them! (And it turns out I did not like either of the types of milk chocolate I had in the house for these.)
And last but not least, Rice Krispie squares! Think my rice krispies were stale though, which wouldn't surprise me based on the way my children like to close cereal boxes. Kinda takes away from the gooey vanilla-ness of the marshmallows when your krispies won't krispie, but the kids will eat them anyways.
Last night I decided to make chocolate ones as well, which we haven't really gotten to yet. I tried a bit, they are soft and marshmallowy and chocolaty, so that means the are good!
Many thanks to Judy for a good choice for last week!
Next week we are making that carrot cake that my dentist office liked so much. Do I hope they aren't reading right now so I don't have to share it with them?
