Wicked Awesome Coffee Cake

Posted on August 2, 2013 by chatty

This is another repeat. Our same neighbors delivered a gallon bag of blueberries. Big, sweet juicy blueberries. So I made this New England coffee cake recipe again. Some tweaks this year: reduced brown sugar to 1/3 c in the topping. Also with the topping, I used coconut oil instead of butter, and almond flour instead of flour/walnuts. Provided another layer of flavor. The Paleo tweaks to this non-paleo dessert got me wondering if I could turn it into a Paleo treat. Nah, I’d always be jonesing for the real thing.

Husband review: “This is so friggin good!”
Yes, yes it is. Wicked good.

Recipe via AllRecipes.com

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

Posted on June 16, 2013 by chatty

I like pie. And so does my friend/work spouse, EC. This is her mothers famous Sour Cream Lemon Pie. E had gifted me with the recipe years ago, probably when we were officemates in a land far away (Redmond). I have never made it, but a couple of weeks back I shared in the celebration of E’s last day of chemo. She has been battling stage 3 breast cancer all year, and ended her 21st and final week of treatment with a dessert get together. Cupcakes. Cookies. Crumble. Cake. And this pie. Delicious, and all the more sweet when I think about the tremendous journey E and her family have traveled these past few years.

Mrs. Carlson’s Homemade Sour Cream Lemon Pie

Happy.

Birthday Cake Extravaganza

Posted on April 22, 2013 by chatty

April is birthday month! Some things I did this month that I categorize as ‘I’m doing it because it’s my birthday’:

Upgraded my crossfit membership so I could go to class 4x a week
Said ‘Why not?’ When sis asked if I was coming out to run the Bolder Boulder
Took a week off from work, and added another day
Finally got a new phone
Made myself a birthday cake

Now. That last one. I got this fancy cake mix from the fancy store. Based on the box, here’s what I was thinking my cake would look like:

I didn’t realize the trouble I was in until I attempted to invert these cakes. But, seriously. It’s me. I should have known that This wasn’t going to work out.

The thing is … It was a really great cake mx. Even if the cake didn’t look good, I couldn’t just toss it out. That’s when genius husband suggested using a glas to cookie cutter out a few smaller layers and creating a mini cake.

Great idea! So I started cutting out layers, then got a little cocky. Four layers later I realized I would not be able to frost the sucker. There was already plenty of frosting in between the layers. So, I shrugged my shoulders and called it a day.

I present to you … The chocolate cake outburst:

There is a part three to this story as well. I haven’t uploaded the photos, though. You’ll just have to stay tuned.

Paleo, Schmaleo

Posted on February 2, 2013 by chatty

So, let me take a second to explain to you this no-grains thing. I’ve elected to do the “Paleo/Lifestyle” Challenge that is taking place at my Crossfit gym. Trying it for one month. Unfortunately the challenge kicked off when I was in Chicago for work (and New York), and not to mention Kiddo’s birthday. For a quick review of what the Paleo Diet (aka Caveman Diet) is, I refer you to this handy infographic courtesy of Greatist.com and Pinteresters everywhere.

Anyway, day one of the challenge I was sitting in the Chicago office with some fellow travellers and on a whim, I announced we’d be having lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern. The one made famous from an old SNL skit with John Belushi. C’mon. I’m never in Chicago and here I am blocks from the place (ok, an $8 cab ride but still, we did walk back so it’s pretty close). I won’t go into the details of the Billy Goat, but just know that if you’re trying to stay Paleo, it’s not the ideal place to go (“Um, can I have just the burger, no bun” isn’t going to cut it here).

No Pepsi, COKE!

Dinners that week include pasta with friends, seafood (and beer) with more friends, noodles with co-workers, more beer, and a little ice cream with brother. So, in all, not a great first week to be doing this. So, there was that.

Whatev. I came home from this business trip on a Friday, and on Saturday was the little one’s fourth birthday. FOUR. I can’t very well call her the toddler anymore.

The last three years we have made cupcakes, so of course cupcakes were in order. I found a paleo cupcake recipe and decided to go all in. Coconut flour, cocoa powder, honey were the main ingrediets, and they turned out surprisingly delicious.

Robot cupcakes, paleo-style

Even the husband had one (maybe two). They were actually more brownie-like in consistency, but I wasn’t being picky here. The frosting, not so much. My timing was off after I mixed coconut oil with the chocolate and so it just turned back into, well, a chunk of chocolate. So, I gave the kid a piece of the chunk of chocolate to enjoy with the cupcake/brownie.

I find if there is chocolate in there somewhere it doesn’t seem to matter what form it is in. It’s all good.

PS: Earlier this week all of us crossfitters taking part in this challenge had to report in on how they were doing (we are tracking via a point system where basically the more strict your paleo diet is, the more points you accrue). It should come to no surprise to anyone that I am in LAST place! I might as well sit down and enjoy a Paczki.

Robot Cupcake Series

Posted on October 28, 2012 by chatty

I bought these robot cupcake molds at a kitchen sale at the market this summer. Figured they would get stuck in a drawer forever. But then I started researching the “single cupcake” recipe and suddenly these little silicone cupcake molds were a terrific buy! There is a strange art to making a small batch of cupcakes. Two small cupcakes seem to be the perfect amount for this family. The husband isn’t a cupcake fan, and I’m not terribly interested in baking (and, then, eating) a dozen or more. Also provides you a perfect opportunity to fool around and test some things without wasting a ton of ingredients. So without further ado, the results of this month’s experiemnts.

Test 1 (of 3):

Err … not so much. I used this recipe as a starter. I tried to make chocolate by adding cocoa powder, but it was a total experiment. Since I had coconut milk (or drink, as the carton called it. What was it really? Don’t know, just tossed it in).This one didn’t rise and tasted meh. Kid seemed to think it tasted just fine.

Test 2:

Better, but still a bit odd. This time I tried cocoa powder again, and also included some greek yogurt. The yogurt made for a creamier texture and at least the batter rose as expected. But still not the greatest tasting. I might need to do more cocoa and more sugar to get the taste that I’m looking for. Again, kid ate it up. If it looks like a cupcake and smells like a cupckae it must be a cupcake, according to her.

Test 3:

Jackpot! I ditched the cocoa powder and went with this recipe. No chocolate, but super vanilla. I went for broken and also made a little cream cheese frosting for the top (what’s a cupcake without frosting?)

These are the recipes I riffed off of. Just because my results weren’t great doen’st mean the recipes as written aren’t successful. One pattern I’ve noticed, and maybe it’s due to the cupcake mods, is that I need to bake them for far longer than the instructions suggest. But constant checking means at least they’re not burnt:

Test 1: A Sweet Road – How to make a single cupcake
Test 2: Chocolate-Covered Katie: Vegan Single-Serving Cupcake
Test 3: One Bowl Vanilla Cupcake

Pinkalicious!

Posted on May 28, 2012 by chatty

We’ve been reading this book lately, Pinkalicious. It’s about a girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink. She loves it until she eats one too many then turns red, then needs to eat a lot of green stuff to turn back to normal. I’m not a huge fan of this book. For one, her parents let her eat like a gazillion cupcakes, then she sneaks in more cupcakes, and she snubs the green veggies. Anyway, my toddler is enjoying it meaning we read it a few times a day. Well, all that talk about cupcakes, you’re bound to start craving cupcakes. I debated between baking from scratch and heading to Trophy and decided baking would be a more interesting activity but did opt to get some help from Duncan. We did the frosting ourselves, though. I finally had a good, smooth result for my American buttercream frosting. Room temperature butter, my friends! Simple details.

We enjoyed it. Lily was eager to dig in and showed a lot of restraint for a 3-year old. At last after dinner we had a cupcake (I had made a lot of minis and a few regular sized ones … L had a mini) … As soon as she finished it she yelled “More More More” (from the book) … Ugh!

But the cupcakes were tasty! Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Cake (because that’s how i roll) with pink buttercream frosting. Some dinosaur sprinkles, too. A nice end to a sort of stressful long weekend.

Potluck staple

Posted on May 28, 2012 by chatty

Rest day so just taking a workout log break, too … I’ve got some other baked goods pics that still need to be uploaded. Once upon a time I had pride in my baking antics. These days I just run out of time. Plus, if the toddler is “helping” I need something quick and easy.

Can’t get much easier than the classic Rice Krispies Treat. Even though others going to the potluck bring way fancier stuff, this is the go to snack for kids and grownups alike. And did I mention how easy they are to make (I am always reminded of this commercial…)? Funny the first time I made them I remembering it being so messy I didn’t do it again for years. The the next I attempted it, years later, it was a cinch and cleanup not a problem. Wonder what I did wrong that first time around.

These days they sell marshmallow bags in exactly the right amount for one batch of treats. I recall there always being leftover marsh. It was always a nice extra to enjoy those leftovers, but alas all good things must come to an end.

These are a fun retro snack, though I don’t think I could bring them to the same potluck event more than once. Then I start looking lazy!

Cake Break

Posted on May 10, 2012 by chatty

Finally downloaded this to the PC, and finally finally uploaded it to Flickr. This is our “go-to” cake from Metropolitan Market, with the added flair of a personalized message.

Oh. And someone at work mentioned that he thought I was like 30 or something.

What the wha?!?

scenes from thanksgiving 2011

Posted on November 25, 2011 by chatty

Happy Thanksgiving!

The view from the 28th floor

Posted on June 13, 2011 by chatty

I enjoy checking out the crazy desserts offered in my work cafeteria. They have some ambitious items out on a regular basis (chocolate lava cake was the most recent find). I must say I’ve never actually seen anyone purchase one. But the cooler with the fancy desserts has an ideal background/plating contrast, and the pics taken from my smartphone are impressive. Here are a couple:

“Pipeables”: I”m guessing yogurt, chocolate and vanilla pudding layered, with whipped cream and sprinkles on top. Classy.