Thanksgiving pie

For Thanksgiving I made 2 pies and a cheesecake. The pies below are butterscotch, pecan and milkyway pies, they were so good. The recipe is definitely a keeper. I can't find my picture of the cheesecake but it was a pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap cookie and pecan crust. That one turned out really good as well. I cooked the cheesecake in a water bath so it didn't crack and turned out really nicely.

I need to learn how to rotate my pictures...

December Daring Cooks Challenge

Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

I choose the classic Eggs Benedict recipe. Poaching an egg was surprisingly less difficult than I thought it was gong to be and that part was a success. I choose to substitute Canadian bacon with turkey bacon and regular Enlish muffins with whole wheat ones. The hollandaise sauce was pretty time consuming and I will definitely add way less salt (if any) next time. With the turkey bacon, which is pretty salty on it's own combined with the hollandaise sauce the dish was so salty we couldn't eat it. So although the meal was a success aesthetically it failed on taste, so bad in fact that the first thing my husband said when he took at bite-with his mouth full was, "ahhh you poisened me!".

Crostata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Simons of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as a information from Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

This was a fun challenge and it tasted great. The only down side is I really need to practice a latice. They're harder than they look.

November Cooks' Challenge

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Souffles as our November 2010 Daring Cooks' Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate souffle recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay's recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I choose to make their Crab and Artichoke Souffle with a couple adaptions. I added a sauted shallot and changed the cheese to parmesean. It tasted great but I couldn't get it to puff up like a souffle should. I'm not quite sure what a did wrong but at least it tasted good.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I chose to use a pumpkin Spice Doughnut hole recipe I found online and then added some extra spices that I enjoy in addition to what the recipe called for. I had extra pumpkin to use from my pumpkin cookies that I made a weekend or so ago and couldn't let it go to waste. They are rolled in cinnamon and sugar but if I ever make them again I might try a glaze too.

They may not look very good (a combination of my camera skills and the fact that it was my first time trying to form and cook doughnut holes) but they were super yummy. Trust me they weren't burnt despite how dark they look. I think it was a partly because of the orange color of the dough. So yummy in fact that we just kept eating them as they came out and were rolled in cinnamon and sugar. I finally had to put a hold on eating them until I could get at least a few on the plate for a picture.

All in all it was a fun challenge. It took a batch or two to get the sizing right but once that was mastered they came out well. Cooking with oil or should I say deep frying is not my favorite and you won't catch me doing it very often, if ever but with my sisters help it worked out well.

Witches Hat

I needed a witches hat this year for a couple of reasons. The first being my sister and her daughter, my mom and I decided to go to the Witches Breakfast at Gardner Village in West Jordan, the next being all my sisters, my mom and I were doing a girls night out that included going to Witches Night Out at Gardner Village. For each event you have the option of dressing up like a witch. We all decided it would be super fun to wear hats. I looked around and didn't really love any of the pre-made witches hats, although my mom and sisters found some really cute ones in a different city at a place I wouldn't even have thought of looking. So I decided to make my own. I love how it turned out and I got a lot of compliments at Witches Night out. I'll post a picture of the evening once I get it from my sister. We had tons of fun. I must say I love my orange owl which was a random find at Michael's. Plus I absolutely love making the fabric roses/flowers. They were so much fun. I just wish I had more things to put them on so I could make more.

The front of the hat (above), close up of one of the sides (below)
The back (below)
Close up of the other side (below)
Disclaimer: I'm a crappy photographer, so sorry the pictures are kind of fuzzy.

Autumn Cake

I decided every now and then to post previous cakes I've made and since it is feeling like a very Fall day I wanted to post last years Fall/Autumn Cake. I have a baking bug right now, the leaves have all changed on the mountains, it's overcast outside and my house smells like a delicious pumpkin candle. So I've decided it's the perfect Sunday for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. I'm heading into the kitchen to make them now. If I don't eat them all right away I'll post some pictures of them.

October Daring Cooks Challenge

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.




It was hard to find grape leaves so I used cabbage leaves since I grew up having cabbage rolls. I didn't cook them all the way through (only blanched them) because I like mine slightly crunchy.

Daring Bakers September Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

It was really fun to make. I'm not sure I'm sold on the recipe, I still prefer my grandmothers sugar cookie recipe but it was yummy and they were fun to decorate.
I did a September or Autumn theme. That included dog bones because it's my dogs birthday in September and fall leaves because of the wonderful colors that are starting to be splashed across the mountain sides. I did the decorating for most of them with melted chocolate.

September Daring Cooks Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.

I choose to make rasberry and blackberry freezer jam since they're in season. I just used the recipe on the back of the pectin box.



I've made both freezer jam and jarred jam that you have to cook and I must say freezer jam is much easier, at least to me.