February=bread baking classes

I have had so many people ask me to teach them to bake bread that I am going to do 2 classes to start. One on a Tuesday night and one on a Friday night! I am excited to teach something I love to do! I look forward to sharing with others how easy it is to bake bread! Looking forward to passing on the tradition!

Almond Chocolate Raspberry Scones

    My dear friend has inspired me today by baking a pie she made up and put in the freezer. I was originally planning on making an enriched bread dough today but my plan was not what my heart wanted to create! Besides I busied myself earlier today cleaning out my mothers pantry while she is away on a cruise. OH to be so lucky and see the hot sun, though I can not complain as this winter has been the mildest I have seen in years. I digress. So while cleaning out the said pantry I discovered some wonderful almonds and had wanted to make biscotti but upon having no vanilla I decided against such an option. I decided though I made scones yesterday for the kids on their first day of the new semester that I would indeed make scones yet again.
   Scones are a serious subject. Not to be taken lightly.  I have baked a great many scones in my day and have used a great many recipe! The ingredients for scones varies greatly among bakers. I have a few different favorites but my old standby scone recipe that I will use till I die calls for NO eggs and the secret ingredient is buttermilk! I love baking with buttermilk. I have found that because of its acidity it works to make the dough rise just a bit more and make it flaky due to the high fat content! I even bought Bavarian buttermilk once that had an even higher fat content than that of the regular lowfat buttermilk option!
    So I am currently baking up the moist delicious scones and put in 1/2-3/4 cup of cocoa and some slivered almonds and some frozen raspberries. I can not wait to try one!

BLAH!

Have made tons of things, bread manicotti and such. Just not been in a really good baking mood. My new bread baking books came in and I am going over them in anticipation of my next great bake!! I am thinking of making an enriched bread from one of my books from the library!! Will post on that in a few days!

Salty

SO when you make the caramel sauce for the brownies you need to make sure you dont over salt!  I just ate a very salty carmely gooey brownie and besides the ultra salty flavor it was good!

Brownies

I have a brownie recipe that I make all the time. Its tradition, its easy and it will do when I am wanting to make a staple snack food! Today, after I cleaned my moms spice cupboard for her while she is away of vacation, I decided to use the cocoa she has and make brownies. I watched Food Network last night and one of the desserts on there was a salted brownie. I am going to make a caramel sauce to accompany my brownie pan. I also made the brownies much more dense today instead of the traditional cake like texture they are normally.

Hopefully they are as delightful as I imagine them!!

Pulled Beef Crockpot Style

Making BBQ sandwiches can be difficult, you need to find a good recipe! Cooks Country Kitchen magazine has a remarkable recipe that is wonderful. Actually I have found lots of wonderful recipes in there!!! I have my beef marinating for tonights dinner and have made hamburger buns to go along. I must make some beans or another side dish to accompany the wonderful main!!

I have discovered that I HATE store bought bread. Especially that bread that white and made with high fructose corn syrup. Somehow the smell of a loaf of bread or hamburger buns has become offensive to my delicate nose! I am not sure how it happened, but I have found myself taking as much bread off my sandwiches when I am elsewhere. I make  my own and have since found how easy it is and I am sure MUCH more inexpensive!

Chocolate Pudding Cake

I made Chocolate Pudding Cake last night~I just needed the chocolate. I was in such a rush too because I made homemade bread, hamburger buns and fish for dinner. SO needless to say I was tired and rushed to get it all done. I just wanted to sit down and enjoy some chocolate for pete sake! Can you say hormonal? Its not that bad really, I simply am craving chocolate. I sit here eating cake for breakfast and lunch, but I digress. The cake, get back to the cake. I have a recipe that calls for  a 9x9 square pan but instead I used a rectangle one. It worked just as well. The cake turned out just fine but a tad, JUST a bit dry. My oven is a gift to me and I love it however being that it is not professional grade it does have a quirk! If I use the convection oven choice it will tend to get one side more done than the other. It works well if half way through I turn my baked good around. Like I said it works well WHEN I remember to turn it around. Last night I didn't which is WHY it turned out a tad bit dry. NO problem I served the outside edge to the kids while I enjoyed the chocolate gooey middle!!

Artisan Bread

Today I made Artisan Bread. I put a clove of garlic and some rosemary in the batter. I think adding a little UMPH to the dough is a good idea. The recipe I have comes from the book called "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day" They call for 3 cups of water and 6 1/2 cups of flour however I do not have a bowl big enough to fit in my fridge so I cut it in half and the recipe makes 2 loves for my family of 5. One I shall use in a few days and another in a few days after that. I think the bread becomes better the longer you let it sit. I didn't have time to let the dough rise for the 2+ hours that it called for so after one hour I punched it down and stuck it in the fridge.

Kyrsi's Cream Cheese ICING!

Against popular belief on the internet there are two kinds of garnishes for a cake. One is called frosting, typically known as a dense thick gooey mess. The other is referred to as an ICING. It is this wonderful thin goodness I wish to share with you all today. I chose to make a spice cake for my sons birthday to go along with the Ice Cream Cake he insisted upon rather than any cake I would make him. THEREFOR I made said spice cake and proceeded to try to find a thin cream cheese icing to go over the top of my bundt cake I had made. If I had wanted a thick gooey buttery cream cheese frosting then I would have been set. There were hundreds of wonderful recipes for just such an occasion. So I decided I would make my own. I have since decided the world need to have this recipe in case they too want to make a wonderful thin icing with cream cheese in it! It CAN be done!!

Start with a block of cream cheese (8ozs) in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Turn stove on to medium low. Then add a bit of whole milk (I recommend Spokane Family Farm) and some powdered sugar to taste. Here comes the difficult part. You must whisk the milk and cream cheese until your arm falls off! If you do not you will get an icing that has lumps of cream cheese and WHO wants that...its like a bad cheese cake~GAG!!! When your arm falls off and you have whisked to a pure blissful mixture of cream cheese, milk and powdered sugar you are then ready to ICE your cake!

Enjoy the wonderful hard work you have accomplished and enjoy a slice of heaven!!