Red all over....

Sometimes when I am stressed I bake, but lately I have taken a hiatus from this whole cooking thing. That doesn't mean I don't like to browse. I have seen cupcakes in a jar, but these favors were too cute and would probably leave anyone in a sugar coma. You can easily make them by halving a cupcake and placing it in jar then filling it with frosting. How sweet. Literally.

Clean your plate.

It's amazing when a good thing comes together and that's just what happened at Martha Stewart. A group of Brooklyn foodies and entrepreneurs created a not-so-Sunday supper. Karen Mordechai and her husband began cooking in their Brooklyn loft, this eventually grew into inviting friends over for a cooking lesson and good company. Later morphing into inviting a guest chef and complete strangers for a food-fueled lesson.

One particular lesson centered around a guest chef, Shirar Bocar, from MSLand guests--Laura O’Neill, Ben Van Leeuwen of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, Sarah Ryhen of Saipua Flowers, Camille Becerra, Vincent Rotolo, Joanna Goddard, and Alex Williams. The fellow Brooklynites created a rustic Mediterranean buffet complete with flat bread, asparagus, sauteed meatballs, a fritters, and of course cocktails.
I absolutely adore the supper and the marrying of the two media forms. It was refreshing to open my MSL and see bloggers I follow. A very Julie and Julia moment. Ciao~* Photos by Karen Mordechai from Sunday Suppers.

We are family....

I spent a glorious Sunday taking a mini beach and family break for a little shopping and a light lunch. I joined my aunt, uncle, mom and dad for some much needed family time. The only bad thing---I already miss them, this whole quick break thing isn't working.....you say goodbye, I say hello....Did I mention I baked the Uncs a yummy pecan, raisin, and coconut pie (random combination I know)? I made two to be precise, one for work and one for him. The one for work was gone in an hour, I even got blackberry messages begging me to save slices, and I got a phone call from Hal telling me he ate the whole thing. I dislike cooking, but baking....baking is definitely something I can sink my teeth into...the compliments don't hurt either.

Bake off.

Dear Publix,
I want to say thank you for letting me cheat at the company party. I normally take great pride in my homemade baking skills but as of late I have had no desire to waste time cooking much less cleaning up the mess that baking brings. The company party rolled around and I had every intention of baking up a chocolate feast of Mississippi mud brownies complete with a rich chocolate glaze over marshmallows, but then it hit me. The little voice inside that said, "Do I really have to?" I called my mom and she gave me the best tip ever--go to Publix, get cookies and put them on a plate. Well let me tell you. I bought 3 containers from the bakery and those cookies were gobbled up quickly. So I am certainly glad I did not waste time baking! Thank you for making this possible. I will definitely be trying this trick again....Here's to laziness and not cooking!

On the fourteenth....

Talk about baked out.....I cooked Mississippi mud brownies and a cheesecake roll hurriedly (and tiredly) last night.....but some people were really grateful (others not so much). I feel like I have been going in a million directions and not one of them for me! Selfish I am not but I could use some me time or a tiny bit of support....I barely had time to open my Easter basket from my wonderful mother!! Kudos to her for the layered pearl bracelet, Marc Jacobs bag, and note cards all wrapped in coordinated Lilly P. pink and green. I absolutely loved everything..... Well it was HER birthday on April 10 and due to the banquet for 80 I planned single-handedly I had to skip it. Talk about guilt, lost sleep, stress, and second guessing. Well for the record I did let her know in advance and planned to head up to Bama the following week.....only a few more days....let the driving commence..... Happy Belated B-day Mom--see you Friday!

*On a side note I really want to make this cake via Bakerella. We always had one at Thanksgiving growing up and it is my nemesis.

Piece of my heart.

Here's a photo of the heart pound cake I baked for the first quarter birthday celebration at work. The pan is compliments of Williams Sonoma. Yum!

A Williams wonder.....

Williams Sonoma is the purveyor of all things Nordicware and this bake set does not diappoint. The pan bakes perfect pint-sized houses. How quaint.

Gingerbread, gingerbread, gingerbread rock....

Well, those craft folks over at Martha Stewart have been busy baking, icing and constructing some very impressive gingerbread homes. I especially love the second one....I wonder how well making a gingerbread house would go over....I am supposed to finish trimming one last tree tomorrow night and am very tempted to bring over a gingerbread kit and candy and see how creative someone is.....and how well they manage a mess in their kitchen.....oh funny Christmas....

Who wants to be a millionaire?

Well, I think our co-op certainly does.....it is that time of year again.....birthday baking....and I have committed to another year of celebrating for my coworkers (aka being the Martha Stewart of the office). I let everyone offer suggestions and right now the votes are a hummingbird cake, Mississippi mud, cheese straws and Millionaire Pie. The millionaire pie is a must, considering it is this coworkers going away party, but the issue is we do not know what recipe was used last year or the one his godmother used to make. I have been Googling like crazy and have located countless options, and believe I am settling on one of the choices below:

Choice 1:
1 can Eagle Brand Milk
1 lg. can crushed pineapple (drain all juice)
2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 c. chopped pecans, fine
2 graham cracker crusts
1 lg. container of Cool Whip

Mix ingredients and pour into graham cracker crusts.

Choice 2:
2 baked 8 inch pie crusts
2 c. powdered sugar
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter, softened
1 lg. egg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 c. heavy (whipping) cream
1 c. drained, crushed pineapple
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Cream together powdered sugar and butter. Add egg, salt and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy. Spoon mixture evenly into pie crusts; chill.
Whip cream until stiff. Blend in pineapple and nuts. Spread on top of other mixture and chill thoroughly.

What do you all think, Choice 1 or 2? Or does anyone have a tried and true recipe?

Decisions.....decisions....

An inquisitive text led me to verify my response and to make a post for any of you with this same query. Does it make a difference whether you use light or brown sugar? Well, it turns out {and yes, my guess was correct} that the main difference is the amount of molasses. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses than its lighter brethren, so it boils bakes down to a simple flavour preference. Although, I must admit that 99 times out of 100 I use light brown, dark brown would likely work well with gingerbread, or some other molasses rich dessert.

Movie Night....

An afternoon at the dentist left me with clean pearly whites and thoughts of recipes. The dental hygienists were trying to rustle up a recipe for strawberry cream cheese cupcakes, so naturally after waking from my nap I was forced inspired to google cupcake/cake recipes and found these cuties. Simply top vanilla cupcakes with a vanilla icing and mini marshmallows (using the classic white and yellow out of this mixed bag. Stuff a pair of these cakes into retro popcorn holders and there you go a perfectly sweet flip on the classic salty treat.

Yummo!

I don't think I've blogged about this before, and if I have, please excuse the duplication. My own approaching birthday got me thinking about everyone else's birthdays. Back story, I happen to be the office baking fairy who is responsible for baking homemade treats for my coworkers quarterly.....and much to my chagrin it is time for the third quarter celebration. Admittedly, I have gotten a little tired of baking, but some people genuinely appreciate my time and effort. Fact is, they were complimenting me today, so my hard heart is getting softened at the moment and I may sign onto another year of baking.....time will tell.
So now I am trying to decide what to make......German chocolate, red velvet, pound cake, cookies....or an icebox cake....the classic icebox. To this day I remember Mr. Rogers making one on television, but where did this cake begin? The National Biscuit Company — later shortened to Nabisco introduced these Famous Chocolate Wafers in 1924, along with a ginger and a sugar variety. The chocolate ones might have fallen off the radar as the non-chocolate varieties did had some inventive 1930s housewives not developed s recipe for this glorious chocolate cake.
It is relatively difficult to find these little puppies, but I have procured them from Amazon and they are sometimes carried at Publix. So, if you happen to get your hands on a box or two, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 packages (9 ounces) chocolate wafer cookies
Unsweetened cocoa powder

In a large bowl, beat cream, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. To construct the cake you can make a traditional, long cake like the one below or a round cake.