Archive for the ‘30 Days and 30 Bites’ Category
30 Days and 30 Bites – DAY THIRTY!
This is it! Today is the day! 30 Days and 30 Bites has come to an end! I have made it through heaps of chocolate, fondant, fruits, FLOUR and more…and I am still standing and still married to my amazing husband :). I cannot express to you how glad I am that it is over! I am so happy I chose a THIRTY day challenge, and not a 365 day challenge. I give major kudos to Julia for making it through that cookbook in a year! I thoroughly loved this walk down the baking path, but I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. The last thing I want to look at for at least a week is SUGAR. I don’t want to smell it, see it, eat it, feel it…I may even bring what I have left to my neighbors so it is out of the house!
When I started this challenge I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of the volumes of the various items that it took me to make it through the 30 days of baking. This was a bit of a let down actually. I definitely went through several bags of powdered sugar (all that icing!) and there is a good dent in my Sam’s Club size vanilla extract bottle. Other than that though, the amounts of things were not that impressive. I may have used 10 lbs of flour and five of sugar. Definitely half a (big) bag of brown sugar. I didn’t even use more than one or two cake boxes though. What a let down! I did, however, buy all sorts of things I never thought I would. For instance, almond paste, which took forever to find and looks like a refrigerated sausage. This just goes to show though, baking can certainly be done on a budget. For the most part, if you do any baking at all, you are probably going to have most of the materials on hand. And let me tell you, Chips Ahoy ain’t got nuthin on my chocolate chip cookies! I would much rather bake fresh goods than buy them packaged, any day!
I would like to thank my husband, who not only encouraged this baking bonanza, but also gave his honest opinion. Thank you sweetheart, for always eating the ugly cookies and cupcakes so I could save the pretty ones to give to our friends. You are the best!
So, a few things I learned: there is no such thing as too much vanilla; washing the stuff it takes to bake every day is really annoying; chocolate is God’s gift to mankind; my husband really will eat anything; sometimes simpler is better; sometimes better requires A LOT of work; I have a long way to go before opening that bakery!
So what am I going to do now? I thought about 30 Days of Diet, but to be honest I actually lost 4 pounds this month. I certainly had my days where I pigged out on that daily concoction, but for the most part I was so good about only eating one of what I made. Let me tell you, it was rough at first, but you already know how I feel about sugar now! I really do know why bakers can be thin…you really get to the point where you just can’t eat anything made with flour and sugar anymore!
Needless to say, I am taking a break from the kitchen. I have a few things (like those mango muffins) that I have the supplies for, so I need to bake them! I think I’ll enjoy it even more now without the pressure of having to write about it each night! I only missed one day out of 30, and that was day 15. I figure I deserved a break at the halfway point.
Of course, now on to the topic of tonight’s post…
I was trying to be so clever for my big finale. First I thought I would do some enormous topsy turvy cake. I decided I didn’t have it in me. I’ve tried that once before and the results weren’t pretty. Then I thought I would do something that required NO baking. Alas, I did not feel like making cheesecake (I just ate a friend’s 2 days ago) or no bake Krispies cookies. I finally just decided that I would delve into my allrecipes.com recipe box and find something I have been wanting to do for a while and haven’t. The final decision: Magic Peanut Butter Middles.
These required a little bit of extra work. As I have shown in the picture, you form the middles of a peanut butter mixture and then wrap them with a chocolate mixture. Everyone’s comments on the site were about different ways to make this work. You can try one or all of them, but in the end, it is all about what you feel comfortable doing.
The cookies received rave reviews after we brought them to a friend’s house this evening for game night. I definitely think I prefer the peanut butter cup cakes I made on day two of 30D30B. Those took a lot less work for something that tasted just as great, if not better.
Still, the best word to describe these: YUM!
I hope you have all enjoyed 30D30B. I know I have! Thanks to you for reading and thanks to my neighbors for allowing me to invade your houses with baked goods this month!
Tags: Baking, chocolate, cookies, Marissa, peanut butter
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 29
I have discovered yet another fun new nut to play with! 
I mean pistachios guys. Have you ever baked with them before? Today marked the first time for me when I made Pistachio Muffins for breakfast this morning. I adapted the recipe from here but will again re-write it with the changes I made. First, let me say that pistachios really are such cool nuts. I have never eaten them before and thus, never realized that they were so unlike the nuts we usually see.
I was not able to find pistachios that were already shelled, so this created the longest step of this baking piece. It wasn’t a painful process or anything, just took longer and required a bit more effort than I prefer. You know how I like to dump and bake. This process introduced me to the wonderful colors of pistachios. Each layer, something new. Inside the shell, there is a paper thin part that is a deep purple. After you wipe that away the pistachio itself is almost neon green, which explains why they always color pistachio recipes as such. When you crack the pistachio in half, you’ll see that the inside is a vibrant yellow glaring like the sun.
What I loved about this one – it seems like a great healthified recipe, combining whole wheat flour, oats, low fat (I used fat free) milk, and more. Any time I can get a little extra fiber into a recipe, I’m a happy lady. Not only that, but they did not TASTE healthified. They were a great muffin and would make a tasty addition to the end of any dinner. They stand on their own as a breakfast muffin. Eat a banana with it and drink a cup of orange juice and you’ll be a happy person too.
What I changed in the recipe – it originally called for applesauce, which I don’t bake with so I used all oil; I added a 3.4 ounce package of pistachio pudding mix to make sure the pistachio taste was in there; I increased the topping amount by 50% because it just wasn’t enough to cover the muffins.
Pistachio Muffins
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup chopped pistachios
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 3.4 ounce package pistachio pudding mix
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup fat free milk
- 1 cup oil
- 1 egg
- Topping:
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place muffin cups in 12 count muffin pan. Combine flour, sugar, oats, pistachios, baking powder, salt, and pistachio pudding mix in a bowl until blended. In separate bowl combine milk, oil and egg until blended. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture just until combined. Do not over mix. Fill muffin cups 2/3 way full. For topping, mix pistachios and brown sugar in a small bowl. Spoon topping onto top of each batter filled cup. Bake in oven for 18 to 22 minutes.
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 28
Tonight’s bite is a shout out to all you coconut lovers out there! I think my sister will be one of them. Coconut was one of those things that she always loved growing up and I never wanted anything to do with it. As with peas, I would have been happy to tell people I was allergic to coconut. Bleh. Low and behold though, as I have learned with the various nuts I have been baking with this month, coconut is apparently another one of those things that I like more than I ever imagined I would.
My husband requested coconut ma
caroons and I obliged, preparing to give the remaining pieces to the neighbors because, of course, I wouldn’t bee eating any! Once again, I was wrong. The macaroons were actually pretty darn good and even more important: so stinking easy! It took 5 minutes to mix the ingredients together and only 30 to bake both batches. Melting the chocolate and dipping the macaroons didn’t take much longer either. Certainly, if you want to keep it short and sweet, skip the chocolate part. The treats taste great without it.
I adapted my recipe for Coconut Macaroons from this recipe. I only made a few minor changes, but still thought I would go ahead and put the recipe I used on my site.
Coconut Almond Macaroons
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup unbleached flour
- 14 ounce bag sweetened coconut
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix flour, coconut and salt in medium bowl. Set aside. Mix milk, vanilla and almond in mixing bowl to combine. Add dry ingredient mixture and mix just until blended. Scoop batter onto parchment paper in large tablespoons (I use my small Pampered Chef Scoop). Bake for 12-15 minutes or until coconut is toasted (mine took exactly 15 minutes).
Allow macaroons to cool completely on wire rack after baking. Melt chocolate chips in a double broiler and dip half of each macaroon into chocolate. Place chocolate macaroons on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Place in refrigerator to set, about 15 minutes.
I think it is important to note, I am still “allergic” to peas.
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 27
Tonight is going to be a little difficult to explain folks. If you are looking for something to spice up your life, this will be the dessert for you! If not, well, don’t even go there.
I baked the Chocolate Chili Cupcakes. We tasted the cupcakes. We rolled them around in our mouths and minds a little bit, and came to a few conclusions:
1. This cupcake would be great baked in a mini muffin tin. I was thinking, “chocolate, certainly an extra large muffin tin would be awesome!” If it were only chocolate, yes. But the chili really makes this a recipe that is great in small doses.
2. Chocolate Chili Cupcakes would be best served at a work luncheon (or equivalent) in those mini cupcake tins. Also, best at something like a Mexican Fiesta where the chili taste is expected and welcomed with open arms. Everyone will be astounded by the peculiar flavors and think it is a whimsical addition to the potluck. This is probably not a recipe you are going to make to just serve to your family at home.
3. This is not a typical dessert. The first thing I thought after eating this tonight was “I do not want this to be the last thing I eat tonight.” The chili taste in the cupcake is actually pretty low key. It is the AFTERTASTE that will not leave you! That warm, spicy, chili sensation that works its way around your tongue and inside your cheeks that lasts forever. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Just intense, and like I said, not what I want to relish for the rest of the night.
4. Despite the negativity that appears to be spoken here about these cupcakes, they were EXACTLY what I set out to make. I created a chili cupcake on my own and it tastes precisely like what I set out to achieve. If you want to try chocolate chili cupcakes, I highly recommend this recipe. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but for the first time, I hit the nail right on the head. This recipe is geared toward a small, unique group of you who would appreciate what the cupcakes have to offer.
So, without further ado, I am going to provide you with the recipe, as I baked it this evening:
Chocolate Chili Cupcakes
Chocolate Frosting
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line large muffin pans with paper cups. In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. Fill muffin cups 2/3 way full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with chocolate frosting.
for Chocolate Frosting:
- Mix all ingredients in large mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Makes enough frosting for 1 large batch of muffins.
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 26
A friend once told me that everything is better with bacon. After today, I think he might have known a thing or two. The vanilla-thyme cupcakes were an inspiration and encouraged me to take more of a walk outside the box rather than just a step. I have been reading a blog lately that I think I have fallen in love with, Vanilla Garlic. The man who writes it has quite a history working with some reputable groups. His take on cooking and baking is abstract and brilliant. I have only grazed the surface when it comes to what he has to offer with his mouthwatering fare, but I have many plans to continue tasting his delightful treats and savory wonders.
This adventure began today with a pan of bacon and some maple syrup. It ended with nine incredible Maple Bacon Cupcakes. All along the way my hubbs repeatedly peeked in, first of all to know when breakfast was going to be ready, and second to see what the heck I was doing. His hesitation was markedly more while I was bakin’ with bacon than it was with the thyme cupcakes. My excitement grew with each step of the mixing process, knowing this was either going to be one of the best successes of this month or a complete disaster.
Finally the time came to taste the end result and we simultaneously bit into our cupcakes. I was floored by the marvelous maple and a bit surprised by the lack of bacon taste. Truly, it had all the charming tastes of breakfast rolled into one little cupcake. A party in my mouth. I was pleased that instead of putting salt on top as recommended in the recipe, I had sprinkled more bacon. This justly brought out the essence of bacon I was expecting when I decided to delve into this creation.
This is another fantastic recipe to make and take to a brunch get together. People will be jolted by the taste and demand you share the recipe with them for this different concoction. Just tell them, “everything is better with bacon.”
*HINT* I would have the bacon and drippings cooked the night before if you will be preparing this for breakfast. Without the requirement of cooking the bacon and waiting for the grease to solidfy, my husband wouldn’t have been bothering me about breakfast so much this morning!
This week we are linking up to:
and 
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 25
I am stepping outside of the box a little for today’s baking. Have I mentioned yet that I am kind of tired of this baking thing? I have completely lost all desire to taste a bite of any of my goods, let alone eat an entire creation. The banana muffins yesterday were fantastic though and I ate FAR too many of those! I do have to let you know, those are a make ‘em and eat ‘em recipe. I had one of the muffins for breakfast this morning and it wasn’t NEARLY as good as it was yesterday morning.
To stick with the idea of flavorful foods, today I made Vanilla-thyme cupcakes. I have been convincing myself all month to make these and finally got up the guts to do it. When I read about thyme cupcakes my first thought was “are you kidding me?” My husband was also skeptical and not too eager to try them.
We were both proven wrong. These were a delightful sur
prise and what I often refer to as a “party in my mouth.” I want every food to be like that, though it often isn’t the case. They were different to say the least, but in a great way. This would be the type of recipe I would make to bring somewhere to share because I know everyone would be asking for the recipe after they tried them.
I had a few changes when I made them. I used 1 c. granulated sugar and 2/3 c. brown sugar instead of all granulated. I also didn’t have any vanilla bean on hand…do any of you? Nope, didn’t think so. Instead I just put 2 tsp. vanilla in the batter. I also didn’t put the icing on top because I really have not been in the mood for icing. I really enjoyed these as more of a muffin than a cupcake anyway. This would be a fantastic brunch food! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 24
The theme for today was muffin madness! I made the most delicious muffins ever! Unfortunately, if I share the recipe with you, I have to kill you. No, really. I am sorry to say that due to the proprietary nature of this recipe (came from a friend who manages a wonderful brunchery) I can’t divulge its secrets. I did, however use it to bake today and still felt it was necessary to share its amazingness! I added bananas to my recipe, but next time I make it I will most certainly be adding mangos, as we originally ate them at the restaurant. I will say that it takes more vanilla then you would probably think and I am sure this is what does the trick. The vanilla does a fantastic job of bringing out the delicate tastes of the fruit. So good luck finding a muffin recipe this good…I don’t know if its possible! Sorry I can’t share it!
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 23
Can I please tell you how excited I am that this thing is almost over? I cannot even believe I have made it this far. I really am not that interested in tasting my creations 
anymore. I think there is a reason why it isn’t too uncommon to find thin bakers. It’s because it doesn’t take long to not want to even SMELL sugar anymore, let alone eat it. If I owned a bakery, I don’t think I would ever be able to eat a cake again! Phmph.
So, now that my venting is out of the way, another day of technique it is. I was going to try to do butterflies and calla lilies. The butterflies were a bust and the calla lilies were a success. At least I am one for two! I have learned something every important this month about my trusty marshmallow fondant. It isn’t so trusty. There is a reason why cake decorators don’t use it. It doesn’t set well. It is fine for basic decorating and covering cakes. But once you get into the more extravagant things such as calla lilies and Mario Bros figures, you really need something that is going to stand on its 
own. I have stayed away from using gum paste because it tastes horrible and I don’t want to put something disgusting on one of my cakes! I may have to give in to this at some point if I want to continue with the decorating aspect though!
So, back to the point of all of that. I tried to make 3D butterflies but the fondant just would not set, so the butterflies were just a floppy mess! The picture here does show the proper way to dry butterflies so they will be 3D! I would have put their bodies and antennas on and decorate them a little after drying. So much for that!
The calla lilies, however, were fairly easy to do. I use d a heart cookie cutter to cut out white fondant. I wrapped the heart around a paper cone (pointy part of the heart is the top of the flower, not the base) and left it out to dry (never really did). I rolled up a couple pieces of yellow fondant to insert later for the stamens. The results are below. They are so easy to do considering how nice they look when they are on cakes!
Tags: Cake Decorating, Cakes, fondant, Marissa
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 22
I LOVE raspberry. Raspberry drinks, raspberries in parfaits, just plain old raspberries out of the plastic container. I tried pretty hard to find a raspberry cake, with no success. Lots of cheesecakes and layered desserts with cool whip. No cakes. So, I decided to use one of my “from scratch” recipes and put a raspberry twist on it.
Since a lot of the desserts I found with raspberry in them also involved lemon, I decided to fill the cake with lemon curd. I heated a small jar of lemon curd, just until spreading consistency, in a small saucepan. It was just the right amount of filling for the middle of this cake.
Not one to waste materials, I used my marshmallow fondant from yesterday for the topping. I cut squares out of the fondant using a cookie cutter. After they were cut I dipped them in sprinkles and made a checker pattern on top. For the side I used the lemon buttercream icing that I also covered the whole cake with (not the filling) for a crumb layer. There is a reason why I am only showing you the top of the cake though and that is because it does not look pretty everywhere else! I didn’t take any special measures like piping a trim around the edges of the cake to make a smooth transition from fondant to buttercream. Since you are the only people who are going to see it, I didn’t think it would matter much!
I am not going to taste this dessert tonight because I am going to wait until my husband can share in it with me! I’ll let you know how it tastes tomorrow!
Raspberry Lemon Cake
- 2 1/3 c. unbleached flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 c. white sugar
- 1/2 c. oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 c. milk
- 1/2 c. raspberry syrup (I buy mine from Starbucks)
Lemon Buttercream Icing
- 4 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1/2 c. butter, softened
- 1/2 c. shortening
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp milk
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in oil, then eggs, then milk, then raspberry syrup, mixing only until blended each time. Our batter into 2 greased 8” round pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Spread lemon curd as filling in between cake layers and top with lemon icing.
For lemon icing: cream together shortening and butter. Add lemon juice. Mix in powdered sugar until well blended. Add milk until you reach desired consistency.
******UPDATE*******
The raspberry cake was actually pretty good! I finally tried it today and was presently surprised by its tastiness! I am, however, torn on whether I LOVE the lemon curd filling, or HATE it! :) I think I probably prefer the cake all by itself, so next time I will be putting them in cupcake form with a simple cream cheese icing on top.
Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating, Cakes, icing, Marissa
30 Days and 30 Bites – Day 21
The Great Chocolate Melt of 2010! Today was what I would pretty much call a dud. I wanted to continue with my “technique” work. Turns out it didn’t work so well. For the sake of ease and productivity, I used the cupcakes I had previously frozen from the pink and green day. After I defrosted them I covered them with store bought cream cheese icing. 
Tough, I know!
The special part of today was supposed to be the toppers for the cupcakes. I thought I would practice free form chocolate melting. I went online and found a bunch of typical clipart pictures. Things like shells, hearts, animals, stars, etc. I printed the pictures out on a couple pieces of paper and taped them to a cookie sheet. Over the top of the pictures I taped a piece of wax paper. The idea was that I would trace the outlines of the shapes with a piping bag filled with chocolate, creating the shape to put on the cupcake. Easy enough, right?
Well, the chocolate melting went fine. The tracing even went fine after I practiced a bit (I do not have the steadiest hand for details like that). I chilled the chocolates and took them out to put on the cupcakes. I literally could not get more than one on a cupcake before they all started melting!!! I tried sticking my hands in ice to keep them cold. I put the spatula on ice that I was pulling them up with. It didn’t matter. Even when I perfected the method to get them off the cookie sheet and onto the cupcake, they still continued to melt.
I think the best thing to do to try to remedy this would be put the ICED cupcakes in the fridge before ever putting the chocolate on. That way, the chocolate will stay cold as soon as it touches the cupcake. But still, doesn’t that mean the cupcakes will ALWAYS have to be cold? Won’t the chocolate still melt as soon as you take it out to sit for an event? Anyone have the answers for me?
I am also attributing the melting to the fact that the chocolate is so thin. But that is the whole point of the free form melting. Oh well. As you can see in the pics, the chocolate pieces I tried to stand on their ends melted and kind of flopped over. If I laid them flat on the cupcake it seemed to work better…for the most part!
Tags: Baking, Cake Decorating, Cakes, chocolate, Cupcakes, frosting, icing, Marissa
