How Have I Gone My Entire Life ...

How I've gone my entire life without using one of these before, I don't know? But I tell ya' what, I love this thing. Haven't used my glass pie pan, since.

And you know what? I think I might even have a few onions rolling about. I could make a big onion tart. Yum!

Christmas Gift from Frankenberry

Baker's Report: THIS JUST IN

Baker's Report: FUN

The chocolate chip agave muffins that I wrote, gave me a face rash. Though the science was right, in that the muffins baked and rose properly, the taste however, needs a few tweaks. I'll also need to locate, remove and replace the allergen.

But that's the fun of writing food.

Sometimes the science is off but the flavours are good. Other times it's the other way around. And on occasion, nothing works and it's a complete rewrite.

Whichever the case, it's all fun....except for the face rash.

Baker's Report: Bakes Gone Wild

I did it.  I baked everything I set out to bake from Holly Sinclair's, The ABC's of Desserts. 

Hot dog.  I'm jazzed.

I gotta tell ya, I don't know what was more fun.  Playing with Holly's recipes, taking the photos, eating the bakes, or showing everything to Frankenberry when he got home from his gaming con.

It was such a blast that I'm buying 4 digital copies of Holly's dessert book and giving them to Martha, Suzie, Wendy, and Jen.  Surprise, girls.  Hope you have as much fun as I did.  

But wait, that's not all.  Holly will give a FREE digital copy of ABC's of Desserts, to one Boogerbutt from this post.  To learn more about Holly, click the Foodie images on my side bar.  You can join her Foodie Blog Hop, buy her books, or just say howdy.

But first, check out all the stuff I made from her book, from my bakes gone wild weekend.  Our favorites were the lemon treats.  We both love lemon and I love baking with citrus.  Such a great taste.  It's a win, win.

Before I wrap up today's Baker's Report, please pull up a chair.  We have coffee, tea and water, plenty of plates and lots to eat today.  Enjoy!

PS:  There's some sort of wonky distortion going on with photo number one and being that it's 15 minutes to 4AM, I don't have time to fix it.  So here's both.

Cheers and boogie boogie.

Homemade Stuffing Bread {Today's Lab}

Tonight is supposed to be Thanksgiving dinner but I just couldn't get it all done in time and come out still standing.  But that's only because I was out couponing.  No freebies but lots of produce for good prices.

I'm happy with that.

Now dig this.  Below is a ball of dough that I made today for stuffing bread, no horrid little store-bought cubes for us, thanks.  Anyway, this morning I used homemade chicken stock to make the dough (along with herbs).

Now I've made herb stuffing bread before but never used chicken stock instead of water, to make dough.  I'm super excited to see how today's lab, bakes.

Oh, and I almost forgot, I got a buttload of local apples for super cheap.  Oh my gosh, the bakes.  My brain nearly can't stand the excitement.  It's too much I say, too much.

PS: It's about to turn 4:14 - now that's cool.

Oiled ball of stuffing dough, just after being made.

Another Brownie Bites the Dust

Made another batch of brownies yesterday using a recipe I found in a brownie book.   I thought they'd be good because they called for almond meal and I use that in many of my own formulas.  Only they weren't good.  And after eating them I got a horrible headache.

I didn't like the headache, but what I did like is the technique of folding whipped egg whites into the brownie batter.  I've used egg whites for other applications but never brownies.  I'll happily use that trick again.  But for right now, I'm brownied out, as I'm not a big brownie eating fan.

In other news, today I'm fixing to use an idea I have to make Halloween Mummy Dog Biscuits.  If it works I'll post it.

And that my Boogerbutts, wraps up today's post.   Thanks for reading and remember to always have a spooky day.

PS: Tim bought me this funny little mummy.  So cute.

Baker's Report: Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2

I'm up early, in my prep clothes and by the time Tim wakes, the house will smell of apples and cinnamon.  Which is good because yesterday, I didn't do a ding dong thing.

Nope nope.  Instead I stayed in my jams and played with my new Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2, with Logitech bluetooth keyboard and case.   This is what Tim got me for Halloween, along with a Halloween Snoopy and Woodstock mug.

None of which I have pictures to show you yet.  But dig this, when I write a formula, I can talk into the Galaxy and it will type it for me.  Or use my S pen for hand-written notes and with one click, convert them to text.

Or, if I'm reading articles about food, but I only want to save one paragraph, all I have to do is circle it with my S pen and save just that bit, for later.

But that's not all.  I can also use the device to snap quick photos of the steps, and insert them into the notes.

Or, or, or ... I can watch my favorite cookery shows and play along at my kitchen table, because the Logitech keyboard turns the tablet into a laptop.

Best Halloween gift, ever.

Baker's Report: Both Ass & Arse

Today kicked BOTH ass and arse.  Yeppers.  That's how good my work day went.

Got my food writing and experiments done, including but not limited to, apple pie.  Kitchen is cleaned and closed for the day, and whilst I'm still in my prep cook clothes - aside from writing more notes about today's lab work - I'm done.

PS: Dig these mini pie bakeware dishes from Portugal.  Got them on clearance at Wegmans for $1.72 each.

PPS: These little dishes hold more apples than I hoped for.  One pie serves four good slices or six smaller portions.

PPPS: Now I can experiment with various pie crusts on a smaller scale.  I LOVE IT!

PPPPS: And it's really 4:44 in the afternoon.  This day rocks.

Baker's Report: What a Bake!

Yesterday I worked on jalapeno tart shells, using my Easy Bake Oven, pie weights and one of my new 6 count cupcake trays.  It's part of a new series I'm working on, Tarts, Tarts, Tarts.

That's not really the name but it made me smile.

After the jalapeno tarts I wrote a test batch of six plain shells.  Oh my gosh, so crispy.  Really nice texture.  Though a tad salty, depending on the innards I use, and a little too thin for a heavy filling.  But even still, what a crisp.  What a snap.

What a bake!

Now I'm inspired to write a crisp cracker, using my base tart formula, rolled killer thin.  I've got ideas for sweet, spicy, savoury, and salty crackers.

This is gonna be a fun day.

Baker's Report: New Toys

I realized that I never showed y'all my new toys.  Hubby stashed $100 of casino winnings from way back when we were on staycation in May, just for the trip to this store.  Then, he found out when they were having their 25% off ALL NordicWare Bakeware, and we hit the road.

Everything here was zero oop.  In couponing terms, that means zero out of our pocket.  Or better put, free.

Although, Hubby saw my face and knew that even at zero oop, I was getting a rash.  So he went to the counter and paid for what I already picked out, with his winnings.  Then came back to where I was and took the rest from me and got that free too.

He told the lady, "I have to hurry up and get it paid for before my wife talks herself out of it, saying that she doesn't need it.  Then we get home tonight and she'll say, I wish I would have gotten that."

The lady laughed and said, "We're all like that."

Click to Expand

Baker's Report: My First Cake

I baked my very first cake, yesterday.  I don't know how, but somehow, I never made cake before.  Just the boxed ones at work.  I also realized yesterday, that I totally suck at frosting the cake.  However, the Maple Vanilla Frosting I created tasted good, even better on the cake, than in the bowl.  Tim thought I used butter, but I didn't. 

Yesterday was a good day.

As I prepared my two new cake pans before 7AM, I thought how lucky I am to start my day like this. 

I don't have to bake.  I get to bake.

Baker's Report: Cherry Hand-Pies

This past weekend I got to play with a new ingredient, organic non-hydrogenated shortening.   Normally, I find pie crust made with shortening, vile.  Hate the taste, texture, just not a fan.  That being said, I had $2 coupon for the organic non-hydrogenated kind, so I gave it a go.

Glad I did, because it worked great.

I'd offer you one, but they're gone.  Frankenberry didn't even get one.  But don't feel too bad for him because he got his very own homemade apple pie, with lattice-topped crust.

And that my little Blueberries, wraps up another Baker's Report.  Up next, non-hydrogenated frosting.

Thanks for reading and boogie boogie.

Baker's Report: Traybakes

The Apple Crumble Cake I made, didn't quite work.  There wasn't enough apple taste, and my test batch was too small.  So I switched pans and called it a traybake.  Needs a second draft but I'm headed in the right direction.  Plus, I came up with an idea for something else.

Sometimes, it's the mistakes that teach me the most.  Each day I think, what if I try it this way?  Would this ingredient work?  When I would ask Mamam (grandma), she's always said in her thick Hungarian accent, "Vee try.  If no good.  Vee try again."

She was a lot of fun to bake with.  Always up for a challenge, and to me, that's the fun of baking.

Meanwhile, no pictures today.  But if you're interested in baking your own traybake, click BBC GoodFood.  Where you'll find lots of fun treats.  Even better, it's all in metric, as all good bakes should be. 

Thanks for reading and boogie boogie.

Baker's Report: Method & Technique

This past weekend Tim bought me (using a coupon), Chloe's Vegan Desserts, to help me better understand the art and science of cupcake making.  I don't know what I'm enjoying more.  The baking.  The eating.  Or applying new techniques to my own bakes.  Probably call it a three-way tie.

I'm having a blast.

I started with Chloe's Carrot Cupcakes using the new-to-me method of combining the leavening agent baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), with an acidic liquid.  I used Bragg's Organic Raw-Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar.  The combination of the two, binds the bake together and replaces the egg.

The second tip was to lightly dust the raisins in flour before gently folding them into the batter.  The flour prevents the raisins from sinking to the bottom.

And you know what?  Both techniques worked. 

The carrot cupcakes were moist and airy and for the tops, I used my own Maple & Vanilla Frosting (also vegan), which put the whole thing over the top.  These cupcakes were killer.  I loved what I learned.  So much so, that I immediately got to work on my own bake.

Chocolate & Banana Muffins.

Draft 1 had too much banana and not the right-sized chocolate chunks.  So I quickly whipped up draft 2, using 100g less banana mush, and switched to miniature semi-sweet flour-dusted, chocolate morsels.  

And it worked.  The muffins were so airy, that they were borderline cupcakes.   Dig the image below, where I peeled back the wrapper to highlight the chocolatey bits.

Insert swanky cupcake stripper music, here.

That concludes today's Baker's Report.  Thanks to everyone who commented on my last few posts.  I'm hiding in my lab but will be out soon, to play catch-up on your blogs.

Thanks for reading and boogie boogie.