It's a KEEPER!

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England. This was a super yummy tart ummmmm thing. I also noticed it looked curdled but the taste is divine.

I love my self scrapping paddle from KAF.

I think I undercooked it at first but I popped it back in the oven and left the heat off and it cooled as the oven cooled and it came out great! I DID NOT get a pic of it sliced as once it was cut it was gone!! My sil loved it and said it was a keeper. Even the pickyish hubbster liked it.

As I scanned thru the completed projects I noticed that some put the filling up the sides and some did a thinnnnnn layer BUT I am a jam girl so I decided on a thick layer just on the bottom. I used Strawberry Jam that is awesomely delish. I confess I did not make the jam. I know a lot of you did but I didn't get any fresh strawberries that looked good untill after I needed to bake this. I used Griffen's Strawberry Jam and it is thick and delish. I also love the retro glass jar that it comes in. I used a 9 in pie tin as my tart pans are all gone. I think that got lost in my last cross country move. :( It was so pretty too so I was annoyed. But things always get lost in a move so...

I thought the crust was amazing! It is so easy and came together so lovely. The layers looked great and it was wayyyyyy easier then I expected as I had heard of this dessert before and it always seems so complicated. Thanks to the lovely ladies at http://thedaringkitchen.com for another awesome recipe.

oops I forgot something!!!

Today is the reveal day for the first daring COOKS challenge- that's right daring cooks a ummmmm subdivision of Daring Baker's. I am feeling bad that I am unable to do it as I have several good reasons. Ready for them? okay then here we go, My mom had her OTHER hip surgery and I was caring for her and you know how she hates cooking in her house as she feels it is to messy!!!!! Then i came home from caring for her and got horrible sick myself and THEN my kid wakes up with a fever of 103 so needless to say (but I already said it so is it really needless?) I was unable to participate this month. :( Go check out http://www.thedaringkitchen.com/ and be sure to check the bloggroll for great people that got their work done!

WOW WOW WOW

I am so excited right now! I was just published over at http://keyingredient.com'>http://blog.keyingredient.com/images/KIFeaturedBloggerBadge.jpg'/>
To see my recipe for yummy fried pickles you can go straight to here;

http://blog.keyingredient.com/2009/05/06/fried-pickles/

I am always so excited when someone likes something that I have made. I currently am testing lots of wonderful recipes as I have a rather large family all in town for an ENTIRE MONTH! I am always fearful when I am cooking for people that they will not like my cooking but so far no one has been poisoned so all is good.

April's daring baker Challenge

Yummy. That is the perfect description of cheesecake so I got lucky because The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. I loved that we could do whatever we want while following the perimeters of a recipe. I despise crust on a cheesecake so I did some with and some without. For the crust I choose to use Oatmeal Cookies that I crushed by hand so they were chunkyish. I also decided to make cupcake size to make sharing easier. I have a lot of family in laws here in town so… I made the basic vanilla cheesecake and I also made some that were solid chocolate some are marble and some are half and half so you THINK it is chocolate till you dig in. They baked up gorgeous in about 23 minutes. I did a faux water bath by putting a pan of water under my pan of cupcakes. I put a pan of water in and then preheated so the water was boiling on its own by the time I needed to add the tray of cheesecake.
I love to cook cupcakes in soufflé cups. It means I don’t need a cupcake pan. I still have a large amount of cupcake pans but I don’t always know how many cupcakes a recipe will make so it enables me to have some variety if I wind up with more batter then ready pans. I started with 12 ready but made 26! And because the soufflé cups are so easy I just plopped some more down and off I went.


I think they look really lovely and shiny. I cracked one on purpose to make sure it was done and one I overfilled so it cracked on its own. But really that is pretty good odds. They are now chilling in the fridge and I am somewhat hostile as I wait for them to cool completely as I want one NOW. This is a lovely creamy recipe that I am hoping is well received as it was MUCH easier then my usual recipe involving whipping egg whites and many more steps. If this is well likes it will be a dessert I make next month while all are here for the family reunion. I will do a large one with blueberry filling.


Thanks for another awesome challenge all my daring baker homies. Make sure you check out the wowish and amazing new website and to check out everybody’s hard work @ http://thedaringkitchen.com/



O M G they are cold and ready to share but I felt I should try them – JUST as a courtesy mind you J THIS is the BEST cheesecake I have ever made! It is creamy and rich and mild and a platform for any flavor. Blueberry was great, marble was great, plain was perfect and layered ummm ohh I still need to try layered. My 6 yr old taste tested the pure chocolate and he seemed really pleased and kept asking when I will make this again! I think for presenting to others I will double cup to prevent run thru as I stabbed thru on the blueberry. WOW I am really surprised how much I love this, it is better than any restaurant cheesecake I have ever had!

I noticed some have mentioned it seemed ”thin” I didn’t have this problem but I left out the lemon juice and the liqueur so that may have made a difference.

Daring Bakers in March

Well, for the first time I am unable to do a challange. Please check out all the other amazing bloggers at http://thedaringkitchen.com/blogroll/bakers it is temparary before the new site is being completed. Here is my new logo that I picked from all the great new options.

I LOVE IT!!!!

A Chocolaty Daring Bakers Challenge!

I was worried as I ordered a new paddle for my Kitchaid mixer and it was back ordered. I thought it would mix this recipe really well so I wanted to have it. I got it from King Arthur Flour and it is a paddle with silicone so it scrapes the bowl as you mix!!! Well, it came today so that means; The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.
This is by far the easiest Challenge since I started. It has 3! Ingredients total
Chocolate
Butter
Eggs
And you can make it look however you like. I have never made a flourless cake before but I have wanted to try it as I have 1 member of the family coming that has flour issues so this may be great.

As you are also supposed to make the ice cream I choose a simple vanilla and decided to make heart shaped ice cream sandwiches. I always feel after I view everyone else ideas and techniques that I should have been more creative but I tend to be fearful but be sure to check out everybody’s website for some trying yummy ideas – I bet there will be some wild ice cream flavors this month! http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com/

My ice cream recipe is super easy as it requires no preplanning.
3 eggs
1 c sugar
Beat until it is thick and creamy

Then Add
1.5 c cream
1.5 c milk
1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix well and pour into your machine and follow directions for your machine

I love my machine as it is a compressor machine so I don’t have to worry about remembering the put the bowl in the freezer the night before. I never remember to do it so …
I first made the ice cream and put it in the freezer to harden a bit more

Then I made the cake using milk chocolate as I wanted something sweet. I was surprised as it tasted like an airy brownie. It was better a few hours later as it seemed to deepen the flavors so this is a perfect make ahead for a party cake. It was a little to rich to make into ice cream sandwiches but as I already had that in my mind I went with it anyway. I cut them using a small heart cookie cutter. I felt it didn’t really need any ice cream as it was so yummy but ohhhhhhh was it scrumptious!

The little heart was just some tempered chocolate I had left over and I piped into the heart shape and let set up.

So I give this 2 chubby thumbs up!! My new rating system needs work. But my daughter seems eager! :)

On a side note I have no clue why it looks steamy??? It isn't hot in any way shape or form but it looks steamy I don't have a better word to describe the look on the pic.

Sparks

I know what you are thinking - another fire- This is a different spark, The kind that makes you excited to get things done or try a new recipe. I don't have that zest right now. I am reading tons of blogs and still cooking but I have zero ability to blog anything that would interest anyone. I will be just blogging on Daring Baker's days only now. Here are some AMAZING blogs;

Hello it is the King of ice cream http://www.davidlebovitz.com/

World's yummiest and informative pictures http://userealbutter.com/ <3>

Wanna know about candy? http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/

Thanks everybody for reading me and I will be back once a month for Daring Bakers unless I am inspired but ummmmm therein lies my problems. :)