Please note: this post contains obscene butter usage.*
I’ve been thinking a lot about butter lately. Not in terms of health concerns or anything like that. The thing that has held my focus the most is simple yet perplexing to me… there can never seem to be too much butter in something. No, I’m not running for president of the Paula Deen fan club or anything like that (even if we are from the same hometown). But… can you think of anything that a little butter does not make better? Cooking mushrooms? butter. Radishes? butter. Pancakes? butter. Toast? butter. What are brownies without butter?… Have you ever put butter on a biscuit? How about a muffin? But… why would you do that? I mean, they are made with a reasonable amount of butter already. And yet, it isn’t wrong. It is oh so right. Right? (or am I the only one who butters her biscuits?). Anyway, this is what has been running through my head lately.
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: brown butter, cake, gourmet
Yesterday was my last day at work. I can’t believe it is actually over. I’ve been waiting and counting down for a couple of months now (longer than that really, but that was when I made my decision to quit), but now that it’s over I feel odd. I had my struggles with work for quite some time, but it was still sad to say goodbye. I don’t regret the decision to leave, but all day long I found myself pausing to take it all in: This is the last time I’ll sit in this cube fixing bugs… this is the last time I’ll walk downstairs to buy lunch… this is the last time I’ll use this laptop. It was all kind of surreal. I didn’t spend a lot of time this week looking ahead, I spent most of it looking back and saying good-byes. The few glimpses to the future I did have were scary. The unknown is scary. I’m excited and it feels good to be taking a step forward, but I am a little freaked out to be out on my own.
Before I could go, I wanted to leave my friends with a parting gift. Brownies. What could be better than brownies? But I couldn’t decide what kind to make: a classic fudge brownie? s’mores brownies? cheesecake brownies? I just couldn’t choose. That is, until I finished reading The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. The last recipe in his book is for Dulce de Leche Brownies. Ding ding ding, we have a winner. So I pulled out the Spanish dark chocolate that my friend Erinne gave me and bought a can of dulce de leche (it was made by Nestle. I may try making my own next time but the can from Safeway wasn’t too bad).
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: brownies, david lebovitz, dulce de leche, last day
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
I missed last month’s Daring Bakers Challenge which was a lovely looking lasagna with handmade noodles. It was a tough month in my world and while the lasagna sounded delicious, it looked like a lot of work. And I just wasn’t up for work.
So when this month approached and I saw the challenge was cheesecake, I was excited. I mean, cheesecake! Yeah, baby! But the month drew on. And on. And then I found myself almost out of time. Although I did have ideas… chai, chocolate, coffee, kahlua, matcha green tea, and lots of swirls. But then it was Sunday and the deadline was Monday… and I wasn’t in the mood to bake. I mean, I was excited about my ideas just 2 days ago. But today I… well, I just wasn’t feeling it.
Then I remembered last month. And then I remembered the guilt. So… I baked cheesecake. This cheesecake was baked with guilt, not love. It still tastes pretty good though.
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: cake, chai, cheesecake, coffee, daring bakers, kahlua
I was searching for ideas and tips on using soda (aka “coke” if you’re in the South) in cakes in preparation for this month’s Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge (soda pop is the theme ingredient). And that’s when I found it. And once I found it, I had to have it. Do you ever get those uncontrollable urges (needs) to bake something? What is *it*? Coca Cola Cake. I’ve never had it before. I found it on Southern Plate. But once I read about it with the cocoa and the marshmallows and the cocoa I had to have it. The coca cola addition was more a curiosity to me than anything else. I was no longer thinking about Iron Cupcake, I was only thinking about tasting this cake.
So I stopped at the store on the way home from work with 2 things on my list: marshmallows and a bottle of Coke. I had everything else I needed at home. And like a woman possessed, I baked. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do with 13×9 inches of cake when I was the only one there to eat it but that was not a good enough reason to stop.
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: cake, chocolate, coca cola, southern plate
Red velvet cake. It’s a Southern classic. But one of those classics that I took for granted all those years growing up in the South. (I am from Savannah, Georgia and it doesn’t get much more Southern than that.) But my mom is Korean and so I never really thought of myself as “Southern”. At least not until I moved to California. It seems like the absence of things I took for granted made that Southernness start to surface. Things like: Chick-fil-A, good biscuits, fried shrimp (don’t get me started talking about Savannah shrimp vs just about any other kind. Really, just don’t), barbecue and red velvet cake.
I watched as Krispy Kreme doughnuts swept the nation. People would rave about the new doughnut shop that opened, but I was just excited to be reunited with the reason I was late to high school at least a few times a week. Once I was old enough to drive myself to school, my chronic tardiness began to shine through. It’s one of those things I’ve fought as an adult because in business it is less acceptable. But it is a lot of work for me because I am naturally wired to be 5-10 minutes late. Add a Krispy Kreme with its beautiful red “Hot Now” sign conveniently on my way to school, and well… let’s just say I’ve eaten a few doughnuts. I also had to serve detention for racking up so many tardies. But it was worth it.
[Continue reading...]
Tagged as: cake, classic, cupcakes, dessert, krispy kreme, mom's recipe, nostalgia, red velvet
