Baking
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An airline snack like no other
Filed under: Baking, America  As airlines continue to go out of business and slash budgets at rapid rates, the free snack foods are often the first to get cut. And forget honey-roasted peanuts - now, with fears of peanut allergies, many airlines have switched to boring ol' pretzels, in fear of getting sued by the parents of allergic toddlers, or - gulp - nothing at all! Over the weekend, I flew Midwest Airlines, one I'd never ridden before. (I swear, Midwest didn't pay me to endorse them). When I stepped on my first Midwest flight, I smelled the familiar smells - recirculated air, extra lemon-y bathroom deodorizer - but there was a hint of something magical in the air. Something... chocolately. I quickly shrugged it off and proceeded to pass out in my seat. Continue reading An airline snack like no other Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Lego my cake
Filed under: Dessert, Baking  I shamelessly stole this idea from the Betty Crocker website but I did manage to change it up to make it a bit more interesting. It turned out very well but it had me cussing more than I imagined it would. I started with two leveled cakes that were made in loaf pans. I did one in chocolate and one in french vanilla for a little variety. The vanilla one was cut in half to make the two smaller blocks. For the chocolate block, I managed to find chocolate marshmallows to cut in half and use for the top of the block but let me assure you that these sound a lot yummier than they actually are. The smaller blocks got strawberry marshmallows which I highly recommend for sm'ores or just nibbling. The large block was covered in blue buttercream icing and smoothed for a flat surface. Then I covered each marshmallow half, set in it's spot and attempted to even them out as well. Those little buggers can be quite uncooperative. Next, I covered the green block and set it at a small angle against the first one. The final block was the one that presented a couple of small challenges in order to sit on its side. I iced the bottom edge of the block while holding it then placed it next to the other pieces. The top portion of the block was resting on the points of the other two and I must say that marshmallows make for a squishy support system at best. They also tend to slide off when at an angle so, for the yellow block, they were secured with toothpicks as they went on. The cake turned out cute although I never managed to get it as smooth as I wanted. Looking back, maybe the reason I found the cake, which was actually pretty simple, a chore is that it wasn't my original idea. Normally, all the little challenges I encounter when making a cake are fun and interesting but apparently that is only true when the concept is mine in the first place. %Gallery-26624% Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Italian Knot cookies
Filed under: Recipes, Baking, Sugar  When other kids were salivating for chocolate chip cookies, I was nuts for Italian Knot cookies. They might not be as easy to make as grabbing some spoonfuls of dough, slopping it onto a pan, and baking, but they're delicious and worthy of the extra time it takes to make them. The recipe that follows was handed down to me as a child, by an old friend of the family, Rosie. I've been making them ever since. What I particularly like about these cookies is that you can flavor them to fit your audience. The dough is always the same, but Italian Cookies aren't complete without the icing. If you want a soft and perfect match, go for a little anise extract in your icing. Or, you can try lemon, orange, or a myriad of other flavors. Personally, I'm anxious to find a day to sit down, whip up a batch, and pull out my coffee extract. Check out the gallery below to see how to make them, and the recipe after the jump. %Gallery-26324% Continue reading Italian Knot cookies Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Feast Your Eyes: The beginning stages of chocolate muffins
Filed under: Baking, Feast Your Eyes  At my office, the last Friday of the month is cupcake day, in honor of all the birthdays that people have celebrated that month. One of my co-workers is married to a local baker of some note and so she supplies an outstanding assortment of cupcakes for us each month. We all look forward to it with great anticipation when the month draws to a close. This month, they moved cupcake day up to Thursday (since so many people are going taking vacation for the 4th of July holiday week) and so now I've got cupcakes on the brain. This picture features the very early stages of muffin making, but it is priming my hunger for a pint-sized treats baked in scalloped cups. Only seven more hours to go! If you want the recipe for Marilyn's mini-muffins, go here. Thanks to Marilyn for adding her picture to the Slashfood Flickr pool! Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Family Circle keeps First Ladies in the kitchen
Filed under: Dessert, Baking, America, Sugar, Celebrities  As much as I abhor the tradition, Slashfood would be remiss to not cover Family Circle's famous would-be-First-Wives Cookie Bake-Off. 'Cause nothing reflects a man's ability to run the United States like his wife's baking skills! But misogyny aside, the winning cookie recipe has, indeed, accurately predicted the White House winner for four elections running. And, interestingly enough, all four of said recipes have riffed on America's love affair with oats'n'chips. Oh Americans, so set in your ways. Ever the people-pleaser, Cindy McCain submitted a can't-beat combo of oatmeal cookies with butterscotch chips. (Hopefully this was not another recipe she plagiarized from Giada De Laurentiis.) And what did Michelle Obama do? She opted for shortbread cookies with citrus zest and a pour of Amaretto. Great. *facepalm*Politics aside, I am predisposed to Obama's Shortbread Cookies. Although the pictures on Family Circle make them look a bit like unappetizing li'l fruit cake slices, the dried fruit is optional, so really, it's just shortbread spiked with zest and almondy alcohol. Um, yes please. Who are you voting for? Keep it to cookies, please, no need for political drama in a foodie forum! Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Slashfood Ate (8): Loving lavender
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A "Dip in the Pool" cake
Filed under: Dessert, Baking, Summer  Time for a fun summer cake! With the heat of summer coming to the south early this year, I felt the need to make a pool cake. I started with two 11x9 sheet cakes, one in chocolate and one in french vanilla just for fun. I stacked them with buttercream icing and cut out the center of the top one for the pool. Next, I mixed up some blue vanilla icing for the water and smoothed in into the pool area. To make it glossy like water, once the icing crusted I brushed on some piping gel. This was my first time using it and I was really impressed with how well it worked. Next I went about making the tiles. Using fondant, I cut out four separate sections for each patio side on the top of the cake and indented them at one inch with a toothpick for tiles. I had cut out individual white tiles to line the pool itself thinking it would be easier to get them down in there that way. They separated just a bit as the cake settled in so if I were to do it again, I would probably make the same tile strips that I did the for patio area. The hot pink towel was made by simply cutting out a fondant rectangle and indenting each end twice with a toothpick. I bent it just a little as it cured so it wasn't just laying flat. The diving board is just white fondant but for an extra touch, it was lightly coated in sugar on the top so it has that same rough, no-slip surface. I was nervous about shaping the legs mostly because I'm not comfortable making people yet. But legs and feet were easy enough. The second one was harder than the first because it not only had to look human but it also had to match the size of the first one. I just love how they turned out on the cake though. For the outside edging, I made lots of different colored tiles and added them one at a time using just a dab of buttercream for the tastiest spackle ever. It still needed some shade and I just couldn't resist using a drink umbrella which is the only inedible thing on the cake. I added just a bit more piping gel just to make it really shimmer and she was all done. Anyone want to dive in? %Gallery-24958% Permalink | Email this | Comments
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The Force Is Strong: Another R2D2 Cake
Filed under: Dessert, Baking, On the Blogs, America, Bakeries  This R2D2 cake is the perfect storm of my nerdy obsessions: science fiction, red velvet cake, Rice Krispy treats, things that look like other things. As we last wrote about an R2D2 wedding cake last month, I'm clearly not alone in my love of cake-flavored robot. However, I think this cake is even better-looking. The recipient is one lucky four-year-old! Created by baker Mark Randazzo, it's a multi-layered red velvet cake with white icing, with Rice Krispy treat legs and hand-painted food color details. Check out the pictures of the cake in-progress: I'm not sure I've ever seen so many layers. Randazzo's a talented guy - catch him making a giant monkey cake on reruns of Food Network's Extreme Cake Challenge. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Tip of the Day: Quick, tasty, and crunchy baked potatoes
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Cheese-imbued bread that looks good enough to make you drool
Filed under: Recipes, Baking, On the Blogs, Bread  A couple of days ago, a friend sent me a direct message on Twitter that said, "My God. You should blog about this recipe. I'm drooling down to my socks." He included a link that took me to the picture you see above. It turned out to be a post on the King Arthur Flour blog from March with a pictorial recipe for Hot Cheese Bread that is so wonderful and gooey with cheese that it just begs to be ripped into. I'm not much of a yeast baker, quick breads are more my style. I'm thinking though that I might need dip my toe into the bread baking world again in order to try out this bread (I'm already dreaming of the cheese I'd use in the middle). Has anyone tried this recipe? Was it as delicious as it looks? Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Lavender: So hot right now. Lavender.
