Pão de Queijo - The Daring Baker Challenge May 2014

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge took us on a trip to beautiful Brazil! Renata of "Testado, Provado & Aprovado!" taught us how to make Pao De Queijo, tasty cheese buns that make the perfect snack or treat, and that will make your taste buds samba!

Yum, yum. As a non-meat eater, the pao is all I eat when I go to a Brazilian steak house. OK, and a little bit of salad. I would munch and munch on them while the others chomp and chomp on meats. If you are wondering why a non-meat eater would go to a steak house, it's a social thing. Office events, hubby's office events ... 

Needless to say I was excited to try this out. I over-baked them a bit, I think. The crust was a little harder than I'd like it to be, but the inside was quite yummy. I cut them into bite-size quarters for PB's school snack the next day. I thought the monterey jack was good, but PB said "need more cheese next time". I guess he likes them much cheesier!

Thank you, Renata for the delicious challenge.

Easter Bread - The Daring Baker Challenge April 2014

The April Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She challenged us to Spring into our kitchens and make Easter breads reflecting cultures around the world.

Thank you, Wolf, for the challenge. Very aptly timed.I baked this on Good Friday, hoping that there would be a few slices left to enjoy on Easter Sunday. 

I followed the osterbrot recipe almost to the T. I substituted currants (couldn't find any at the grocery store) so I used craisins that were in the pantry and omitted almonds (someone in the house won't eat nuts of any kind, almond included). I love it slightly toasted and slathered with jam. Yum.

 

 

Beautiful Bread - The Daring Baker Challenge February 2014

Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise, challenged us to make beautiful, filled breads. Who knew breads could look as great as
they taste?

I love baking my own bread. So thank you, Sawsan, for the great challenge of baking beautifully formed breads.

I made the cinnamon sweet bread but skipped the condensed milk drizzles. It think it tasted like a dryer, and healthier?, version of cinnamon rolls. Not too bad. 

I totally forgot to take pictures until it was in the oven, so here's the end product. 


It puffed up a little more than expected, browned a little faster than expected and turned out not as beautiful as expected :) But I learned something new. Isn't that the idea?

 

Happy New Year

With all the veggie, carb, butter and sugar, I wish you all a happy new year! 

Whoopie Pies - The Daring Baker Challenge December 2013

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"

This was the first time I had and, obviously made, whoopie pies.I chose the chocolate whoopie pies, with greek yogurt and honey frosting for filling. The frosting was perfectly tangy for my taste, but too runny for its intended purpose. O well. I just opened the pie, drip more yogurt on top and ate it Oreo style! Perfect!!

Thank you, Bourbonnatrix for a fun, fun, fun challenge!

Anxious, anxious ... Taking a peek off the oven.

Ready to eat!

Happy Thanksgivukkah

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Chanukah!

We were planning on eating barbeque for Thanksgiving when a visit to Annie's Eats inspired me to roast turkey breast, make green bean casserole from scratch and bake some honey rolls. Seem easy enough to cook for four, and so it was. Thank you, Annie!

I was also going to buy pie, when I heard Chef Matthew Raiford talk about his Nana's sweet potato pie on NPR. 

So indeed the universe is telling me to cook for thanksgiving. 

The Mushroom gravy recipe is from Splendid Table. (Yea, yea ... I listen to too much NPR.)

So here goes. My first home-cooked thanksgiving meal; except for the pie shell (after making sfogliatelle last week, I don't want to see a rolling pin for another month at least), and  the french fried onion (no mood to deep fry shallots today.)  All devoured within 20 minutes! With just enough left over for light lunch tomorrow. 

Sfogliatelle - The Daring Baker Challenge November 2013

Sandie of the lovely blog, Crumbs of Love, was our November hostess. Sandie challenged us to make a traditional Italian dessert, along with its American version – Sfogliatelle (or better known in the US – lobster tails!) The flakey, 1000 layers of super thin dough, shaped into a horn and filled with a scrumptious filling. Così buono!

O my ...  and a challenge it was!

I made the ricotta cheese and candied orange peel, for the first time ever. The Sfogliatelle Frolle came out OK, but for someone with my (lack of) patience, making the Ricci without a pasta maker was the most challenging part.I will definitely try making the ricci again, hopefully with a better result.

Thank you, Sandie and the daring bakers for the challenge and encouragement!

Ricotta, Candied Orange Peel, Ricotta-Semolina Filling

Sfogliatelle Frolle and Ricci.