Sabbatical.

Can you call it a sabbatical if you take a break from one aspect of "work" but continue on in another? As in: I failed miserably to update this blog for...oh...a year and a half. But I did not fail miserably in continuing to bake stuff. And that's what this blog is all about, right? Baking stuff?

In fact, I venture to say that I bake MORE stuff than I did when I started this blog. Not only that, I bake more stuff while I juggle more stuff. As in:

• I met the bf, K.E.V. (at the risk of sounding sappy, and I am NOT sappy: sigh)
• I moved with Bean away from the Pulaski Castle and to the Jewel of Greenpoint
• I moved AGAIN away from Brooklyndia and into the EVill of McHattan
• I HAVE A PUPPY! and he has a wrinkle-face!
  

Now that you've been updated on my major life happenings, this is actually way WAY more important: a sampling of my baking experiences. So here we go...

I Bake Stuff: Cliff's Notes

Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Apple Dumplings with Caramel Sauce

Black Forest Cake - for Bean's and my HausCooling Party!

It's not sweet - but it was tasty! Shrimp Mofongo and Churrasco steak with Chimichurri Sauce
(made with my mom, JuniorMrs.)


Chocolate Babka (this was A-MAZ-ING - thanks for the recipe, Cakespy!)


Elvis's Fluffernutter Cake (or, as I like to call it, the King of Cakes)


Sing it now: Hot Cross Buns!


Red Velvet Whoopie Pie


Banana Cake with Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream


Chocolate Peanut Butter Layered Cake (this was K.E.V.'s favorite)


Cupcake Variety Pack
(I took a cupcake class at Butter Lane in the EVill; it was worth it)


Happy Superbowl! Football Cakeballs.

So, that should about bring you up to speed - more stuff has been baked than is pictured above, however not all baked things were documented. I blame myself, since it is entirely my own fault.

Oh! I have to share just one more photo, a photo of the new addition to our very small EVill apartment....





<------ WRINKLE FACE!
(yup, he's adorable)

Baking with Boxes: A Paycheck-to-Paycheck Feast

When I moved out here, one stipulation I put on myself was not to revert to starving student status. Living in Queenspoint isn't worth eating 2-minute noodles and oatmeal for every meal -- I'm not 19 anymore (or 23, since I was still doing that for my first job -- but hey! It's non-profit! At least you feel good about your work as you ration your white bread and peanut butter to last all week).

So when I found myself attempting to live JUST on my paycheck for the first time since I moved out here, I also found myself with...well, a less than desirable amount of money in my bank account to get me through the weekend. And this wasn't just any weekend -- when is it, when it's the empire of New York? This was Northside Festival weekend, a self-inflicted barrage of shows, wanderings, Mr. Jameson, 16+ bars, and making new friends.

My fiscally sound solution: it was time to bust into the emergency food.

Luckily, I'm more creative than I used to be in my younger years. I made a veritable feast -- and everything (well, mostly) came from boxes. It wasn't healthy, it wasn't pretty, but it was most definitely edible.

First course: Asparagus Spears, Albacore Tuna, Elbow Noodles with a Light Cheese Sauce


Second Course: Dense Yellow Cake with Creamy Chocolate Pudding Fosting, served with a teacup of cold milk




And now: the ingredients (prepare yourself -- it looks like an aisle in Safeway)

I would like to note that items used were Key Food brands -- none of that high falutin' Kraft or Duncan Hines stuff for this girl!



Class. Pure class. Luckily I've since gotten paid -- enough to restock the emergency food!

I Suck at This.

Hey -- guess what guys! I'm going to start this blog, and it's going to be awesome, and I'm going to update it all the time because I bake ALL THE TIME and I want to share recipies with my friends! And you should all read it because I ramble about my random life experiences here in the land of Queenspoint, principality of the New York Empire.

And then you know what I'm going to do? Stop updating it a month after I start it.

The thing is, once you start something like this you kind of feel guilty if you don't keep it up. And I like to be one of those people with the follow through to actually DO what they say they're going to do. Like when I had that crazy idea to move across the country from all my friends and family to the Empire of New York. Or when I said I wanted to have a library. Or when I said I wanted to have a Star Wars movie marathon...

...that one hasn't happened yet -- but it will. Oh yes.

Long story short: I'm going to take you on a whirlwind tour of some of the things I baked since my last update (St Patrick's Day -- yikes!). Besides the baked goods, here are some things that you missed my ramblings about:

• (1) trip to New Zealand in which I rediscovered my love of my pseudo-homeland, was caught in a sheeps crossing peppered with segways, and learned to love their dry, crumbly baked goods
• (1) best friend moving away from Queenspoint, to embark on a life-changing tour of the US of A whilst babysitting 16 Nigerian musicians
• (1) frantic roommate/apartment search that basically stole my soul, and all of my energy
• (1) visit from another best friend that included 2 nights up past my bedtime
• (2) new German friends
• (18) episodes of my newest obsession, Skins (you haven't seen it yet? Why are you reading this?! Go -- find it -- watch it right now!)
• (11) weeks of procrastinating about this blog.

So there. You're all caught up. Save for 2 new jobs...but that's not all that interesting.

OK. Are you reading for the Junior Miss Slacker Baking Tour 2009?

March 8, 2009: Tamale Pie

Basically - browned ground beef, corn, olives, onion, tomatoes, jalepenos, whatever else you want, topped with corn bread and baked. Throw some salsa and sour cream on top and you're golden.

March 10, 2009: Apple Pie x2

I made 2 apple pies, partly because I had enough stuff and partly to try 2 different tops. This one is brown sugar, some flour, and butter -- with an apple cut out on top. I think I threw some cheddar cheese in this, but I can't remember...

March 14, 2009: Pi(e) Day! Shepherd's Pie and Butterscotch Puddin' Pie

K-Patz and I celebrated Pi(e) Day with some delicious Shepherd's Pie (that barely lasted 2 days) and the easiest of easy, trashy yet delicious pudding pie -- butterscotch pudding with pre-bought (!) graham cracker crust. Topped with Cool Whip to make it extra special...

March 17, 2009: Luck o' the Irish Soda Bread

Yeah, damn straight I made a pun. Mom's Irish Soda Bread recipe (which -- turns out -- is just from Sunset magazine) turned out wonderfully. It served great purpose for open-faced modified reubens (corned beef and sauerkraut w/ mustard) and wasn't even too shabby as Irish-French Toast. Our kitchen is the melting pot of food ethnicities -- Bean made Indian turkey curry, the leftovers of which she may turn into chilli.

May 10, 2009: I'm Too Cheap To Buy Brunch Coffee Cake

Got yet another old fashioned cook book at the Fort Greene Flea Market, so I had to try out a recipe. Super basic apple spice coffee cake, not too sweet and perfect with a giant cup of black coffee. What's the point of eating brunch out when you can make this in 30 minutes?

May 14, 2009: Kiwi-Pride Afghan Biscuits

Rediscovered my love of Kiwi food and bought the Kiwi cookbook bible (Edmonds) while on my trip. Turns out eating meat in a country where their largest export is lamb might be a good thing... Afghans, ginger slices, anzac biscuits, mince pies, lamingtons -- all will be visited in the coming months.

May 14, 2009: You Fail Applesauce Sour Cream Biscuits

Another recipe from the old cookbook purchased from the Fort Greene Flea Market, these biscuits failed. The ingredients all sounded good: applesauce, sour cream, "nippy" cheese. However, they turned out dry and crumbly and, frankly, tasteless. They did reincarnate into the absolute BEST bread pudding I have ever eaten in my life -- I found a recipe online for biscuit bread pudding, modified it a bit because I didn't have the right ingredients, and stumbled onto quite possibly the best thing I ever baked. Bean and I ate it so fast I didn't even take a photo. Someday I will recreate it...

May 30, 2009: Bougey Apple Rhubarb Crisp

So I went down to the local green market on Saturday and purchased some organic apples and rhubarb (along with bok choy and scallions) and made the above crisp. And then meditated on how much of a bourgeoise act I performed that day. OH! And I also stopped at a stoop sale and bought a pink and silver china set (complete with creamer!) for $10. Not that that really relates at all, other than I'm really excited about it.



So there you are. I hope that we can move forward without another long absence. I'm recommitting to you, I Bake Stuff! I won't stray again.

Don't Bother Me: Shoofly Pie

On this festive St Patty's Day, I find the time and inclination to catch up a bit on the ol' baking blog. Don't think that I haven't been baking in the blog-silence. I have. Quite a bit. Pies have been the theme of late as well, especially with the recent awesomeness of Pi(e) Day (3.14). So while K-Patz determines her mascot face-off bracket (I ask you: who would win? A Ute or a Wildcat? A Jayhawk or a Bison? Difficult to call...) and Bean reads up on some juicy gossip blogs, and corned beef and soda bread transform from bloody meat and goo to deliciousness, I will fill you in on the one pie that I have made that I really didn't enjoy eating.

A long time ago, in a land far away (on the Upper East Side), I came across a little framed gem:


As I had all the items in the cupboards -- including that molasses I bought for gingerbread men cookies I never got around to making over the holidays -- it seemed fitting to make it. If you're going to hang a recipe up as art, you'd best have made the recipe...


Shoofly Pie - from Miss Rose, procured from Housing Works Thrift Shop
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup corn syrup
1 cup water
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 nine-inch pie shell (uncooked)

After you mix together the syrup, molasses, water, soda, and egg put half in a separate bowl. Now mix the brown sugar, butter, and flour with half your batter and pour it into your pie shell. Carefully pour the other half of your batter on the top. Heat up your stove to 400 and cook for 25 min. Chill and serve.


Sometimes I have issues making pie crust. When I say sometimes I mean all the time. It's like each time I roll out the crust, it's the first time. Constantly a virgin pie crust maker. It's my curse. This was one of the worst, which caused my pie to come out like this:


Stupid crust. All the sugary goodness leaked and freaking RUINED MY PIE.

And on top of that, I don't really like molasses. It was really sweet, really molasses-y, and kind of spongy. Super strange texture. Didn't really like it, but you know, I ate it all anyway.

Moral of this story is: you don't have to like the pie to hang the recipe on the wall.

Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh BATCAKE!

Last weekend, something very important happened. Something that only happens once a year. Something that must be celebrated, shared with friends, and requires a drinking game be made in honor of it. That something is...

The Oscars.

In honor of one of our favorite nominated films, K-Patz decided to create a cake fit for the caped crusader. Namely, a Batmobile cake. A sculpted, frosted, speedy Batmobile. Busting through a cake wall and fighting off cake balls.

Yes, that's right. Cake Balls. But we're going to save those for another time.

The Batmobile cake required baking a 13x9 inch and 8x8 inch devil's food cake. From there, K-Patz (who's very artistically inclined) sculplted the 13x9 to resemble the front of the 'Mobile. She then stuck on the 8x8 with some frosting, sculplted it to look like the cab portion of the vehicle, and stuck on some spare pieces for the fins. The entire thing was frosted with tinted vanilla frosting with some chocolate melted in it, and a Batman symbol was drawn on the windshield. From there, Batman and cake balls entered the scenario. And enough description, here's the masterpiece:



Yeah, that's right. That's what WE were eating on Sunday night whilst celebrating Slumdog Millionaire's big win. What were YOU eating?


Jealousy is rough. I know.

I Want Candy: Salted Caramels

*So this isn't exactly baking, but it did require some cooking on the stove top. And since this is my blog, I can break my own rules if I want to. Darnit.


On our aforementioned Cheap Date Pub Crawl, I made some hasty yet well-advised plans with a friend (Ms. Steers) to make some candy -- salted caramels, to be precise. I'm not much of a candy maker, there was a brief stint for Christmas where my mom and I made peppermint patties and peanut butter cups for the family. But when Ms. Steers mentioned salted caramels that are easy to make and delicious, I couldn't resist.

So, on a Monday afternoon when no one was working, Mr. and Ms. Steers graced the Pulaski Castle with their presence. And they came bearing sea salt and a candy thermometer.

Ms. Steers basically did all the work, I observed and learned; there was a little stirring going on as well. So here we go, perhaps one of the classiest things made yet in our kitchen:

Salted Caramels

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling on top. Sea salt is found in specialty food stores under the name "fleur de sel." You can also experiment with artisanal salts if you like.
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water

Equipment

• 8" square baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Candy thermometer (or a deep-fat thermometer)
• Wax paper for wrapping or paper candy cups

Yield: About 40 caramels.

Directions

1. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper.
2. Bring the cream, butter and sea salt to a boil in a small saucepan; remove from heat and set aside.
3. Boil the sugar, corn syrup, and water in a heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan; then cook without stirring until the mixture reaches 248°F, the firm-ball stage.
4. Carefully stir in the cream mixture—the mixture will bubble up. Simmer, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. The temperature should not go higher than 250°F.
5. CANDYMAKER TIP: To get the caramel consistency you want, test by dropping a spoonful of caramel into a bowl of cold water. It will form a ball, which you can test with your fingers. Stop cooking when the ball is the consistency that you want.
6. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and cool 2 hours.
7. OPTIONAL: You can enrobe your caramels in tempered melted chocolate; sprinkle the top with some grains of sea salt (pretty salts make a difference); or press in some culinary lavender buds.
8. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, folding ends or twisting to close like taffy.
9. ALTERNATIVE: Pour the caramel into individual candy cups.

Now, this recipe is definitely fancy. It calls for "enrobe"-ing and a candy thermometer. But all in, it wasn't that difficult to pull off. And the results were, of course, very tasty. How can you go wrong with heavy cream, butter, sugar, and sea salt?

Thank god Ms. Steer took home half of the recipe, because the whole recipe would have gone, well, like delicious salted carmels should go -- FAST.

Thanks, Ms. Steer. And Mr. Steer, you've got quite a catch there...

Oldies But Goodies: Chocolate Cake

Although I am not a religious person, after a discussion with my roomies last night, I decided that maybe I should take Lent more seriously. Or, at least the next 30 days until I take off for New Zealand (!!!). So, in an effort to do without something that is very important to me, I will spend the next month without:

CHOCOLATE.
(yikes)

In celebration of my new-found willpower, this post is about quite possibly the best chocolate cake I've ever made. It's from my favorite new cook book, the Watkin's Cook Book from my Great Grandma, circa 1925. Following the less than awesome outcome of my Cocoa Cream Cake, I was a little worried about baking yet another chocolate cake from the cook book. But my need to use up the one egg yolk from the previous recipe, and the simplicity of the recipe, convinced me to just do it.

So I did. Here is my Chocolate Cake:


Chocolate Cake (from Watkins Cook Book, 1925)

• 1/2 cup Watkins Cocoa
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup sweet milk
• yolk of 1 egg

Boil well together and let cool:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour milk* into which 1 teaspoon soda has been dissolved.

1. Mix both parts together and add 2 cups flour.
2. Bake in moderate oven* in layers.
3. Ice with chocolate icing and nuts.

Chocolate Butter Frosting (from Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1969)

• 1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
• 2 ounces unsweetened melted chocolate (cool)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
• About 2 Tbsp milk

1. Mix margarine and chocolate.
2. Stir in powdered sugar.
3. Beat in vanilla and milk until frosting is of spreading consistency. Fills and frosts two 8- or 9-inch layers or frosts a 13x9-inch cake.

So, the recipe seemed simple when I first read it. Then I realized: sweet milk? Sour milk? Moderate oven? Huh? After some googling, and a call to my mom, everything was made clear.

**Sweet milk is whole milk (which, might I add, I didn't use -- I used fat free, since that's all I had in the house). Sour milk is sweet milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice added to it (1 Tbsp per cup of milk). And a moderate oven is about 350 degrees. I actually really liked that I had to do a little sleuthing to understand the recipe...

So the cake was freaking awesome. The only weird thing is that there were some little chewy bits in between the layers, which I think came from boiling the butter, sugar, eggs and sour milk together. Not sure if I let it cool long enough, or if I should have boiled it for longer. Next time I might try boiling it for longer. But the cake and the frosting were delicious. All that was missing was some sort of decoration on top -- that's my next step...

Unfortunately, I don't get to make this again until April. Such is the life of a lapsed Catholic that still retains some semblance of Catholic guilt.

Happy (?) Lent!