Lemon on the run

I screwed up. Remember my New Year's resolution? To make one pie a month? I missed March. I can give excuses like I spent my March making cake pops, etc. Every time I feel guilty about missing March's pie I think of the following:

We went to Destin, Florida for spring break. Sometimes pie making takes a back seat. 

On to April.
One of my favorite pies is lemon meringue so I thought I would give it a go.
I used a web recipe: Ultimate Lemon Meringue Pie

My pie looks awesome. However, it was a perfect example of a trip to lemon meringue pie hell. First it was weepy (the meringue was wet). The other issue was the filling was runny. Super runny. It was like lemon soup! 

Our solution was to freeze it, but I felt frustrated since it took up so much time. The good news was my crust was improving! 

Now Bake That! 
(and then comment with tips to help me...)



 

Be a cake pop head hunter!

My last two posts I talk about making cake pops for my kid's birthday parties. My oldest asked for a Lego birthday party. After more web surfing I was inspired by Living Locurto who made Lego head cake pops with marshmallows. To get that lump-on-the-top-of-the-head look, she used pieces of marshmallow. However, I wanted to still use cake. Another blogger got me on the right track: The Frilly Apron. 

Here are the happy Lego head cake pops:

I also made him a Lego brick cookie cake.

 
What I did:

• If you read my posts in March, you would learn that the favored cake pop method was using a cake pop pan instead of the crushed cake style. That brought a problem for me. Lego heads aren't round! I decided to make a sheet cake and do a biscuit style cutting method to make cylinders. I went through my kitchen, brainstorming different household items to be my cake cutter. No luck. Then I went to Bed Bath and Beyond. AAAAAA! (angels singing). I found a solution! Even better? My solution was less than 5 bucks! I used a cupcake plunger that you use with cupcakes for filling. 
• I used smarties candy for the bumps on the cake pop heads.
• Instead of using decorating icing in a tube, I purchased a bottle of black food coloring and I painted on the little faces with a paint brush.
• Like my golf ball cake pops, I used Barefoot Contessa's birthday sheet cake recipe for the cake pops.
• The bumps on the cookie cake was actually cake. I used the parts of the sheet cake that were pretty thin and made the "bumps" on the brick.

What not to do: 
Don't try to make your own yellow candy coating by using food coloring in almond bark. It turns it into frosting. Darn chemistry. I ended up buying Wilton candy melts at a craft store in duck yellow.

Comments:

The kids loved the cake pops, though one wouldn't eat one because he claimed he wasn't a "cannibalist". Um, okay.


Now Bake That!

 

Cake pops that are fore fun!

I mentioned in my last blog that both of my boys wanted cake pops at their birthday. My youngest had his party at a glow in the dark, indoor mini golf course. I did some serious web surfing and was inspired by 1finecookie. She made the cake pops for Father's Day and they had bacon filling. 

1. Cake
This was a party for 6 year olds so I made Barefoot Contessa's birthday sheet cake as the innards instead: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/birthday-sheet-cake-recipe/index.html

2. Decoration
I didn't have the time to use golf molds, so I used an idea from another blog Candy's Cake Pops and used white sprinkles. Then I melted Air Head candies and molded the golf tees. I made green colored rice krispie treats as the "grass" and put a cake pop in their with his candles so we had something to hold his number 6 birthday cake candle.

The kids LOVED them! So did the party organizers at the indoor mini golf place and I gave each of our party helpers one to take with them. What surprised me was how much the kids loved the rice krispie treats. I say if you can't buy or make your own cake, this would be an great alternative!

Now Bake That!
 

Cake Pop Challenge

I rarely bake cupcakes. Not that I don't like them, I do. I go to Jilly's Cupcake Bar during my birthday every year to get a gigantic gourmet cupcake. http://jillyscupcakebar.com/ 

I also read a friend's blog on cupcakes and get all inspired. http://www.cupcakeproject.com/

Then I had a cake pop and I was intrigued. Maybe it's because I'm from Minnesota where their State Fair is known for having everything on a stick. I mean EVERYTHING. So someone puts a ball of cake on a stick? Sign me up.

For some reason I hadn't gotten around to making them. When I went to a friend's baby shower and received two cake pops to bring home as a party favor, my kids had them. They begged me for cake pops on their birthday. I felt motivated.

Now I just had to figure out how to make them. I felt a test run was necessary.

After some research, I tried two methods/recipes.

1. Mashed up cake balls

To do the the mash-up method I used a recipe was from my local grocery store magazine, Everybody Cooks. Go to page 23. http://www.dierbergs.com/flipbooks/EBC/Spring2012/index.html. 

How it works is you bake a cake. Then break up the cake into chunks or crumbs. Then mix in a can of frosting and roll into balls. Then it goes in the freezer before you poke it with sticks and dip with melted almond bark. 

This method is MESSY. If I didn't squish the balls enough, they sometimes fell apart when I dipped them. However, the benefit is you can really shape them any way you want.

2. Cake Pop Pan

The pan looks like taking two candy molds and then placing them on top of each other and secure them with a pin.

The cake pop pan is by Nordic Ware, which you can get from their website. Personally I found mine at Target, but are at a variety of other stores that have them.

http://www.nordicware.com/store/products/detail/nordic-ware-cake-pop-kit/700EFD84-2673-11E1-B8E4-005056A42C5A

It takes a little practice in figuring out just how much cake batter you can put in there without having it overflow too much through the air vents in the pan. I did giggle though since the cake cooked outside of the pan looked like *something else*. 

This method was less messy, but not really a time saver. After you take the cakes out they have seams that make it look like I was trying to make tiny planet Saturns. I used a paring knife to trim them and they were fine.

Cake pop tips in general:

• Freeze the cake pops before dipping.
• Melt a small amount of almond bark and dip your sticks in them before poking them in the cake pops. This keeps the cake pops from falling of the sticks while dipping.
• Freeze the cake pops again before dipping. Freeze for at least 20 minutes otherwise it takes forever for the coating to harden up.
• I had problems using household items to place the cake pops in to dry. My cake pops would fall over when I walked by. My plan is to buy a cake pop stand or make one for my next round.

Taste test results:

After making the cake pops, I sent some to my husband's work for a taste test and tested them at home. The consensus was that the mash up method was too sweet and the cake pop pan were better. They were fluffy on the inside and crunchy sweetness on the outside.

Now Bake That!

Magical Brownies

I know what you are thinking. I'm not Colorado or California. There is nothing "herbal" in these brownies. Really, they're just brownies. 

I cut it off the picture, but if you look closely you can tell that the corner piece is gone. I couldn't help but have one before snapping the picture. So that's why they are magical. They are magical disappearing brownies.

They are the best brownies EVER. Now I wish I could take credit for them, but it's Mrs. Goldfarb's brownie recipe. It took years of begging my sister-law's friend who brought them to many gatherings for the recipe. Currently my rule is I only share the recipe with friends who share a coveted recipe with me. 

So I will share some general brownie information/tricks I do:

• This recipe has only 1/4 cup of flour.
• The brownie recipes I used in the past you would add sugar to melted chocolate and butter. This recipe I melt the chocolate and the butter. Then temper beaten eggs and stir them in. THEN you add the sugar. The consistency of the batter at this point looks very different than other recipes.
• After baking, the tops of the brownies crackle and when you try to remove the brownies, they like to fall apart. I do Alton Brown's technique: spray the bottom of the glass square pan with butter PAM. Then line the pan with parchment paper so it hangs over the edge of the pan. Then spray butter PAM on the paper. When the brownies are cool, I pull the paper out and use a pizza cutter to cut them.

Don't know how to temper eggs? First know that it takes time, but it's worth it.

• Poke the whisk into the hot liquid and then stir it in the eggs. 
• Repeat until it looks like the mixture is half chocolate and half eggs. 
• Then you slowly add the chocolatey egg mixture into the rest of the chocolate, whisking the whole time.

I'll take it with a side of double stuf.

I know, I'm not very original making Chocolate pie in February. But I like chocolate!! Besides, it's not like there is a seasonal fruit to mash up in my kitchen to slide in a pie shell.




Pie 2: Chocolate Cream Pie

This recipe is from Saveur. Go here. You know you want to: 
http://www.saveur.com/

The frustrating part was I could not find chocolate nilla wafers. I checked several stores, swearing under my breath because I swore I saw a box of those sneaky cookies someplace. Grr! So I bought a pack of Oreos and proceeded to use my best untwisting skills to make a pile of just chocolate cookies. This left me a pile of single cookies with a chunk of icing on each one. I decided to smash those two half oreos and make my own double stuf oreos. Why waste chocolate?

Comments:
The crust turned out tough, presumably due to my lack of nilla wafers. The rest of the pie: FANTASTIC! 

Plus it tastes good with a couple of double stuf oreos. 

Now Bake That!

Fleeing from fruit flies

There is only one thing to do when the bananas on your kitchen counter are on the verge of breeding fruit flies: chocolate chip banana bread!

I have a recipe that I adapted from my mother in-law. It has no eggs in it and I now swap out a little whole wheat flour to make it seem "healthier". Just ignore the fact it has a stick of butter in it and tons of sugar. Shh!

Chernof banana bread
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tbsp sour cream
3 tbsp milk
1 t vanilla
1/4c whole wheat flour
3/4c all purpose flour
1 t soda
1 t baking powder
1 pinch of kosher salt
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/2 c chocolate chips
1-2 tbsp sugar in the raw (optional

Preheat oven 350 degrees
1. blend flour, baking power and soda. set aside
2. cream butter and sugar
3. add mashed bananas, milk, sour cream and vanilla
4. mix in flour mixture
5. add nuts and chocolate chips
6. pour into greased loaf pan, sprinkle with sugar in the raw
7. bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour


Comments:
The new thing I tried is something I normally do for muffins. I sprinkled raw sugar on the top before baking. Crunchy! My kids loved it for breakfast smeared with nutella.

Now Bake That!