I Love to Bake

Have I told you that before? I really, really love to bake. If I'm stressed or out of sorts, baking is what brings me back. Of course, I love to eat what I make, but I love more to give it away. That's my thing. If you're recovering from being in the hospital, I'll bake you some cookies. Just had a baby? I'll bring you some muffins.

A few years back, we started a tradition of a Holiday Dessert Party. It started with everyone coming over for coffee one night before Christmas, and I would put out a big spread of desserts. It's evolved into a full party, where all the guests bring appetizers or drinks, and I still make all the desserts. I start baking the week before, and have so much fun making cookies, cakes, creme brulee, tarts. I always make my family's traditional cookies: pink spritz with peppermint; white spritz with lemon; and green spritz with peanut butter and almond. These are amazing and actually called Velvet Cookies. They really do melt in your mouth. I also make thumbprint cookies. My mom always put candied cherries in the middle, but I put chocolate chips or a dollop of raspberry jam.


For my husband's firefighter friends, I always make a Red Velvet Cake, although this year I made cupcakes. I also made vanilla cupcakes with ganache frosting. So simple, and so good. My favorite go-to recipe when I want to bring a dessert with a bit of "wow" to a party is my Caramel Macadamia Nut Bars. Those are to die for.


I've still got a few leftovers in the fridge. They're great for late at night. If you're interested in any of my recipes, let me know. I love to share.

Lots of Desserts

I know, that's a weak category for L. In a former life, I was a Pastry Chef (until the economy took away the company where I worked), but occasionally I get called to bake for others. I recently created a cookie buffet for a girl's Sweet 16 party. It was a Sock Hop/music theme, and I made some cookies that were supposed to look like records. They are big chocolate chip cookies, dipped in ganache, with a white chocolate center and pink frosting initial.


I made: brownies, peanut butter brownies, record cookies, rice krispies treats, coconut macadamia cookies, pecan blondies, marble cookies, and pink and white Spritz.


You better believe I saved some extras for my family.

It's Christmas Cookie Time

It's been a different kind of Christmas season for me this year. We're in the middle of a home renovation that is now at the CHAOS stage. After adding on, the workers are now inside the house tearing apart the kitchen. I'm leap-frogging our possessions from room to room as I'm clearing out closets and all our kitchen cabinets. We officially switched to paper plates and microwave dinners. I also have two rooms' worth of furniture stuck in my living room. Because of this, we've done not a stitch of Christmas decorating. No tree, no outdoor lights, no holiday plates to eat from or Santa mugs for hot chocolate.

In the midst of all this, my Dad went into the hospital the week after Thanksgiving. I've driven the 2+ hours north to Cocoa Beach twice, with the last visit a 7-day stay where I parked myself in his hospital room. To cut to the ending, he's gotten much better, they've cured his ailments, but he's struggling to walk after being in a hospital bed for 18 days. I would too, and he's 91! Anyway, my brother and sister and I are taking turns being with him, and I'm back now with my family for a bit. Hey, my daughter's a Santa believer, so we need to do at least a little bit of Christmas!

I knew just what would make it feel like Christmas -- baking Christmas cookies. So before my latest trip to Cocoa Beach, my neighbor and I got together and I made two of my mom's traditional recipes -- Spritz Cookies and Velvet Cookies. They're both made with a cookie press (I got a fancy electric one quite a few years back), and we cranked out quite a few hundred.


In our family, the white ones were always flowers, with a lemon flavor; the pink ones were hearts with a peppermint flavor. Those are from the Spritz recipe. The green ones were Christmas trees and we used the Velvet Cookies recipe. Oh man, those cookies taste so good! The recipe has peanut butter and a little bit of almond extract. Instead of white sugar, there's confectioner's sugar, which gives it that velvet feeling. Here's the recipe you can try, and maybe the craziness of your holiday season can feel a little better when you get in the kitchen and do some baking. This is a fun one to do with the kids because they love to decorate them with sprinkles.



Velvet Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
green food coloring
colored sprinkles

1. Cream the shortening, butter, sugar, and peanut butter, until fluffy.
2. Stir in the egg and extracts.
3. Gradually add dry ingredients to the mixture.
4. Add green food coloring, as desired.
5. Fill a cookie press with dough.
6. Form into desired shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Decorate with colored sprinkles.
8. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.
9. Cool on wire racks.
10. Store in tightly sealed containers for 1-2 weeks.

Quiche Lorraine

I'm a cook, which means, I cook things from scratch. I also cook things from mixes, but I prefer to try new recipes and prepare something interesting. This started when I was young, maybe 11, and I was home in the house for a couple hours before my parents got home from work. My mom prepared a lot of casseroles that I could pop in the oven for her. But as for dessert? She let me make whatever I wanted, and I could experiment as much as I dared while she was still at work. This resulted in lots of jello parfaits and jello poke cakes -- it was the 70's after all, and I tried all the recipes in my mom's Good Housekeeping magazine. But occasionally I'd make dinner too. One of my specialties was quiche lorraine, which is traditionally a swiss and bacon quiche. My family loved that. Now, I've introduced it to my kids, and they love it too.

Here's my recipe for an easy quiche lorraine. This one was especially easy because I didn't make my own pie crust -- I went with the Mrs. Smith's frozen crust. Hey, there's nothing wrong with semi-homemade.

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. Cut an entire package of bacon into little pieces. (That will be enough for two pies.) Fry the pieces of bacon until crisp, then drain all the fat and put the bacon on some paper towels to get even more fat.


When the oven is preheated, put the pie crusts on a cookie sheet. I always line my sheets with parchment paper (not to be confused with waxed paper) so if there's any spillage, I don't have to clean a pan. Bake the crusts for about 8 minutes. This partially bakes them so they'll end up a little firmer and won't get a soggy bottom.


After the crusts come out, put them aside, and reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Split the cooked bacon between the two crusts.


Cut or shred 12 ounces of swiss cheese, splitting it between the two crusts. I happened to have a package of sliced cheese, so I used that. I think it's easier to get a block and shred it, though.


For two pies, whisk together 6 eggs, 4 yolks, and 1 cup heavy cream. Add some salt, ground white pepper, and ground nutmeg. Pour it into the two crusts. If it doesn't seem to go high enough in the crust, you can add another egg or so. I think the premade crusts differ in size, especially if you get a deep dish or not.


Bake the quiches at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Check them by jiggling the pan and making sure the filling is not jiggling. If it is, leave them in for another 5 or 10 minutes. Then enjoy. This is a great meal with a salad. Of course, you can alter the fillings: try cheddar and broccoli; ham and brie; swiss, spinach, and mushroom. Plus, the cooked quiche freezes very well. I have one wrapped in foil in my freezer ready for a busy day's dinner.

Warm and Fruity Granola

In my post about our visit to Asheville, I told you about our stay at the Oakland Cottage Bed and Breakfast. Every morning we came down to a gourmet meal of eggs, fruit, bacon or sausage. There was always some kind of warm dish with fruit. One of my favorites was a warm granola. It was soft and steamy, not crunchy like regular granola, but it had the crunch of nuts in it. I decided to recreate it, and it was so good I've made it twice. I had no recipe, so I improvised. I started with a box of granola cereal as the base, so I was not making this completely from scratch. I love when you can make something "semi-homemade" and it turns out delicious. Here's my take on a yummy warm and fruity granola.

Start out by preheating your oven to 350 degrees.

Decide how much you're going to make, how many people you're cooking for, and pick a baking dish that's suitable. I used a 1-quart glass pyrex dish with a lid, to make a breakfast for my husband and me, and perhaps leftovers the next day. Fill it about halfway with a granola cereal. I used the oat and cinnamon version, without extra nuts and fruit, because I wanted to add those myself.


I wanted the crunch of nuts, so I added pecans and sliced almonds. I chopped the pecan halves coarsely.


To give your nuts even more crunch, you can toast them in the oven. I spread them out on a cookie sheet and baked them for 10 minutes. Make sure you watch them so they don't get too brown. You can even stir them around after five minutes.


Rinse strawberries and blueberries, then cut the stems off the strawberries and slice them smaller. You can use any fruit that's in season: peaches, blackberries, plums, pears.


I'm all about using as little dishes as possible, so I add everything right into the baking dish and mix it together there. Drizzle some honey over it to taste. I also added some fruit juice and water, maybe 1/4 or 1/2 cup, so that it would steam nicely in the oven. You want the granola to soften up.


Give it a good stir, put the lid on it, and bake. I think I baked it for 15 minutes, stirring it once and replacing the lid.


And here you have it. Warm, yummy, and it smells so good. This is it for a breakfast. You want it for dessert? Then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

July Travel Log -- Asheville, Part 2

I spent the greater part of two days walking around Asheville, looking in galleries, checking out restaurant menus, poking around down every street. I'm going to give you a list of links to some of my favorite places for your next visit to Asheville.

Galleries and Shops

New Morning Gallery is in Biltmore Village, just a little way from downtown. Tons of pottery, paintings, furniture, and home decor are displayed in this large, multi-room gallery.

American Folk Art Gallery is a wonderful gallery with local artists, mostly in a folk, or outsider, style.

Woolworth Walk is an old Woolworth's store that is now an artists' co-op. Two floors in a huge building give you enough art that will keep you busy at least an hour. This is a great example of the wonderful art made by local artists.

K2 Home is located in an old pharmacy building. It's filled with home decor and paintings that can brighten up anyone's home.

Malaprop's Bookstore is a large, independent bookstore that you can get lost in -- lost in their many great books. We spent a few hours in there. Popular books are nestled against unusual books you may not have seen before. You can also check out their used bookstore, Downtown Books and News, a couple blocks away.

Restaurants

Tingles Cafe just opened in June. They make great fried chicken with yummy southern sides, like mac and cheese and sweet potato casserole.

Woolworth Walk can also be listed under restaurants, because the old soda fountain is still there. We ate at the counter and had grilled cheese, milkshakes, and floats.

Chocolate Fetish isn't really a restaurant, but if there's a chocolate store in town, I'm stopping. They have a variety of homemade chocolates and truffles. Take a break while you're walking downtown and try one of their goodies.


With any luck, I'll visit Asheville next year too. It's definitely one of my new favorite places. Do you have any favorite haunts in Asheville that I can add to my list?