Look Who’s Back! Week 1 Challenge: Blueberry Handpies

So, as is evident from the last post on this blog…. I failed at the baking challenge….. That isn’t to say I stopped baking though! My Instagram is proof of that and so are all the happy students at my new job that get to enjoy all my food adventures, lol.

I decided to give the 52 week baking challenge another go in 2020, mostly because I am in a much more stable place in my life ( don’t worry, I still suffer from all my near constant inconveniences lol) and because I have a whole bunch of people around who can AND DO eat everything I bake. The less you waste, the more you can bake, haha~

Anyways, this week as is tradition of week 1 was the redo week, where bakers around the Reddit sub-forums remake something that bested them the year before (or make something new if they’re new to the challenge). I initially wanted to conquer the dessert that destroyed my desire to continue the challenge, those stupid mini bundt cakes with a white chocolate ganache from mini treats week, but alas I guess I threw out my mini bundt pan when I moved across the county. Que sera sera.

But seriously, fuck that sticky nasty bundt pan.

Instead I stuck the the theme of tiny treats but attempted something that has given me tons of issues in the past: pie dough.

Pie doughs don’t normally like me.

But I really managed to make a great dough! And filling!

Ya’ll, these mini hand pies were so good! My coworkers (2 cause Winter Break is still a thing) really liked them and in particular the crust!

I used this recipe from King Arthur Flour. I think the secret to my success was the sour cream in the crust. Not very traditional I guess, but hey it made one hell of a buttery flaky crust.

I’d say a solid 9/10, I wasn’t too happy with the coloring on the crust but I couldn’t find a pastry brush for the egg wash

And yes, the pics aren’t the best quality. New kitchen, still bad lighting lol. My food always tastes good but looks like a hot mess. Very metaphoric of my life really.

Anyways, we’ll see how long I can last with this year’s challenge. Probably not long. Being an adult is hard.

See ya~

Week 8: Muffins & Scones- Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins

March 4, 2019Leave a comment

Oh my gosh I have been so sick for the past week!

This week was muffins and scones, and the original plan was two kinds of scones; a cheddar scallion one and a sweet one, TBD.

However, I got absolutely destroyed by the creeping crud that’s been going around my office. That ended up with me having sinus headaches and borderline laryngitis all week.

Needless to say this post is a quick one, I didn’t even try to get good pictures of my results. Still trying to get back my old energy levels.

I decided on making muffins, as they are quick and relatively easy. I used the ever-faithful Sally’s Baking Addiction blog for a recipe. Specifically the 1 muffin batter for infinite muffins recipe.

Let me just say, this recipe uses sour cream and the muffins come out so silky smooth, its almost like a cupcake but with that nice muffin top! I made the Raspberry White Chocolate variant, because I have a lot of white chocolate in my fridge and the raspberries at my grocery store looked amazing! and they were~

So, could I bake this and redeem myself from the caramel debacle?

Yes, yes I could! Even though I still have trouble breathing!

This recipe by Sally just makes such a smooth and rich muffin, I was seriously tempted to eat the batter its that good. Seriously, if you need a reliable muffin recipe its this one.

Even my coworkers braved my congested presence to eat these. They LOVED them and devoured them in like, an hour.

So good~~~~

Next week is mini treats! Tiny and cute is the game, and I’m thinking cake pops. Cause I’ve never made them and why the heck not? Or maybe mini tarts? or hand pies? Whatever.

Bye!

Week 7: Caramel- Butterscotch Caramel Tart

February 21, 2019February 22, 2019Leave a comment

I have made pie crust from scratch maybe five times throughout my life. My family background was full of delicious pies, fruit, custard, pumpkin, etc. but homemade crust was not a part of that. The fillings to be sure were made from scratch, from fresh ingredients.

I make a mean caramel apple pie. Just not with homemade pie crust.

Growing up in the South, but being raised by New York transplants means I understand that making pie crust is an art, I just have no idea how to do it. Now, I’m sure my English grandmother could also whip up a mean pie, my father said she did, but she passed before I could learn the magic touch.

My Sicilian side of the family made cakes and cookies (although I know that those chocolate chips were Nestle Toll House, no fooling me now, Mom!), and used good old Publix brand pie crust. Its pretty good, gets nice and flaky.

Needless to say my handful of attempts have resulted in either a flavorless, brittle crust, or a melty soggy bottom mess that would make Mary Berry weep.

I tried, ok? I should use shortening, I know, I know, but butter just tastes better and I am BOUND AND DETERMINED to get it right one day.

So, yeah. Pie crust is on my list of arch-nemesis baked goods, right next to Pate a choux and macarons. And specifically chocolate loaf cakes for some reason….they just never turn out as well as expected….

Anyways…

This weeks challenge is caramel and since I accidentally made caramel last week, I decided on something a tad different. I found this gorgeous looking recipe on Saveur for a butterscotch custard pie with a dry method cracked caramel on top. It also has instructions for a homemade tart dough, so I figured why not. Let’s make a tart! Er, pie? Is it still a tart if you cook it in a pie dish?

What a fool I was.

And no, I could not bake this.

The definition of a hot mess.

In my defense, while the crust was a bit soggy, it actually was the most technically correct part of this pie. The custard filling was also perfect. But everything changed when the molten caramel topping attached.

The caramel melted my custard!!! Maybe?!?!?

Deceptively pretty~

It looked perfect when I first poured on the caramel…. But a small voice at the back of my mind did say “hey, won’t this melt the custard? It’s molten sugar.”

I should always listen to that voice.

I went back and triple checked, and nowhere in the recipe does Saveur say put back in the fridge or warn about this. There were no ratings or comments….I should’ve known… The whole custard went from solid to a melted mess! And the slice fell apart after being cut.

Oh well, perhaps I messed something up in the filling. Custards can curdle if when you mix it together and if over-cooked. It looked fine after I mixed it together and looked perfect when it came out of the oven though, still jiggly but set. But who knows, it can be hard to tell if a custard is curdled until you cut it, and my oven has been known to get too hot sometimes.

Also, the hard caramel was a bit hard to eat. I’d recommend really breaking it up if you out there in t.v. land try this one.

The filling tasted good though, just like butterscotch! And the crust wasn’t too bad, somewhat butter and did have a good flake to it~

(I also stashed it in the fridge but it separated overnight so now its a greasy curdled mess, haha)

Huh, I guess I shouldn’t have worried about the crust too much after all.

So, I guess this is the first overwhelming failure of the challenge. But it also means I should try a custard….something again for a later challenge!

Next week is muffins and scones….I might try something savory for it. Yeah, cheesy scones sound delightful.

Week 6: Allergy Friendly- Flour-less Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

February 15, 2019January 6, 20201 Comment

I can’t find a good quote about caramel.
-Me

Ok, so I don’t do Valentine’s day. Mostly because you shouldn’t just have one day a year where you show your appreciation for your partner, ~~also~~ because ~~I’m bitterly, painfully single and always am.~~ I just never date during the Valentine’s season. Oh, well.

HOWEVER, I decided to make myself a very Valentine’s day-esque treat for the challenge this week and what says self love more than chocolate and caramel.

Especially ~homemade caramel~

Or it says I have too much time on my hands…. I really need a job…

Eh.

Sine its allergy friendly week, I went with a flourless gluten free recipe. A chocolate one to be precise. Originally I planned on making a bourbon flourless chocolate cake, but decided that a bottle of bourbon would not help my mood, so I instead chose this one from, ironically enough, King Arthur Flour. I used bittersweet and dark chocolate for the recipe, since I had nefarious plans. Caramel colored nefarious plans…

Lets just say this cake whips up super fast and came out like the fudgiest brownie you’d ever want to eat. I admit it, I’m impressed King Arthur Flour. That was pretty quality cake. Er, brownie. Whatever.

Oops, only took pics of it upside down….

I topped it off by taking the risk and making a homemade salted caramel sauce, and I think the risk paid off. I used a recipe from over on Fifteen Spatulas, which has a great image by image tutorial so you know how the sugar should look at each step. I just added a bit of pink Himalayan sea salt and bam! a perfect salted caramel sauce.

I amaze myself sometimes. Then the depression and months of constant failure remind me not to be amazed. Cause I’m not amazing in any way.

Pro-tip for when you make caramel: If it clumps up when you add the cream, DO NOT PANIC. just stir and the molten sugar will eventually work itself out. Usually. Unless you burned it to begin with… Then you’re better off just starting over.

I did soar a little too high in the sky and Icarus-ed myself though…lets just say my powered sugar heart embellishment for the top of the cake came out a little more like a sugary circle…

Nothing the power of photography can’t mask though!

Look at this beauty. I’m so happy with how this picture and the whole dessert came out.

Its just simply decadent.

You have no proof that I ate half the caramel straight out of a jar!

Next week the challenge is caramel. Bad planning on my part, haha. But I have a real treat planned, so stay tuned! It’ll be either a masterpiece or a disaster!

Week 5- Piping Techniques: Pink Moscato Cupcakes

February 10, 2019February 13, 2019Leave a comment

Much like life, sometimes things go wrong in a bake and you can’t fix it. Especially when you don’t have enough butter to remake the buttercream.

This weeks challenge was Piping Techniques and I originally thought about making sugar cookies with flooded royal icing, but I made bread this week and had stuff to do, you know, life, so I decided on cupcakes.

Specifically cupcakes with alcohol in them. Pink alcohol. Cause Valentine’s is soon.

I found a recipe for a chocolate red wine cupcake, but wanted something more girly, so I Googled and found the lovely little blog If You Give A Blond A Kitchen.

It had a recipe for Pink Moscato cupcakes and I just had to try them! Since it was piping week I also decided to try out chocolate filigree by making some little hearts.

I really wanted to go full glamorous with these~

The cupcakes baked up really well, they were nice and soft, but they didn’t really taste like Moscato. There was a little touch of fruity sweetness though.

The real issue was the buttercream. Now, I’ve made A LOT of buttercream icings. A LOT. The minute the butter started creaming, though, I knew something was up. The butter had previously been frozen but I had it sitting out until it was nice and soft. However it didn’t want to cream, so I think the butter’s moisture got thrown off in the defrosting maybe?

It was salvageable once the powdered sugar was added in. And then the Moscato reduction.

Once upon a time, many years ago (4) I made a red wine reduction buttercream. and it broke the buttercream into a lumpy mess. Wine can be acidic, acid curdles. You see where I’m going.

Fast forward to yesterday. Wine reduction + weird butter = broken buttercream…

I keep overusing the editing tools on my photo app…

You can kinda see the that the cream is broken in this picture. I tried everything to fix it, but sadly I couldn’t. And I didn’t have anymore butter at room temperature, so I sucked it up and used it

HOWEVER-

The icing tasted like Moscato! It was great!

It didn’t make a lot though, so I got a little skimpy on the decorating part.

The chocolate filigree hearts were also a fun little addition. I had meant to print out some patterns and trace over them, but I forgot. Eh. Still came out super cute I think!

To make them just get some colored melting chocolates, Wilton sells them and you can find them at any craft store. Melt them as per directions, fill up a piping bag with a number 2 or 3 piping tip, and go to town.