Monday, April 30, 2007

Chicken Marsala


I used this recipe from an older issue of Cook's Illustrated, it's a good one for chicken marsala. It's really quite time consuming, though. Which explains why "quick-n-easy chicken marsala" recipes never taste as good as I'd like. I followed their recipe to the letter and it did yield, as promised, crispy but tender chicken, springy mushrooms, and a flavorful rich sauce. I would make it again the next time I have an hour and a half to devote to dinner!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Fauxstess Cupcakes



After making several large cakes, I was left with a good quantity of chocolate cake batter, chocolate icing, and white icing. So I made these replicas of Hostess cupcakes. Injecting icing is harder than it looks, you need to inject with a good bit of power to get the icing to expand inside, but too much pwower will split the top of the cupcake.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

GrahamMallow Cookie Bars


These crispy and delicious cookie bars are adapted from a recipe in the Great American Home Baking files. I've found that decreasing the amount of flour in the bottom crust yeilds a softer cookie (rocket science!) that keeps longer - and going halfsies on the chocolate chips and supplementing with butterscotch yields a much nicer flavor combination. My brown sugar was unexpectedly hardened, so I beat the egg whites with some maple syrup instead, and found the resulting meringue coating to be flavorful and equally sweet. The recipe below is the original.


Cream 1 stick of soft butter with 1 cup of sugar. Beat in two egg yolks, one at a time (reserve egg whites).
Mix together 1.5 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture. Press into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.
Sprinkle over top of firmly packed crust - 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1/4 cup chocolate chips, 1/4 cup butterscotch chips, 1 cup marshmallows.
Beat reserved egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold in 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar. Spread over top of the layers in pan.
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, or until a crust is formed. Cool completely and cut into squares.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Easter Cake


A cute cake for Easter, white on white with some fondant eggs. I had leftover fondant from a recent project.

Leaf tip borders are easy and quick to do, and they add an element of authenticity to any cake with a remotely outdoorsey theme. If the cake has settled unevenly or the icing on the top is not smooth, a leaf border is a good way to cover that up - because the shapes are by nature irregular. A far cry from the shells or rosettes that need to be perfectly lined up and matched in size.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Sheet Carrot Cake


Because who doesn't love a quick 9 x 13 carrot cake at Easter. Cream cheese frosting with little fondant carrots and grated lemon zest. This whole endeavor was probably 45 minutes from start to finish, if you make icing while the sheet cake is baking. Make a thin cake in a 9 x 13 for easier cooling.


Sunday, April 1, 2007

Baked Whitefish


So many people are afraid to cook fish. And it's one of the most hassle free, stress-less dishes I can think of! Fish stands on it's own and doesn't require marinades or complicated cooking techniques to keep in flavor. When I buy fresh white fish (like haddock, cod, or sole) I simply lay it out in a pan and top with some cracked pepper, seasoned bread crumbs, and a few small bits of butter. Then squeeze over it the juice of one fresh lemon, and bake at 350 for approx 20 minutes (longer for very thick fillets). It is no-fuss, no-fail, and awfully hard to mess up.