Marshmallows! (a book)

Ooooh. Ahhh. Bask in the glory of marshmallows as presented in Eileen Talanian's Marshmallows. Revel in the beautiful, colorful photography of multicolored squishy treats. Relish the mouthwatering recipes for a myriad of flavors of these sugary delights. Read this book!

I am all amped up to make some marshmallows after checking this book out at the library. I mean seriously, just one look at the toasted coconut marshmallow, and that's all you're gonna be thinking about until you eat one! So, let this be a precursor to a bunch of posts starring these beautiful little guys.

PS: My cupcake shirt arrived today! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I do believe that I'm on a bit of a cookie bar thing. No. Scratch that. I am on a bit of a cookie bar thing. But who can resist cookie bars? They're portable, cute, come in a billion different flavors, and most of all, they're DELICIOUS! Just take a look.

Okay, so maybe I'm a bit of a copycat, but these bars looked amazing when I viewed them on Pittsburgh Needs Eated. But who could resist their chocolatey-ness? Their cinnamon hints? Their crunch on the outside and chew on the inside? Wow. I'm really starting to repeat myself now. Maybe I should make pudding or something so I don't use that phrase again.

I made these for a camping trip to Nehalem Bay. My friend also made carrot cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. I know what you're thinking, but remember, calories don't count when you're camping. ;) 

These guys really did have a unique flavor. They obviously had the chocolatey taste, but the teaspoon of cinnamon that caused people to have a thoughtful expression on their face after they took a bite.

"It's the cinnamon," I'd say. 

"Ahhh, I thought there was something different. It's good!"

The tower topples :(

Nudist Cupcake

A tee shirt ordered off of shirt.woot.com.

Molasses Crinkles

I made these molasses crinkles for a street-wide garage sale on my street! We sold these for 75 cents a piece, and one dollar with lemonade! Haha. I honestly think that these cookies made more money than any of the other things we tried to sell.

These cookies came from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book. I've made these quite a few times, and they're tried and true favorites in my family. They've got a real crunch on the outside from the sugary shell, but are very soft and chewy on the inside. Hmm...I feel like I've said this before in a previous post. These cookies filled the kitchen with a wonderfully homey aroma, and went quickly down at the sale. I'm glad this recipe makes bunches, so we had some leftover. I know I'll make these cookies again and again, since they're real winners.

Mmm. Crunchy and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is what happens when you are home in the kitchen and have a sudden craving for chocolate chip cookies. Search for a recipe ensues. First, it's to Taste Spotting. As much as I love that website, I mostly look at it for the beautiful pictures. I didn't find a recipe that was to my satisfaction, so it was to the cookbook collection. Betty Crocker, Joy of Cooking, and Ina Garten. Finally, I looked at the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. There was a nice recipe that I decided to try out. I don't make chocolate chip cookies that often, so it was nice to try a new recipe.

I don't know what it was, but these cookies were really delicious. Maybe it was the extra amount of chocolate chips that I put in there to finish off the bag of chocolate chips. I think one of the reasons why they were so delicious is that they were crispy on the outside, but they still they were still chewy on the inside, the chocolate chips gooey and sweet.

These were really fun to make, and I think I'll try out some more chocolate chip cookie recipes.

Chocolate Drizzled Butter Wafers..mmm

I have StumbleUpon to thank for this recipe, after it brought me to Ming Makes Cupcakes, which is a fantastic and beautifully made site. There are gorgeous photos of artfully arranged gourmet cupcakes (and cookies and other savory baked goods) and their fantastic recipes. They range from the strange (flourless beet chocolate cupcakes ) to the gourmet (port wine and cherry cupcakes with mascarpone frosting) to the deliciously mainstream (red velvet cupcakes with buttercream frosting.) 

Anyways, these cookies caught my fancy for more reasons than one. 

1) They looked heavenly and delicious.

2) We had only one egg.

3) I was feeling lazy and wanted something easy and quick.

They turned out fantastic, and as the name may tell you, they were..buttery...wafers. They edges were nice and crispy golden brown, while the inside was soft and crumby. I was going to fill them with some homemade raspberry jam, but I didn't make the holes in the cookies soon enough, I waited too long into the cooling process, and as I was making the holes, the cookie would snap, so I decided to go with the drizzly chocolate. The recipe said to use dark chocolate, but I had semisweet on hand so I used that, which I liked better than I think I would've dark chocolate.

If I had to do it again, I think that I might put the dough balls farther apart, because quite a few of the cookies melded together, and I had to perform an emergency separation surgery just out of the oven. Overall, these were wonderful cookies that were devoured by my little sister and her friend after coming home from camp. I look forward to doing more recipes off of Ming Makes Cupcakes.

Mascarpone Custard with Fresh Raspberries

This dessert is a product of: a) a random tub of mascarpone in the fridge.

                                                 b) a whole lot of raspberries left over from picking

                                                 c) a lovely recipe from my Passion for Desserts book

So, to the dessert. It was good. Really good. It was a basic no-cook custard, which meant it had raw eggs in it, which was not a problem for me or my family. The custard was really creamy and had a nice eggy flavor. I didn't have a vanilla bean, so I substituted it with vanilla extract, which I know is no competitor. I'd like to make it again and use the vanilla bean, because I always like seeing those cute little flecks of vanilla. 

The raspberries were nice and fresh, although they were getting a bit squishy, which just made it better, since they were a bit juicier. I really liked the raspberry flavor with the custard. It was a nice pairing.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that mascarpone is 86% FAT? Hehehe.....

Anyways, this was a really delicious and summery dessert. I'll probably make it again with possibly blueberries or peaches. We'll just have to see...

Poppyseed Cake with a Creme Fraiche and Fresh Berry Filling for the Fourth!

I made this delicious creation for the Fourth of July yesterday! It is a *deep breath* poppyseed cake with a creme fraiche and fresh berry filling *phew.* It came out of the Passion for Desserts cookbook that I've mentioned before. 

I'd never made anything with: a) creme fraiche or b) poppyseeds before so this was a bit of an adventure cake. I'd never even tried creme fraiche before! It was creamy and nutty. And not in the crazy sense. The filling was creme fraiche, heavy whipping cream, and sugar, all whipped together. The creme fraiche made the filling quite tangy, but the sugar added a hint of sweetness. The blueberries were cooked with sugar until they popped, making a tasty sauce! Fresh strawberries were thrown in there to complete the patriotic homage.

The cake was just a typical cake, made with buttermilk, flour, eggs, sugar, etc. But the poppyseeds made it exciting! I loved dumping them into the cake batter and watching them swirl around, looking a little like a belt of stars in the sky of my cake batter.

The cake was well received, by everyone at our picnic at the park. I left the cake out of the picnic basket, and it was admired by most everyone walking by. I even gave out a piece to an elderly lady who said she liked the way it looked. This cake is a great way to enjoy your fresh summer berries at their best.

Pix Patisserie Macarons

Both the Fleur de Sel (right) and apple pie (left) macarons

The apple pie macaron

The fleur de sel macaron

Domo and the macarons

I visited North Williams Ave. yesterday to pick up a new bag at Queen Bee Creations' store, and I stumbled upon...

PIX PATISSERIE!!!

I had read and heard about it before, but I hadn't realized where it was. So, we sauntered inside and were immediately infatuated with the gorgeous clear plastic boxes filled to the brim with macarons! The glass case was filled with gorgeous pastries of all shapes and sizes. Caramelized cream puffs, truffle, and opera cake, oh my! Still, none of these confections could take my eyes off of the technicolor macarons!

We got three macarons: Raspberry (not pictured, eaten), Fleur de Sel (salty caramel), and apple pie.

First, the apple pie macaron. This one was delicious, as expected. The light, delicate outer shell was crunchy. As you sink your teeth deeper into it, you get to the filling, which is soft, cool, and sweet. You take your bite, and it is crunchy, chewy, and soft all at the same time. A plethora of texture! The taste of this one, however, was uncanny. It tasted exactly like apple pie! It had the right amount of apple pie spicy-ness, and a true apple taste.

The fleur de sel one was a balance of sweet and salty, like fleur de sel is. You could see the flecks of salt on the outer shell. It was delicious and caramely. 

The raspberry one, well...was raspberry-ish and very sweet.

Pix Patisserie's treats are not to be rivaled, and neither is the stylish interior of their bakery. If you're ever of William's Ave., check out this delicious patisserie.