AfricanKelli

I tried some what successfully last night to replicate those cute heart cutout cupcakes I saw in the April issue of Real Simple. I already blabbed about this once. I thought I’d find a shamrock cookie cutter and use some sort of green jelly to make a dessert fitting for St. Patrick’s Day.

Things didn’t go exactly as planned, but here’s my tutorial nonetheless.

Start with a bunch of big cupcakes with big tops. I’d say fill the cup all the way with batter and cook them a bit longer so you get a big dome of a cupcake top.

Then take a very sharp knife and slice the tops off of your cupcakes. You want to make sure you’ve given the cupcakes ample time (20+ minutes) to cool, or the tops will crumble when you cut them.

Pick out some cute cookie cutters and cut your design in the cupcake top.

Layer the top of your cupcake with jam. I chose orange marmalade and mint apple jelly to go with the St. Patty’s theme.

Dust the cupcake tops with powdered sugar.

Place the cupcake tops gently on top of the jammy cupcakes.

Not exactly like the photo in the magazine, but I’m pleased. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the rest of that green jelly however. Maybe I’ll bake it into cupcakes next time around so people don’t have to see its unappetizing color.

The second platter, made with smaller cupcakes, came out much nicer.

These cupcakes go with today’s lunch of Sheppard’s Pie — a dinner staple in my family. This time I splurged and made the mashed potatoes from scratch. Because, you know, if you are going to spend three hours in the kitchen making cupcakes, you might as well be mashing potatoes too. Funny thing is, I no longer own a potato masher. I’m not sure what happened to it, but these are a bit lumpy this time around because they were done a la fork. Thank goodness anything with this much salt, butter, cream cheese and roasted garlic tastes delish, regardless of its lumpiness.

Yum.

Tomorrow, more green baked goods. Aye, top of the morning to ya!

~K 

A second attempt at baking bread. This one came out better. Not great, but we’re getting there.

And more heart brownies. These are now being requested, which makes me all goofy happy. There is such joy in having others enjoy your cooking.

These were later topped with lemon icing and fresh raspberries. Yum!

~

On a different note, my prayers are with the Reeve family today. I simply cannot belief such awful luck would strike a family twice. I hope their son Will is able to survive the grief.

~K

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In a continuation of our week of celebrating love…

I love to cook. More specifically, I love to bake. I enjoy giving away baked goods to friends and family and knowing I’ve made them happy. This morning I delivered brownies and peanut butter cookies to the swim team, sweet potato cookies to the front desk guy (my former roommate), cookies to my running buddy, brownies to the men at the bagel shop who always greet me with a smile, and these valentine raspberry brownies to my office staff. Everyone seemed pleased — mission accomplished.

I rarely cook because I don’t take the same pleasure in creating menus to feed myself. Chalk it up to laziness, but my main cuisine comes in a cereal box. I add a piece of fruit if I am feeling adventurous. So I cherish the days that I can bake and cook for others. Valentine’s is the perfect excuse.

What do you love to cook?

Love,

Kelli

I listened to the entire State of the Union last night, my curiosity peaked after snippets of the speech were leaked. We are addicted to oil.

How many times did I hear that sound bite on my way to work this morning? It is a statement only a lame duck could mutter, especially when that lame duck flies south for winter to his ranch in a giant oil state.

While I didn’t agree with many of the issues the President discussed, I did appreciate that he mentioned Zimbabwe as a country suffering from a lack of democracy. I’d bet just about anything the President couldn’t find Zimbabwe on a map, but it was nice to hear the occasional African reference peppered his speech. Otherwise, my favorite part was his joke about two of his father’s favorite people turning 60 this year — him and President Clinton.

Then this got me off to thinking about how President Clinton gave senior President Bush the only bed available on their tsunami tour last year, opting to instead sleep on the floor so the elder would be comfortable. Clinton really is a good guy. Can you imagine how Bush the lesser would have handled his father’s call to go on a tsunami tour? I can imagine something like this…

Daddy Bush, “Georgie, pack your bags. We’re going to Asia for the tsunami.”

Georgie, “Daaaad. You know I don’t like sushi!”

And while Clinton couldn’t keep it in his pants, he could at least speak. Good Lord Bush should be spending those month-long vacations on his Texas ranch practicing in front of a teleprompter. Condi — when you read this, and I’m sure you will — could you do me a favor and get George to sign up at the local Toastmasters? His rambling, stuttering ways do not do help counter his village idiot reputation. For the love of all things holy, the man is the leader of the free world and can’t read two sentences off of a machine FEEDING HIM THE SENTENCES without blubbering.

The only thing worse? The democratic response.

When democrats are stratching their asses in 2008 wondering yet again why the presidency was lost, look no further than their ridiculous decision to give a man who’s been in office TWO WEEKS the opportunity to give the democratic response. If you can imagine, he was a bigger blubbering idiot than the former. Nancy Pelosi, kick yourself in the shins.

Stepping off my soap box and back into the kitchen… (no irony there, right?)…

I baked two great new recipes last night. One I came up with — fruity oatmeal cookies — and one from my new Nigella Lawson cookbook, “How to be a Domestic Goddess.”

Easy Fruity Oatmeal Cookies

Buy the Betty Crocker Oatmeal Cookies in a bag at your grocery store (usually about $2)

Pour into a bowl, add the required egg and stick of butter.

Add a handful of dried cranberries, raisins or any other dried fruit you have available.

Add one cup of oats.

Add three tablespoons of fresh orange juice. Add a bit of water if the dough is still too dry. Roll into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Cook at 350 for 15 minutes. If you make these small, they will cook better and you’ll have about 2 dozen. The beauty of this recipe is that it takes no more than 5 minutes to throw together and you can use whatever you have on hand.

Gingerbread with Lemon Icing

Nigella’s recipe wasn’t complicated. I made these as cupcakes instead of a sheet cake and they were sticky and delicious when they came out of the oven. Plus, my entire little home smelled of yummy gingerbread.

Sweet ending to a good day.

~K

I’m starting a new trend at my house; I work from home on Thursdays, providing a bit extra time to cook. I’ve decided to have company every Thursday for dinner. If you are one of my Phoenician friends, look for an invite soon!

Last night Elaina and Nick stopped by for some chipotle meatloaf and garlic mashed potatoes. It was ohsogood, if I may toot my own horn. I borrowed the recipe from Min.

And for dessert? Rock Star Buns, no less. This time I didn’t use enough flour, so they were more like Rock Star Cookies. But delicious nonetheless! This recipe really is worth visiting Jane’s blog and trying. They are quickly becoming the favored baked good around my house. Yesterday I used orange peel and the entire place smelled like an orchard when they were baking. Yum!

Happy Weekend cooking to you!

~K

Have you read the January issue of Martha Stewart Living? It is fabulous, as usual, and a source of inspiration. She lists 12 recipes for fancy cakes — one for each month. While the recipes are, to put it nicely, difficult, they gave me the idea of baking at least once a month for my coworkers. And trying a new baking recipe at least once a month. Eventually when I am a fancy schmancy baker, I’m coming back to this issue to try some of her ideas.

In the meantime, I’m sticking with my baking Bible — The Cake Mix Doctor.

At today’s staff meeting, we shall enjoy orange chiffon cake. Have you ever made a chiffon? I read the details on this; essentially you make a meringue and fold it into the batter at the very end. The result is a fluffy, light cake. The chiffon technique was created by some Los Angeles baker in the 1940s and it made him famous among Hollywood lovers of sweets. In his old age, he sold the secret to his chiffon  to Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker or some other mass producer of cakes.

I’d never made a successful meringue until last night. The trick really is to make sure not even the smallest amount of yolk ends up with the whites you are trying to beat. That and give yourself a good bit of time and patience. Wait for the peaks to rise, and voila — meringue!

Topped with a light orange frosting:

~K

It is no surprise that I love to bake, almost as much as I love to plan. Imagine my glee when the holidays roll around and there are so many opportunities to pull out the measuring cups and stuff my shopping cart with eggs, milk, oil, sugar and flour. I’ve had a slew of holiday tins sitting in my pantry for a week, just waiting to be lined with tissue and filled to the brim with celebratory sweets.

Hmmm… cookies for the girls at Einstein’s. And there’s my mechanic. And of course the office and gym staff. And the neighbors. What about my friends in school who can’t bake? Gah! They too must have Christmas cookies!

But here’s the thing — I don’t actually like Christmas cookies. I think colorful icing on a cookie, while pretty, tastes gross. And those hard button like candies that are used for decoration? WHY? No one enjoys those. I browsed the beautiful Martha Stewart Christmas cookie magazine and laughed. As if I am going to take the time to roll out my cookies and cut them in shapes of snowflakes. I’m a domestic diva, but I’m no culinary Mariah Carey. I like my cookies simple — chocolate chip or peanut butter. Really, my very favorite cookie is a ginger snap. (And if anyone is taking note, my other favorite is Jackie’s lemon bars, famous in Mesa, Ariz.) So, I guess I’m more like a culinary Jennifer Garner. Simple. Sweet. To the point. (Or so I’d like to think. The fact that she named her dog Martha Stewart in reverence makes me love Sydney Barstow that much more.)

What is your favorite holiday treat? Does your family celebrate with a traditional food? I’d love to hear about it.

I’m planning chocolate chip, peanut butter and ginger snaps. I’m considering adding Jane’s Rock Buns (affectionately renamed “Rock Star Buns” on this side of the pond) if time allows. These are my father’s new favorites and I hope to have the time to bake up a couple dozen for the trip to Texas.

If I don’t hear from you and you’re on my cookie list, don’t be disappointed when snowmen dusted with confectioner’s sugar aren’t included. Instead, pour yourself a big glass of milk, plop down in front of the telly and stuff yourself silly. ‘Tis the season, after all.

Cheers,

K

Two posts in one day. Ho hum. Can you tell it is a holiday week ’round here?

I baked these yummy gingersnaps last night. The recipe called for rolling the cookies in white sugar. Instead, I used powdered sugar. Next time I’ll follow the instructions.

Forgive the Christmas plate. YES I KNOW IT ISN’T THANKSGIVING YET.

I’m learning new crafts this week, including embrodiery and double knitting. I’m working on holiday surprises and talked myself through a small embroidery project last night. I’m so happy with the results. Amanda was right — you just have to get started and see what you like when it comes to embroidery. Reading about it is useless.

As for double knitting, I’m taking a page from Jessica’s book and knitting one of these babies up possibly for a certain golfer I know. We’ll see if my timetable is generous enough to encompass all of my holiday crafting desires.

I’m eating gingersnaps, humming Nat King Cole and wearing red. It’s useless. I’m a Christmas devotee, whether it is just Thanksgiving week or not.

~K