ShelleyBaum's Edible Art

Good news, bad news

2011-09-21T22:29:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately, probably due to what the almighty powers want and not what I want, I will not be opening a bakery any time soon. However, I am now the pioneer baker/pastry "executive cheif extraordinaire" for an awesome organic, European-style grocer in Ocala. They have classes and tons of really cool things to make your dinner special. They have not ventured too far into the baking side of things so I'm looking forward to creating it! Either way I will still do special orders and will do my best to attend the Heritage Village second Saturday markets.

Flour Child Bakery Cafe

2010-12-23T10:35:00.002-05:00

Hey guys! I've been busy planning the opening of Flour Child Bakery Cafe and getting clients lined up for all of the holidays that come at the end of the year. If you need to place an order you can send an email to flourchildbakerycafe@gmail.com or call me at (352) 476-7995.
Hopefully I will be opening a shop sometime this spring so stay connected for the latest triumphs and tribulations!

Happy holidays and happy new year!

Grandpa's Birthday: Coconut Cream Pie

2010-11-25T12:09:00.003-05:00

My grandpa's birthday is tomorrow and he requested a coconut cream pie to celebrate on Thanksgiving. I've been busy whipping up pumpkin rolls, pumpkin pies, and all things fall that it's nice to make something a little different. I used a recipe by, *shocked face*, Emeril Lagasse and it came out awesome.

Ingredients
Basic Sweet Pie Crust, recipe follows
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups milk
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter
Sweetened whipped cream, for garnish, optional
Toasted coconut, for garnish, optional

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Prepare Basic Sweet Pie Crust as directed. Roll the dough into a circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Place dough in a 9-inch pie plate, trimming and crimping the edges as the dough is gently pressed into the pan. Line the pastry with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or beans. Bake until golden brown around sides and edges, about 15 minutes. Remove parchment paper and return the crust to the oven and bake until bottom of crust is pale golden, about 5 minutes longer. Set aside on a wire rack to cool.

3. In a nonstick 1-quart saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar and 2 3/4 cups milk together. Bring the milk to boiling point and scald the milk. In a small mixing bowl, whisk the remaining milk, egg yolks, and cornstarch together. Whisk until smooth. Temper the egg yolk mixture into the scalded milk. Bring the mixture up to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes or until the mixture is thick, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 1 cup of the flaked coconut, vanilla and butter.

4. Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Chill the pie completely, about 2 hours.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

6. Using an electric mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Spread the meringue evenly over the top of the pie. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1/3 cup coconut. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and cool. Alternately, top with fresh sweetened whipped cream and more toasted coconut.

Basic Sweet Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons ice water, or as needed

1. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and shortening. Rub the fats between your fingertips and thumbs, or use a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. One tablespoon at a time, work in enough ice water just until the dough comes together, being careful not to over mix.

2. Shape into a smooth ball of dough, flatten into a disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 days.

Yield: enough dough for 1 single-crust pie

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

November Farmer's Market in Heritage Village

2010-11-15T13:07:00.007-05:00

November 13th was the Heritage Village's Second Saturday Market. I will be doing this market every month from now on as Flour Child Bakery. In December there will be two events, the second and third Saturdays of the month--one being the "Let It Snow" event where they create real snow! Here are a few pictures from last Saturday. As always if you want any of the recipes email me at flourchildbakerycafe@gmail.com. Happy holidays!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice Pudding and Cream Cheese Icing

Peach Preserve Linzer Cookies

Buttermilk Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

Diabetic-friendly Espresso Cream Roll

Fresh & Warm Cinnamon Rolls

Italian Style Bread with Sundried Tomatoes, Basil, Cheese & Garlic

An overall view of my booth, complete with my new banner=)

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

2010-11-02T13:33:00.002-04:00

A customer asked me to make a pumpkin pie for his wife's birthday-which happens to be on Halloween. The only requirement was that it be made from scratch...really from scratch! So I purchased a pie pumpkin and got to work. You can get pie pumpkins at almost any grocery store and they're usually no more than 90 cents a pound. Make sure that there are no soft spots and it should be about 6-8 inches high. Now it may seem like a daunting task to make a pumpkin pie from the gourd, but it's really not that hard with today's technology. Microwaves! This recipe only takes about 2 hours of your time...max! Good luck and happy Halloween everyone!

Ingredients:

Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter or margarine, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Filling
1 cup sugar
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
3 cups pumpkin
18 ounces evaporated milk

Directions:

1. Cut pumpkin in 1/2 or 1/4s. The fewer pieces you have the easier it will be to scoop out.

2. Place pieces flesh-side down in a micro-wave safe dish. Add a few inches of water.

3. Cook in microwave on high heat for 20 minutes. Check tenderness and cook in 5 minute increments until the flesh is soft enough to scoop out. Usually mine literally falls out of the shell after 25 minutes.

4. While the pumpkin is cooking make your pie crust. If you're short on time go ahead and buy a pre-made crust. Don't worry, I won't tell. Otherwise use the recipe here or your own family favorite. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the butter and shortening until small clumps have formed.

5. Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, with a fork until mixture starts to hold together.

6. Shape dough into a flat round shape so that it will be easier to roll out for your pie pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. You can chill overnight, but the next day you will need to let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before attempting to roll it out.

7. On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll into slightly greater a circumference than your pie pan. Gently fold in half and place on half of pie pan, then unfold to cover the entire pan. Gently press the dough against the sides of the pan being sure not to stretch it. Stretching the dough will cause it to shrink back when baked. If desired make a decorative edge. For the pie shown here I used three small leaf shaped cookie cutters and then lightly brushed water over the edge of the pan and pressed the shapes down. Refrigerate or freeze for another 10 minutes. Preheat your oven to 425F.

8. Now you're going to scoop out the flesh put it in a food processor or use a hand blender if you have one to puree the pumpkin. This should create a nice creamy texture that's a little more watery than the stuff you get in a can.

9. Mix all of the ingredients listed for the filling together until combined.

10. Pour filling into pie crust and bake at 425 for the first 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 350F and bake for another 45-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tips:

To keep your crust from getting too dark, take a piece of aluminum foil large enough to cover the entire pie. Fold it in half once and then again the opposite direction. Now cut an 8" round from the middle. Unfold foil and place over pie and fold edges around pie to protect it.

If you have extra filling left over just bake the rest in a mini-muffin pan without the crust for a yummy treat!

Peach Tart

2010-10-05T12:35:00.004-04:00

Peaches were on sale recently so I picked up a few to make something delicious. I altered an apple tarte tatin recipe for this one. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pie Crust
1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cubed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/8 cup very cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 fresh peaches sliced
Pinch of cinnamon
1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Cut butter into chunks.
2. Mix flour, sugar, and salt.
3. Add butter and work into flour, being careful not to over mix.
4. Whisk in egg, water, and vanilla.
5. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375 degreesF.
7. Roll out pie crust to diameter of pan. (I used a glass pie pan.) Allow the crust to hang over the edges so that you can fold it over the filling.
8. In a medium sized bowl mix the melted butter & sugar with the peaches, cinnamon, and egg. Make sure fruit is well coated.
9. Pour into pie crust and fold over edges.
10. Use a pastry brush to swipe the bowl's leftover egg and sugar to brush the top of the crust for a glossy look.
11. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until GB&D*.

Shelley's tip: You can substitute different fruits for this recipe. Apple, berry, or even plums to name a few.
*GB&D- Golden brown and delicious!

Happy baking!

Holy Cow!

2010-09-25T09:11:00.006-04:00

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I last updated this blog. Either I'm lazy or busy...maybe a combination of the two? This is what has happened since then with a few extras along the way.

Finally got a photo of the finished product.

Onion and Rosemary Focaccia that went with a wonderful homemade Cioppino

Blueberry crumble

A super moist chocolate cake with buttercream icing.

A birthday cake for a friend consisting of red velvet and classic white marbled cake with rolled marshmallow fondant!

Yet again the holidays are approaching and there will hopefully be a lot more to bake up!

Spring Fever

2010-03-25T10:06:00.004-04:00

It's officially spring so the weather is warming up quickly here in "sunny" Florida. All of this sunshine, and frequent showers, makes me want to stay outdoors and not in the kitchen. Luckily, I was able to whip up a very quick dessert that's so easy it's almost cheating.

Ingredients:

1 box of angel food cake mix
(or one already made by your local bakery)
1 small box vanilla pudding
2 cups lite whipped topping
1/4 fresh pineapple, crushed in a blender with juices
1 pint strawberries, sliced, save some whole for garnish
1 banana, sliced

Directions:

1. Cut the cake into three layers.
2. Mix the pudding with the pineapple and juice.
3. Add the whipped topping to the pudding mixture and fold in carefully.
4. On the bottom layer of the cake smooth on about half of the pudding mixture.
5. Place banana slices and then strawberry slices on top.
6. Set the second layer of cake on top of the pudding and repeat steps 4 & 5.
7. Put the final cake layer on top and garnish with strawberries if you'd like.
8. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.

Note: This looks like a giant dessert, but since it's 'semi-healthy' you'll probably eat a big piece. Also, I think the flavor diminishes after the first day so make it when you've got company coming or a healthy appetite.

Burke's Beer Dinner (Love Night)

2010-03-07T14:42:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Cassie D. for the photo.
Burke's had it's third successful beer dinner a few weeks ago and I would say that this one went off without a hitch. The beers were micro brews from all over the world; places such as Germany, Shri-Lanka, Scotland, Belgium, Russia, and the US. Of course I was in charge of the seventh course--dessert. Sinfully double molten chocolate cake paired with Rasputin Stout and St. Louis Framboise Raspberry Lambic. It was so awesome that I don't think I needed to make that a complete sentence. I used mostly dark chocolate to make this incredibly rich treat and will now share the secrets with you.

Ingredients:
(6) 1 ounce squares of bittersweet chocolate
(2) 1 ounce squares of semi-sweet chocolate
1 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of orange liquor (or other flavor)
1 1/2 cups confectioner sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in the microwave.
3. Add flour and sugar to the butter and chocolate. Mix well.
4. Next stir in the eggs and egg yolks. Mix well.
5. Add vanilla extract and liquor and mix thouroughly.
6. Pour into small ramekins or regular sized muffin pans. You can either spray with non-stick spray or use a muffin cup.
7. Bake for about 10-12 minutes. Check at 10 minutes to be sure that the center is still gooey; if more time is needed cook for the additional 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Side note: You can make this batter ahead of time and pop in the oven just before serving. If you have leftovers you can also microwave them for about 10 seconds to 're-invigorate' the innards.

Enjoy!

Busy Beaver

2010-03-04T12:05:00.004-05:00

As a 9-5er during the day and baker by night I don't get a lot of time to stop and take a photo of everything I make. I need a professional photographer to just follow me around in the kitchen. Alas, I am not an Iron Chef though. Strawberries are fading out of season here in sunny Florida so I decided to make strawberry shortcake, Shelley style. The biscuits are crumbly, slightly sweet, and soak up the juices nicely. Instead of whipped cream I decided to go with some vanilla ice cream. And for a finishing touch that adds a unique flavor I drizzled honey over the top with a shake of cinnamon.

Shortcake:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup half & half

1. Combine dry ingredients and mix well.
2. Cut in the butter and shortening until only small chunks are left.
3. Mix in the half & half just until blended. Do not over mix the dough or you will wind up with tough biscuits.
4. Pinch about 3 tablespoons of dough per biscuit onto non-stick sheet pan. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes at 450F or until G,B & D, baby. (Golden Brown and Delicious)

Strawberries:
1 pint of fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1/2 squeezed lemon
1 tablespoon Marsala wine (optional, can use another liquor like Grande Marnier)

1. Cut the tops off and quarter each berry.
2. Combine all ingredients together at least one hour before serving to allow the berries to weep and make the juice.

Assembly:
1. Cut the biscuit in half. Pour some of the juice from the berries onto the bottom half.
2. Place a scoop of ice cream on the bottom and replace the top. Pour strawberries and a little more juice if you'd like over the top.
3. Drizzle a little honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.
4. Open mouth and insert heaven.

2010-01-15T11:25:00.001-05:00

I wanted to give a big thanks to a special lady who was awesome enough to actually get me this for Christmas. This ranks as one of the best gifts I've ever been given!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing

2010-01-15T11:04:00.005-05:00

I've been away from my kitchen for a little while now. The heat decided to die during the coldest weather that Florida has seen in over 50 years! Luckily, the landlord gods smiled upon us and we now have an entirely new unit to keep us toasty and baking. I recently made some chocolate cupcakes for a dinner party and they were phenomenally good. It's like a Reese's peanut butter cup and is enough to satisfy those chocolate cravings that we all get. I suggest that the next time you have a hankering for the cocoa mistress you try this recipe.

Ingredients:
Cake
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 extra large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
2 tablespoons coffee
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
(Or 3/4 cup creamy and 1/4 cup crunchy)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with paper cups.
2. Cream the butter and sugars with mixer until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Next add the vanilla extract and combine.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. And in another bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. On a low speed, add the buttermilk mix and the flour mix to the butter in 1/3 increments switching back and forth between the two until both are mixed in thoroughly.
5. Bake on the middle rack for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Icing
1. Mix sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until creamy.
2. Add heavy cream and beat on high speed until light and smooth.

The Culmination of Fantastic Treats
Once the cupcakes have finished baking let them rest on a rack in their pan for about 10 minutes. Then turn them out of the pan and allow them to completely cool on the rack. Once they're cool enough you can frost them with the glorious peanut butter concoction. I prefer just to blob it on there and spike it up, but you can put it into a piping bag and make it phansy if you'd like.

Enjoy!

Winter Weddings

2009-12-21T22:01:00.005-05:00

I was asked to do a wedding cake for someone. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The picture that I was sent was a four tier square fondant cake with different sizes of metallic silver dragees on it. I couldn't find dragees anywhere. I looked online and only found one size and they were small.

So I decided to make the beads myself with fondant and silver dust. It wasn't exactly like the picture, but people tell me the cake looked good. Also, the desired icing was whipped topping which is impossible to smooth out. So needless to say this was a frustrating thing for me to make.

The cake was traditional white with white icing. I may be able to procure some pictures of the cake at it's final resting place. It looks much nicer in the photos with the pretty lighting and cake topper. We'll see if I can get a copy. Hope everyone's holidays are going well!

Saturday Market

2009-12-21T21:53:00.004-05:00

On Saturday the 12th I had my first booth in a farmer's market. The day started out rainy and cold and didn't look very optimistic for sales. I was able to come out on top though and the sun finally showed its face in the afternoon around closing time. We had pecan, blueberry, and cherry pies, vegan pumpkin bread, almond-cinnamon rolls, cupcakes with buttercream or peppermint-marshmallow fondant, Christmas sugar cookies, peanut-butter and hershey kiss cookies, peanut-butter dog biscuits, walnut-pecan brittle, Christmas Stollen, and a blackberry jam roll. I will post some new recipes soon guys...but you know how the holidays are...BUSY!!!

Burke's Beer Dinner

2009-12-21T21:36:00.003-05:00

Burke's of Ireland, an Irish Pub, had their second beer dinner in the beginning of this month and it went quite well. The two breweries were Sierra Nevada and Abita. I personally love Abita brewery so I was very excited to match my dessert with their Christmas Ale. (It was sampled with two beers--the other being Sierra Nevada Celebration) We called my little creations "Santa's Workshop Spice Cakes". Each was a personal size double layer spice cake with cream cheese icing and marshmallow-peppermint fondant. Every cake was individually decorated minus the "naughty" cakes. Each server had to pick three people from their section to make sure that Santa's naughty list was followed to the 'T'. As usual I really enjoyed the beer dinner and I look forward to the next one in February 2010!

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T11:20:00.006-05:00

Now that this holiday weekend has come to an end it's time to get back to business. On Wednesday afternoon/evening I began a bake-off. See, I can often be what they refer to as a "procrastinator". Fortunately I can make speedy recoveries from my faults and was able to bake a cherry pie, a double layer red velvet cake, two pumpkin cheesecakes, and a pumpkin roll. I even managed to get all of this done with the nagging and poking from the Dude--quite an accomplishment, eh? So on turkey day I woke up at 8AM, made pancakes and coffee and then plotted my next move. Today would be all about decorating and making things not just taste delicious, but look glorious. A few star tips, strawberries, and lots of sugar later...

The pumpkin cheesecake came out totally bangarang. If anyone would like any of these recipes you can email me at edibleart1@live.com, by the way.

A lovely lady paid me to make her family a pumpkin roll and after sampling the "ugly" ends I'm wishing that I had made one for my own family. It was super moist and the spices were spot on for a perfect thanksgiving treat.

My dad claims to have been begging for a cherry pie for weeks now so I decided to appease his appetite with something tart, but sweet. This recipe is the same as the blueberry pie, but obviously you add cherries instead!

Every few years my grandpa's birthday falls on thanksgiving day. I was really curious about how red velvet cakes are made and was very surprised to find out that they are basically chocolate cakes dyed red! It was a two layer cake with cream cheese frosting in the center and marshmallow fondant on the outside.

Overall, I would say this has been one of my better holidays in the past few years and I'm really looking forward to Christmas. I hope that everyone's turkey day was as wonderful as mine and happy baking!

Christmas presents for good little girls and boys...

2009-11-24T17:08:00.001-05:00

I've been practicing with fondant icing. This is going to be sticky!

Grilled Tofu Stir-Fry with General Tsao Sauce

2009-11-19T18:12:00.004-05:00

Since we can't very well eat sweets and treats all hours of the day I had to throw in something 'healthy'. Tonight's menu, grilled tofu stir-fry with spicy general tsao sauce. I served it over chow mein noodles with a special dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, and rice wine vinegar. I really like cooking one pot meals like this...super easy to make and super easy to clean up.

Homemade Blueberry Pie

2009-11-18T14:18:00.006-05:00

I'm gearing up for the Saturday Market in Crystal River on the 12th of December by taste testing recipes. Today I went with blueberry pie. The flavor is slightly tart with just enough sweetness to make it totally bangarang, as Peter Pan would say. The pastry is a vinegar dough which gives it a nice flaky texture.

Pie Pan ( I prefer glass)
Medium bowl
Small bowl
Zester
Measuring spoons/cups
Medium saucepan

Ingredients
Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Pastry:
2 cups All-Purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 egg
2 tablespoons cold water
1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
Flour, for dusting

Directions
1. In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt. Next, cut in the shortening making sure not to over mix. At this point there should just be big chunks.
2. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the egg, water, and vinegar. Add to the flour mixture by tossing lightly with a fork.
3. Turn onto a cutting board or floured counter surface and knead dough lightly until combined. Once again, make sure not to over knead so that you have a tender pie crust.
4. Divide dough into two pieces and flatten each one out into a square disk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes.
5. In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and water to a boil until thickened. Immediately remove from the heat and allow to cool.
6. Next, add the blueberries, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Set aside.
7. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove first section of dough from the refrigerator and place on a floured surface. Roll dough out to an even thickness and place in the bottom of the pie pan.
8. Next, place blueberry filling on top of the dough.
9. Pull out second piece of dough and roll out to same thickness as the first.
You have a few different options here. I went with a lattice pattern or you can put a solid piece of pastry on top.

For the lattice:
With a sharp knife, gently run it lengthwise down the rolled out dough creating long thin strips. Interweave the strips as shown in the photo.

For the solid pastry:
Gently place rolled out dough on top of blueberry mixture.

10. Press down edges with fork or finger to create a nice seal.
11. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F. Turn oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and delicious.

For a special touch you can brush the top with an egg wash made with one egg and 2 tablespoons of cream, creating a shiny surface, or brush with water and sprinkle with sugar for a crispy top.

Happy baking!

All I want for Christmas...

2009-11-15T11:13:00.003-05:00

is a kit..chen...aid a kit...chen..aid. I used one of these in Massachusetts and they're reliable and they come in awesome colors. My grandmother bought one last year and I don't think that she uses it very often. I'm jealous.

Pancakes

2009-11-15T09:16:00.004-05:00

The Dude loves breakfast. So naturally whenever I have a morning off with him I conjure up something tasty. This recipe for pancakes is super easy. They're light yet slightly sweet and vanilla-y. Enjoy with ˆreal maple syrupˆ, none of that Aunt Jemima stuff.

Round frying pan
Mixing Bowl
Measuring Cups/Spoons

Ingredients
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions
1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl until combined.
2. Add egg, milk , vanilla extract, and vegetable oil to flour mixture and stir until lumps are gone.
3. Turn the heat on for your pan so that it starts to heat up before you drop your first pancake.
4.Use a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop out your batter so that your pancakes are uniform in size and swirl the batter around for a nice flat cake.
5. Cook on first side until you start to see large bubbles forming in the batter. Flip and cook for about 30 seconds.
6. Finish off your batter and voila!

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

2009-11-15T09:00:00.005-05:00

I love this recipe. My friend made it for my birthday one year and I asked for the recipe. I've been making it ever since. It's super moist and flavorful and you would have no idea that it's vegan. Even if you watched me make it you would still argue with me that it must have eggs and butter. No ma'am, no animals were harmed in the making of this dessert. Enjoy!
This recipe is adapted from www.theppk.com.

(2) 8" x 4" loaf pans
350 degrees F
Mixing time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Time til' deliciousness: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients
1 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup coconut milk
2/3 cup flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8" x 4" loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add the pumpkin puree, oil, and coconut milk, and mix until all of the flour is absorbed. Fold in the flaked coconut and nuts. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Allow bread to cool for a moment then turn onto a cooling rack.

And on the first day...

2009-11-15T08:41:00.003-05:00

She created business cards and hope across the land that she would create delicious treats for all.

So yesterday I received my first set of business cards in the mail. I thoroughly enjoy their design. However, the better part of the story is that later that evening the Dude and I went to buy beer to go with our pizza and a movie and stumbled upon Magic Hat No. 9-- which is never south of the mason-dixen line. On the inside of the cap Magic Hat always has something witty or occasionally life altering. This night was the latter.

"Write your own Future"