Thanksgiving Pie
I think know my favorite part of Thanksgiving is that it provides me with an excuse to make pies. This year pecan and pumpkin were requested, and I was happy to deliver.
Creamsicle Tart
This was a great tart – a bit of a pain in the ass – but a great tart. It’s from Baked Explorations . It tastes just like the Creamsicle from our youth, but with better ingredients & more sophisticated presentation (though who am I kidding? Anyone who gives me a creamsicle for dessert is a winner in my book). Read More…
Elvis would be jealous
Can you have too much banana bread? Or to many banana bread recipes? I don’t think so. Which is good. Because I have a dozen or so banana bread (or muffin, let’s not discriminate on baking vessel) recipes that I rely on, lemony ones, nutty ones, frosted, unfrosted, chocolate studded, seeded – but I’m always tempted by new recipes. When I come across a new recipe, I think to myself “Do I really need to make banana bread, again?” and I always answer yes. Why wouldn’t I want more banana bread recipes in my repertoire? I imagine it’s the same way some people feel about their children (or, in my case: cats or motorcycles) – I don’t have a favorite, but love them individually for their unique traits and attributes; sometimes I get sick of one so I’m glad I have an array of others to choose from to fix my banana bread urges.
Dad and Cake.
I’m back in Denver after a trip west to spend Christmas with my parents. As it goes, my Dad headed here a day before me to check on some real estate, and we planned to have dinner together tonight before he heads back home tomorrow. I offered to cook (need I remind you that I live in a culinary desert), thinking I’d keep it easy and go traditional Sunday dinner – roast some sort of meat, roast some sort of vegetable, maybe make dessert, maybe not (…right).
The teaches of peaches
I’m really glad that I didn’t read the reviews for this pie before I made it, because I probably would have been deterred. I started looking for reviews and pictures after the pie had baked because it just looked…weird. Not bad, not burnt, not raw…just, weird. Like no other pie I’ve made. The book that the recipe is from didn’t include a picture, and I’m sure I know the reason why: it’s an ugly pie. There is just no way to make it look appetizing – at least not based on the evidence I saw first hand, and on the posts found round the internets. Regardless, my search was successful in that my pie looked like most of the other ones I found and I was no longer fearful of poisoning my guests by serving it to them. However, the reviews made me a little nervous – most people didn’t like it, found it eggy, found the texture weird.
Like it is with many things, the internet was wrong. This is a delicious pie. No, it’s not going to be the Piemate of the Year any time soon, but isn’t the most important aspect of a pie, how it tastes? I thought so.
I also committed what I consider a cardinal sin of peach pie making: I used canned peaches. Frankly, they are fine in this rendition of a peach pie (though I will stand by fresh – or frozen in a pinch or off-season – for a traditional peach pie).
Peaches & Dream, from Baked Explorations.
I am an ugly pie
Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie
Last Thursday I got a craving for Kentucky Derby/Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie, which is strange because I’m not particular fond of pecans or bourbon. Regardless, I want to practice my pie dough rolling and crimping, so I gave in, and:
1.
Homesick, hurricanes and sympathy baking.
Week 44. Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.
I’ve been feeling really homesick lately. I’ve moved around a lot, and not many of the places I’ve lived have felt like home. One that has been “home” is Brooklyn, NY and it’s a place that I miss often. I think the increase in homesick-feelings of late is due to being in a new city, the emptiness left by not living with RMT, and having not been back to NYC in 10 months.
I’ve spent a good portion of the last 24-36 hours watching Sandy – and strangely, I keep finding myself wishing I was there riding out the storm with my friends and preparing to help clean up the city that I love so much. I’ve been checking out news, videos, twitter and FB , and making phone calls to the loved ones on the east coast; more than once I’ve found myself expecting to look out side and see rain and debris flying through the air rather than the sunny blue skies of Southern California.
Andy Williams is always 3 months late.
Week 42. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love all the flavors that seem to be in abundance (cinnamon! cloves! pumpkin! squash! roasted _____!), the colors, boots and skirts! (err…although it was 95 and sunny this week…), the return of school (I loved school, big nerd here), HALLOWEEN. The best holiday during the best time of year.
Party Cake.
Week 40. White Out Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting.
I like baking to make other people happy, to bring a smile to their face, a bright spot in their day.
My grandfather’s favorite kind of cake is white cake with milk chocolate frosting. I am glad I got to bake him a cake before I moved. Love you, grandpa!
He insisted on eating the last slice of cake straight off the cardboard. Can’t see a problem with that!
I used Baked’s White Out Cake recipe for the white cake, and the milk chocolate frosting recipe from the Malted Milk Chocolate cake. Delicious!
motobaker 
