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I just put together some wooden bead curtain tie-backs for my kitchen. Although they are hardly similar, they were inspired by some tie-backs I saw in the West Elm catalog years ago. John and I picked these beads out at the craft store and I strung them up on some nylon wire. Zumi got a hold of one the other night and I came home to a kitchen floor covered with chewed up beads. She seems to have had her fill so, for the moment, the others are safe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My first attempt at Chocolate Chip Cookies from scratch turned out great. Up until this point I was strictly a ready-made cookie dough kind of girl. But, with my recent baking successes, I was eager to try my hand at this classic cookie. I chose this recipe because it seemed to yield a smaller amount (if I make four dozen cookies, I'll eat four dozen cookies...). The flavors also sounded perfect for this occasion; John had requested a cookie with nuts and I love dark chocolate.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Sweet Amandine

1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c firmly packed light brown sugar
8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1 t vanilla
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 c dark chocolate chips (I used Whole Foods Dark Chocolate Discs.)

Optional
1 c toasted, finely chopped nuts (I used pecans.)

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the sugars and the butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.

Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips (and nuts).

Scoop the cookie dough into rounded tablespoon balls, and space them at least an inch apart on the baking sheets.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until pale golden brown. The cookies will be pretty soft when you remove them from the oven, but will cool to a firmer, chewy consistency.

These cookies were delicious. However, it made me realize that I prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips in my cookies. I missed their traditional sweetness. I thought it was interesting that the cookies were baked at a slightly lower temperature. Maybe that's why the the texture turned out a little more cakey than the cookies I'm used to. I really liked that texture, though, so I'll definitely be making these again.

Ice Cream Cake

This cake recipe is a sure winner. It is incredibly simple and allows even baby bakers like myself come up with intriguing (and gourmet sounding) flavor combinations. I would have never thought I could bake a Caramelized Pear and Ginger Spice Cake or a Lemon Honey Cake with Lavender. This recipe made it all possible!

Ice Cream Cake
from Omnomicon

1 box cake mix (of any flavor)
1 pint ice cream (of any flavor), softened
3 eggs
1 c water

Preheat oven to 350^o. Grease and flour a tube or bundt pan.

Beat all ingredients together until well incorporated, pour into pan and bake 45 minutes. Serve with the frosting of your choice.

Flavors that I've tested are Dark Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache, Vanilla Zebra Cake with Chocolate Ganache, Ginger Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting and Pecans, and Lemon Cake with Earl Grey Butter Cream.

Food blogs!

I love looking at food blogs. Several times a day I'll stop by Tastespotting and foodgawker to browse through their tasty looking offerings. For me the draw is seeing what other people are doing in their kitchens, how they shop, add variety, keep it healthy, indulge, etc. It's also about the art, expression through the food and the photography. I call it 'food porn', but it's really more like 'food art'. I bookmark everything that looks especially delicious or easy to make. This practice has gotten me a bookmark folder with literally hundreds of unorganized recipes waiting to be tried. Very slowly I'm starting to try the recipes in my overflowing folder. There have been hits and misses. From now on, both will be shown here.

First: a hit!

I've always been a terrible baker. I've had success cooking, but baking was always a nightmare for me. I could even screw up brownies out of the box. After failure after failure, I had come to terms that baking was just not my thing. Then I made a new friend, Rachel. She gave up a high paying job to go pastry school and pursue her delicious pastry dreams! Her passion for pastry inspired me to give baking another go and I'm so glad I did. My first at bat I hit it out of the park with these beautiful Hot Crossed Buns.


I've heard these are traditionally prepared for Good Friday, but I made these Easter Morning. They were a tradition in John's family growing up and now they can be a tradition for us going forward.

Hot Crossed Buns
adapted from Open Mouth Insert Cookie

Buns
2 1/4 t instant yeast
1/4 c sugar
3/4 c water
3 1/2 c all purpose flour
3/4 c buttermilk
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t all-spice
1/4 c butter, room temperature, in tablespoons
1 c dried currents
2 t orange zest

Crosses
3 T all purpose flour
1 t sugar
2 T water

Glaze
1/4 c water
2 T honey
2 T sugar

Icing
1/2 c confectioners sugar
1 T cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 t vanilla
2-3 T milk

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the dough, except for the currants. Then, with your hands, mix the dough just until it forms a rough ball. Turn it out and knead it on a floured surface until it's smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Next, knead in the currants, taking care to distribute it evenly. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (about 2 hours).

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, deflate gently, and form into 16 round buns. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment, about an inch apart. Snip a cross into the top of each bun with scissors. Cover, and let the buns rise again, until they are 1.5 times larger (about an hour). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the cross ingredients and stir until smooth. Place in a plastic baggy, and cut a tiny bit of the corner off. Pipe crosses (following the snip marks in your buns) on each bun. Bake until golden brown and firm (about 30 minutes).

To make the glaze I boiled the water and poured it piping hot into a bowl with the sugar and honey. As soon as the buns come out of the oven, brush each with the glaze.

To make the icing, simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Make sure the cream cheese is nice and soft and begin by adding only 2 T of milk. If the icing is too thick, add a third tablespoon. Let the buns cool a little then, using the same plastic baggy piping technique, pipe on the icing.

Enjoy while still warm!