Ghirardelli Double (triple) Chocolate Brownie Mix

For my parent's 40th wedding anniversary, in addition to an incredible dinner out the night before and a super fun photo shoot, we baked Ghirardelli brownies. There is no alternative here. When you are making brownies, nothing else comes close. Believe me: Ghirardelli brownies are superior to all! In fact, my mom, my sister, and I have experimented with many different from scratch brownies recipes, and I still think that Ghirardelli's Double Chocolate Brownie Mix is the only way to make brownies.

Mad Hatter Cake

This will be the last post for a while, I imagine. I'm shifting my gears back to teaching and learning and away from baking and eating.

This past weekend, my husband and I had the pleasure of attending a good friend's wedding. And, boy did she have a cake!

Can you tell from the photo? Those are not rectangular prisms for layers. They are trapezoidal prisms. It gave the whole cake a topsy-turvy, Alice-in-Wonderland feel. The colors and details were over the top, as you can see in the photo. So fun!

Now, I'm not a huge fan of fondant, so thank goodness the cake and filling were excellent! In fact, guess who was the cake's creator... Yes, that's right Rockwell's Creative Cakes in Old Towne Orange on Lemon Street. Kudos to bakery. The cake was a real knock-out!

Blueberry Muffins!

When I see a blueberry sale, I jump. So, with a 2 lb box at $4.99, my first thought was, should I make a blueberry pie?... blueberry jam? ... or blueberry MUFFINS!

This recipe is adapted from the JOY of Cooking's - 75th Addition on page 635.

Blueberry Muffins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line 12 muffin tins.

Select and rinse 1 1/2 cups raw blueberries. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In another bowl, whisk together:

2 large eggs

1 cup skim milk

1/6 cup packed brown sugar

1/6 cup sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add wet mixture to flour mixture until just combined. Don't over-mix.

Lightly stir-in blueberries.

Evenly distribute the batter among the 12 muffin cups.

Bake 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.

Let cool 3 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

The Perfect Circle Cupcakery

Old Towne Orange is adorable. I don't need to tell you that. And, today was my first time in The Perfect Circle Cupcakery at 165 N. Glassell St.

The Perfect Circle Cupcakery is decked out in damask print and baby blue with a big print of Audrey Hepburn casually smiling at you as you eat at one of the cute cafe tables. An excellent location and fun atmosphere, you would be remiss not to stop in after a dinner at Cafe Lucca or a breakfast at The Filling Station. Ben and I chose a fun flavor of chocolate cupcake with lemon frosting. What a winning combo! Check out other fun flavors like "Old Towne Orange," "Tuxedo," "Coconut Bliss," and "Cookies and Cream." Yummy!

New England Blueberry Buckle!

We have a guest baker today: My mom, Judy Larson! Here is her Blueberry Buckle recipe which everyone in the family adores!

New England Blueberry Buckle

1/2 c soft butter
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
2 1/2 c flour
1 c buttermilk
1 t grated lemon peel
4 c blueberries

Topping
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c flour
1 t cinnamon
4 T cold butter

Butter a 9/13 in pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Make topping by blending together in a bowl brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut butter into pieces and cut into flour mixture with a pastry blender and
refrigerate.

In a large bowl beat butter and sugar with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until blended. Sift baking powder, salt, and flour and add to the bowl, alternately
with the milk. Add lemon peel. Pour batter into pan. Toss Blueberries with juice of lemon, then sprinkle evenly over the batter. Evenly distribute topping over the berries. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick pulls clean.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Today I am made Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. I adapted a recipe I found on allrecipes.com to fit the suggestions of other bakers. I used whole wheat flour, but I bet these muffins are even better with all purpose white flour. Enjoy my updated recipe!

LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS

Oven: 400 Grease muffin tin (12-16)

Combine:

2 cups whole wheat or all purpose white flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup poppy seeds

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt.

Blend in a separate bowl:

2 eggs

2 cups lemon yogurt

1/4 cup oil

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Mix liquid into dry until just combined.

Bake 12-15 minutes.

Meanwhile:

Mix 3 tablespoons of sugar into 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice.

Once out of the oven, prick muffins with a fork

and gently pour (or brush on) 1 tablespoon of lemon sugar over the top.

Cool 10 minutes before removing muffins from tin.

Year-Old Cake

It's tradition, right? You have to eat your wedding cake a year later! But, imagine our surprise when it was actually good! It was actually moist and yummy!

My husband was the brave one, trying the cake first. Then he fed me, without saying a word.

Happy Anniversary, Ben!

The Ultimate Pie Crust

This is my absolute favorite pie crust. I'm not saying its easy, but it is the best. (If you want easy, go make friends with Pillsbury. I do on occasion; it's OK.)

Here we go:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 3 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/3 cup cold butter until pieces are pea-size.

2. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 beaten egg yolk, 1 tablespoon water and 1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel. Gradually stir into flour mixture. (Dough will not be completely moistened.) Gently knead dough just until a ball forms. If necessary, cover dough with plastic wrap and chill 30-60 minutes or until dough is easy to handle.

3. On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edge into a 12-inch circle. To transfer pastry, wrap it around a rolling pin. Unroll pastry into 9-inch pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry.

If you only need the bottom and are filling pie with a no-bake filling, follow directions below. If you need a pie crust for the top, repeat steps above and bake as recipe directs.

4. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Prick bottom and side of pastry in pie plate with a fork. Prick all around where bottom and side meet. Line pastry with a double thickness of foil.

5. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 5 to 6 minutes more or until golden, covering edges of pastry with foil, if necessary, to prevent over-browning. Cool on wire rack.

That's it! The Ultimate Pie Crust!

See you next week! Monday is lemon poppy seed muffins! Yum!

Blueberry Pie!

After the Fourth of July, watery pie crusts debacle, I wanted to prove to myself that I was indeed capable of making a stand out stellar pie. This time, BLUEBERRY! 

I used a recipe out of The Joy of Cooking and adapted it slightly for myself.

Blueberry Pie

Line a 9-inch pan with 1 pre-made dough circle. 

Position rack in lower third of oven

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Combine in a bowl and let stand for 15 minutes:

6 cups blueberries

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon salt

Pour mixture into bottom crust and dot with

1 tablespoon unsalted butter cut into small pieces.

Cover with a pricked/vented top crust.

Bake for 30 minutes at 425.

Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes or 

until the juices from the pie start to bubble through vents in crust.

Sensational! This pie was splendid and well formed. 

I was very pleased with this recipe. Try it for yourself!!!

Notes on the Fourth of July Debacle:

I believe I may not have added enough cornstarch to my previous pies, and I may not have allowed the crust enough time to brown at the higher temperature. Additionally, when creating the vents, I removed so much of the crust, that I think I should have followed directions for a lattice top.