Happy Blogoversary! To me!

Friday (Today) is my blogoversary. Holy Crap. Like seriously? Did I really start a blog? A food blog? And one year ago? I'm seventeen. I was sixteen. I couldn't even drive.


Well I guess I did. Though I haven't achieved super stardom, or anything close, I've learned so many things since starting my blog. My food vocabulary has increased. I now know what a clafoutis is, though I've never made one. Things like galettes and meringues aren't new to me. I can even say I know what a pomegranate is and how it tastes. I've done a lot this past year, let's take a look:

My eyes were opened one day when I stumbled upon macaron recipes. And when I finally got around to making them, I tasted sweet victory.

Ahh.. sweet feet;) Dulce de leche, chocolate raspberry, espresso nutella

Fudge? That stuff I would never touch? Yeah, it made its way in there some how.

I can't believe I made chocolate fudge. Who am I? But hey, chocolate chip cookie dough fudge is pretty bomb stuff.

I made my own lemon curd when I had a big lemon kick last summer. Pretty awesome.

However, the cake I made with it was a nightmare... I eventually got it right!

Oh, I apparently made the best red velvet cake ever. Or so says my family.

All I can say is: moist, wow, get bigger pants you will end up eating the whole thing, I love red velvet.

I joined a baking club. Not just any club, but the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes club! I have even gotten to pick two of the cupcakes so far! I learned I am obsessed with cupcakes. And that I am capable of eating five in one evening. Good cupcakes will do that to you. Here's just a few:

Banana Pecan

Around the World (Vanilla Buttermilk)

Zucchini Spice

Sweet Potato

Strawberry

S'mores

Pumpkin

Pomegranate (Somewhat of my own creation!)

Gingerbread

Tres Leches

About halfway through the year, why it took me this long to find I'll never know, I found the Pioneer Woman's blog. I was able to join the obsession already held by many food bloggers.

Gahh! This was a glorious pizza. I am in love with this dough, hands down.

The maple coffee flavored icing was ridiculously good.

My obsession with dips grew, though I tried to hide it well... I may not have posted some of these, but I constantly make dips. I just love them! Check these dips out too.

Some great authentic guac.

Layered Taco dip (meatless)

Spinach and artichoke dip in a rye bread bowl= dip bliss.

Ahh sweet sweet brown sugar toffee dip...

Believe it or not, I like savory food too. (sometimes..)

This was fab but made me wish I had a food processor!

My daddy's awesome creation.

Nothing crazy. Just some darn good 'taters!

Finally getting some use out of an awesome cookbook with these turnovers.

A first attempt at cornbread. Not so good.. but the meat rocked.

Umm... so so so so good. Like amazing.

My mom's forte. Tuna cakes are where it's at. One of my all time fav's.

I also conquered some fears. And I'm so glad I did!

I MUST make these again. I loved the crap out of them and can't wait to make the cinnamon sugar variety of them.

Why can't Mardi Gras be more often? This was sinfully good!!!

Oh goodness. This took three days to complete and came from the Cake Bible. It was a ton of work but it turned out really great. It was my first attempt at a layer cake and I was really proud of the way it turned out.

So this was a pretty long post, but I still want to talk. I want to say thank you to all of the wonderful people who comment on my blogger or follow along with me. Thank you to all the bloggers out there who have created this amazing world of food. Thank you to my mom for supporting me through all this and being my number one taste tester. This has been one great year of blogging and I hope I can do it for many more years!

Around the World Cupcakes!

Try and test your flag knowledge!

These cupcakes were a fun project i decided to do for my AP World Literature class for our end of the year party. As I mentioned in a previous post, everyone in my AP class chose a country to spend time on all year blah blah blah.. I already talked about this. But for our party, I decided to showcase a more decorative side of my cupcake making abilities. My class already knew I was a seasoned cupcake baker, but I wanted to show them I could get a little more playful as well.

Our lovely party spread. Flip side crackers, a cookie cake, brownie bites, and my cupcakes! All on a Disney princess table cloth.

Our party theme was "Everybody Wang Lung Tonight". I'll explain. We read this crazy novel titled "The Good Earth". It was extremely long and a tad pointless. I don't wanna bash it too much, as there is now a special spot in my heart for it. So the main character's name is Wang Lung, and the song is Wang Chung. Yepp, I thought of it all by myself=) But for the cupcakes... I racked my brain constantly on what I could possibly do with them. Themes, flavors, and shapes were all put into consideration. And judging by the pictures I'm sure you can guess what I came up with.

Do you know what countries these are?

I like making people feel special. People like being made to feel special. Who doesn't like when someone specifically creates something for them? So I made a cupcake specifically designed for each member of my class. The base was a simple vanilla buttermilk cupcake by the Queen herself. I've made so many of her cupcakes but had yet to make her simple vanilla ones! I paired it with her suggested fluffy vanilla frosting. I halved both the recipes. Then, I got creative.

The lovely cookie cake bought by my friend Roman. She said the cake decorator gave her some pretty strange looks. I can't imagine why.

I went scouring the town for some fondant to work with and ended up finding it at this cute cottage-like house that was a cake supplies store. I then bought icing markers to use on it. So I would take a chunk of fondant, roll it into a rectangle shape, then color on my flag pattern. Were these time consuming? Umm.. if they were, I didn't seem to mind. It was such fun to make!

Best friends=)

Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes

3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2) With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

3) Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.


Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
1) With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2)Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium-high. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.
3)Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Rice Pudding

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of this as I was suffering from the Black Death. Okay well I was actually just recovering from having my four wisdom teeth pulled... but same thing right? I suffered from a severe lack of appetite as well so my sister and mom pretty much ate all of this pudding before I even got to it! But thankfully I got to have the very last of it!

Hot or cold, this was amazing! I snuck (**apparently blogger says this is not a real word? I'm getting a squiggly red line underneath it. Should I have said sneeked instead? Nope that's underlined as well. Huh... weird.** ) quite a few tastes after it came off the stove the day I made it, and then had some cold straight from the fridge. Both heavenly.


This was a bit of work to make. You have to keep vigilant at the stove while the rice is cooking and soaking up the milk, like for 45 minutes. I will say my mom greatly helped me by stirring the rice while I had to run an immediate errand. Thanks Moo! You're a lifesaver. She did wonderful because the pudding was the perfect consistency and did not burn.

Arborio Rice Pudding

found: Tasting Spoons from Dorie Greenspan's recipe

1/2 cup arborio rice

2 cups water

3 1/4 cups whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Pour the rice and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature and cook the rice, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Drain the rice in a strainer and rinse it; set aside.

2. Rinse out the saucepan, then pour in the whole milk, stir in the sugar, and set the pan over medium heat. When the milk mixture boils, stir in the parboiled rice. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture bubble away gently, stirring occasionally, for about 50-60 minutes. As the pudding gets close to done, the rice kernels will be visible in the boiling milk- you’ll see them floating under the top layer of milk. The pudding won’t be thick- that’s okay as it will thicken in the refrigerator – but the rice will be soft and it will have absorbed 80 to 90 percent of the milk.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and decide what flavor you’d like the pudding to be – add either the vanilla or chocolate and stir gently until it is fully blended in to the pudding.

4. Pour the pudding into a serving bowl or into individual cups or bowls. Press plastic wrap against the surface of the pudding to prevent it from forming a skin, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, until thoroughly cold.

Pomegranate Ice Cream

I write this to you after having taken a pain killer for this gosh darn wisdom teeth recovery. It is brutal business, especially since I didn't take any pain medication until just now, the night of the second day. It was pure hell before then. Anyway.... in the time leading up to the procedure I of course was very concerned over what I would be able/want to eat. (Ironically, I haven't eaten really anything these first two days). I don't like jello and I'm not a big soup person, but that still left me with options. I knew I'd at least want to make myself some good homemade ice cream.

Silly ol' me still has plenty of leftover POM Wonderful juice sitting in her fridge since I won a contest over at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. I figured pomegranate ice cream would be an easy kind to swallow, even though I would have loved to put chocolate chunks in it like Susan did. First you need to make a syrup from the juice, then add it to your cream mixture. After that, you're good to put it in your maker and enjoy! I've only had a little bit of it so far, but it's really tasty! Especially with a heaping of whipped cream, my fav. Plus, POM juice is sooo good for you. So there's no shame in eating a ton of it!




Pomegranate Ice Cream
from: Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy

Ingredients:
2 cups bottled POM Wonderful Pomegranate Juice
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Combine pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar has completely dissolved. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer over medium heat for 30-40 minutes, or until juice has reduced to about 1 cup. It should be the consistency of syrup.

Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. Syrup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat to warm it up. In a bowl, whisk the cornstarch and cream together until smooth. Add cream mixture to the saucepan and stir. Heat while stirring until mixture begins to boil.

Remove from heat and continue to stir for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into a bowl and let cool for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to release the steam. Stir in the pomegranate syrup and salt.

Refrigerate for several hours or overnight, until well chilled.

Once chilled, freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Freeze until desired firmness is reached.

Makes approximately 1 quart.

Apple Dutch Baby

I have always been in love with pancakes. Every Sunday when I was little was known as Pancake Sunday. You woke up to Daddy making pancakes and bacon and afterward got ready for church. Eventually it wore off, but we definitely kept it going for about a year. The usual was always regular pancakes or chocolate chip. No complaints here, but now my pancake taste buds have grown. I've tried ones using cottage cheese, gingerbread ones, and one of my favorite variations on the pancake, the dutch baby.

I had my first encounter with this breakfast item when I saw it on the menu at my now favorite pancake place, The Original Pancake House, OPH. Not to be confused with this 24 hr wannabe. Don't get me wrong, they have good ideas, the cheesecake pancakes sounded/looked phenomenal on the menu, but they came out burnt on the bottom. Blech. Keep trying IHOP. The thing about OPH that I love is their statement and what they stand for. The fresh ingredients like milk, fresh grade AA eggs, pure whipped cream, hard wheat unbleached flour, a homemade sourdough starter and REAL butter make me realize that this is where I belong. Pancake heaven. But I digress. Let's talk about the Dutch Baby.

This breakfast (heck, eat it whenever) delight is something quite amazing. It is traditionally, and probably best, made in a cast iron pan. A metal round cake pan worked for me, though. It is eggstremely eggy (hehe) and so easy to make. Four ingredients for the plain pancake, and then you can play around with the toppings! If you are going traditional, however, colossal shake of powdered sugar, a butt load of butter, and a generous amount of lemon juice are the add-ons of choice. For mine, I went the sauteed apples and cinnamon route.

So overall taste: The best breakfast to wake up to. I really enjoyed it. The apple topping made it out of this world for me=) So, if you have never tried one, please go ahead and do so.............. now!


Apple Dutch Baby
from here

Pancake:
-3 tbsp butter
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1/2 milk

Sauteed Apple Topping:
-2 tart apples (Granny Smith), peeled and cut into very thin slices-3 tbsp butter
-3/4 teaspoon cornstarch-1/4 cup cold water
-1/4 cup brown sugar-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/8-1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Make the pancake - first, heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Over low heat, melt the 3 tablespoons butter in a 10 or 11 inch cast iron pan.
3. Put the eggs, flour, and milk in a blender, and blend well. The idea is to create a lump-free batter.
4. When the butter is melted, pour the batter into the cast iron pan.
   
5. Move the cast iron pan to the oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes. You can tell the Dutch baby is done when the sides are brown and nice and puffy. But don't check it too early! A draft of cold air can cause it to de-puff.

When it's done, it'll look something like this:

6. While the pancake is baking, saute the apples.
Start by melting the butter over medium heat.
7. Add the apples and saute, stirring often over medium heat,
until they're tender (about 10 minutes).
8. Mix the corn starch with the cold water, and pour it over the
apples along with the brown sugar, spices, and vanilla.

9. Boil for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly,
then remove from heat.

10. When the Dutch Baby is done baking, pull it out

and pour your sauteed apple slices all over it.

11. Top with TONS of powdered sugar and whipped cream!

MSC: Strawberry Cupcakes

I'm writing this post in some pain. I just got my wisdom teeth out yesterday. OUCH. It was extremely painful. It astonishes me how many people have this procedure done, yet I feel like I've complained more than anyone. No dry sockets yet, and let's pray never. So far I haven't eaten anything, which sucks because I love love to eat. I was smart and prepped some food for me ahead of time, which I'll post soon (once I've actually had a chance to eat it). Ahhhh, my mouth is so sore right now. Okay, let's focus on what today is really about.

It is the 15th. That means a Martha Stewart Cupcake is in order! And, oh wait, IT WAS MY PICK! Aww yeahhh. Okay, well with it being June and all, I thought this seemed seasonally appropriate, and as I've mentioned before, strawberry is Mummy-Dearest's favorite. I made these a while ago for my Honors Chorus bake sale. You see, we've been given an opportunity of a lifetime.

We will be going on a 6-day trip to New York City. (I cried when I found out) I have never been there, so of course I'm ecstatic. We're going to see West Side Story and Marry Poppins on Broadway, as well as the opera Carmen.

Plus some lovely sites like the Statue of Liberty:
Why are we doing this? The lovely American composer Tim Janis has asked us to come and sing at CARNEGIE HALL. Yes, THE Carnegie Hall. Here in Pittsburgh we did a special with him known as Celebrate America!, but now he wants us for his Christmas special!



This trip means a LOT of fund raising will need done, but we are all so determined! One of the first things we had was a bake sale, and for it, I made these cupcakes.


They were amazing! I thought the strawberry buttercream on top was so buttery and yet sweet and and just a perfect match for the cupcake.

The cupcake base was super moist but it held together nicely. The strawberries were finely chopped in mine so there weren't any big pieces making it hard to eat through.

I got so many compliments on them. The recipe made a ton so I was able to have plenty to sell. I would say these are my favorite cupcakes so far, but I feel like I say that every time!


Check out the club blog for the blog roll and updates on the upcoming cupcakes! Thank you to everyone who baked along with me this month-) I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!!

Hazelnut Espresso Cheesecake Ice Cream

So I think this is my 100th post? OMG that's crazayzay! I wish I'd had a better post planned... I'll make up for it later, I promise. At this point I have a bunch of drafts I'm still trying to publish before they get really old!

I FINALLY got around to using my ice cream maker again. It's about time. Now that the weather is (dare I say) sweltering, ice cream is always on my mind.

This ice cream sounds pretty fancy, but it is probably the easiest ice cream to make. EVER. If you want something that seems fancy for only a little work, this recipe has got you covered.

The components: 1st is the hazelnut. For those of you nutella lovers, this is made for you. 2nd is the espresso. Now you've got the coffee fix involved. I used the instant packets, which are so fun to watch dissolve into the mixture! 3rd is the cheesecake. I don't think anything needs to be said about the deliciousness of cheesecake. Nope, nothing.


Overall, I enjoyed trying the flavor of ice cream. It was definitely RICH. Like, I put whipped cream on it, and it was serious overload. But a drizzle of chocolate syrup is a nice touch. Plus, I added white chocolate chips, had to. I'd like to try it not as a cheesecake if I make it again.


Espresso Hazelnut Cheesecake Ice Cream
from Daydreamer Desserts

16 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup hazelnut spread

In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese, heavy cream, sugar, espresso powder, and vanilla extract.

Begin by beating on low until heavy cream has been incorporated, increase speed to medium-high and continue beating until cream cheese is smooth and creamy.

Transfer mixture to your ice cream maker and follow your manufacturer's instructions.

Approximately 5 minutes before the ice cream is down microwave the hazelnut spread for about 50 seconds at 50% power until it has reached a pouring consistency.

Pour the hazelnut spread into the ice cream maker and as soon as it has swirled through you can turn it off.

Transfer ice cream to a resealable plastic container and freeze for at least 2 hours.

(My dad wanted in this)