Bake 52 Week 44 - Apple Dumplings

This week's recipe was surprisingly easy but very sophisticated looking... great for guests!  I had a small equipment problem but Jonathan helped out with that. 

I couldn't find an apple corer, so after I peeled the apple (I only made a half recipe).

I cut it in half and Jonathan used his hole saw to core it!  :-)

One down...

One to go...

What a great husband letting me get apple all over his tools!

It worked perfectly!  Since the recipe calls for using store bought dough the rest of the dish is very easy.

I rolled out the dough, not worrying too much about getting a perfect 6" square. 

Then you just put the apple, butter, some sugar & cinnamon in the middle of the dough

I bundled up the dough (made rolls out of the extra dough) and popped everything in the oven.

While it baked I made the sauce - apple juice and sugar.

After ten minutes I rotated the tray and took out the rolls, another 10 minutes and the apple dumplings were ready.

Yum...

I'm actually not a big fan of baked apples but this was pretty good.  Super easy and I think your guests would be very impressed with a dessert like this! 

Check out the full recipe at Emily's blog.

Bake 52 Week 43 Creme Caramel

This week's recipe was written to make 8 - 6 oz ramekins of Creme Caramel.  I only had one 6 oz ramekin and I didn't know what I'd do with 7 other servings of Creme Caramel anyway...  Custard desserts are not well suited to sitting in the break room until someone decides they want one.  So I decided to half the recipe.  That required me to measure out half an egg.  Turns out an egg is 50 mls. 

I did buy some more ramekins - but only a set of four.  Plus a bought an oven thermometer.  I found out that oven is 25 degrees low but also takes a lot longer to heat up than I thought.  The oven counts down until it's at temperature.  But actually it was still heating long after the beeper went off.  That explains why some things seemed to take so much longer than the recipe called for or why sometimes it seemed like the oven was fine.  It all depended on how long the oven had been on before I put something in the oven.

Getting things ready...

I'm not sure why the recipe called for having a kitchen towel in the cooking pan but ever obedient I did it. 

Measuring the egg...

After prepping the custard ingredients I got started on the caramel.  It came to a boil really quickly.

I stood and watched it while it boiled for the 6 minutes, waiting for it to turn color.  The recipe warns that once it starts to change color it can burn quickly.  So I may have pulled it off earlier than I needed to.

The caramel set up so quickly that it didn't even spread to fill the bottom of the bigger dish. 

I added a bit at the last which lumped up and formed the darker bit in the bottom.  I ended up with a few drops on the counter... it hadn't sugared, success!

I mixed up the sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt.

Then I got the half and half going on the stove. 

I was getting bored, wondering when I'd know that the cream was steaming and contemplating turning up the temperature when I suddenly realized that there was steam billowing up off the cream.  Time to mix it with the eggs and sugar.

Then I strained the mix into a measuring cup.  I really didn't think there would be anything to strain out but there was.

Yuck... I'm glad I didn't skip this step.  I poured the custard into the four dishes, put the whole pan in the oven and then added boiling water to the bottom of the pan until it was about half way up the ramekins.  About 35 minutes later they were done.

A couple of the edges got a little dark but not bad.  After letting them sit on the counter for about 2 hours I covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the frig.  Two hours later they were ready to eat! 

I was worried they wouldn't come out of the dishes (especially the clear glass ones because the sides aren't straight) but they both came out just fine. 

There was quite a bit of caramel left in the dish but plenty came out to cover the custard. 

As you may suspect (since the only ingredients are sugar, egg and cream) it tastes very egg-y.  It's nice, mild, sweet... Not really my type of thing but surprisingly easy to make.  If you like custard (or flan) give this recipe a try.  Michelle was our host this week.  Check out her blog for the full recipe. 

Repaying a Favor

Last week I had to drive to Burbank to fly to Denver.  For future reference the Bakersfield airport is closer to my house but I didn't realize that until I was actually driving to Burbank on Sunday.  While I was driving my tire pressure light came on.  I pulled over at the next exit to check my tires.  The light had come on several weeks ago.  When that happened I asked Jonathan to put a pressure gauge in my car so I could check the levels if it happened again.  Well, when I pulled over I couldn't find the gauge.  So I just walked around the car and when none of my tires "looked" low I just kept driving. 

The whole time I was in Denver I was worried I was going to come back to the airport and find a flat tire.  I had no idea what I'd do if that was the case since I was almost 2 hours from home and Jonathan was in Utah.  Luckily my tires still looked okay when I got to the airport.  Once I drove home I got a pressure gauge and checked my tires.  Turns out my front right tire (last time it was the right rear tire) was 24 psi (it's supposed to be 33).  Well, normally I'd get Jonathan's handy dandy CO2 tank (or rather Jonathan would) and top off my tires.  But Jonathan had it with him in Utah - he's wheeling so he needs it. 

So on Friday when I got to work I drove over to the air station.  I assumed there would be a valve or something, but there wasn't.  Then I thought maybe if I just clamped the hose on my tire it would start the air flow.  I tried that, I could hear air flowing but when I stopped it to check the pressure it was now 13 psi!!  Crap... I can't drive on that.  So now I'm really in trouble.  I called a friend who manages the gas shop (that's where we maintain the light vehicles) and asked if he could help me.  Well, within 20 minutes he had one of his guys meet me in the parking lot with one of their service trucks.  Within 2 minutes I was back to having a tire full of air!  Whew!!  What a relief. 

So now that I've bored you with that story I share with you the two cookie recipes I made to thank him.  The first is found here - Triple Chip Chocolate Chunk Cookies. 

I started by creaming the butter and sugars.

Next I added the egg and vanilla

Then the dry ingredients

I used Dutch Processed Cocoa because I like it much better than regular cocoa if it is the only source of chocolate in a recipe.

Last the chips...

I used mini chocolate chips like the recipe. 

Lots of yummy goodness!  The mini chocolate chips pretty much disappear into the dough but then it's a nice surprise when you bite into the cookie.  Very yummy!

I baked two trays at a time.  I just left them in the oven until they spread and cooked a bit.  Then I left them on the cookie sheet until they were done cooking. 

I should have pulled them off after about 7 minutes instead of the full ten.  They were a bit dry when they finished cooling completely. 

Yummy and rich!

The second cookie is here.  I thought a sugar cookie (with a twist) would be a nice contrast to the chocolately goodness of the first cookie.  It was a similar exercise to the first. 

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add in the eggs and vanilla

Then the dry ingredients

Finally the M&M's

I literally mixed this for about 20 seconds with my stand mixer and it was already starting to crush the M&M's to smitereens! 

So the distribution of M&M's was a bit uneven.  I flattened the cookies a bit before I put them in the oven.

After 8 minutes the tops of the cookies had no color and when I looked at them closer they weren't even cooked!

So I put them back in the oven under the broiler for a minute or so to get the tops cooked without over cooking the middle.

I hope the guys in the Gas shop like them!

Cheddar Chili Cornbread Pasta Bake

I was craving something besides another frozen entree for dinner.  A while ago I bought all the ingredients for this so I got everything together to make it.

 This is my favorite chili recipe - I got it from Brenda (my MIL) when I got married.  It's the only chili Jonathan likes so I already had it on hand. 

This is my favorite corn bread mix.

I didn't check the original recipe very closely.  I had the recipe already printed out and I didn't get back online to check the links to see how much corn bread the mix should make. 

After cooking the noodles I assembled the casserole.  Noodles & cheese first.

Then the chili.

Finally the corn bread mix.

After 30 minutes the top was very brown...

But when I cut into it the corn bread mix was still raw.

So I covered the whole thing with aluminum foil, moved the rack to the bottom of the oven and put it back in for 20 minutes before it was finally cooked through.

It took a lot longer to cook than I planned so I ended up eating a frozen entree any way for dinner but I had to try it before I just stuck the whole thing in the frig.

Tasty!  But next time I'd take half of the corn bread mix and make muffins.  There was way too much corn bread.  It overwhelmed the rest of the flavors.  But it will be nice to have leftovers for lunch this week instead of more frozen entrees.

Bake 52 Week 42 - Oatmeal Scones

I wasn't to excited about this recipe...  I put it off and put it off until I was almost out of time.  But I don't want to skip something just because it doesn't look appetizing to me.  The whole idea behind the baking group is to try stuff you wouldn't normally try so I couldn't skip one just because it didn't look very appetizing. 

Well, I was surprised at the outcome...  It was a really simple recipe, roast the oats.

While they were in the oven I started mixing the dry ingredients and then cut in the buttter.

Once that was blended together to look like crumbs

you mix that with the cooled oats and the liquids

The recipe said something about mixing it as best you can and then dump the "mess" (not the exact words) on the counter and use your hands to shape.

It's quite a mess, huh?  It came together okay and I got it formed into a circle and cut it into pieces. 

But when I tried to move the pieces apart it seemed like it was going to fall apart so I just stuck it in the oven as was. 

When the timer went off it looked like the middle wasn't done but now it was sturdy enough that I could move the pieces apart.  I cooked it for another 5 or so minutes and...

All done!  I had a quick taste and found that I really liked these.  It's certainly not a dessert.  But it is sweet and would make a yummy dish for brunch or breakfast.  So all in all I'm glad I made it. 

I had to leave town almost as soon as I was done with this so it's all sitting in my frig waiting for my return.  It will be breakfast once I get home.  Yum!  If you want the recipe check out Jennifer's blog.