Yummys 10.21.13

Yummys, 474 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA

 I got the original flavor with sliced almonds for crunch.   So good I ate it all before I remembered to take a picture.

Pumpkin Pie 10.15.13

Pumpkin pie from baking illustrated.  I substituted evaporated milk for fresh milk and cream. The parbaked crust kept the crust crispy, especially the bottom.  I will make this recipe again first week of November for Community Cooks.

Pumpkin Cannoli 10.15.13

Castiello bakery, 16 maple street, Danvers, MA

The cannoli was too delicious.  I couldn't save any for a picture.  Freshly filled and delicious.

Margaritas 10.15.13

Home made margaritas with fresh squeezed lime juice.  Yum.  I made one with Jose Cuervo Gold, and a second with Espolon.  The espolon was much smoother and tasted much better.  Maybe it’s better because it’s 100% pure agave.  I don’t think the jose cuervo was 100% agave.

2 oz tequila
2 oz lime juice
1 oz simple syrup
½ oz Cointreau

Angelina’s Pastry 10.8.13

Angelina’s Pastry, 1193-A Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA

I thought the pastries tasted delicious here.  I tried a fruit tart and a tiramisu piece.  The fruit tart had blueberries and strawberries which were glazed.  The shell was filled with cream which tasted of almonds. The tiramisu was delicious.  It wasn't soggy and the flavors were just the way I liked them.  I found a hair in my tiramisu, but since I work in a bakery I accept it as a rare occurrence.

I was really impressed that these two items tasted so fresh with the bakery having so much selection and variety of products in their display case.

A beautiful fruit tart.

The custard and shell were delicious.  I'm not sure which one was almond flavored.

This tiramisu was really delicious.  It's similar to the way I make it at home.

This hair was sticking out of my cake.

Black and White cookies 9.29.13

Comparetto Bakery, 20 Western Avenue, Marlboro, NY

An italian bakery in Marlboro.  A great find for the black and white cookies I so frequently desire.  I got a Florentine and a black and white cookie.  The black and white cookie was lemony and delicious, and the icing was perfect.

Ithaca Beer Co 9.27.13

Ithaca Beer Co, 122 Ithaca Beer Dr., Ithaca, NY

Beer samples at Ithaca Beer Co.  I lived in Ithaca for 6 years, but never ventured out here.  The brewery is out near Buttermilk Falls.  They have lunch food and do tours on the weekends.

Just for fun, rainbow beer!

My favorites were Apricot Wheat, Country Pumpkin, and the dark one that wasn't Nut Brown or the Smoked Porter.

Chocolate caramel apple 9.25.13

Richardson’s Candy Kitchen, 500 Greenfield Road, Deerfield, MA

Chocolate caramel apple.  Delicious!

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory 9.24.13

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, 1281 Waterbury Stowe Rd, Waterbury, VT

I got chocolate peanut butter ice cream and lemon liz greek yogurt.  There’s also a picture of a half eaten brownie sundae.  The sample flavor on the tour was triple caramel chunk.

Here's the browie sundae.

Here's the chocolate peanut butter.  I ate the lemon liz already.

Peanut butter cookies 9.18.13

More peanut butter cookies.  I’m a fan of this recipe, just need to tweak the baking as I tend to overbake them.

Shortbread cookies 9.14.13

These are, hands down, the best shortbread cookies I’ve ever had.  They have excellent flavor and the perfect crumbliness. The texture from the rice flour is perfect. Recipe is from baking illustrated.

8 ¾ oz AP flour, preferable low protein
1 1/3 oz rice flour
5 oz superfine sugar
½ t salt
8 oz cold butter

Mix flours and sugar (reserve 1 T for sprinkling) and salt.  Cut butter into 1/ 2 in cubes and toss with flour mixture.  Mix until dough is pale yellow and resembles damp crumbs.  Mold shortbread into 9 inch pan and cut out center circle (2 in). preheat oven 425. Turn oven down to 300 when you place shortbread in the oven Bake 20 mins, then score and pierce the shortbread. Bake another 40 mins until pale gold. Sprinkle sugar and cut while cookies are still hot. Cool at least 3 hours.

This is after the dough is initially baked for 20 mins.

Here the dough is baked 20 minutes, then pierced with a wooden skewer.  I used my dough knife to make the straight cuts.

Here's the final baked cookie.  It has great color.

Granola bars 9.13.13

I’m working on my granola bar recipe.  Here’s my latest idea using a crispy rice mixing method. The current recipe is a little too heavy. I’m hoping that heating the syrup will thin the sugar mixture and make it easier to coat the oat mixture.

Yields one 8x8 pan

3 c oats
2 c rice
½ c nuts
1/2 c peanut butter
¼ c honey
¼ c agave (or corn syrup or tapioca syrup)
½ c brown sugar
1/8 t salt

Double Chocolate Cookies 9.10.13

This recipe is from Baking Illustrated.  The cookies tasted delicious but it was hard not to overbake them, especially since I was scooping the dough to be bite-sized.

10 oz AP flour
1.5 oz dutch-processed cocoa
2 t baking powder
½ t salt
16 oz semisweet chocolate
4 large eggs
2 t vanilla extract
2 t instant coffee or espresso powder
5 oz butter, softened but still cool
10.5 oz light brown sugar
3.5 oz sugar

Sift dries. Melt chocolate and cool. Lightly beat eggs, vanilla and coffee.  Cream butters and sugars.  Beat in egg mixture, then add chocolate.  Add dry ingredients carefully.  Wrap with plastic and let stand until batter consistency is scoopable and fudge-like, about 30 minutes. Bake 350  about 10 minutes, when edges are set but middles are still very soft.

Salah's Scoops 8.27.13

Salah’s Scoops, Washington St, Gloucester, MA

I got a kiddie size cone and it was so big I couldn’t even finish it. Salah’s serves Richardson's ice cream.  This was mint chocolate chip.

Froyoworld 8.24.13

Froyoworld, 274 Franklin Village Drive, Franklin, MA

I ate my froyo so fast I had to take a picture of my neighbors froyo.  That said, my froyo was nothing but delicious.

Pecan Cookies 8.15.13

Recipe from Baking Illustrated.  I think these came out pretty well, but I'm not sure if pecans are my favorite nut to use in the recipe.  I also really like the no nut version.

Here are the cookies after baked, but before they are rolled in powdered sugar.

After they are rolled in powdered sugar they look delectable!

1 c whole pecans, chopped fine (3.5 oz)

5 oz AP flour

3/8 t salt

4 oz butter

1.25 oz superfine sugar

¾ t vanilla

3 oz conf sugar for rolling

Bake 325 for 17-19 minutes (I baked 19-20 minutes)

Dentist Fare 8.15.13

Sugar free treats from the dentist.  Looks like there are a lot of strange ingredients in these candies.

Peanut butter cookies 8.1.13

Here is a conventional recipe for peanut butter cookies (from Baking Illustrated).  I shaped the dough into balls and flattened them on the cookie sheet.  Then I pressed a pinch of crushed peanuts into the top of each cookie.

After baked!

6.25 oz AP flour

¼ t soda

¼ t bak powder

½ t salt

4 oz butter

3.5 oz light brown sugar

3.5 oz sugar

½ c peanut butter (I used Teddy’s smooth unsalted)

1 large egg

1 t vanilla

½ c dry-roasted salted peanuts, ground

Bake 350 for 10-12 minutes until sides are brown, but not the tops

GF Peanut butter cookies 7.28.13

Gluten free peanut butter cookies.  The base recipe is from Gluten-free Baking by Richard Coppedge.

I used three kinds of milk chocolate (Hersheys (elliptical shaped) and two Whole Foods brand organic milk chocolate.)

4 oz butter

3.3 oz brown sugar

2.7 oz sugar

½ T salt

½ T baking soda

5 oz peanut butter

1 egg

1.66 oz peanuts, raw, roughly chopped

2 oz sorghum flour (original recipe uses white rice flour)

2.8083 oz potato starch

1.027083 oz tapioca starch (29 g)

0.15625 oz guar gum (4.4g or ½ t) I used xantham gum

0.4225 oz albumen (12g or 8.5 t)

Bake 350 for 14 minutes.

Quebrada Man Cake 7.28.13

Inspiration for a sculpted cake.  Can you imagine?!  It would be incredible.

Lakota Bakery 7.25.13

Lakota Bakery, 1375 Mass Ave, Arlington, MA

Delicious Lakota cookies  Cookies are $1.35 each.  These Florentines are amazing.  I love the cherry and the chocolate and the chewy caramel and nuts! The strawberry linzer is a nice change from the raspberry linzers I’ve been eating lately.

Strawberry Linzer!

Florentines! They are dipped in chocolate and dried upside down, as opposed to Quebrada's florentines which are dipped in chocolate and dried right side up.

New Hope Chia Chocolate Chip Cookies 6.13.13

These were very easy to mix, and tasty too, but I'm still looking for a bit more chewiness.

Shunpike Dairy 6.13.13

Shunpike Dairy, Millbrook, NY

Raw milk!  Finally getting the full nutrients from my milk.  This small farm was picturesque and wonderful.  It makes me want to live in the country and have access to farms and local foods.

Artigiani Bell Gelato 6.12.13

Artigiani Bell Gelato, 41 E Market St, Rhinebeck, NY

Chocolate and almond gelato here was pretty good.  Both flavors tasted good and very sweet.

Frozland 5.18.13

Frozland, 882 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 

Chocolate and hazelnut.   Flavor was only okay.  The texture was strange and the yogurt was very melty. Perhaps something wrong with the holding temperature?  I got sick after eating this.  I'm not sure what it would have been.

Sacher Birthday Cake 5.12.13

A version of Sachertorte.  Dense chocolate cake filled with apricot jam and frosted with chocolate ganache.

10 oz butter

10 oz sugar

12.5 oz sweet chocolate, melted

 10 oz egg yolks

2 t vanilla extract

15 oz egg whites

½ t salt

7.5 oz sugar

10 oz cake flour, sifted

Cream butter and sugar, add cooled chocolate.   Add the egg yolks and vanilla.  Whip the egg whites with the salt, then add sugar and whip to soft peaks.  Fold the egg whites in to the batter alternately with the flour.   Bake 324 45-60 minutes.

I don't have a picture of the inside of the cake, but it was two layers of chocolate cake with apricot filling in between.