Busy Weekend

My first pumpkin pie:

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

Not perfect, but a solid, first attempt.


A loaf of whole wheat bread:

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

And some banana bread:

From November 2010

I used a recipe that I got from the King Arthur Flour's traveling baking demos that suggested adding coconut flakes...what a great idea!

Fougasse

After a ciabatta disaster over the weekend, I was determined to make a nice yeast bread.  I took a break from ciabatta, though, and decided to try fougasse.  I was really nervous since the giant, leafy pictures just look so incredible.  I was surprised how well it turned out and how easy it was!  Next time I think I'll add some spices for some extra flavor now that I've got the basic recipe under my belt.  Here are a couple of pictures...sorry, no pictures of the messed up ciabatta! 

I learned from Wikipedia that the leaf shapes are actually supposed to look like an "ear of wheat":

I can't really say mine is a perfect match, but you get the idea! 

The history of the bread (according to Wikipedia) says that fougasse was a provincial bread and there were different variations regionally in France.  Some versions included different savory ingredients (olives, anchovies) and were like pizza without sauce.  Eventually the recipe made its way over to Italy where fougasse evolved into focaccia.  Yum...focaccia may be the next bread recipe to try! 

Punkinhead

The crisp, autumn weather has made me slightly obsessed with baking with pumpkin.  And now that the shortage is over, I don't even feel guilty about picking up some pumpkin puree at the store.  The great thing about pumpkins is that not only do they taste good, but they're also good for you...low in calories, lots of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants.  Anyway, I made some Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Squares from a recipe on Martha Stewart's website.  I'm not sure why I keep using her recipes lately, but the bars were delicious.  They didn't taste too pumpkin-y and were very chocolatey.  The pumpkin added lots of moisture to the bars, so they didn't taste dry like blondies sometimes seem to be.  Here are some pictures:

Not wanting to leave anyone out, I also made some pumpkin dog treats.  The recipe came from The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook by Jessica Disbrow Talley and Eric Talley.  This was the first time I've ever made dog treats, although I'm not sure it really counts since I didn't use any scary ingredients (okay, really I just mean liver).    Here they are:

Birthday Cupcakes!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful person in my world - my girlfriend.  To celebrate, I made some red velvet cupcakes:

The taste was really delicious.  The only problem was the red coloring.  I used a recipe on Martha Stewart's website.  Although I used gel-paste red food coloring rather than liquid, I definitely needed some more.  I've never made red velvet anything before, and I didn't want it to be too artificial looking, so I hesitated before adding more food coloring.  I should have trusted by instincts and added another tablespoon, but otherwise, the recipe was a success.  See the process below:

Great Cupcake Frosting Video

I found this great video today on four different techniques to frost a cupcake.  Very helpful!

Check it out if you're interested!  The instruction is by Xanthe Milton, author of Eat Me!: The Stupendous, Self-Raising World of Cupcakes and Bakes According to Cookie Girl.

Farmhouse White Bread

After attending one of the King Arthur Flour Traveling Baking Demos on Thursday, I was inspired to start baking with some yeast!  I made the Farmhouse White Bread from the Good Housekeeping Great Baking cookbook.  The recipe took a long time to make because of all the rising time, but it was really good.  I love making homemade bread!  The pictures are a little dark, but you get the idea.  

If you have a chance to go to the King Arthur Flour Traveling Baking Demos, definitely check it out!  It was really fun and we left with lots of fun goodies, tips, and recipes!  

National Chocolate Cupcake Day

So last Monday, October 18, was National Chocolate Cupcake Day.  To celebrate, I made some chocolate cupcakes, of course!  Sadly, they were not my best work.  While they look delicious, the taste was kind of sad.  The cupcakes themselves were just kind of boring.  Like they came from a box or something.  Which was surprising since Sarah and I sampled the batter, and it was so yummy!  I read that cupcakes often come out dry because of their small size, so I'm on the hunt for a moist, yummy, chocolate cupcake recipe.  The frosting recipe came from King Arthur Flour's website.  The frosting was really good, but the combination was just too rich.  I'll keep this frosting recipe in mind for a lighter cake in the future.  Here are the pics!  

Do you like the cupcake liners?  They are Martha Stewart Crafts Halloween Blood Splatter Cupcake Wrappers by Martha Stewart Crafts.  They are very spooky and fun.

While these cupcakes aren't my favorite, I'm glad I got some practice in!  Sarah asked for some Red Velvet Cupakes for her birthday.  So I'll be whipping them up today.