Strudel

Ok so basically, ever since I saw that episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood on PBS when I was 7, I wanted to make strudel. I was fascinated with the idea of being able to roll almost whatever you wanted up in a huge sheet of dough and baking it.
The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
Soooooooooo, I made some! I chose to make cream cheese, sundried tomato, carmelized onion, mozzerella, and olive strudel. Well, I forgot the olives. go figure. Anyway! It was fun. And delicious. Well no, the ends of it were pretty boring, but once you got to the center where all the filling is, the bleding of the flaky buttery crust with the complimentary flavors inside was spectacular.
The big black spot looks a little mysterious, I know! But if you don't know its the tomatoes, it could be sort of an adventure seeing what it tastes like, right?!

~lacey

DB Challenge: Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesecaaaaaaaaaaakee!!!

I love cheesecake. I LOVE cheesecake! I LOVE CHEESECAKE!!

*ahem*

Ok so I love cheesecake. I was excited for this months challenge, because it was...uh, well, cheesecake. And like I said, I love cheesecake.
I made miniature cheesecakes for Easter. I made three variations I came up with myself, Carmel Pecan, Chocolate Orange Espresso, and Strawberry. My favorite was the caramel pecan, though I think everyone liked the espresso best.
I have to say, also, it wasn't my favorite recipe to use. It was delicious, no doubt, but it seemed to lack a little of the classic cheesecake taste to me. It was good, though, perfect springboard to try new things. You can find the recipe in the link given above.

Ta-ta!
~lacey

Cake 'n Stuff

Know what I hate most about summer?

No wait, it's not even summer yet.

Ok ok, know what I hate most about the months April-October in California? 100-114+ degree weather by 11 AM, makes it kind of a *EXPLETIVE DELETE* to bake, if you will. It's not a pleasant thing to set out on one of your life's missions, only to be dredged with sweat and fill the house with swealtering heat from the oven which makes it about 10 degrees hotter than before. Sure you can always use the air conditioner, but you may as well be a millionaire too.

Ah yes, these are the months I resort myself to staying up late to bake at night, if I can manage it, when its cooled down considerably. Plus its kinda exciting, staying up late to bake. Everyone wakes up to find a magically-appearing cake or bread or whatever strikes my fancy. Its like you become a magical baked goods fairy, bringing cheer and glee to all in the form of a pastry as they sleep.

Feast your eyes on this!


I found this "Deluxe Sunday Morning Coffeecake" in my Joy of Cooking book, and there was a variation to add chocolate and coconut. Naturally I added the chocolate, but I left the coconut out for some unknown reason. It was pretty good, though as far as coffeecakes go, I still haven't had one better than what my mom made almost every Sunday growing up. Try it, though!

Coffeecake
Dry breadcrumbs
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks butter
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c. pecans, chopped
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 c. chocolate chips

Grease the bottom and sides of a springform pan. Cover the bottom of the pan with breadcrumbs and set aside. In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter. Remove 1 cup of the crumbs to a seperate bowl and set aside. Add to the mixture in the large bowl the baking powder and soda. Add the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Stir vigerously until batter is smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. In the 1 cup of flour crumbles that were set aside, add the pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Pour batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle the struesel topping on top, and lightly press into batter. Bake in a heated 350 F degree oven for 50-65 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

Huh. I hope that didn't confuse you, cause it confused me a bit.

Well, I'm off to teach my 6 yr old nephew to play chess. Ta-ta!

~lacey
"My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished 2 bags of M&M's and a chocolate cake. I feel better already."
-Dave Berry