My husband and I disagree.

About cookies.  

He’s a fan of sugary, candy-loaded varieties, with no unusual flavors.  I am the opposite.

So I decided to make some Josh cookies.  He’s been trying to get me to for a while.

Every day at work he buys one of these peanut butter Reese’s pieces cookies.  They’re greasy, and heavy, and never soft by the time he brings them home.  He tells me they’re perfect when he buys them.  With not having much to base this on, I made him Reese’s pieces cookies.

I’ve been working on this recipe for quite a while and every time, he says it needs more peanut butter.   This time I think I finally got it right.

I do cringe at using Reese’s pieces.  When I read the ingredient list, I get nervous.  There are things in these candies I don’t understand nor do I care to.  However I have yet to find a natural/organic substitute.  So if you know of one let me in on it.  Please.

Either way, these cookies are good.  They’re soft and fresh from the oven with a glass of milk they are amazing.  There is just enough peanut butter to make them extra moist, and the candies get slightly soft in the baking process.  They are good.  And husband approved.

I would like to apologize for the lack of pictures in this post.  Next time I make these I will add more.  I promise.

You can change this recipe up a bit if you like.  Switching out half of the candies for chocolate chips is a good option.  I also like the tiniest pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.  That’s not on the husband approved list.  Either way, this is one great cookie.

Rosie wants one too, sadly for her; she did not get her way.

Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

            Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter + 1tblsp, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

4 tablespoons peanut butter

1 cup Reese’s pieces

            Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda and salt.

2.  In a mixer using the paddle attachment beat butter on medium until fluffy approximately 2 minutes.  Add brown and white sugar and beat another 2 minutes.  Add egg, vanilla and peanut butter.  Mix until well incorporated.  Scrape down bowl and mix again.  Add Reese’s pieces and mix briefly until well incorporated.  The paddle from the mixer will break the candies just slightly.

3.  Using a cookie scoop drop cookies onto cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Cookies are done when they look slightly under baked.  Allow to cool on cookie sheets.

I REALLY like fancy French pastries.  I want to go to Paris, just to eat.  

I pretty much love French food in general, but the desserts are a cut above anything else.  A new French bakery called La Baguette opened up here a few years ago, which I pass on the way to work almost every single day.  It takes serious willpower for me not to stop there every day.  Again, I would have linked to their site, if they had one.  What is with my favorite bakeries not having websites?  Way to undersell your deliciousness.

I like to get the fruit tarts when I go there.  My husband devours these things.  There’s just something about a perfect tart shell with lusciously smooth pastry cream and fresh fruit.  It makes utterly simplistic ingredients seem so much more expensive.

I’m not completely sold on the recipe I used.  Having never made these, or even anything close before, I looked up a random recipe online.  I really liked the pastry dough.  I overcooked it a bit, but it was tender and flaky, yet held together well.  The custard on the other hand seemed not quite right.  I think it was the egg content.  I plan on making these again, so when I find the perfect custard I’ll let you know.

Don’t let me mislead you.  These are good.  Eat 5 in a row good.

I made mini tarts in petit four shells.  You could easily use this to make one large tart or the typical smaller size tart you buy in a bakery.

You can find the recipe I used here.  Don’t be scared if your custard has lumps, put it in the blender or food processor and they will disappear.  If you use the blender, don’t forget to take out the center insert and cover it with a towel.  Hot liquid in a tightly closed blender=explosion.  Also don’t worry if the custard still looks lumpy.  

It’s probably air bubbles.

So try a recipe with room for improvement, maybe you will make it perfect and let me know the secret!

I had a lot of left over puree.  Way more then I thought.  

So I made muffins again, and poured them into a bread pan.  

Just as good.  Possibly, better.

Well hello Saturday morning.

How I love you. 

You might be my favorite part of the week.  You let me sleep in, with the exception of a small dog needing to go outside at 6 am, without fail, everyday.  Saturday morning, you are so great.  You are rarely filled with obligations, and are usually quiet.  You let me wake up before my husband, craving some delicious baked goods and a cup of coffee.  Very hot coffee today, since it is snowing in Wisconsin again.

I love waking up on a Saturday morning and baking up some sweet treat for breakfast.  It usually isn’t done before noon.

This time I went with doughnuts.

My husband likes doughnuts.  A lot.  We go on late night trips to Greenbush Bakery.  I would have inserted a link here if they had a website.  If you live here, you know them.  They have the best doughnuts I have ever had in my entire life.  In younger, thinner, higher metabolism years, we went there A LOT.

I have long since wanted to make my own doughnuts.  For years I assumed it was far too difficult for me to master.  It all seemed so intimidating, mixing and rising, rolling and frying.  It’s not.  Doughnuts are so easy!  They are however, time consuming.  There’s the rising, and the proofing and the frying.  

 They are not difficult.  They seem almost foolproof.  I started them the night before, to allow them to be made more quickly in the morning.  These doughnuts were my Friday night/Saturday morning project. 

So was waiting outside in the cold, in front of a record store until midnight, to buy actual records.  Made of vinyl.  Happy Record Store Day!  

I have been drooling over this recipe on Joy the Baker’s blog for a while now.  She found two of the most perfect recipes for doughnut making ever.

When I woke up this morning, I rolled out the dough, after allowing it to rise last night in a warm spot, then transferring it to the fridge over night.  By noon today I had fluffy, warm, fresh doughnuts.  I dipped them in chocolate, I glazed them, I rolled the doughnut holes in powdered sugar, covered them in chocolate and cinnamon sugar.

This recipe states not to re-roll the scraps.  Here, I say ignore it.  I re-rolled the scraps and ended up with more delicious doughnuts.  I simply could not let all that sweet doughnut dough go to waste.

I now have mountains of doughnuts in my kitchen.  Well, I packed up a number of them to give away tomorrow and my husband and friend did a pretty good job on the rest.  I suggest planning to give most of these away, or making them for an event, otherwise you will eat far too many.

Tomorrow when I give them away, I will make tarts and cookies.

Yum!!

Doughnuts

Recipe from Gourmet, 2006

Makes 1 dozen doughnuts

            Ingredients

1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons warm water

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for sprinkling and rolling out dough

1 cup whole milk

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

3 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

About 10 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying

           Directions

1.  Stir together yeast and warm water in a small bowl until yeast is dissolved. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2.  Mix together flour, milk, butter, egg yolks, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and yeast mixture in mixer at low speed until soft dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes more.

3.  Scrape dough down side of bowl into center, then sprinkle lightly with flour (to keep a crust from forming). Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.   I then put the dough in the fridge over night, still covered with a towel.

4.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round (1/2 inch thick). Cut out as many rounds as possible with 3-inch cutter, then cut a hole in center of each round with 1-inch cutter and transfer doughnuts to a lightly floured large baking sheet. I don’t have either of these cutters so I used a cup and a large piping tip.  Search your kitchen, you’ll find something.  Cover doughnuts with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until slightly puffed, about 30 minutes (45 minutes if dough was cold when cutting out doughnuts). Do not reroll scraps (do re-roll scraps.  Do it.).

5.  Heat 2 1/2 inches oil in a deep 4-quart heavy pot until it registers 350°F on thermometer. Fry doughnuts, 2 at a time, turning occasionally with a wire or mesh skimmer or a slotted spoon, until puffed and golden brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain. (Return oil to 350°F between batches.)

Chocolate Glaze 

recipe from Alton Brown

            Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup whole milk, warmed

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

            Directions

1.  Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.

Doughnut Glaze 

Recipe from Alton Brown

Ingredients

1/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1.  Combine milk and vanilla in a medium saucepan and heat over low heat until warm. Sift confectioners’ sugar into milk mixture. Whisk slowly, until well combined. Remove the glaze from the heat and set over a bowl of warm water. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, 1 at a time, and set on a wire rack placed on a cookie sheet for 5 minutes before serving. 

I have a serious problem.

Every time I dream up a recipe, I spend the next couple of days thinking about it, and dreaming about it and tasting it and salivating.  

It’s pretty much torture.  

Then I finally make it, and it’s heavenly.  I end up tasting the recipe throughout pretty much every step of the process.  By the time I’m done cooking I’m usually over it.  I have one bite and tell my husband to finish it.

I guess this is one way to keep from eating a dozen cupcakes.

That’s how this recipe came about.  My beloved co-worker Nick is leaving our office for greener pastures.  Or possibly colder, considering he’s moving to Minnesota.  His crazy antics at work keep me sane.  He makes monkey noises, and dances and leaps onto the desk in one smooth motion.  It’s slightly insane.  But I am going to miss him dearly, so what better way to say goodbye then with cupcakes.  I know, I know, cupcakes again.  But they’re so good!

He is constantly talking about tiramisu.  He wants it at his wedding.  He talks about it a lot.  So, of course, I had to turn it into a cupcake.  He’s not a huge frosting guy, so mascarpone frosting is perfect, since it’s so different then most frosting.  Mixed with whipped cream, it’s light and fluffy and beautiful.  The cake is infused with espresso and rum, and becomes super moist without taking on the heavy quality found in many tiramisu recipes.

These are good.  Really, really good.  And intense.  I dare you to eat more then one of these.  It’s probably not a good idea. 

So try one more cupcake recipe.  You won’t be sorry.  And I promise to lay off of the cupcakes for a bit.  Maybe.

Tiramisu Cupcakes 

Makes 24 regular or 48 mini cupcakes

            Ingredients 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour          

2 cups cake flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 cup dark rum, divided

2 sticks plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups sugar

6 eggs

1 1/3 cup espresso

Dark chocolate for grating

            Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two 12-cup muffin tins with baking cups.

2.     Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Stir milk, 1 tablespoon of rum and vanilla in another small bowl.  Beat butter in mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.  Add sugar slowly while mixing.  Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing after each addition.  Scrape bowl and beat until smooth.

3.     Reduce speed and slowly add 1/3 of flour mixture.  Alternate adding milk mixture and flour mixture until all ingredients added.   

4.     Divide batter among muffin tins.  Using a small cookie scoop is the easiest way to do this, filling each cup with two large scoops (one scoop if doing mini cupcakes).  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes (about 14 minutes for mini cupcakes).  Cool completely. 

5.  Mix 1/4 cup rum and espresso in small bowl.  Brush cupcake tops with mixture until all liquid is absorbed.  Don’t attempt to do this too quickly, as the cake will fall apart if too much liquid is added at once.   Frost with mascarpone frosting.  These can be refrigerated up to overnight.  Grate dark chocolate over tops just before serving.

Mascarpone Frosting 

            Ingredients

1 cup heavy whipping cream

8 ounces of mascarpone cheese, room temperature       

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar

            Directions

1.  Beat whipping cream in mixer on medium speed until stiff peaks form.  Mix confectioners sugar and mascarpone in another bowl.  Gently fold mascarpone into whipped cream.

I have a slight obsession with all things raspberry.  I think I inherited it from my father.  When I say slight I may be understating things.  I LOVE raspberries.  I think they are pretty much the perfect fruit.  They’re sweet and tart and freshly picked they are something I am unable to resist.  Seriously, I will eat a pint of fresh raspberries in 10 minutes.

So having a lot of leftover raspberry beet puree, I decided to do something with it.  Muffins seemed appropriate.

I love muffins for breakfast.  And pastries.  Pretty much any baked goods.  So I made a batch for this week.  We’ll see if they make it past Tuesday.

These muffins are adapted from a recipe on joy the baker’s blog. I toned down the sugar a bit and tweaked a few other things.  You can find the original recipe here.  Both ways are delicious. 

Warm crumbly berry filled muffins are pretty much heaven.  Especially in Wisconsin, in April, when the floorboards are still frigid when you wake up in the morning.  It’s really not acceptable.  But these muffins are far more then acceptable.

Raspberry Beet Puree Muffins 

Makes 12 regular muffins

            Ingredients

6 tablespoons melted butter

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raspberry beet puree

            Topping

3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup flour

3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

            Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line 12-cup muffin tin with baking cups.

2.  Melt butter and allow to cool slightly.  Add milk, egg and egg yolk, vanilla and lemon zest, mixing thoroughly.  In another bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add wet mixture to dry and mix thoroughly.

3.  In a third bowl make topping.  Mix butter, flour and sugar until mixture becomes crumbly.  I think the easiest way to do this is with your hands.

4.  Using a small cookie scoop, divide batter evenly amongst baking cups.  Divide puree throughout baking cups as well.  Swirl slightly to mix puree into batter.  Sprinkle tops with topping.  Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and topping is slightly golden.

I love vampires.  I love Buffy, and True Blood and Twilight and many, many more.  If vampires are real, can one seriously come and bite me?  I promise not to kill any nice people, only bad ones.  I’ll be the best baking vampire ever.  I swear.

Going off of my love of vampires, I decided to make a cupcake inspired by the name of this blog.  These cupcakes are filled with coagulant rich blood that oozes out when you take a bite. 

Ok, so maybe it’s actually a puree of raspberries and beets.

It’s definitely delicious.  I used beets to get the color I was looking for.  Don’t be scared off by them, stewed with raspberries and sugar, you won’t even know they are there.  Then again if you like beets, you can up the amount so the flavor comes through.  Either way this puree is soooooo good, and it makes so much more then you need.  I have two jars of it in my fridge now.  I might just eat it with a spoon.

The cake itself is also wonderful. 

I just used my basic cupcake base and added a little bit of lemon zest and juice.  The end result is a fluffy, moist cake with just a hint of lemon.  It’s good.  Really, really good.  

I topped these off with cream cheese frosting.  You just can’t go wrong with it.  I finished them by drizzling a bit more puree on top, to look like blood, or two puncture wounds.  You can pretty much do whatever you like.  While I made large cupcakes this time, I do think this recipe is more suited to mini cupcakes.  I think the puree to cake to frosting ratio would be perfect for a mini cupcake.  So have a Buffy marathon and whip up a batch of these.  You won’t be sorry.  They are to die for.

Vampire Bites 

Makes 24 regular or 48 mini cupcakes

            Ingredients 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour          

2 cups cake flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 sticks plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

2 1/4 cups sugar

6 eggs

zest of 2 lemons

juice of 1 lemon

          Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 12-cup muffin tins with baking cups.

2.     Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Stir milk and vanilla in another small bowl.  Zest and juice lemons in milk mixture.   Beat butter in mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.  Add sugar slowly while mixing.  Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing after each addition.  Scrape bowl and beat until smooth.

3.     Reduce speed and slowly add 1/3 of flour mixture.  Alternate adding milk mixture and flour mixture until all ingredients added.   

4.     Divide batter among muffin tins.  Using a small cookie scoop is the easiest way to do this, filling each cup with two large scoops (one scoop if doing mini cupcakes).  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes (about 14 minutes for mini cupcakes).  Cool completely.  Fill center with raspberry beet puree using a squeeze bottle.  Frost with cream cheese frosting once raspberry center has set for a few minutes.

5.  Drizzle cupcakes with more puree, spatter for a blood like effect.

Raspberry Beet Puree

            Ingredients

12 ounces of frozen raspberries

1/2 cup sugar

2 beets, peeled and chopped

            Directions

1.  Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Stew until beets have softened, about 30-45 minutes.

2.  Transfer hot mixture to blender.  Leaving the center insert off, but cover the hole with a kitchen towel.  Blend until smooth.

Cream Cheese Frosting 

            Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

            Directions

1.  Beat cream cheese in a mixer on medium speed with paddle attachment until smooth.  Add butter and beat until light and fluffy.

2.  Reduce speed to low.  Add vanilla.  Slowly add sugar.  Beat until Smooth.

It’s April.  In Wisconsin.  In some places that means spring.  Here it means we go outside in shorts and t-shirts in 40-degree weather.

I’m done with winter.  It snowed today.  On April 1^st.  Don’t misunderstand me.  I love the snow.  I love winter.  I am a Wisconsin girl through and through.  But enough is enough.  I’m ready for outdoor farmer’s markets and hammocks and vegetable gardens.

I bought some strawberries at the grocery store last weekend.  

They were not perfect, juicy, ripe summer strawberries, but they’re still lovely little signs of spring.

After I bought these lovely strawberries I ran out of things to do.  I got bored.  So, I decided to make some cupcakes.  I’m on a bit of a cupcake kick these days.   These cupcakes that I made up on a whim were quite frankly, delicious.  They were like little baked bits of spring.  It was exactly what I was hoping for on a cold spring morning.

I think even my dogs are wishing for spring.  My 18-pound puggle keeps refusing to come in when the sun is out, even when he starts shivering.

Ok, back to cupcakes.  My husband called these baked strawberries. 

He said they are more like strawberries then they are like cupcakes.  This is a good thing.

After making these cupcakes, I would change one thing.  The cake is perfect, the frosting is divine, but a bit of fresh strawberry puree in the middle of the cupcake would have been simply amazing.   Enough talk, lets eat some cupcakes.

Baked Strawberries

·      A note on this recipe:  I decided I wanted a small batch of cupcakes.  So I quartered my stand-by cupcake batter.  The measurements are odd and small, but it makes 24 mini cupcakes perfectly.  So stick to the small amounts or double it, or even quadruple it.

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/3 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 stick plus 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1/4 cup pureed strawberries

1/4 cup chopped strawberries

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two 12-cup mini cupcake muffin tins with baking cups.

2.     Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  Stir milk and vanilla in another small bowl.  Beat butter in mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.  Add sugar slowly while mixing.  Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time, mixing after each addition.  Scrape bowl and beat until smooth.

3.     Reduce speed and slowly add 1/3 of flour mixture.  Alternate adding milk mixture and flour mixture until all ingredients added.   Add pureed and chopped strawberries.

4.     Divide batter among muffin tins.  Using a small cookie scoop is the easiest way to do this, filling each cup with one level scoop.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 14 minutes.  Cool completely.  Fill center with more strawberry puree using a squeeze bottle if desired.  Frost with strawberry cream cheese frosting once strawberry center has set for a few minutes.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

            Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4  cup pureed strawberries

            Directions

1.     Beat cream cheese in a mixer on medium speed with paddle attachment until smooth.  Add butter and beat until light and fluffy.

2.     Reduce speed to low, add 2 cups of sugar slowly, beat until light and fluffy.  Add strawberry puree and mix until smooth.  Continue to add sugar until frosting has reached desired thickness.

Hi.

My name’s Katie

I’m in my late 20’s.  I’m not 30.  Not yet, and probably not for at least 5 years.  At least that’s what I keep telling myself.  Seriously, I have convinced myself that I am a year younger then I actually am.

I like food.  I mean I really like food.  I love cooking it.  I love the way it tastes.  I love the way it looks.  I love the way it smells.  I even love the way it feels.

I spent 4 years and $80,000 on art school and here I am, in love with cooking and baking. 

Especially baking.  There is something about mixing together a bunch of all together ordinary ingredients and coming up with a luscious sweet treat that makes me swoon.  I like simple recipes and extremely complex labor indulgent, time-consuming recipes.  I love real frosting.  And chocolate.  And raspberries.  And caramel.  Okay I had better get back on track here before I run off to the kitchen.

I tend to bake late at night.  Which is fun, and productive.  It is not however conducive to dreamy food photographs.  It’s something I’m working on.  I don’t really enjoy mornings, unless you count lying on the couch drinking espresso watching the food network.

My philosophy about food is pretty simple.  Cook with things that you know what they are and where they came from.  If it came out of a box, it’s probably not good for you.  If it came out of your garden, eat until you burst.  If it sounds like it belongs in a science lab, it probably doesn’t belong in your tummy.  If you’re willing to take the time and make sweets from scratch, they can’t really be bad for you, right?  Right?

I have a husband, and two wonderful dogs.  They’re perfect.  

 They would never work together to steal 8 cupcakes.

I work a mundane, soul sucking 9-5 job where I daydream about cupcakes.  And cookies.  And whipped cream.

I’ve decided to funnel my wonderfully creative cooking and baking tendencies into a blog.  I have absolutely no professional experience in the food world (unless you count waitressing at Country Kitchen for a month when I was 17.  I don’t).  Maybe you will read this blog.  Maybe you won’t.  But cooking the food and putting up lovely photographs of it sounds divine.

So enjoy and have a snack.  Or, two, or 20.  I won’t tell.