A Sweet Score

So my kitchen is pretty much finished, short of a little touch up paint and a trip to Homegoods to look for some accessories for my new shelf. I still do not care for my cabinets, but they are what came with the house and I'd rather have them then the job it would require to afford new ones. I do however love having a place to keep my collection of cookbooks (26 at last count, not all pictured).

Well after what seemed like days of cleaning and dusting the house I was in need of a little retail therapy. Plus my cats really appreciated it that I went out to get them some food (if only they would eat cupcakes). So I headed to Target; upon entering I was drawn the the "dollar spot" in the same way I can only imagine a crackhead is drawn to crack. I'm serious, my pulse started to quicken, I shushed my child so that I could concentrate and "take it all in". The separate bins all full of cheap non-essential items, in their cute packaging were just screaming out "BUY ME, BUY ME". If you're a teacher picture a classroom full of kids all waving their hand in the air bouncing in their chairs practically screaming at you "oh, oh, pick me, pick me" that's what's it was like for me. On this particular day I hit the jackpot. As I walked through I caught a glimpse of a cupcake and it was over (I'm now like a crackhead with a stash)! Foot lotions and scrubs, glittery body lotion, body butter, sleeping masks, manicure sets and magnetic notepads and all with the cutest little cupcake label. I HAD to buy some, there was no option, but I was very reasonable and only purchased the body butter, foot scrub glittery body lotion, magnetic notepad and the eye mask. Riding on my high from my $5 splurge I headed to Borders (cranky toddler and all) for my next treat...The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

While the lotions are nothing special (the body butter and the body lotion are the same thing and both are watered down) I am in love with my eye mask. I do not wear it to sleep as it has these little scented beads inside that press into your head but I do however, use it as a sort of headband/sweatband which I'm sure looks totally ridiculous, but I don't care, I LOVE it! I'm also in love with The Cake Bible. It has been keeping me up nights since I bought it 2 days ago. I can't get enough of it...page after page of recipes, complete with explanations of why and how it all works...it's fabulous and will be a treasured part of my collection.

My Guilty Pleasure

Well aside from cookies and cake that is...

I just love this show, it is smart and freaking hysterical (something I think is totally lacking in the majority of network TV shows these days). Not something you want to watch in the presence of your kiddos (for obvious reasons) and no I do not condone the smoking and/or selling of illegal drugs. I do however, suggest that if you have Showtime you do yourself a favor and watch an episode or two. It is highly addictive! And aside form the fact that Mary Louise Parker is smokin' hot she's also good at her job (not the pot selling one the acting one people) She's up for an 2008 Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. You can read more about the show here. Now run along people, set your TIVO and get addicted!

Semi-Homemade = Semi-Annoying

Okay, I'm sorry to any Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee fans if this offends you but she annoys the pants off me. I can't get passed the fact that every freaking episode her kitchen matches her outfit. Give me an effin break, matching your kitchen....daily...too much for me. Now, I know it's most likely a studio kitchen and there is a staff who changes the background but still is this necessary, matching the kitchen?/@! I do own one of her books (it was given to me as a gift) and I can appreciate the idea of adding to already made products to make something special or to cut down on prep time, but the matchy, matchy thing is ANNOYING and IMO just plain wrong. Therefore I can not be a fan...sorry Sandra.

Closed kitchens and cupcake logos

What is this you ask? Why, that's my kitchen in the early stages of a minor remodel. We took down some cabinets and a soffit and now we're removing the soffit on the other side and then texturing the walls and painting. I'm super excited to be finally getting this done; however, I have some buttermilk in the fridge about to expire and I can't bake so I'm totally stir crazy!! So what does a baking addict do when she can't bake....yep, that's right I browse all the other wonderful baking blogs out there. On Cupcakes take the cake, they featured "10 Cupcake Bakery Logos We Love" (check them out super cute, and wonderful blog for those addicted to cupcakes like myself). Well, I too have a cupcake logo. One of my many dreams is to own my own bakery, and with latest craze being cupcakes, I took the plunge and had a logo created...

I know, pretty fabulous huh. A found a wonderful artist, LaFoi on DeviantArt, who created this for me. I just love it, I can picture it in the front window of a bakery with pretty cake plates staked up with delicious cupcakes, cookies and cakes behind it to make the mouths of passers-by water, convincing them they must step inside and try one of my tasty treats. Upon trying a single bite they would become helplessly addicted therefor forced to swing by daily for their "sugar fix" continuing to be seduced by the sweet smell of sugar wafting in from the open kitchen....oh, I'm sorry, got a little carried away there for a minute ( I told you it was a dream didn't I). Anyway, I love my logo and hopefully, one day, I will be able to put her to good use!

Week in Review

Fay Schmaye

Ahhh, yes, another false alarm!! Lexi's first day of school was postponed on Tuesday due to the small possibility of the wind blowing and the chance of rain only for the day to turn out to be a beauty. Roll to Thursday her actual first day...rained....and still freakin raining. But nothings canceled today, I still have to go out in the rain to head to the dentist (can you feel the excitement people) so annoying. It's been windier and rained more in the last 10 hours then it did during all 72 hours the local meteorologists stood around in a state of euphoria watching and waiting to see which way the wind blew. Even with all their fancy equipment and years of education they still can't accurately predict the direction of a storm, instead displaying the "cone of uncertainty" that generally encompasses most if not all of the state. To me that's the equivalent of a Dr. sending you for an MRI and a Cat scan only to tell you that you have a mass located somewhere in your body between the right ear and your left pinkie toe, then sending you home to "wait and see" what happens. And then there's "the preparers". Who are these people you ask. These are the individuals who run out to the grocery star as soon as they hear it's going to get windy and rainy and stock up on SPAM, water, peanut butter and bread, they board up their windows or even worse tape them (which is useless), and sit glued to their TV's or their weather radio's just "waiting to see what happens". Puhhhleeeease, I'll tell you what's gonna happen, it's gonna rain and the wind is going to blow...deal with it. Get out some board games, pop some popcorn and freaking relax! I've lived in FL since the late 80's, prior to that I lived on a cornfield in Illinois so I've weathered my fair share of hurricanes, tropical storms AND tornado's. I'd much rather sit through a hurricane than a tornado...

So what do you do when it's supposed to rain, everything is closed and your kid is home from school.....why you bake (that way IF the power does go out you'll have cookies to eat!). This is exactly what Lexi and I did on Tuesday, we made both chocolate chip toffee cookies, and peanut butter cookies.

Here's my little helper...

Balls of delicious dough...

Our sweet reward...

Jen's Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies (adapted from the Nestle Tollhouse recipe)

What I do different is I use a combination of dark and light brown sugar, my grandma says that back in the day they didn't have light and dark brown sugar they just had brown sugar, so one summer my cousin Jenny was on a quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie and she mixed the two together added, toffee and it's perfect. Then instead of one cup of chopped nuts I add ~ 1/2 cup heath toffee bits (just the Bits o' Brickle not crushed up Heath bar) and then a 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Bake and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from the Jif irresistible peanut butter cookies recipe)

What I do different...I use butter flavored Crisco ( I prefer to bake with all butter but have found that all butter in a peanut butter cookie makes them to dry and I prefer my cookies a little soft) rather than the regular Crisco, I cut back on the vanilla using only abt. 1/2 tbsp., then I add about 1/2 cup salted peanuts. Finally I use a fork dipped in sugar to criss-cross the cookies and sprinkle a little extra sugar on top. Again bake and enjoy

Bittersweet

Yesterday was "Meet the Teacher" day at my daughter's pre-school. Her new classroom is lovely as are her two new teachers, but I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. I'm excited for her to be going back, to get to watch her grow as a person and to learn new things (and to have more time to bake, I mean do laundry) but I think it's all the "newness" that overwhelms me ( a personal trait I'm trying desperately to not project onto my daughter). All but one of her classmates are new this year...new kids means new parents to meet and interact with. As I sat in the middle of the room in one of those little school chairs looking around at all the unfamiliar parental faces, I kept telling myself "I'm sure they're all very nice people" what I was actually thinking was "I wonder which one of you will annoy me first". I mean really can you get lucky every year and not only like your kids teachers but also her classmates AND they're parents, because this was the case last year. I'm sure in a few weeks I will have settled into the new school year and all will be fine, in the meantime I will obsess with all the possible things that could happen, I will read the parent handbook at least 15 times, I'm sure I'll even have one of those dreams where you show up to school without your pants or your backpack. In the end it will all be good.

On the brighter side of this whole back to school thing her teacher has an obsession with frogs! The whole classroom was decorated with various lily pads and frogs. My mind immediately started buzzing with all the cute froggy creations I could bake this year for class parties, and teacher appreciation. So stay tuned for some froggy fun in the kitchen!

On a baking note...

I recently made some chocolate cherry cupcakes with a fudge frosting. I used an old recipe my grandmother gave me. She has alway made a sheet cake with the recipe but since latley I've been obsessed with cupcakes I decided to try cupcakes instead. The results were...lets just say not what I remember them like as a kid. Perhaps the non discerning tastebuds of my youth could never get passed the sweet seduction that is the fudge frosting to actually taste the cupcake itself but now that I'm all grown up...

Upon coming out of the oven I was displeased with their appearance. Because of the heavy moisture from the cherry's they didn't rise. I tasted one warm from the oven and wasn't impressed with the flavor...I'm not sure if it's because I used a boxed cake mix (something I'm usually against doing, however I had an itch to try this recipe, but didn't have what I needed to bake a German chocolate cake from scratch), or because I expected a stronger cherry flavor. I didn't bother to ice them since I had already decided I didn't like them, but because I just hate to waste cake I put them into the fridge. A day and a half later, I went to throw them out to make room for the tiramisu cupcakes I made for my grandfathers birthday and I couldn't do it. They suddenly looked more appealing after having chilled in the fridge. So I finished them. The end result was good, but still not what I wanted flavor wise. The icing was the best part, rich and fudge like. My grandma liked them, I however, will continue my quest for a chocolate cherry cupcake.

Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

1 box German Chocolate cake mix (or one from scratch)
3 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling

Mix all ingredients together (following directions on box but using 3 eggs) and bake in standard size cupcake pan for 18-20 minutes at 350.

Fudge Frosting

1 cup sugar
5 tbsp. butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Bring sugar, butter and milk to a boil, remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Allow icing to cool down (it will thicken as it cools). Spoon over cupcakes.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

In honor of my Grandfather's 85th birthday we took him to dinner at the Olive Garden and what goes better with an Italian dinner than tiramisu? I'd been wanting to try this recipe and this was the perfect opportunity. I used the recipe from Shelly Kaldunski's book Cupcakes but used the presentation found in Pamela Clark's book also entitled Cupcakes. First let me tell you these are by far the most expensive cupcakes I've ever made. After a trip to the liquor store to purchase Kahlua and Amaretto I then headed to Publix for the mascarpone and whipping cream needed for the icing. The icing alone breaks down to ~$1.00 a cupcake! But they were so worth it! I'm glad that I took the time to layer the icing and the cupcakes rather then to just ice them, it made it more like traditional tiramisu rather than a cupcake. They were delish!





Tiramisu Cupcakes from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski:

Yellow Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp. u.s butter (room temp.)
2 large eggs (room temp.)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup whole milk

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, at room temp (I used Chock full o' nuts, brewed twice as strong as I would for regular coffee).
1/4 cup dark rum ( I only used half as I don't care for rum)
1/2 cup Kahlua or other coffee flavored liqueur
2 tbsp. Amaretto or other almond-flavored liqueur
1 lb. mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 oz. semisweet chocolate grated ( I used a Hershey's Special Dark chocolate bar)

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with papers. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt ( I sifted mine together). In another bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat on medium-high speed just until no traces on flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not overbeat.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 mintues. Transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and cool completly, 1 hour.

While cupcakes cool...In a small bowl, stir together the coffe, rum, 1/4 cup of the Kahlua, and the Amaretto. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the mascarpone, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and the remaining 1/4 cup Kahlua until just combined; do not overmix ( I beat mine a little more as I wanted it to thicken up a little more...).

Here's where Pamela Clark's recipe comes into play...

Remove the papers from the cooled cupcakes. Cut each cake horizontally into four ( I only cut mine in thirds). Brush both sides of cake slices with coffee mixture. Join cake slices with mascarpone cream. Spread tops of cakes with mascarpone cream ( I piped the icing on the top using Wilton tip 2D); sprinkle with grated chocolate. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

The arrival

I did it, I created a blog! It took me some time to settle on a name and a template but I'm pleased with the results. I decided on the name sweet and sassy, well, because I love all things sweet and I tend to be a little sassy (plus it sounded better than baking and bitching...LOL). For the most part this will be a place for me to share my baking adventures, but I wouldn't be me if I wasn't bitching about something so from time to time I will share this with you as well. I welcome your comments but like my mother always said... if you don't have anything nice to say shut the hell up!