I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » Hobbies

I’ve been baking

Becky McKimmy — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:46:16 +0000

A while back I started a baking adventure. My plan was to pick one recipe from Cooks Illustrated, test it out, and blog about the results each week. I really enjoy desserts and wanted to learn to make my own. I’ve been doing it since August, and I have made a LOT of baked goods. Some of them have turned out amazingly well, and some of them have turned out quite poorly, but it has been fun along the way. I have learned a lot and gotten to the point where I look forward to baking each week.

Unfortunately, I have gotten really behind on the blogging portion of my challenge, so I have made a number of yummy items that no one ever got to see. So I thought it would be fun to go through and list those items.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made this for Matt’s birthday, and it turned out really well.

Oatmeal Cake with Broiled Frosting

This was a disaster that ended in burnt frosting and a folded cake.

Triple Chocolate Mouse Cake

One of the most time consuming recipes I’ve taken on, but it was amazing

Ginger Snaps

These were intense. They had both 2 tablespoons of powdered ginger and 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger.

Fudge

A Manning family Christmas tradition

Yule Log Cake

I was certain that the sponge cake wouldn’t roll up, but not only did it roll, it tasted amazing.

Homemade Oreos

These were a lot of work, but tasted delicious in the end. Matt helped by slicing the cookies so they would be evenly sized.

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

I got a bundt cake pan for Christmas, and my first cake turned out really well. It feel right out of the pan with no sticking.

Strawberry filled Short Bread

This was a non-Cooks Illustrated recipe that ended up under cooked and under flavored. The strawberry compote on time was quite tasty though.

Quiche Loraine with a Whole Wheat Crust

I forgot to take a photo of this, but it turned out amazing. Even the 100% whole wheat crust turned out well. It didn’t look fancy but it tasted yummy. Of course using 1/2 a pound of bacon will do that.

Pecan Pie

For my dad’s visit, I made a pecan pie. I was worried it would be runny,but it turned out quite well. My pie crust had too much gluten, and it shrunk, but otherwise it was great.

Homemade Eclairs & Chocolate Cream Pie

Becky McKimmy — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:23:50 +0000

I am finding that I am not having any trouble keeping up with my weekly baking adventure, but I am having a hard time getting a blog post written each week. I will try to do better, but no promises. I finally felt up to taking on advanced recipes and went straight for homemade eclairs followed by chocolate cream pie with oreo cookies crust. I love eclairs, and chocolate cream pie is a favorite Thanksgiving dessert, so I was very hopeful that they would turn out well. And I am pleased to announce that, a little under-baking on the eclairs aside, they were AMAZING!

Eclairs

Eclairs are one of my favorite desserts, and ever since I started my baking adventure I have wanted to make them. They are very intimidating because they have so many steps, and the dough is very easy to mess up, so I have been putting them off. Turns out they are just as time consuming to make as I imagined. It took me a whole evening to prepare, bake, and fill the eclairs, and as I hinted at earlier they did not turn out 100% correct.

One of the things that Cooks Illustrated warns about is to make sure that your pastry is cooked fully before moving on to the next step. Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell when they are finished because an undercooked pastry looks just as golden brown as a fully cooked one. I fell prey to this, and took my pastries out of the oven too early. When I cut into them to release the steam, they deflated. I was still able to fill the pastries just fine, and they tasted amazing, but they did not look as nice as I would have liked.

In the end they were so tasty I didn’t care that they looked a little off, and I am definitely going to make them again.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Chocolate cream pie has a history attached to it at our Thanksgiving dinners. My mom used to make it out of jello pudding when I was a kid, and I thought that was stellar. Then Matt tried to out do my mom and make it from scratch only to end up with something that more resembled chocolate puddle pie. So, when I decided to take on my own from-scratch chocolate cream pie, there was a lot of internal pressure to get it right.

It was a little complicated and required getting all my ingredients measured out and in place before I started, but it was totally worth it. It was amazing. My biggest fear was that the texture wouldn’t end up right, but I had nothing to worry about. There were no scrambled eggs. It didn’t turn into a puddle. It was perfect! My second biggest fear was that it wouldn’t taste like much, but it really had a nice chocolaty flavor.

The one thing that didn’t work out as well as I hoped was what I thought would be easiest part. The Oreo cookie crust turned out to be difficult to get set in the pie pan, and then it crumbled when we cut the pie. I think it needed more butter, but I am not honestly sure. It still tasted good though.

All in all these turned out to be two very successful desserts that I will likely make again.

Best Brownies Ever!

Becky McKimmy — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 05:35:09 +0000

It is official, I made the best brownies ever this week. That includes boxed brownies and restaurant brownies. I tried the Cooks Illustrated brownies earlier this year and was not impressed with how they turned out, so I turned to Alton Brown for a recipe. And let me tell you, I hit the jackpot. These brownies are relatively easy to make, taste very chocolaty, and have a nice fudgey texture.

I did have some trials and tribulation at the beginning because the recipe in Alton’s cookbook, “I’m Just Here for More Food,” has some pretty major typos. I wasted 30 minutes scouring the interwebs for corrections. I finally found a corrected recipe on the Good Eats fan page, and it was worth the wait. I don’t know what the major difference between Alton’s recipe and the Cooks Illustrated recipe was, but I am sure the 2 sticks of butter and 4 eggs didn’t hurt. The use of amazing Equal Exchange baking cocoa gifted to us by our friend Adrienne was definitely a factor as well. I also added a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the recipe, but what brownie recipe isn’t better with more chocolate.

These are definitely my new go-to brownies. I didn’t think this day would come, but I have finally found a brownie recipe that I think tastes better than box brownies. Here’s hoping it wasn’t a fluke!

Things I learned from this recipe:

Cookbooks can have typos. It is important to read through the whole recipe at the beginning of the process to catch them.
Equal Exchange cocoa is pretty tasty. It hasn’t passed the fudge test yet, so I haven’t decided if it will replace my Penzey’s cocoa.
Leaving brownies SLIGHTLY under cooked means that the edges are all hard and crusty but the middle is still finger food.

Butter Bomb

Becky McKimmy — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:11:26 +0000

Buoyed by my baking success earlier this week, I decided to make chocolate chocolate chip bread for the potluck at church. I have made this recipe before in muffin form, so I didn’t expect any problems. Unfortunately, I underestimated my mess making abilities.

The recipe calls for 1 stick of butter melted, so I popped it in the microwave, like I have done 100 times, to melt the butter. About 30 seconds in, I heard a bang and turned to see that the unmelted half of the butter had exploded all over the inside of the microwave.

And, in this case exploded is not too strong of a word. There was literally butter all over the inside of the microwave including under the rotating tray. It was quite impressive. It took me 15 minutes to clean out the inside of the microwave so I could complete the melting process.

I did, however, learn a valuable lesson for future butter melting: Do not melt a whole stick of butter all at once on high in the microwave. From now on, I will use short burst at about half power. On the bright side, our microwave is now quite clean.

Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing

Becky McKimmy — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:17:10 +0000

This week’s baking went really well. I made Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing from Cooks Illustrated and they were delicious!! They were biscuit style buns, so they didn’t have to rise like traditional cinnamon buns. Hence, the “quick” in the name.

You make the buns by spreading the dough out on the counter in a rectangle and putting a layer of cinnamon and clove filling on top. Then you roll the dough into a log and cut it into eight equal pieces. Mixing the dough together was a snap, but things got more complicated when it came time to knead and spread the dough. My dough was a little wet, and it kept sticking to my hands and the counter. I was pretty frustrated for most of the process, and I kept having to add more flour. When it came time to roll the dough into a log, I ended up with a stretched out uneven log that had a couple holes in it from where the dough had stuck to the counter.

Needless to say, my buns did not look very pretty once I got them all into the pan, but a strange thing happened. I turned around to put something away, and when I came back, the baking-fairy had magically massaged the buns into looking like real cinnamon rolls. I am pretty sure this is cheating, but what can you do when the baking-fairy makes an unexpected visit.

I made a super rich buttermilk glaze to go on top, and we ate them fresh out of the oven. They were amazing!! They were still good two days later when we had a second round warmed for breakfast. This is a recipe I will be repeating!

Things I learned from this recipe:

Sticky dough is one of the most frustrating things in the kitchen.
The baking-fairy can’t keep from “fixing” your baked goods. You must keep an eye on him at all times.
Clove is not as strong as it smells. I was really concerned that the cinnamon buns would taste like clove buns because they smelled very strongly of clove, but after baking they had a really pleasant cinnamon flavor.
Anything that basically fries in 4 tablespoons of butter while it bakes is going to taste like heaven!

New Bike #2: Misty the Mixte

Becky McKimmy — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 13:35:36 +0000

I have been riding a new bike for the past few weeks, and I have fallen in love! It is a beautiful blue Concord Pacer mixte likely from the 70’s. If you are uncertain of what makes a bike a mixte, here is a quick primer: A mixte is a particular type of step-through frame where the top bar runs from the bottom of the handlebars all the way to the rear axle. This style bike is very popular in Europe and is ridden by both men and women.

I got my Mixte from a local bike enthusiast, Ken Beisner who saved it from an estate sale and found it a good home. Such a good home, in fact, that I have given it a name: Meet Misty the Mixte. A lot of the bike bloggers I follow bestow names on their favorite bikes, and I enjoy my new bike so much I felt like it deserved a name.

I have made a few changes to make it more comfortable and attractive , and I have a few more changes to make in the future. I am really pleased with how the bike has turned out. It looks like a totally new bike.

Before:

After:

Things I like:

Skinny Tires
Misty has very skinny tires that make her quick and agile. There is much less rolling resistance than on bikes with wider tires, and it lets me dart around much faster than on my recumbent.

10-Speed
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that I have another upright bike that I used to ride, but it has a 3-speed internal hub that only 1 to 2 of the gears ever work correctly on. Misty is a 10-speed that shifts well. I really appreciate the extra gears and the fact that all the gears work reliably.

Frame Style
Misty has a step-through frame, which makes it really easy to get on and off of. This is quite nice ,and I love being able to easily hop on and off of the bike without throwing my leg up over the seat. The upright seating position is also great for riding in a bike or skirt. Unlike on my recumbent, I don’t have to worry about flashing oncoming traffic when I ride in a skirt on the mixte.

Look
This bike is absolutely adorable! It is a very classic style and with the additions I have made, looks very stylish and sleek. I know what a bike looks like shouldn’t be the most important part of bike selection, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t makes a difference to me. I love the blue frame, swept-back handle bars, leather grips, and wicker basket. Not only do I love the looks of the bike, but I also love that it makes me feel stylish when I am riding it.

Things I am changing/adding:

Handlebars
The bike came with drop handle bars, which were very difficult to use. Not only was it an uncomfortable riding postion to be hunched over the handle bars, but it also made the steering very twitchy and unsafe. The first change I made to the bike was to replace the drop bars with swept-back riser bars with leather grips. It totally changes the riding postition and makes the steering much more stable. I am really pleased.

Rack
Misty did not come with a rack and for me that is a must. I bike to work a lot and need to able to transport my lunch, knitting, etc. I tried a rack that just “clipped” on to the seat post for a while, but it didn’t work with my fancy panniers. So last Saturday I installed a nice Axiom rack. I love it, and now I can carry pretty much anything I like.

Fenders
It only took one ride in the rain without fenders to realize that I desperately need them on this bike. A lot of mixtes come with them standard, but Misty doesn’t have any, so that will be my next bike related purchase. For now I will just ride my recumbent if I want to ride in wet weather.

Shifters
Unlike most bikes where the shifters are located somewhere on the handlebars, Misty’s shifters are on the stem. This means in order to shift I have to take one of my hands off the handlebar and reach down to shift. I really hate this. It makes me feel unstable, and I often end up in the wrong gear. I am hoping to be able to move the shifters up to the handlebar soon. It will definitely make my riding experience more pleasant.

Overall I am very pleased and love riding it!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie Bars

Becky McKimmy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:13:52 +0000

I just realized the week is almost over, and I never blogged about my baking adventure this week. I did, however, remember to bake so the important bases are covered. Since Matt is out of town this week, and I wanted to try and use ingredients we had on hand, I decided to go the easy route and make Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie Bars. They are very similar in prep to chocolate chip cookies, but require a few extra ingredients and turned out much thicker and cakier than my cookies ever do. With Matt being gone, I am also missing our normal camera so, I had to use our old point and shoot. Please forgive the subpar photos of my food.

This was officially my first no-mistakes baking experience. I followed the recipe correctly, used all the correct ingredients, didn’t make a huge mess, didn’t hurt myself, and my cookie bars turned out beautifully. Of course some of this can be chalked up to the fact that this was a simple recipe that I have come close to making in the past, but the real trick was paying attention to what I was doing.

After my brownie debacle a few weeks back, I double checked that I had enough of every ingredient before I started, read through the whole recipe before I mixed anything, and only got out the measuring cups and spoons I needed. It definitely paid off. I still had the sense of anxiety as I mixed the ingredients but because I took the time to really pay attention to what I was doing, the cookie bars turned out really well. Here’s hoping I learned something!

Things I learned from this recipe:

Read the recipe all the way through before you begin. This really cuts down on surprises
Despite what Matt says, you don’t have to roast pecans before you use them in baked goods to have them taste good.
I actually can bake unsupervised if I take the time to pay attention to what I am doing.
Baking is a great distraction.

World Carfree Day

Becky McKimmy — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:17:02 +0000

September 22 is World Carfree Day:

A day to celebrate the fact that we don’t all have to own cars to live a “normal” life.
A day to get out of your car and walk, take a bus, or ride your bike.
A day to experiment with alternative forms of transportation as a part of your everyday life.
A day to ask your local government to do more to make your city bike and pedestrian friendly.

World Carfee Day is sponsored by the World Carfree Network and is marked by celebrations and events around the world. There aren’t any events going on locally, but I will be celebrating by riding my bike to work and encouraging others to do the same.

Richmond is a surprisingly bikeable city, and with the addition of some bike racks downtown it will be even more so. There is definitely a lot of room to grow, but I am inspired by the small but growing bike community that is already a part of the city and the work that is being done to improve our local transportation plan to include bikes and pedestrians. We have a long way to go before we are a Portland, Or or Boulder, Co, but there is hope.

If you are local and would like to participate in making Richmond a more bike and pedestrian friendly community, attend the transportation meeting tonight at 7pm at the City Building. The Planning department will be presenting the proposed long-term transportation plan to the Planning Commission.

What are ways you have found that your local community is friendly for getting around without a car?

What are ways you have found that your local community is NOT friendly for getting around without a car?

Pound Cake Perfection

Becky McKimmy — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:23:40 +0000

This week’s baking adventure went a lot better than the brownies from last week. I made Cook’s Illustrated’s Perfect Pound Cake, and it really did turn out nearly perfect. The flavor, crumb, and crust all turned out as they should. Needless to say I was very excited. I’ve never made pound cake before, so I don’t know how it typically rates on the difficulty scale, but I thought it was pretty easy. I took the finished cake to Loops of Love on Tuesday, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. It was a lot of fun to be able to share something I made with all my friends.

I did have one snafu or near snafu. I got to the part of the recipe where you pour the batter into the pan to bake, and I tasted the batter. It tasted nice and buttery but still tasted like it was missing something. That is when I realized I had forgotten to add the salt. Luckily I still had time to add the salt and save the cake, but I think it would have been even better if I had added it at the beginning of the process. In terms of attention to detail this is a minor mistake and definitely better than last week, but I still have some work to do.

Things I learned from this recipe:

Salt is very important to the flavor of baked goods, even sweet items.
Baking dishes that call for extra egg yolks leaves you with a lot of egg whites to find a use for. Any suggestions?
We need to get a bread pan that isn’t made of stoneware so I can actually use it without having my skin crawl.

Shrug Complete

Becky McKimmy — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:49:23 +0000

Last night, I finished a knitting project I have been working on since April, and I am really please with how it turned out. It is a gorgeous purple shrug that fits quite nicely. I got the yarn and pattern from a shop in Baltimore on my 30th Birthday trip, and I have been working on it between other projects ever since. The pattern itself wasn’t hard to follow; however, I was totally confused when it came time to sew things together. Luckily Vicki and Julie from Unwind Yarn Shop (in Richmond, In) understood the pattern and helped me get it together.

I was so excited to be finished, I wore it to work today. It feels so good to have a project finished, and it’s a project for myself none the less.

I Never Promised You an Organic Garden » Hobbies

I’ve been baking

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Oatmeal Cake with Broiled Frosting

Triple Chocolate Mouse Cake

Ginger Snaps

Fudge

Yule Log Cake

Homemade Oreos

Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake

Strawberry filled Short Bread

Quiche Loraine with a Whole Wheat Crust

Pecan Pie

Related posts

Homemade Eclairs & Chocolate Cream Pie

Eclairs

Chocolate Cream Pie

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Best Brownies Ever!

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Butter Bomb

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Quick Cinnamon Buns with Buttermilk Icing

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New Bike #2: Misty the Mixte

Things I like:

Things I am changing/adding:

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Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookie Bars

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World Carfree Day

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Pound Cake Perfection

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Shrug Complete

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