This week I only have time for a quick post. It’s not because I’m busy, but more so because I’m not really doing any baking or cooking this weekend. As you may recall, last year I made a Yule Log. But this year, I do not have the luxury of the time it takes (and to be honest, the energy or desire) to make a Yule Log.
Continue reading “Holiday Week Update and MB Recipe 18”
As I alluded to last week, I spent a good portion of my weekend in NYC. Our first stop was Brooklyn where we spent the afternoon with two other couples playing board games, consuming yummy brunch bites, and the cookies I made for the occasion.
After that, my boyfriend and I made the trek up to the Bronx so we could see the NY Botanical Gardens Train Show and NYBG GLOW event. This is something that I never knew I wanted to do…in fact, I didn’t even know the Train Show was a thing. I’ve heard about the Gardens before, but never went. Come to find out, the Train Show is kind of a big draw for New Yorkers and those of us in the suburbs alike.
Sunday was movie day. We met up with yet another couple to watch the new West Side Story movie and I highly recommend it. The movie blew me away and I have no complaints. Afterwards, the four of us went to dinner at a restaurant near the movie theater. The food was mediocre, but the company was wonderful.
While I was driving home from the dinner, it hit me. This was the first time in nearly two years where my weekend was this busy. Everyone I had socialized with was vaccinated and boosted so we all decided we would be as safe as we could be. It was definitely nice to relive the “old times” before the modern plague. Hopefully one day, we can get back to doing this more regularly.
This week my workplace is having its annual Holiday Party. We are fortunate enough to have it catered but some of us are still bringing desserts or appetizers. Obviously, I am bringing a dessert. I decided on the original Banana Pudding recipe from the Magnolia Bakery Handbook. I realized that I haven’t made the basic version yet, just some variations on the original. Plus, this dessert is somewhat easy to make and it looks stunning when done!
Though the banana pudding does not require any true “baking,” this weekend I’ll be making and decorating sugar cookies. Pics to come!
Over the weekend, there was not much baking going on. In fact, I didn’t bake anything. However, on Sunday evening I decided to use up the egg yolks I had leftover from the failed Caramel Meringue Buttercream recipe to make lemon curd. I haven’t done anything with the curd yet. To be honest, I didn’t even taste it after it chilled.
This weekend, I will be visiting NYC with my partner. We’re stopping Brooklyn to visit some of his friends before we make the trek up to the Bronx to see the Botanical Gardens’ train show. We will be having brunch and I’ve been asked to bring some cookies for us to share. So, I’m combing through recipes on Sally’s Baking Addiction to decide what I’ll bring.
Stay tuned next week for how the weekend turned out and what cookies I decided to make!
The second dessert I made for Thanksgiving weekend was not the cake the was supposed to be made for Second Thanksgiving. The reason for the change? The frosting! However, I was able to make a quick change to the idea and get the flavor profile across that I was hoping to.
Continue reading “Magnolia Bakery 17 Chocolate Cake with Caramel Buttercream”
I did a lot of baking for Thanksgiving this year. My celebrated twice, one day with one side of the family, another day with the other side of the family. I decided to make two different cakes, one for each day. Both are out of the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. This post is about the cake I made for Thanksgiving proper. The cake I made for Thanksgiving Round 2 will come out later in the week.
Continue reading “Magnolia Bakery 16: The Thanksgiving Cake”
This year, my family is doing two separate Thanksgiving dinners. Thursday is with my mom’s side of the family. Saturday, is with my father’s side. Normally, I don’t make anything for Thanksgiving dinner. But, this year, that changes.
Well look at this! A Barefoot Contessa recipe! The first since sometime in May…I think?
I was in the mood to bake, but didn’t really want to have to go out and purchase any additional ingredients. Which basically means that I had the necessary items to whip up chocolate chip cookies. Then came the decision to make this version from Ina.
Continue reading “Barefoot Contessa 53 – Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies”
Every year, my grandmother makes dozens and dozens of cookies for the holidays. Last year, she made roughly 144 dozen cookies. They’re not all for the family — don’t worry, we aren’t swimming in cookies from one Christmas Day to the other. She gives them away to friends, the places of work for her children and grandchildren, her old clients, etc. Everyone really loves them and look forward to receiving their package each year.
Her process is a long one that begins long before the week leading up to Christmas. Most of the ingredients are purchased by the end of September. The month of October begins with making doughs that can be frozen before the cookies are made. Around mid-October she takes a week off from the Christmas baking to make Halloween sugar cookies. These don’t number anywhere near the amount she makes for Christmas.
Once the Halloween cookies are made the real work begins. Each day, about 5 or six days a week, she bakes one or two different kinds of cookies. Once baked and embellished they get boxed by type and sit in a freezer until mid-December when she start to assemble the packages. Eventually, they are shipped off to the happy recipients.
Usually, she is able to and enjoys baking alone. However, this is one cookie that for the last few years, I’ve helped her bake. Her “filled cookies” are very labor intensive and require many steps. I have to help with the rolling and the filling. Once they are on the trays, the baking process is no different from any other type of cookie. Last week, I had a day off from work. So, Grandma and I planned to carve out a couple hours to tackle the “filled cookies.”
This year was a bit easier since the dough was already made so we just had to roll it out, cut into squares, fill with the jelly or nut mixture, roll up the dough into a small log, and bake them off. Since we’ve doing this for a few years, we have the system down to a science and I was only there a little over an hour.
I do have pictures below, but I forgot to take one of the cookies once they were baked. I’ve been helping my grandmother in the kitchen on and off for many years. When I was a child, we actually lived right across the street from her for a time. After school and weekends, I would go over there and help her with whatever she was doing in the kitchen. Whether it be baking something, making candy for the holidays, make lunch or dinner, etc. I guess I can credit my interest and love of baking to her.
Sometimes you’re just in the mood to bake a cake.
That was me one day last week. I had been feeling a little out of sorts and figured baking a yummy treat would help cheer me up. I also wanted to bake something other than cookies. Eventually, I settled on yet another recipe out of the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and I wasn’t disappointed.
Continue reading “Magnolia Bakery 15 – Lemon Vanilla Bundt Cake”
After suffering a baking dry spell for more than two weeks, I finally had the opportunity (and the desire) the bake once again. I can’t really explain why I wasn’t in the mood to bake over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps it was just a lack of free time issue, or maybe it was the increase in the cost of ingredients was starting to make an impact on my wallet. Whatever the issue was, it seems to have fluttered away.
Continue reading “Magnolia Bakery 14 Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Blondies”
