busy busy busy

I've been baking and cooking up a storm lately, but the problem was I've lost the battery charger for my digital camera. I think I know where it is. Sure I could keep posting what I'm doing, but food blogs just arent the same without tasty photos.

But, I've been baking lots of breads and muffins with cranberries, pumpkin, nuts, all the seasonal goodies....

More goodies to come as soon as I find or buy a new battery charger......

Ice Cream... to the exteme...

I saw the new Ice Cream Scoop and Stack from Cuisipro online and KNEW that I had to have it for myself. If you don't know what it is, here is a link.

http://www.wrapables.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=C57237


Mint chocolate chip ice cream, with butterscotch chips on top.
I've never been more inspired to create fancy dessert presentations.

Peaches Come From A Can, They Were Put There By A Man....

Ok, THESE peaches did not come from a can. One of the things I love about living in southern Ontario is the ABUNDANCE of fresh local produce through the summer and fall. I bought a basket of very ripe peaches the other day, and while I wanted to just eat them all, it was decided these peaches needed a greater purpose. So I bring you pie!



I'm not sure where this peach pie recipe came from, but here it is.

Crust:

• 2 c. of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 c. of butter
• 1/4 tsp. of salt

Filling

• 8 peaches, peeled, 1-inch slices
• 2 tbsp. of lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1 tsp. of lemons, rind of, grated
• 1/2 c. of sugar
• 1/4 c. of all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp milk

Directions

1. In your large bowl, combine 2 c. of flour and salt; using pastry blender or two knives, then cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Now Sprinkle 5 to 6 tbsp. of cold water, 1 tbsp. of at a time, over flour mixture; toss with fork to blend lightly but evenly.
3. Then take the mixture and form ball, knead gently 2 or 3 times.
4. Then you can divide dough in half.
5. On lightly floured surface, roll out half dough to 12-in. circle; fit into pie plate; trim, leaving 1-in of overhang.
6. Roll out remaining half dough to 12-in circle; using sharp knife cut circle into ten strips, each about 1-in. wide; set aside.
7. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Filling:

1. In large bowl, combine peaches, sugar, 1/4 c.,of flour, lemon juice, and grated peel; toss well.
2. Pour filling into the prepared crust.
3. Arrange reserved strips of dough in the lattice pattern over filling; trim the strips to match lower of crust overhang.
4. Dampen overhang lightly with the water; turn up over ends of strips and seal.
5. Then Flute the edge decoratively.
6. finally brush the lattice strips and edge of crust with milk; bake 50 min. until bubbling and the crust is golden brown.

It ended up being a huge hit with everyone who tried it. This was my first pie crust from scratch attempt ever, so I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Daring Bakers August 2008: My Epic Fail

First, I'm writing this from the future - so when you all notice the date is wrong on my post, its because I haven't been able to log in and fix it yet. (Blogger sets the date from the day you write the post regardless of when you tell it to post).

Second, I'm moving this weekend, which is why I'm posting from the future, and also why I simply didn't have time to try and try again until I got this one right.

But I wanted to post my challenge anyways, just because I DID give it a shot.




I'm not sure where I went wrong, but as soon as my eclairs came out of the oven they promptly deflated. I let them cool off, and when I sliced one open I realized that they were still gooey on the inside. My boyfriend decided to try one anyways and liked it, but I thought they reeked of some nasty egg bread smell.

Hopefully once I'm settled into the new place I can give this another shot, and hopefully also September's challenge is more successful for me than this one.

Edit to add: Thanks everyone in the comments for your suggestions as to what the problem was.

New Toys

I've been super busy this month and havent had much time for... anything... but I wanted to leave a quick post to show off my new cookie cutters I picked up at the Hershey store in Niagara Falls. It will probably be a little while before I have time to actually do anything with them, but I'm pretty stoked to have them.

Camping Cupcakes

We're just getting ready to go camping for the weekend. One of my friends is having a birthday this weekend too so I decided to bring along some cupcakes to celebrate. I enlisted the help of both my roomate and my boyfriend in decorating them last night (and teaching them about fondant). Sadly, they both kicked my butt in the cupcake decorating department.



Here are two that I did:
And my favorite one that my roomate did (seriously - how stunning IS this?) :


A fire by my roomate and a case of beer by my boyfriend:
Loch Ness Monster by my boyfriend:
And finally an assortment of them with some dividers I made (with some snazzy dividers to help save them in transit):

Yar, a meme

I'm really not a huge fan of memes. BUT Amelia over at Diary from the Last Frontier tagged me in one for new Daring Bakers and so I thought it might be a good idea to do it and let the other DB'ers know a little bit about me, although I won't be tagging anyone (sorry, I'm just not THAT into it :P )

- Six random things about me:

1.I love baking because its a project I can start and finish in just a few hours
2. I have a nice car and drive ALOT but I really don't like driving or being in the car.
3. One of my hobbies is collecting and using coupons, getting things for free, and saving money on groceries.
4. Because of #3, I didnt have to buy razors or shampoo for almost a year.
5. I'm a big fan of Mario and Luigi