Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

A few years ago, I vacationed in Ogunquit, Maine. I knew I just had to read Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan when I discovered that it's set around Ogunquit. I enjoyed reading about Barnacle Billy's and Cafe Amore and hiking the Marginal Way footpath.

But do you know what I enjoyed more then reading about Maine? Discovering the rich characters created by Sullivan as three generations of the Kelleher clan descend on the property. I wanted to spend more time with Alice, the matriarch who recently bequeathed the family summer home and property to her church unbeknowst to her children. And Kathleen who ran away from her family to California to start a wildly successful worm farm with her hippie partner. And Maggie who's learning how to trust and believe in herself rather than the men she dates. And Ann Marie...good old Ann Marie who wants the world to be as perfect as the miniature doll houses she builds.

I'm going to call this a leisurely read because I wanted to take my time with the book kind of like enjoying the last few lazy days of summer. Alice reminded me of Olive Kitteridge from Elizabeth Stout's novel by the same name. You don't read a lot of books that focus on women as they age into their 70's and 80's. We think we know them, but we don't know their history as much as we think we do. I was also reminded of Emily from Stewart O'Nan's Wish You Were Here. O'Nan's novel (please forgive its rather unfortunate title) is set at the family summer home in Michigan. It's filled with lush details that might drive some readers insane (where's the plot?), but this reader likes to lose herself in those details. Sullivan has a way with details, too. You want to know these things because it reveals more about the characters.

If you love character studies, read this book. I cannot wait to read Commencement, Sullivan's first novel.

Club: BAKED: Buckeyes

Have you ever wondered how they get the texture of the peanut butter filling in a Reese's? It's somehow moist yet manages to be slightly crumbly? I always thought it was magic. I do believe the BAKED boys know the answer: graham cracker crumbs and confectioners' sugar. This is my introduction to the tasty Ohio treat known as the Buckeye.

The recipe made 60 treats (!!). I didn't want giant gobs of candy, so I made the balls smaller then suggested and next time I might even make the balls smaller. I tried to rush through the chocolate coating which is never a good idea. It took several tries before I managed the coating technique. I kept imaging Grandmas scattered across Ohio making these delicious treats. What method would they use to coat the peanut butter balls? I have no idea, but I found it easy to drop the entire ball into a shallow pan of melted chocolate, then gently rock the pan back and forth until just the right amount of peanut butter was exposed to make it look like a Buckeye. I used a chocolate fork to retrieve the chocolate covered candies.

I shared these treats at our friend's party. Everyone gobbled them up as they raved about the great flavor. Next time I might add a scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt to balance the sweetness. I briefly considered using crushed gingersnaps instead of graham crackers, but maybe next time. Thanks to Karen for for hosting this week's recipe. Be sure to check out Karen's post for the recipe and the baked creations by members of Club: BAKED.

How to make a parchment paper circle by Michael Ruhlman

I always suspected there was a way to cut parchment paper to fit your cake pans without tracing the pan. Brilliant!

Goodbye tracing.

Club: BAKED: Caramel Apple Cake

This is the latest installment of Club: BAKED. Check out Lulu the Baker's blog for the recipe. Awesome selection!

Anyone who reads the smittenkitchen knows about Celebration Cakes. This is a Celebration Cake: a glorious 3-layer apple cake with an elegant caramel buttercream. I baked this cake for Paul's birthday. He took one look at it on the cake stand and said "that's one tall cake!"

I made the applesauce on Saturday (using McIntosh, Cortland, Fuji, and Golden Delicious apples), the caramel on Sunday, then baked the cake and whipped the buttercream on Monday. I'm glad I spread out the components because you cannot rush this cake. Take your time. Enjoy the process.

I previously baked the Whiteout Cake from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking which uses a similar buttercream. Warming the sugar/flour/milk/cream mixture reminds me of making a bechamel. It takes 10-15 minutes, but it's so worth the wait. I think the flour balances the sweetness. I beat the warm flour mixture for probably 10-12 minutes until it was cool to the touch. I worried that my butter was too warm when I added it, but it came together lovely. I had to restrain myself from licking the bowl. I often have a ton of leftover buttercream, but this recipe is the right amount. The ratio of cake to buttercream is right on!

This cake is very forgiving. I noticed several kind of large craters cracks in the middle when I added the second layer. I started to bum out...before remembering that frosting is really spackle! I added enough to cover the cracks. The cake held together and sliced like a dream. Perfection!

This is what is looked like after we burned 18 sparkler candles on it. Excuse the red candle drips and the smear. Photography is hard work.

Ashes by Ilsa Bick

Have you ever wondered what would happen if Cormac McCarthy's The Road smashed into Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy? I'm thinking it would resemble Ashes. My co-worker agreed and suggested tossing in Justin Cronin's The Passage, too. I haven't read it yet, but it's in my To Be Read pile.  From what I know about it, I think it fits perfectly.

I've shied away from the apocalyptic zombie/vampire books. I haven't read The Twilight books. I don't mix zombies with Jane Austen. But I've been watching The Walking Dead on AMC. It's good all around gore. The story and acting are okay, but the gore is supremely fun. The second season started last week which whet my appetite for a tale of zombies or The Zapped, as Alex, our heroine in Ashes, likes to refer to them.

Ashes is the first book in a trilogy by Ilsa Bick. The story pulls you in as Alex hikes into the deep woods of Michigan to release her parents' ashes and, we're not sure and neither is Alex, possibly commit suicide. After losing her parents, she discovered that she had an inoperable brain tumor which she refers to as The Monster. I'm all too familiar with brain tumors, so this aspect really drew me in. Alex runs into a grandfather and granddaughter who are trying to heal their own fresh wounds. As they start to pry into Alex's secrets, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) hits. Birds fall from the skies, deer jump to their deaths, and Alex feels intense pain. Is it The Monster? Or something else? Alex regains her composure and discovers she's saddled with the granddaughter who is understandably freaked, but refuses to accompany Alex who sets off for the ranger station.

The apocalyptic landscape and the journey remind me of The Road which I really viewed as the son's coming of age story. Ashes ups the ante by removing Alex's parents before the story begins, and we definitely watch Alex mature quickly as the world turns to ashes. Alex is a strong female character reminiscent of Katniss in The Hunger Games trilogy. Katniss and Alex both try to maintain their human-ness as the world falls apart around them. They learn both good and not-so-great details about their character.

What happens to Alex as she discovers changes to the world and to herself brought on by the EMP. What's family? What's your true nature? Who do you trust? Who's left in the world? What or who caused the EMP? Do ethics still apply in a world turned crazy? Join Alex on her journey as she discovers the answers.

Club: BAKED: Sawdust Pie

This week's Club: BAKED installment is hosted by Tessa at The Cookin' Chemist. Check out Tessa's blog for the recipe and to check out her creation.


I love butter. I love to bake with butter. This recipe has no butter. Huh? Where's the butter? I'm typing this as the Sawdust Pie bakes in the oven, and all I can think about is how is this going to taste with no butter? I guess the pecans, white chocolate, and coconut contribute oil. But seriously, where's the butter?

The rustic collection of ingredients reminds me of something I would have made at Girl Scout Camp. Mix in nuts, sugar, crushed graham crackers, coconut, add the egg whites, toss in the oven. Younger Joan would have insisted on milk chocolate, but Older Joan is grateful for its omission.

I used sweetened coconut flakes because it was the only option available at the Cosentino's market across from my office. I was going to skip on the Simple Whipped Cream and banana slices, but decided this simple pie needed a few accessories.

I enjoyed making the whipped cream, but I gotta ask: did anyone else resort to using a mixer? I broke down after 2-3 minutes. The whisk was working, but my hand mixer really made the whipped cream come together.

I'm not a huge pie fan. Come to think of it, I'm solidly on team cake. If I do select pie, then I prefer a smoother, creamier pie. I do understand this pie's charms. I'm going to re-name it Granola Pie because it reminded me of a nutty granola bar. This pie would be an awesome addition to Thanksgiving.

Lollipop Molds

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of these lollipop molds I bought on Amazon from a Canadian store. Tick tock. Are they here yet? No. How 'bout now?

I've eaten just about every candy available, but my candy making experience is very small. I view candy making as more chemistry-related then baking. I made this awesome Salted Chocolate Pecan Toffee last year. I cooked it a little too long which kind of made it take on a slight coffee flavor. It was not perfect, but people enjoyed it. I watched my Dad make peanut brittle every Christmas since I was old enough to eat it! I love that crunchy, peanutty candy. I've never made lollipops before. I stumbled upon a recipe for Salted Chocolate Caramel Lollipops in Sweet Confections by Nina Wanat via CakeSpy.

Seriously, can you think of anything more tempting? I love the flavor combo. The lollipop might encourage me to savor the flavor.

Acorns, and squirrels, and leaves..oh my!

I made these sugar cookies for my family's fish fry over the weekend. My brother is an avid fisherman who caught enough fish to feed my gi-normous family (thanks, Eric!). I used the basic sugar cookie recipe from Cookie Craft. I love this book for fun decorating ideas. If you're looking for a way to eliminate the hassle of trying to make sugar cookies, then you need this book. I learned how to use cookie slats to roll out the dough to a perfect 1/4 inch. I also learned the trick to rollout the dough before refrigerating. The cookies cut out really easy if the dough is stif

A co-worker shared how to make these super easy acorns with me. She saw them used as cupcake toppers at a bake sale. It's really more of a craft project. You need mini nilla wafers, kisses, and baking chips. I used the multi-color nilla wafers, milk chocolate kisses (the candy corn variety would look great), and Reese's peanut butter chips. I used leftover icing from the sugar cookies to "glue" the components together. The acorns were a huge hit at the party. The little kids enjoyed them the most!

Here's a close up of the cookies. I wanted to add additional decorations, but time ran out. I think they turned out okay. I'm working on my piping skills...it's definitely a work in progress!

Fall 2011 Books I'm Really Looking Forward to Reading

Okay, this picture has nothing to do with new books, but it does represent Fall! This is Stella's lion costume from last year...but she's so darn cute, how can I not use it???

Wow, the list of books coming out over the next few weeks is impressive. I'm anxiously awaiting these books:

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides on October 11th

Zone One by Colson Whitehead on October 18th

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami on October 25th


Blue Nights by Joan Didion on November 1st

It's time to get in line at your local library, fire up the ebook reader, or buy from your local bookstore or Amazon. Happy reading!

UPDATE! I totally forgot to add Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Kaling is Kelly Kapur on The Office. Her twitter stream (@mindykaling) is highly addictive...go follow her...now. Seriously, what are you waiting for? Get!

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson

I enjoyed this book about a Midwestern family set in the 1970's to the present, but I really wanted to love it. I found the characters interesting, but I didn't find myself caring for them. The leaps in time between chapters made this novel feel more like a collection of short stories. I don't say that as a bad thing (Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout is one of my favorites books). The chapters can stand alone. They might even be more powerful as individual stories.

The story spans three decades. We watch siblings Anita, Ryan, and Torrie struggle with emotional and financial stability at various stages of their lives. Anita marries a banker only to discover marriage and motherhood is way more difficult then she imagined. Ryan wants something more than Iowa can give him, but he's never quite sure what he needs. He moves to Chicago and ultimately lands in technology after trying to become a professor. We meet three women who influence the trajectory of his life. Torrie is the youngest who suffers a catastrophic brain injury. She accidentally discovers photography which leads to a chance to express her inner demons. I wanted to know more about Torrie.

Chip is the lost cousin who returns from Vietnam early in the novel. We follow Chip on various journeys to the Northwest, Mexico, and back to Iowa. Thompson provides varying degrees of information on Chip's journey. I found Chip to be the most compelling character. The return of his almost, but not quite, step son at the end of the novel is a welcome distraction. I would love to read a sequel about the step son's relationship with Torrie.

The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Set in 1938, this book is about Kate Kontent, a smart, confident, woman who is mostly alone except for her friendship with Eve. They meet Tinker Grey at a jazz club on New Year's Eve. Tinker is drawn to Kate, but he is thrown into a relationship with Eve after she suffers major injuries when the roadster Tinker's driving crashes into a milk truck.

As guilt-ridden Tinker tries to make amends to Eve, Kate thrives in the New York of 1938. She starts as a secretary at a law firm, then moves on to the publishing world. She reads Walden, visits museums and clubs, and hangs out with a host of new friends while Eve and Tinker live in the world of the upper class. My favorite scene is when Kate quits her job, buys a lovely new dress, then takes herself to a fancy restaurant to spend the last of her money. It's heartbreaking to watch such a fun scene turn into a cathartic resurrection of sorts. Kate is a character you won't easily forget.

Towles is an intelligent writer, but his style is breezy rather than erudite. Tinker reminded me of Gatsby. The novel rides the chasm between classes which reminds you of today while echoing the past.

Club BAKED: Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins

This is the latest installment of Club BAKED. I'm really glad this recipe landed on a Saturday! What better way to start the weekend then with a cheesy, salty, slightly sweet muffin? Thanks to Billie who chose this delightful recipe. It's a great way to welcome Fall!

This recipe mixes together very easily and uses ingredients that are were already in my pantry and refrigerator (except for the pumpkin seeds). I omitted the seeds, but I can totally appreciate how they would add another layer of flavor and texture. I used muffin liners which stuck a little to the muffin, but next time I will skip those and just butter the heck out of my muffin trays. I love the mix of spices. The cayenne pepper and black pepper tingle on your tongue, but not too spicy. You could serve these cheesy muffins with chili or soup to brighten a cold winter evening.

I prefer to bake from a recipe that uses weight measurements because I think it's way more precise than measuring by volume. My wish for the third cookbook from BAKED is that they add weight measurements. I'm buying farm fresh eggs from a co-worker. The eggs are in a variety of sizes so I can't go by the generic "use 2 large eggs". I researched how much one large egg weighs and discovered that it should equal about 50 grams. I used 3 eggs which weighed a little more than 100 grams. Please BAKED guys, add weight measurements!

I've also discovered that I don't really like to take a lot of pictures during the baking process. It kind of ruins the zen-like baking experience I enjoy.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

I love all things peanut butter. I love the salty sweet taste of a Reese's peanut butter cup so much, that I follow them on Facebook! A few years ago, I switched to natural peanut butter. The ingredients are peanuts and salt. Nice and simple. It makes an awesome PB&J, but I do not use it to bake. I bake with Peter Pan. I needed a quick, tasty cookie to make for a Chief's football party.

Enter Dorie Greenspan's Peanut Butter Crisscrosses. This is the first recipe I've baked from Baking: From my home to yours. I've been reading this cookbook for the better part of 2011. Reading it is like talking to a good friend who knows everything about baking.

This peanut butter cookie does not disappoint. I've been searching for a peanut butter cookie recipe for many years. Often, I find peanut butter cookies kind of oily and kind of tacky. These cookies are sandy without being dry. The peanut flavor is strong. I used Planter's Sweet & Crunchy peanuts because that's what I had in the cabinet. The recipe calls for the dough to be rolled into balls, then rolled in sugar before being flattened with the tines of a fork. I added about 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt to the sugar which added a nice kick of salt when you bite into the cookie.

The recipe says it makes 40 cookies. I made about 56 cookies about 2 1/2". The cookies were a huge hit at the Chief's party (sadly, the Chiefs tanked).

Play Like a Toddler

It's awesome to be Stella's Mom. She's 2 1/2 which is a fun time filled with exploration and learning. The real cool thing is I get to play, too. I'll admit that sometimes I'm not necessarily in the mood to color, but after I join Stella, it always lifts my mood. We build tall towers with blocks. We empty the coins from the piggy bank and separate them by size. Quarters are "big money" and dimes are "teensies". We read books like Where the Wild Things Are, Pinkalicious, and I Spy With My Little Eye (the art work is amazing). We draw and color monsters and birds and airplanes and elephants.

The other day I told Paul that I can't wait until we can start making crafts with construction paper and glitter and glue. Stella will soon be able to wield children's scissors, but what am I waiting for? Why not buy the supplies now and get our craft on?

Need proof that playing is good for the soul? Check out this article from Tiny Buddha.

Club: BAKED: Boston Cream Pie Cake

This is the latest installment for Club: BAKED. Brooke is our hostess this week. Be sure to check out her creation.

I must say a smile spread across my face when I learned that we were making Boston Cream Pie Cake! I made Nigella Lawson's version a few years ago when we hosted my in-laws for Christmas Eve dinner (see How to Be a Domestic Goddess, p. 21). Looking back, it was pretty brave/crazy to select a dessert that I'd never made before. Nigella's version is only 2-layers, but it was a perfect ending to a perfect holiday celebration.

Then reality set in and I found myself with not enough time and a too-short serrated knife. But you know what? This pie cake is very forgiving. In fact, it's so forgiving that I promise to make it again after I eliminate the time crunch and buy a longer knife. I baked the cake on Saturday and froze it to make it easier to slice as suggested by the authors. I cooked the yummy custard too fast (or whisked too slowly?) which made one lumpy vanilla custard. The cake and custard languished in the freezer and fridge while life kept moving until Tuesday night.

After putting Stella to bed and relaxing for a few minutes with Paul, I decided to assemble the cake pie around 11:00pm. The chocolate ganache is perfect. I sliced the layers with my too-short serrated knife. I slathered on the lumpy vanilla custard. In my excitement, I quickly poured the chocolate ganache over the cake which made a chocolate landslide on one side of the cake. Paul exclaimed that it was a beauty as I despaired over what went wrong as I begrudgingly slid it into the refrigerator. It was too late to even taste it.


Finally, on Wednesday, we ate this cake. Well, not the entire cake, but we each enjoyed a slice. I love the classic flavors. I love the 4 layers. I love the custard. Yum, I will definitely make you again, Boston Cream Pie Cake!

I just bought these pans!

The next recipe for Club: BAKED requires 2-8" pans. I only own 9" pans, so I splurged and bought a set of Parrish's Magic Line 8" round aluminum cake pans. I opted for the 3" deep pans rather than the 2" deep pans. I'm wondering if there are any cons to 3" deep pans? Who knows? I'm sure these will be fine for my needs.

Club: BAKED: Sunday Night Cake

This is the latest installment of Club: BAKED. This week is hosted by Julie at Little Bit of Everything. I love this simple, subtle cake.


I like the simple list of ingredients. I like the subtle tartness added by the sour cream. I like the subtle cinnamon. I was tempted to really increase the cinnamon, but I'm glad that I stayed true to the recipe. Cakes don't need to be showstoppers. As the name implies, this is an everyday kind of cake. Not too sweet, not too heavy. This cake's simplicity reminded me of smittenkitchen's Everyday Chocolate Cake which (if my memory is correct) uses only one bowl.


I sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on the batter before I baked it. I used a 9" springform pan. I started checking the cake at 35 minutes, but it continued to bake for about 15 minutes more for a total of 50 minutes. You can actually see all the holes I poked while trying to make sure it baked all the way through. Even though the frosting sounded dreamy, I skipped it because it seemed too heavy for a mid-August treat.

I was surprised that the recipe did not include vanilla. It seems like all recipes contain vanilla! I did not miss it as we eagerly cut the cake while it was still cooling on the rack which explains the crumbles. This cake seems infinitely adaptable. It also reminded me of Mark Bittman's Olive Oil Cake (p. 852 in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian). Maybe leave out the cinnamon and add lemon or lime zest with vanilla? Or pump up the spice by adding cardamon or ginger or cloves with an orange glaze?

I mark each week's recipe with my pink dino bookmark. I read through the recipe several times before I bake it. Stella tries to re-claim the pink dino, but I always manage to keep it. This time it was super easy because I distracted her with cake!

The Help

I resisted reading this best seller by Kathryn Stockett. So many people recommended it, but I was hesitant. I'm not sure why, but something about it kept nagging at me. I finally read it this summer when my book club selected it. I was drawn into the story. The book is well written which makes it an easy summer read. The characters are very real and I appreciated the humor sprinkled throughout.


The movie will start showing in theaters everywhere this week...but I still have a nagging feeling about this book. What is my problem with it? I think it comes down to the sense that in the story, the black maids needed white intervention to join the civil rights movement. Don't get me wrong. I know white people played a role in the civil rights movement; however, it was a supporting role. Black men and women fought that fight. They were the main characters.


Why do books and movies find it so compelling to center the civil rights movement around whites?

Tomato Pie, oh my!

The universe is telling me to bake a tomato pie. First, a colleague posted pictures of a tomato pie on Facebook. She cobbled together the recipe from several other recipes until she got it to taste just like the pie she ate from a restaurant in Austin. She posted the recipe after several friends begged her to.

A few days later, I received the July/August 2011 issue of the Food Network Magazine. Guess what's on the cover? Yep, Heirloom Tomato Pie. Then I'm flipping through August 2011 issue of Bon Appetit. You can imagine my surprise when I turn the page and find a recipe for Tomato and Cheddar Pie (p. 90). Should I stop or keep going? Let's keep going! I received a tweet from Cafe Sebastienne located in the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. If you're in the Kansas City area, this is a lovely lunch spot. Guess what's on their dinner menu? A heirloom tomato tart with Green Dirt Farm's sheep milk cheese, extra virgin olive oil, wild arugula, and basil pesto. Doesn't that sound incredible?

Alright already, I'll make the pie.

America's Test Kitchen YouTube channel

Someone re-tweeted an America's Test Kitchen tweet that included a link to ATK's How to Dice Onions video. They have 70+ videos on their channel. This channel is going to come in handy and save me lots of time. I'm now following ATK on twitter, too.

Club: BAKED: Chocolate Mint Thumbprints

This is the latest installment in Club: BAKED. Be sure to check out Jamie's post for the recipe at Random Acts of Food. You know it's going to be a fun recipe when you get to use 4 types of chocolate including Andes mints. In the introduction to this recipe, the authors assert that it's a tragedy that recipes with mint are generally reserved for the holidays. I fall into this camp because, even though my tiny kitchen was hot as I baked these late on the last day in July, I kept thinking about the holidays. I found myself humming Jingle Bells and Feliz Navidad!

I was surprised that the recipe didn't require baking soda or baking powder. Two sticks of butter seems excessive, but what's wrong with a little excess every now and again? I appreciated the chilling time which lets you divide the time into 2 chunks which is great if you have a toddler (or other time commitments). I should tell you that I do not like to get my hands dirty. I tried to use a spoon and melon baller to mold the dough into balls, but I ended up using my hands...which meant I washed my hands about every 3 balls. I used the end of a wooden spoon to make the indentations. It made kind of large indents, but the cookies turned out great. The dough is a strange combination of sticky and dry. I probably let it soften too much, but the balls were crumbly when I tried to use the dough straight from the refrigerator.

The finished cookie is airy and light with a tender delicate crumb. The mint flavor melds perfectly with the chocolate. The recipe made 38 cookies. It would be fun to use different varieties of coarse sugar for different holidays (like orange for Halloween).

Frying Oil Aha! Moment

Earlier this month I posted a recap of making doughnuts from scratch. I found it difficult to keep my oil within the suggested 365 to 370 degree range. The oil took a very long time to reach the mid-300's, then it shot up beyond 400 degrees before I even noticed which resulted in burnt donuts. Even after I adjusted the heat, the oil remained too hot. The donuts cooked very quickly on the outside which resulted in barely done insides. I noticed a very fine smoke in the air, too. I wrongly chalked it up to the wonkiness of frying.


Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. I work in an office building that hovers in the frigid zone during the hot summer months. I like to warm up by eating my lunch outside. I grabbed lunch and Melissa Clark's In the Kitchen With A Good Appetite and headed outside. It's a very readable cookbook which makes for a lovely lunch companion. I flipped the book open to Chapter 8: Better Fried. The introduction starts with an endearing story about Clark's run in with Chef Larry Forgione who said "Everything is better fried, but nothing is better than fried cheese." She concludes the essay by saying she prefers to use pure lard for frying, but, since it's hard to find, she recommends other oils. She concludes with this nugget:

"Another exotic though expensive frying possibility is pure, raw (virgin) coconut oil--if you don't mind a subtle coconut taste to your fried goods (excellent with fried pies and doughnuts, less so with corn dogs).

Vegetable, pure olive, and soybean oils will work well, too. But avoid canola, which is less stable when heated to very high temperatures."

Aha! I used canola oil. Even though the recipe specifically states vegetable oil, I only had canola oil on hand so that's what I used. Phew! Not only am I relieved, but I learned something too!

Cherry Clafouti

Summer is on. I'm still baking, but the heat is brutal as we hover in the high 90's. I feel like a runner who's hitting the wall...you. just. keep. going. On Friday, I bought a dozen fresh farm eggs from a co-worker (I know, how cool is that?). I needed to bake something to showcase the freshness of the eggs. After posting to facebook for ideas, I decided to bake a Cherry Clafouti. I love this easy recipe I found in the Kansas City Star a few years ago. The original recipe is no longer available via the KC Star, but you can view it here. A serving is less than 200 calories. What's not to love??


I adore this recipe because it's super easy and light. I used Fage Greek Yogurt because it adds a richness and smoothness that's unbelievable. I left out the blueberries, but doubled the amount of cherries. I also baked in a tart dish which I thought was a little too big, but it fit perfectly. I omitted the dusting of powdered sugar because I forgot about it.





You might also notice that I let it get a little brown...probably browner than I should have. But did that stop us from devouring it? Not a chance. I must admit that I became distracted by watching the batter rise. I think the farm fresh eggs are to blame!

YA Lit

I'm reading a lot of Young Adult literature lately. I think it all started with the WSJ article Darkness Too Visible by Meghan Cox Gurdon. She attacked YA for being too negative and for exploring dark subject matters. I follow Maureen Johnson on twitter who immediately responded with an eloquent defense of all types of YA. Check out this post by Kate Hart who examined 400 YA covers published during 2010. As it turns out, they're definitely not dark. As I followed the developing story, I fondly recalled reading whatever books I wanted to back in the 80's during my formative years (does anyone else recall M.E. Kerr's Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! ?), so I decided to check out new YA.

I read Johnson's 13 Little Blue Envelopes (don't let the girlie cover fool you) followed quickly by Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why. Over the weekend I devoured The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I was going to search for more titles, but I'll probably start Catching Fire, the 2nd book in the trilogy.

Club: BAKED: Farm Stand Buttermilk Doughnuts

This is my first post for Club: BAKED! We're baking our way through Baked Explorations which is quickly turning into one of my favorite cookbooks! Gloria selected this recipe. Be sure to check out her amazing creations. I really enjoyed learning how to make doughnuts. Today the temperature hovered in the upper 90's. Next time I make these will be in the Fall! I'm including a picture of the ingredients. I'm always a little amazed when these simple ingredients turn into such awesome treats. It's magic.


I didn't have buttermilk on hand, so I used Ree the Pioneer Woman's trick to make my own. I've made my own buttermilk several times now and it always works, trust me. I discovered that the lighting in my kitchen is funky. I'll work on that as I take more pics.

The recipe is easy to follow. The dough was VERY sticky, but I added enough flour to make it work. I used a 1 3/4" and 3 3/16" biscuit cutter. I'm not a huge fan of frying food at home because I just don't feel safe around hot oil. This is my first time to fry at home. I ran into trouble heating my oil. I made it about 1" deep which took forever to heat up...but then it became crazy hot...like 3-alarm fire hot. I totally burnt the first 2 doughtnuts. I turned down the flame which was still a little too hot. I finally hit my groove on the 3rd try.



I made the vanilla glaze and added sprinkles to the doughnuts. I used cinnamon sugar for the holes. I had every intention to make the chocolate dip, but my family and I just couldn't wait any longer to dig in. My doughnuts are a little thin. Next time I'll use a smaller biscuit cutter to make the hole. The doughnut holes tasted best! Soft, pillowy goodness.


This is my 2-year old Stella as she gives her sign of approval! I've found a greater appreciation for anyone who makes doughnuts (or is it donuts?).

Twitter

Okay, it looks like I fixed it. My twitter updates are now posting to this blog. *fingers crossed* What, it only took me a year??