Needle in a Haystack

More cakes!

2010-06-17T23:12:00.001-04:00

It's been a cake-y couple of months! Nothing too revolutionary, but I figure I'll post the pictures and let you be the judge.

For Nicole's bithday I made her a chocolate buttermilk cake (it really is my stand-by recipe for chocolate deliciousness!) with cream cheese icing and fresh strawberries. Learned a very important lesson that day... strawberries bleed! The cake was yummy, though, and the filling between the layers was cream cheese with smashed up strawberries mixed into it... le yum.

For my birthday my sister and I made my favourite, carrot cake... loaded with carrots, topped with cream cheese icing, and with pecans for decoration (extra on the side for people like me who wanted tons, but minimal on the cake for those who don't like them!)

Red velvet cupcakes for the wedding shower of some dear friends whose wedding I am in this summer! (Red being one of the key colours in the wedding!)

And last, but not least, a cake for my coworker Mackenzie's sister's engagement party! Far from perfect (that dent above the heart DID get fixed!) but it was short notice, and my first tiered cake. More importantly, however, it was well received, and that's what really matters right?I

So there we go. Some cakey highlights from over the past month!

Birthday Cake Fit for a Best Friend

2010-04-24T21:32:00.002-04:00

Monday is my best friend's birthday! He's turning 25... wow... so we're celebrating, but in a low key kinda way. I've kind of hijacked making his birthday cakes for the last couple years (last year was Deanna Troi, the year before was a Pokemon ball... before that I forget, but maybe I didn't make it that year). This year is a more "grown up" cake, no theme, just flavour fusion! So I made him this chocolate peanut butter marble cake from Sugar Plum, and topped it with some makeshift chocolate buttercream.

This cake was just plain fun to make. It helped a lot that I now have two mixer bowls for my KitchenAid, since it called for a base batter to be split in half, one flavoured with melted chocolate chips, and the other with peanut butter (hehe, you can see the jar in the background). I may have tasted a little more peanut butter batter than was necessary... but... it was so delicious.

You can see on the left how the cake looked before I marbled it. You just plop big globs of cake into the pan and sort of tilt it around to make sure it doesn't leave any gaps. It kind of looks like a globe to me... I wish I'd thought to do that for an Earth Day cake, with blue and green batter, minus the marbelizing. The right is obviously the top view, which is still pretty cool.

I don't have a recipe exactly for the buttercream I used. It's roughly a cup of butter, a cup of melted chocolate chips, and maybe 5 cups of icing sugar? I was really just winging it until I got the consistency I wanted and a good chocolate flavour. Tinting it black was pretty annoying... it was just grey for the longest time, but then I left it for an hour or so and came back to black icing!

This is always my favourite moment in a birthday party! Hope they made a wish!

The cake was delicious, a real crowd pleaser! We were sharing the celebration with our friends Dee and Os, since Os and Andrew share a birthday, and unknowingly I helped quell one of Dee's pregnancy cravings! So this cake was a winner all around. And it looked great once sliced up, which really is the mark of a good marble cake isn't it?

So my verdict on this cake? Fabulous. The only thing I'd do is add a bit more milk next time, to make the batter a bit easier to work with. But it is definitely a cake fit for a best friend. Oh... and before I forget...

Happy Birthday Andrew! Here's to 25 more fabulous years of celebrating together. Love you!

Not-really-Easter Baking

2010-04-05T21:28:00.000-04:00

Made a strawbery rhubarb pie for the first time, and though I botched the lattice it still looked kinda neat, tasted pretty good (my first time trying it too!), and was well received. Got the recipe from Canadian Living, here.

These cute nest cookies are just my usual haystack recipe with a few Cadbury's Mini Eggs on top. They were also well received, but I've gotta be honest when I say I preferred the components separately. Haystacks don't need to be messed with, they're perfect on their own... though they are cute this way.

So that was my non-Easter baking... barely celebrated the holiday, and now it's on to more fun things.

A Merry Starbucks Christmas!

2010-02-07T01:56:00.011-05:00

So have I mentioned how awesome it is to work at Starbucks? Because... it's awesome. I started at the end of November, and we discussed Christmas party plans, which were to be post-Christmas celebrations. Christmas happened, New Year's happened... and then all of a sudden it was February! So we decided to have the party this weekend, and me being me I decided to make barista cookies!!!

So yummy yummy sugar cookies, decorated with royal icing, to look like myself and my lovely green aproned coworkers at Starbucks. Aren't they cuuuute?! I love them. I also made some star cookies and a couple hearts just with the extra dough I had on hand, with red, white, and green sprinkles.

Oh and just so you know, the happy cookie is glad to be properly baked, but the sad cookie is upset because he got burned. I know you were concerned about him. He was eaten happily though, and as such his purpose was fulfilled! It's okay little barista "biscuit" (as one dear coworker would call it), you're in a better place now!

The recipe is from JoyofBaking.com, which you can find here! It's my go-to sugar cookie at this point, it's never been anything but awesome! This was just a half batch though. So merry much-belated Christmas to all of you, and to all my lovely coworkers who made it to the party tonight, and to those who didn't either.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-01-25T16:02:00.011-05:00

I am on a cupcake kick. I've always loved them - they're so cute and individual - but I'm especially into them at the moment. Possibly because we sell them at Starbucks so I see/sell them almost every day? Plus I know that mine are better, hehe. So on Sunday I made red velvet cupcakes that were so last minute, and so delicious, they didn't last long enough for me to take pictures of. Today I made chocolate ones with vanilla icing, and they are almost as awesome. These are the ones you will see/hear about today.

Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup cake flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, and the vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients, and add alternatingly with the milk, ending with a dry addition. Spoon into cupcake liners, and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. Should make 10 large cupcakes... 9, if you eat a cupcake's worth of batter. Once cooled, I iced these with fake buttercream.

Fake Buttercream

1/2 cup margarine

3 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cream

Beat it to death with your super amazing mixer until it's light, fluffy, and delicious. Use it to make your cupcakes beautiful!

In Defense of Cake Mixes

2010-01-12T19:46:00.000-05:00

Fast food is popular for a reason... not that McDonald's necessarily makes a better burger than you can at home on your barbeque (obviously!), but that they're cheaper, easier, and foolproof. By the same token, cake mixes can be incredibly valuable. Tonight I just wanted to make a cake. I don't feel like eating it, I don't have anyone to share it with until tomorrow or the next day, but I don't care... just wanted to slab some pretty coloured icing on a cake and squiggle on some decoration.

So here we go... a 6" round French Vanilla Betty Crocker cake mix, with purple-tinted vanilla icing from a can! Luckily cutting a cake mix in 1/3 is pretty easy... 1/3 of the mix, 100mL of milk/water, 25mL of oil, and 1 egg. Done! A quick mix and I walk away, and come back to a perfect cake, ready for me to ruin with icing doodles.

Cakes

2010-01-12T12:29:00.003-05:00

I have always loved making cakes, but have especially gotten into it over the last year. It went from being something I thoroughly enjoyed doing for special occasions to being something I now do just for fun and to relieve stress. Luckily no one complains about having extra cake! I've been meaning to post these for a while, so read on after the jump for the the pictures of cakes.

I made my first attempt at decorating with fondant at the end of September for my friends' little girl Mackenzie's first birthday. The theme? Balloons!

Happy birthday! Chocolate, french vanilla, and yellow cakes baked in pyrex bowls, covered with a layer of buttercream and rolled fondant.

And a second attempt at working with fondant... bit easier to execute this time!

I have a major love for bundt cakes...

My first ever angel food cake... it was so exciting to make, and very tasty!

Chocolate pumpkin bundt cake with buttermilk glaze, made for Thanksgiving 2008.

Glazed sour cream bundt cake with chocolate ripple.

Chocolate cake with fudge icing and pecans for my mom's birthday.

Once I learned how to make roses it became an obsession...

My first cake with roses. More accurately my first roses, which needed a home... so I made them a cake. I think it was a vanilla cake, with fudge and cream cheese frostings.

Vanilla cake with chocolate icing, mostly an excuse to practice roses.

Marble cake with vanilla icing for a friend's going-away party.

That same friend's birthday cake... kind of decoration overload, haha.

I really like making roses, can you tell?

An engagement cake for my best friends, Andrew and Kevin. My go-to chocolate cake, and vanilla buttercream.

Novelty cakes are pretty fun too, although... not always the most beautifully executed!

Deanna Troi birthday cake for Andrew's Star Trek: The Next Generation inspired birthday.

Lady Gaga cake for Kevin's birthday.

Whew, sorry for the photo intensive post. More baking adventures soon, I'm sure.

Carrot Muffins, and More Christmas Presents

2010-01-10T11:31:00.001-05:00

Carrot muffins are a weakness of mine, carrot cake one of my favourite treats... with or without cream cheese frosting, and especially with walnuts, I am a sucker for a good bite of carrot-y deliciousness. It's also one of my favourite things to make, so when boyfriend commented I had no good breakfast food on hand I immediately decided that this is what I would make to accomodate him, and indulge myself. I also was looking for a chance to display some of the beautiful new plates my sister got me for Christmas. So voila - carrot muffins! (Recipe after the jump)

Carrot Muffins

2/3 cup oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup apple sauce (1 individual container)
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded carrots (more like 2)
lemon juice to toss the carrots in
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Toss the carrots in lemon juice to help prevent that yucky blue thing they do once they're baked. Combine oil, eggs, applesauce, sugar, carrots, and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients separately (cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, baking powder & soda, and salt) and mix into the wet mixture until just combined.If adding walnuts either do it at this point, or sprinkle them over the top of your prepared and filled muffin cups, or cake pan. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. Makes about 15 muffins.

They taste even better when they're served on pretty plates.

Birthday Baking

2010-01-08T14:45:00.005-05:00

Wednesday was boyfriend's 24th birthday, so you know what that means... birthday cake! Also, with my beautiful shiny new mixer, I decided cake from scratch and delicious buttercream icing were both in order. So boyfriend got a 6" double layered dark chocolate buttermilk cake with chocolate buttercream and caramel ganache. There was also what was supposed to be caramel buttercream in the middle... but that ended up more like a weird butterscotch fudge and we'll just pretend it didn't happen, because the rest of the cake was oh-so-good.
I believe I've posted this cake before... as Chocolate Buttermilk Cake. This is the same recipe, but cut approximately in half, and made with dark chocolate instead of semisweet... like such:

1/2 cup dark chocolate
2 tbsp water
1 cup flour (generous)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch teaspoon salt
scant 1/2 cup butter (softened)
12 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cups white sugar (generous)
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk

I baked them in my 6" cake pan, and it gave me to nice, thick layers. The buttercream was really kinda made up as I went, with a basic butter to icing sugar ratio of 1:4, with melted dark chocolate and vanilla splashed in there. And the butterscotch filling stuff was made the same way... with melted caramel chips, but that didn't work out so well... it kind of seized into this weird fudge-like mixture, which tastes pretty good but is texturally odd. I won't be doing that again. Finally, the best part of the cake, was the caramel ganache on top. You can't really see it because it was almost the same colour as the icing... but you can definitely taste it. Yum! Caramel chips and a couple of dark chocolate squares melted with whipping cream, and poured on top of the cake. The border acts like a dam, so it looks pretty and is functional.

Baking Catch-Up

2010-01-07T14:50:00.005-05:00

So although the blog has been quiet, my kitchen has not. Well, quieter than it sometimes is... but you get the point. So here's where I get you up to speed, completely with pictures and blurbs and all that fun stuff. Shall we go chronologically? I think we shall. (After the jump!)

Ohhh yum, butternut squash soup. Not baking, but delicious, so feast your eyes...

Apple pie at Christmas. It doesn't look like much, but honestly this was the best apple pie I've EVER made.

Shortbread... my first, and probably last. It was super boring, hence I dipped a bunch of it in chocolate. Tasty, but boring.

Oh yes... quiche. My true love. My dear sister bought me a tart pan for Christmas, the snazzy kind with the removable bottom. So Boxing Day breakfast was a broccoli, bacon, cheddar quiche. Le yum!

Had a Holly Jolly Christmas...

2010-01-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

It's been a while, but I'm back.. hopefully with a vigor this time! Hope you all had a very happy holiday season... I sure did! First I will sum up my holidays, and my newfound motivation to bake, in one picture. Next, in a future post, I will get the ball rolling with recent baking adventures! Yay!

Lemon cake, and my triumphant return!

2009-11-20T19:59:00.010-05:00

I haven't posted since Hallowe'en for a couple reasons... first, I really haven't done much baking since then, and second, I have a busted camera that make photographing the boring things I have made (some plain carrot muffins, some haystacks) incredibly difficult. But this time my baking was being shared with my dear friends Andrew and Kevin, who are the happy owners of a DSLR they let me use. So I bring to you, lemon cake! Or rather, vanilla cake filled with lemon curd iced in buttercream to look (kind of) like a lemon!

First things first, this cake is all about the lemon curd. I have been meaning to make lemon curd since the first time I had it with my scone at a nearby scone and coffee/tea shop. However I am not big on finicky recipes so my mission was to find the easiest one possible. Found it here! It's easier than you can imagine, and tastes amazing. I made half the batch since I was only making a 6" round cake.

The icing is basic buttercream (in this case it was 1/2 cup softened butter, 2 cups icing sugar, about a tsp of cream, and a splash of vanilla), tinted with Wilton gel colours.

And the cake (which was actually the least awesome part of this recipe) is the same one I tried from the Smitten Kitchen, her Best Birthday Cake. It was way better last time I made it, unfortunately. I think maybe it sat on the counter too long, since I was at knit night longer than I expected to be (while the cakes were cooling on the counter). Who knows. Next time it'll be perfect, I swear!

Hallowe'en Cookies (and Cake Trial & Error)

2009-10-31T16:51:00.003-04:00

The boy is still visiting, and he has decided to go hang out with our friends for Hallowe'en tonight. Me? I am babysitting the cutest little redheaded girl in all of Ottawa, and maybe the world! I'm not big on Hallowe'en, but I don't mind Hallowe'en baking. If I had my icing colours and all that stuff here I would have made sugar cookie zombies, mummies, vampires, and werewolves (this was my original plan) but I loaned them to my sister and won't get them back until tomorrow. So instead we get Hallowe'en Chip Cookies. They're chocolate chip, but with Reese's Pieces mixed in too! It's the best I could come up with, with limited supplies. once again I gave anothe recipe a try... not that it's much different from my usual chocolate chip recipe. They're all pretty similar!

Hallowe'en Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup Reese's Pieces

Cream shortening and sugars, then add vanilla and egg. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt separately, then add to the creamed mixtured. Finally add the chocolate chips and Reese's Pieces. Spoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes at 350F. Easy!

In other news, I made a cake lastnight for dessert... one I've been wanting to try from Smitten Kitchen for a while. It's her Best Birthday Cake, and since I am also on the mission for the perfect scratch cakes I figured I'd give this a try. I halved the recipe so I would only get one layer. The cake turned out wonderfully, it's moist and light but not unnaturally so, and it has a great flavour. I used margarine instead of butter, and I think in the future I would make a point of using butter as called for. I also made her chocolate sour cream icing, and it tasted great on its own too. The two together, however, was not up my alley. Tasted kind of like pancakes with chocolate chips... a favourite of mine, but not what I wanted the cake to taste like. The boy, on the other hand, thought it was really good. Next time I'll throw some buttercream on it, or some cream cheese icing, and leave the chocolate sour cream icing to another purpose! But I want to reiterate that the cake itself was AWESOME. I will definitely be making it again.

Anyway Happy Hallowe'en, to any of you who celebrate it, and to those that don't, Happy November Eve!

Apple Streusel Cupcakes

2009-10-29T13:15:00.002-04:00

October is almost over and I haven't done any baking with apples! Well, aside from my Thanksgiving apple pie... but I don't entirely count that because I make apple pie a couple times a year, every year. So I decided to make some apple muffins and tea for breakfast this morning. However... the thought of drinking tea quickly lost its appeal the more I thought about it, so I drank coffee and the boyfriend drank a cup of chai tea. And the recipe I ended up wanting to make didn't actually have apples in them. So I still haven't baked with apples yet this season... though I still intend to! I do have a cake in mind, but we'll see if I get to it... maybe next week! In the meantime, apple streusel cupcakes from one of my beautiful cookbooks, Cupcakes, Muffins & Baked Goods which I've resolved to make more from. So far so good... these were delicious!

Apple Streusel Cupcakes

Batter:

1/2 tsp baking powder

10 oz applesauce

4 tbsp butter (margarine)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups self-rising white flour *

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Topping:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 1/2 tbsp butter (margarine)

* I don't bother buying self-rising flour, I just make my own - sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a ratio of 1 cup flour : 1 1/2 tsp baking powder : 1/2 tsp salt.

The topping is easy, just mix all the ingredients together until they are crumbly and fully blended. I use my fingers... it's just easier that way, but a fork would work well enough too.

To make the muffins (cupcakes, as the book calls them) blend the sugar and butter together, then add the egg. Separately dissolve the baking powder in the applesauce. Combine the dry ingredients. Then alternately add the applesauce and the dry mixture to the sugar, butter, and egg. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, about 2/3 full, then crumble the topping over them.

Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, until they have risen and are golden brown. The recipe says it will make about 14 cucpakes... I made a half batch and got 4 very large ones. So who knows, maybe it would be more like 8-10 in a full batch. Next time I think I'll throw some diced apple pieces into the batter to add a bit more texture and a stronger apple flavour. Either way though, these were fantastic!

Zebra Brownies

2009-10-24T00:44:00.002-04:00

I found out that my love is coming up for a visit tomorrow, and while my attentions would have been better directed toward cleaning the apartment (I did some, I swear!) I decided that some sort of treat was in order. So I made zebra brownies! They're fudgey brownies with cream cheese icing and chocolate drizzled on them and they are... mmmm. So good. A little on the rich side, but who's going to complain? Hopefully he enjoys them as much as I did taste testing them! Normally I'd make my sister's brownie recipe but did not tonight for two reasons, first I didn't need as much as it usually makes, and second I think she'd beat me if I posted it online! She makes them better than anyone else, so I won't bother trying to compete :) The recipe I used is after the jump!

Fudgy brownies

1/2 cup flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter (or margarine, in my case)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 oz semisweet chocolate (chips or squares)
splash of vanilla

Melt the butter and sugar together, then add sugar, eggs, vanilla. Once combined add the flour and the salt. Spread brownie batter into a greased pan and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. They should be done at the edges and still fudgey but not wet.

Cream cheese icing

1/4 pkg softened cream cheese (2oz, or 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp softened butter (margarine)
1/2 cup icing sugar
splash of vanilla

Blend the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth, then add sugar gradually until all the icing is smooth and creamy. Be sure to taste test... and then taste test it again... and again!

Once the brownies are cooled spread the cream cheese icing over top, then drizzle with chocolate topping. For mine I put a couple tbsp worth of chocolate chips into a ziploc bag, added a smudge of margarine, and melted them (in the bag) in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Then I smushed them together to mix it all up, cut off the tip, and drizzled to my heart's content!

Yarn and Fondant

2009-10-21T23:22:00.015-04:00

Pretty birthday cake anyone? My sister and I made this for her friend Marina's birthday, and I'm so excited with how pretty it turned out. To be fair, and to give credit where credit is due, I mostly helped with making buttercream, and with the rolling, tinting, cutting, and smoothing of fondant. She had the cakes in the oven when I got there, and did the final assembly after I left. Regardless, I'm thrilled to have been able to help, and apparently her friend Marina loved her cake! It's a chocolate buttermilk cake (my go-to recipe, which I'll provide after the jump) with chocolate buttercream filling and plain old fondant.

In other news, I'm finally knitting again! I hit a dry spell this summer and really haven't done much of anything besides the occasional discloth. However, since I was asked to make a mug cozy for this same birthday I rose to the challenge. I'm really happy with how it turned out too. The purple yarn is lovely, and I'm pleased that I found a button that suited it. The pattern is available as a Ravelry download, it's called Mug and French Press Jacket, by MK Carroll. The things I've come to love about this pattern (I've made it twice now) is how quickly it knits up, how easy it is to follow, and how amazing it is to block wool to the exact shape you want on the mug. Seriously, wool is amazing. I don't know how I didn't know this earlier in my life! I'm pretty sure the recipient liked this part of her present too, so my mission was accomplished.

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup water
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

1. Grease three 9 inch cake pans. Line bottoms with wax or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a small pan over low heat, combine 1cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup water. Stir until chocolate chips have melted, and mixture is smooth. Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Sift together flour, soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter or margarine with the sugar. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in chocolate mixture. Stir flour mixture into creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Blend until smooth. Divide batter into three 9 inch pans, and smooth tops.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 10 to 15 minutes, then invert on wire racks; turn right side up to cool completely.

Thanksgiving!

2009-10-17T21:24:00.002-04:00

It's a week late, but here's the updates on Thanksgiving baking... we did the stuff for my dad's birthday (oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and nanaimo bars) which he thoroughly enjoyed. We also had banana muffins (same recipe as the cake in the first post), some less-than-successful cranbery muffins, and the traditional pumpkin and apple pies. Pumpkin pie should have had foil on the crust for longer, but the apple pie turned out beautifully and both tasted amazing. I also made pumpkin tarts, the one's from Bakerella's blog!

I didn't make them miniature because I don't have a mini muffin pan, and I used my own pastry dough not the store-bought kind. My verdict? They were yummy, but not pumpkin-y enough for my tastes. Also, since my mom's partner is allergic to nutmeg we can't use any in our baking unless we want to kill him! So it's heavy on cinnamon, but it was still somewhat lacking in flavour. Even still they tasted good... like mini pumpkin cheesecakes with some pastry dough around them, which is essentially what they are. Really, what's not to like about that? I'm not sure if I'll make them again but I'm glad I tried them this time!

Nanaimo Bars & Birthday Wishes

2009-10-08T14:58:00.002-04:00

My dad's birthday was yesterday... happy birthday! Dads are shockingly hard to buy for, and every year my sister and I have to bend our brains a bit to come up with something. This year we had a brilliant idea - we're making a care package! We're baking a bunch of his favourite goodies that freeze nicely, and giving him a couple big containers full of them. Cookies, nanaimo bars, haystacks... he'll love it (I hope!). Most of the baking will be done this weekend, and taken over when we visit for Thanksgiving, but my sister and I tried our hands at nanaimo bars lastnight.

This is my aunt's recipe for nanaimo bars, which honestly I remember being very different but I'm going to chalk that up to her having greater experience at it than we did. They taste amazing, but they were a bit messy! Chocolate topping was a little too hard, icing was not quite thick enough. Next time we'll know better. The raw egg in the crust is a little unnerving, but it tasted great regardless. I have been assured that this is how she makes them, and that no one has died of salmonella poisoning from eating them... that we know of... haha. Seriously though, they taste great. And that's what it really comes down to in my dad's books!

Aunty Jan's Nanaimo Bars

Base
2 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Filling
1/4 cup butter
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp custard powder
2 cups icing sugar

Topping
4 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 tbsp butter

Cookies

2009-10-06T16:01:00.004-04:00

I love cookies. They're so welcoming, comforting, and they range from rustic to elegant all with a certain compact charm. Though cookies are rarely (if ever) as impressive as a cake or elaborate pastry, I believe that the perfect chocolate chip cookie is a measure of one's baking style and skill.

These are my go-to chocolate chip cookies, my mom's recipe... chewy, not overly sweet, and lots of chocolate chips!

Wikipedia tells me that cookies originated in 7th century Persia, but that they first came to North America in the 1600s, and our standard creamed-butter-and-sugar method cookie became common in the 1700s. Even Wikipedia makes note of the compact appeal of cookies... you can send them, pack them, set them out as bite-sized treats, ice them, sandwich them, dip them... they're endlessly versatile.
All this to say what I opened with: I love cookies! So here are some of the cookies I've made and taken pictures of... unfortunately they tend to be gobbled up or given away so quickly I only remember to photograph them once in a while. Expect to see many cookies, especially with the holidays creeping up on us!

Haystacks. Some people call them mud cookies, or chocolate macaroons. Oats, coconut, chocolate... can't go wrong!

Lemon crackle cookies.

Vanilla sugar cookies with royal icing, in stars...

...and daisies...

...Valentine's themed...

...and patriotic, for Canada Day!

Banana Bundt Cake and an Inaugural Post!

2009-10-04T15:50:00.010-04:00

So here it is, the first post! Here we have another amateur food blog to further fill the internet with pictures of my baking, cooking, and probably knitting, as well as my rambling thoughts. So welcome to Needle in a Haystack, a blog which as I've said will combine my favourite things and give me a place to put them all.

I thought about starting off by posting some of my favourite baked goodies and knitted projects, things I'm proud of and that would give a good sense of who I am. Instead I decided that the first post should be a fresh project, something to inaugurate this little cyber-nook of mine. The archives can wait for another day. So I present you with today's indulgence, a banana bundt cake with chocolate glaze and walnut topping!

It's my mom's recipe for banana muffins which I just baked in my silicone bundt pan and topped with some chocolatey goodness. It's pretty basic, but here you go!

Banana Muffins/Bread/Cake

3 overripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour

1. Combine bananas, sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl combine sour cream and baking soda, let rest until it has "plumped."
3. Add leavened sour cream to wet ingredients.
4. Mix in flour until just combined.
5. Bake at 375°F until outside is golden brown and inside is cooked through (toothpick comes out clean). This tends to vary, but I found that with the muffins it's about 20 minutes and the cake took about 45.

The glaze is just 1 cup of chocolate chips and about 4 tbsp of butter melted in the microwave with a splash of vanilla, and then poured over the cake. Then I added walnuts because I had them on hand, and they looked pretty. Et voila, banana bundt cake. Yummy, can't wait to share it!