A Little Baking!

It's been a busy week and I have been baking but not blogging. So I decided to show you a few recipes I have been cranking out including pictures and the links to the blogs I was inspired to bake myself.

Moist Brownies with "Oreo" cookies "middles"

These brownies were made with a basic brownie recipe found hereafter you mix the ingredients together, line the pan with 1/2 of the brownie batter, spread out the cookies and press them into the batter and cover with the remaining batter.

Bake as directed.

Cool, and enjoy!

Blackberry Muffins with Streusel Topping

These were a hit on Easter morning, thank you "the Culinary Chronicles"

I followed the recipe but I used frozen blackberries, thawed. I let them thaw out in a colander so they can drain.

Add them right at the end and gently fold them in.

There are still so may recipes I need to post so stay tuned for more.

Also,I have been checking out some of my vintage cookbooks I have collected from the 1950's

My favorite books are from that time, so simple and the color pictures are so sweet too.

The Pastry Diva

Showing off Food Blogs for Easter Ideas

One word: Tastespotting!!! This is my new guilty pleasure when it comes to looking and dreaming about food and the dishes I would love to make. While I was checking my email this morning I always open a new window in my computer and pull up this site and get my "fix" of some beautiful food photography.

I have been researching recipes and checking out other blogs for Easter ideas and I was so glad to see the most beautiful ideas and goodies that I want to share with you.

The Family Kitchen|Leg of Lamb
Hungry now? Me too!

An Easter twist on an old favorite
From FOODjimoto

The cutest bunny bread!
by Sweet Sensations

Who says you can't have some super cute cupcakes after your Easter dinner
by Simple Bites

Cake Pops!!!
by kumquat

Thanks everyone for all your hard work you do on your blogs everyday. I love to feature all kinds of ideas to my readers, so go check out the links I have posted and make something your family Easter weekend.

The Pastry Diva

Job Shadow Day and a Really Good Batch of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

Last week my Daughter got to skip a day of school to do a "job shadow" day. Knowing she wants to be a baker like her Momma and maybe just an excuse to stay home and bake with me, may be the reason why she choose me. I am so glad she did, she had such a great time and so did I.
; Isn't she a cutie?

After much deliberation and pouring over cookbooks and my fellow baking blogs, we came to the decision to make an amazing recipe for Peanut Butter Cups from Genesis of a baker, which are very easy and oh so good! Thank you!!

Here she starts with Mixing the peanut butter, vanilla, salt and confectioners sugar for the filling.

Mixing, Mixing! Don't you just love her nails? I do!

Melt the chocolate in the microwave checking every 30 seconds so I will not burn. She took some of the pictures too! Love this one.

(As you can see she used a mini muffin pan but we,I didn't use muffin cups papers which are VERY helpful and would make it easier to get them out of the pan and easier to enjoy!)

Place the muffin papers in the pan ( if we remembered to use them this would have been the time to line the cups)

Place the pan in the refrigerator and let it cool.

After the chocolate has hardened, fill with a generous amount of the peanut butter mixture. Then cover with more melted chocolate then place in the oven for 30 minutes to harden.

After we put them in the refrigerator to chill and had a little lunch of Roasted Chicken salad with tomato's and goat cheese...

We took them out and popped them out of the cups.

Here they are! As I mentioned before, I didn't use cup liners so it was a little bit of a chore to get them out of the mini Muffin pan but with a little nudging, I got them to come out. There are a few that we topped with white chocolate because we ran short of chocolate, but they were good just the same. I suppose you could do them all in white chocolate too, if you prefer. They were good!!!

I hope you try these soon and remember to use the muffin liners. I am also trying to improve my food photos but I am sure that will come in time. I had such a great day having my daughter bake with me.

Enjoy,

The Pastry Diva

Fresh Homemade Bagels.

Bagels are one of my favorite things to have for breakfast, toasted with butter is my favorite way to enjoy them with my coffee. Sometimes I am adventures and slice a bagel and smear a little mayo and stack up some cheddar and ham. I found a recipe that looked pretty easy and I wanted to try and that didn't take 2 days and a ton of time to rise and bake. I came across this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen called "Step by Step: Homemade bagels"

Put the yeast and warm water in the mixer bowl

Add the flour to the yeast and mix with the dough hook

I covered my bowl and put in a warm place to rise for about an hour. I just turned on my oven for a few minute to warm up,turned it off and put in the bowl. Make sure it's just warm in the oven.

I just put the dough on the counter with a little flour and kneed till smooth.

Divide the dough into four equal parts

roll each of the dough balls into a rope and shape into the shape of the bagel, seal the ends with water and place on a baking sheet to rise for 15 minutes

While these are in the oven rising, start a 5 quart pot to a gentle boil.
After they have risen, add, one at a time to the water and boil on each side for a minute or so, lift out with a slotted spoon then pat dry on a paper towel. (p.s. Don't leave the boiled bagel on the paper towel, it WILL stick and you will have a towel sided bagel, lol I did this so I know and can pass this knowledge on to you) OOps!

After I boiled and dried the bagels, I placed them on an oiled baking sheet and I sprinkled two with cinnamon and sugar and the other two with sea salt and some dried Italian seasoning.

Place in the oven for 18 minuets, sit back and wait for the aroma of fresh bagels to fill you house!

Fresh out of the oven.

You can take one now and enjoy how you like or wait for them to cool and wrap them in plastic wrap.

I waited till the next morning and had one toasted with butter,
Delicious!!

Hope you try these soon! The recipe only makes four so if you are like me and are the only one to eat these then it is the perfect recipe, but I am sure it will double or triple just fine.

Enjoy,
The Pastry Diva

Strawberry Freezer Jam

One of my favorite times of the year is Spring, for many reasons.Watching the flowers bloom and rejuvenate from the previous winter cold, cherry blossoms blooming on every corner and the hope that more and more days will become warmer and warmer or just a little dryer then what we all have gotten used to during the rainy Seattle winters. Strawberries are another reason I enjoy spring. Walking into any grocery store or my favorite, Costco! Yes Ladies and Gents, we all know we go there to get a little of what we "need" but we all leave getting more then we bargained for and a full belly from all the samples! Yesterday, strawberries were in abundant supply, literally stacks and stacks of them.My thought was "so many strawberries, so little time"

The Strawberries

Chopping the strawberries

Boiling the berries with the water and sugar

The Finished Product on Buttered Toast.

It is very good and just what I had remembered eating as a kid. As you may have noticed I like mine chunky with bits of the strawberry in the jam, but as one of my good friends told me that smooth is the way she likes it.Just take the time to smash the berries with a potato masher or pulse them in a blender for a smoother consistency, then add then to the pan and continue with the recipe.  I just like it to have more of the natural "bite" of the strawberry and to keep it close to the original flavor and texture as possible. That is why when i was looking for a recipe I wanted to keep it as close to the "Original" fruit as possible. I know there are recipe out there that require packaged pectin. Those are very good but I like to keep it simple and since strawberries are economically priced right now and using the stuff you may already have in your pantry,  sugar, water and a lemon.If you don't have a lemon, use any citrus, I had some orange juice so I used that, anyone cold whip up a batch of this jam anytime.

So Simple!

This recipe is adapted from {Ina Garten}

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 large lemon, zested and juiced or orange juice about 1/2 cup
1 1/2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions
Combine the sugar,(orange juice) lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the strawberries and continue to cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, until the strawberries release some of their juices and the mixture boils slowly. Cook until a small amount of the juice gels on a very cold plate. (I keep one in the freezer.) Pour carefully into 2 pint canning jars and either seal or keep refrigerated. Use immediately, or follow proper canning guidelines below.

*Please check out the web link I posted for information on sterilizing canning jars for properly storing your jam*

The recipe makes about 3 cups and I go through it pretty quick so I just found two plastic storage containers to put my jam in.I put the small one in the fridge and the larger in the freezer, but as I said it goes quick!

So run to the local farmers Market or your lacal store and grab a few containers of freah strawberries and give this recipe a try


Happy Spring,
The Pastry Diva

Soft and Sweet Molasses Sandwich cookies

Every year my friends and their kids have various school fundraisers to raise money for trips and music events they are involved in. This year my friends Son was raising money for a trip to California with his singing group. They were selling cookie cookie dough and with, if I remember correctly, there were three or four to choose from. My favorite cookies are Molasses so I said I would buy one because you never know when I would have a craving for my favorite cookies! Here is the link to the cookie company if you want to check them out: Cougar Mountain Baking Com.

The Filling

I had a can of this left over from another project and decided to use it to make sandwich cookies.

Delicious!

Enjoy!
The Pastry Diva

An Amazing Weekend and One Beautiful Wedding Cake!

On April 2nd 2011, My little brother Justin M. married the sweetest girl, Melissa E. it was an amazing wedding and a really fun reception. A few months earlier I received a phone call that he had "popped the question" and she said "YES"!!so as the loving big sister and a baker I immediately offered to make the wedding cake as a wedding gift.
Here is the happy couple having dinner at my house before we discuss wedding cakes, flavor and design.

We had decided on a cake and all the flowers and pretties she wanted on the cake,flavor of the cakes and the fillings between the layers. She chose some very pretty decorations and some hand painted elements for the sides of the cake.

150 handmade fondant daisies

Day One of Baking

The Happy Couple

The recipes and "how to's" will be posted as soon as I get my recipes I used in order and edited.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did making the cake!

The Pastry Diva