Monday, May 26, 2008

Black Forest.

I made Black Forest cookies tonight. But first!


I'm pretty excited about all these dandelions.


I guess I'm excited about these cookies, too:

2 cups all purpose flour
4 T unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
4 eggs
1 package semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups dried cherries
1 cup dried blueberries

Melt chopped chocolate & butter. Mix in sugars then eggs.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add to chocolate mixture.
Fold in chocolate chips and dried berries.
Put plastic wrap on top & fridge it for 30-40 minutes.
Drop 'em and bake at 350 for 11ish minutes.
Eat them. They are pretty good.

Oh man, I am glad it is finally nice outside and the dandies are back. This world is better than our January world for certain.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Too Delicious.

I have a huge problem making coconut macaroons. They are way too delicious. They are too delicious in all forms:
1) Before you even mix that stuff together, oh man! I am a coconut fan.
2) Before you even bake that stuff it is awesomely delicious. It is also awesomely stomachache inducing if you have too much dough.
3) After you bake them they are, of course, deliciously crispy and light.


4) And after you dip them in semisweet chocolate? I think you get the point.
TOO DELICIOUS.




And this now has nothing to do with cookies!

Every year I plant the window box below the adorable blue window of the sauna room up at my cabin. Last weekend was window box time:



I would've taken a photo after I actually planted it but my camera died. I will tell you that it looked awesome, though. And I will tell you that I will be sure to take a photo of it when I'm back up there in a month or so for ChuckFest. By then it will be looking even more stylish I bet.



I also planted this at the cabin:


This is the friendly city flamingo, Rhonda. She is now the friendly cabin flamingo and experiencing dirt for the first time since she was gifted to me 4 years ago. I think she will be happy there.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Sugar Laced with Drugs. Or Nutmeg.

I will tell you this:

Martha Stewart is a tease.
She releases these cupcake liners as part of her craft line:


They are wonderful and adorable and I love them.

But she releases no mini cupcake liners?
What the fuck am I supposed to do with these?!:

I guess I'll bake with them. But I will not be happy about it. I will instead blog about how unhappy I am about it. The I will recount the blogging in the the blog. UGH. So much bloooooooooog.


Here is a still life for you:

I shall title it: I have to go watch Top Chef at Melanie's house and didn't get the majority of my baking done (Fuck!). So I shall precariously balance a baking pan with two biscotti loaves covered in parchment paper atop my 5 lb tub of chunky no salt added peanut butter. And I shall balance a bowl of unbaked muffin batter atop carrots and celery. And I shall run out the door, diet coke in hand, and drive towards the Bravo reality show I watch only because Project Runway isn't on.

That title is too long but entirely accurate.



Now, I would like to introduce you to my trusty cake tester:

I wonder if that's what Martha uses?


Ooof. Look at those blueberries. I will admit to eating one of the mini muffins this evening. For the good of the people. And my stomach. Blueberries are as good in muffins and scones and pancakes as they are person. DELICIOUS. This is true for all berries except blackberries. Blackberries are fucking tasty in baked goods but even better outside of them. When blackberries get baked they just get lazy and everything makes them laugh and then, suddenly, your snacks have been devoured and there are crumbs all over your bean bag chair. OR they lose a little of their delicious tartness that I love so dearly.


Oh! By the way, these muffins are not laced with drugs. I sprinkled a little sugar & nutmeg on top of them before baking. At least, that's what I'll tell the cops.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Many Parts.

Part 1:

A delicious French Stick recipe. Come on. French Stick? That's funny.


Part 2:

Bread & Cheese & Lots of Money.


Part 3:

Spilled cocoa powder looks like blood spatter!


Part 4:

Sometimes I like to not sift the cocoa powder and flour prior to mixing. Then I mix in the cocoa powder first. And then I marvel at the massively chocolatey concoction!


Part 5:

FACT: I am not actually going to bring these cookies in tomorrow. They are simply too delicious. I will be keeping them forever.


Part 6:

I have started sewing my knit rectangles together. Thus far I have approximately 1/5 of a blanket. And it is 1/5 of awesome.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

C is for Cookie!

And that's good enough for me.




Also, if I keep actually cooking myself real food for dinner it will almost be like I am sort of taking care of myself in a somewhat healthy way! This will take some getting used to. Some delicious getting used to.




Most importantly, though, is this:


Cince de Mayo was actually Delicious de Awesome. Just so you are aware.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Cuatro de Mayo

is today. But tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo which generally merits more of a party.

So I made guacamole and cilantro lime salsa:



I also made some citrus bars:



Citrus bars in no way relate to this cultural celebration but who doesn't like citrus bars? Crazy people.



Sub-question: Is it unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins? Is it better to burn out or fade away?

I say that in my head all the time. Whenever I am moving on to a new subject I always think to myself "Sub-question!!!" I am not really sure why this happens.

The point is, new subject!

For an entirely different celebration on an entirely different day I made a rustic fruit tart:


Blackberries, raspberries and early season peaches!!! Fact: This is something delicious.