TWD Chocablock

We love cookies around here. They never last long. I'd added Trader Joe's 72% chocolate, craisins and chopped almonds for my add-in's. I'm not a big fan of oatmeal cookies or cookies with fruit in them (why is there something healthy in my cookie!). The family seemed to like these - they went quickly, except for the one last cookie no one wants to get blamed for eating.

Thanks to Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet for selecting this week's recipe!

Three Citrus Marmalade

I've never really liked store bought marmalade, but I thought (like some other things like blueberry pie) maybe I'd really like homemade. I had some grapefruit and oranges (and the kids had moved on from their citrus kick), and I just happened to have a couple lemons, so I figured it was a sign to finally try making marmalade.

















The fruit looked so pretty and fresh. Ferber calls for 1 3/4 lb oranges, 1 3/4 lb grapefruit, 2 lemons, and 3 3/4 c sugar. Only the flesh of the oranges and grapefruit is used, and is diced. The whole fruit of the lemons is sliced. The recipe boils the fruit, lets it sit overnight and then boils to set the next day. On the second day I boiled just the juice first, and then added the fruit to temp. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but I was not able to get it to set. Then the next day, this was some stiff marmalade. I tried some, and it's a little too bitter for me, but it could be I just don't like marmalade. I loved the look of the lemon slices, and thought the jars were pretty. I have some kumquats which are either going to be candied or I'll have another go at marmalade :)

TWD Sweet Cream Biscuits

I was thrilled with these biscuits! I used 1 3/4 c Trader Joe's ap, and 1/3 cup Softasilk. This is the first time I've gotten biscuits to start to look like biscuits! They usually end up as little rocks. These certainly weren't perfect, but they're the best I've done so far. These were soft and light-ish at least :)
















Thanks to Melissa of Love at First Bite for selecting this week's recipe!

HBin5 Bread Braid #9

This is my second try with the Gluten-Free Olive Oil Bread, and this time the kids ate it! (Here's my first attempt - the kids didn't like how white the bread was).

For this try, I subbed only about 1/4 c of the brown rice flour with buckwheat flour, and I added about 2 TB of molasses. We like the whole grain breads around here, so this loaf has been our best so far!

Visit Michelle at Big Black Dog to see how the other bakers did!

TWD Swedish Visiting Cake

I was so excited about this cake! The book's photo is beautiful, I love the sliced almonds, and the name sounds like a recipe I'd get from my grandma. I was little anxious thinking a 1/2 tsp was a lot of almond extract, but it was perfect. I was also a little worried that after I'd poured the batter in, I realized the recipe actually called for a 9in pan, not a 12 in. Who knows where I got the 12 in from, but it amazingly seemed to still work, still making a cake (instead of a pancake). And I love the look of a cake (or anything really) in a cast iron pan :)















I loved this cake, the kids loved this cake, and it was so easy. We'll definitely be making this one again. Thanks, Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs for the great pick!

America's Test Kitchen Classic Yellow Cupcakes

I had to make some cupcakes for a sock hop at my kid's school, so I decided to go with a basic kid-friendly yellow cupcake with a traditional powdered sugar chocolate buttercream. I used the Classic Yellow Cupcakes recipe from America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book, since I've found America's Test Kitchen recipes to be good standards. The cupcake was good, but not really notable. I've seen lots of recommendations for a CI yellow cake, so maybe I'll try that one next time. The buttercream is from epicurious, and it was perfect for the basic cupcake craving.

Easter cookies

I signed up to bring cookies for my kid's Easter party at school yesterday (and the reason for the late-night photo). I wanted something easy but cute - so bunnies and chicks with minimal decoration :)

I'd tried making bunnies and eggs last year with royal icing, and while the eggs looked pretty and the bunnies were ok, the cookies got hard and stale. This summer I'd tried making onesies cookies with this fondant for icing, and I loved that there's no wait time for drying and the cookies and frosting stay soft. And rolling and cutting out the fondant is so much faster. I used Wilton chocolate wafers for the piping. Again, little wait time. I was able to package everything up ten minutes after piping. So convenient!