Crispy Cocoa Cookies

I don't have too much to say about these little crispy thin cookies. They are like potato chips; you go to eat one and the next thing you know you have eaten a dozen. A coworker suggested adding a little amaretto next time. I gave it a try and he was right, mmmmm there goes another dozen.

Vanilla Chiffon Roll

I don't even know where to start. The Vanilla Chiffon Roll was a crazy baking adventure. I went from excited and full of anticipation, to confused and very concerned, there was fear and panic, but ultimately relief and a bit of pride.

I didn't really think to sit down and read through the instructions first. All those tests they gave me when I was young to teach me how important it is to read through all the instructions before I start, and here I was just diving in.

I volunteered to bring dessert to a dinner party and I thought the roll would be a good treat. I think the pressure of wanting to take something really great to serve and the dread of having to pick something up on the way added to my insanity.

Making the cake wasn't too bad, everything went pretty smoothly. Later when it was sitting on the counter I noticed that it was still stuck to the parchment paper, so I had to put it back in the oven for a little while. During the inverting the cake got stuck to some parchment and lost a golden layer on one side. That is when I discovered that when I was trying to delicately fold the whisked whites into the rest of the batter I didn't throughly mix and my cake had ribbons of meringue throughout.

Next I started in on the mousse. After starting I realized that I had run out of mixing bowls, whisks and beaters. So I had to stop and wash some dishes. That is when everything just started happening so fast. I was washing and drying, processing, boiling, whisking like a maniac and trying for the life of me to decipher what ribbons of whipped yolks would look like. I couldn't even believe after all that, I would now have to successfully execute whipped cream for the first time. 

I was just exhausted and so happy to be assembling when the tail end of the roll just kind of flopped and all the mousse shot out the sides. I panicked, and just started wrapping parchment and saran all over the mess and shoved it in the fridge. I reread the instructions and realized I had rolled from the short edge instead of the long.

Later in the evening (maybe I should mention I started the roll at 8pm, so now it was probably midnight) after I had assembled some fruit skewers to take to the dinner. I was feeling much calmer and thought I would give the candy walnut garnish a go. I put the sugar in a saucepan and stirred, and stirred, and stirred. Nothing was happening. I started to doubt that anything would happen and thought maybe I could help the process along. I added a little corn syrup to the hot sugar and immediately the mixture started to boil. I didn't want to burn the mixture so I took it off the heat and dumped in all the walnuts. Wow do I have bad ideas. I had no idea that the sugar would turn solid immediately and I wouldn't be getting the walnuts apart.

The next day I thought it best to consult my talented baker coworker and ended up literally begged for advice. I really had no idea what was inside my "dirty diaper" and was scared that it would be an oozy mess. I was really happy that the roll firmed up and that the mousse hadn't soaked into the cake.

Since the roll was so wide, I cut the slices pretty thin. I was so excited that the cut edges stayed pretty clean and actually looked like a roll. Andrew was the first taste taster and I couldn't believe how quickly he gobbled it up. I so excited about how great it tasted and that Andrew (a pretty tough critic) agreed. He keeps telling me it is the best thing I have ever made.

Everyone at the dinner party thought the roll was really good. The mousse was defiantly the favourite part and there was lots of compliments on the overall moistness. My friend Kathy is another tough critic and she loved the roll. She had issues with the Mint Nightcap Cookies saying they were too rich, but thought the Vanilla Chiffon Roll suited her taste in dessert perfectly.

Overall this was a great challenge. I loved loved loved the results (the next day with mint, the day after for breakfast with strawberries), but wow was it a lot of work. 

I am still in awe that I made such a great dessert, and that something that starts out like this...

...ends up like this.

Johnnycake Cobbler

I wanted to make something easy and generally pleasing to all for Easter dessert. I looked through Baking with Julia and decided a fruit cobbler would be just the right thing. I really liked the idea of having the cobbler cook while we ate and able to serve dessert right out of the oven.

The filling was peach slices and a frozen field berry mix. In the topping I used whole wheat flour.

The timing worked out and it was great to serve a piping hot dessert. Everyone really liked it. We found that since the topping was like a biscuit it was better when you mixed it in the berry sauce to soak up some of the juices, it wasn't the greatest on its own.

Buttermilk Scones

Mmmmm.... I love scones. I decided to make and serve the scones on Easter Sunday for brunch. A nice treat to hold us over while the house filled with the delicious scent of ham.

I was happy how the scones turned out. However, I am too accustomed to eating Starbuck's scones so I was sensitive to how homemade these tasted.

I really wanted to make pumpkin scones. I asked my coworker Krista to place an order for a second flavour and she picked lemon.

I did some research on the internet to make my flavours happen, and it was pretty easy.

I followed all the instruction in the recipe, using whole wheat all purpose flour. After adding half the buttermilk, I split the batter into two. One bowl I added half the remaining buttermilk and the zest of one lemon. In the other bowl I added pumpkin puree instead of the rest of the buttermilk and pinches of various spices.

Andrew and his dad were not sure what scones were, but they both enjoyed them. They both picked the pumpkin as their favourite. The lemon was really good spread with blueberry jam.

I have a lot of buttermilk and pumpkin puree left, so I will probably whip up another batch this week. Yummy.

Meringue Cookies (Egg Whites & Yolks)

This week was Meringue Cookies. I was a little sad because I don't really like them, but excited to learn to make meringue. Maybe one day I will be able to make my own Macaroons.

Meringue is so scary with all the rules - use the correct bowl that is super clean and dry; separate eggs when cold but whip egg whites when room temperature; whip just enough but not too much; and the worst - only make on a dry day and didn't it ran every day this week.

There was a 12 hour window in the forecast where it wouldn't actually be raining, so I took my opportunity. Maybe beginners luck, but it was a piece of cake to make the meringue. I followed all the timing outlined in the book and my stiff shiny peaks looked fantastic. I tried to take a picture like the example shown in the book, but it doesn't look as impressive when you don't have a clean beater. 

The only issues were my own silliness.  I decided my microwave should be the timer, only the outlet and timer button are a little further than arms reach. Lucky the meringue stayed in the bowl and off the floor. I also started out using a smaller bowl, I read the words double in size but I didn't actually think about it. Transferring the sticky foamy substance from one bowl to the other was a bit messy. I really need some piping lessons. I would be going along so proud of myself, and then notice a giant blob about to shoot out the back. Refilling the piping bag was a nightmare on its own.

The end result was success! Shiny, crispy, perfectly white little cookies. I knew I wouldn't eat many as they were, and I didn't know how many we could feed to our coworkers, so I made them all into sandwich cookies with a little chocolate ganache centre. Really I just want an opportunity to say I made Petits Fours. I am not sure why, but all the pictures were blurry, but you can use your imagination (yes they looked that fantastic). 

Andrew's coworkers sent their cookies back. I knew they would be sticky, as more rain was coming but I figured if they didn't know they were not suppose to be chewy they might be eaten up, and they had chocolate. Apparently the stickiness turned them off. 

But not at my work, amazingly they were devoured. Everyone said they were great and didn't mind the marshmallow quality. I got a nice compliment on the shine too.

Before I tackled this weeks recipe, I mentioned to a coworker I thought it was a waste to throw out all those egg yolks. So she showed up with a bunch of bananas and a cook book, and placed her order for Custard Pie. This I was excited for. 

I love graham crust so I was pretty excited to make my first one. The filling was alternating layers of vanilla custard and sliced bananas. And I used my remaining meringue to finish it off.

Andrew wasn't a fan of the pie. He said it was for people who love bananas. I am one of those people. There were about five of us at work that just dug right in. This pie was a little piece of heaven.