Summer Vegetable Tart

Phyllo pastry layered with butter and fresh ground pepper. Filled with sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, mixed with Goat cheese.

I don't have much to say other then it takes a minute to make, and is very delicious.

Served it up for dinner and loved it!

Leaf Shaped Fougasse

Damn you salty herby bread stick. The dough was just too much for my poor little hand mixer. One of the dough hooks twisted right in half. I tried to continue mixing/kneading the dough by hand, but it was just too tough and I didn't make it very long.

The final result was fine. I can't say much other than it tasted like a breadstick. I love dipping bread in oil and balsamic vinegar, so in the end it was a nice treat.

Since this dough was the base of focaccia, and I had images of an airy bread product. I decided not to shape the second ball of dough, I didn't want to create more surface space. Instead I left the mound to rise as a complete oval.

The final result didn't have that baking soda fizz texture I was dreaming of. I need to figure out what kind of bread I am thinking of. This bread was soft and dense. It could have been from a lack of mixing, or not leaving it to rise long enough. It was really tasty and both Andrew and I preferred the oval to the leaf shaped. I definitely will try it again next time I need to serve a bread before dinner. It will be nice to see if it turns out differently, and I will be happy to serve breadsticks and wedges.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Wow these cookies are insanely good. I was going to cut the recipe in half, but at the last minute decided to make the entire recipe. I am so glad I did because we enjoyed every last crumb, but I am also very happy I didn't sit and eat them all, which I could very well have done.

The batter was fantastic. I started out with a bowl that was too small and the creamy vanilla coffee flavoured batter was really yummy. I was almost sad to mix it with the chocolate. But then I did, and wow a whole new tasty treat.

Andrew's description of the cookies is right on. He calls them the chocolate chip cookies that got taken over by the chocolate chips. The whole thing is a melty chocolate chip with chocolate chucks throughout. I would love to make more of these cookies, but I am afraid that I will have to spend every other waking hour at the gym.

I never counted how many cookies were finally produced, I stopped at 40. These were not bite sized, but regular full out. I took most of them on a camping trip. I brought them out on the first night when people started making smores. Everyone was very fond of them and requested them in the evenings and throughout the days. I also found they made great cookie sandwiches with roasted marshmallow filling. That is how we finished off the last couple. Andrew introduced me to roasted marshmallows via a stovetop element.

Busy Little Baker

I am not sure what I have been doing, but I have been super busy. Maybe just life... or maybe my husband, the new graduate, is actually at home during daylight hours, and awake!

I have been keeping up with the Baking Beauties, I have just been a bad blogger. I will post all the entries next, because there have been some wonderful creations. But first here are some random things I have been whipping up.

I made a no bake, raw food diet friendly - Key Lime tart. I thought I had a picture but now can't find one. They had a chocolate, coconut, pecan, and raisin crust. The filling was an insanely sweet lime and avocado puree. It was pretty intense. But really tasty. I have also been trying my hand at some Indian dishes which have been great successes.

I am super proud of my beef and onion pies. I can't believe how well the little pies turned out. I used the crust recipe from the Blueberry-Nectarine Pie. The filling was courtesy of a Jamie Oliver recipe. These were a thumbs up from my picky Andrew.

I am starting to feel like a baker. Which is crazy to say, and I am really proud. People even started calling me a baker and expecting treats. I will let you know these are people who has been fed Double Chocolate Cookies (I think that is really all I need to say). My cupboards were getting full of odds and ends. I always chuckle and think of Tina's Chocolate Salami, so I whipped up a Chocolate Pizza. Shortbread crust, with a chocolate whipping cream and butter sauce. The topping was an assortment of random nuts and shaved coconut. It was mmmmm tasty!

Blueberry-Nectarine Pie

All I can say is wow! This is a fantastic pie! All plates were licked clean. I still can't believe I shared.

I love blueberry pie. I tried once to make it from canned filling and frozen pie crust, and it tasted exactly like cans and freezer. So for this time around everything was going to be different. I took the opportunity to buy all fresh ingredients. It was so hard not to eat those sweet smelling nectarines.

I was a little concerned about making the crust. I have a problem where the first time I make a recipe it turns out great, and then the second time around, even when I measure and pay close attention, it bombs terribly. But thankfully the crust worked out really well. I didn't realize the egg wash would brown as it did - this was my first solid crust top and it looked like a messy paint job - I definitely will pay closer attention next time.

The pie filling is the perfect balance of sweetness, not too much added sugar and a nice cut of lemon.

I was really happy I presented the pie before cutting it. Once the knife broke through the crust the filling came rushing out. Everyone was served wonderful intact wedges of crust with slopped filling all over the plate. It looked like a complete mess, but tasted like a little piece of heaven.

Rustic Potato Loaves

I really enjoyed making this bread. I had never had Potato bread and was really interested to see if you could taste the potatoes. I couldn't.

Generally everything went well. The recipe instructed to spray the oven walls with water and trap in the steam. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead I added some water to a jelly roll sheet and let it boil off once before I put the bread in and a second time when the bread was baking. I am excited at my knowledge to call the baking sheet I used a jelly roll sheet, that my second issue is a bit annoying.

Part of the shaping instructions was to pull the free end toward you and to dust with flour. I completely understood this would give the loaf a great looking seam. However, when I unwrapped the risen bread from the towel the finished end of both loaves stuck to the towel and ripped off. The bread looked all torn up, and for some reason I thought in the baking process it would smooth itself out. It didn't, and instead it looked like the top of my loaves had been attacked by rodents. You can even kinda see the waffle pattern from the towel.

Regardless, the final result was fantastic. I would definitely make this loaf again. It was so easy and I just love the light taste.

I actually made this loaf on July 19th for our family picnic. Andrew really wanted us to serve "Avery's Best Ever Birthday Sandwiches." Tina kindly gave us the recipe for her tarted up BLT (I should probably call them BMS - Bacon, Mache, & Sun Dried Tomatoes). I loved the Mache, it doesn't just taste great, but looks super cute. The sandwiches were great. The only legit complaint was that they were dry. I think it may have been the Potato Loaf, but I think everyone was just not use to homemade whole wheat bread. My Father-In-law had just purchased his first Potato Loaf and had really enjoyed it. He said mine tasted completely comparable.

Now Andrew's complaint was it just wasn't as delicious as Tina made it. But come on... I am no Tina! And I just couldn't bring myself to slather on the mayo, it is already just a bacon sandwich.

Ka'kat

We were having a family picnic and I thought it would be nice to bring along fresh out of the oven Ka'kat. I really wasn't sure what to expect other than a soft pretzel that looked like a bagel. I tried googling Ka'kat to get some ideas... was I to serve it with mustard or cream cheese? but I really couldn't find anything other than it is a common street food.

I had tried to find mahleb but had no luck, and since it was an optional ingredient I figured it would be okay. Putting together the recipe was really easy and the wait time for rises was manageable enough for me to accomplish the recipe start to finish in the morning getting ready for the picnic. I started as soon as I woke up.

I love to dip all and any food items so I brought along an arugula dip. The fresh Ka'kat was a hit. But I think it was the dip rather than the bread people liked. The bread was pleasant enough, but just like a soft bread stick. It made a wonderful bread for dipping. The plain Ka'kat was so unmemorable that I just had another when I started writing this, but it was just bread - and it is starting to get a little tough.