Happy Birthday Merry Christmas to Me!

Hello Kitty! Who is your friend?

2009 has been an exciting year. Thanks to the Baking Beauties I fancy myself as a good little baker now. I have really enjoyed learning about baking, learning the importance of following a recipe correctly, and learning that sometimes its not me but a bad recipes. Butter tarts have been causing me some issues lately, but I refuse to give up just yet.

My hand blender took a real beating this year (funny??!?!). I have broken dough hooks and the motor is a little sad these days. Boxing day sales just couldn't be resisted and while Andrew dragged me from electronic store to electronic store I happen across an amazing deal. I am now a very proud own of my first stand mixer.

Today was my first try and I couldn't believe the wonder. I whipped up a pie crust dough in a snap and I didn't have to worry about my warm hands melting the butter chunks. The final crust was light and flakey - my best to date!

The pie filling wasn't too shabby either, a mix of fruit from the fridge and freezer that needed to be used which included blueberries, raspberries, peaches and lemons.

Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

I was really excited to try making this cake. A brown sugar, butter and nectarine topped cake with an almond streusel centre layer.

The cake was a dream to make. Maybe it was because it only took an evening rather than a multi-day event. I enjoy baking, but I don't enjoy all the waiting called for in so many recipes.

This cake is really good. Andrew loved it, which was a nice surprise. My only complaint is that there is a ton of butter in each layer, and the cake was very moist (almost wet) as a result. It took much longer than the indicated bake time and I probably could have baked it even longer.

Really nice to flip and remove the pan and have the cake look perfect. Much much better than the Boca Negra incident.

Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaves

These loaves are full of so much goodness. I nice bread loaf with large pieces of walnut and explosions of cranberry. Once you start snaking on this bread it is impossible to stop yourself before it is all done. It is a nice bread that has great flavours and not too sweet.

The recipe is two days of work, with all the rising and chilling. Since the loaves were so good I didn't think it would be a problem to whip up another batch a couple of days later. But the second batch was a disaster. The loaves were under cooked and retained a wet texture.

Oven Roasted Plum Cakes

The instructions stress that under no circumstances are you to press the plum down into the batter. I resisted every urge... maybe I pushed just a little. The cake just kept on rising and almost swallowed the plums.

But no matter what the little cake looked like, it was absolutely delicious tasting. I am surprised I was willing to share these cakes with others. I think it was only because I have some additional plums in my kitchen and ready to whip up another batch.

I am not a huge fan of plums and almost passed on making these cakes. I am so glad that I didn't. Something magical happens when you sprinkle plums with brown sugar and baked them. The fluffy orange zest seasoned cake isn't hurting the situation.

I shard the Plum Cake with people who love plums, and people who have plums on their list of dislikes. All agree unanimously these Plum Cakes are a tasty treat that can't be beat!

I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

I noticed these pictures have no frame of reference for size. The recipe indicates it yields 12 cakes. However, I purchased giant plums and had to use the oversized muffin tin to fit them in. So imagine these big! I asked Andrew if I should cut the plums into quarters next time - but we both agree that more cake and less plum doesn't give us the opportunity to justify these as a full serving of fruit.

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.