Brownies for The Oakland

"Musical extravaganza" Reefer Madness premiers tomorrow at the Oakland Center for the Arts. A brownie bake-off was held last Friday and I was strongly encouraged to enter (Brian and Nicole). I entered and won 3rd place with my double-chocolate brownies with toasted pecans and Bailey's Irish Cream caramel. The winners brownies are going to be featured at opening night, hence this blog post.



Here are the recipes that I used:

Double-Chocolate Brownies
adapted from Martha Stewart Living, February 2006

INGREDIENTS

Makes 8.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup best-quality unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Vegetable oil cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides. Coat with cooking spray; set aside.
Melt together butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat. Stir until smooth; let cool slightly.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. Put eggs, sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until pale, about 4 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture. Add flour mixture; beat until just combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add about 2/3 cup of toasted and chopped pecans.
Transfer batter to prepared pan, and smooth top with an offset spatula.

Pour about 3/4 C. caramel (recipe below) over the brownies. Swirl caramel through-out brownie mixture using a bamboo skewer.
Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownie between edge and center comes out with a few crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes. (Do not overbake.) Let cool 15 minutes; lift out of pan, and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely. Drizzle 1/2 cup caramel and 1/4 cup chopped pecans over brownies. Cut into 8 rectangles. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Caramel Sauce-
1 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Unsalted Butter
1/4 C. Sour Cream
Pinch Kosher Salt
2 Tablespoons of Bailey's Irish Cream (optional)

Place butter, salt and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring mixture to a boil, whisking frequently. Continue to cook until you can no longer feel or see grains of sugar in the caramel, you are not trying to make candy you are just melting the sugar into the butter (about 3-5 minutes).

Remove mixture from heat and allow to cool for a minute. Using a wire whisk mix in sour cream and Irish cream. Allow mixture to cool.

You can use any type of nut you prefer, Brian likes pecans so that is what I use. I place the nuts in a dry pan over medium-high heat until they look toasted and you can smell them. About 5-7 minutes.

Okay so there are the recipes I used. Here are some pictures of the process.

Anyone who knows me knows that I never make anything out of a box or pre-made mix. Here is a photo collage of the brownie making process.


It was weird baking without Brian or Nicole here. I had no one to lick the bowl when I was done.


I have been making and using so much of this caramel lately. I use it for brownies and to also fill cupcake. I am sure that it could be used for hundreds of different things.


Here are the brownies fresh out of the oven. I let them cool completely before I drizzle caramel over them and add a sprinkling of toasted chopped pecans.


I doubled the recipe above and got 24 brownies out of it. I placed each brownie in a cupcake liner and then them in a bakery box topped with a "Home-Made" sticker.


I hope they enjoy them.

Here is some information about the show that begins tomorrow and runs tomorrow, May 1st - May 16th.
"This musical is based on the 1936 cult classic propaganda film. A spoof on the overacted portrayal of the dangers of “marihuana,” the musical version follows a pair of innocent high school sweethearts on their drug-crazed journey into madness!"

"Performance dates are Fridays and Saturdays May 1-16 with all show times at 8:00 pm. A special midnight show will be held to celebrate closing night (May 16). An opening night reception will be held on Friday, May 1, and will feature nachos and salsa from the Boardman Chipotle as well as winning brownies from the Oakland Brownie Bake Off."

Click here for even more information.

Tara's Cake...

Two years ago during my first semester as a real college student at YSU I had a class. I remember writing a paper for this class saying that I wanted to be an entrepreneur simply because I did not know what to categorize myself as. If I recall correctly I got a decent grade on the paper. Even back then I was obsessed with Martha Stewart, you can tell because I used her book The Martha Rules as one of my references.
Stewart, M. (2005). The Martha rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start,
build, or manage a business. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Books.

It turns out that my instructor back then currently takes classes with my partner Brian and he is always telling her about my baked goods. Her son's birthday party is today and she asked if I would be interested in making him a dinosaur birthday cake. I had previously never created any type of themed cake or anything other than a round or square one so I was up for the challenge.

Well I finished the cake this morning. Have a look....

I used two cakes one 9x13 rectangle cake and an 8 inch round cake, both of them were Martha Stewart's one-bowl chocolate cake recipe.


I made Billy's chocolate buttercream (which is delicious and easy). In between the layers of the cake I put chocolate buttercream and homemade caramel sauce! YUM!


The quick ice tip is one icing tip that I can not live without. It makes frosting a cake much easier and ensures an even application of frosting.


I know it looked a mess in the picture above, here is the cake after I smoothed the frosting out.


I used a round cake to create a waterfall on top of the rectangle cake. When people see cakes like these they think that there is just a big mound of frosting inside, but it is actually cake!


I carved out the waterfall before I put the waterfall on top.


I frosted the round cake and then made white buttercream for the water. I wanted to have a dinosaur inside of the pond on the bottom so I had to carve out a hole for that (which Nicole eagerly ate).


I then used a leaf tip and a regular round tip to create foliage, snakes, vines and a border around the cake. One thing that Connie (my internship supervisor taught me was to use scraps. I crumbled cake around the top of the cake to make a rough terrain and then mounded some into boulders at the bottom of the waterfall.












I hope they like the cake and I am excited for their reaction. I am not excited about cleaning up the kitchen....

Eggs...

My friend Rachel told me that she missed my blog posts and I needed to post something soon so this is for you.

I would have to say that eggs are one of my favorite foods. At the risk of sounding like Edie from Pink Flamingos, I like eggs of all kinds. The number one thing that I like about eggs is their versatility and necessity. I know that my baked goods would not be the same without eggs. I also find eggs to be my usual go to item when I do not want to cook. At my internship my co-worker/friend Cris gave me a dozen of her farm fresh eggs as a going away gift (I only have one day left of my internship). I was ecstatic when I got the eggs.

Here are the eggs I received. I love the blue eggs from her Araucana chickens.


I like scrambled eggs the best. I start off by placing the eggs in a bowl with about a tablespoon of water, milk or cream and a pinch of kosher salt.


I then use a whisk (or if I am lazy a fork) to break apart the yolk and create an emulsion of egg yolk and white. I find that farm fresh eggs have yellower yolks than store bought eggs and have a stronger egg taste.


For me there is no question that it must absolutely be butter. I know that there are healthier alternatives, but I prefer the taste of eggs and butter.


Now this is the point where I separate my eggs from the rubbery overcooked eggs that we are so frequently forced to endure. I cook my eggs to a point where they are firm, and no browning has occured they will also still look a bit moist. Do not worry the eggs will continue to cook once they are on the plate.


I add fresh freshly cracked pepper to the eggs once they have finished cooking, I do not like the way eggs look when the pepper has been mixed in causing them to take on a bit of a grey tone. These eggs were for Nicole served with a slice of tomato and a piece of asiago toast.


In outside news I was excited to see that my Mary Washington asparagus has finally popped up out of the ground. It will not be ready to be harvested until next year, but I am patient...


And in the front yard my peonies have also popped up in a row.


Behind the row of regular peonies is my prized Momoyama Tree Peony that Brian got me for my birthday a few years ago. If you have been reading this blog you probably recall how excited I was that this peony finally bloomed last year.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Today was a good day at home. Brian and I did not have any Easter plans so we had a nice day at home. We cleaned early in the day and then Nicole joined us for Easter dinner.

Here is a list and recipe links of everything I made:

Iceberg Wedges with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing
Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Zest and Garlic
Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Ina Garten's Macaroni & Cheese
Ina's Chive Biscuits
Ham
and for dessert Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream and filled with Toffee

I started the morning by cutting some daffodils and hyacinth for the mantle to accompany all of hand-made Easter decorations. I love the smell of hyacinth this afternoon I took a nap and when I woke up I could smell the hyacinth from across the room.


I love these daffodils. I have a habit of going to Brian's father Ronnie's house and cutting bouquets of them. This year he sent over a box of daffodil bulbs from his yard!


Here are some glitter eggs in front of roses I made using coffee filters.


I love roasted asparagus. I just toss them with salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic. They roast in an oven set to 400˚F for about 20 minutes. I was also excited to cut chives from the yard for chive & cheddar biscuits. Nicole and Brian both said they loved the biscuits.


Here are the biscuits from start to finish, they looked wonderful on a green platter it complimented the chives in the biscuits.


Here are my cupcakes, they came out great! I am sending a platter of them to Brian's office tomorrow, I hope they like them. I made Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes from her Cooking School book. I then made the toffee recipe that was featured on Martha by a gentleman who made Matzel Toff. I just used an injector tip on a piping bag and injected a generous amount into the center of each cupcake. I then used Billy's Chocolate Buttercream(also featured on Martha). The cupcakes were then finished with chocolate jimmies, another drizzling of toffee and a chocolate chip on top.


HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

A Bit More Time = A Bit More Easter

I have had a little more time (between work and school and naps). I blogged yesterday about faux chocolate bunnies here they are a few steps closer to completion.

I mixed the paint colors burnt sienna, burnt umber and white. I am watching Martha Stewart on my iphone!


They look good enough to eat!


Here are some multicolored glittered eggs in a hobnail milkglass compote dish. I love them!


I love the colors. These were made by putting the plastic eggs on wooden skewers, spraying them with spray adhesive and then sprinkling them with Martha Stewart Crafts glitter.


Here is Lucy observing me glitter up a storm.


Here are some glittered golden eggs in a compote dish that I got at a store in North Jackson called The Wizard of Odds.


I placed the eggs on a bed of moss.


I miss having the time to craft... :(

Where are You Easter? I Need a Little Inspiration...

This past year I have felt a so disconnected from everything. One thing that both Brian and I take joy in is decorating our house for the holidays. We joke that for Christmas our house looks like Martha Stewart exploded all over it and when our friends came over to visit for Christmas they jokingly said our living room looked like the mall!

Last year I posted a blog post after I made two faux chocolate bunnies, but I never painted and finished them. The funny thing about that blog post is that I just realized is that it was EXACTLY a year ago today! I do realize that Easter is next weekend, but I am determined to have these bunnies done in the next few days. Of course they are a Martha craft project.

Here are a few pics of the processing of making bunnies.

I first started off with a two piece plastic chocolate bunny mold, I found it at a store in Austintown, Ohio called Sugar Showcase. I have read comments where people say they sprayed the mold with Pam, but I have not found it necessary to do that at all. The two pieces are held together with binder clips.


Next I had to find a container that would hold and support the bunny upside down.


I then mixed the putty. The instructions on the container of Durham's Water Putty said to mix 3 parts powdered putty and one part water. My bunny mold took 4 1/2 cups of powder and about 1 1/2 cups of water (and yes that is a Martha Stewart Everyday measuring cup.)


I then used a power drill with a mixing blade to quickly mix the putty. It needs to be the consistency of pancake batter.


The putty is then poured into the mold.


A bamboo skewer was then used to make sure the putty had made its way to all of the crevices of the mold.


The bunny needs to sit in the mold for about 3 hours before removing.


After three hours the bunny was ready to be taken out of the mold.


I love how perfect he looks!



I then used a small knife to trim off the rough edges and then a bit of sandpaper.


The bunny needs to dry for a day or two. Here is Lucy investigating the little creature who had my attention for the past 1/2 an hour. She lost interest once she realized that the bunny posed no threat and inedible!


Feeling in the crafty spirit I decided to glitter a few eggs. I still have a bit more to do and I was inspired by this image on The Martha Stewart Show.


I would love to mingle these eggs with my faux chocolate bunnies.

201st Blog Post! Cards and Card-making...

I would in no way refer to myself as a card maker or someone who makes cards often. I occasionally make them, but it is not something that I have a passion for. I would say that it is a good outlet for me to use my glitter obsession. My sister Marcie has an entire room in her house devoted to stamping. I can admit that I am jealous of this room because it is organized very well and has an abundance of natural light.

My good friend Diane, who lives in Arizona, is someone who I would call a card-maker. She has been making fabulous cards for years and I am envious of her skills. She uses quite a few different techniques and it has been wonderful to see her skills progress over the years. Her cards have always been beautiful, but she has really perfected her techniques.

I bring up my friend Diane because her birthday was last month and I was so busy that I did not get a chance to send her a birthday gift or even her card. I have them I just did not send them. I must also say that Diane is the most thoughtful person I know. She seizes every opportunity to send a card and gift and I must also admit that I am most envious of Diane's thoughtfulness. If I could only be 1/2 as thoughtful as she is than I would be a much better person. I am very lucky to have her as a friend.

Here are a few examples of cards that I have made over the years. I know I have posted them on this blog, but here they are again.















I have years worth of Diane's cards, but in my rush to get to work this morning I only found these two. I have them on the wall of my craft room. Diane absolutely loves Halloween.