finger thumb

owl cake!

I've been a bit busy lately, a bit distracted by projects and, you know, life. So I haven't yet gotten around to posting the pictures of the cake I made when our Little Guy turned three. But it did turn out so nicely, and in the interest of sharing the way I made it, I now present to you, The Owl Cake. 

Oh, but wait. First I have to tell you that the Little Guy originally asked for a different kind of cake. When I told him he could have any kind of cake he wanted, he said "A Doggy Cake!" But that's what you had last year, I told him, how about something else? "A Kitty Cake!" he exclaimed. Ok, I said, I can do that. "No," he said "A Kitty Cat Cake AND a Doggy Cake!" Weeeeellll, I demurred, I don't know if Mommy is going to make two cakes. "No WAIT!" he said, holding up his hands, as if to stop the presses, "I know what I want!" And then after a pregnant pause, he said "A cake that is a kitty cat dressed up as a doggy, AND a dog cake dressed up as a kitty cat!" I know. Mind blown. What do I look like, a cross between Anne Geddes and Martha Stewart? Luckily, I was saved from the meta-cake baking challenge that is kitty cats and doggies dressed as each other, because he was watching over my shoulder one day when I was browsing cake recipes on pinterest and he saw a cake decorated to look like an owl. "THAT! I want THAT! An OWL CAKE!" he exclaimed gleefully. Done, and done!

So here's what it looked like before frosting. I used two 10" round cake pans to make it. Made my favourite cake recipe (a light vanilla flavoured white cake) and baked and cooled them, and then had handy Hubs cut it up and make it look like an owl.  

 

And then I frosted the daylights out of it in order for it to look like a nice, feathery owl. You know I have no great love for food colouring, and I was very happy to be able to pull this off without using any, and still having three distinct colours of icing. I made a Swiss Meringue Buttercream (our favourite fancy cake icing from good ole' Martha Stewart, but I must confess I add an extra cup or so of of icing sugar at the end because we like it a bit sweeter than Martha does) and took out one third of it before adding a tablespoon of strongly brewed instant coffee to get a mocha flavoured icing which is tan coloured, and then I took half of that out of the mixer and added cocoa powder to get the chocolate/mocha flavoured icing which is dark brown. And then I used my #19 tip (manufactured by Ateco, don't know if the numbers are the same for Wilton etc.) and made the long, feathery shapes. I was very pleased with how the feathers on his chest worked out, by alternating the vanilla and mocha icing. That was Hubs' good idea. He went and googled owl pictures and suggested it. Clever man. 

The eyes are opened up Oreos, and the pupils are droopies (a weird salty dutch candy that my kids love, but yours will probably hate. M&M's would work well in their place) and the nose is a long gumdrop cut on the diagonal and stuck back together. I'm pretty happy with it, though if I had it to do again I would have made the nose a shorter triangle, so that he would look "cuter". Also, it'd have made his feather horn thingy's on top of his head shorter too. Again for the cute factor. Short features equals "cute". But luckily my big Little four year old Guy had no such criticisms for me. He just wanted to make sure he got to eat the nose. 

Even his friends were licking their lips in anticipation.

 So we sang and blew out the candles and cut up our delicious owl. Everybody got the piece they wanted ("just chocolate icing for me!", "I want vanilla!"), and there was plenty to go around.

And even an extra piece or two to save for this guy to celebrate on the day after his birthday party. Because that's how we roll, cake and lego for daaaaays!

Rhubarb Cream Pie

Ok, I made this a couple of weeks ago, (probably more like a month ago now!) before we went to BC, so these are old photos, but I had to share it with you anyhow, because if you do one thing this week, you should make this pie! I'm serious, you will NOT regret it.  This is pretty much hot out of the oven. Which sounds all nice and picturesque, but is not ideal in terms of pie. 

Because we could not wait to cut into it. 

But this is what you get when you cut a hot pie into slices. They are not really slices, per se. We call them schlices instead. Because they are schloppy.

But luckily, they still taste amazing. Seriously, I think this is my favourite kind of pie. Right up there with Peach Pie and Pumpkin Pie. Its hard to choose a favourite pie, and really, under what kind of cruel Sopie's Choice-like circumstances would you have choose anyhow? Its like having to pick a favourite child! Not possible. My vote is for having a slice of each.  

Also, note the pair of mittens in the foreground of the above photograph. And this photo was taken in late July. I'm telling you, the Little Guy LOVES his dress up mittens. The only reason he was convinced to take them off was that the pie was going to be messy. Like his mother, this kid will do anything for pie. 

Anyhow, now that' I've gone on about pie long enough perhaps you want to make one, so here is the recipe. Handed down to me by my Mom who got it from a friend who got it from, who knows where. Don't get all hung up on provenance with this one, just make it and enjoy!

Rhubarb Cream Pie

Filling: In a small saucepan melt 2 tbsps of butter and add 2 cups of diced rhubarb and 1 cup of sugar. Cook slowly over medium low heat until rhubarb is tender. 

Combine 1/2 cup of sugar

                2 tbsps cornstarch

                2 well beaten egg yolks (reserved the whites for the meringue later)

                1/2 cup of light cream (half and half works nicely)

                1/8 tsp of salt

Add to rhubarb mixture and cook until thickened. Seat aside to cool.

Meringue Topping: For a lovely full meringue use three egg whites. (use the two left over from making the filling, but add another, because everyone loves meringue) Have the egg whites at room temperature. Beat them with a hand mixer until frothy. Add 4-6 Tbsp of sugar, one at a time, depending on how sweet you like it. Beat well after each addition until the meringue is glossy and slightly stiff. 

You can make your own pie crust (good crust recipes can be found all over the internet, but I like this one, or the basic pie crust recipe from The Joy of Cooking) Blind bake your empty pie crust at 325 degrees for around 22 minutes. Make sure to prick it thoroughly first and also weight it with large dried beans (like kidney beans) or pie weights. Let it cool.

Pour filling into a pre-baked pie shell. Top with meringue. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mintues. Try your best to let it cool completely before cutting it into slices. But I will understand if you don't. 

Easter Trifle

I know, two dessert posts in a row; its a bit much. But I just had so much FUN making this. I have to say, I've been in a bit of a cooking/baking slump lately. I'm kind of bored with everything and it all tastes the same. So it was a real treat to make this. 

And honestly, it so SIMPLE! I didn't even use a recipe. I referred to the basic trifle recipe in The Joy of Cooking but just used it as a framework. I made a sponge cake that my mom used to make to use in a Jelly Roll. Then I cut it into in inch squares. I put it in the bottom of the bowl and drizzled it with Chambord (a raspberry liqueur). Next was a layer of blueberries and grapes. Then a layer of devon custard that I blended with vanilla pudding, followed by another layer of cake and a bit of Chambord. Then raspberries and peaches, and the whole thing topped with whipped cream. 

Isn't that gorgeous! And the trifle looks pretty good too. 

The Little Guy needed to show me what his favourite part was. Raspberries. He was dying to get his hands in there. 

We drove very carefully to GranGran and Grandpapa's house, cradling the trifle in my lap like it was a cranky baby. And then some of these people ate it. 
Even though it was post Easter Egg hunt. The found a LOT of eggs, and I let them eat as many as they wanted... for a few minutes. 

That was a fun hunt. 

Though as you can see from his face, eating Easter Eggs is even more fun than finding them. Incidentally, I didn't make a conscious decision to dress him in a shirt that would match his Easter Egg drool, but it worked out nicely anyways. 

gingerbread houses

The Little Dude, though he has many good qualities, is not exactly my little helper in the kitchen. He's far more interested in his own playing and drawing and when asked to help with cookies or muffins or cake, will politely (or not so politely) decline.  So what have we here? Happily measuring and stirring? I wonder what could possibly have convinced him to help?

Ah, the promise of candy. Of course. 

You see, we decided to make gingerbread houses. (we used Martha Stewart's Cookie Cottage project, which you can find online or in the excellent craft book Martha Stewart's Favorite Crafts for Kids) And since there was really no baking involved (we used graham crackers) it was all. about. the candy. which is right up the Little Dude's alley. So he helped me make the royal icing (measure, sift, stir) and then it was all about opening candy packages and getting ready to decorate. He had a lot of fun choosing colours and making patterns, and generally using candy as his medium of expression.

He was so happy with the finished product. And I'll bet you can guess why. 

This little house's Graham cracker timbers fairly groaned under the weight of the candies lavished upon it. I have to say, we (kind of) threw caution to the wind with this one in terms of his non life-threatening allergies. I took the Little Dude to WalMart, headed straight to the candy aisle and told he he could have anything that had a peanut free symbol on it. So he went to town. Some of the candies are also GF/DF, (Super Mario 3Dees) but some....not so much. (I'm looking at you Rainbow Twizzlers.) Yeah, we're going to be a bit congested this week. 

When the Baby got up from his nap, he decided he'd like to make a Gingerbread House too.  Oh, the firece concentration!

The careful choices! Of course, I put the house together. But he did all the decoration, including placing the windows and doors. 

I love this so much.

Hubs and I got in on the action too.  Here's his house, complete with a little gummy Christmas tree....

And tiny little toadstools.

And here's mine. I went minimalist. Sort of. I was all candied out by this point, and really, I do love royal icing.

And then it was time to eat! (We did not eat all of it at once. I'm not insane. We worked on it over a hand-full of days, and it was a much looked forward to dessert.)

The Little Guy started by politely picking the candies off the roof one at a time, but then his Daddy showed him how its really done.

Now THAT's how you eat a gingerbread house. Like the giant you are. 

And the Little Guy is a quick study. Chomp.

Nom.

Slurmp. The End. 

 

gluten free, dairy free gingerbread muffins

I haven't shared a recipe here in awhile, but these have been so popular around our house, that it seemed worth passing on.  These are not too sweet, but not bland either, since they have two kinds of ginger in them; both regular ground ginger and fresh grated ginger. If I was making these for adults I'd add chopped candied ginger too, but I think that'd be to intense for my little ones.

And the very best part of these muffins is the way that the kids eat 'em. Nom! And before you can blink two or three are gone. 

Nice and moist on the inside too. They have a lovely texture. And they taste like a gingerbread cookie crossed with a muffin. 

So, here's the recipe. 

Gingerbread Muffins

1/2 cup of brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of sugar free applesauce

1/2 cup of molasses

1/4 cup of canola oil

1 tbsp of grated fresh ginger

1 and 3/4 of a cup of your favourite gluten free flour blend

1 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp of baking soda

a pinch of salt

Pre-heat over to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl mix the first six ingredients (the wet ones) together with a hand mixed, till well blended. Sift together the last four ingredients (the dry ones) in a medium sized bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, and give it another little shot with the hand mixer, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated (but don't over mix it, or they get too tough). Line muffin tins with paper or re-useable silicone cupcake liners, and fill each one two thirds of the way full. You'll be able to fill about 18 cups. Put a little bit of warm water in the remaining empty cups to ensure even baking. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until they cupcakes risen and brown and the tops bounce back to your touch. 

Allow to cool a bit, and then eat 'em with a nice cup of tea. Also, if you are not dairy free, these would be amazing with a cream cheese frosting. 

Anyhow, enjoy! I know we do!

spatula city

ok, if you are my brother, (or a Weird Al Yankovic fan) that title just made you snicker. But let me tell you why I entitled this post that; because me and The Baby did a little baking today. We decided to make some brownies. Did a little measuring, a little pouring, a little stiring. All fun activities to be sure. But none of them, not one, compares to the joy of licking the spatula.  And indeed, this appears to be the day that he learned the word "spatula". 

Oh how he loved that spatula. And I really, really wish I had a recording of him saying the word "spatula" because it is ADORABLE coming out of the mouth of a toddler. "Schpachulau? Dat a Schpachulau? I can lick dat? Dat taste like tsocolate!"

Yep, tastes like chocolate, looks like fun times. 

Also, his chocolate faux facial hair had me repeatedly saying "Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" He did not get the joke though. I was really the only one laughing. 

Anyhow, we baked them and ate them for our lunch-time dessert. 

He was even willing to share. 

things I learned this week while baking.

ok. So I am baking A LOT these days. More than I have in a long time. I used a lot of baking during my graduate degree (it was calming, also I used some of it in my art practice, also I just liked eating cake) but since becoming a mom and whatnot, I had less free time for baking. But now that I'm using it as a fledgling income source, I am really, really baking. Like, for two days straight. And I mean all day long, for those two days, I am in the kitchen measuring and mixing and putting stuff into the oven and taking stuff out of the oven, over and over and over. Like, I'm standing almost all day. I had to go out and find some good shoes, because after the first week was over my feet hurt like CRAZY and I was all like "feet, what's going on?" And they were all like. "You stood and walked around the kitchen for almost twelve hours yesterday with no shoes on! How do you think that makes us feel?" So now I take care of them better. 

Anyhow, my point: lotsa baking = learned some stuff about baking. So I thought I'd share some tips.

1: " Treat yo self": To quote Donna and Tom from Parks and Rec. I went out and bought myself some new kitchen supplies. This was partially practical. Gluten Free baked goods, should not be cross-contaminated with gluten from old baking supplies. Who knows what rogue proteins lurk in the crevices of an old spatula? So I went and bought new cookies sheets, muffin tins, spatulas, etc. And I had not realized how old and crappy much of my stuff was. I've been married for, like, fifteen years you guys! And I received most of my kitchen supplies as wedding gifts. You know how well fifteen year old oven mitts work? They don't. They had holes in them at all the crucial spots (thumb end, thumb crevice, what's the point) and they were burned and threadbare. And probably had gluten aaaaallll over them. So I bought a new pair and seriously, the small pleasure of that simple new item cannot be underestimated. Also, I like not burning my thumbs. Which brings me to my second point:

2. Oven Mitts cannot be too long. Because of course, I managed to burn my forearms. Sigh. Because it is HOT in that kitchen. Hot is good for bread. Yeast likes heat in order to rise, so I keep the air conditioning to a minimum and I don't open the doors for a breeze. One ill-timed breeze could spell the end of my nice, lofty loaf crown. So I keep it hot in there. And I dress accordingly. I'm basically two steps away from baking topless. My apron does not have long sleeves ya'll. I am mostly bare armed most of the time. And my poor little bare arms.... ... are taking a beating. Please note the three-inch-long burn mark on the inner right forearm. This was worse (and more impressive, photographically) a couple of days ago. But still, that hurt like a sonofagun. Anyhow, much as I like my new oven mitts, (so thick! so grippy!) I cannot help but think they could have been longer. Like, opera length. Where are my formal length oven mitts? I think I might be onto something here. When I get a bit of free time I'm gonna sew me some looooong oven mitts. Also on the subject of new baking supplies....

3. Cookie scoop, where have you been all my life! I had heard tell of this handy little gadget before, but had never gotten around to tracking one down and buying it. Honestly, how have I not bought one of these things before? I'll tell you how: I'm cheap and I already own spoons, which are also perfectly good at scooping dough. But the cookie scoop? Oh, the consistency! The ease! The one hand only required, no fingers in the dough action! So hygienic! So fast! So little waste! So may exclamation marks! Cookie scoop, I'll never be without you again.

4. And if you are in any way serious about baking, or at least, about not screwing up when you bake, you should totally buy an oven thermometer. Cheap, easily available and they answer SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. Like: Bread, why are you so dark on the outside and yet too chewy and dense on the inside? Well, turns out my oven is off by, like, 25 degrees. At least. It takes my longer to heat up than I thought and can be pretty inconsistent. Anyhow, now that I have the oven thermometer, a quick check can tell me that, no the oven is not anywhere near 350 yet, even though the (useless) little preheat light went off. I now have way more consistent results, and less frustration. At least, when I'm paying attention. 

5. And this is not really advice or anything, but I often think, as I'm baking, about how great it would be to have x-ray vision when I'm take my bread out of the oven. I don't need universal x-ray vision even. I'm not interested in state secrets or the contents of vaults or anything. I just want to be able to see into the middle of my bread without cutting it open. Because you can't sell already-been-cut-into bread. And there is no really perfectly accurate way to check the done-ness and consistency of the bread without cutting into it. Its a real connundrum. Anyhow, I just mostly have to trust myself and go with it. Hubs says he will make me a nice core-sampler thing so I can pull out a prefect cross section of the bread while keeping the rest of it intact. But that wouldn't really solve my problem because I don't think that people will want to buy the loaf with the hole in it. Even if it is a small, perfectly round hole.