New home!

Hi there!  I have decided to relocate my cooking blog and combine it with my crafty adventures blog.  You can now find my cooking exploits here:

http://jonesygetscrafty.blogspot.com/

This page will remain here, but won't be updated.

Makin Whoopie!

MAD BAKIN SKILLZ UP IN HEA, FOOLS!!

Banana Pecan Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Buttercream Filling

Whoopie Pies (From my new Whoopie Pie book)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
large pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup light (I used dark, actually) brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup buttercup (I used 3\4 cup soy milk and 2 tbsp lemon juice, because I didn't have buttermilk)
1 large ripe banana, peeled and mashed
3/4 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your whoopie pan pan with Baker's Joy (or put parchment paper on a cookie sheet).  Sift together all dry ingredients.  Set aside.

Beat butter and brown sugar until well combined.  Add egg and banana, then buttermilk.  Add the dry mixture a little at a time.  (I actually had to use about 1/8 cup of water to this batter because I got paranoid that it was too thick.  It worked.)  Beat until well mixed.  Stir in pecans.

Spoon onto your sheet or into your whoopie pie pan.  This batter is pretty thick, just a warning, but it turns out nice!  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Let them cool completely.  Sandwich some delicious butter cream in the middle...

Chocolate Buttercream Filling (From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)
This makes a TON of frosting!

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp boiling water
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2-3 cups confectioner's sugar (add as needed to stiffen the frosting)
a pinch of salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Combine cocoa and boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved (yes, it will be THICK).  Beat butter, sugar and salt until fluffy. Reduce speed and add both chocolates.  Beat until well combined.  Keep adding confectioner's sugar to make the frosting thicker (I don't even know how much I used.)

New fun things!

Look out, bitchez.  I gots some new stuff and I'm about to melt faces, Indiana Jones style.

The bottom thing is a brownie/cake pop pan.  I'm looking forward to many fun times with it!

Lemon Almond Meringues (or Yum Yum Paradise)

UGH I really wish I could take pretty pretty pictures.  But I just can't.  It is not my forte.  Anyhow, here are some DELICIOUS Almond Lemon Meringues!

Lemon Almond Meringues
Makes about 24
From Joy the Baker
http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/


1/4 cup finely ground almonds (I ground up some sliced almonds in my food processor)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 large egg whites
pinch of salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
sliced almonds
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Use a spice grinder or food processor to finely grind slivered almonds.  Measure out 1/4 cup of ground almonds.  Place ground almonds on one of the lined baking sheets and toast in the oven for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven.  Place in a small bowl, toss in the cornstarch, and set aside to cool.

In the bowl on an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites and pinch of salt on medium speed.  Make sure that the bowl and whisk are completely clean and dry, egg whites are sensitive.  Beat until frothy peaks form.  Increase the mixer speed to medium high, and gradually add sugar.  Add lemon juice.  Neat until mixture is glossy white and holds stiff peaks.  This took me about 6 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add ground almond mixture and lemon zest.  Gently fold together until mixture is thoroughly incorporated.  Transfer meringue into a large pastry bag fitted with a star tip, or you can simply use a large soup spoon to dollop meringue onto lined baking sheet.  Create 2 inch circles either using the pastry bag or spoon method.

Generously sift powdered sugar on top of the meringues.  Top with slivered almonds.

Place sheet trays in the oven and bake for 50 minutes.  Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, and leave meringues in the oven until they’re completely dry.  When cool, remove meringues from the baking sheet and enjoy.  Cookies can be stored, in an airtight container, for up to 1 week.

Cheddar Bacon Corn Muffins

I'm making up for my lack of posting!  ha!

I was thumbing through some of my cooking magazines trying to find some new recipes for dinner and lunch.  I love sandwiches, but I'd like a little more variety in my lunches and I'm bored cooking the same old stuff for dinner.

I came across an article about muffins.  I've made ham and cheese muffins for breakfast in the past and they turned out pretty good.  The only thing is, even if you freeze them, a few days later, they're just not that good.  I like nice fluffy muffins and these got dry and just not as good when I reheated them.  I even tried wrapping them in a damp napkin to help with moisture.

I found a recipe for bacon cheddar jalapeno corn muffins.  PERFECT.  So I cheated and got some Jiffy corn muffin mix and went to town.  I omitted the jalapenos because I didn't have any, but will definitely add a crap ton next time!  The good thing about the Jiffy mix is that it only makes like 6 muffins.  I can eat them all at once.  However, I won't.  I only ate two today.

Cheddar Bacon Corn Muffins
1 box Jiffy Corn Mix (or any other kind you like)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (I used soy milk because that's what I had)
4 pieces bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled or chopped (I used turkey bacon)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar (I used extra sharp)
pepper if you want

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare the mix according to the box.  Mix in the cheddar, bacon, and pepper.  Let the mix sit about 4-5 minutes.  This will make your muffins crown better.  I don't know why.  Spoon into muffin cups (or make sure to grease your muffin tin if you're not using cups), filling them about half way.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test (you know, sticking a toothpick in and having it come out mostly clean).

Now, when you add the extra ingredients, keep in mind that it will make a few more than 6 muffins.  I got 8 out of my batter. Here is how pretty the batter looks.

And here is how pretty they look after they're baked.

And this is how you should eat them.  Do not forget the butter/margarine/whatever.

Vanilla Pound Cake

Hi, all!  It's been a while, hasn't it?  Well, due to all the business in my life the past month and a half, I haven't had much time to blog, much less to try many new foods!  


We just moved into a new apartment and it has a gas range.  This makes me happy beyond belief.  It cooks food more evenly, and I can actually bake cakes and breads in it!  My last oven was a crappy old electric one, and the burners were all off kilter and uneven, and I couldn't fix it.  The oven wouldn't bake breads and cakes right, so I always came out with a freaking mess that was all burned on the bottom and sides and watery in the middle.  Infuriating!


Well, we've been here two weeks, and I decided I'd try the oven out for a bread.  So I made my first pound cake!

Vanilla Pound Cake

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup (8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch) loaf pan; set aside.   Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined.  You don't want to over mix it.  Bake for about an hour.  I checked on mine about 45 minutes in to make sure it didn't burn.  It took mine an hour and 5 minutes, actually.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour (tent with aluminum foil if browning too quickly). Let cool in pan 15 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack, and turn upright to cool completely.

I found that this recipe made a very dense and not vanilla-y enough cake, but it's pretty good!  I'd like mine a bit more spongy and next time, I'll add a crap ton of vanilla, maybe even some vanilla bean scrapings.  But for my first pound cake, it was pretty good!

Culinary Adventures- Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

I went to the fancy pants HEB store in Westlake on Thursday since we were in the area and we have only ever been once.  They have a nice little Central Market deli inside.  I saw something I thought would be amazing- mushroom and goat cheese quesadillas!  Yes, please.

I bought one with plans to eat it on Friday for breakfast.  I heated it up in the oven, took about four bites, and felt nauseated for three hours.  It was deep fried, apparently, in animal fat.  Now, I'm in no way vegetarian, but I don't care for much deep fried in lard.  I can taste the lard, it's got a sourish taste to me, and it makes me sick to my stomach.  It was also loaded with some stalky vegetable that I was not diggin on.  And cilantro.  I don't like cilantro.

Well, needless to say, I was disappointed.  Then my lovely and way too much faith in me having friend Elizabeth said "Well, you can just make your own!"  Yes, I do believe I can.  Now, this isn't the goat cheese a lot of people have in mind when they think of goat cheese.  It's not like feta, it's like block cheese made of goat's milk rather than cow's.  Anyway, here's what I tried:

1 cup cremini mushrooms, chopped but not too small
2 cloves garlic, chunked up (not too fine, not too big, you know what I mean?)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 1 more tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup some onion (not sure how much, I should really start measuring it), diced
1/2 jalapeno, diced with seeds in
2 tbsp refried black beans
goat cheese- I used Drunken Goat cheese that I got at Whole Foods.  It's a semi-soft cheese that is not very pungent and tastes amazing.

Process mushrooms, garlic, onion, jalapeno and beans in food processor (I recommend using a small 3 or 4 cup processor) until well blended.  Heat oil in a pan and spoon the mixture into the pan.  Cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes.   Spread the mixture onto half of a tortilla of your choice.  Add cheese.  Fold the tortilla over to make it look like a taco.  Grill the quesadilla for a few minutes.  I like mine kinda burnt and crispy.


Sorry I don't have a photo. I kinda do, but it's not very good.  I may add it later...

Sea Monster

Looking for a refreshing and not really strong summer cocktail?  The cute lil lady over at Sweet Toothed shows us how to make this Sea Monster drink!  And it's fantastic.  I'm drinking one now.  It's REALLY hot in Austin, and this is super refreshing!

Pic courtesy of Sweet Toothed
http://sweetoothed.com/

Pour 1 ounce spiced rum over ice cubes in a glass, add 3 ounces grapefruit juice, stir and add 2 ounces ginger beer and top with 1/2 ounce grenadine. Enjoy!

Meringue cookies

I visited my family this past weekend and while visiting with my Granny, she gave me a recipe for Meringue cookies.  To be honest, I was a little intimidated by them.  I've never beat egg whites for a meringue, what if they fell?  What if I made a disgusting mess?  Well, I decided if I never tried them, I'd never know! So, I made a batch and took them to work.  I thought they were a little too sweet for my taste, but everyone else seemed to like them.  They didn't go as fast as my cupcakes do, but I'll say I took a whole batch to work and there are none left, so they can't have been that bad.  I took a photo of them, but it was with my phone at work and it didn't come out at all, so sorry about that.  Here's the recipe, though!

Meringue Cookies

2 egg whites at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup sugar

½ tsp cream of tartar

nuts and chocolate pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until fluffy but not dry. Gradually add sugar a little at a time and continue to beat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is shiny and holds together. Gently fold in nuts and chocolate. Spoon the mixture onto the parchment paper, leaving an inch between each piece. Place the sheet into the oven and immediately turn off the oven. Allow the cookies to remain in the oven for at least two hours but preferably overnight. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN!  I know it's hard, but don't.