making vanilla extract

Yes, I have gone completely nuts and decided to make my own vanilla extract. Not so I can drink the rum or vodka, although it's a great idea. It's just I use a _lot_ of vanilla while baking - 2 teaspoons here, a tablespoon there and you go through a small bottle of vanilla very quickly. I don't know if it's really a savings to make your own, but it certainly seems cheaper than buying it.
I purchased my vanilla beans (Madagascar) from Olive Nation. I get no kickbacks from them for mentioning Olive Nationand the only only experience I have with buying vanilla beans happened at a grocery store. But Olive Nation was fast and fresh- best of all free shipping. The beans arrived vacuum sealed, a very cool thing. In the grocery store, they are generally in bottles, loose.
The first difference I noticed was the smell. The wonderful smell of vanilla hits you as soon as you open the pouch. The beans seem softer, more supple, so that seemed good, too.
I choose Bacardi rum to use to make the vanilla. I had it in the house already (rum cakes) and thought, hey, why not. I got 3 small jars, measured a cup of rum for each jar and placed the vanilla beans in it. I just did it maybe 30 minutes ago, so obviously I have no clue how it will turn out - for that I have to wait until close to the end of February. But it definitely is an intriguing kitchen task. I found the full instructions on this web site, http://www.noveleats.com/how-to/make-your-own-vanilla-extractHow to make vanilla extract
Again, no kickbacks from these folks. I will keep you posted on how it works. I'm thinking about buying some vodka to test that recipe out, but first I'll try the rum. Should be fun.

_Enjoy_

late posting

I baked last weekend, but I probably wasn't 100%. I made oatmeal raisin cookies for my honey - and they turned out lacelike. Still tasted good, but very thin. I think the dough was too wet.
Then I made brownies - the same brownies I've made a gazillion times and I made a mistake. I put a half a teaspoon of baking _soda_ in instead of baking _powder_. I baked them anyway, but they didn't seem to rise as much. However, all were eaten so it must have been good.
Then for my 26th wedding anniversary, I decided to make a special meal at home - center cut boneless pork chops (one of the honey's faves), a baked potato, corn on the cob and popovers. I haven't made them for a long time and I had to retrieve the pan from where I had stored it. So far, so good. I used "The Joy of Cooking" recipe for popovers, it's my favorite. They rose just fine, browned nicely... and the bottoms stuck to the pan. *sigh* I guess I didn't have my baking mojo this week or something. But they still tasted good. I will really have to grease those pans down the next time I use them.
Right now I'm thinking about making the puff pastry from the "Baking Sheet" - that worked out well for me. before. Or maybe I should open a box of Pillsbury crescent rolls, maybe I won't mess that up.
_enjoy_

Pineapple Cake Crisis and baking action this week

First, the pineapple cake crisis. Last Sunday, I made a pineapple pound cake from "The Baking Sheet" and took it to work. No special occasion, just felt like taking a cake to work. I get into work about 6:30am and put the cake on the table. Not a big production, just what I normally do when I bring a cake in.
About 8:45am, the cake was gone. Just a few crumbs remained where there once was a cake. I always believed in "first come first serve" and wasn't that concerned about it. I found out that not everyone feels the same way I do about "first come first serve".
Three of my coworkers came in after the cake had been devoured, one of which happened to be my supervisor. Well, that didn't work so well for me. She gave me the cold shoulder treatment as well as the hairy eyeball. Oh well, I've been ignored before so I wasn't impressed.
But on Tuesday night, I made 2 more pineapple pound cakes, split one onto 2 small (6 cup) Bundt pans and one went in my regular tube pan. I took them in Wednesday and guess what? My supervisor talked to me like I was her long lost best friend;) It's silly but there you are.

For baking action this week, I made the brownies with Nestle cocoa using the Hershey recipe. I cut out 1 egg and didn't replace it with any other liquid. I mixed frozen mini-marshmallows into the batter. I thought about putting icing on them but I got too lazy to do that. They taste pretty good, nice and fudgy and the marshmallows are a good touch.

For my honey, I made him a pineapple pound cake. I guess the whole house smelling like pineapples was an influence.

That's it for baking. I didn't make any bread (too humid), but maybe next week - or not...

Have a good week.

hot & humid

That's not only the weather outside but the weather in my kitchen;)

I didn't bake too much this weekend. It was, of course, hot and humid and work kicked my butt. So I used the "usual" Hershey recipe except a couple of tweaks. I added the cocoa in with the melted butter and sugar mixture to start with instead of later with the flour. I substituted 2 tablespoons of milk for 1 egg. I also threw part of a candy bar in with the melted butter, a Ghiradelli candy bar that has orange in it. Not the whole thing, maybe about a quarter of the candy bar. The brownies have a soft but not wet texture and a good chocolate taste. I'm still using the Nestle's cocoa because I still have a lot of it left.

I made the pineapple pound cake (from "The Baking Sheet" to take to work. I don't know why I'm taking it to work, I guess it's because last week was ugly and all of us need a little cheering up. Or fattening up, I don't know which;)

I didn't make any bread this week. Just didn't feel like it. Maybe next week I will. In a few weeks, the heat and humidity will be almost over with and I might feel like baking bread then.

Take care.