too much chocolate?!

I have a confession to make. Yes, I have continued to bake brownies and experiment with the ingredients. I still find the half a cup of applesauce (to cut down on the fat) and the whole wheat flour (because who doesn't need more whole wheat?) to work out pretty well. But I tried one experiment that made me go "UGGH - too much chocolate". Nope, I am not a pod person. It is just when I chose to using chocolate chunks in the brownies, it became too much for me. Incredible but true.
But it didn't slow down my sons for 1 minute. They didn't praise it but they didn't complain.
Not going to put chocolate chunks in the brownies again.

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_

hello again

I've still been baking brownies - okay not so much during the hot summer months but I'm still baking. I doubt the kids ever notice the difference but sometimes they surprise me. I have added peanut butter (1/2 cup) but it seems to get overpowered by the chocolate. I've added Nutiva's coconut oil (emulsion?) and while it gave the brownies a richer taste, no taste of coconut.
And believe it or else, I managed to make a cheesecake that didn't crack. I know, it amazes me, too. I told my older  son no one could touch it until we had a photo of it. He whipped out his cell phone that's equipped with a camera and he took the shot. Then he  put the phone away and went to work on the cheesescake;)
In my quest to find different recipes to try, I have come across a few British recipes that I would like to try. British measurements are almost totally unlike  American cooking measurements. So in case you have a Brit recipe you would like to try, here's a link to do the conversion to US cooking measurements, too. (They also have other languages.) 
So now I got to clean up the mess I made already today. I baked my first fruitcake of the season last weekend, it went over pretty well. I don't give them to anyone unless I know they like fruitcake. There's no use spending the time and money to make a homemade fruitcake and it not be appreciated.
later - dishes don't wash themselves (and why is it?)

hey, I'm still here (I think)

I got no excuse for not writing in so long. I could say I was busy (and I was) but still it's a long of water under the bridge, so to speak.
I still am making brownies, I didn't make any this week, it's just way too hot. Plus I plan to put the energy into baking my "baby's" birthday cake, the famous Cheeto cake.
I did make blondies from the King Arthur cookbook. I used just chocolate chips. That worked out pretty well. My sons suggested I add peanut butter chips. I used those mini peanut butter chips as well as chocolate chips. The peanut butter chips did not stand up to the chocolate and you couldn't tell they were in the blondie.
So far, the faves of my sons are the brownies with peanut butter chips (and no additional chips), brownies with orange extract flavoring and the frozen mini marshmallow brownies.


I keep a bag of the mini marshmallows  in the freezer. Sometimes I take the  frozen mini marshmallows and mix them in with the brownie batter. It creates a little pocket of marshmallow goodness in the brownie. Sometimes I put them on top and they dot the brownies. It's pretty cool, even if I say so myself.

I did make some brownies with cream cheese in them. I loved it, but I like cream cheese. My sons didn't seem to notice any difference. But generally they don't notice anything different. Which, I guess, is good because I could sneak ground up pickled beets in the brownies - but I'm not going to because I also eat the brownies.

For Father's Day, I baked my beloved a chiffon case. For some reason, it was easier than I thought it would be. But I can't say I remember making a chiffon cake before. It might be possible I'm thinking of angel food cake. And what gives? "Back in the day" you hung the tube upside down on a glass bottle while it was cooling, something like a soda bottle. But mostly everything comes in plastic now, so there's no way you can do that. I might have to find an old soda bottle just for that purpose. Probably there's a gadget that I could buy and use for that purpose. I'll have to look into that.

_enjoy_

cooking and me

well, today I am home getting ready for about 20-30 people to come over tomorrow night for a Thanksgiving dinner. I started doing it the week before because the siblings usually had other places to go and I wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving at my house. So today I am thankful for the ability and the desire to learn to cook.
I had been helping in the kitchen for quite some time before I attempted to bake anything. I was 11, I asked my mom and she said if I made something edible, that was fine. It seems my two older sisters had wasted a lot of baking supplies by dumping them in buckets and such, not really practical applications for food.
So I began. I made chocolate chip cookies, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, peanut butter cookies. I still maintained the "prep" status by peeling potatoes, cutting up onions and celery for whatever needed to be cooked. I used to cut the last class on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I could go home and do prep work for the Thanksgiving dinner. That should have given me a clue as to a future occupation, but of course, I didn't take it.
And as I begin the prep work today, I am reminded of the gift my parents gave me by allowing me to experiment in the kitchen. I am also reminded of my parents' presence in gathering my siblings together. I am very thankful that I have been given this talent and gift for cooking. I'm not always so thrilled to cook on a daily basis (I get tired from work) but basically I do enjoy it. And I get cranky when it's a long week and I want to cook but I'm too tired. It doesn't make any sense, does it?
So far, I have the pound cake baked and the stuffing bread made. It's time to stop fooling around on the computer and make the chocolate cheesecake....hmm, chocolate cheesecake......

cooking action lately

Not much at all, I'm sad to say. The only baking I did last week was a pineapple upside down cake for my brother's birthday, And I forgot to get a photo of that. I didn't even bake brownies and boy was _I_ sorry about that....
But this week I made up for it.  I baked a blueberry swirl cake. Basically, I made a yellow cake and swirled some blueberry pie filling in it. It looks pretty ugly because, as you know, blueberries mixed in something looks grayish. I put blueberry pie filling inbetween layers and frosted with a vanilla buttercream frosting that I sort of winged it on. I couldn't find the recipe I use all the time (I know, I got to be better organized). So I thought I could recreate it from memory. Turns out I was wrong. I think it will be okay, at least I hope so.
I also made brownies (but of course). I made them the "normal" way but instead of 6 eggs, I used 5. I wanted to see what type of effect that would have, chewy or fudgey. We will see - and taste.
Believe it or not, I am already starting to think about Thanksgiving dinner. I'm thinking instead of ham, I'll make chicken and noodles like my mom used to make (not for Thanksgiving). My oldest cat and I really love eating the ham, but secretly even we get tired of it after a few weeks.  I should run the idea by my beloved, see what he thinks.
I try not to mess with the Thanksgiving menu too much, I'm a traditionalist. But I do think the chicken and noodles would be warmly received at Thanksgiving.
Nope, haven't thought of what to bake, Of course rolls, lots and lots of rolls. I tried making sweet potato rolls one year and they just weren't all that special. Perhaps it was the recipe or I messed it up, but there was no great sweet potato taste. So the usual dinner rolls and the potato rolls will be fine.
That's all I got for now. I should think about getting my lunch together for the week (boo! hiss!), but it must be done. Work, the curse of the eating class;)
_enjoy_

if it's going to be hot like an oven outside,

it should smell like a brownie inside;)