TWD: Caramel Not Pumpkin Pie

I'm still alive.

To mark one month in my new city I decided to pretend for a moment as though I am settled.  My apartment hates me;  I'm still living out of boxes;  I've suddenly got a new nephew AND niece (who, I'm told, have requested an entire wardrobe of quilts and booties and bibs and hats and so on), I'm being put on a big project at work, I'm supposed to bake and bring four dozen cupcakes to work Wednesday morning and in general you name it, I'm probably ignoring it.  But I'm trying to get better about doing stuff, as my "I just moooooved" excuse window is closing fast, so I decided to buckle down and do TWD this week.  Well, sorta.

1.  I totally cheated on the crust.  I know, I know, Dorie's pie crust is very simple and super good--but somehow I just knew that if I waited to make a pie crust...well, I'd still be waitin'.  It's been so long since I did a regular 8-5 + commute that I underestimated how little energy I would have when I make it home. (Seriously, I'm mostly living on apples these days.) So the crust is frozen and not a fancy bougie brand either.

2.  I cheated on the main ingredient.  I think I've blogged here before about not understanding Fall Pumpkin Mania.  I've yet to have a pumpkin anything that didn't smell much better than it tastes.  So like a good native Southerner I just *happened* to have sweet potatoes in the cabinet, and of course I like sweet potatoes a great deal.

So since I didn't have to fiddle with a crust, I was able to throw the pie together easily after work while I worked on sewing a new winter cape.  Multitasking. 

It was really easy to make the caramel and I smashed up the potatoes and everything by hand.  I realized that I spazzed and caramelized ALL the sugar instead of half, but that would be good, right?  I mean, sweet potatoes--this would be plenty sweet already, right?  I poured the filling in the partially baked industrial crust and hoped for the best, thinking "gee this looks like a chocolate pie!"

It baked, and baked, and baked.  I left it in the oven 10 minutes extra and it was still jiggly but I needed to go to bed.  So I took it out, and it turned out to be fine.  It still looked like chocolate!

I tried a piece and um, yeah.

Why does my pie taste like chocolate? It totally has the consistency of a sweet potato pie--a rather buttery one--but tastes EXACTLY like a bittersweet chocolate pie.  I don't know what to think of it.  It's too much for my brain to take.  I am thinking I should have 1) not made the sub and/or been more careful about my sugar addition.  So it's a fail for me, but I suspect it's the baker, not the recipe.  I hope everyone else had better results!  Thank you Janell for choosing it!

TWD: Hiatus continues

Due to the continued flagrant incompetence of my relocation consultants, there shall be no TWD for me today.  Hopefully things will turn for the better later in the week.

Right now?  I am so angry I have given myself a sick headache.

I'm going to bed.

TWD August Recap and Excuses, Excuses

Hi y'all.

I'm delinquent.  Forgive me.  I didn't do this week's TWD assignment, nor Pies with That, and I haven't been posting for a bit.  There has been a lot of thumb-twiddling, sewing of garments, gnashing of teeth, and a lot of rushing around here at Chez OC.  I have a new job in a new industry in a new state and am in the middle of a very long and drawn out (to me anyway) while simultaneously hyperkinetic and frantic corporate-sponsored relocation four hours away, the panicky past couple of weeks special courtesy of an oh so helpful relocation consultant who doesn't seem capable of getting it together in general, much less doing things and contacting people on time.  I kinda thought the point of having a relocation consultant was to make new employees' long distance moves easier and less stressful, but apparently that's what I get for thinking.  Pah.

Usually my sister comes with me when I am moving to a new place, which distracts me some from my anxiety, but this time she is all "blahblah school blahblahblah clinicals blahblahblahblah work" so I'm totally on my own this time.  The movers are going to pack my stuff tomorrow at the crack of dawn-- "We'll be there between 7 and 8 am!!"  chirped the dispatcher, and I'm like "deeearrr Looooord WHHHHYYY, no one EVER needs to be in my space before 8 am"--, and somehow this is more frightening and anxiety inducing than doing it myself.  And I HATE packing. I've never had the moving company pack my stuff before, and while I have no desire to do it myself, I also have little idea of what to expect beyond the advice everyone gives to sequester anything you don't want packed even if you think it's obvious that it does not go.  They won't come to move the things till Wednesday.  It will be very odd, I think, to be in my apartment, the one I've been settled in all year, with EVERYTHING in boxes for two days, and then on Thursday be in a new one in yet another new state (at this rate I don't know that I'll ever get back to Tennessee) with next to nothing for I don't know how many more.  I'm not a fan of uncertainty about my stuff.

Anyway, I did have a few words for August's TWD selections, 'cause I did do them.  

1) Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

This was kind of fun to make, as it allowed me to clear the cabinets some.  It was fast to mix, but baking and cooling were a bit cumbersome for a "breakfast" bread.  I didn't really like the end result, however--probably because instead of unsweetened applesauce I used sweetened apple butter, and neglected to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe.  D'oh!  Bleah.  I nearly went into a diabetic coma.  User error sent it to the trash immediately.

2) Custardy Peach Tart
It was bitter hard not to make this one.  I actually made it last summer as I was trying to work my way up to making pies.  I do recall that it was one of my favorite things from the book ever--so easy and so delicious and it kept pretty well, too!  Alas, my need to clear the cabinets meant that I had no peaches in the house or much in the way of ingredients for crust or custard.  It's been some lean times 'round here folks, as I've been waiting to move.  Sadness!  It's not living when you can't make a tart just 'cause.  It just ain't.


3)Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

This week I was like "hang it all--I'm sick of waiting,"  and got myself some chocolate and made these.  I don't pass up too many opportunities for shortbread, people.  I made the recipe just as specified and they are so simple and so good.  I am eating the last of them now.

So that's where I am.  Not very exciting, but there you have it.  I hope that I can get settled in The City That Makes (what exactly?) very soon so I can get back to posting regularly! Now if you'll excuse me I am off to a three hour nap so I can then get up in the middle of the night and freak out about feeling not ready for the packers--whoooosahhhh.

TWD: Chewy Chunky Blondies and Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

I still am here and I still am baking:

and sewing, too

sometimes AT THE SAME TIME:

 (note box o' cupcakes at top left)

though in a rather slapdash, haphazard fashion.  Let the record show that I did indeed make the TWD blondies from two weeks ago, and all I have to say about those is YES PLEASE.

I felt sort of extravagant making them when I still had 2/3 of a very good cake in the fridge, but I made them anyway and said banana cake was neglected and forgotten.  It still takes up space forlorn and neglected in my fridge. 

I did not make last week's gingered carrot cookies, because 1) ew, and 2) wut? and 3) come on--it was my birthday that week!  I made vanilla buttermilk cupcakes instead.  Much more appropriate.

I just made this week's selection, a chocolate ganache ice cream.  I am finishing up a yellow plum sorbet I made for my birthday, so I kind of rode the fence. I like ice cream, don't get me wrong, but I have a Very Bad Habit of forgetting that I have any about the house, and never eating it.  I just don't ever really crave the stuff.  This ice cream was kinda fussy, too.  But I think I like it. 

First, we had to make a chocolate ganache.  Easy enough except I only had 2 ounces of chocolate on hand so I ran out and got a bar of Lindt.  This didn't give me 6 ounces;  it gave me 5.5.  Terrified of jacking up the ganache (it wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't a true 1:1 ganache anyways)  I cut the recipe by 1/4.  My cream had a "Sell by!" date of July 11, but considering that there is also a recipe for sour cream ice cream in the book, too, and considering that I TOTALLY did not feel like going out for more, I went with it.  It tasted fine.

Then I made the "custard,"  which I remembered this time is very thin, and mixed it in with the ganache and put it to chill overnight.

This morning, I fired up Ol'Red and got ready to pour in the custard.  Except there wasn't going to be any pouring.

There could be spooning, and scraping, and cursing, and coaxing, but no pouring.  The custard was really thick.  Like the spoon stood up in it thick.  I somehow got it all in and let it go for about 18 minutes.  I espied a package of almonds sitting limply in a corner looking delinquent, so I put them to work and dumped them in, because everything is better with almonds in it. 

I have the hardest time getting my ice cream to freeze evenly in my Cuisinart.  The mix on the walls and bottom freezes very hard, but in this case little happened to the bulk of the recipe, which was in the center.  Anyone figured out a workaround for this?  I just gave up when it seemed lighter and colder and put it in a container for freezing.

I tried some later in the afternoon.  It is very smooth and very rich and velvety, like frozen chocolate mousse.  I like it!  It's a little much for every day, but I wouldn't mind making it for company.

*notice*  I am trying my darnedest to stay on schedule but posting might be come a bit intermittent over the next few weeks, 'cuz I am moving.  As I so often do.

Thanks this week go to Katrina at Baking and Boys for picking the recipe!  Good choice, good lady.

TWD: Lots of Ways Banana Cake

 HELLO SUMMER!!!

I was hesitant to make this one.  Banana cake?  Meh.  I figured it'd be another loaf or bundt cake that I'd try, generally like, but never finish eating.  It would take time away from my sewing!  Besides, the sewing was making me realize I hadn't actually done a decorated cake in a good while.  The last seriously decorated cake I did was a full year ago:

I wondered if I was going to lose all the skills I spent so much time building.  As much fun as TWD is, we rarely make anything decoratable.  Perhaps I'd make a cake for my upcoming birthday?...But I felt guilty, as I always do when I contemplate skipping a recipe.

So I read the recipe.  What is this?  A layer cake?  With any icing that I want?!  Oh now, that's different!  I can decorate this cake!  Finally!  Let's do this!

I made the cake pretty much according to the recipe.  I did run out of light brown sugar, so I added about 1/4 c of dark brown.  I also didn't want to open a can of coconut milk for a measly 1/2 cup, so I used whole milk instead.  Finally, I used my old standby method to prep the pans: grease sides (and I do mean grease;  I keep a small can of Crisco for just this purpose) and flour them, and line the bottom with parchment.

I was surprised that it took nearly 45 minutes to bake two 9 inch layers.  I was also surprised by how dark they were.  I was a little afraid they'd taste burned!

(I didn't get any pics--the camera battery decided to die on me.  Le Sigh.)  

Once the layers were done, on to decorating.  I had a big bowl 'o buttercream in the freezer, made when we did some egg yolk-heavy something or other a while back.  I took the design of the cake from the Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook, one of my very favorites, and made the color palette a little lighter than theirs.  I piped out chocolate fireflies and moons and iced the cake in blue and green, piping on a green grassy border when I was done.  I was pretty happy with it in the end.  FUN!  Can we do another one soon?  Please oh please? Thank you bunches, Kimberly, for picking this one!

As far as the actual taste of the cake:  it's not bad.  Inoffensive.  It reminds me of an okay carrot cake, but with banana instead.  I mixed some of the buttercream with chopped pineapple and coconut for the filling (I like pina coladas, sue me)  and I like the addition.  I'm on my second piece now.  The first was too cold but this one is nice and room temperature-y.  I think I'm gonna have to think a bit about whether I like it enough to do again...

TWD: Brrrrownies

or however they are spelled.

I was major mega OMFG Dudes excited about this week's recipe (chosen by Karen) because it involves two of my fave things:  1) homemade brownies and 2) York Peppermint Patties.  Both fall squarely under the category of Things I Cannot Have In The House Because I Will Eat Them For Dinner And That Behavior Is Not Becoming In A Person Past Thirty. 

The recipe promised to be a quick one, too, extra special hooray good because I was already distracted in my first week back home by a couple of new acquisitions:

Visiting my friend Maura last week got me excited and determined again to work on sewing and quilting. She is absolutely ridonkculous with making fabulous stuff, and while I'll never get there she sure makes it look like fun.  I had tried sewing as a kid but quickly got frustrated with things not turning out as I wanted them to,  and for some unknown reason it never seemed to occur to me to ask my grandmother, who I only lived with my whole childhood and who only sewed like, I don't know, all the time for assistance or lessons.  I can vividly remember watching her lay out and cut material for dresses and quilts on the kitchen table (as well as occasionally reaching into a pile of cloth and coming up stuck with pins, realizing too late I had just tried to grab her latest quilt-top in progress).  Anyway, I bought the machine from a collector here.  I think I shall name it Phyllis, in homage to her 1971 birth.  I got the cabinet at a local thrift store and spent all week stripping, refinishing, and repainting it.  It was a lot of work but I think it came out pretty well.  And now I have a bunch of books and am blithely neglecting most everything else in my fervor to sew stuff. 

But I did squeeze in time to make the brownies.  I melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave instead of the stove.  I only had 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, so I did the "cocoa +butter" sub for the other ounce.

It was all good till I added the eggs, then it seized up something awful.  Is it because the eggs were cold?

The finished batter was still really thick--and it only thinly covered the bottom of the pan.

When they were done, I was dismayed.  Oh, word?  THIS is what they are supposed to look like?

These are without a doubt the fugliest things I have ever baked.  But they are also so so SO good!  Perfect chewy (NOT fudgy) consistency, though I wasn't super thrilled that they were impossible to get out of the pan.  And peppermint patties!  YUM.  I would like to be able to share them but they are just too hideous.  Maybe with a smear of icing--and a better method to keep them from sticking.  Or maybe i just make other stuff--chocolate tarts and such--for company and keep these ALL. TO. MYSELF. *sinister laugh*

TWD: Tarte Noire

So....yeah.  TWD.  This week.  Dharmagirl picked it.  I did it.  It was pretty good.  I'd consider doing it again.  But...it just wasn't very exciting, yanno?*  It's a tart crust with chocolate ganache in it.  Crust, chocolate, cream, butter.  Simple.  Spartan.  Restrained.  Minimalist.  Best left that way.  After weeks and weeks of multiply-adjectived days-of-prep-requiring last-minute-grocery-run-requiring finicky things, I'm left without words.  So....how about some pictures?

Since the filling is basically just chocolate, you need to really like what you use.  I couldn't find my ever-elusive all-time very favorite eating chocolate, so I subbed this instead:

After I mixed in the cream and butter--gently, as per the recipe's instructions--things were not looking good and ganachy.  Check it:

eeeeeewwwwww!

So...I was a Very Bad TWDer, disregarded the instructions, took ahold of that whisk and beat the everlovin' daylights out of it.

yeeeeeeeaaaaah!

I was pleased to find tart crust in the freezer from some other project, so I baked that and filled it.

Half the recipe gave me the perfect amount for two deep 4" tarts.  On first eating they were nice and smooth; one half tart was thawed and refrigerated a couple of times and its consistency was grainy and kind of offputting but it still tasted the same.  Voila. 

*and yes, I realize it's a bit eye-roll inducing to be unexcited about a chocolate tart.  Sorry.