>Meet Cedric

>

I was awoken this morning by the sound of a running shower, and was very confused; either I had slept in late or Thom was up very early.  Turns out it was both – I’m usually up around 7 and he sleeps well past 10.  It’s summer, so I can’t really blame him.

As a consolation for beating me out of bed, I decided to let Thom choose which type of cookies I would bake today.  Not to mention, it’s not fair for the person who never eats them to always decide, you know?  I told him any cookie on the planet, and to my surprise he chose ‘Pecan Sandies’.  I’ve never made aforementioned cookie, but have always been interested because of the use of confectioners sugar in the actual batter.  Making this cookie opened my eyes to a plethora of things I can now do with my baking.  SO.MANY.THINGS.

Pecan shortbread

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. sifted confectioners sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
2 c. + 2 TBS unbleached flour
1 c. chopped pecans
2 TBS sugar for coating (optional)

Mixing bowl:
– Beat butter and oil until creamy with whisk or electric mixer
– Add sugars, whisk
– Add egg and vanilla, whisk
– Add salt, baking soda and cream of tarter, mix with spatula
– Add the flour, mix with bamboo spatula
– Add pecans
– Roll dough into small balls, sprinkle sugar over top and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (I’m not a fan of rolling cookies in sugar; I prefer to control the amount of sugar through ‘sprinkling’)

Bake at 375 for 10-11 minutes, recipe yields 2 dozen

Prior to having a KitchenAid stand mixer, I mixed everything by hand with a rubber spatula, and as a result, wound up breaking many of them due to the fact that they are not tough enough to withstand the thickness of the dough.  That’s why I advised you to work with a bamboo spatula (or wooden spoon).  Invest in one of the two and you’ll be golden.

Thom has been gone since late-morning and has no idea there is an entire jar of cookies awaiting his arrival.  By the way, this is Cedric (pronounced ‘said-rick’), our little gnome friend. Cedric has been guarding the cookies with his life since they came out of the oven.  Don’t worry, pal, I’m not going to eat one.

>Liar, liar, pants on fire

>

I started cutting strawberries tonight and immediately thought pie.  I’ve never made a pie, you know.  And since Thom was so excited about Boba Fett sugar cookies that turned out, well, not so pretty, I figured I’d surprise him with a pie. In case you’ve been keeping count, that’s two batches of cookies, one batch of brownies and a pie in the past 24 hours.  I guess if I want to be sneaky about trying to fatten him up, I should probably take it easy on the baking, no?

I got completely finished making the dough when Thom came downstairs and ruined my surprise:

Thom: What are you making?

Ashlae: Pizza crust

Thom: For dinner?

Ashlae: For dinner tomorrow

Thom: Ok, well, what do you want for dinner tonight?

Ashlae: Turkey burgers?

Thom: Ok, and I’ll cut up some berries and make a berry medley salad

(I walk over to the strawberries, pick them up and look at him with a grin)

Thom: What?

Ashlae: I.. I’m.. I’m making a pie. For you.

Thom: Oh man, I ruined the surprise!

Uh, yeah, surprise ruiner.  But it’s ok, his face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning when I told him I was making strawberry pie just for him. So that was worth it.

I would give you the recipe, but I honestly just threw whole wheat pastry flour, salt, margarin and cold water together in a bowl (for the crust), then boiled the strawberries in a small amount of water, agave nectar and corn starch (for the filling).

Not too shabby for my first pie, I don’t think. And it won’t hurt my belly! I’ll fill you in on that whole mess later.

Ok, I am seriously done baking until the weekend.  I really promise this time.

>Star Wars

>

I grew up with 5 brothers, and as my therapist pointed out today: I am a tomboy.  A tomboy who almost always wears skirts and dresses, however.  But a tomboy none-the-less.  I love Star Wars, am fascinated with bodybuilding and am entirely too competitive for my own good (seriously, I was racing fully-equipped road bikes on my one-speed cruiser today).

Anyways, I was web-surfing last evening and stumbled upon the greatness that is Star Wars cookie cutters (pictured above).  And not those cheapie, metal cookie cutters – nice, spring-loaded ones (big ass grin).  I just recently learned how to pipe and flood cookies with royal icing (thanks to Bridget at Bake @ 350) and decided to use my newly acquired skills to ice these bad boys – err, bad idea.  I definitely should have started with something simpler, like, a square?

Seriously, what a disaster.  I really think it would have went over much better if I had more than one #1 tip – I was changing bags, tips and couplers like crazy, and threw in the towel after my failed attempt at decorating Boba Fett (which was a total flop because I let the sales woman at Williams-Sonoma talk me into purchasing black and white decorating pens, pft).  Don’t even get me started on trying to mix colors to achieve Yoda-green or Boba Fett-blue; my hands look like that of a small child who just finished finger painting.

Anyways, the cookies themselves (sans the icing) turned out perfect; every intricate detail of the characters that was clearly visible prior to baking was still visible once they came out of the oven, and that made me pretty happy.  I used the recipe that came with the set, fighting the urge to use my own, and it is actually a decent sugar cookie recipe (not as good as mine, but you know).  Which reminds me, one reviewer of these cookie cutters, per the Williams-Sonoma website, was very upset because he or she purchased pre-made dough and the details vanished once they came out of the oven – some people are.. not the brightest crayon in the box?  There’s a reason the set came with a recipe, you know.

So, although the icing didn’t go over so well, I am still pretty happy I snagged these guys.  Not to mention, I’m going to get myself 10-20 #1 and #2 tips and take another whack at the icing part. I’ve got to perfectly ice a Boba Fett cookie for Thom.

Star Wars cookies

2 1/2 c. unbleached flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

*All ingredients must be at room temperature

Mixing bowl 1:
– Sift together flour and salt, set aside

Mixer:
– In a mixer equipped with the paddle feature, cream the butter on high for 2 minutes
– Reduce to medium speed and slowly add the sugar until light and fluffy
– Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute
– Add half of mixing bowl 1 at a time, stir until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl

Prepping:
– Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap
– Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours (no longer than 2 days)
– Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes before before rolling out (don’t be alarmed if your dough cracks around the edges)

Bake @ 350 for 12 minutes, rotating 180 degrees half way through

*Allow cookies to cool before icing

____________________

Royal icing

3 egg whites, room temperature
4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
Pinch of salt
A few drops of lemon juice (optional)

Mixer:
– Mix all ingredients on low speed (except the lemon juice) in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (if you don’t have a stand mixer, use a hand mixer or whisk)
– Add lemon juice (if using) and increase speed to medium-high
– Continue beating (roughly 5-7 minutes) until the mixture forms stiff peaks

____________________

I recently discovered how cluttered my kitchen is.  And when I broke the pepper grinder yesterday, I decided it was time to get my crap together, and look what I did!

Voila!

Organization feels great.  Now, if only I could gather myself work on our linen closet..

That’s all for now, you probably won’t be hearing from me for a few days because I’m on Sam-duty for the rest of the week.  And for the record, I’d pick Sam-duty over baking any day, or baking with Sam; best of both worlds.

>Vegan Sweet Potato Cinnamon Rolls

>

*This is a rough recipe: please see an updated version made with pumpkin puree, but you could easily substitute sweet potato puree.


I had misplaced this recipe for quite some time, and neglected to rewrite it because I was determined it would pop up somewhere.  Unfortunately I still can’t find that piece of junk mail with the recipe on the back, but that’s OK because it is better suited in the trash – this new recipe is.. well, let me just say Thom’s belly ate 3. And somehow he still maintains his slim figure. Le sigh.

DOUGH:

1/2 c. warm water

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 c. + 1 tsp sugar

3 TBS agave

1/3 c. non-dairy milk at room temperature (microwave it for 5-10 seconds on highest power if just pulling it from fridge)

1/4 c. canola oil

1 c. boiled sweet potato

3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 c. wheat flour

2 – 3 c. unbleached flour

FILLING:

3/4 c. Earth Balance (or any non-dairy spread) softened

1 – 2 TBS cinnamon (more/less if desired)

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. brown sugar

ICING:

8 oz. Tofutti cream cheese

1/4 c. Earth Balance (or any non-dairy spread) softened

1 c. confectioners sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract (not the imitation kind, either!)

First things first:

– Chop one small sweet potato and boil until soft/mushy (usually 30 minutes)

– Once finished boiling, mash the potato and allow to cool for 30 minutes

Mixing bowl 1:

– Dissolve yeast + 1 tsp sugar in warm water. Allow to sit for a few minutes or until foamy (no longer than 10 minutes)


Mixing bowl 2 (if you’re using a stand mixer, use it’s bowl):

– Combine the rest of the sugar, oil and agave with a whisk
– Add the non-dairy milk, sweet potato, salt and cinnamon – mix

– Add yeast water – mix
– Add the wheat flour – mix

– Add the unbleached flour until the dough is no longer sticky – don’t be alarmed if you have to add more than 3 c. of flour, sometimes it happens.

Kneading + rising:

– Cover a flat surface in flour and knead dough for 5-10 minutes

*Once you have finished kneading the dough, grease a large bowl with canola oil (1 tsp), place the dough in the bowl and cover it with a damp towel. Store in a warm place (on top of the refrigerator) for 90 minutes. After the time is up, remove dough from bowl, toss back and forth between your hands (lightly pinching and kneading) for a few minutes, then allow it to rise (0n a flat surface) again for 15 minutes.

Shaping + filling + rolling:

– Cover a flat surface in flour (again) and roll dough out into a rectangular shape (12×18 is the most common measurement).

– Soften the butter (do not completely melt it) and spread it on the dough. Lightly sprinkle the sugars and cinnamon over the surface of the dough.

– Tightly roll the dough so that you have a 12 inch long log, then cut it into 12 1-inch pieces

– Place the cut rolls onto a cookie sheet and stick them back on top of your fridge (covered with a towel) for roughly 30 minutes.  They should have doubled in size and are ready to be popped into the oven!

Bake at 375 for 20-22 minutes

Icing:

– Combine the cream cheese, ‘butter’ and vanilla using a whisk

– Slowly add the confectioners sugar and pour generously over the tops of the rolls

*Baker’s note: if you are lucky enough to have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer (thanks, Pops!) you can prepare the dough using the hook attachment. And let me tell you, after years of refusing to use anything other than my hands and trusty spatula, I am very thankful my Pops surprised me with one of these lovely appliances for Christmas. Very thankful.