Tuesday, September 14, 2010

TWD - Cranberry Upside-Downer




I am so excited to be the one to have picked this recipe for the week! I started baking with Tuesdays with Dorie two years ago around this time. At that time, it looked like it might be around 4 years before i picked a recipe. So to find out that it was my turn, I was ecstatic! I've had so much fun baking with all the great people who participate with TWD and have enjoyed making blogging buddies all over the country... and world!

This weeks recipe was actually partially picked by my Hubby. There are not that many recipes left! Can you believe that soon we will have made EVERYTHING in the book? But the Cranberry Upside-Downer was an easy pick, especially for this time of year.
I was able to find frozen cranberries, although I almost couldn't find them and almost went with cherries. This one was very easy to make, the only thing i worried about was flipping the cake. But alas everything turned out beautifully!! I love the color, the scent and look of this cake once flipped. We didn't' wait to long and the Hubby and I were eating it up! This was a winner!!!


I hope you all enjoyed making this one as much as I did!!

Cranberry Upside-Downer

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup minus 2 TBSP sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans…I used walnuts
2 cups cranberries-fresh or frozen(if frozen, do not thaw)I used fresh
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 whole milk
1/3 cup red currant jelly, for glazing the cake
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Put a 8X2 inch round cake pan on a baking sheet.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Melt 6 TBSP of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6 TBSP of the sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this evenly over the bottom of the cake pan, then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries, smoothing the layer and pressing it down gently with your fingertips. Set aside.
Working with a stand mixer, preferabley fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining stick of butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Pour in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Mix in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the cranberries and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and run a blunt knife between the sides of the pan and the cake. Carefully turn the cake out onto a serving platter. If any of the berries stick to the pan-as they might-just scrape them off with a table knife and return them to the cake.
Warm the jelly in a small saucepan over low heat, or do this in a microwave oven. Gently brush the glaze over the hot cake.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Go Make This!

(Food & Wine)


We made a ton of corn on the cob today and had a few ears left over. The funny thing about corn on the cob in our house is Hubby doesn't like to eat it off the cob. Maybe I'm enabling him, or maybe it's love? Either way I found this handy dandy corn cutter from Pampered Chef and VIOLA! we both can enjoy our corn now.


Now back to the left over ears of corn. I was paging through the September issue of Food & Wine and saw this terrific recipe of Raw Corn & Radish Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing. I had to make it! The only thing I didn't have on had was radishes. One bite and i was hooked. It took me about 10 minutes to make it and seconds to devour it. If you have left over corn... this is the way to get rid of it! Check out the recipe HERE.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

TWD ~ Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies


As I type this I don't think there are any cookies left because we might have eaten them all. These were a very simple and easy recipe to make. I didn't use bittersweet chocolate, but substituted that for Heath Chocolate pieces. It was so simple to roll these out while in a gallon zip lock bag. It kept everything nice and in place. I almost didn't refrigerate them, but I'm glad I did because these will definitely crumble on you if you don't. We tried them warm from the oven and thought they were pretty darn good.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

To Market To Market








Almost every Saturday I head over to the local farmer's market. Some days I go for zucchini, some days, like the day before my wedding, I go for the flowers. This weekend i went to get all the ingredients i needed to make fresh salsa! Fiesta! I picked up tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro. Plus some freshly made cookies, hot pickled green beans and flowers.
I made two different salsas and some guacamole. All fresh from local farmers. mmmmm

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

TWD ~ Crunchy & Custardy Peach Tart











Whoo Whee! This was a fun one to make! I had my new assistant helping me out. A.K.A. Husband Extraordinaire. His job was to make the streusel and the cream. Ladies & Gentlemen I think we have ourselves a chef. We had fun make the "spokes" on the pie. I would typically put the peach slices haphazardly all over the pie. Where my mathematician hubby insisted that the peaches should go in a symmetrical form... he was right! It looked way prettier. I usually make substitutions when I bake, but this tart was very strait forward. I had made the sweet dough many times when I made Dorie's French Pear Tart. So i could practically make that one in my sleep. Everything went really well with the tart, but I put the streusel on too soon. So I covered it with tin foil and then took it off after 20 minutes, and then baked it for another 20 minutes.

Every time I peered into the oven I would see it bubbling and crisping and I couldn't wait to take a bite.
Dorie said that you could serve it warm or serve it cold, and since we couldn't wait, we tried it warm. I was a bit sceptical because i don't like cream based tarts, but this one was delicious! A new favorite at our home!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

TWD ~ Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Hello! I'm baking again! It's been awhile because I've been a bit busy planning... a Wedding! Last Sunday I got married (see previous post). So I have put Tuesdays with Dorie on the back burner. But I am officially back and ready to bake. My hubby is pretty happy about that too.
This week's recipe is Oatmeal Breakfast Bread. Not sure why the recipe signals out the oatmeal, when I think the star of the show is the dried fruit. (I just used dried apples, someone who I love very much detests raisins). I also left the walnuts off the topping too. So really this was more like an apple cinnamon breakfast bread. Either way the whole house smells delicious!

I took it out of the oven when the bread turned a golden brown. Dorie says you should wait until the bread is room temperature to cut it and eat it. But we couldn't wait! Complete success... it might now even make it to breakfast!

Friday, August 13, 2010

8\8\10

The wedding day is here and gone. It's hard to believe that all that time and work and now it's just a memory. The wedding weekend was a blur, but it was also so much fun. I had all my favorite people by my side. We jammed packed a lot of events in 3 days, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Friday night was a night out for my bachelorette. Let me tell you that having a bachelorette two days before your wedding is crazy! You want to have a lot of fun, but all you can think about is what needs to get done. Nonetheless, I really had a wonderful time with all my favorite ladies! Saturday was a day of picking out flowers at the Farmer's Market, Pedicures with my girls and a really wonderful rehearsal dinner in my backyard. I had so much fun just hanging out and chatting with all the people we love so much. We had the food catered by Famous Dave's and I think people all had fun munchin' on the corn bread!

And that brings us to the wedding day. HOTTEST DAY IN ALMOST 100 YEARS!! I am not even kidding, nope, not even a little. It was painfully hot, humid and sticky. Let me tell you that it is really hard to feel beautiful on your wedding day with sweat dripping down your face. ick. BUT... everything else about the day was beautiful and wonderful! There were no major complications, everything looked beautiful and the ceremony was amazing!
Tim and I did our own vows, along with friends reading poems, prayers and singing.
I could barely get through my vows... it was so hard to fight back the tears. I think i loved the ceremony best out of all the events. Our location was on a park reserve with a barn pavilion for the reception. The sky was bright and the lake and greenery were spectacular. At the reception we went all out with a photo booth, candy buffet, dessert bar, dance and fun picnic-type food. We all sweated happily together and it seemed like, despite the heat, everyone was having a great time!
It all went by so fast! Everyone says that, but it really did! I could hardly catch my breath, no time to sit, just moving around, greeting friends and loved ones and SWEATING!
But who cares about a little (ok a lot) of sweat when I got to marry the most wonderful man in the world! I am so happy to spend my days on this earth with someone that makes life so much sweeter!
Here are a few pics of our wedding day...
Enjoy!
my cutie pie brother Buddy


Rev. Kyle & Tim


the happy couple




our cake, that we forgot to cut... and eat!



S+T Forever!



dessert table





cousin of honor kelly giving a toast... beautiful!



my handsome hubby!





ceremony site





we do!



converse all stars



lovely ellen reading The Prayer of St. Francis



my most gorgeous and fabulous bridesmaids, kelly, shannon & rachel




"s"


farmers market flowers



at my parent's house



hair flower change mid reception

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