Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Fourth of July!

This flag cake is off of a great baking blog called 17 and baking. I saw it on the most recent post, and knew right off the bat that I had to make it. It reminded me of another cake I made last year, a rainbow one (cool colors on the bottom, warm on top) with white icing. The "Big Reveal" invoked many oohs and aahs, and the theatrical, showy part of my soul rejoiced.

I usually don't focus as much on how baked goods look, because in my experience a beautiful cake is not necessarily the most delicious one. Given the choice between an absolutely circular cake with plastic-looking fondant and perfect sugar figurines and a sideways, gooey, rich chocolate concoction/mess, I know exactly what I'll choose. I'll take an Avalanche Cake over a sugar sculpture every time.

However, sometimes I adore a beautifully decorated cupcake or a colorful cake if it remains inviting to eat (AKA it still has lots of icing). I think that this cake is in a nice spot. It makes an impact, but it's neither so intricate nor so perfect that anybody would have second thoughts digging out a nice big forkful.

The good thing of the day is Harry Potter. This might make me (okay, definitely makes me) a geek. However, after years of resistance, my younger sister is finally motoring through the books, in order to be prepared for the midnight premiere of the last movie. I feel like a proud mother duck, watching all the movies and discussing all the books with her. All of my other friends have memorized them as I have, but initiating another person into the Ms. Rowling's magical world is, in a goofy way, inspiring. Let's hope she likes them!

(White layer of cake is Elegant White cake, red and blue layers are Classic Yellow Cake, and frosting is Easy Buttercream, all from the King Arthur Flour Cookbook)

Baguettes

These were from a while ago, but I rediscovered the picture today. Alors- on the blog!

I felt very sophisticated, making baguettes. I've made bread before (with varying degrees of success, due to my unfortunate habit of reckless improvisation), and King Arthur Flour has never led me astray, so I really couldn't worry. However, making something that everybody recognizes is actually a little bit intimidating. Instead of safely introducing some clever, new concoction to eat, you're setting yourself up for comparison. The person who lived in France and munched bread straight from the patisserie with fresh brie... the sinful red velvet cake at the restaurant last weekend... homemade chocolate chip cookies from mom... I don't like the thought of presenting people with some washed-out, overbaked facsimile of a baguette. It's much simpler to make something and pretend "it was meant to be this way!" even if something isn't quite right.

These baguettes were lovely, though. They were crunchy and golden outside, with an airy, soft interior, just the way a baguette should be. I imagined that three baguettes would be overkill, even for my eager host family's appetite. I imagined slicing the loaves, and I figured that it would last ages. I ran upstairs to get my camera, but when I got back down, half the loaf was gone! I was shocked, because my family always cuts up baguettes. We use a quarter of a loaf through an entire meal. A split second later, though, I realized that the rest of the world just tears off the stuff, and I scolded myself for being surprised. These are the dangers of leaving baked goods out on the counter! You have to be quick to take pictures.

It's all for the better, though. I'd much rather have people eat the things I bake with gusto, because that's the main reason to bake! Who doesn't want to be appreciated?

Today's good thing of the day: Enthusiasm. I appreciate people who appreciate things. Sometimes, I meet people who might go overboard with their hunger for life once in a while (or all the time). I believe that if somebody means well, and is friendly and happy, they never deserve to have people think badly of them. I have friends who fit this description. Some are best consumed in manageable quantities, but unless somebody is truly unpleasant, there's no reason to bemoan their energy. This is definitely advice I should give myself on a daily, hourly basis- but I'm trying.

(Side note: these baguettes are lovely with Nutella)

Family Cookies

This week, I had to do a French project on a food that meant something to my family, but of course I focused more on the "make food!" aspect. I couldn't think of a recipe that was very traditional in my family that I could bring into French class and discuss. My great aunt's birthday cake and our favorite crumb cake would be too difficult to transport. I couldn't say enough about pretzels with ham to fill up a presentation.

I decided to just page through my new copy of King Arthur Flour Whole Wheat Baking and find something that appealed to me, which luckily I did. These really epitomize my family. I love oatmeal cookies. My mother is crazy for peanut butter cookies, my sister is a chocolate chip cookie lady, and I substituted half the chocolate chips in the original recipe for walnuts for my dad (healthy Omega-3!). In addition, these have no flour, so with a little tweaking my aunt could have these gluten- and dairy-free.

So here is my adaptation of "Nutty for Oats" cookies: "Family Cookies!"

2/3c smooth peanut butter

4T butter

3/4c packed light or dark brown sugar

1t vanilla extract

1/2t salt

1/4t baking soda

2 large eggs

2 1/2c old-fashioned rolled oats

1c chocolate chips

1c walnuts

Heat the oven to 350F and grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment paper.

Grind 1 cup of the oats in a food processor for 30 seconds.

Cream the first six ingredients in a medium bowl, then beat in the eggs.

Add the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

Drop onto pans with a teaspoon and bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until just set and beginning to brown around the edges.

Cool on pans, and enjoy!

magic in the middle cookies

I'm always intrigued with the concept of identity, and sometimes I catch myself wondering how people would primarily define themselves: grandmother? optimist? high schooler? ballerina? democrat? dentist? female? atheist? How does that change over time, even in the course of a day? Is it possible that there is one thing about any person at any given time that completely defines them?

Sometimes the answer is easy: generally, people define themselves by their occupation, how they spend most of their time. So what about sleeping? We (should) sleep about 7-8 hours a night: that's almost third of our lives. Would anybody call themselves a "sleeper?"

Not really.

The answer, perhaps, is that how we define ourselves is the thing about which we think most often, or at least what's on our mind at a specific moment.

And most interesting of all:

Is there ever a moment that somebody would just call themselves "me," when what they are has absolutely nothing to do with anything else or any quality in the world? Or is "me" just a grouping of qualities?

I don't know, and, when I think about it, I'm not sure I can name a time like that. Maybe that's just when you're born... but even then you're most likely "unhappy" or "disoriented."

This is getting too out of hand. I'm not even sure if I make sense any more. I probably sound like that obnoxious kid in a group discussion, pretending to know a lot more than I do. Sorry!

On to the important stuff:

One of the ways I can describe myself right now:

Peanut butter fiend.

A couple weeks ago I was a silvery-blue fiend, and before that a Big Chill Soundtrack fiend.

I got the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion out of the library (surprise, surprise!) and made this recipe, called Magic in the Middles. They looked difficult, but the cookie dough was incredibly easy to shape; not crumbly, not sticky, it was like shaping a cloud. I also used crunchy peanut butter for the middles (I needed a bit more, though, to make it stick together: maybe around a cup.)

The whole batch:

The recipe called to flatten them all out with a cup, but I left half of them as little bon-bons, and in my opinion they were even better (the softer and rounder the cookie, the better, in my mind).

Cross sections:

And for anybody who either has lived or lives now in northeastern Ohio, you equate the quintessential taste pairing not to a Reese's cup but:

Buckeyes! A flashback to elementary school for me.

Today's good thing is thinking about the same thing in different ways: people can define themselves in more than one way. Cookies can bake in three shapes (or even more).

They can all be good.

pitas (first and second iterations)

Today I realized how circular life can sometimes be. My sister's recent foray into the world of gardening earlier this summer (and her subsequent discovery that she is the lucky possessor of a pair of "green thumbs") yielded some nice, colorful results. That day for dinner was the first time I diverged from the Dessert section of my beloved King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion into the world of Flatbreads, and I was surprised to find that pitas were just as rewarding to make as pavlovas. Then, yesterday for lunch, I decided I needed to use up some tomatoes and basil we had (and had fun taking photos!) and today I again made pita bread. Maybe this hot weather has me thinking I'm on the Mediterranean.

Tomatoes and basil from my sister's garden, earlier this summer:

The first pita exploration, with more homegrown tomatoes

And now fast-forward to this week! Unplanned similarities... I guess some foods are just too good to have only once.

The prettiest part of yesterday's lunch:

And today's pitas:

Today's good thing is tomatoes and basil. Such a classic combination; it never gets old or overused, and it's delicious without being fussy. Salads. Sandwiches. Chicken. Pasta. Omelets. Soup. Bread. Pizza. Those Italians were so smart! Just add some fresh mozzarella and you have their flag.

(Pita recipe from... where else?... King Arthur)

Marshmallows

Yesterday while grocery shopping my mom and I saw a bag of enormous marshmallows, which prompted a craving to eat them in her mind and a craving to make them in my mind. Thus, I purchased some gelatin and whipped these babies up! She's a huge coconut nut, so I used that version.

The process got me thinking, though; are marshmallows really just sugar Jell-o, frothed into a frenzy? I think they are, which seems like an odd concept.

In other news, the good thing of the day (another stellar grocery purchase):

Diet A&W cream soda.

So I suppose the theme here is sugary vanilla items.

(Coconut marshmallow recipe from the Barefoot Contessa)

doughnuts (welcome!)

These seem like a nice "welcome" to my blog; after all, they are theoretically breakfast fare. To people who believe that breakfast should be a healthy, purposeful meal for healthy, purposeful people to start off their healthy, purposeful day:

I'm actually with you. I made these for dessert.

However, giving yourself a nice jolt of sugar-filled, deep fried, chocolate-icing energy really SHOULD be a morning tradition, as opposed to indulging in such a practice directly after a large meal, and directly before bedtime. This is why I'm not worried that a certain somebody in my family brought a couple to work today (frankly, they deserve a few extra calories and sprinkles).

So today's "Good Thing" of the day is this: a sweet start to any day.

Bienvenue autrefois!

(Doughnuts: Yeast-Raised Doughnuts from King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, maple icing from Paula Deen, chocolate icing found online - post from "colonel jimbo".)