You might recall that my husband and I created a chocolate strawberry pie many moons ago that we ended up serving at our wedding (among others). Sadly, Josh had to make some drastic dietary changes about a year or so ago, one of which involves strictly limiting the amount of chocolate he consumes. Rather than swearing off our strawberry pie altogether, I decided this called for a new recipe. This one’s almost nothing like the old one, but it is equally delicious.
Hey guys, remember me? The crazy lady who likes to bake foods based on Marvel movies and is a little bit obsessed with the Great British Baking Show? I’m back! Long time no see! I’ve been a bit consumed with life stuff lately, so I haven’t had much time or inclination to write. I’m not going to get into that right now, but I will at least say that things are finally starting to settle down and I’m starting to get back into the mood to do what I love: bake!
Happy Pi Day! In honor of one of my favorite nerd holidays (and my two-year wedding anniversary), I’m wrangling together my three decorative pie crust tutorials in one post for easy access.
Happy New Year! I hope 2017 is off to a good start. I know everyone has probably made resolutions that might not fit with today’s bakeventure (which is basically three layers of calorie overload), but sometimes you just need a little comfort food. Enter: chili cheese dip!
It’s been awhile since I did a how-to post, so here we are. I bought some vanilla beans on an impulse in an unfamiliar grocery store while out of town (like you do) awhile ago, and then promptly crammed them into my baking supplies and left them for months because I was stumped about what to do with them. The idea to make vanilla extract came upon me as I was planning my annual apple extravaganza, and oh, what a good idea it turned out to be.
Somehow PBS has already aired 8 episodes of series 6 of The Great British Baking Show, and I’ve only posted one companion recipe so far! I will blame this partly on their weird habit of sometimes showing two episodes on the same day (and often at a different time than the week before), but hey, what can you do? Make arlettes, that’s what!
Once again, I fell into the trap of buying a bunch of bananas. Just like last time, I got through about half of them before the rest managed to turn a particularly unappetizing shade of brown. I’d been planning to make a dessert cornbread with strawberries for awhile now, and having used bananas in the place of eggs before (a pretty standard vegan substitution), I had a feeling it was finally time to make it happen.
It’s Derby time again! As always, it snuck up on me this year. Between Mother’s Day, the usual spring Marvel movie release, and life in general, it can be tough to remember that the Triple Crown is also about to start. The standard Derby fare for my home viewing “parties” (a.k.a. the times I sit on the couch eating food and making Josh watch a horse race) usually includes mint juleps, Kentucky hot browns, and pecan pie. Last year, I made some horse-themed cupcakes for dessert. This year, I decided to change it up a little and turn the mint juleps into a bundt cake instead.
Recently, I made birthday cupcakes for a friend, and I found myself in a place I rarely end up: the place where you’ve made too much frosting and not enough cake to put it on. I was thankful that I had plenty for the dozen cupcakes I made, but grimacing internally at the container of excess I now didn’t know what to do with. Now that I’m making an effort to eat healthier, having extra frosting around the house has become more of a problem than a joy. In the old days of careless abandon, I probably would have made more cupcakes to put it on, or used it as a dip, or just eaten it straight with a spoon (judge not, I know you would do it too). Now, the choice is between being wasteful and throwing the extra out, or being creative and finding a good use for it. As you might have guessed, this time I chose the latter.
I don’t know about you, but I’m perpetually involved in a struggle with my fridge. Its idea of what can fit in it and my idea of how much food I want/need have never quite matched up (yes, I know, first world problems). Seriously, someone needs to invent a TARDIS fridge. I would give them all my money.
I Wanna Bake! 