Pint-Size Baker

Pint-Size Baker Has Left the Building!

2010-07-30T10:05:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I haven't really left but we have moved ("We" being me, myself, and I)!

I am BEYOND excited to make this announcement to all of you...

Pint-Size Baker has an official website!!! *Insert Hoots, Hollers, and Applause here*

So what are you waiting for??? Head on over to PintSizeBaker.com and make sure you Subscribe to the RSS feed!

Baking Adventure #25

2010-07-10T19:25:00.019-04:00

Well hello there! Fancy meeting you here.

We are about half way through the summer, and it has been the busiest, yet one of the best! Last week was my birthday/July 4th weekend, and I opted to make two of my grandma's Strawberry Pies instead of one and a blueberry tart.

It's funny, since I have had this blog and everyone knows I love to bake for others, this year on my birthday, no one asked what I did or what I got for my birthday. Instead, the first and pretty much only question was "Did someone bake YOU a cake?" Well folks, I must report that no one baked me a cake. In fact, while I had MANY birthday desserts (and by many, I mean cheesecake, creme brulee, berry filled churros, ice cream, dark chocolate cake... okay I'm done incriminating my diet), I did NOT once have a slice of birthday cake. It's probably for the best though. Tony Horton, Mr. p90x, would not have been supportive of my birthday dessert binge. (Yes, you're reading this right. I'm currently on Day 43 of p90x. Began on Memorial Day.)

Anyways, back to this week's baking adventure! Not sure why I went off on that tangent...

FOCUS ASHLEY FOCUS!

This week's baking adventure is a baked good that I am not so much a fan of typically. In fact, when I first tasted this particular recipe for it, the person allowing me to try it didn't even know what it was called; thus, allowing for no preconceived judgements to be had, so without further ado...

BLONDIES (or Blonde Brownies) w/Old Timey Caramel Frosting

A little background on Blondies: Blondies were actually developed before Brownies.

Ok, that's it. There's your background. You're welcome.

This recipe was given to me by a friend's mom who tweaked it to make it her own by adding in butterscotch chips and adding a caramel frosting. SWEET doesn't even begin to encompass the final result, so if you're into things with less sugar, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME but if you're into things that melt in your mouth, ignore the previous warning and give it a try!

First things first: P to the R to the E to the P! [or PREP for those of you who aren't chipper like me in the morning]

The first step in the Blondie making part of the recipe is to melt the butter and brown sugar until smooth.

While the butter and brown sugar are melting, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and roughly chop up the pecans.

I halved this recipe, so this is about half a cup. [Make sure to keep stirring the sugar and butter so that it dissolves together well and doesn't burn. If you're NOT a multi-tasker, it's more than okay to chop up the nuts before beginning this step. I just prefer to live my baking life on the wild side.]

After the butter/sugar mixture becomes smooth, remove it from the heat and let cool for about 3-5 minutes while continuing to stir. Next, it's time to add the eggs one at a time... but before you do, did you let the buttery sugar cool long enough? Not sure? Well check and see! Otherwise when adding the eggs, you could be making some sweet scrambled eggs instead!

After adding the eggs, add in the flour mixture making sure to incorporate about 1/3 at a time until everything is fully combined and smooth and dreamy.

After smooth and dreaminess is obtained, stir in the pecans, vanilla extract, AND bbb-bbb-baaaaa [that was my attempt at making a trumpet sound] the butterscotch chips.

Once combined, pour the batter into a greased pan and bake in the oven at 350 for about 25-28 minutes.

After the blondies have baked, allow them to sit out to cool and go to town on making the frosting!

Allow me to interrupt this post for a bit, have I told you lately how much I love frosting? I love it so much in fact that I could eat it with a spoon and nix the cake that typically comes with it altogether, so here's my ode to Frosting (as sung to the tune of "We Love you Conrad" from Bye Bye Birdie):

"I love you frosting,

Oh yes I do.

I love you frosting,

You know it's true.

When you're not near me,

I'm blue.

Oh Frosting, I LOVE YOU!"

Ok, where was I? Oh yes, making the frosting...

Before beginning, make sure to clean out the saucepan you used to make the batter (unlike when making Texas Sheet Cake) or get a new saucepan. Melt more butter and sugar together and allow to boil for a few minutes while stirring occasionally.

Let cool slightly and add powdered sugar and milk.

Then stir to combine and create the most luscious caramel frosting you will set your eyes on.

Pour said luscious caramel frosting over the top of the cooled Blondies and allow to cool completely before cutting into. This will take a couple of hours, so if you absolutely have no self control and can't wait, grab a spoon and dig in! (In fact, I highly recommend this method of consumption.)

Now, you would think that would be the end of this blog post right? RIGHT. Well, I am here to tell you otherwise. Before we go, I should tell you a story and it goes a little something like this:

Once upon a time... There was a pint-sized princess. This princess loved to make sweet, scrumptious things and share with everyone in the land. One day, the princess decided to make a dessert named after her golden locks. This dessert was called Blondies. Everything went smashingly when preparing, making and cooking the Blondies until... duh duh duh... it was time to clean up after sitting the Blondies on the castle counter to cool... Something I forgot to mention is that this princess is quite a clumsy one... and while attempting to clean up the kitchen so that Queen Mom wouldn't banish her for a making a mess, the princess accidentally knocked the cover on the stove and the Blondies pan began to slide to its death on the floor. ALAS, the princess immediately grabbed the pan and all was saved and they lived happily ever after.

THE END

[Please reference the picture below for evidence regarding the heroic efforts of the princess of our story to save the Blondies.]

Luckily! These Blondies were cut into squares when cooled and no one knew any different!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! On a personal note, it's going to be a strenuous one for my family. Would those of you out there please keep my family, in particular my sister, in your prayers over the course of the next week? Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Until next time!

P.S. If you're interested in this recipe, feel free to leave a comment with your email address and I'll send it to you!

God Bless the USA!

2010-07-02T12:46:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very happy 4th of July weekend and send a HUGE THANK YOU to all of those men and women who have fought and are fighting to keep our country safe and free! Without your bravery and dedication, who knows where we would be??? You are in my prayers always.

Stay tuned for my post-4th of July post! I'll be making Grandma's Strawberry Pie and perhaps a blueberry tart as well!!!

Before I close this post, I wanted to leave you with one of the best songs about our wonderful country:

Baking Adventure #24

2010-06-20T18:54:00.019-04:00

As I sit here in my food coma, I figured what better to do than blog about the amazingness that recently hit my taste buds and is now nestling in my belly...

My dad has been requesting Chocolate Cream Pie (the third of his pie requests if you recall) for a while. [In fact, if I had a dollar for each time he mentioned it over the last month or so, I could possibly invest in the KitchenAid Stand Mixer I've been eyeing for quite some time.] Dad has been hounding me so much about this pie request that I'm almost positive he thought it would be his Father's Day "surprise" I've been so secretive about. Well, I must tell you: HE HAS BEEN FOOLED!

This week's baking adventure is an old recipe made by a very special lady and I really believe she had a hand in how wonderful it turned out as she rests in heaven with our eternal Father.

GRANDMA'S TEXAS SHEET CAKE

Like I said, a very special lady came up with the basis for this recipe and I just found out the story behind it tonight. Sure, you may find other recipes for TX Sheet Cake online but my grandma's will trump them all (Is being biased a sin?).

The story behind the cake recipe is that my grandmother used to make Jiffy Cake out of the box for 39 cents all of the time, and my dad loved it so much that she wanted to figure out how to make it on her own. [SIDE NOTE: Dad used to eat the entire box of Jiffy cake in one sitting with a gallon of milk... (that makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it) Told you he gives my sweet tooth a run for its money, didn't I?]

Anyways, back to this week's baking adventure...

My cousin stumbled across grandma's recipe as she was going through some old pictures and things and typed it up and sent it to me a little over a month ago. Immediately, I knew I HAD to make this for Father's Day. My dad is one of those men who is extremely difficult to buy gifts for but this was sure to surprise him!

First was to prep the ingredients. In case you hadn't noticed, I love Publix brand bakery items.

Now, this recipe is different from most cakes I've made. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING went into a saucepan and was heated on the stove at some point during the process. It was so simple and so much fun to make.

First step for the cake itself was to combine 2 sticks of the butter, 4 tablespoons of cocoa, and a cup of water.

Heat until boiling.

Then remove from heat and dump in flour, sugar, and salt (that had previously been sifted together). Stir this until well mixed.

Then dump in eggs, sour cream, and baking soda. Mix this until well blended and smooth. (You might see air bubbles but that's about it)

Pour cake batter into a WELL-greased jelly roll pan (I HIGHLY recommend PAM for Baking) and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.

While the cake is baking, it's time to make the frosting! (Arguably the best part of eating cake... in my humble opinion.)

Take another stick of butter and 4 more tablespoons of cocoa and melt over the stove in the SAME saucepan you made the batter in...

and GET THIS: there is absolutely no need to clean the saucepan OR spoon/spatula you were preparing the batter with (unless of course you lick the spatula) Please see below for evidence supporting the only reason to clean...

Does this face scream guilty or what?

After the butter has completely melted, add in powdered sugar, vanilla (there was no vanilla in the cake batter... shocker, I know!), and baking soda.

Mix until smooth (except for maybe some air bubbles).

Grandma's recipe calls for a cup of chopped nuts to be added; however, my dad and family aren't fans of nuts in baked goods so instead I decided to substitute Heath bar toffee bits to maintain the crunch factor.

After the toffee bits are evenly mixed into the frosting, maintain stirring every now and then until cake is ready to pull out of the oven. Once out of the oven, frost IMMEDIATELY.

Then let cool completely before decorating and cutting into. If you can't wait, I highly recommend licking the bowl and spatula yet again to satisfy the sweet tooth. ;-)

And decorate with the worst hand-writing known to man... ok, maybe yours won't be this bad but it was late at night (I had to wait for dad to go to bed so his surprise would be awaiting him upon stumbling down to the kitchen on Father's Day morning) and I was rushing... or at least that's my excuse for now.

Before I forget, I must show you one of the KEYS TO SUCCESS when baking. Everyone is always asking me different tricks and tips, but this one is a MUST no matter what you are baking...

Are you ready???...

Here it is...

Never before revealed...

You must, and I repeat, must, make a MESS of not only the kitchen but whatever article of clothing you're wearing as well.

Whew! Now that the secret is finally off my chest, this is what awaited dad the next morning:

Grandma's TX Sheet Cake, Graffiti Zoo chocolates (one of his all-time favs), and a card

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father who has sacrificed so much so that his daughters could have the life experiences he was never able to have. I am forever grateful dad. I love you!

Baking Adventure #23

2010-06-07T15:51:00.013-04:00

Alright, alright... I will write another blog post! You don't have to be so cruel... hehe. Just playing. But really, I am SO sorry for taking a month "off" of blogging. Baking has still occurred but life has just gotten in the way lately... imagine that?!

See below for evidence of MUCHO baking-o that happened:

AND NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT!!!

This week's baking adventure actually occurred.... ohhhhhh about 2 weeks or so ago. *Bad Ashley* My dad is ruler of the roost and has arguably a larger sweet tooth than myself (combined, we are dangerous in a bakery or candy shoppe or FUDGE shoppe in Helen, GA that shall remain nameless to keep all those involved safe... just playing. Or am I?). Anyways, my grandmother was an amazing cook and BAKER and even though she has passed, her legacy lives on.... as do my dad's memories of the delicious pies she used to make. For a few months now, my dad has been requesting three in particular said pies: Coconut Cream, Banana Cream, and Chocolate Cream. As you saw in the slideshow above, I conquered the Coconut Cream pie and the Chocolate Cream Pie will come soon... me thinks. Which then leaves pie request #3...

BANANA CREAM PIE

Even though the pie order listed above doesn't reflect it, the Banana Cream Pie was my first stab at his requests. I found the recipe on Delish.com (shocker!) and altered it slightly. You'll find out shortly how it was altered... aka I cheated. Whenever looking for recipes, I'm mostly drawn to the simple ones with minimal ingredients but maximum taste and reviews.

First things first, per usual. PREP the ingredients. Otherwise you'll be running around the kitchen like a chicken with your head cut off... much like I did when making the Cinnamon Raisin Bread for the SECOND time.

After prepping the ingredients, whisk the milk, corn starch, sugar, and salt until dissolved. Allow the mixture to thicken and boil while making sure to stir constantly. (You'll see in a bit that I kind of neglected this part of the instructions and had some of the custard stick to the bottom and then make it a little lumpy... Hey! It still tasted good though!)

While the custard is beginning to boil (or before if you don't want to be a rebel like me), dice up 3 of the 4 bananas.

And divide in half, as you will be making two layers of 'nanners (or dice up 1.5 bananas at a time so you have an EXACT measurement if you're an anal mathematics nerd like me).

Next it's time to take the pre-separated and whisked egg yolks and add some of the hot milk to them SLOWLY, VERY SLOWLY, WHISKING THE ENTIRE TIME so that you temper the egg yolks before adding them back into the saucepan of hot milk. (Tempering keeps the yolks from curdling people... you don't want scrambled eggs in your pie do you? Yea, me neither.) Keep stirring the quasi-custard until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon thickly (Think pudding consistency).

Once you reach the consistency you want, then remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract (I don't feel the need to spend oodles of $$$ on vanilla beans just yet).

[I must apologize for the lack of pictures during this process but everything happens so quickly and unfortunately, I do not have a third arm or sous chef/photographer to help. Any volunteers?]

Transfer the custard to a medium bowl and press plastic wrap down onto the top of the custard (so it's actually touching it all over) and place in the fridge to cool. While the custard is cooling, arrange half of the bananas you cut earlier in the bottom of the cooled pie. [Where did this miraculous pie crust come from? This is where I cheated (yet again). I bought it pre-made in the Frozen foods section of the grocery.]

Then, once the custard has chilled and set some in the fridge, layer half of the custard on top of the first layer of bananas.

Add another layer of bananas and then a second layer of custard. Place plastic wrap around the top of the custard again and place back in the fridge to cool completely (a few hours or overnight if you wish).

When ready to serve, make the homemade whipped cream. (I whipped it a little stiffer than normal.) Pile on top of the cooled custard pie and then layer the last sliced banana on top...

Admire for 2.5 seconds before diving into a big slice of Banana Cream Pie goodness!

I did warn you it was a big slice right???

Ok, ok... this may have been a few slices. hehe.

I hope you all can forgive me for being away for so long! I have also been trying to diet a little (it is bathing suit season afterall), so the baking has been less experimental as of late... gotta avoid sugar intake as much as possible. Until next time my friends! Thanks for hanging in there while I was away!

Please Forgive Me

2010-06-01T12:56:00.001-04:00

I've been neglecting you and blogging lately and I'm SO sorry!

There has been much baking and cooking but no time to sit down and blog about it. I promise a delicious Banana Creme Pie blog and update very soon!

Thank you for continuing to check in everyone!

Ode to my Momala

2010-05-12T14:51:00.005-04:00

Mother's Day 2010 was spent with the greatest mom in all the world. (You're probably sitting there thinking yours is, but I beg to differ and I will fight you over it. *puts up dukes*)

My mom always dreamed of having three little girls... which she wanted to name Marcia, Jan, and Cindy [I kid you not]. By the grace of God, she was able to have her wish, and by the grace of God, we were not named after the three daughters in the Brady Bunch.

She first became a mother in July of 1984 but was too afraid of dropping her baby, so her husband took over the baby-holding for the first few weeks of my life... Her next daughter came out fighting and loving Mexican food in March of 1986 and last, but not least, little "Katie" arrived relatively peacefully in June of 1991.

My mom is the epitome of selflessness. She has always put her family before herself for as long as I can remember. The ONLY time she puts herself first is when we make her... even then, she can't help but do something for us. There aren't enough praises in the world that could be given to justify everything she is, stands for, and has done for our family.

Last Mother's Day, I started a little tradition of cooking her one of her favorite meals and continued it this year... dad was none-to-pleased either year but he gets his turn on Father's Day. Below are the two things I cooked for her this year. Both were super fun, delicious and relatively easy to make!

CHICKEN POT PIE

CHOCOLATE MOLTEN LAVA CAKE w/VANILLA ICE CREAM

To all you mothers out there, I hope you had an amazing day. Thank you for all that you do! And to my Momala, I love you more than you'll ever know!

Baking Adventure #22

2010-05-03T19:26:00.015-04:00

How many of you have heard of Lyme Disease? What do you know about it? Most people only know one thing: That it originates from ticks.

Some wonderful people have been banding together in support of Lyme Disease Awareness and have declared the month of May: Lyme Disease Awareness Month. In honor of this month, they have decided to paint May "Lyme" green and put together some amazing PSA ads. (You can view them here: http://www.youtube.com/user/lymenaide) If caught early enough, Lyme Disease can be treated pretty easily with antibiotics. However, sometimes the symptoms don't show up for months or even years and can ultimately lead to serious, long-term health problems.

Now, you're probably asking yourself why I have decided to partake in this cause. Aside from the fact that I love seeing younger generations banding together and making a difference, this particular cause hits close to home. An old friend of mine's sister has been battling Lyme disease for 3 years now. She is an absolutely beautiful girl and had the world at her fingertips when this horrible disease took its toll on her body and turned her world upside down. She is on the road to recovery but the battle hasn't been easy. (You can read more about Teri on John Raser's Causes page of his website: http://gospeedraser.com/causes/ and his blog: http://gospeedraser.com/golf-blog/)

I have never personally met Teri but I went to grade school with John, and through the world of the internet, we have been able to stay in touch. If Teri is anything like her brother, then this girl is beyond amazing, and my hope is for this blog post to raise awareness of the horrible disease that has affected their entire family.

So without further ado, it's time to paint the month of May Lyme with a scrumptious little baking adventure...

Key LYME Pie

I got this recipe from a website shown to me by a client. ThePioneerWoman.com has some incredible looking recipes and the Key Lime Pie was the first one I decided to make. The ingredients were minimal:

Then came time for some crust making. The recipe on the website calls for a food processor to turn the graham crackers into crumbs... well, I don't have one of these, so I crushed them the old fashioned way with a plastic ziplock bag and a heavy wooden mallet.

After the graham crackers were crumbled, it was time to add the sugar and melted butter.

Press into the pie pan (ungreased).

And bake in the oven for about 5 minutes and let cool.

While the graham cracker pie crust was cooling, it was time to make the filling! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to find REAL key limes at the grocery! For never having even seen them in person nor knowing how much they would cost, I was a little worrisome. HOWEVER, my favorite grocery came to my rescue and they were only about $2-3 for an entire bag!

[Please notice the Key Limes are on the right and regular limes on the left.]

When first attempting to squeeze the juice out of the key limes (yes, squeeze by hand b/c I do not have a juicer... I seriously doubt these little boogers could fit in a juicer anyway), I only got three, maybe four, drops out of it...

The recipe called for 1/2 cup of key lime juice so that certainly wasn't going to work! After putting my thinking cap on [Elementary school throwback], I remembered the PERFECT kitchen utensil for crushing small things with little holes in it: my garlic crusher!!! It was a perfect fit and thus allowed for mega juicing of the key limes!

TIP: This recipe also calls for a large amount of key lime zest. Make sure you zest the limes prior to juicing.

Once the 1/2 cup of juice was obtained, I blended the 2 egg yolks, lime juice, lime zest, and can of sweetened condensed milk with my hand mixer.

Then poured into the prepared Graham Cracker crust.

And baked in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. [The recipe says 15, but mine needed some extra time in the oven to make sure it was no longer "jiggly" in the middle.]

Once the Key Lyme Pie is baked, allow it to cool on the counter for about an hour and then pop in the fridge. I chose to let it chill in the fridge overnight because I love icebox pies EXTRA chilly, but to each their own.

Once cool enough, enjoy the Key Lime-y goodness. I guarantee you won't be able to just have one slice. There's something about the combination with the super tart key limes and the sweet graham cracker crust that just makes it irresistible.

***If you are interested in reading more about Lyme Disease or simply donating to or supporting the cause, below are two websites dedicated to the fight against Lyme Disease:

Turn the Corner Foundation: http://www.turnthecorner.org/
Lymenaide: http://lymenaide.wordpress.com/

In addition to spreading awareness with this simple blog post, I will donate $0.50 for each person who comments on this blog post during the month of May to help the cause (up to $100). So please comment and feel free to donate or at the very least repost the above links to your friends and family! Together, we can help those affected by Lyme Disease.***

UPDATE: So this pie was SO good and such a hit that I decided to make another one for Cinco de Mayo. I changed the crust recipe slightly: used 16 graham crackers instead of 18. There was no overflowing mess of crumbs this time when pressing into the pie pan and it was equally as thick and delicious!

Thank you to everyone who has commented and reposted the link to this blog so far. The comments and stories are beyond humbling! Keep them coming! Together we can make a difference... EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!

Baking Adventure #21

2010-04-25T19:03:00.007-04:00

The weather in Atlanta lately has been amazing. Picture clear blue skies, a slight breeze, 78 degrees and sunshine from dawn until dusk. After all of the rain we had from fall through early spring, the nice weather has been a true blessing.

With that being said, we had a pretty gnarly storm come through and wash away all of the pollen late Friday night through late Saturday night. As a result, Saturday brought a day of errands and Lifetime movies on the couch (every girl loves to indulge in these from time to time, don't judge me). Since there was no avoiding the 100% chance of rain forecasted, an Avatar movie night was planned for the evening. Neither my friend nor I had seen it before and we decided to get creative and have a blue-theme to our snacks. He supplied blue corn tortilla chips and salsa, and I whipped up something yummy... *big surprise* Any excuse I can get to bake and be creative, I'll gladly take! What baked good went with the blue theme, you ask?

AVATAR BLUE(BERRY) CUPCAKES

Of course! I used a simple white cake mix purchased back in February at an Amish market in Ohio as my base. [This was cheating a little but I was baking at midnight Friday night, mind you, and felt like experimenting with additions and not the basic mix itself. Next time, the white cake will be derived from scratch as well.]

As part of my experimenting, I added fresh blueberries, a touch of lemon juice, and blue food coloring (to half of the cupcakes). Tip for folding in fresh blueberries: toss them in a little bit of flour to keep them from settling on the bottom of the batter prior to baking.

Once the batter was to my liking, I spooned it into the cupcake liners.

Then baked at 375 for approximately 15 minutes (or until the tops were firm) then let cool completely.

While the cupcakes were cooling, the experiment continued... Cream cheese frosting is my ABSOLUTE favorite of all the frostings, but I wanted this to also involve blueberries. So I made the frosting according to my usual recipe (cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar) then added the blueberries I had crushed... This sounds good in theory, no? Unfortunately, the resulting frosting was a bit runny (SERIOUSLY, runny frosting is becoming my arch-nemesis when it comes to baking!)... so I decided to wrap up the cupcakes and stick the frosting in the freezer overnight to firm up... Not the best idea. The next day (once the frosting thawed) it was back to its original consistency and just altogether not worthy of the "Pint-Size Baker" stamp of approval.

Thus, after a few choice words with myself [you know you talk to yourself too], I scraped the frosting off of the few cupcakes already frosted, dumped the entire bowl into the sink, and started over from scratch. Let me back up a little... after sticking the frosting in the freezer to set over night, I stayed up until 2am researching how to make frosting thicker. There aren't many tips for thickening cream cheese frosting; however, I did find a minor tweak suggestion and went to town on the new frosting and what do you know... IT WORKED! This batch ended up being my best yet in terms of consistency! Check out the final product below:

[Trying to improve my presentation skills... What do you think?]

And that's it for now folks! Baking Adventure #23 has already been determined but I need a #22 for next week. Please leave your recommendations in the comments section! I'll select one and bake it next week for you.

Baking Adventure #20

2010-04-23T10:32:00.006-04:00

This post is going to be a little different than the norm, as baking adventure #20 was pretty much a failure both times I tried it.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (minus the raisins)

My mom put in a special request for this a couple of weeks ago and I thought, "Sure! That should be easy. Afterall, I've made bread and cinnamon rolls before. What could be difficult about a little cinnamon bread minus the raisins?" WELL I am here to tell you that after two attempts at this pesky recipe, I have concluded two things: 1)Either my baking skills aren't what I thought they were or 2) This recipe is just plain incorrectly written (This is highly likely esp due to the fact that the recipe called for WAY too much salt to begin with. Who likes salty Cinnamon Raisin Bread? Not I!)...

[Reasons this failed: Bread never "rose" (Yes, my yeast was "alive") and it was too salty.]

Both options are entirely possible and while I have exhausted my attempts at this particular recipe I will NOT rest until I find another great cinnamon raisin bread recipe to try!

My sincerest apologies to those of you who have been checking in weekly if not more for the next baking adventure. You see, frustration gets the best of me sometimes and I wanted to remedy the errors of baking the bread before posting the recipe, so as to provide you with some great tips... Since that didn't happen, allow me to post a few pictures of something that DID turn out well:

DOUBLE-DECKER COOKIE CAKE!

For my friend Jason's birthday, he requested a cookie cake and stated that the frosting is the best part... so I took the idea and ran with it. Needless to say, there wasn't a crumb left upon leaving his celebration.

Note: If you would like me to make one of these for your birthday or any celebration, I would gladly oblige as new customers are always welcome!!! :-)

Oh where oh where can the Pint-Size Baker be?

2010-04-21T11:23:00.002-04:00

Oh where or where can she be???

Sorry folks! I know I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks... I've still been baking and trying to conquer one particular recipe but it has given me so much trouble that I wanted to master it before blogging about it. Unfortunately, the mastering did not occur. *hmpf* [crosses arms and pokes bottom lip out]

Alas, there will be blogging to come in the next 24-48 hours though as I am in the process of finishing a double-decker chocolate chip cookie cake for a friends birthday!

STAY TUNED!

Baking Adventure #19

2010-04-05T14:25:00.011-04:00

A day late posting this week's baking adventure but for good reason! Life has been INSANELY and AMAZINGLY busy the last week, so please excuse me if this post is misspelled (thank God for spellcheck), uses poor grammar, or is just plain bland. The recipe for this week's adventure was my grandmother's so I will try my best and do it good by providing an enthusiastic post!

This Easter season was filled with my confirmation into the Catholic church and great times with friends (new and old) and family, so it was only appropriate to celebrate the Easter holiday with a recipe from my grandmother, who is peacefully resting in heaven...

Strawberry Pie

If you notice from the specials in the produce section at the grocery, Strawberries, among other fruits, are very much in season right now! In fact, the grocery where I bought my ingredients for the recipe had 4 pints for $5! WOOHOO!

First things first: Prep...

[Insert picture that I forgot to take here. Please don't hate me. Mentally picture strawberries, strawberry gelatin, sugar, corn starch, and a Pillsbury pie shell (can't find a recipe that is better than premade).]

First, I baked the pie shell in the oven at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes like the pie shell packaging suggested. While it was cooling, I hauled and halved the strawberries...

Then layered them as neatly as possible into the baked pie shell.

Next, I combined the sugar, water, and corn starch in a pot over medium heat and stirred until thick. This took about 15-20 minutes of some TLC... TLC meaning stir and let sit for a minute or two, then stir and let sit again. Looking back, I probably should've let it get a little thicker, which is a takeaway for next time!

After the sugar starch was thick, I added the strawberry gelatin and red food coloring to make a gel and poured over the strawberries while still hot.

Another takeaway for next time: buy a DEEP DISH pie shell!!!... Strawberry goop kind of overflowed... and by kind of, I mean there was strawberry yumminess all over the counters! So much so that I had to place the pie on a pizza pan while it set in the fridge.

After the pie set for a few hours, I made some homemade whipped cream (*as grandma smiles down from heaven*) with heavy cream, powdered sugar, and a touch of vanilla!

Please note that homemade whipped cream doesn't save well, so prepare it right before serving. It was the perfect addition to an amazing Strawberry Pie! There are requests already to make it again soon. It's looking like a few great people at church are going to be getting this the next time as well!

[The pie crust was no match for the strawberries' strength but if you look hard enough you can find the little guy under there somewhere.]

Hope you all had an amazing Easter holiday and were able to celebrate with those near and dear to your heart!

Oh, before I forget! I made some cookies too as a "thank you" to some people at church for their amazing help and support throughout the RCIA process. Check out the little goodie bags:

Until next time my friends! Muah!

Baking Adventure #18

2010-03-28T20:55:00.014-04:00

Hey hey hey! Sorry to have missed you last week, but the weekend was too busy for baking. SAD... I know. :-( HOWEVER, this weekend more than made up for it. This week's baking adventure came about as a request from my one and only repeat customer (thus far...). He has purchased Snickerdoodles in the past and has more faith in my baking than I do! This week's baking adventure is...

BANANA BREAD (or 'Nanner Bread as I like to call it!)

My friend is a huge fan of this bread, but he prefers it without nuts... [I don't discriminate personally]. After his request was placed, I set out to find the PERFECT recipe so as not to disappoint a paying customer. Upon referencing my usual sources, I stumbled upon this recipe from a bakery in Boston called Flour Bakery + Cafe. Bobby Flay did a THROWDOWN with the owner of this bakery for her Sticky Buns, so after reading all of the praises on the reviews tab for the recipe, I knew I had found THE perfect banana bread. [Although, if you know me well enough by now, you know I have to tweak it just a smidge to give it that extra Pint-Size Baker lovin']

First things first was PREP.

[Additional "tweak" ingredients not pictured.]

Then came separating the dry and wet ingredients...

This recipe was beyond simple to make in terms of steps. The most difficult step was maintaining the endurance to whisk the eggs and sugar together for 10 minutes straight by hand (sure, I could've pulled out the hand-mixer, but what's the fun in that???).

Once the eggs and sugar were creamed together, it was time to add the smashed bananas, sour cream (couldn't find creme fraiche at my standard grocery), and vanilla extract. [Oh, I forgot to mention! My paying customer requested TWO loaves, so everything was doubled to compensate.]

Then it was time to blend the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients.

Pour the batter into the wax paper-lined loaf pans.

And bake in the oven for about an hour at 350 degrees.

Once the Banana Bread loaves were cool, I delivered them to the customer and he was beyond ecstatic! [If you're his friend on facebook, you will see him bragging about having the "goods" when no one else does. haha!]

The End.

Or was it? Yea, not so much... My paying customer bragged SO much about the bread that my parents were giving me the stink-eye when they realized they didn't have any waiting at home for them. And so it was back to the grocery to pick up some more 'nanners and make them their own loaf as well! See? I told you, this weekend MORE than made up for the lack of baking last weekend. 3 loaves of Banana Bread + Lunch cooked for the week = a sleepy Pint-Size Baker.

Thanks to Food Network for posting the AMAZING recipe from Flour Bakery + Cafe on their website and thanks to Flour for sharing it! If I ever get to visit Boston like I'm hoping, I fully plan on going there and trying the real thing for myself!

Until next time peeps, have a wonderful week! This one is going to be a busy one with Easter on Sunday but have no fear, baking will ensue and it's sure not to disappoint!

Baking Adventure #17

2010-03-14T17:41:00.011-04:00

Luck #17??? It is if it's March 17th... St. Patrick's Day!

This week's baking adventure is purely inspired by this wonderful little holiday. Ever since I was little [insert pint-sized joke here], I have been excited when March 17th comes around. From the shamrocks to rainbows and leprechauns [Did anyone else make leprechaun traps out of shoe boxes???] to green-colored everything, it's just a super-fun holiday all-around. Now that I'm adult, the holiday has some additional perks in the form of alcoholic beverages. With that being said, time to announce this week's baking adventure...

IRISH CUPCAKES

(Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting)

Due to the awesomeness that is this recipe and the holiday it's paired with, I decided that it would be imperative to document the baking via video. It's the best way to soak in the joy this holiday brings to me (and hopefully you!). Please see below for parts 1 and 2 of the Irish Cupcakes baking adventure. [Should you choose to forgo the videos, keep scrolling. There is a shortened regular blog-post for your viewing pleasure!]

First things first, PREP! [Can you spot the "adult" additions to the ingredients list? ;-) ]

Next it was time to combine the wet and dry ingredients in their respective bowls. This is where a couple of slight problems occurred... SOMEONE (me) forgot to add the 2 cups of sugar until after the dry ingredients were whisked together AND she forgot to melt the butter before combining with the beer and had to backtrack. Thank goodness, these mistakes were caught early on and didn't impact the outcome of the chocolate stout cupcakes!

After the imperfections were repaired, the wet and dry ingredients were combined 1/3 at a time to make the cupcake batter. Make sure you're adding the dry into the wet and NOT vice-versa when combining the two.

Once the batter is combined, scoop the batter with an ice cream scooper into the prepared, lined muffin pan. Now, if you're like me and don't have an ice cream scooper on hand, feel free to use the Tablespoon measuring utensil. [See above] It works almost as well!

The cupcakes baked for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. HINT: Make sure when baking cupcakes, you give them ample time to cool! Otherwise, you will have a big melty mess when trying to frost them. While the cupcakes are cooling is the perfect time to prepare the frosting! The Food Network recipe for the Chocolate Stout Cupcakes called for a variation on Cream Cheese Frosting, but nothing out of the norm... so as I usually like to do, I made a few tweaks to give it some extra Irish/St. Patrick's Day flare!

I reduced the heavy cream down to 1/2 c and added 3 tbsp of Bailey's Irish Cream to the mix. ALSO, I went ahead and added a tablespoon of green food coloring. You just can't have St. Patrick's Day without green food coloring in everything! Below is the final product!

My little Leprechaun friend had to join in on the baking and bring some luck along the way. However, I will tell you... I think he fell asleep on the job because the frosting consistency wasn't my best. It was way too runny, even after setting overnight in the fridge. Next time, I will only use 1/4 c of heavy cream OR just make my standard cream cheese frosting recipe with cream cheese and butter.

Regardless, the cupcakes turned out SUPER moist and "magically delicious"! Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's baking adventure. Hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day and before I go, here's a little Irish Blessing just for you...

Until next time!

Pint-Size Baker

Baking Adventure #16

2010-03-07T13:41:00.011-05:00

Standard weekly baking adventure aside, this week has been quite the adventure in and of itself! It has been filled with impromptu chocolate chip cookie baking in a foreign kitchen (aka not my own), randomly winning tickets to a country music concert and attending said concert 24 hrs later(Jimmie Jam 2010 featuring Luke Bryan), and seeing myself on the news!!!

Remember back in January when I said I was going after a dream? Well, I went to a casting call for a new Gordon Ramsey cooking show called MasterChef, where they take amateur cooks and turn them into professional chefs. I didn't get a call back (as you can see since I'm still here writing ya'll) but it was a fun experience nonetheless! Check out the video below at the 1 min 20 sec mark plus about 5-10 seconds:

This week's baking adventure came from a recipe my mom found. She and my dad like to go up to north Georgia and visit with my godparents in the mountains from time to time. My mom gets the task of providing breakfast and horsderves when they go, but she's not much of a breakfast person, so when she came across this recipe, she asked me to try and make it on a trial run for the family first to see how it would turn out. For anyone who likes waffles and muffins, this is a must-try!

Waffle Muffins with Maple Sugar Glaze

[Let me know if you want the recipe and I'll send it to ya!]

First on the agenda was to gather the ingredients at the grocery store. There were a few things on the ingredients list that we didn't have in the house: malt powder, maple syrup (shocker, I know!... Don't judge us), and turbinado sugar. [What's turbinado sugar, you ask? WELL, have you heard of/seen "sugar in the raw"?... They're the exact same thing! Turbinado is just a fancy schmancy name for it!] Anyways, so apparently malt powder isn't a common ingredient people purchase anymore; it took me 30 minutes, 3 store workers, and 2 managers searching through Kroger to discover that they did not carry the stuff. Then I tried Target to no avail... BUT third time's the charm right?! RIGHT! Publix was my final stop before I decided to give up the search and not only did they have it but they had a couple different brand options as well! WOOHOO! Waffle Muffin-baking was back in business.

Back at the house, it was time for a little PREP action! All of the ingredients were placed on the counter and the eggs were separated. [Reference Baking Adventure #14 for tips on separating eggs]

This recipe was VERY simple to make. First, you combine the dry ingredients and sift/whisk together until blended. Then, melt the butter and....

BEEP BEEP BEEP

We interrupt this baking blog for a little Public Service Announcement... Do NOT, and I repeat do NOT place butter uncovered in the microwave while attempting to melt. You will have a geyser-like explosion and thus, a mess to cleanup. Please reference the below photo for evidence.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled baking adventure.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Man, don't you hate it when that happens??? Those PSA people sure like to interrupt whenever they darn-well please. Anyways, where was I? Oh yea!...

Next up is to combine the wet ingredients together once the butter has time to cool a little. Remember, you don't want to curdle the eggs yolks, and if the butter is too hot, you'll have to start over. Once the wet and dry ingredients are in their respective bowls, it's time to combine the two just until incorporated. No need to over-mix or make smooth!

Set the batter bowl aside, and using a hand-mixer, beat the egg whites until medium peaks form.

Then, gently fold the egg whites into the waffle muffin batter until white streaks are all that you can see.

Next is time to fill the muffin cups! The recipe calls for mini-muffin pans and to grease the cups, BUT being the little rebel I am [insert snarky laughs here], I decided to use regular-sized muffin pans AND use muffin liners. Little tip: I've found that the liners help keep them fresh and moist longer!

After the muffin pans are filled with the batter, it's time to bake! The muffins baked for about 20 minutes and then were removed and glazed with the maple syrup and turbinado (raw) sugar.

Then they were popped back in the over for another 3-4 minutes until the glaze had time to set... and here you have the finished product!

Like I said, these Waffle Muffins were BEYOND simple to make. The most difficult part was locating Malt Powder at the grocery store....

"WAIT! Pint-Size Baker... you didn't tell us the most important part!" Oops, sorry. I'm guessing you're wanting to know how they tasted??? They were extremely moist, not overly sweet, and super delicious served warm with a little butter and extra maple syrup poured over top! Not the healthiest, but who cares? It's the weekend! :-)

That's it for this week's installment of the Pint-Size Baker's baking adventures! Hope you all had a great one!!! Until next time... muah!

Baking Adventure #15

2010-02-28T23:33:00.007-05:00

Happy [insert day you're visiting this blog post here]!!!

This weekend was a great one!!! It included celebrating my sister's birthday, some errand running, a little laundry (quite exhilarating), meeting up with a [relatively] new friend and...

wait for it...

BAKING!!!... WOOHOO! Didn't guess that was coming, did you?

This week's baking adventure came as a result of the request of multiple people over the last few weeks. However, the timing came about, as one of the requesters (my sister) has a birthday coming up and was craving something sweet [This NEVER happens]. Which leads us to this week's baking adventure...

GOOEY FUDGE BROWNIES

This week I decided to do something a little different and make a non-live, non-Ustream video so that I could take a stab my very FIRST [emphasizing this for a reason b/c if it's terrible, we can chalk it up to lack of experience] self-taught video editing. Please check out all 9 minutes and 59 seconds of Pint-Size baking glory and let me know what you think!

Alright, I know I promised to post the recipe here, but since I haven't quite gotten it perfected yet, it wouldn't be right to post it just yet. BUT I promise to post it in the near future! Just have to make a couple of alterations and adjust the cook time and we should be good to go!

In the meantime, here's a picture of the brownies 48 hrs after they were made...

[Or what was left of them anyway. Hehe]

Thanks again for watching!!! Until next time... Pint-Size Baker OUT!

I Scream, You Scream, we all scream for Live Stream!

2010-02-20T16:55:00.007-05:00

Happy Saturday!

In case you missed it, today was the second installment of the Pint-Size Baker streaming live!! [Insert applause and cheers here]

Most of you were likely out enjoying your wonderful Saturday afternoon (I don't blame you!), which is why I have posted below the video from earlier! On the menu today was Red Velvet Cupcakes (reference Baking Adventure #10) and they turned out way too delicious for my own good! Happy viewing and as always, please leave questions and comments! Hope to see you next time!

And the final product!!!...

Baking Adventure #14

2010-02-14T15:29:00.020-05:00

What a co-inky-dink!... this is baking adventure #14 and today is the 14th day of February! I promise that was not planned at all!

This week's baking adventure held true to the definition of "adventure". I had to cross the Atlantic Ocean for this one... A friend of mine was raised in Germany and has been craving a particular cake for quite some time now. He requested it back in the fall but it never actually happened for one reason or another. However, this week the craving finally became unbearable and he not only put in a "real" request but he also dropped by the CA$H for me to make it... making him my 3rd paying customer!!! YAHOO!!! Movin' on up!

Anyways, let's get down to it! This week's baking adventure is...

BIENENSTICH CAKE (Bee Sting Cake) <---- Please don't ask me how to pronounce it.

Luckily, since my friend requested this cake in the fall, I had already done a good bit of legwork trying to find the right recipe that held true to the German tradition while also being translated into English baking terms properly... this was a feat in itself! [Gotta love the metric system we Americans use. Nothing like being difficult.]

I searched long and hard across the internet and even consulted a former Project Manager from a previous job of mine, who was also from Germany. His recipe was half German and half English. I about went cross-eyed trying to figure it out... Finally, a few days ago I settled on this recipe for BIENENSTICH (Bee Sting Cake). It made the most sense and even the few steps left out I could figure out on my own.

Once I went to one of my favorite stores on earth, the grocery, it was time to PREP and then being baking.

This recipe involves three parts. The first of which is making the actual cake. This, my friends, was the easy part! You know, your usual separation of the dry and wet ingredients and then combine to make the batter.

The batter was a LOT thicker than I'm used to for typical cakes and only filled up about 2/3 of one round cake pan, so it made me quite nervous to bake. The recipe called for 3 tbsp of baking powder which meant that it was going to rise significantly... and rise it did! (Reference photo a little further down for this action!)

Before baking, the recipe called for making part two of the Bienenstich. Part two involved almonds (I used sliced instead of slivered. Makes for a prettier presentation.), sugar, cream, and butter. Once all of those ingredients were melted together, you're "supposed" to spread it on the top. However, I don't have a spring-form pan and had to improvise by placing the almond sugary goodness on the bottom of the pan and then the batter on top.

[If you look closely, you can kind of see the almond sugary goodness along the sides.]

[The cake literally looks like it was stung by a bee and then swelled up.]

While the cake baked and then cooled, it was time to venture into part three of the Bienenstich. This was by far the most cumbersome and difficult thing I've made so far in all of my baking adventures.

First, I had to separate the egg whites and egg yolks (not so difficult). I like to use the shell to help divide them. In order to do this, you crack the egg in half and open it over a bowl while holding the yolk in its shell. Then, you pour the yolk into the other shell you're holding back and forth until all of the egg white is in one bowl. Once done, put the left egg yolk in another bowl. [See below]

The next part of the recipe called for scalding milk (I used a microwave to do this! It took about 3 stints of 45 seconds each in the microwave to get it "scalding" hot. Not sure what scalding means? If you touch it with your finger and feel like your skin is going to burn off if you hold it in any longer than a split second, then that's scalding hot. REAL technical, I know. hehe)

After pouring the scalding hot milk into the egg yolk, sugar, and corn starch mixture while stirring constantly (READ: and getting milk everywhere b/c the mug holding the milk decided to have it pour down the side. NOT COOL), it was time for the double-boiler! What's a double-boiler you ask? Funny thing is I've never seen nor used a real one BUT! I do know how to make a makeshift one using a glass bowl and a pot of boiling water. [See below]

This next part was a PITA. (Want to know what that means? Feel free to comment and ask. It's an Ashley-ism is all I'm saying.) You have to stir constantly the egg yolk mixture while it sits over the double-boiler being careful not to let it boil until it thickens and becomes almost like a thick pudding. This definitely took about 15-20 minutes of stirring and then letting it sit on its own for a minute and then stirring profusely again.

EVENTUALLY, (if your hand doesn't fall off) you will get a texture and pudding like consistency as seen below.

After the thick almond cream is done. Remove from double-boiler (the recipe does not say to do this). Then, whisk the egg whites (sitting off to the side from the step above) until stiff peaks form. This will take about 5 minutes or so of beating on HIGH and a pinch of salt.

Next it was time to FOLD in the egg whites with the almond cream... I don't have a spatula so I used a plastic spoon. Make sure you don't over mix or else your stiff peaks will fall, and the final whipped almond cream won't be as stiff as it needs to (I did this and had cream EVERYWHERE when layering the cake).

After the cake cools and the almond whipped cream has time to set in the fridge, it's GO time! Cut the cake in half and then layer the cream in between and place the almond encrusted top back on... and you have a nice yummy BIENENSTICH Cake (Bee Sting Cake).

Delivery of this cake was a bit nerve-racking (insert: A LOT nerve-racking) as not only was it to be eaten by one TRUE German, but it turned out there were two additional ones awaiting the Bienenstich's arrival. They had me sit while they tasted it and the only negative feedback was that it needed "more cream"... aka "Ashley let the whipped cream set longer in the fridge or it all will come oozing out when layering on the cake".

That's it for this adventure! My hands are officially red and sore from all the egg whisking and stirring but it was more than worth it. That daggon' Bee had nothing on the Pint-Size Baker!

Hope ya'll have a very happy Valentine's Day whether you're spending it with a significant other or close friends and family! XOXO

Oh!!! Before I forget...

P.S. I made some of my "Sweet Ashley's (more addicting than crack) Choco Chip Cookies" for a Valentine's Day gift to my family. Too bad we can't eat with our eyes huh???

Livestream with Pint-Size Baker (Baking Adventure #14)

2010-01-28T12:39:00.005-05:00

Hey all!

Thanks so much to those of you who tuned into the impromptu Livestream of this week's baking adventure: Carrot Cake. For those of you who missed it, I have included the live stream below. Just a warning though, it's the ENTIRE Livestream because I can't figure out how to edit and cut parts yet, so have fun!

[BTW, the first video is of actually making the cake and frosting and the second is of frosting/decorating the cake. See below the videos for the final product!]

Watch live streaming video from pintsizebaker at livestream.com

Congratulations Carrot Cake:

Baking Adventure #13

2010-01-24T22:00:00.012-05:00

Lucky #13?

For this week's baking adventure I wanted to do something creative, something a little challenging if you will. At first I stumbled upon this Better Than Banana Cream Pie Cupcakerecipe. It sounded delicious and definitely a little challenging, but I'm not a huge fan of whipped cream (see frosting portion of recipe) and it didn't quit provide the type of challenge I was looking for. You see, I wanted to learn a new technique. So then I continued researching cupcake recipes while bookmarking the Banana Cream Pie one. I came across one for a Chocolate Chip Cupcake with Chocolate Chip Frosting. This is one I had been eyeing for a few months now, but never actually gave in and made it... Then, it HIT me! One of my dad's favorite flavors of ice cream is Bruster's Banana Chocolate Chip... What if I combined the two recipes and then transformed into my own and made a Banana + Chocolate Chip concoction?!... [Spoken in an English accent] BY GEORGE I THINK I'VE GOT IT! This week's baking adventure then came to life:

BANANA CHOCO CHIP CUPCAKES

I began this recipe just like any other by taking a trip to the grocery and prepping everything before beginning. (This is a great technique so you don't get half way through and realize you screwed up... STAY TUNED, the Pint-Size Baker = minor FAIL on this adventure)

After prepping the ingredients, including mashing two bananas, I began referencing the Better Than Banana Cream Pie Cupcake recipe for the base of my cupcake.

However, I made a few slight changes:

Instead of buying light brown sugar, I used the dark brown already on hand.
Added 1/4 tsp of banana extract
Substituted 1/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips for walnuts
Salted butter instead of unsalted (I have NEVER used unsalted butter.)
Halved the recipe entirely... well almost...

Once the dry ingredients and wet ingredients were combined in their respective bowls I began combining 1/3 at a time... then all of a sudden I felt like I got hit in the head with a ton of bricks and an overwhelmed sense of anger and frustration hit me... I had halved every single ingredient up until the eggs and vanilla. UGH! So either I was going to have to dump the 1/3 of dry and wet ingredients combined out and start over OR I was going to have to figure out how to double the rest of the ingredients and make the normal batch. The latter was my first choice until I realized I had only bought enough bananas to make half a batch...

To the trash can we went! But not before taking a sad face picture:

And back to the drawing board with the wet ingredients and adding another 1/3 of dry ingredients back to its bowl. (This is where my mathematical brain came in great handy!) I must confess though that I was a little (read: a lot) irritated at myself for making such a stupid mistake and thank goodness no one else was around to see how upset at myself I was... However, that was when I turned on some good cooking music (country) and went to town. Eventually the bad mood fell by the wayside, and the baking was back in business!

(Note: This is a thicker than normal batter.)

The cupcake pans were lined and batter filled.

While the cupcakes cooled, it was time to start on the frosting.

Otherwise known as: THE CHALLENGE. This frosting was different from my norm in that it was buttercream made from scratch. I referenced this Basic Buttercream recipe as my base and went to town. If anyone has made buttercream before or anyone does it more than once in a lifetime, I commend you! This was NOT an easy feat. Leave it to me to not read how long you actually have to beat the butter and sugar until it becomes the wonder known as buttercream frosting! But boy is it worth it!

Lessons learned from making buttercream frosting:

1980s hand-mixer motors aren't cut out for 30+ minutes of use. Seriously thought it was going to catch fire.
Read directions prior to beginning. LUCKILY, I only made half the batch (yes, I remembered to half EVERYTHING this time) so it only took about 25 minutes to get the buttercream frosting just right.

Once the Basic Buttercream Frosting was to the consistency it needed to be, I substituted banana extract for the vanilla and spread on top of the cooled cupcakes. To get a little creative, I made a quick chocolate ganache. (Recipe: melt 1/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 c heavy whipping cream in the microwave on high for about 30 seconds. Remove and stir until creamy.) Then poured the ganache on top of the frosted cupcakes and VOILA!

There you have it! Banana Choco Chip Cupcakes! Hope you enjoyed this week's installment of the Pint-Size Baking Adventures. Be sure to leave any questions below as this recipe was certainly an experiment!

Baking Adventure #12

2010-01-17T17:21:00.009-05:00

This week's baking adventure is true to typical form. It actually occurred on the weekend, wasn't late, AND turned out pretty daggon' good! It has been something I have been wanting to make since 2007 when it first touched the thousands of tastebuds on my tongue.

You see, my mom and I have a "normal" (I use that term loosely) obsession for Food Network, in particular Paula Deen. So for her 50th birthday I surprised her with two tickets to Paula's Show, Paula's Party, and a trip to Savannah, GA. We had a BLAST! The trip included a stay at a haunted Bed & Breakfast called the Marshall House, a day spent at Uncle Bubba's restaurant where the show was filmed (not to mention meeting the handsome Constantine Maroulis and Maureen McCormick, other wise known as Marsha Brady), walking the streets of Savannah in the rain, and a final meal at the Lady & Sons restaurant (Paula Deen and her sons, Jamie and Bobby's place).

We waited in line a little over an hour to make it for the lunch rush. We both ordered the buffet which included fried chicken, mac 'n cheese, cornbread, collard greens, and 3 kinds of desserts. That meal left us beyond full and satisfied. One problem, ever since, I have been craving one of the three desserts, which leads to this week's baking adventure...

Gooey Butter Cake!

If you have ever been to the Lady and Sons restaurant in Savannah, you know what I'm talking about with these things. Even my mom, who doesn't like sweets, LOVED these. Since it had been a few weeks since I had truly baked something scrumptious and had to hit up the grocery anyway, I decided this Pint-Size Baking Blog was WAY PAST DUE for some Gooey Butter Cakes.

Now this recipe holds true to its name, as you will below see when PREPping the ingredients.

I melted the butter in the microwave and combined with the egg and yellow cake mix. [Side note: using cake mix is sac-religious for my baking passion. It was really stifle to swallow my "from scratch" only motto, but boy am I glad I did!] One thing to note with melting the butter, let it cool a little bit before combining with egg, as you might cook the egg on accident.

After the crust mixture is combined, pat the dough into the bottom of the baking dish while making sure it goes up the sides as well. The recipe online doesn't explicitly say to do this, but I HIGHLY recommend in order to keep the filling in its place after baking.

FILLING: The filling is super delicious. I dare you not to lick the bowl after pouring into the crust in the baking dish! ONE CHANGE I did make to this otherwise perfect recipe is to cut the sugar in half. Paula Deen is notorious for super sweet and super buttery dishes. Instead of 16 oz. (One 1 lb. box) of Confectioners Sugar, I used 8 ozs. (half the box) which was PLENTY for this sweet tooth! Next time, I'll probably use 6 tablespoons of butter filling instead of 8.

Once the filling is blended to a smooth texture, pour it into the baking dish and spread evenly.

Then bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes (The recipe says 40-50 but err on the side of more gooey. You can always bake longer if under-cooked but not vice versa.)

After baking, let cool about 10-15 minutes and serve!

WARNING: Little by little this Gooey Butter Cake will mysteriously disappear when you're not looking!

And there you have it! Sorry I was MIA for so long. I sure did miss you guys (all three of you). Hope you are having a wonderful start to 2010!!! Big things are in store for this year. I can feel it! :-)

<3,

Pint-Size Baker

Baking Adventure #11

2010-01-17T16:25:00.006-05:00

Wow, time has absolutely FLOWN! I can't believe it has been three weeks since my last baking blog post. Terribly sorry to leave you all hanging! However, it has been an uber busy past few weeks including a move, a holiday, and taking a chance to go after a dream! There was baking and cooking to be had though!

Below is a little picture slideshow of what I've been up to the past few weeks:

Baking adventure #11 was inspired by a conversation with my best friend who decided to rub it in my face that she made oogey gooey chocolate brownies and they were all of the way in Orlando... aka NO BROWNIES FOR YOU [spoken in the Soup Nazi accent from Seinfeld]. This was just cruel so one night this past week I decided to look up brownie recipes and utilize the ingredients already in my cabinets. After glancing through a few options, I opted to bake a recipe pulled from EatingWell.com by way Delish.com. It looked quite simple AND no trip to the grocery was needed.

After gathering all ingredients and going to town on baking them, I realized my two biggest concerns had been met! The brownies were in fact SUPER EASY to make and I got to remain in the comfort of my own home since it was cold and wet outside. However, there was one concern I forgot to take into consideration: Will the brownies be indulgent enough to satisfy my craving???

These, unfortunately, were not. While they were certainly healthy, smelled delicious, and not over sweet, they were a bit rubbery and "healthy"-tasting. [Insert pouty lip here]

[Please pardon the plating...]

I would not bake these again BUT if you're one of those health-nuts who has a slight sweet tooth, these brownies would be PERFECT for you!

Stay tuned... another baking adventure is coming right up from today!

Baking Adventure #10

2009-12-29T18:48:00.011-05:00

In the words of Mrs. Doubtfire, "HELLOOOO!!!!!!" [Insert whipped cream face mask]

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season and had a very merry Christmas! Lots of baking has occurred over the past couple of weeks including more peppermint bark, snickerdoodles, "trash" mix, a breakfast casserole, and...

This week's baking adventure:

Red Velvet cupcakes and a Red Velvet Cake!

This particular adventure was not only requested by my baby sister (she's 18, so not really a baby) and one of my devoted readers. We shall call him "Anonymous". Anyways, I must give thanks to my sister and "Anonymous", as this cake was a lot of fun to make and soooo tasty! (Random fact: up until exactly one week before baking the cake I had NEVER tried Red Velvet cake. *GASP* I know...)

A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON on Red Velvet Cake (as told to me by my bestie): Red Velvet cake came about as a result of water reacting with the minerals in cocoa powder back in the early 1900s. The reaction turned the cake batter red. (For a more accurate history lesson, please read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_velvet_cake.)

Upon researching the best recipe to use for this adventure, I decided to reference two of them. One was from a Paula Deen recipe on FoodNetwork.com and the other (Cakeman Raven) was sent to me by a friend on Twitter, Kelle Kramer. The two recipes for the cake part were almost identical, but there was a slight difference in the frosting, so I decided to make my own while utilizing them for a reference...

PREP was a sinch. A little tip for ya: if you buy a 4-pack of food coloring, each one of those little guys equals about 1 tablespoon of food coloring.

Next it's time to separate the wet and dry ingredients and then combine. I had a bit of an accident when combining the two but most stayed in the bowl! Hand mixer + stuck = a mell of a hess!

After the cake batter is a smooth texture, divide batter into two 9" cake pans about 2/3 full. I had some extra batter so I opted to make cupcakes as well! One problem with this, I couldn't find my liners ANYWHERE (later to be found right where I put them, grrr), so I decided to just Pam (read: vegetable cooking spray) the heck out of my mini-cupcake tins and hope for the best.

While the cakes and cupcakes were baking, it was time to make the frosting. Now both recipes called for 4 cups of powdered sugar and one called for 1 tsp vanilla extract while the other called for 2 teaspoons. I tend to like to make recipes my own if possible (unless it's already amazing, then if it ain't broke, don't fix it!). For the cream cheese frosting, I used one 8 oz. package of reduced fat cream cheese and one regular 8 oz. package of cream cheese along with 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract. NOW, here's the kicker... I didn't listen to the recipe for the amount of sugar it called for. Remember that Red Velvet cupcake I tried the week prior? WELL it was still fairly fresh on my pallet, and what I loved about it was that you could actually taste the cream cheese and it wasn't overbearingly sweet. With that in mind, I ended up only adding about 2-2.5 cups of powdered sugar and it was [insert Italian accent] PERFECTO! MUAH!

While letting the cakes cool and placing some of the frosting in a piping bag (el cheapo from Publix), I decided to get creative and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and VOILA!

[A little secret about these cupcakes: they look better than they tasted. As a result of not having liners, the outside of the cupcakes were slightly crunchy... oopsy!]

Once the cakes cooled, it was time to frost. Here's another little hint for ya: you know how cakes are flat on the bottom and rounded on the top once out of the oven? Well, the last time I made a cake, I carve off the rounded part thinking it would make the cake more even... WRONG! After frosting it, the middle sank in, so this time I put the rounded side of one cake down, the two flat sides together, and thus the other rounded side was facing up. After frosting, there was no dip in the middle... PROBLEM SOLVED!

I put the piping bag to good use again was the cake was frosted to try my hand at decorating. (As we all know... this is NOT one of my strong points.) The piping turned out not too shabby around the edges so I decided to add a tree in the middle as well.

In order to add a little color and festiveness (is that a word?), it was back to the grocery for some green sprinkles and M&Ms!

and there you have it: Pint-Size Baker's Merry Christmas Red Velvet cake!!! Hope your mouth doesn't water too much. ;-)

Feliz Navidad

2009-12-25T12:23:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

No post just yet as we're right in the middle of great times with the family! About to go watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and get grandpa to show me a few moves on the dance floor!

Hope you all are having an absolutely wonderful day with those near and dear to your heart!

Love,

Pint-Size Baker

The Decade in Food: Trends from 2000 to 2009

2009-12-18T09:27:00.007-05:00

As you all know by now Delish.com is one of my favorite sites for recipes and general food knowledge. They even have fun quizzes once a week to test your food knowledge. Delish.com has put together a list of Food and Diet Trends over the past decade. How many trends have you been a part of?

The Decade in Food: Trends from 2000 to 2009 - Page 10

Posted using ShareThis

Chocolate Thinning Tip

2009-12-15T21:22:00.004-05:00

[BEEP BEEP BEEP]

We interrupt this week to inform you of a tip/lesson that my sister learned this evening...

When melting chocolate for dipping things in (i.e. pretzels), do NOT attempt to thin it out with milk or it will curdle.

Below are a few pointers to help you out:

Use a double boiler if you have one.
If you don't have a double boiler, then place chocolate in microwave for 35 seconds, stir, then back in for 15 seconds, stir again. Repeat this until chocolate is smooth and melted.
If you do not follow the above, you run a great risk of burnt chocolate.
When attempting to thin out the chocolate, use a small amount of oil (1-2 teaspoons). Make sure you use Canola or Vegetable oil and NOT olive oil as it will affect the taste of the chocolate.

We now return you to your regular programming!

[BEEP BEEP BEEP]

Baking Adventure #9

2009-12-09T20:01:00.011-05:00

Buon giorno!

I know I haven't been baking much the past few weeks, but in all honesty, I'm saving up for the Christmas season. There will be quite a few new adventures: peppermint bark, red velvet cake, and cookies, just to name a few!

This week's baking adventure is inspired by the Christmas season. This is hands-down my most favorite time of year (see THIS for reiteration)! With Christmas comes the celebration of the birth of Christ our savior, in addition to parties, decorations, and wonderful times spent with family and friends. Atlanta is home to the magnificent Macy's tree, and one day I intend on getting to NYC to see the biggest one of all lit up during this season.

Before we get started, I do have a confession to make... this week's adventure involves no baking whatsoever... STOP! HOLD THE PHONE! Did she just say NO BAKING?... That I did folks. However, this little treat is so wonderful it is included by way of the "Wonderful Treat" loophole. SO, without further ado, this week's baking adventure is...

SIMPLE HOLIDAY PEPPERMINT BARK

(Brought to you courtesy of Delish.com. One of my all-time favorite recipe sites!)

This recipe is just as the title says "SIMPLE". It involves a microwave, a cookie sheet, and a refrigerator. I KNOW those of you out there who aren't particularly blessed in the baking realm would be able to handle this without a doubt! (Mom, this includes you!)

First things first: PREP! (Told you it was simple! hehe)

The recipe calls for crushed candy cane or peppermints. I went the candy cane route and chose a festive red and green peppermint candy cane to add a little more character. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup of crushed peppermint candy, which for me equated to about 6 full candy canes. Now, I don't own a mallet or any type of food beating device (otherwise known as a meat tenderizer), but I do own a rolling pin so it was time to go to town!

[Don't let the innocent face fool you. I'm full of strength and will crush a candy cane at moment's notice!]

Tip for crushing the candy cane: place in a plastic sealable bag prior to crushing (make sure you seal it), that way all crumbs and pieces are kept in one place as well as easily transferable to sprinkle on the chocolate.

After the candy canes are crushed into little bits and pieces, it's time to melt the chocolate in the microwave. Please note that while doing this, the bowl will get HOT and you will likely have a mess on your hands (literally).

I would recommend melting the semi-sweet chocolate first and then the white chocolate, as the white chocolate is a little finicky. Also, when melting the white chocolate, you might want to stir it a bit more than you did the semi-sweet chocolate as it wants to clump up... nothing a little stirring can't fix though!

After the chocolates are melted, it's time to spread the semi-sweet chocolate out on a foil lined cookie sheet and then drop tablespoons-full of white chocolate and marbleize...

This is where my lack of artistic ability comes in. To me the marbling of the chocolates looks like a big ole mess...

LUCKILY! The crushed candy cane comes in and saves the day by topping the chocolate and covering my imperfections! WOOHOO! [You're my hero! *sigh*]

After the Peppermint bark sets in the fridge for an hour, then the fun, breaking apart thing comes back to play!

And voila! There you have peppermint bark my friends! Simple, quick, and so easy, yet SO yummy! Store in an air-tight container up to a month in the fridge.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season so far! I look forward to hearing from you soon! Until the next adventure...

Yours truly,

Pint-Size Baker

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-26T20:15:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to pop in and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! Today was a great one spent with my family, my sister's boyfriend, and all of the animals. I'm so thankful to have all of them in my life along with amazing friends, food on the table, and a roof over my head. God has truly blessed us.

Hope you were able to spend today with those near and dear to your heart!

<3,

Pint-Size Baker

P.S. Please see below for a snippet of the day's adventures...

Baking Adventure #8

2009-11-19T13:30:00.011-05:00

First off, I am so sorry for not delivering your eyes with scrumptious baked goods the past couple of weeks. Life has been beyond busy and amazing and up and down. Here's a little update for ya:

My best friend and her husband came to visit for a long weekend this past weekend, and I couldn't have asked for a better time with them. I got to show her where I live (this was the 3rd time we had seen each other in 10 years mind you) and introduce her to some of my dearest friends/the loves of my life... (in addition to going to a GREAT concert put on by Phil Vassar and opened by an up-and-coming artist named Jason Jones) My heart was beyond full this past weekend. It was a little (insert: A LOT) tough when they headed home on Sunday, and feels like a piece of me is missing. However, I thank the Lord for the time we got to spend together.

[Pay no attention to Mimi Bobeck in the background.]

This week has been interesting to say the least, and it has included the possibility of my sister's attack case finally coming to a close after 2.5 years. Unfortunately, it did not come to a close just yet... To be continued on December 17th. (Check out her blog for more information on the attack and her perspective on things. She is one of the most amazingly strong people I know)

Anyways, so is life. It has its UPS and its downs, but at the end of the day we are left with God's love and our family and friends.... it's quite comforting to know those will always be there. So, in light of the comfort of love, I have decided to make this week's baking adventure be one of the most comforting things to me. It's a recipe I took 2 years to develop and perfect. I don't quite have a name yet; however, there was a suggestion for "Sweet Ashley's Choco Chip Cookies"... any thoughts?

and without further ado, this week's baking adventure is...

Sweet Ashley's Choco Chip Cookies!!!

Let me preface this adventure by saying that the recipe will not be linked to or given out on this blog as it is TOP secret and these cookies will be sold to many one day! :-)

So, first things first! PREP!

[Na na na boo boo! My secret ingredients are missing from the above picture... so sad, too bad! hehe]

Next it's time to separate dry and wet ingredients in their bowls and then combine in one big bowl.

[This is the only picture of the middle part of the process you get to see. hehe.]

This recipe itself wasn't much of an adventure since I had all of the ingredients already and have made them close to 50 times already. The adventurous part is going to be allowing new people to try them who haven't in the past. Even though, I already am pretty confident in their deliciousness, it makes me nervous each time someone new tries them. I think "Are they going to like the taste? Will my secret ingredients agree with their taste buds? Are they just saying they like them or are they just trying not to hurt my feelings?" Call it paranoia or what have you, but I love baking for people and if they don't enjoy something, I feel bad, almost guilty, for asking them to try it.

That being said though, I can pretty much guarantee that if you enjoy chocolate chip cookies, you will thoroughly enjoy these. In fact, people from North Carolina back in college still request them on occasion. :-)

Sorry to go off on that tangent... behold the final product of two years of experimenting to get them "just right"...

Hope everyone has had a great past couple of weeks! Until next time folks!...

P.S. Any suggestions on what to bake for Thanksgiving? Pumpkin pie? Apple pie? Pumpkin Cheesecake? I can't decide! Help!

Grocery Stores Count

2009-11-04T14:03:00.010-05:00

We interrupt [Did you know interupt has two r's? Gotta love spell check] this week to bring you one of my new favorite songs/video introduced to me by none other than Meredith. If you've never heard Michael Buble's music before, I would HIGHLY recommend listening to the rest of his songs and watching his videos. His newest, "Just Haven't Met You Yet", is beyond superb!

Ok, so I realize this really has nothing to do with baking. However, he is in a grocery store (one of my favorite places), so it indirectly pertains to this blog. Pleasant viewing!

Baking Adventure #7

2009-11-01T11:39:00.012-05:00

Buon giorno! SO sorry I neglected to post a baking adventure last week, but I'm back now and baked double this weekend to make up for it!

One of my friends/brother-from-another-mother/guy from the cigar shop has been requesting this week's baking adventure for well over a month. He is a connoisseur of this given baked good; however, I've been putting this off accidentally-on purpose, as I am not a fan of these nor have I ever made anything close to them before. BUT, I am not one to turn down a challenge or request from someone who matters to me, so I spent the last couple of weeks researching (in my spare time, don't worry boss-man) and locating the best base recipe so as to add my own twist on an otherwise simple project. Thus, without further ado, this week's baking adventure is...

CHERRY CHOCOLATE CHIP SCONES!!!

(These were influenced by Kashi's Cherry Dark Chocolate Granola bars, but most people think Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia... it's up to you which you prefer to relate them to.)

Conveniently, about a week ago I was watching an episode of Good Eats on the Food Network, and Alton Brown was making biscuits from scratch. During the episode he referenced how biscuits and scones are directly related to one another, and that got my mind rolling. What better person to get a basic scone recipe from than the very man who turns cooking/baking into a science and dissects each part??? He MUST have a good recipe for them! As luck would have it, his scone recipe contained over 100 reviews, almost all positive. I decided to give it a try as it was a base recipe from which you could add as many flavors or no flavors if you so choose.

Upon reading through the recipe, I noticed it doesn't give much description on what to use to bake the scones on (when in doubt, use a well greased cookie sheet) nor does it tell how the consistency should be. In addition, the ingredients called for "cream". It didn't specifically say what kind of cream... for such a simple recipe, this was going to be interesting! I had almost all of the ingredients in my cabinet except for the elusive "cream" and the dried cherries and chocolate chips. I was also going to be making another batch of the Blueberry Cornbread for my dad as a surprise, which called for Buttermilk, so while at the grocery, I phoned my mom and best friend (reference Baking Adventure #4) to ask if I could just purchase "cream" or Buttermilk and use one for both. After talking it out with Meredith, I decided "cream" would be the best option. (PROBLEM #1 SOLVED)

Here's where problem #2 came in... "CREAM" What kind of recipe just says "cream"? If you go to the grocery, you'll likely find (like I did) about 6 brands of "heavy whipping cream", one brand of "light cream" but not one single brand of just "cream". [Time to pick up the phone again.] Mom said they were different, but I opted to quit wasting time and grabbed the heavy whipping cream... it's dairy and "heavy" ... "cream"... it must work! [aka I WILL MAKE IT WORK, as I am the Pint-Size Baker after all!]

Back home, it was time to get to baking. First things first per usual... PREP!

(Neglected to put the salt in this photo but you can pretty much assume that salt will always be in a baked good unless otherwise noted. Salt helps bring out the flavors of the baked good.)

This recipe contained the SHORTEST list of directions out of any thus far, and it was pretty easy to conjure up. First you start with separating the dry and wet ingredients in their respective bowls. (DO NOT combine the two yet) Then, you cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients. Make sure the butter is super cold and cube it to make cutting into the dry ingredients a little easier.

(Tip for cutting butter/shortening into dry ingredients: it's best to either use a fork or your hands. I started out with a fork but it just wasn't doing the trick, so I used my hands. Don't over do it b/c the heat from your hands will melt the butter and you want a crumby texture [see photo] as your final result.)

After cutting the butter and shortening in, it's time to add the cream/egg mixture and stir until all ingredients are blended, but don't over work it.

Then, fold in whatever additives you so choose. The recipe says to add a "handful" as a good measurement for how much to add. However, I have a feeling my "handful" is about half the size of Alton Brown's (was once told I have "opossum hands"), so I added 2 handfuls of each. It worked out just fine!

Next was time to flour the counter and rolling pin and roll out the dough, then cut into round shapes and bake.

Next time I make these (if there is a next time), I will cut into triangle shapes, as the scones resemble more of a cookie or biscuit when they're in a round shape. (Remember, people eat with their eyes first!)

All in all this recipe was SUPER easy to make and quick too! Some takeaways for the next time include:

Add a touch more sugar than the recipe calls for as they were just under-sweetened.
Cut into triangle shapes instead of circles.
Egg-wash and sugar the tops before baking.
"Heavy Whipping Cream" and "cream" are interchangeable. There is a slight difference in the fat content but overall, the flavor and consistency are pretty similar.

That's pretty much it! Oh! and in case you were wondering, the Blueberry Cornbread turned out great! I added a touch more sugar than last time and substituting the cream for the called-for buttermilk made little difference. In fact! I prefer the flavor of the cornbread with the cream to that of the one with the buttermilk.

Until next time my friends!!! Have a wonderful week!

Week off?

2009-10-27T20:21:00.003-04:00

Not so much.

Hello to all of my lovely readers!!! (all like 5 of you, including family)

Sorry to disappoint as there is no Baking Adventure blog from this past weekend. {Insert sad, depressing music here} I did bake some Snickerdoodles for another paying customer (aka close family friend). However, we've already endured that adventure together, and thus I decided not to deliver a repeat to you.

Instead, I've been continuing my search for the "perfect" scone recipe and have settled on one from Food Network's own, Alton Brown! Stay tuned next Sunday for the post, as my "brother" has been requesting these for about a month now! It should be a good turn out... well HOPEFULLY they turn out well!

Until then, have a wonderfully delicious week!

Baking Adventures #5 and #6

2009-10-18T21:21:00.014-04:00

This week one planned baking adventure had an unplanned addition as well! There was a tie between Cake and Apple Pie for the Pot Luck dinner for tomorrow night's class, so I went with the Apple Pie. My cousin Angie sent her recipe over and it seemed pretty simple. Why not conquer something that intimidates and scares us but could end up wonderful? What's the worst that could happen? Life is all about taking chances and risks.

Now, before I dive into the "planned" baking adventure, let's discuss the "unplanned". Yes, I did use protection... haha, ok bad joke...

Saturday morning was spent doing laundry at my parents' house (no washer and dryer = borrow mom and dad's). While there, I resumed my usual position in the kitchen watching Food Network (my crack) in between loads. However, I got an inkling to bake and started looking through the cabinets... what did I find??? All of the ingredients to make yellow cupcakes!!!

Ok, so cupcake pan, liners (yes, I have a secret love for Winnie the Pooh), and batter ingredients: CHECK! Frosting?........

Frosting is a necessity if you're making cupcakes; Mom had all of the ingredients but one to make cream cheese frosting and all of the ingredients but one to make regular frosting... so I decided to get creative and combine and make my own...

After combining butter, cream cheese, sugar, one Starbucks VIA Columbia roast, and 1/4 cup Godiva coffee liqueur... I ended up with COFFEE LIQUEUR Frosted yellow cupcakes:

I had my dad taste test and he thoroughly enjoyed the frosting. However, I wasn't so much a fan... too much liqueur flavor for me, so I decided to get creative again and combined butter, cream cheese, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon for CINNAMON/BROWN SUGAR Frosted Yellow Cupcakes:

TA DA!!! These went to my guys at the Cigar Club for some taste testing as well as a couple other close friends. I was a bit nervous as to what my taste testers would say since both frostings were an experiment, and unless everyone lied, they really enjoyed the cupcakes. So it was a successful experiment!

Ok, time for the planned baking adventure:

COUSIN ANGIE'S APPLE PIE

First things first: PREP! This recipe was relatively simple as far as ingredients go. The only two things I needed were nutmeg and apples.

Slicing the apples into thin slices wasn't too bad either.

HOWEVER...

Figuring out how to pile all 6 sliced Golden Delicious apples into the pie pan was a FEAT in of itself.

(Let me let you in on a little secret: I didn't make the pie crust from stratch.. GASP!!! I know, bad Pint Size Baker, bad! However, upon reading through many recipe reviews and advice from my Cousin Angie, I opted to buy Pillsbury pie crust as it is supposed to taste just as good if not better than something I could make on my own. This I will be trying to overcome at a later date though.)

Once all of the apples were piled a mile high in the pie (haha, poet and don't know it!), it was time to add the crumb topping. So sorry there is no photo of this part of the process but my hands were covered in sugar, flour, and butter and there is no Pint Size Baker assistant just yet.

Apple Pie assembly? CHECK

Oven Pre-heated to 425? CHECK

TIME TO BAKE!!! (Little hint: Once you notice the top/crust start to brown, cover with aluminum foil to prevent burning. Also, it's a good idea to place the pie pan on a baking sheet in the event that anything drips or falls off while baking and makes it easier to pull the pie in and out of the oven.)

Now, I'm not sure how this tastes yet as it is for Pot Luck Dinner at my RCIA class tomorrow night, but I'll check back in afterwards and let you know how the reactions are from everyone!

Need Your Help!

2009-10-13T20:43:00.004-04:00

So I am having trouble deciding what to bake for our Pot Luck dinner for next Monday's class. The trouble being that baking a pie is a little intimidating as I've never made one from scratch before.

This is where you come in! Please vote below, and whichever option wins by Saturday evening, I'll bake! Thanks in advance for your help! If you have any other suggestions besides the two listed, feel free to post them in the comments section.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Baking Adventure #4

2009-10-11T12:27:00.017-04:00

This week's baking adventure is dedicated to one of my dearest and best friends in the world, Meredith!

We met way back when in 6th grade and neither distance nor time has keep us apart. She is one of those rare friends who you can go years without much communication, and then it will seem like no time has passed when reconnecting. (However, don't steal her napkin or she'll get mad at you for entire day! hehe) We both share a pet peeve for bad grammar, the desire to be as healthy as possible while still enjoying amazing food, love for good family, and most importantly... a PASSION FOR BAKING!

Meredith is an amazing decorator! I, however, am not. I prefer the more rustic baked goods as my patience for decorating is minimal. Meredith has an amazing talent that's only just begun, but her modest self would tell you otherwise... You be the judge:

[Elmo cake picture courtesy of a facebook album of hers. Hope you don't mind!]

Due to the purpose behind my passion for baking being the joy it brings to people, it seems only appropriate to dedicate this blog to her, our friendship, the joy she brings to my life, and her amazing recipe for...

HUMMINGBIRD CUPCAKES!!!

This week's baking adventure is Meredith's version for Hummingbird Cupcakes. Typically, this recipe calls for a good bit of sugar and is on the unhealthy side. However, Meredith, the baking genius she is, made a healthier version that's just as delicious and not overly sweet.

What's a Hummingbird Cupcake you ask? It includes banana and pineapple in the cake batter and a (reduced fat) cream cheese frosting. Upon researching the reasoning behind the name for this cake, I came across some interesting symbolism behind and facts about Hummingbirds that coincide with our friendship as well as the way we both view life.

Pulled from http://symbolism.wikia.com, the Hummingbird is "a symbol of love, joy, and beauty. The Hummingbird is also able to fly backwards, teaching us that we can look back on our past. But, this bird also teaches that we must not dwell on our past; we need to move forward. When the hummingbird hovers over flowers while drinking nectar, we learn that we should savor each moment, and appreciate the things we love."

Everything happens for a reason, and our past shapes who we are today. Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present. Your friendship is a gift to me Meredith, and I'm so glad to have you in my life after all these years! This recipe is beyond appropriate and so let's begin the adventure...

First things first, Prep!

Next it was time to combine the dry and wet ingredients in their respective bowls and then blend together. Typically, I whisk and stir everything by hand. However, I pulled out an electric hand mixer given to me by an old friend (Thanks Carrie O!) to help speed up the process of the cupcakes. (TIP: If using an electric hand mixer, make sure you twist the bowl 360 degrees a few times while mixing in order to blend the ingredients completely.)

After the wet and dry ingredients were combined, it was time to fold in the smashed banana, crushed pineapple and some cinnamon. (Side note: I halved this recipe as I was just baking for the sake of the adventure and not for a party. It typically makes around 15-20 regular size cupcakes.)

After folding in the banana and pineapple, I spooned the batter into lined cups of the mini muffin pan. (Mini muffin sizes make it easier to share with lots of people!) If you want the cupcakes to puff up over the sides a bit, fill the cup liner up to about 7/8 of the liner itself. I highly recommend this as it creates a great shelf for holding the icing once the cupcakes have cooled.

While the cupcakes are baking in the oven, it's time to make the frosting! For me this is the best part of any cake or cupcake, and I judge baked goods based on the frosting alone if they call for it, i.e. birthday cake. If the frosting is subpar, then chances are I will not eat the cake part either. Yea, yea... maybe I'm a little judgmental but come on! Who doesn't agree that frosting is the best part?

{This is what happens when you neglect to lock the whisks into place in the electric mixer. Oopsy!}

After the frosting was prepared and the second batch of cupcakes were in the oven (I only have one mini muffin pan, so it took 4 batches to get all of the batter baked.), I began to ponder how to make the Hummingbird cupcakes a little more fun, if you will. Sure, they're going to be delicious, but we eat with our eyes first before with our mouths. The frosting was white and so were the cupcakes themselves, and to me, white on white just is a little boring. So I had an "AH HA!" moment and decided to go get some food coloring. However, I still had another batch to bake. Well, this is the adventure part...

While the 4rd and final batch was in the oven, I SPRINTED down the elevator, out the doors of my building, across the parking lot of the grocery, down the baking aisle, grabbed the food coloring, ran to the checkout (where someone yelled "RUN FOREST RUN!" to me), paid, and ran back through the parking lot, through the doors of the building, back up the elevator, and back home. Yea, I know you're never supposed to leave the oven unattended... but shhh, just don't tell anyone k? It'll be our little secret AND I arrived with about 5 minutes to spare left in the baking.

Once I got the proper coloring in the frosting (I went with orange), it was time to frost the cooled cupcakes. This is when the pretty simple cupcake recipe road turned a little curvy and bumpy. As a result of my hot kitchen (lots of heat + small areas = hot kitchen... need a better ventilation system) and the thinner frosting resulting from the food coloring, I had a bit of a mess upon piping onto the cupcakes and had to stick them in the freezer/fridge to set. These weren't the prettiest of my creations, but they were quite tasty!

After the cupcakes were baked and frosted, I was off to my first group of taste testers: the Buckhead Cigar Club family. While there, I got my second request for more Snickerdoodles and a glass of wine in trade for a cupcake! I'd say this baking adventure was a success!!!

Thanks so much Meredith for the recipe and your amazing unconditional friendship and love throughout the years! I cannot wait for N&T to become a reality!

That's it for this baking adventure! If you're curious as to the recipe, please let me know (comment section below) and I will check with Meredith and see if sharing is allowed. If not, you can always place a request in the comment section below as well and I'd gladly bake you some! ;-)

...Until the next baking adventure folks!

Baking Adventure #3

2009-10-04T13:21:00.015-04:00

Have you ever spent 20 minutes at the grocery searching for one item? This hasn't happened to me for quite some time as the grocery and I are BFFs; however, Friday night proved otherwise...

Upon looking over the recipe, I noticed that most of the ingredients were pretty common and thus, have most in my baking cabinet already. However, I was running low on sugar, eggs, and butter, and had not yet added vegetable shortening or Cream of Tartar to the mix... so it was off to the grocery for this Pint-Size Baker.

Once down the baking aisle, the sugar and vegetable shortening were a quick find. However, Cream of Tartar was no where to be found. Maybe I should've done a little more research before going to the store because I didn't even know what it looked like. It could have been a solid, a liquid, a powder type substance... I had NO earthly idea. After about 5 minutes of searching the aisle, I decided to go to customer service and ask for their helping in finding Cream of Tartar. "Excuse me, where can I find the Cream of Tartar?" I asked. "[With a little chuckle] You can find that down aisle 6, where the condiments are," the lady at the counter explained. So off I went down the aisle giving her the benefit of the doubt for knowing what Cream of Tartar was... yea that was a mistake. She thought I meant Tartar Sauce! After laughing to myself, I started back towards the baking aisle and ask a fellow customer if she knew what it was/looked like. She explained that it would be in with the spices. AH HA! That narrows it down significantly! Back in the baking aisle, I began to scan the 8374238472634 spices for Cream of Tartar... typically they're placed alphabetically, but I wasn't sure if it was under "C" or "T". There was another gentleman in the aisle not having any luck finding what he needed either, but I decided to see if he knew where it would be. He immediately goes "one second!" and went down the soup aisle. While he was in the other aisle, I ended up finding the Cream of Tartar on my own and then found him to let him know. Well, guess where he thought it would be... in with the Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken soups... This was quite a start to the third baking adventure!

Ok enough story time... time to get down to business and let you in on what was on the agenda for this week's baking adventure...

Snickerdoodle Cookies

If people don't know what these are, they're basically sugar cookies on crack! Buttery, cinnamon and sugar goodness! I would highly recommend baking these as they're super simple and very difficult to mess up if you follow the recipe. My biggest challenge in baking these was mixing and baking double the normal batch...

Why did I bake double you ask? Well, I had my FIRST PAYING CUSTOMER!!! :-D WOOHOO!!! In my ideal world, this little baking hobby would turnout to be lucrative at the same time. Who doesn't want to be paid for doing what they love? :-)

The first step in the process is always PREP. The ingredients are pretty minimal for these cookies and are mostly common, household pantry items. Please pay no attention to the vanilla extract in the picture below. It decided to jump in uninvited to the Snickerdoodle Cookie party. Bad Vanilla Extract, Bad!

The recipe calls for sifting the dry ingredients together in one bowl and blending the wet in another per usual. This was the easy part...

After the two bowls contain their corresponding ingredients blended together, it was time to add the dry into the wet. Well, if you're like me and don't have an electric mixer or anything besides a spoon and your hand, this is QUITE the workout and leaves a nice red hand afterwards.

Once the dry ingredients were combined with the wet, it's time for the fun part! Make little balls of dough and then roll them in the cinnamon and sugar, place on baking sheets and bake for approximately 10 minutes. A tip for the balls of dough is to roll them in between the palms of your hands (make sure you wash them) like you would making balls of play-dough when you were little, and then place in the cinnamon-sugar and take a spoon and spoon the cinnamon and sugar on and around the dough. Try and minimize the amount of time your hands/fingers touch the cinnamon and sugar as you will start to stain the raw dough, and with these cookies, it's important not to blend those two parts together.

This recipe is supposed to produce approximately 4 dozen cookies (or 48 total), but since I was doubling the recipe, I ended up rolling, cinnamon-sugaring, and baking 106 total cookies!!! Needless to say, I got a great workout and my kitchen and apartment were quite toasty when done! In fact, the apartment thermostat said 81 degrees when I was finished and it was on 74 when the adventure began.

After the cookies were cool, I packaged up 48 of them for my paying customer and put the rest in my regular tupperware to share with family and friends. Then it was off to deliver the Snickerdoodles to the paying customer and watch my Irish kick some football butt!

That's it for this week folks, please leave comments below OR if you want to be my SECOND paying customer, please inquire within! ;-)

Next week's adventure has already been determined and I can't wait! One of my best friend's has shared one of her favorite recipes with me, so next week will be a dedication to her and her shared love of baking!

[Double] Blueberry Cornbread update

2009-10-01T12:58:00.009-04:00

Ok folks... I have some sad new for you...

As delicious as the [Double] Blueberry Cornbread was, it was no match for the moisture that arose from the blueberries and humidity in Atlanta. After only 3 days since creation, the cornbread has suffered a fateful death in the trash receptacle. *tear* This brings great sadness to not only myself but my father as well as this was to be his breakfast each morning this week.

Why such a short-lived baked good? There's a little disease the resides among baked goods and eventually, given enough time, will take over them all if not consumed in ample time. This disease is better known as...

You might want to sit down for this...

MOLD!!!!!!!!!!! [insert gasps here]

Yes, ladies and gentleman, the beautiful and wonderfully delicious Double Blueberry Cornbread grew a beautiful BLUE mold to color-coordinate with the fruit inside. It's a sad day, but fret not! There will be more baking to be had this very weekend!!!

Until then, rest in peace Double Blueberry Cornbread. You were loved by many. Please feel free to leave your condolences in the Comments below.

Double Blueberry Cornbread is survived by its dutiful companion Honey Butter.

Baking Adventure #2

2009-09-27T19:10:00.016-04:00

Fall is officially here, which means there are some amazingly delicious fruits and vegetables that are in their prime right now: apples, figs, pumpkins, squash, and BLUEBERRIES!!! (to name a few) Blueberries are extremely good for you as they are high in anti-oxidants, not to mention that they're absolutely delicious. Thus the reasoning behind my search for the best way to utilize their magnificentness. (In case you haven't noticed, I like to make up words.)

When searching for the recipe, I kept coming back to this Blueberry Tart recipe by Paula Deen. However, I have kind of been sweeted out lately and wanted to find something with blueberries as the star but a non-sweet/dessert. This was not an easy task until the other night my dad was having a conversation with a friend about how much he loved cornbread, but he also mentioned blueberry cornbread. Now, the "AH HA!" moment did not hit until about 5 days later while sitting at work to put two and two together, but I'm sure glad it did.

After doing some research online and reading through various recipes of simple cornbread and cornbread with jalapenos and cornbread stuffing, I finally found a blueberry cornbread recipe that struck my fancy. So without further ado, allow me to introduce this post's baking adventure...

[Double] Blueberry Cornbread

As you can see from the link above, the recipe is pretty simple. There wasn't much prep beyond purchasing the ingredients and rinsing the blueberries. However, one thing to note when purchasing the Yellow Cornmeal for this recipe, make sure it is not the "mix". The "yellow cornmeal mix" already has baking soda, salt, and flour added. Your final product would be too salty and just a mess. Use "PLAIN" Yellow Cornmeal.

Now, the recipe states you can simply increase the amount of cornmeal to sub for not having masa flour. My grocery did in fact have masa flour, but the bag was as big as my head and I'm not baking for 200, so I opted to follow the side note about increasing Yellow Cornmeal.

Once the wet ingredients and dry ingredients have been mixed and blended in their corresponding bowls, it's time to stir them in together. Pretty simple! After fully saturating the dry ingredients in the wet, it was time to add the star ingredient: 1 cup of BLUEBERRIES!

HOWEVER, after gently folding in the blueberries to the cornbread mixture, I decided this was certainly not enough to make such a wonderful fruit stand out, so I dumped in the rest of the pint... What could go wrong right?

After greasing the 8"x8" square pan and pouring in the batter, it was time for the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min? Sure! No problem; I'll just clean up the kitchen while the DOUBLE blueberry cornbread bakes...

25 minutes later, I stick in the wooden skewer (ref. my Baking Adventure #1 post about wood vs. plastic or other materials)... and what do I find (much to my dismay)... the skewer comes out with batter on it, which means back in the oven to bake for a while longer!

After about 40-45 minutes of baking (checking every 5 min to see that it doesn't over bake), the skewer FINALLY comes out clean when placed in the middle of the blueberry cornbread.

Next, it's time to cool and relax, then enjoy!

THE END...

Or was it? After the cornbread cooled, I tasted a little sample and wasn't terribly pleased. The cornbread was decently moist but didn't exude much flavor or sweetness. (The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar, which would leave one to believe it might be a sweeter cornbread... not so much.) Time to put my creative baking hat on and think... what goes well with warm cornbread? BUTTER... ok, got that... what is this double blueberry cornbread lacking? SUGAR... BY GEORGE I'VE GOT IT!!!

HONEY BUTTER!!! I returned to the grocery to buy some honey and got to work combining 1/2 stick of softened butter (aka 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup) with 1 tablespoon of honey. After blending, the honey butter went back in the fridge to let it set. Let me tell you, I haven't had a more delicious butter in my life. (Secret: I always use salted butter even if the recipe calls for unsalted.)

After I found the magical solution to an otherwise mediocre Double Blueberry Cornbread, it was off to mom and dad's to surprise dad and see if it passed his stamp of approval. I warmed up the bread in the microwave and then topped it with the honey butter and served... DAD LOVED IT!!! I think he spoiled his dinner that mom would be cooking for us in a couple hours, but it was worth it. hehe

Ok, that's it for this baking adventure! Hope you have enjoyed! Not sure what the next one will be yet, possibly something with Figs as I've only eaten them a couple times raw and many times in Fig Newtons.

Next baking adventure has been determined!`

2009-09-25T12:50:00.007-04:00

Stay tuned folks!

I've been going through recipes upon recipes the past week or so wanting to bake something with blueberries while trying to think outside the box and not do a dessert...

Last night it hit me! A convo with my dad about a week ago resurfaced in my brain, and I know exactly what I'll be making. Sorry to tease, but I must leave it as a surprise as my dad might be reading this and gotta keep you coming back right? :-) RIGHT!

Additional teaser: The blueberry, baked, non-dessert amazingness will be baked this weekend!!!

Baking Adventure #1

2009-09-12T10:53:00.021-04:00

On a daily basis I receive Recipe of the Day emails from Food Network, and this one immediately caught my eye. It just looked absolutely delectable. Sure, the level of difficulty read "Intermediate" and never had I made a bundt cake before (I have only made one cake in my life prior), BUT I love a good challenge and if the result tastes as good as it looks, than why not?

Caramel Apple Cake

I began by gathering ingredients at my local grocery, which is conveniently next door. ;-) Mom let me borrow her pumpkin pie spice, but just about every other ingredient came from the store... this produced my first obstacle:

BUNDT Cake pan: The recipe calls for a 10-cup bundt cake pan. Ok, sure... no problem... NOT! If you're like me and have no previous knowledge of baking other than trial and error, then you would not be finding those words on anything in the baking aisle. However, there was a pan that resembled what I was looking for titled "Fluted Cake Pan". I called my mom to see if these were the same; she was no help as she's not a baker. Then, I pulled out my trusty pocket computer (aka iPhone) and googled it... low and behold, they're the SAME thing! The "fluted" part is just the shape of mold of the bundt cake pan. Evidently there are bundt cake pan molds shaped like flowers too... whodathunkit?!

Ok, back to the baking. Once all of ingredients were purchased, it was time to bake! First things first... PREP. You must prep all necessary ingredients before beginning the mixing and baking process.

For the cake the only labor-intensive prep necessary was the apples. The recipe calls for "peeling, coring, and roughly chopping" them. What's "roughly chopping" mean? Yea, I didn't know either so below is my stab at it.

Not too bad... basically I cut the apples into about 1/2 inch chunks.

After prepping the apples, I tossed them in the sugar and spice mix and then set to the side. Next I whisked together the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another. The wet ingredients call for the zest of an orange. (Cool, since I had never zested anything before and didn't own a zester until an hour prior to this adventure.) It's pretty simple actually and kind of fun; it helps let out some aggression if you have any pent up. hehe.

TIP: Make sure, when zesting, that you only grate off the outside orange layer. Once you reach the more yellow part, move on. Use this tip when zesting any type of citrus.

Once everything was blended in its corresponding bowl, it was time to marry them together and layer into the bundt cake pan. The recipe called for place 1/2 cup of apples along the bottom of the pan first, but really you need about 1-1.5 cups. Then layer 1/3 of the batter, another 2 cups of apples, 1/3 batter, and 2 cups of apples, then the last 1/3 of the batter. Make sure you end with the batter. Also, it's a little sticky so you may need to use a spoon or spatula to spread it out evenly. That's it for the cake... after all ingredients are in the pan, it's BAKE TIME!

The recipe recommends baking the cake the night before that way all of the flavors and texture have a chance to fully develop. After an hour and 10 minutes, it's time to check the cake to see if it's done. I always use a wooden skewer or toothpick when testing my baking items. This is because if the batter is even remotely undercooked, then it will stick to the wood and you know to bake another minute or two or ten. [See below wooden skewer is clean of any batter aka time to pull from the oven!]

Once I pulled the cake from the oven, it was time to cool. I don't currently own a cooling rack so instead, I placed a piece of wax paper on a baking sheet and flipped (or "inverted" as the recipe says) the cake onto the baking sheet.

The cake then cooled over night at room temperature... aka I went and snuggled in bed after about 2 hours of labor. hehe. I'm like a little kid when it comes to baking for people. I can't wait to have them try it and see/hear their reactions! (Especially since I had been talking this cake up on facebook for the past 2 days) Given this personality trait, I awoke at 7am ready to finish, but it wasn't time yet. Cake delivery to my friends in family wasn't set to occur until 10am, so I went back to bed until 8:30am (this was a Saturday) then worked out and got to work on the final touch of the cake: the CARAMEL PECAN DRIZZLE topping.

First things first: PREP! The only prep for this was to toast the pecans. Being the avid Food Network television show watcher that I am have heard Giada de Laurentis say each time she toasted nuts that you can smell it when they're done. I used to think to myself "Ok, so if you can smell it, tell me what it's supposed to smell like." Well, ladies and gents... she's right! You really can smell it. The pecan scent began to permiate the kitchen when they were done toasting. The one thing they didn't do that I was expecting was to change color. The appearance stayed the same but they did get a little more crunchy and smelled delicious!

After the nuts are toasted, it's time to make the caramel, which I'd never done either. I don't even recall seeing it done on Food Network, so this was going to be an adventure! I mixed together and then swirled the sugar, corn syrup, and water while boiling like it said.

You're supposed to do this until it turns an amber brown color and it does! It's kind of cool the process of creating the caramel. I tried to get a picture but the camera and lighting didn't produce good enough results to show the pretty color. Once the sugar mixture turns amber, then I removed it from the heat and added the heavy cream. LESSON LEARNED: stir sugar mixture while adding heavy cream. I didn't stir it at first and paused b/c I didn't have the vanilla ready to go in and then it started clumping up. NOT A GOOD IDEA. However, with a lot of stirring, I was able to get it back to the consistency needed and add the pecans, then let the caramel sit and cool and thicken.

After the caramel cools some and thickens to a syrup consistency, it's time to pour on top of the cake. In order to ensure, even distribution of the amazing caramel pecan drizzle, I used a wooden spoon to scoop out the topping onto the cake. See FINAL result below! (There are two: one before taking to family and friends and one after they devoured half.)

See all of the apples loaded into the cake?

Alright, that's it for this cake. Time to take the second half to a football tailgate... Fall really is the best time of year!

Next baking adventure: Blueberry tart possibly? TBD!

Pint-Size Baker at your service!

2009-09-11T21:02:00.002-04:00

First off, thank you for reading this blog. To be honest, I don't know how many people will actually read this thing, but hopefully it'll help someone else in this universe who loves to bake as much as I do or even someone who is baking for the first time and curious about what to expect. I intend to share each baking experience good and bad with you. We can laugh and cry together! Isn't that fun? haha!

I've found that baking is an excellent source of therapy. You get to "roughly chop", whisk, fold, and blend ingredients together and create something relatively in a matter of minutes. However, you're not just creating anything; you're creating a delicious piece of art that brings smiles to people's faces and produces a euphoric happiness when consumed... yes, this may be a little extreme, but think about that first bite of your favorite chocolate cake or oatmeal cookie... AHHHmazing!

As a little backgroud, the name "pint-size" came from a friend's husband who has called me "half pint" since the minute he met me. (Thanks Dan!) Little did he know back then how much the name pertained to my secret love of baking (and cooking but mostly baking). So here we go ladies and gents... the "Pint-Size Baker" is off and running!

First baking adventure: Caramel Apple Cake courtesy of Food Network